14 years ago, there were 7 kingdoms. These kingdoms all had something unique to them and some others were jealous of that; an example is the Onyxion ores of the Darklings. This ore was known by all kingdoms but could only be forged by Darklings. The ore was black as night with almost a red hue to it in some lighting and was indestructible to most things unless extreme conditions were met. Onyxion ore was seeked out by all kingdoms because of its strength but there was never a chance for anyone to get their hands on it until one day the news of the Darklings king losing his mind got out. That's when the Elves and Dwarves of the North started to make their move towards the kingdom and demanded for a supply trade of the ore.
Sadly, the Darklings king denied them of such a trade which angered the two demanding the ore which began a seven year long war but it was only stopped when the king had disappeared and left his wife behind who negotiated about the trade to save her people. The Queen was killed not long after this trade agreement was met which caused the Elves and Dwarves to stop the trade due to it being a part of the agreement until there was another on the throne and without anyone one on the throne the Darklings kingdom was left in ruins.
Seven years after the Great War…
A light olive-skinned princess of a ruined kingdom had been raised by her neighboring were-beast village called Bright Tornado for the past seven years and today the Elder of the village, Agnorus, wanted to talk with her about going to another thriving village near her old home called Phynox. Initially, She refused as she was technically home and happy with being in the village. However, after a day of giving it some thought, she decided to go to Agnorus and asked, "May I take someone with me as a travel companion?"
Agnorus responded with a nod before he asked his own question. "Who will be going with young one?" and with joy in her voice, she says, "Schattenflügel." which brought a smile to Agnorus's slightly wrinkled face as he accepted her proposal of taking his heir with her and started to prepare for the long journey that awaited the two 19-year-olds.
—
"Phynox: Eastern Docks."
After a long journey across land and sea, the princess and Schattenflügel arrived upon the docks of Phynox. It was dusk by that time, and Schattenflügel was utterly lost and confused on what to do before noticing the princess starting to head towards the guard station. He hesitates and looks back at their boat, which is leaving, before following after her. When they got to the guard station, which was on a small hill with a cobelnite foundation.
They walked in and looked around before the princess called out, "Hello!" and a faint deep voice called back with a, "Yes?" Soon, a sun-kissed man much taller than Schattenflügel and the princess walked over to them from behind an accent wall of oakton wood.
"Oh, you're the visitors from Bright Tornado, correct?" The towering male in deep blue armor spoke.
With a sweet smile towards the man in armor, the princess would answer in confirmation. "Yes, we are." Schattenflügel would also not add to her confirmation towards the male with jet-black hair. Heavy muscular build underneath the hefty armor as Schattenflügel stood behind his childhood friend.
Eventually, his gaze landed upon a flight of stairs where two other men in dark gray armor walked down to join the first guard. These two men end up introducing themselves as Soul, a dark-skinned elf with brown hair, and Max, a fair-skinned human with blonde hair, before also introducing the giant in deep blue armor as Aros, the captain of the guard. The princess also began an introduction, "My name is Darkmoon and this man behind me like a child, is Schattenflügel." She spoke in the same sweet tone as earlier.
After a little more conversation with the three guards, Darkmoon felt like Aros wasn't from the surface realm for reasons unknown besides his scent. She felt like he was one of the legends. One that were-beast folk would tell children so they'd be aware of the scent. The legend about being a good knight or personal bodyguard could end up in a portal to the Nether Vox and fall to the depths of said realm. If they managed to return, either their mind would be lost or they would smell like ash, blood, or burning flesh.
"Mr. Aros," Darkmoon says formally towards the towering male before she adds, "I request that we spar. We will meet at the training grounds near dawn. I'm curious about something and I need answers."
Without even batting an eye, Aros looked at Darkmoon and laughed slightly. "Why spar so late at night? We aren't even dating yet." The giant joked but didn't see the short female express any sign of laughter, sighing in defeat he gave a better answer, "Fine till midnight. We shall not have anything on us while we spar. Do you understand, Darky?" Darkmoon simply nodded yes to Aros, ignoring his nickname for her before she turned to leave the guard station.
