--


05


--


You sat in the library, slumped over on the desk, head resting on your arm. You had your other hand in front of your face and snapped your fingers and quickly opened your hand. Nothing. You tried it again, and still nothing.


You sighed and sat up, leaning back into the seat and closing your eyes. Two months had passed since you started lessons and training with Seungho. You weren’t too shy about wearing pants anymore, but you preferred airy dresses over them any day.


There was so much information about Rivedon, and Seungho said that once you grasped the basics of Rivedon, then he would start telling you about the various, smaller kingdoms in the land of the dead. In between lessons and training, Joon told you about the inhabitants of the land of the dead.


When you had free time, you spent it trying out magical theory that you learned from Seungho. He said that most people that could use magic started practicing at a younger age, when they could express their emotions much more freely.


Magic is based on your emotions? you’d asked him. He said it was easier to control them when you first start out if they’re tied to emotions, but he supposed it was better that you were learning them the hard way. It builds strong character, he said.


“Strong character,” you muttered to yourself with a scoff. You did endurance training with the knights in training. At first, you couldn’t keep up and would have to stop to rest. Myungsoo almost always stopped to wait for you, not wanting to leave you behind.


Byunghee scolded him and punished him for ending up last, making you feel guilty because it was your fault he was last because he always waited for you. But Myungsoo said it wasn’t bad, he was just going to get stronger from the punishments.


Since then, you’d worked harder so you wouldn’t be last. Now, it was the boys that were trailing behind you when you ran. You were a little bit slower when Seungho added weights to your arms and legs, but when you took them off, everything felt incredibly light.


When you started to learn how to spar, your partner was Byunghee. He was a little bit apprehensive about hitting a girl, so he kept his attacks light and often tapped you on the forehead when you lost. He scolded you when you left yourself open to attacks at certain places, and subjected you to jabs in the ribs that made you laugh because you were ticklish.


Eventually, you got to the point where you could defend yourself easily, with or without your training weights.


The only thing you were worried about was your magic. After two months, you still couldn’t make anything happen unless Seungho was putting your life in danger.


You sat up in your chair and glanced around at the open books on the desk until your eyes fell on a picture of the castle of Armalis. You thoughts briefly turned to your sister, and then they moved to the High Priest.


You furrowed your eyebrows. The High Priest. The man that mistreated you your entire life, locking you into a small closet, pretending you were nothing at all. You could feel some anger welling up in your heart as you remember wondering why he treated your sister like a princess, and you were nothing more than dirt to him.


Your fingers twitched a little bit, and you snapped them and opened up your hand to reveal a small fireball. You yelped in surprise and accidentally dropped it onto a book, panicking when the pages caught on fire.


Suddenly, a hand slammed down on the book and the flames went out.


“I saw what you did there. Good job. Just try not to set the books on fire next time. They’re innocent,” Seungho said with a grin as he sat down across from you. You grinned at him sheepishly and shrunk in your chair.


“Sorry, I was just a little bit surprised.”


“Angry about something?” he asked with slight amusement in his voice. You sat there with a blank look on your face until your eyes turned sad. “You don’t have to tell me, I was just curious.”


You sighed and flopped back in your chair. “Just thinking about how the High Priest treated my sister and me back in Armalis. She was his perfect little angel, and I was like a disease to him.”


“Well, you’re not a disease here. No one thinks that of you. The people here love you just the way you are. I’ve heard rumors sweeping across the other kingdoms that they’re all increasing training in anticipation for the ball where we’ll formally introduce you.”


“Increasing training? Why?”


“To impress you, of course. Some of the most powerful men in the land have their eyes on you,” Seungho said, picking up the slightly burned book with a small frown on his face. He’d fix this later.


“Oh, after you finish with lunch, you should hurry on back to the castle. I want to fit you with your own armor. Well, I should say it’s already been made, but I want you to try it on.” You blinked a few times. Armor? Your very own armor?


“It’s been enchanted so it’ll be a little bit lighter on your body. I don’t think any amount of training would be able to allow you to wear a fully loaded full suit of armor without turning into a statue.”


--


You ate lunch as fast as you could and hurried back to your room in the castle where Joon was waiting for you. Next to him on a stand was your armor, black and gleaming. You stared at it and ran your hand across the cape.


