Within the barracks of the training grounds, a young soldier woke up in the middle of the night, hearing an ear piercing scream come from outside. Walking towards the door, a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder as he saw at an older trainee looking at him with a face full of dread.
"What are you doing!? Don't you know about the myth of the Night Fiend!?" Whispered the trainee who stopped him.
Shaking his head no, the older one sighed, sitting him down as he began to explain the story.
"Apparently, the Asteria land was cursed, caused by a god who had been disrespected! As divine punishment, it sent out a fiend at night to lure poor souls to pay as tribute!" The older trainee explained in detail, as the younger guy stared at him blankly.
"Ive never heard of that story before. I think you're going a bit crazy from all that head trauma you've been receiving from training." The younger trainee responded, breaking the older ones grip as he placed his hand on the door knob and opened it.
Their faces turned a deathly pale as a fiend shadowed in darkness turned its head towards them. Its face was the only thing slightly visible, as it gave a horrifying expression of anger, its frown overly exaggerated as its mouth was covered in blood.
One of the men fainted as the other quickly closed the door, vomitting from the sight. As the fiend exited the shadows back onto the training grounds, Evan exhaustedly revealed himself into the light and removed the packs he had tied onto his body which had altered his appearance if seen in darkness.
'What was their deal?'
Evan wiped the blood from his mouth that came from his busted lip which had spread over his face due to his training. Sitting down in the corner of the area, Evan took a moment to regain his strength. For four days straight, Evan had been constantly training at night since it was the only time he could do it in peace. He used the towel he had brought to wipe himself down, then noticed the sun rising. He rose from his spot and began placing the items he and used to weigh himself down back in their original place before walking back towards the manor where a maid had been waiting for him. She had been doing this consistently for the past 4 days now and it began to bother Evan.
'There she is again. Why is it that I only find her when I need someone to watch over me?'
After thinking for a brief moment, Evan had once again walked over to his bedroom, before getting the maids attention.
"Hey maid. What's your name?"
She looked towards Evan as he was behind her, with a confused look on her face.
"Mae Crowdwell, sir." She responded as they made it back to Evan's room.
Thinking back to H.K.U, Evan drew a blank on Mae Crowdwell, coming to the conclusion that she must have been a mob character. As Mae began to walk away, her name escaped Evans mouth, calling for a bit more of her time.
"Mae, what do you do around the household?"
Mae paused for a moment before thinking of her duties.
"I help Mr.Julius and am currently assigned to watching you if no others can." She replied.
"Alright. Do you by chance head out to town on any occasions?"
"Mainly for grocery shopping with the head maid. Why do you ask?" She asked, turning her head in confusion.
Evan smirked as he then requested an Orc's Eye. About to question Evan on the item, he entered his room and closed the door, complaining about exhaustion from all his training, leaving Mae puzzled as she left him for the time being.
After the morning came and went, Mae located Julius who was writing things down within the study. After a brief moment of conversing between each other, Julius raised his eyebrow.
"He asked for an Orc's Eye? Why would he ever need-" Julius paused mid sentence.
He suddenly began remembering a mission he had taken on long ago. Some of the people he had joined with began consuming a liquid after the fight that had taken place. Questioned, they revealed that if liquified it held some rejuvenation properties that could help with exhaustion.
'How in the hell would that boy know of such an old method? Evan Asteria, what in god's name are you planning?'
After walking over to Evans room, Julius knocked on the door only to not receive a response. Knocking again, Julias announced his presence yet still nothing.
"Please pardon my intrusion, young master Evan, I'm coming in." Julius said, opening Evans bedroom door to see him asleep in his bed.
As he was about to wake Evan up, a few pieces of paper caught Julius's eye, as he raised them up to read. His face filled with surprise as he was reading the movements and techniques of Gram on the papers. Turning his head outdoors, he saw the training grounds in view along with gram who was training hard.
'Has he been studying Grams every movement? Not only that, but even his habits and sword techniques are written with extreme detail here.'
Turning towards the unconscious Evan, sleeping soundly, Julius grinned for a moment before placing the papers back exactly as they were before then taking his leave.
'I'll need to keep a closer eye on him from now on.'
As the fifth day came to be, Evan had found himself in the training grounds once again, except this time weld a short sword as he faced down Gram with a serious look on his face. Julius walked towards us, acting as the referee for this match. Evans' face remained calm, yet his heart pounded with anticipation, as his eyes glued to Grams. With a smirk Evan raised his blade as Gram pointed his towards him.
"Today I'll show you the difference between you and I and make you eat your words!" Gram shouted.
As Evan took a deep breath, he readied himself, taking a stance as Gram rushed forward.