A Drop of Moonlight

There were screams of pain echoing in the space as the whole village was in chaos. Blood was splattered all over as everyone was trying to flee for their lives. Their assailants were not fretted and were only excited as their prey tried and failed to escape from them. Perhaps the only thing that is unnerving about the whole thing was that they had separated the children from their bloodied victims. Children are placed in the center of the village unharmed, though not exactly sound of mind. They are in a state of shock. Eyes open as they watch their loved ones die at the hands of the monsters. In a world where magic is real and the supernatural is normal, monsters born from darkness roam the land. It is not really known how these creatures exist under the eyes of the gods, but they harvest life one after another from anything that roams on land. Great tragedies come with them when they descend and death reeks the lands they stepped on. One of the children cannot take the torture inside of their mind and screamed in pure agony. Like a chain of reaction, the rest of the children cried as well. Their cries and the ongoing tragedy before them made the whole place reek of despair and gloom. This was the scene that the young order of knights had seen when they first arrived. Some were affected at the gory sight before them, but most of them were angry and were full of rage at the hapless and catastrophic fate this village had been befallen to. One of these knights especially was a young and lithe figure. Blazing golden eyes stared down at the monsters as she took away their lives as they had done to the villagers. The sword was dripping with blood as she gave her punishment to the low lives who targeted the village and committed such a horrible crime. In the wake of their rampage, more corpses were on the ground, but survivors glorified the corpses as it gave them justice. They were avenged. They are saved. They are not abandoned to die in such pitiful circumstances like it was typically for those in such villages as theirs. “Denise.” Said a young man as he approached the blood-soaked figure. He had blonde hair and the most hapless face as he looked utterly exhausted at the girl before him. “You’ve outdone yourself.” The lithe figure wiped out the blood on her cheeks as she replied. Her silky black hair was carried away by the wind, which made her frown and think of cutting it off. “It wasn’t much, Theo. These people deserve what I did.” “You’re not supposed to be here!” Theo cried out as he looked utterly panicked. “We’re supposed to be at the back, helping with the logistics as we were instructed and told multiple times! Where did you even get a sword to use? Aren’t they restricted before we are dispatched onto the field? How can I explain ourselves with the mess you made?” “Say we are just carrying out the duty of a knight we aspire ourselves to be?” Denise said cheekily. “Who would believe that nonsense if we said that?” Theo was on the verge of crying saying that. “We’re not yet knights and it was even unknown if we could continue our knighthood with you doing something so outrageous. Didn’t the instructor have already given you enough warning to start listening to how precarious your status in the academy was?” Denise Liam. A genius swordmaster whom the whole academy has welcomed with open arms. A talented girl who was only 13 when she manifested her Aura and climbed into the ranks of swordmasters. A student with great grades and a great attitude towards studies that made her the darling of the academy. Darling she might be, she is also known as the most troublesome student in the Academy’s history. While geniuses have their own erratic traits, Denise has topped the worst they had in the last hundred years. While she was an ideal student, she was severely lacking in terms of common sense and even following social cues that most people are familiar with. And due to her traits, there were more than enough incidents that caused the Academy to be in trouble protecting her since the beginning of the year of her admittance. After all, the world of nobility is a complicated mess and Denise seems to be the antithesis to their very existence. Which is a huge contradiction to her becoming a knight who serves the said nobility. “If we cannot respond to what we are supposed to be doing in the future, are we even worthy of being an aspiring knight?” Denise shrugged the worries that the other was saying. “While obedience to the instructions given is an admirable trait, being blind and obedient is a fatal flaw as well.” “You got a point in saying that young Dame.” A rather tall and much older knight was behind them. “Sir Philip.” Theo quickly performed a salute to the older knight. The older knight nodded in response to the salute while looking at Denise, who was a little slow at performing her salutes. “You have a rather interesting insight into how things work, young Dame.” The knight said as he responded to the salute Denise performed. “What made you say such a thing? Theo looked at Denise worriedly. One wrong response and it can blow their whole cohort’s chances of being a knight. They should have tied down this girl on the back and carried her to pass the grade. Everyone would be less stressed if they had done that from the beginning. Without fear, the girl replied. “A knight exists to be a protector of their lords. Here we have no lord to protect other than you honored knights who can protect themselves well enough. Our next scope of