I opened my eyes, sunlight shining in through the stained glass windows above the curtains, projecting the renditions of the father and his angels upon the far wall in a kaleidoscope of colors. Sitting up, I yawn, scratching between my horns. Standing, I stretched, before untangling my tail from my legs. It dragged upon the thick crimson carpet as I moved to the wash basin.

Peering into the silver backed mirror, I could see my crimson eyes glowing slightly in the dark room, making me look like some sort of demon. Not really that far off. Taking off my night dress, I grabbed a wet rag. The water was cold, but not frigid, so I wiped myself down without heating it. The door creaked open, and a slightly squeaky wheel and small footsteps could be heard. Turning, I saw Mara bringing in breakfast, her head barely visible over the silver food cart.

"You're up early as usual miss", she commented, peeking around with her beaming smile.

"Yeah, hate to waste daylight", I responded with my own tired grin.

She moved the cart to my bedside, leaving the cover on as she moved into my closet.

"What do you want to wear today?"

"The training clothes today, in a little over a candle Im supposed to be training with my brother today"

"Very well"

Mara came out with some plain denim and leather clothes, with some silk undergarments. Setting them over the foot of my bed, she moved to wait for me to finish with the water. I toweled off, and moved over to my bed, Mara took the water basin out. Removing the cover from the food, I was greeted with hot eggs, buttered bread, and a honey tart.

"Seems Daniel is trying to out do himself today, Mara, the tart is new."

"You know how he is, whenever he gets a new ingredient, especially", came the reply, I was able to hear her smirk.

As confusion covered my features, Mara just grinned, puffing up her petite frame. It could be hard to believe this youthful, childlike figure was older than I was. Beginning to dress, she seemed upset that I didn't take her bait, but I ignored her.

"Ugh! Fine! He found somebody selling honey!", Mara pouted, crossing her arms.

Chuckling, I pat her head.

"Hey! Respect your elders!", she exclaimed, despite her smile.

"Well, then act like my elder silly", I pinched her cheek, only to be brushed off.

Taking a bite out of the tart, I plopped down onto my bed. Sweetness filled my mouth, the custard coating my tongue.

"Mmm, a little too sweet, my teeth hurt", regardless I took another bite, causing Mara giggled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full! You'll spray crumbs everywhere!", taking a handkerchief from her blouse, Mara wiped my face.

Mara is one of the few Kinderfalk in the region, and one of three I've seen in my entire life. She is my nursemaid, having helped mother raise me and my brother since the age of six. Now of course I'm approaching twenty, just weeks from my placement trials. Though if my mom had her way I wouldn't be allowed to start officially training till I was ninety. While most would say that as a joke, seeing as how she is a faea, I'm not.

Faea live many times longer than the other humanoid races, so those who live in their own settlements tend to do pretty much everything slower. Many a faea would readily spend centuries working on a single project if they were left to their own devices. In fact, my uncle has been working on the same song for three hundred years.

"Now, let's get you up and walking", Mara threw the heavy curtains open, allowing sunlight into my room, making the dark colors turn into vibrant purple, red, and navy blue patterns on the wood trimmed stone walls.

"Gah! So bright!", rubbing my eyes, I stumble about dramatically.

"Hmph! some sunlight would do you some good ya vampire", heedless of my dramatics, she picked up my night garments and left the room.

With a sigh, I finish breakfast before going over to the writing desk beside my bookshelf, mail which arrived overnight set in a neat pile. Reading them, they were some invitations to a few organizations in response to my requests to join. A few were rejections, such as the 'Order of the Sun', the 'Knights of Drake', blah, blah, blah. Of course the church accepted my application to be a priestess, or a nun, though I was mildly surprised to see that my application to be a paladin was accepted. There was one letter which caught my eye however...

You have been chosen.

You may refuse if you so wish, however, be aware that this is an elite military organization where less than one hundred individuals are chosen per year. Even less graduate. Be aware as well, that if you do accept, you will be unable to communicate with anyone outside of this training program for no less than six years.

