Tav Ryn Holt POV
In the golden valley of Auriela's western continent, cradled by whispering meadows and silver-threaded streams, lies the tranquil village of Lirial. Sunlight lingers here as if reluctant to leave. Lirial's five hundred souls live under a Count who serves the Duke of Auriela's western territories. At the village's heart stands the Church of the Goddess of Light .... its white spire a beacon against the blue sky. Each dawn the bell tolls and the villagers pray, believing the goddess keeps their fields fertile and their lives serene. Cobbled lanes wind between rose-draped cottages and bustling markets where laughter mixes with the smell of fresh bread. Small and humble, the village radiates a quiet joy.
I am a knight of House Grey, in service to the Duke of Auriela. I'm here because the Duke needs someone the same age as his daughter to accompany her when she enters the academy .... a personal knight to keep her safe. Her previous knight caused a scandal that wiped out an entire viscount's family; the Duke won't risk another. He ordered members of his order to find promising youths across the western lands. We were to recruit and train them: two months of basic awakening and training in the field, then to the Castle for eight months of knightly instruction. After that, a tournament would decide who becomes the Princess's knight and attends the academy with her. The guardian knight would receive a special reward; the candidates who lost would still be trained as regular knights for the Duke.
My father is the Baron of this small village, and he sees the Duke's special reward as a chance to raise our family's rank. To win, we needed the best child.
My father gathered every boy and girl of fourteen to fifteen in the village. More than twenty came forward .... most had never held a weapon or even awakened. I was stressed. I couldn't awaken them all overnight; those already awakened were terrible with weapons. I made a ruthless decision: I would find the strongest by sending them into Woodwall Forest. Whoever survived the night and returned with the flag I placed inside would win the chance to become the Duke's knight.
It was dangerous ..... monsters lived in that forest. The strongest had been ranked B.
I taught the children basic survival and how to tackle monsters for two days, and outfitted them with weapons and armor. Then I sent them into the trees.
Now I waited, nervous despite my stoic face. Sister Mariya of the church stood at my side, the symbol of the Goddess of Light clutched in her hand.
"Lord Tav, will the children be safe?" she asked.
"They should be, Sister Mariya. Even if they meet monsters, they'll likely face G- and F-rank beasts. I didn't place the flag deep in the woods," trying to sound confident. Inside, I was terrified.
After some hours.
I saw a figure staggering from the forest. I ran to meet whoever it was. It was a girl .... Jesse. She'd was missing one hand and was badly injured.
"Oh no ... she's dying!" Sister Mariya cried as I appeared in front of her.
"She's Jesse. Child, what happened? Why is she missing a hand?" Sister Mariya demanded.
"How should I know?" I snapped, then softened. "Heal her and Give her some healing portion." I give healing portion from my Storage Ring,Sister Mariya immediately began to mend Jesse while I fetched a healing draught.
Once she could speak, I pressed her for answers. "From what I know, G and F rank monsters shouldn't hurt you like this. Did a group of monster attack you of that level?" I asked.
" No no All of them ... they're dead. No one survived that thing, Lord Tav. It was… it was a C .... no, a B-rank monster," Jesse said, voice shaking.
I froze. "But i put the flag near the outer zone of the forest so how can there be a B rank monster," I muttered.
I ask again " How he is looking?"
Jesse's lips trembled. "It was big. It looked like a tiger an...dand it was speaking. ," she whispered.
Then the pieces clicked in my head. "It's not just any normal tiger… it's a Shadowmist Tiger." My voice trembled as realization struck. "They're one of the few monsters with real intelligence. Most creatures only gain that kind of awareness at A-rank.....the equivalent of an S-rank elsewhere....but some… some develop it as early as B-rank. The Mist Tiger is one of them."
I felt the blood drain from my face. "Father warned me about them," I whispered. "And I ignored him… I thought they'd never come this far into the outer zone."
"Lord Tev, go and save the others ..... there are more children out there," she said, desperate.