duty is to protect the civilians who are in need of our assistance as per the doctrine of the church and its functions.” The knight was silent at the words uttered by the girl, while the silent blonde was sweating coldly on his back. “Your words have merits.” The knight said as he gave a grin. “Still there is no need for you to get out there.” “You’re not an official knight and you are not even an apprentice knight to take on these kinds of tasks. Leave the gory part to our old bones and take care of the rear front like most of the young ones.” “It’s boring back there, Sir.” Replied Denise. “Haven’t I proved myself enough that I can take on a frontal role like you guys do?” The older knight only laughed at her response. He called her cheeky and too young to know what to fear. Despite telling her off, it was quite obvious that he rather liked how she responded to things. Though he commanded her and her companion to stay back as he and the rest would be doing the initial investigations of the tragedy before them. “I could be very helpful to be there.” Denise pouted as her cohort took a firm hold of her and placed her in the assigned tent for them. “You will only be a hindrance out there,” said a firm and strict voice behind her. Denise could feel a heavy hand on her shoulders as she looked behind her with great difficulty. “Hi Rena.” Said Denise as the force on her shoulder became much more restrictive. “Lovely seeing you.” “The feeling is not mutual.” Said the strict-looking woman who looked down at her like she was such a disobedient child. “Didn’t I tell you not to leave our cohort?” “I did hear something like that before the expedition.” Denise held her left shoulder in nervousness. “Is that uncertainty of what was instructed I heard from you, Denise?” Asked Rena, who was just seconds away from exploding. “How many times did I drill it into your brain that we are here to be supported! Our role for this expedition is to assist the troops with logistics as part of our exams! And what did you just do? You went out there like you are some sort of a knighted and authorized personnel! How can I explain this to the instructors when we return to the academy?” The rest of their cohorts echoed Rena’s rant. They did not forget to add their own pieces as well. Like how Denise has knocked them out to get out of the designated place for them. How they were tricked by her into letting her be. And of how they have to answer to the knights why there is a missing student among their ranks. It was simply a nightmare they don’t want to deal with when they are still not even allowed to take official duties. Denise felt rather bad hearing all the complaints of her cohort. She turned to Theo for help, but the guy looked rejuvenated when hearing the others ganging up on her. So much for being her best friend. It took a while for Rena and the others to vent their frustrations at the situation. They only stopped when the older knights stepped in and assigned them tasks to keep themselves busy. Though among them, Denise was not assigned to any as her punishment. Left alone in the tent, Denise could only silk and entertain herself carving random things with her trusty knife. She could have read something, but being on an expedition means they have to pack as many necessities for a long journey and books are not part of those necessities. So she is utterly bored in the tent playing with craving. Just as she was polishing her little masterpiece, a visitor came to her tent. “Grounded again?” A cold and even voice asked. “What have you done this time around?” “She went to the frontline without authorization," Theo said as he came along with the visitor, done with his tasks and wanting to get a shut eye before he had to face their instructor. “You just don’t know how much trouble she did this time around with her reckless acts.” Denise blushed at being reminded of the lecture she had received earlier. She recognised her mistake this time round and she knew that she should not speak at this moment else Theo would not hesitate to let Rena on her tail again. “Skilled you might be, you are still so immature to be here without any compelling reason.” Said a man in green robes. His eyes were olive green and his ears were quite pointed for a human. Reaching out his hand, he touched Denise’s cheek, which had a swallow cut from her earlier rampage. Denise felt a tingling pain for a moment before it was replaced by a cooling and refreshing feeling. Only then did she realize she had been hurt by all her movements before. And when the man retrieved his hand from her face, she saw the blood that he helpfully wiped from her. “Thank you Rufus.” Denise smiled as she thanked the other. “I owe you one.” The other only nodded and sat on a nearby chair. He took out a few things from his bag and laid it on the nearby table. Denise has no doubt that the guy is going to make a potion for her to drink again. “If you keep saying that you will end up in a lifetime of debt with Rufus,” Theo said as he laid on his colt. “He saved your life enough times from your recklessness.” “I’m not reckless!” Denise said as she felt her cheeks hot at the accusation. Not really wanting to argue with her, Theo simply closed his eyes and motioned the other to be quiet if she wanted him to help her out of the mess. Seething, yet understanding, Denise is wise enough not to disturb him at this time. Still, with her being bored out of her mind, it made her think of how she even ended up in a Knight's academy in all places.