| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒩𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽 |

The wind howls through out the night. The Kingdom of Evanora was a bright shinning look in a cold dark world, Leon's world. In a matter of hours he had lost the most important things to him, now all he can do is wait for the sun to rise and to leave. He thinks about how much he'll miss this view, every night looking down upon the kingdom. A sound distracted him from his thoughts, a knock at the door.
"Come in." He yelled. Tamara slowly walked in the room and calmly sat on the bed. Leon was turned away from her, he wanted to enjoy the view for just a little more.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, I see potential in you and I don't want you to waist it." Her voice came off as one of sadness and regret. After he waited a few more moments he finally turned to her and stared, staying on the balcony.
"Is that the reason? Or was the reason that I was dating a vampire?" He remained calm but she could tell anger was starting to build up.
"Leon this isn't about Amelia."
"No, I think it is. You have always been weird about us two. It wouldn't surprise me that you would do this." He walked back in the room and went over to the coat rack, he grabbed the first thing his hand touched, an old beaten down blue jacket. Tamara looked at what he now wore, her face became slightly pale. It took her a moment to come up with a response, she found it hard due to who that jacket belonged to.

"It..." The next words that would come out were ones she knew she would always regret.
"I knew you two wouldn't work, not in the long run. You're joining the guardians because it is the best thing for you."
"I knew it... I fucking knew it" The bed frame shook as he kicked the leg of it.
"I'm sorry son, please, just let me explain it more."
"No mum. You want me part of the Guardians, then I'm going. Now." He bent over and picked up his packed bag, with a big swing he managed to strap it over his arm, his sword rested in his scabbard.
"Please don't follow me, just do that one thing for me."

All anger was gone from his voice, only sadness was there. Tamara locked eyes with him and stared for what felt like minutes. Without words said they could both tell what each other thought. Leon turned to the open door and walked out, Tamara just sat there, now unable to stop the tears. There was so much more Tamara wanted to share with Leon, the words that came out though sounded harsh and cruel. She loved seeing them both together but knew from personal experience that those sort of relationships end badly.

She stood up and moved over to where Leon stood only moments ago. She looked out over the kingdom, she thought about the steps she took to get where she was now. She wasn't happy being a queen, sitting on a throne all day, being looked up to so highly. She missed the simpler times fighting along side her lover on the battlefield. Fighting against the forces of the winter, Queens driven by hatred and... family. That one thought brought her back to her senses.

The sound of footsteps slowly approached her from behind, the steps themselves sounded heavy, like they had armor on. She whipped her eyes with the sleeve of her dress then turned. One of most loyal guards stood in front of her. He looked as if he was in a panic, his normal color filled face was snow white, his lips quivered as he tried to find the right words to say.
"M'lady... There's been an attack." He didn't need to say anything else, she snapped into Queen mode and walked out of the room, followed by her most trusted guard.

Morning finally came up in the north. Light in the sky was near to non but it was still time for the people of this old kingdom to get to their jobs. Francis' job for the day was to travel with his uncle to Trident Falls, a place said to contain the most beautiful views in all of Staeso. The reason why it was named Trident Falls was due to the location of it.

A long road that begins at the south slowly spits off into three sperate paths which lead through the West and right into the heart of the North. Trident Falls was positioned at the very tip of the Trident shaped path. The whole region of Trident Falls was a top of a mountain that looked down onto the Kingdom. Some stories claimed that the ruins were the home of the first werewolves before they rebuilt their empire in the valley below, but there was many different interpretations of the story.

After hours of hiking up the old narrow path which went along side the mountain they finally reached what they were looking for, the ruins. The view of the Old Kingdom below them was one Francis could never forget. A mixture of white and grey covered the ground, giant statues of a wolf guarded each corner of the Kingdom, carved out of the mountain sides.

"You better get used to this view, if the stories of a food source here is true then we'll be coming back here quite often." His rough worn voice uttered. Doing another hike like that would probably kill Francis but he knew it would be worth it to see this view again.

After around half an hour they had finally set up camp. The ruined stone building appeared to be a black smith of some sort or what was left of one anyway. Elliot already had a small fire going and had some bread to eat on for lunch. Francis wasn't at the campsite, he had been given permission to explore the ruins a bit while Elliot warmed up.