“Why do I even need armor, anyway?” you asked as Joon sidled next to you.


“Just in case something ever happens. It’s better to be over prepared than under prepared.”


--


The knights in training plus you were stretching when Byunghee strode into the training grounds with a smile on his face.


“Sparring tournament today, boys! And uh... girl,” he added, nodding at you. There was a mixture of groans and cheers erupting from the trainees as your eyes widened. Myungsoo let out a huff of air and glanced towards you before looking up at Byunghee.


“I’ve already decided the match ups, so warm up a little bit. There will be no magic used in this tournament! Strictly physical strength only,” he emphasized, looking around the room at certain people before starting to walk off.


“Wait!” you yelled getting up and running after him. “I don’t think I can do this. I’m not as strong as the other guys! I’ve seen some of them punch people and send them flying!”


“You’ll be fine,” Byunghee said over his shoulder, “besides, you should just play to your strengths. Use them to your advantage. And by that, I don’t mean shaking your womanly bits around.” You gave him a look of disbelief and sighed, covering your face with your hand. He laughed and reached out to ruffle your hair.


“You’ll be okay. It’s about time you played with the big boys. Hopefully they don’t go easy on you just because you’re a girl. Just knock them around, throw a few blows on their pride, and they’ll be motivated. They’ve gotten so comfortable and lazy lately...”


Byunghee left you standing there to stare after him as he met up with Seungho and said something to him with a laugh. You sighed again and returned to where the boys were stretching and warming up, stretching with a worried expression on your face.


“He’s really going to make her fight with the rest of us?” Myungsoo asked, staring at you while you stood up and started jogging in place to warm up your body and calm your nerves.


“I’m sorry to say this Myungsoo, but she doesn’t stand a chance. At least, not against me anyway. I’m not going to go easy on her just because she’s a girl,” Sungyeol said, stretching his arms and shaking them out.


“How can you even call yourself a man after beating up a woman?” Myungsoo shook his head and punched Sungyeol in the arm.


“Ow, that kind of hurt,” Sungyeol said, rubbing his arm. Myungsoo smirked at him.


“Just a small taste of what’s to come.”


--


One by one, Byunghee called out all of the match ups and watched them fight alongside Seungho. Seungho nodded in approval at some of the fights, and laughed when one of the boys tried to cheat but ended up getting hit with his own fireball.


You watched Myungsoo fight with so much intensity that you almost felt bad for the other guy. But you had to admit, he did look pretty cool. You felt Sungyeol nudge you, and he was laughing quietly. “You better close your mouth, you’re drooling a little bit.” Alarmed, you brought your hand up to your mouth as Sungyeol shook in silent laughter.


Myungsoo won his match. He grinned at you as he sat down, and you heard your name and Sungyeol’s name being called by Byunghee.


He and you stood across from each other as he loosened up a little bit. “I’m not going to go easy on you just because you’re a girl. I’m in a bit of a lose lose situation anyway. What kind of man beats up a girl? What kind of man loses to a girl too?”


You chuckled a little bit before taking a stance. “Please don’t go easy on me. I’m used to getting beaten around a little bit,” you said, glancing over your shoulder at Seungho and glaring at him. He shrugged his shoulders and made the motion for you to turn around.


“I won’t, even if I’m going to regret it later,” Sungyeol said, casting a quick glance towards a scowling Myungsoo.


“And begin!” Sungyeol was gone in a blink of an eye, and you braced yourself. Then you felt it, his energy coming towards you, and you leaned out of the way as he suddenly reappeared in front of you. You dodged his punch and swiped at his legs, sending him stumbling to the ground as you jumped away.


The trainees called out in awe. Sungyeol was one of the fastest vampire trainees, and the fact that you dodged his attack was something to be celebrated.


“You’re pretty fast,” Sungyeol said as he got up, turning towards you. You just smiled at him and took deep breaths. He came at you again, this time a little bit faster. He managed to clip your shoulder with a punch, but you grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him as he moved past you, making him cry out.


Seungho pursed his lips. “I don’t remember her ever being able to move that fast before. Is there something you’re not telling me about her training?” he asked, eyeing Byunghee.