Are you ready for hell?

-Nanashi

Looking at the crimson envelope, I saw the symbol of a hawk, same as the nations flag. Unlike the others, there was no address, not even where to send it. This meant that whoever left this here had to have been a part of this organization... whichever organization this is... Just imagining somebody entering my room at night made me shiver.

Shrugging off the worry, I go to the mirror and begin to brush my raven hair, being careful around the base of my horns above my temples. This was an invitation, it's not like they will kill me. Regardless, I should probably have a talk with the guardsmen regarding how someone made it to my room. With a final bit of lavender oil onto my bluish/black skin, off I went.

As opposed to my room, the halls were simply coated with a white plaster, with simple vine decorations along the trim set in bronze. As a small girl I used to trace my finger along them as I crawled along on hands and knees. My brother on the other hand, prefered to play 'Guards and Bandits', both of us racing throughout the fortress halls yelling like banshees. Occasionally I could see the city sprawled down the mountainside without, with a small stretch of fields right before the coast. From here I could see six vessels with three masts each, surrounded by dozens of fishing vessels ready to set out for the day.

Arriving before my brother's room, I saw his hand, Morris, leave the room.

"Fair morning miss Karasu, you are well, I hope?", the poor fellow stumbled out these fancy words.

"Yes Morris, I'm fine, you can relax, father isn't here", I smiled kindly to the man.

"Sigh I will never get used to this high common he is so fond of...", he groaned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Is my brother inside?"

"Yeah, I just got Azrael up, so give it a bit before you barge in", turning, he walked off to get my brothers breakfast.

Counting to a decent ninety, I begin to pound his door as if it was an emergency. Of course, he threw the door open, as he always did.

"What's wrong!?", he gave me that innocent look of his, still without a shirt.

"My brother is still sleeping", I tell him with a grin, earning myself an annoyed look.

"Don't you have anything better to do in the morning?", he moved away from the door to get his shirt on.

"No", I answer honestly, however, I mostly do this to get on his nerves every couple of days.

Walking in, I sit at his desk chair, his room very similar to my own, differing only in how it was covered in gold and royal blue patterns.

"You check your mail yet?", I ask lazily, looking at him.

"No, not yet. I haven't even had breakfast yet", he stretched, standing at his full height of six feet five inches.

"Well, the church may have gotten us mixed up, because I got a letter saying I'm able to become a paladin", picking a book off his desk, I flip through the depictions of weapon use.

"Really?", he turned his sapphire blue eyes on me, "That's odd... well, its not like its unheard of for mix-ups to occur", he got one of his swords, and placed it on his hip.

"The arming sword today?"

"Yeah, if we are training together today, I'm going to want any dead weight off with how quick you are", he gave me a playful grin, walking over to read his mail.

Several minutes later, we were walking out to the courtyard, passing through the monolithic cathedral section which replaced the throne room on a normal castle. The gothic construction possessing many decorations in either bronze or brass, with a thirty foot gold Cross of David set into the stone wall behind the pulpit. Flanking either side were eight rows of seats for choir members, the pipes of a grand organ opening above that. As grand as it was, it only really saw use on major holidays, and grand celebrations.

Honestly, I thought the intricate decorations and art pieces covering every flat surface was a little overboard, never mind the grand dome depicting heaven set above an inverted dome beneath a glass floor showing the fall of the angels. As the main fortress entrance was behind the massive Cross of David, we were walking past important scenes from the holy book. Depicted in the stone itself were important historical scenes, with the original ships our people came from shown above the large double doors reinforced with mythril which permitted entry to this room.

"You ever feel that our ancestors went a bit heavy on the decorations?", I asked Azrael.

"Never really thought about it, I'm usually too busy trying to pick out all the details", was his honest response.

