“It has finally arrived, ey?” A tall woman with short, icy blue hair and lime green eyes said as she stared at the clear blue horizon filled with white clouds. Much like the colors of the skies, it perfectly matched her hair color, which seemed to reflect a bit of a sunlight that made it look like it was glowing.
“Yeah, I’d be lying if I said that I’m not interested in the capabilities of those two. I have yet to see them perform in Warzone, surrounded by enemies. We’ve only done one on one so far.” Estin heaved a sigh and it was slightly obvious enough that she was nervous for this match despite it as something made out of formality for the recruitment process. Estin hated this kind of anxiety, which seemed to have always occurred before every Warzone she participates into.
“Heard that the Empress of War is in your team! Damn, I’d stay out of her way if she’d charge into the battlefield alone.” The icy blue-haired woman said and she surely knows what is the sacred knight is capable of.
“Huh,” Estin scoffed, “no one could actually win a fight of one against a thousand. Even I could collapse at the half of that number.”
“But it is not impossible, Estin. It’s why someone was crowned with that title.” The other female replied.
“If such person exists then I’d marry that person.”
The other woman sprung back away from Estin in surprise, “Whoa whoa, holy hell, you are that desperate to marry!?”
“It was a metaphor, Kiyera! Sheesh!” Estin retorted with a sigh, “Well.. half lie and half truth.”
“What the— even if they are ugly?!”
“I believe physical appearances don’t matter, right?” Estin blinked at Kiyera before continuing, “Besides, the queen requests for it because she was too sick to even bear a child. She needs a strong heir.”
“Well, you are right about that. But since the title is Empress of War, then that person is a girl. How are you two going to have a child anyway?”
“There’s a star in the west outside of this world named Girstria. It gives us both women the opportunity to have our own offspring by allowing us to do natural mating based on hormonal status. Sheesh, that Empress better be an alpha because those women in that place recently told me that I was an omega.”
“Ahh, so they were following that mating rule or something but yeah, I almost forgot about that place. Been living here for as long as I can remember and yet the image of that place is not all too clear in my head.” Kiyera settled both of her hands over her head to serve it as her pillow.
Estin just hummed in agreement as they looked back at the scenery. Moments later, Estin rolled her eyes to glance at Kiyera’s direction, keenly and silently observing her:
Kiyera Cinderly Embers. Still remember the day when we first met; she just crashed in front of me from the skies because she told me that she was riding a dragon. We may have long known each other and yet I still couldn’t put a finger on who she really was aside of being a Monster Tamer. I never get to actually know more about her since she always leaves and would come back to visit every six months. Her life’s full of adventures and dangers. Estin said at the back of her mind before she heaved a soft and short sigh once again—probably because she is envious of the latter girl, who is just as free as a bird, only worrying about herself.
The silence didn’t last long when Kiyera spoke:
“I better go. Heard from someone around that there is a raging Goldenhorn from the mountains in far north! I’ll give you some souvenir! Want the horn? Ohhhh, everyone knows you love those stuff!” Kiyera grinned.
“Hmm? Ahh, I already have that kind of horn when I went to the other kingdom a couple of weeks ago, so no thank you.” Estin chuckled.
“Well, I wish you guys luck for your Warzone! Is it that kinda mock thingy where in you actually practice or some kind of an actual game as an entrance ticket for the official tournament?”
“It’s actually both, the official tournament listing will be finalized tomorrow so we need to take our chances. Although, it is also fine if we lose since that ticket will just allow us to advance for three rounds. I even favor of losing so then, I can just send our tactician away.”
Kiyera whistled as she looked over at her, “You are one cruel general, keeping secrets to the newbies and even sending an important knight away.”
“I don’t want to put pressure on them on their final assessment you know. That tactician? Things are easier without her and they couldn’t possibly go against me if it was on legal terms, right?”
Kiyera had to raise an eyebrow at Estin’s grandiosity and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the scarlet-haired. She knows all of those traumas and frustrations towards the brains of the battlefield.
It has been years and she’s still greatly traumatized… The sky blue-haired female said in her mind.
She decided to just get along with her by grinning and hopping on the railings, preparing to leave, “Well, I guess this is the stop of our little bonding time. I’ll see you in the next six months! Don’t die on me!”
“Yeaaaah, sure!” Estin replied with a light chuckle.
Kiyera nodded before she looked at the skies as tribal-designed, brightly glowing, golden wings occurred on her back with a few meters apart as a gap. The wings softly flapped as she jumped high and glided through the clouds, leaving the scarlet-haired lady behind.
A long, deep breath escaped Estin’s lips before she turned her heels to go back inside, “Time to prepare, I guess.”
It was until a few more hours later before everyone in the barracks and Estin reached their destination for the mock Warzone:
The Dragon Valley.
A vast place where steep mountains exist with narrow passages in between, the entire field is like a maze if being seen from a bird’s view. There is a long platform levitating highly in the air, generously acquiring the bird’s view with three chairs settled on them and sitting on those chairs are the high officials who will oversee the battle.
First official is a woman with sharp, silver horns, which seem to glow brightly due to the sun’s light. Her dark hair reached her waist and was slightly wavy. Her fair tone of skin matches her cherry lips and pointy nose, together with her long eyelashes and thick eyeshadows. Her sharp jawline oozes her own dominant and confident front. She donned a long, red, golden-trimmed dress, similar to what a queen wears minus the crown. Her tri-colored slit irises, which has the soft mixtures of purple, crimson and forest green slightly glimmered in anticipation, it seems that even if this is a mock Warzone, she is deeply interested in the new blood from different kingdoms.
The second official is a tall and heavy-muscled, dark-skinned man with long, curly, dark hair that reaches his back. He doesn’t wear anything that covers his muscular build except two golden, metal cuffs that were settled on his biceps on both arms. His dark green trousers, which has dirty white fur surrounding the waistline, is tied with a black cloth and it perfectly matched his black, gray-laced boots. He has that fatherly vibe judging from how he is widely grinning. His bright, golden eyes matched his thick eyebrows and sharp, square jaw.
The third official is simply a little girl with short, white hair and a small part of it is tied into a small side ponytail, with her piercing orange irises matching her fair skin tone and heart-shaped face. She wears a white, silver-trimmed cloak, connected with a golden button on the left side of her chest. She also has a light blue, collared tunic, with the collar in full white color and blue-trimmed. Her shirt’s first three golden buttons have thin, golden laces, dangling down her chest. Her blank expression marks her boredom for this match.
“Aight!! Let’s see what the youngins have in store for us! I am so excited about this match honestly! Both kingdoms are powerful!” The dark-skinned male commented delightfully while the queen-like judge followed,
“And to think that we will get to see the new recruits’ specialties from both kingdoms. Indeed a fight to look forward to.”
The white-haired just smiled delightfully—her eyes are glimmering that they shone brightly, “The Moonfire Kingdom is literally having all the odds stacked against them due to their seriously low counts against the thousands from the latter. Let’s see how they will win this one!”
Aeon narrowed her eyes when she gets to see their enemies from the distance. She could tell that this enormously long horizontal and vertical line of knights forming the frontlines aren’t all they have to face today. There’s something in the air, which gives her the weird chill she couldn’t comprehend just yet but one thing’s for sure and she could say it aloud:
They were dangerously outnumbered.
“How’s it going, Emp? Found anything?” Eleftheria seems to get the silence but she remained her composure.
“Yes,” Aeon answered, “their numbers are not matching to what General Estin said yesterday.”
Estin’s eyes widened, “Wait, don’t tell me—”
“Indeed,” Aeon sighed,
“There’s too many of them. Around five thousands.”