"What can I do? Go collect their bodies?" I muttered, my voice cracking with exhaustion. "They're dead if they met that creature." I let out a bitter laugh, hollow and sharp. "What will I tell my father? And what will I do now?"
Then I saw her.....the girl. She could be useful. Though she was missing a hand, that wasn't a problem. All she needed was an expensive healing potion… and her arm would grow back.
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Tylar Draven POV
What the hell am I seeing?
Bodies. Dozens of them. Boys and girls my age, dead or half-eaten. If I count right, more than twenty.
I heard movement to my left and stepped toward the sound. Pushing aside grass, I found a boy bleeding from the face ... claw marks carved into his flesh, eyes ruined.
"Are you all right?" I asked, trying to stop the bleeding. He moaned.
"It's Tylar…but how you should be Dea...No thank the goddess. Help me, please ..... I can't see. It hurts so much," he begged.
There's someone who knows me. Good or bad, I don't know, but I helped him to his feet and gave him my shoulder to lean on.
"Tyler… please help me. Get us out of this forest, or we'll all die," he say, his voice raw with pain.
"Can you tell me the way back to the village?" I asked, searching his face. He stared blankly.
"I don't remember much either ..... must've hit my head," I said, hoping he'd say something useful.
But he was in pain.
"Ah… please, could you give me the healing potion we received from Lord Tav?" he pleaded through the pain.
I searched my pocket and, sure enough, found a small bottle of healing potion.
What the heck? I had something like this and didn't even use it on myself? I cursed under my breath, annoyed at my own carelessness, before handing the potion to the boy.
After his wounds started to heal a little, I asked him what had happened ..... why there were so many bodies gathered in one place.
"We all came here for the flag," he said weakly, "but then something attacked us. I got hit and lost my eyes… after that, I could only hear everyone screaming they're all screaming in pain and terror."
Tears streamed down his face as he spoke.
"I don't understand… I mean, I got hit in the head, so I don't remember much," I said, hoping he might give me some useful information.
"Yeah, I thought so. If you remembered, you probably wouldn't be helping me right now. But we need to get out of here fast," he said urgently.
I don't understand his word but I don't ask much i only wanted to get out from here.
"Yeah… there's also some kind of black mist. We should head back to the village before something dangerous happens," I replied, partly to see how he'd react.
"What? Black mist?!" Again the tension can see in his face "We're in danger!". Then I noticed — he had one eye left. He wasn't blind after all; he just wasn't opening it.
"You can see?" I asked, staring at him.
But he didn't respond ..... he just stood there, deep in thought, as if trapped in his own world.
He froze, then muttered, "It's the monster's attack pattern."
"What do you mean, an attack pattern? I… I don't get it .... what are you talking about?" I asked, my voice tightening with unease.
He see in the pool direction and speak
"Tylar, please .... bring me that sword over there. I'll fight. My dagger isn't enough," he said, his tone calm but strained.
"But why fight when we can just run?" I argued.
"We can't escape that monster," he said grimly. "It's far too fast."
"Don't worry, Tylar. You and I can take it down. You may have lost your memory, but I was the strongest among all the children," he said, forcing confidence into his voice.
I hesitated, then went to the body clutching a sword. I took it ..... and also grabbed a potion from another corpse's pocket, thinking I might need it later.
Strange… I'm looking at the headless body of a girl, but it doesn't affect me at all. Why? I thought, unsettled. I turned back to the boy .... but he was gone.
"Where the hell did he go?" I muttered, scanning the trees. Then I saw him .... running.
"He ran off? Damn it. I knew something was off about him," I growled. "Heh, I'll catch you in no time."
But before I could move, the mist thickened around me. A low growl echoed from behind.
Gggggg…
Then .... Ding!
The system's notification sound rang in my head.
I turned and laughed bitterly. "Ha… you want me to fight a B-rank?" My voice trembled, but deep down, I knew what was coming was far worse.
My smile slowly faded, the weight of the moment pressing down on me. "So… this is it," I murmured, a bitter edge creeping into my voice. "Guess this is where I die."