Using the smaller doors set in the large ones, we finally came out of the fortress, greeted by the herbal gardens around the keep. Grabbing some mint as we passed by, we chewed on that as we made to leave the courtyard. Raising the internal portcullis as we drew near, the guards saluted as we passed through, lowering it down once more. Now we stood within one of eight large open fields between the keep and the main districts, this one having been set aside as a training yard, while the others served as fields to keep the fort supplies stocked.

Before us several dozen men and women were sparring, the ones on the left practicing in duels overseen by priests, the ones on the right acting out battlefield combat with dummy weapons. Twards the outer end of this field, people were training to ride on mounts, mostly horses, but there were a few drakes.

"So, what shall we train in until lunch?", Azrael asked me, eyeing the battlefield games.

"I'm feeling like some strategy", I grin at his lack of tact.

We were given some leather armor without padding, and dummy weapons, but had to wait until the end of this round if we wanted to join. Of course, my brother had to leave his sword on the sidelines, no real weapons allowed in this field. Conversing about the strategies being used, we watched as two sides, one with red bandanas, one with green.

In total there was a battalion of individuals on the field, the division of people depending on the scenario; which was determined by the overseer, who stood on a raised platform on the far side from us, examining the game with a keen gaze. Both sides had commanders marked by yellow masks, who were responsible for their side's entire strategy. Either side could win by meeting two of five victory conditions: commander is defeated, their flag is taken, all enemies are defeated, if your side is committing a one sided slaughter for half a candle, or if you control over half the field for one candle. The exact qualifications of 'defeated' depended somewhat on the overseer, but generally if your mask is knocked off, or you are disarmed, you're defeated.

This round seemed to be a 'last stand' scenario, where one side was meant to defend a location against an overwhelming force. Some wooden locking blocks were brought out to represent a castle wall, with the red side being given six ramps. They could only get over the blocks with the ramps, with the green side defending, with the blocks set up in a similar manner as merlons to allow a degree of defense. This was a siege scenario.

The red team already controlled four fifths of the field from the start, so to keep them from getting an easy win, the green commander remained at the rear. The overseer called for the game start. Red charged the wall in a bull rush, their commander at the head of the charge.

To no one's surprise, he was the first one to get his mask knocked off by a cushioned arrow.

Green was using a team fire strategy with their archers, alternating which one shot in a way to make the red archers unable to predict which would fire. The few red that reached the boxes began to try and stab around the merlons, unable to cross since they arrived before the ramps. It was becoming clear that red would have to make a move, as the candle was lit beside the overseer.

The green archers sniped the ramp bearers whenever they could, slowing reds ability to get over their walls. Meanwhile the red team seemed bound and determined to smack a green archer, rather than get the ramps to the wall. However, this was making it hard for the archers to snipe the ramp bearers, so was overall helping them. Finally, the first ramp was put against the wall.

The overseer snuffed out the candle as red team swarmed over the ramps, quickly overwhelming the green team, and taking the wall. However, this flood was stalled by the members set to guard the commander, armed with polearms and shields. This wasn't a one sided slaughter as before, however, but rather a battle of attrition which green was doomed to lose.

"Hm... the strategy of red was poor, and worked only because of their overwhelming numbers...", Azrael muttered to himself.

"Green side did really well, about half of red team went down before they could even reach the wall", I offered, giving the entire game a critical overview.

"Well, that was just a standard siege defense tactic, hold the wall and shoot them as they get close", Unlike myself, my brother was very tactically minded, despite being a total child in pretty much every other regard.

We moved the join the others as the bandanas were handed out, this time we were put on the same side, red. After we separated into the different sides, one of us were given a yellow mask as they were handed out. Hooking my bronze mask on my helmet, most of my visibility dropped to the two holes for eyes. I dislike wearing these masks, since the visibility was comparable to a horse wearing blinders. By comparison, Azraels knight helm allowed much more visibility.