Once outside the guard station again, Darkmoon noticed Schattenflügel wasn't behind her anymore and soon spotted him standing outside the local inn of the village with two keys in hand for their separate rooms that he, at some point, disappeared to rent. She went over to her albino friend and picked a key from his slightly larger hand before going inside the cabin-like building to investigate her room on the second floor.
The night came swiftly and Darkmoon towards the training grounds where Aros, Soul, and Max would be waiting for her. They were sparring amongst themselves when she arrived before Soul called out to her in an exhausted tone from sparring with Aros, who was considerably stronger than Soul. "Put your items in the chest before ya enter..."
Darkmoon listened with a sigh to Soul and emptied her pockets, which were filled with her daily items. These items are a small bag of herbs, ores she found on her journey to Phynox, and her mother's, late Queen Arsa's, wedding ring that she was given before her mom was killed. Once Darkmoon's pockets were bare, she'd enter the fenced area and immediately Aros was waiting for her to come at him with an attack but she didn't.
"Don't know how to fight?" The behemoth jokes with a hint of a false disappointment as he looks at his hourglass shaped opponent, which brought a scoff out from her round lips. "I do but I don't like throwing the first punch… well not unless it's to satisfy my curiosity." Darkmoon replied as she watched her sparring partner chuckle at the fact that she didn't understand he was joking. "Then let's see what you got, beautiful." Aros laughs before he rushes towards her as though he was going to body slam into her.
Acting swiftly, Darkmoon was able to dodge Aros' first attack which began the series of the two exchanging blows to one another; both dodging each other. Soul and Max watched in awe as the two spared at a speed that would've given the two men problems before the two became speechless from the increasing speed. It was hard to believe that Darkmoon and Aros were only doing hand to hand combat until Aros stopped in his tracks from throwing a punch as a helm of Onyxion, a black metal the Darkling kingdom was known for, had appeared on Darkmoon's head. The giant stood in his position while he looked at her in shock; Soul and Max doing the same.
Soon, Aros stepped away from the tiny female while staring in disbelief of what he saw. "So you are a Darkling…" Aros' voice seemed to lower in a mix of emotions and soon the helm disappeared into smoke from Darkmoon's head. She didn't say anything and just stood in front of Aros with her head lowered in shame due to many rumors that she's heard which all surfaced after the war.
"As far as I know… I am the last one with the armor." She whispered as she backed away from him in shame. Then began to head towards the gate, pushing past Soul and Max which the two men blocked from her. Once she got past them, Soul gently grabbed Darkmoon by the arm.
"Can you please let me go…?" Darkmoon asked as she looked at the gravel path while Soul held her arm before Max moved to stand in front of her and shook his head no.
"Aros still wishes to talk with you." Soul responds.
"We also need to know if you can be trusted." Max followed in response.
Darkmoon looks at the human before turning her head to look at Aros with an angered expression. Soon, Soul let go of Darkmoon's arm which she swiftly moved away from the man. "If I was the monster that those rumors make my people out to be. I would've set this place a blaze already," She snarled, "and made you watch the flames… However, that isn't how I or any of my people work."
Aros raised an eyebrow before he growled in return, mirroring her anger. "Not how your people work?! Your people started a war because of your delusional king losing his marbles."
Darkmoon's anger grew as she stared at Aros but it soon melted into a confused expression. "What do you mean? I was a child back then and my father didn't start the war, it was the greedy kings of the other races that took advantage of that situation." She lowered her head again. "My people were harmed because my father disappeared and had my mother killed for no reason." Then, she began to cry as she remembered the pain and loss of the past before she teleported into Schattenflügel's room at the inn, leaving her items behind.
Once she was in Schattenflügel's room, she laid on top of him to calm down and eventually fell asleep to the sound of his heart beat. The following morning, Darkmoon woke up to Schattenflügel sitting in a chair in the corner of the lightly decorated room of ecurps wood furniture and blue accent colors. "Good morning." Darkmoon whispered as she sat up in the king sized bed while rubbing her eyes, wearing the same clothes from yesterday. "Schattenflügel?" She asked as she saw him holding his head in his only hand at the moment. He snapped his head up as he heard Darkmoon get out of the bed, looking at his childhood friend as she walked over to him. "Did I scare you, Schatten? I'm sorry if I did. Last night was overwhelming and I ended—."