What Francis saw was beautiful but also heartbreaking, all of the stone buildings looked as if they were completely burnt down, only black outlines of them remained. From what Francis saw there appeared to be quite a large number of rabbits and deer living in the ruins, but something didn't seem right about them. When he came around a corner and came face to face with a deer it didn't run, it just... observed him.

Where the white in its eyes should of been there was black, its pupils were a crimson red and it gave off a strange vibe. All the animals he had come across in the ruins seemed to behave the same way, not run or hide but only stare. The deer he came face to face with acted like a dog, nudging his arm then running off, its like it wanted him to follow. He knew Elliot would never believe this, it was all to surreal. With nothing better to do Francis decided to follow the deer through the ruins. Five minutes of tracking footprints led him to something he wasn't expecting. The ruins cleaned up and the opening led to a bridge.

It was grand in design, ten men could fit side to side on it and still have enough room. The canyon the bridge cross appeared to be endless, the faintest sign of a frozen lake was at the bottom. At the other end of the bridge was an enormous castle, it looked like something a child design, a lot of unneeded craft men ship was put into it. All long the sides of the castle were giant symbols that seemed to have an unknown purpose, along the floor of the bridge the symbol was also repeated. The castle and bridge were completely untouched from fire or any sort destruction, it was in near perfect condition. At the end of the overwhelming bridge were two twelve foot stone statues, they looked down at the ground and held the hilt of their sword with both their hands, the point of it digging into the pillar it rested on.

The castle doors were slightly cracked open, peering through them was the same deer, with its haunting eyes and unknown intention. The longer he stared at the creature the longer every around him felt wrong. A feeling of complete dread fell over his body as he wondered what was behind those doors, he didn't want to feel like this but it was if he wasn't given a choice. When he thought things couldn't get worse he could begin to hear a voice, the faintest of voice, calling out to him. As he tried to calm himself and focus on the voice it became more clear what it said.

"In here... in here..." Before he had time to do anything else he felt cold, large hands grab his shoulder. He screamed and spun around, kicking whoever was behind him in the leg.
"Jesus boy." Elliot stumbled back up and slapped Francis hard across the face.
"Don't do that again." His harsh unforgiving voice seemed faint compared to the one Francis just heard, the one now lost in his memories.
"Yes Uncle Elliot."
"Looks good doesn't it." He gestures towards the castle, when Francis looked the deer was no longer there.
"Our ancestors sure knew who to build shit didn't they." He smirked and turned away from it.
"Lets get our stuff now, have you seen how dumb the animals are here, by the end of the day we will have enough meat for the month." He playfully muttered. Francis responded in a nod and followed, he forced himself to forget what he just saw, only logical thing to do was blame it on his imagination.

| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐸𝒶𝓈𝓉 |

Tamara stood in a pool of blood that trailed to the hallway, it was hard for her to see her old friend like this. His body remained in the same position it died in, face down in the thick black liquid. Countless amounts of holes slowly spilled blood from his back, she couldn't believe how a Vampire could have so much blood. She grabbed the lifeless Jay by the back of the hair and pulled his head back. First thing she saw was the large hole through the middle of his neck, his once yellow eyes were now grey and his ghostly white skin had begun to darken. After she took a few moments to breath she placed his head back on the table and turned to her guard.

"Lock down the castle. I want whoever did this kneeling before me by the time the moon rises." There was no joy in her voice, only rage and disgust.
"Yes M'lady."
"Do you know the whereabouts of Amelia and Octavian?"
"We do m'lday. They are being guarded in the War Room, we made sure that the best are protecting them."
"Thank you." She looked around the room one more time, something clicked in her mind, something that should of been obvious from the start.
"Where are the daggers!" She screamed at him as she leaned in close, it was the first time her guard saw her like this.

"I..I... Don't know" His hands shivered as he stared her down. The eyes he stared into were not blue anymore but a dark crimson red, her hand was clenched, she held back all of her anger.
"You find those daggers... If we lose those then we lose our alleys, is that understood." He knew not to question her anymore, he responded in a quick "Yes" then ran out the room. Tamaras eyes faded back to their normal blue, her anger slowly died down, only thing that remained was sadness. She collapsed down onto the floor, she leaned against the end of the bed, to her left was her lifeless friend, still in a pool of his own bed.
"Guards." Her voice cracked as she called out. Three more guards who were waited by the door entered.
"Please clean up this mess." The guards followed their queens commands and began to do what they were told. Tamara stayed on the floor, every few seconds she looked down at her gauntlet. She didn't even realize till then that she had sat on Jays blood, the palm of her gauntlet rested in it. It sickened her to her stomach.