“Well, I might’ve left out the part where she’s just as strong as the boys, or maybe even stronger, and she’s faster than Sungyeol, who by far is one of our fastest trainees. She just lacks some confidence, that’s all.” Byunghee knew you spent as much time training as you could. He’d caught you in there in the wee hours of the day, training when you couldn’t sleep.


He was amazed by the progress you were making and the precision of your attacks. You hit all of the weak spots, all the points where the magic ran. You could magically cripple someone and leave them with nothing but their physical attacks.


“Where did she even learn that?” Seungho asked as he watched you send Sungyeol to the ground, making the crowd groan. Myungsoo was laughing, though.


“You didn’t teach her that? The magical pressure points? I’ve seen her practicing those a lot.” Seungho pursed his lips. He suspected you were reading a lot off topic when you had free time as well. You absorbed information like a sponge, and like Byunghee, he knew the reason you were scared to answer questions was because you lacked confidence.


“You wanna know what the funny thing is?” Byunghee asked, wincing as Sungyeol landed a blow on your leg, making you kneel down to the ground with a grimace. As strong as you were, you were still a little bit fragile.


You stood back up as Sungyeol tried to move behind you and ducked down, sending Sungyeol flying over your back and sliding on the floor.


“If you look closely, you can see she’s still wearing her weights.” Seungho squinted in the darkness and saw the weights tied around your arms and legs.


“Looks like she forgot to take them off before the match.”


--


By the time the match was over, both you and Sungyeol were on the ground breathing heavily. Byunghee called it a tie, and settled the match with a game of rock, paper, scissors, which Sungyeol lost, much to his protests.


“You hit pretty hard for a girl,” Sungyeol said as the two of you leaned against each other to catch your breaths. You brought your legs up to your chest and let your arms fall on the ground.


“Thanks. You hit pretty hard in general.” You looked down at your leg and pulled your pants leg up, staring at the purple bruise that was welling up on your leg. Sungyeol turned to glance at your leg and winced.


“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. I just got a little bit carried away.” You laughed and pulled the pants leg down.


“I’ll be fine. Stuff like this he-” You yelled and flinched when something cold landed on your leg, making Sungyeol fall over on the ground. Myungsoo helped steady you with is free hand while he held a bag of ice on your leg.


“Sorry. It’s kind of cold,” he said with a grin as Sungyeol groaned and sat back up.


“Thanks for the warning, you jerk.” Sungyeol scooted over to Myungsoo and punched him in the arm.


“What do you need a warning for? You don’t bruise.”


--


“You should probably stay in your room today,” Joon said one day as you were getting ready to leave. It was your day off, and you were looking forward to visiting the marketplace to see if they had any new things for sale.


“What? Why?”


“Full moon tonight.” You blinked a few times before remembering what you were taught in lessons.


The inhabitants of the land of the dead were highly affected by the moon. A full moon only came around once every two months, and not once a month like it did in Armalis, but it increased the powers of the creatures in the land of the dead, making some of them go mad.


Demons and werewolves took their true forms, and some may or may not have good control of their true forms.You stared at Joon and sighed.


“Well, you could go out. It’s just a suggestion, but I think if you’ve never been here when the moon is full, then you’re going to be in for a good shock. If you want to go out, then I’ll take you out when the sun goes down.” You pursed your lips.


“I’ve got to be exposed to it sooner or later, right?” Joon sighed.


“Well, if you want.”


--


You were sleeping peacefully when you felt it. The call of the full moon. You opened up your eyes and sat up, rubbing at your eyes sleepily. You were filled with some sort of restless energy and sighed before getting out of bed.


It was strange. The moonlight in Armalis didn’t affect you like this. You bathed and changed into clothes, relishing the fact that you were going to be wearing a dress all day and not have to change into the confines of pants.


There was a knock on your door, you finished tying up your hair before telling them to come in.


“Joon, is that-” You turned towards the doorway and almost screamed. The person who walked in was roughly Joon’s size, but he was bare-chested with muscles everywhere. His eyes were black, ears pointed, and when he grinned at you, you could make out some very pointy teeth.


“Joon?”


“In the flesh. Not a pretty sight, huh?” He stepped all the way into your room, and you could see a black design on his back pulsing red every now and then.