Schattenflügel interrupts Darkmoon with a whisper of his own, "It's fine Darkmoon but wake me next time, okay? I was caught off guard from finding you cuddling me like a baricuel…" He nervously laughed as he referred to her as a common creature of the were-breast lands shared with the dwarves. Darkmoon hummed as she was still worried.
"I'll go to my room and change. I need to head back to the training grounds to get my mother's ring." Darkmoon said as she began to leave Schattenflügel's room to go to her room and swiftly change into a comfortable outfit before she ran out the village inn and towards the training area, where she checked the chest for her items, entering the flat grassy field afterwards and started to spare by herself.
Meanwhile, a pinkish white haired young man was walking and re-reading a letter from his eldest brother and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings which caused him to walk straight into a tree near the training grounds. Pausing her sparring from the sounds of groaning, Darkmoon spots the 19 year old rubbing his face as he sat on a gravel path, the letter floating towards her direction due to the force of the collision. She caught the piece of paper before she headed over the male and asked as she went over to the fence. "Are you okay?"
The male groaned a pained 'yes' but Darkmoon couldn't hear him so she made her way over to him and crouched down next to him. "I'm going to ask again. Are you okay?" Darkmoon repeated herself this time more so worried for the male on the ground while she offered him her free hand. Holding his head, he nodded carefully and equally as slowly he started to get up off the ground without realizing her outreached hand. "Yes… thank you for asking, miss." He replied quietly as he looked at Darkmoon and backed away quickly after noticing how close she was to him. "Oh! Uhm… You're new, right?"
Darkmoon steps back just as he did and gives a small laugh as she nodded before handing back his letter. "Yes I am but I have plans to go back to Bright Tornado. Oh and my name is Darkmoon, sorry for the late introduction and also for being in your personal space when you were standing up."
Surprised by her words, the young man took his letter and read it quickly before he looked back at Darkmoon. "Darkmoon? Darkmoon Silverblade? My sister?" He questioned which turned into surprise while she nervously laughed and nodded. "Yeah… and you are?" She whispered. He smiled with joy and hugged Darkmoon, "It's me, Noomkard! I've missed you, sister." he chirped in joy as he held her tightly. Darkmoon looks at her brother in surprise before she returns the hug. "King Draco, thank you! Gods you look so much like mom now that I look at you and I've missed you too." Darkmoon spoke, overjoyed by being reunited with one of her triplet brothers.
Meanwhile, Max was doing his rounds of checking the village for anything suspicious when spotted the two siblings hugging, taking note that Noomkard was at least 5 inches taller than Darkmoon but she was in fact the one picking up the white haired darkling instead of him doing so. Without a word to either of them, Max returned to his job as if he didn't see anything.
Time flew by as Darkmoon and Noomkard hung out together the rest of the day; meaning it was night by the time Noomkard took Darkmoon to his home. It was actually the house of the Ace family, who are well known in Phynox for being halflings. They enter the home and are greeted by Noomkard's childhood best friend, Trapsul Ace, who was a lightly tanned half-elf. Trapsul had an antic of teasing Noomkard about many things; this time it fell to Darkmoon.
"Noomkard sittin' in a tr–' Trapsul tried to tease but Noomkard stopped the long blonde haired friend by nearly vomiting. "SHE'S MY SISTER!!" Noomkard yelled out in disgust before going to the kitchen in a hurry to avoid losing his appetite. Trapsul laughed as he watched Noomkard run to the kitchen before he looked at Darkmoon, who wasn't paying much attention to what was happening. She was looking around the fully furnished, wide open, living room that had two archways leading to different places in the house; one of which led to the kitchen while the other led to a hallway of four doors.
The male sighed as he saw Darkmoon go to the two walls that were covered with many books on very dusty shelves that nearly reached the archway to the kitchen. "So you're one of Noomie's siblings… where did you disappear to after you both stayed with us for a week?"
Darkmoon turned her head to Trapsul. "Oh I ended up being taken to Bright Tornado. You know the were-beast territory to the south-east of here." She spoke as she turned her sight back onto the dust filled bookshelf before Trapsul blocked her view of it. "Does that mean you know why the were-beasts are trying to make Phynox apart of their territory?" Trapsul asked.