Before the castle had gone under lock down Leon left, he made his way towards the Academy. After the fight with Amelia then his mum he was ready to leave, sword on his back along with his bag. Maybe joining the guards was the best thing for him like his mother stated, he should focus on himself more rather then others. At the front of the Academy was two horses, one with someone on it and one without. Beside the horses was Alex, his armor glowed in the morning light. The second Alex saw Leon his face lit up, a large grin screeched across his face.
"You made you kid." When Leon got in reach Alex pulled him by the arm and shook it, his grip seemed tighter then yesterday.

"So are we ready to head out?" Leon's voice was quite and shy.
"Mhm. I'll be up in the sky leading you and Sam towards the south." He stepped aside so Leon could see the girl. She wore a bright yellow almost gold coat with a large hood on the back, her eyes were a mixture of bright green and blue, her hair was shaved on one side, the other side being short and golden. She stared for a few moments and only said one word before she turned away.
"Sup." Leon nodded back at her but she turned before she saw.

"Right lets get a move on then. Personally I wanted want to stay in this kingdom longer then I need to." He grinned once more, with a great thrust from his wings his body launched into the air, high above some of the tallest buildings. Leon swung himself onto the back of the horse and followed Sam. They made their way down through the main road of the kingdom. All of the people could see the prince going off to join the Guardians and they cheered for him, word must of spread fast about him leaving the Evanora. They reached the main gate, before he rode out he turned to the people who stared at him, he waved to all of them then rode off.

This was the biggest moment of his life, once part of the Guardians you are always part of the Guardians, even after you've left. Its very likely that he wont see his mother and sister for around three years, that's the time it takes to train, but he felt like he was ready. Ahead of them far in the distance was the entrance to the Dark Forest. The forest took up most of the South and was filled with strange creatures and unknown magic, not one person has fully explored the whole thing.

Every since he was a kid Leon dreamed of entering the forest, he was told stories of how his father and mother met within the woods. He didn't know why they were both in the forest, come to think of it Leon didn't know much about his father and mothers relationship, only the stories from their battles. Maybe being in the Dark Forest he could learn a thing or two about their history, what events took place in the woods, why was his mother there.

Amelia broke down onto the floor and cried, Tamara had just broken the news to her about her father. Octavian kneeled down and hugged her, he managed to hold back his emotions but Amelia couldn't, she was a complete wreak.
"I'm sorry about this. I promise, I'll find who did this." Tamaras voice calmed her down, she sniffed and whipped the tears off her face.
"Thank you." She smiled and stood back up, she leaned her arms on the war room table.
"Octavian, due to your fathers sudden passing your in line to be the next king." Octavian looked at the ground and sighed.

"If I must." He normally didn't talk unless he had, normally he stayed quite and observed a conversation from the background.
"I've got to go and talk to Laura, she's the only leader still here" She didn't want to leave but for Laura's safety she knew she had to.
"Ok..." Amelia sniffs again but manages to form a smile, directed at Tamara. She smiled back and walked out of the war room. The second Tamara was gone Amelia broke down into tears again, she turned towards her brother and started to throw her fits at him.

"WHY! WHY!" Octavian caught both her hands and pinned them onto the table.
"You think after years of planning I wasn't going to do it." His voice was no longer shy and quite, it was harsh and demanding.
"You shouldn't of killed him, he was our fucking father." She kept her voice down so no one could hear from the outside.
"Hey you planned this with me remember, all those months ago when we first got here." He applied more pressure onto her arms, hurting them more and more.

"I was in a bad state of mind when we planned that."
"Bullshit!" He let go of her hands then pushed her onto the ground.
"You knew what you had coming the day we planned this, you better not back out now just because you've grown attached towards these people." He looked down at her helpless figure, she was curled up and refused to look at him.
"They are... my real family." She sniffed between every word.
"No no no. The only family you have... Is me." There was a long pause before she spoke again.
"What of the daggers?" Her voice had become monotoned.
"They are safe. One of our many friends is looking after them, trust me, no one is going to take them off him."