“Do all demons look like that?” you asked, feeling your heartbeat finally settle down.


“Pretty much, more or less. The higher level ones have wings, and their power lines are much more intricate on their backs.” Joon jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and you could see he had claws now instead of fingers.


“Well, ready to go?”


--


You followed Joon quietly through the castle. Moonlight flooded everywhere, but there was hardly a soul that was out.


“Where is everyone?”


“Out and about. With the sudden power increase, most people try to get as much done as possible before the moon goes out. Speaking of which, how do you feel?” You blinked at Joon as the two of you walked out of the gates.


“Uh... normal. Maybe a little bit more restless, but nothing too out of the ordinary.” Joon sighed.


“Lucky. Imagine having to wake up to these,” Joon said, holding up his claws.


--


It felt like you were in a completely foreign place as you stared at the inhabitants of Rivedon. You recognized the voices that greeted you, but you were too surprised sometimes to greet them back and had to murmur an apology more than once.


Your biggest surprise was the werewolves. They were gigantic, nearly two or even three times your size.


“Hey there, princess,” a voice said. You turned and blinked a few times before answering.


“Mir?”


“Indeed. Surprised?” He was more or less the same size, but his eyes glowed green and his ears were pointed. You spotted a canine pushing past his lips, and when he grinned at you, you noticed both canines were elongated.


“I guess you never asked, but I’m an imp. Much better looking than a demon, don’t you think?” he asked as Joon scowled at him. “What are you doing out and about on this full moon?”


“I was curious to see how much everything changed, but I don’t think I can take much more of this. My heart is about to die of surprise.” You could feel your heart beating out of your chest in anxiety. Suddenly, Joon turned towards the castle and frowned.


“Seungho’s calling me again. Are you going to be okay here by yourself? Or do you want me to walk you back?” You shook your head and watched as Joon made his way back to the castle.


“Well, I just got in some really cute ribbons if you wanted to take a look...”


--


You went back to the castle after you stopped to get a bite to eat. One of the werewolves challenged you to an eating contest, and his pack mates howled in laughter, literally howling, as you beat him.


You swung your small bag with your new ribbons in your hand as you walked in through the gates. The night air was cool against your skin, and you didn’t really feel like going back to your room, so you decided to visit the castle gardens.


The castle gardens were outside on the grounds and open to everyone. You didn’t know who took care of the flowers that bloomed in the darkness, but as soon as you got close enough, you closed your eyes and let the smell of the flowers mix with your senses.


You wandered over to the bench in the middle of the gardens and relaxed, taking in a deep breath. The moonlight caressed your skin and made you feel comfortable for once. It almost felt like the moonlight was holding and comforting you.


You felt a surge of energy beside you and turned to see Myungsoo sitting beside you with an unreadable expression on his face. He and you were pretty close. The only people in the castle that you felt even closer to were Joon, Seungho, and Byunghee.


“Myungsoo, you scared me. What are you doing out here?” you asked, hand over your heart. Myungsoo didn’t answer you, instead, you watched him trace the features on your face with his eyes until they settled on your hand on your chest.


“I don’t usually like going out in the moonlight,” he said as he scooted closer to you. There was something about his aura that felt different, but you couldn’t figure out what it was. Whatever it was though, was making you anxious.


“Why not? What does moonlight do to warlocks?” He blinked at you slowly before reaching out for your hand. Your eyes widened as you leaned back away from him, but he reached forward and grabbed your hand anyway.


You tried to yank it out of his grasp until you realized that you weren’t draining life from him. Your eyes widened in confusion as you felt something else draining into your body. Myungsoo kept a firm grip on your hand as light blue lines appeared on his bare arms and half of his face, weaving themselves into an intricate design.


“Myungsoo, what is-”


“In the moonlight, I have no life to give. Just energy.” You blinked a few times in confusion before his magic started to mix with yours in your body, making you shiver slightly. You could... feel him.


“Does it feel bad?” he asked, pulling you a little bit closer.


“I- No- It just feels different,” you said, looking down. The two of you were sitting side by side, legs touching. He reached out and grabbed your chin, tilting your head up in his direction.


“Good.” And before you knew it, he leaned forward to kiss you.