Moving so I can hear the strategy, apparently there were going to be three leaders total, marking their masks red with iron paste. This round was going to be 'Forest Combat', so we were going to be fighting in tight spaces and close quarters. No large weapons, groups of six constantly moving, with the left field under the command of the one who drew a cat on her mask, with the right under the command of the one with a stripe down the middle of their mask.

Turned out that I didn't need to worry about that, because while Azrael was sent to left field, I was made to guard the base, and the commander. So while the sounds of combat rang out from between the wooden pillars that were dragged out onto the field, I'm holding a shield and spear, looking around for a green team member trying to get the jump on us.

"You think we could be doing this for no reason?", asked the girl on my left, her stance growing slack.

"Yeah, wouldn't everybody be busy on the frontlines?", asked the boy on my right.

"You two, stay alert, somebody might have snuck through, or one side might collapse", I tell them, somewhat annoyed.

In the end, my caution was rewarded, as a group of six green team members charged our camp.

"Red teams gunna lose!"

"You guys suck!"

"Not the most original lot", I mumbled as they sprinted at us from a good sixty feet away like a bunch of idiots.

When they finally closed in, I took two of their attacks on my shield and smacked the mask off the third. My team mates doing pretty much the same, we dispatched these six pretty quickly.

"Damn, ya got us", said one grinning girl, right before we heard somebody getting attacked behind us.

We turned to see somebody attacking the commander, these six managed to make a gap in our defenses, allowing three others to charge the commander. one was already without a mask, but before we could reach them, one of them punched the commanders mask off.

"Damn you!", she screamed at him, furious.

We groaned, but defeated the last two before they could snatch the flag as well. The commander walked off the field to watch, with the nine green team members, their masks left where they fell. Somewhat pissed, we closed the circle around the flag so we had two rows of shields between anyone who came close, and the flag. We didn't see anyone else for the rest of the game.

As the bell for noon sounded, I joined the others for the meal of a four finger width square of jerky, a small hand bowl of wild berry oatmeal, and a glass of water. Azrael sat a few tables down from me, joining a rowdy bunch, possibly the ones he just fought alongside. Curling my tail under my seat to keep it from being stepped on, I mostly listened to the conversations around me, content to hear others brag about their accomplishments on the field as if it was an actual battle.

"Did you see the look on that faeas face when my staff smacked him across the face?", One girl said, laughing loudly.

"Yeah, you would have thought his real face was smacked off!", came the reply of a smaller girl with a shockingly bright blonde head of hair.

"You should have seen how far this one guy launched this one mountain folk girl, must have been a good six paces!", exclaimed one boy who had a mess of ginger hair.

Honestly, it was quite heart warming, and a little bit funny. Regardless, it produced a friendly atmosphere, somewhere I read that such things during a meal were good for digestion.

Dragging Azrael back inside, I led him to the grand library. This room was part of the underground section of the fortress, so lamps were used to light desks, and were carried by the few occupants to help read the book titles as they passed them. However, neither of us needed them, being perfectly able to see even in total darkness, though Azrael disliked doing so where he could see my face. Apparently my glowing eyes creeped him out.

"No! Not here, where the sun never reaches!", he cried out dramatically, half heartedly fighting my grip on his wrist.

"Come on you big baby!", Dragging him to a desk, I lit the candle with a snap of my fingers.

Really, there was something about candlelight that really showed how pale his marble skin was, almost vampiric. By contrast, my skin nearly made me vanish, according to my brother. Heedless of the light level, I climbed a nearby ladder to get to the shelf I wanted, 'Wild Arcane Oddities", where books documenting magical phenomena rested. Unlike spell magic, these magical events seemed to occur spontaneously, but typically only in areas where a lot of spells, or particularly powerful ones, were used in a short amount of time. The most common examples of this were undead rising from battlefields, or druidic groves.

Azrael by contrast went for the third shelf from the floor, which was reserved for the more commonly chosen books. That particular section being 'Weapons of Import', which as far as I knew described magical, and historic weapons used over the ages. Seriously, what is it with him and equipment?...

