In the first days after Deer Point rose into the skies, the people were terrified. They had been torn from the earth they once knew and placed upon an island that floated among the clouds, with no soil beneath them, no horizon but the endless white. Fear consumed them, until one woman rose to guide them, Queen Rekumae. She gathered the trembling survivors, gave them structure, and soothed them with the promise that this new skybound world was not a curse, but a destiny. Under her hand, the first banners were raised, the first laws spoken, and the people began to breathe again.

  A century later, Rekumae bore two sons, Benkage and Jiguzo. But the floating kingdom was cruel. Resources were scarce, water rare, and every day was a battle to survive. After Rekumae's death the brothers quarreled over the throne, each certain he alone could preserve Deer Point. The quarrel turned to violence, and in the end, Jiguzo stained his hands with blood. He murdered Benkage and crowned himself king.

  Jiguzo ruled with cold vision. He declared that the people must be divided: the Royals, who held power and advanced themselves with machines and metal, and the Zoners, who were cast aside as laborers and outcasts. He built three great Branches to secure his throne, Zeta to bind faith and spirit to loyalty, Delta to serve as the mechanical fist of the crown, and Gamma to guard what little resources remained and ration them to his will. However, he left the animals to live in solitude in the forests as long as they agreed to population regulations. He gave birth to a tradition so cruel it still lingers in whispers, the Annual Selection. Each year, Zoners and animals alike were offered to the Barrakudos, skyborne monsters whose hunger demanded sacrifice. Their blood was the toll that kept Deer Point aloft.

  Yet even with his harsh rule, survival demanded more. Scientists under Gamma Branch built Converter Machines, turning pebbles, bottle caps, scraps of plastic into edible rations. The people drank Green Water, a processed liquid that sustained life in the skies. Only the innermost circle of the Royals ever tasted natural water again, and it became as precious as gold.

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  But no order lasts forever. In time, a plague swept Deer Point, a virulent bacteria called L-Strain. The infection spread like fire through the island. Thirty percent of the land was lost before it was beaten back. And though the kingdom survived, its king did not. Jiguzo fell, slain not by the Els, nor the plague, but by a new figure rising from the chaos.

  He was called Mr. Green, once an artist, known as the Emerald of Peace. In those first days, he was hailed as the King of Liberation. He abolished the Selection, opened the gates of Deer Point, and spoke of a kingdom where Zoners, Royals, and even animals could live without fear. Many believed him a savior. But others did not. The Zeta and Gamma Branches despised him, whispering that his rule threatened the very order that kept the island intact. To them, Jiguzo's cruel hierarchy had been a necessary truth, and Green's ideals were a dangerous dream. Even the Mech Pilots themselves were divided, their loyalty split between the old order and the new.

  The war with the Els raged on. They had evolved, grown more cunning, and their advance claimed countless lives. Mr. Green, unwilling to let his kingdom fall, took to the battlefield himself. There, he faced the most feared of all bacteria, Menace, the strongest bio-life ever seen. Nobody know what truly happened that day. Some say the battle was so brutal it shattered his spirit. Others whisper that what he saw opened his eyes to the cruelty of the world.

  What is known is this: Mr. Green returned alone. Not a single Mech Pilot stood with him. The Delta robots had been torn to pieces. Every ally had been destroyed. He walked back into the kingdom as the lone survivor, and from that day forward, he ruled no longer as the Emerald of Peace, but as the King of Fear.

  Perhaps he was broken. Perhaps he projected his loss of control onto the people. None can say for certain. But what is remembered is this: the man once hailed as liberator became the tyrant every child now fears.