Darkmoon simply shook her head as she gently touched the spines of the books behind Trapsul's shoulder as she moved to look at a different part of the bookshelves. Books from all the seven kingdoms filled her view. One book in particular caught Darkmoon's eye. The book was much older than the other books and it was about a legendary man called Shaleon. "I don't know why they would. Well of course that is unless something or someone is taking over their territory." She explained while picking the old leather book from the self and looked at it before opening it to read the summary.
The summary of the book talks of a world before it was named and of the first darkling to use Onyxion, Shaleon. Shaleon was a wise and brave man in the story. At the time only four races existed and he built a kingdom where all lived in peace but over time that harmony was destroyed. The four kingdoms of the old world began a war. Shaleon protected his kingdom which is known now as the 8th kingdom of Shaleon till his and his childhood friends' victory in the war. His childhood friends were also rulers of the once nameless world but sadly they ended up buried and lost just like Shaleon and his 8th kingdom. Darkmoon was about to flip the page to read the short novel but Trapsul took the book from her, putting it back in its undusted spot on the bookshelf. "He-"
"Don't touch it please… It's the only book my dad has from the Darkling kingdom." Trapsul whispered as he stared at the pale brown and worn out leather book Darkmoon had in hand just a moment ago.
"I'm surprised you even have a copy. Last I remember all of the other copies were burned to ash." Darkmoon spoke softly in amusement. "I wonder what other ancient books you have." Her voice chirped from curiosity as she looked at the other books.
The male sighs before he goes to the kitchen, leaving Darkmoon to her curiosity with the bookshelves. While all that happened, Noomkard was cooking dinner, noodles with ham and cream, and was stirring the mix as Trapsul entered the kitchen, he didn't say a word while listened to his house mate humming a lullaby before Trapsul let out an annoyed groan, which made Noomkard giggle and had to ask, "What's wrong, Trappy?"
"Your sister… Has she always been so… I don't know… curious or missing some brain cells?"
"Yep… but don't let her foul you, Trappy." Noomkard chuckled as he plates the food for the three of them before he went to call for Darkmoon to get some food.
Several hours after the three ate and talked, Darkmoon went back to the filthy bookshelves while Noomkard headed to bed. Trapsul stayed behind in the kitchen to clean the dishes. Darkmoon pulled out book after book from the bookshelf; mostly books that talked of magix. The books that surrounded it were all history books of all the races, who each controlled one magix element but she held one book in particular that caught her eye because it was an older book than the legend of Shaleon. It was about magix that only Shaleon would've known along with one of his best friends, King Draco of the Wyverns. It was an eclipse themed book of magix.
This time Darkmoon started reading the book just as Trapsul came out of the kitchen. Once he saw Darkmoon holding the book, an instant fear filled Trapsul as his fight or flight took over. He took the barely read book from Darkmoon which she in turn asked with annoyance, "What's up with you taking books from me?" Trapsul was holding the aged book out of her reach while looking at her. "Because this one isn't supposed to be read without the knowledge of an elder from one of the four ancient races." He spoke before sighing as he put the book back on a shelf out of Darkmoon's reach, which made her pout while her tail revealed itself, swaying like that on an irritated cat's tail.
"An elder would never allow for that magix to be learned. Not when Shaleon used it as a "cheat card" to win the battle. Besides, why would an elder teach someone that is probably related to Shaleon?" Darkmoon spoke as her tail was still flicking behind her.
"But-" Trapsul tried to talk but was interrupted by Darkmoon taking the book of eclipse down from the dusty shelf using her own magix.
"No buts… My brother and I are technically the elders of our people according to Agnorus, The elder of were-beasts. So I do have the right to learn the contents of this book." Darkmoon explained in irritation as the book floated towards her hand before she gave Trapsul a sweet smile. Trapsul was confused by Darkmoon's magix for a second as he didn't think she was able to use magix before rubbing his forehead with a sigh, "Yeah you better keep that book. Otherwise… Eh nevermind. Let's just call it a night."
Darkmoon giggles as she gets what she wants and gives a nod to Trapsul as he heads in the same direction as Noomkard had a while ago then stopped. "Wait, Darkmoon… Why did you come back to Phynox?"