Sitting at the desk, I began reading, with Azrael moving the candle closer to me for some reason.

Dragon Groves:

Dragon groves are a mysterious phenomenon with little evidence as to their cause. Dragon groves are so named as they almost always have dragon bones somewhere near the center. Within the dragon grove, one can find a great many magical plants, and on occasion a dragon stone.

But more importantly, elemental magic used within a dragon grove tends to be more powerful.

Because of this phenomena, many elemental creatures roam within, which kind can usually tell you what kind of dragon bones can be found there. Caution is advised for another reason, however, as normal entities which remain in such an area can undergo a change, either into being of that element, or a process known as Dragonification. This process is theorized to be the origin of the creatures which resemble dragons, such as wyverns and drakes.

"Hey, Kara, isn't today mothers birthday?", his voice broke me out of my little trace.

"Hm? Oh, no that's tomorrow", I respond absent mindedly.

"Are you sure? Because I feel like we are forgetting something...", pausing at his words, I considered it more thoroughly.

I banged on his door as I stood in the hall wearing an irritatingly yellow, form hugging dress, the skirt flaring out to make my hips look bigger. He opened the door, clad in a white button down shirt with golden inlay, and silver trim.

"Can you stop? It's not like we are going to miss the party if we are late by a few seconds!", he exclaimed, setting his decorative saber on his hip.

"I had to put on three layers of clothes, and a lot of makeup, how am I done before you?", Huffing, I dragged him to the ballroom.

As we entered, the music of a lute accompanied by a pan pipe, and a drum to keep pace, was revealed, having been muted by the stone walls. The ballroom was full of people of high military position, their children, and their lovers. The walls had designs inlaid with gold and silver, against the blue plaster on the stone, with an arched roof, a faerie flame chandelier lighting the room in a dim, but soothing blue light. Mother and father were still standing before the crowd of people greeting them, her in a flowing green dress that was plain, but elegant, making her emerald eyes stand out, him in a blue decorative uniform, his silver hair seeming almost purple in this light.

"I see you two finally arrived", mother smiled as she turned to us.

"Sorry mom, we got a bit caught up", Azrael answered, lowering his head.

"Regardless, you made it before we really got things going", she smiled softly, giving us each a hug.

From there she rejoined father in greeting the guests, leaving us to wait until they had finished before we could greet our father. While he was currently the leader of our nation, it isn't like the monarchies found pretty much everywhere else, he can be impeached, and was voted in. While he will be in power his entire life, barring impeachment, neither I, Azrael, nor his wife will inherit his role. If he were to be assassinated, however, our mother would take over. In fact, father was a town guard before he was voted in, he married mother afterwards.

Mother herself is pushing six hundred, and before she was married, had worked as a priestess within the church. However, neither I nor Azrael are fathers children. Mother isn't sure either, as she cannot recall having lost her virginity while she served the church. Honestly, I was the biggest surprise, since I look like some sort of demon.

Despite being identical twins, sharing looks and everything, we are as entirely different species. Azrael is a celestine, which, while on its own is already extraordinary, is practically unheard of outside of humans. I, however, am an unknown race, no other individuals like myself are known in our records. My thoughts were interrupted by father coming over.

"Took you two long enough to get here", he grinned, teasing us.

"I blame Karasu for dragging me to the library", I gave him a dramatic look of betrayal.

"Well, either way, you made it", he clasped our shoulders, "you didn't forget your mothers present did you?"

"No, I have it right here", I smiled, holding a small box where he could see it.

Placing the box back into one of the pockets within the folds of my skirt, I went to the serving table to grab a few sweets. Careful not to take too many, to avoid seeming like a glutton, I ended up with half a slice of cranberry bun, and a small muffin. As usual, Azrael was busy making merry with the guests, discussing weapons, hunting trips, and what kind of hound he should choose. Of course, I had a few friends here as well, but talking to them in the middle of a party was like trying to pull teeth with my fingers. Sadly, it seemed like mother's side of the family couldn't make it, possibly busy along the boarders.

