Daylight, so beautiful, shining down onto the healthy green grass, ocean blue sky with scattered clouds and a light breeze that cooled everyone who felt it.
“Hahaha!!”
“You can’t catch me!”
Children, playing in the field without a care in the world for what happened leading to that moment or whatever was to come, instead enjoying the moment they had. “Come on Rizal, you gotta do better than that if you want to catch us!” The small child got back up and continues running, their already less than clean clothes even more dirtied.
From an outsiders perspective, one would think that they were common peasant children, but in truth, these were noble children no older than 8 years old. The boys children wore dirty pyjamas, as so that they had no need to wear their more noble attire vulnerable to the natural lands. In total, there were perhaps in total 15 children playing their own games, except for three, all sitting under a tree else where and reading peacefully, there were 2 girls and a boy resting. “What are you guys doing over there?”
“Reading…you should try it some time, Rizal.” One of the girls said, she had long blonde hair and blue eyes and an annoyed expression she was disturbed. “Why don’t you come and play?” He asked while raising an eyebrow, unable to understand why anyone would want to do that.
The young girl shook her head and looked back to her book, irritated by his teasing and her lack of peace. The boy stood there for a few seconds before snatching the book of the black-haired girl, laughing at his own cruelty before he fell, the roots of the tree wrapping around his ankle in a vice grip while the girl ran over to him, climbed on top and started brutally attacking him with a flurry of punches. One after another across his face, neck, shoulders and chest relentlessly.
“Rizal!!” “Hey, what the heck?!” “Woah, what are you doing!” A few yelled, trying to get her off him but to little avail, a few others encouraging her to continue. “And what is going on over here?!” A loud voice yelled, piercing through the commotion like a roar of a great beast. Everyone stopped immediately, scared out of their minds over what will happen next. A maid in her mid-30’s stood over them with her arms crossed. “Miss Arzen…please help me! We were just playing and I was attacked for no reason!” He sobbed, running into her legs and hugging tightly. It was an exaggeration, although he was attacked, it definitely was not for ‘no reason’.
Hours later, the three children who were sitting under the tree stood in a line, guilty and looking down to the floor in shame with solemn expressions remained silent.
“Now then, you three…another incident with you attacking other children.” She turned to the blonde girl first.
“Miss Irella Salzaana…” She looked to the boy in the middle. “Master Rudaour Kardillan…” And finally, she looked to the main offender, the girl with the black hair on the left who attacked Rizal. “And Miss Zerinia Von Istvan…” There was a few moments of silence before she sighed and continued speaking again. “Now, would any of you three like to explain as to what happened this time and why we have a child in the medical room with a face as flat as a pancake as well as a neck, a pair of shoulders and a chest that looks as purple as an Aubergine?” She said, raising an eyebrow, eyes flickering between the three culprits of this incident.
“We’re sorry, Miss Arzen…” Irella said without looking up, the maid sighed and rubbed her forehead. “At this rate, you three might as well become adventurers.” She said with a long pause before continuing. “Listen, you three need to explain what happened leading up to what happened because this behaviour is not acceptable, especially from nobles like yourselves.” She said pointedly, it clearly wasn’t a request. “Razil hurt me and stole my book, Zerinia was only trying to help me, if anyone is to blame, it’s me!” Rudaour said quickly and with conviction that left no room for doubt, it wasn’t true but at least his friend was stuck up for.
“So Zerinia attacked him as to help you?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what happened.” He responded, it was too quick to be true, but it wasn’t like she could prove otherwise.
“Very well, you three will be writing an apology letter to Razil and his family explaining why you shouldn’t have done that and that you will never do it again, understood?!” She asked, her anger was something all the children were afraid of. “Yes, Miss Arzen.” She nodded before turning to the black-haired girl. “But Zerinia…you did the wrong thing for a right reason, to help those in need is always the right thing to do, and although I don’t agree with what you did, I am proud of your choice to help your friend. I'll be sure Master Razil is also reprimanded for his actions.”
That evening, Zerinia laid in bed as a woman walked in, she had long blonde hair and blue eyes, a polar opposite from Zerinia as she was now, but looked a lot like Zerinia in the face and height. “Zerinia…I heard about what happened today.” She said with a solemn look, one that was reciprocated by the small girl. “I’m sorry mother…I wanted to do well by my friend.”
“But that’s not what happened, I know it was your book Razil stole…” Zerinia stopped for a second, trying to think about how to continue but the woman did so first. “A young lady like you shouldn’t be getting into fights…but you stood up for yourself and for that, I am grateful.” She said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she knew something that clearly no-one else did. “A kingdom always needs a strong royal.” The little girl’s eyes shot up and she grinned. “Yeah! And I’m going to be super strong for my future kingdom of ‘Larovia’!” She yelled while the woman stroked her face. “That’s my little Zerinia…ready to make her own kingdom, and I know you will do it, and if you’re good, we can go to Sirion.”
Zerinia’s eyes lit up. “Really? I always wanted to learn the magic of the temple.” The woman nodded, knowing that already. “Good night, my precious.” She said, standing up and walking over to the door. “Good night, mother.” Zerinia responded, turning over onto her side away from the door.
The woman stepped out and closed the door, letting out a long and quiet sigh. She thought back to watching how her daughter attacked that young boy, the ear-to-ear grin that was plastered on her face. She couldn’t get the thought of her own child, harming another so gleefully, out of her mind and then have her friend, someone who trusts her to take the fall for a punishment she should have gotten. “Perhaps she will outgrow this behaviour when she grows up.” The woman thought as she wondered down the hallways, out of all four of her other and older children, she never had so much trouble with violence or even a hidden and twisted sinister nature in one of her children.
Zerinia’s eyes shot open, dropping the lifeless body of the general on the ground. “What the…the hell was that?!” She paused for a few moments before looking around, bodies of the people she had massacred before looking down at her hands, now reverted back into her human-like form. “Larovia…Von Istvan…Mother...Sirion...the hell does any of that even mean?” She thought, trying to get a baring over her senses, like trying to wake up from a long sleep. “The invaders have been killed.” A voice spoke from behind her, it was Edilia approaching slowly and stepping over the bodies, not caring about the brutality of the environment.
“Yes…it would seem so, though it was nice to fully let myself go all out, even if it was unnecassary.” She commented, the earlier words stuck in her head on loop. “Larovia…Von Istvan…Sirion. What do those words mean? Larovia sounds like a kingdom, maybe that’s what I will call my new kingdom.” Zerinia though, looking around at the red stained grass once again and the bodies that surrounded the land around. “We have information that there is another camp overseeing operations further southeast, what are we to do with them?” The Ghoul asked, curious on what to do next. Zerinia thought for a moment before responding.
“I shall send the Zarumogol do deal with the situation there…as for us, we've achieved a great victory, one deserving of celebration." There was a pause before she continued. "You've helped me a lot today, so if you’d like…indulge yourself with the proper meal.” She said before walking off, leaving the ghoul with a field of bodies. At least, that’s what anyone else would think, but a ghoul, this was practically free fine dining.