The garden was overflowing with a dazzling variety of plants. Bright flowers mixed in with foul smelling mushrooms, what looked like a bin had various bones and scrapes of fruit and meat in it with with trees providing shade for Nikola. He couldn't help feeling unease however, as if his senses were telling him something wasn't quite right. He drew close to a cluster of bright yellow flowers, and was about to touch it, when a loud voice interrupted him.

"AY YOU DON'T TOUCH IT UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIEEEEEEEEE."

Nikola stiffened up at the tone of the voice, but the pitch wasn't quite right, why did it sound like a young child? Pondering the thought, a small child kicked open the door of the windowless shack and stumbled out.

What. Nikola tried to make sense of the girl in front of him. Nikola was quite short as compared to other men and even women, standing at only 1 Metre and 70 Celch, but this little creature was only 1 metre 40 Celch. Even stranger were her garments. Made of leather and thick crystal for lenses, the impressive goggles held up a just as impressive mess of green hair vaguely tied in twintails, as though the person tying it had forgotten how to in the midst of it. A somewhat white cotton lab coat that was several sizes too large for the small creature covered the standard issue military uniform that Nikola was also wearing. The small girl's hands were covered in thick blacksmith gloves, clearly showing the size difference.

"DID YA HEAR ME, I SAID BACK AWAY FROM THE POISON HEMLOCK YA MUFFINHEAD."

The shrieking girl had Nikola snapping back to reality. He immediately backpedaled away from both the loud girl and the plant, being careful to maintain his distance from all plants. Now he realized what was wrong, and why his senses were tingling. Everything around him was death, a beautiful garden of poison.From the Poison Hemlock plant, to the Deathcap mushroom, Deathly Nightshade flower, Singing Foxglove and the Tall Venomous Oak, the garden he was in was grown to kill. 

The girl, who had now covered herself with multiple layers of thick cloth pushed him out of the garden. It was almost comical, seeing a small child push a teenager two times larger than herself out of it.

"SO, WHAT'S YOUR BUSINESS IN MY GARDEN HUH?"

Nikola only gently removed the multiple layers of cloth surrounding her years.

"I am Private First Class Nikola Tiembrid, I was lost trying to find my way to Warrant Officer Vindicta's office. And I don't think you are hard of hearing, so please refrain from screaming anymore."

"AH? WHY? I CAN SCREAM WHENEVER I WANT. BY THE WAY I AM FIRST SERGEANT NORAH GREENFELD."

"The shack didn't have any windows, so the only way you would have noticed me would be if you heard my feet rustling the gravel path or if you set up a defensive alert system around the perimeter. Since you didn't set up one, this would mean your hearing is ok, or is exceptionally good."

"Boo, was having so much fun, so what brings ya here? You don't seem like familiar, so I guess that you're new here?"

"Yes."

"Alright! Let big sis Norah help you, I gotta go see the boss lady as well, so lets GOOOO!"

What was up with this garrison? It's almost like everyone is super happy to be a soldier, or maybe she drugged herself. Nikola pondered before following the now scampering Norah, discarding her suffocating clothes like a skin-shedding snake until only her lab coat and Officer uniform was left.

The two saluted the guards, walked into the castle Keep before climbing up stairs and knocking on the door. After "Enter." was said, Nikola opened the door, and the two saluted. The room was quite larger than Nikoa's dormitory, with a wall of books and maps on one side, a wall of assorted weapons and armor, with the last wall being windows made of glass. Glass was hard to come by, so this was quite the luxury. In front of the window, was a heavy oak wood desk where Olivia was going through what seemed like documents, as well as a spread-out map with details of several forts and watchtowers. 

"Well, seems like two of you are here."

""Yes Mam.""

"I'll get straight to the point. Garrison Ticker has been tasked with capturing Fort Silosa."

While Norah nodded her head, Nikola merely looked confused.

"Wait hold on. First, you grabbed me without any warrant, then you conscript me into the army against my will and not only that, why am I serving under you, and I guess that was classified information not to be released to the public so by telling me you leave me no choice but to remain in the army no?!" 

"And not only that, you even,"

Nikola looked at Olivia, and saw that she gave her permission

"You dragged me out of hiding, when I was supposed to be laying low, away from the very military that killed my parents? I left my House behind when I took on the name Tiembrid, so why are you and I seeing each other again?"

Olivia looked rather bemused at Nikola's angry face, while Norah had a smug grin on her face. It seems as though the two were in cahoots, or something had been pre-arranged for state secrets to be so openly discussed.

"Weeeellll, welcome back Nikola Noctis, the state has required your service once again. Seeing my adorable Norah's questioning face, I shall begin a brief explanation of House Noctis. As you may know, the Aurlux Empire was founded 400 years ago, but what many don't know is House Noctis. Now, magic, which are primarily held by noble bloodlines, have many different elements. The stronger the bloodline, the stronger the element, be it fire, earth, air, water, or Light. The Light magic is held almost exclusively by the Aurlux Family, and there needed to be a counter balance to the power of the Light. Thus, the Noctis Family, whose members utilize the ever so rare Dark magic, are able to oppose the Aurlux Family. The two families maintained the status quo between them, akin to servant and master, Noctis serving Aurlux, but with a twist. House Noctis could at any moment have the authority to kill the Aurlux, but they face the risk of losing the whole house at one go should they mess up. However, others interfered, that guy's family died, he's the last one and I'm going to stop talking now."

Olivia sat down in her chair, massaging her jaw while putting sugar into her cup of tea. She was markedly relaxed for someone who spilled deep secrets in front of a member of the public. Norah's jaw had now comically hit the floor, while Nikola was walking in a circle, cursing up and down like a one eyed carpenter.

"Well, one moment. I know Light magic covers healing and protection such as magical wards and physical wards, but how does dark magic work?"

Norah recovered quickly, her inquisitive nature showing her curious side. Nikola then heard the loud thumping of armored boots, and realising the short girl would not be able to move out the way, picked up the girl and moved to the side.

"Well, Norah my dear, let's find out."