"Karasu, you're looking lovely today", turning, I saw my father's sister, wearing a rather plain dress for the room.

"Oh! Aunt Victoria, I wasn't aware you had grown close", smiling, I gave her a gentle bow, unable to curtsey due to the place of food.

"Come now, no need for formalities, we are alone with friends and family", she gave me a wide grin.

"Well, it isn't as if I'm too used to that, Captain", smirks at her words, which are to be expected from one of the captains of the warships.

"Well, up here in this fortified palace, I don't suppose you are. Regardless, you won't be changing your mind about joining the navy?", this was something she has been insisting on since I was fifteen, something about character building.

"No, I'm afraid that I won't. I'm considering two which I've been accepted for, one of which is actually the paladins"

"And the other one?", she tilted her head in curiosity.

"A curiosity, more of an oddity really. But I'm more leaning twards the paladins, join my brother possibly", smiling, I took a bite of the muffin,"mmm... cherry?"

"A cherry muffin? Did Daniel make the spread?"

Shrugging, we continued talking as the party went on around us. Eventually father called attention back to the front of the room, thanking everyone for coming, also that the cutting of the cake, and handing of presents to mother will begin shortly. Curiously, these parties always seemed more reminiscent of a wedding to me.

The better presents were as follows:

A hand fan, which made the air blown by it a constant temperature, allowing it to be used to cool yourself in the summer, but also warm yourself in the winter.

A bracelet, with a golden vine pattern inlaid into an oak ring, I thought it was quite beautiful.

And a tiara of healing, which allows her already considerable healing magic to even regrow lost limbs.

Mine and Azrael's present for mother was seeming less and less acceptable... but I'm sure mother will love it regardless. As I walked up to present it, I was growing more and more nervous, but handed it over with a beaming smile. I stood there, waiting for her to open it, my doubt slamming against my confidence. As she lifted the amulet out of the box, I could hear the whispers of disapproval from everyone in the crowd.

"Oh sweetie! This is perfect", she smiled, looking over the wooden ring, its center defined by dried plants set within magically hardened amber, giving the entire thing a sort of sunset landscape feel.

"Thank you mother, it is from both myself and Azrael. We felt you would enjoy it when we saw it in a shop window, so pitched our money together, and bought it this morning", a wide grin spread across my face, a mix of relief and joy.

"Well, the two of you are so sweet, thank you", she gave me a hug, and waved Azrael over to give him a hug as well.

Unfortunately, this meant both me and Azrael were now broke, as that amulet took six months of allowance, and three weeks of side jobs. It was worth it to see her smile though.

Despite being the height of power in this nation, the governing system made fathers pay, and by extension our own, rather meager, at only slightly more than a captain of the army with two small silvers a month. This was so for every governing rank above the equivalent of a major general. This was to weed out those seeking profit, though those seeking power, and those accepting bribes were still an occasional issue. However, every living expense we needed was taken care of as part of the national budget, we didn't even have to pay for healing from priests if we needed it.

Back in my room, I considered the mysterious letter. Curiosity made me want to accept it, but who would I return it to, assuming they don't collect it themselves. However, caution and good sense made me want to join the paladins, where it was assured I would receive at least a battalion commander's equivalent position, if not straight up admiralty... Either way, the training would likely be intensive, tedious, and thorough. One didn't need brains to be a paladin, but you did have to know what the hell you were doing. But at the same time... it's not as if I couldn't quit if this mysterious offer turned out to be a worse deal...

Taking my quill, and writing upon the paper, I signed my acceptance. If they didn't pick it up tonight, I suppose that would be that. I resealed the letter using my own signet stamp, and prepared for bed. I wonder what will happen during those six years...

The next morning, the letter was gone, in its place was a small card.