"This cliff sure is very long..."
"Well, it is a recently created ravine."
"Created?"
"Yeah. This was artificially created by a magical attack a couple of decades ago."
"A magical attack?"
"You sure you're in the Saint's Guard?"
"Yes. I am very sure, Lady Evaline."
"Then YOU should know how this ravine was created."
Evaline felt like she lost a percentage of her brain cells from that exchange. Her voice unable to hide her complete exasperation towards her two other companions.
She did not expect that she - who was recently just a shut-in royalty for a few years back in England - had to do the explaining to the Saint.
"Apologies, Lady Evaline. I have only been a Guard for half-a-year...I'm afraid I do not have too much of an info about how majority of the incidents around the world had happened..", Kyrie sheepishly replied.
Hearing her reply, Evaline could not help but shrug in disappointment, "Then what about Maria here? I'm pretty sure you've been in the Guard for a significant amount of time.", she then called out to Maria. However, as she had said, with no honorifics.
Mainly because she had been disillusioned by their previous blunders ever since they started this journey.
"Huh?", Maria shuddered as she looked at Evaline who had stopped to turn towards her.
Seeing the hapless Guard shiver and unable to muster a reply, Evaline felt even more exasperated.
She had no other choice but to do the explaining.
"Ugh...", she turned back to face the front. Intending to just explain as they push onwards, "Fine...I'll do the explaining."
And as her feet made the crunching sounds of breaking snow, the story of a calamitous event was retold with a tinge of annoyance.
*****
More than a couple decades ago...
In the snow blanketed tundra of Russia, a certain conflict was brewing.
On one side, an army of warriors who wore medieval armor and bearing red flags that contrasted the otherwise white land like a stream of fresh blood that danced in the air.
Their warriors, stood firm in a formation. Their weapons drawn and brandished towards the enemies that stood opposite of them;
Another army of warriors wearing a similar kind of armor and bearing black flags that danced in the air and somehow making the white tundra look like a messily inked sheet of paper.
A grim tension permeated the atmosphere as both sides stared each other down with weapons drawn and their breaths making mists each and every time one of them exhaled.
In no less than a minute of the two sides staring each other down, the roars of their leading commanders pierced the otherwise deafeningly silent air as they signaled the beginning of battle.
The garbled roars of each side echoed as warriors clashed, bullets rent flesh from bone, magic flew left and right.
It wasn't long until the white tundra had turned red with blood.
Amidst the bloodbath, one person appeared.
Staring down at the ensuing war, the person muttered a single word as they raised their arm up high and a bright beam of light burst forth and pierced the bleak gray skies.
No sooner had the embattled warriors noticed the person did the person swing down their raised arm; the beam of light mercilessly descended upon the warriors effectively sundering not just the unfortunate ones who were right below the beam's descent, but also the bloodied tundra until the perceivable horizon.
*****
"At least...that's what I remember happening.", Evaline pointed at the gaping ravine beside them, "That ravine is at least around 30 feet deep so if any of you fall down there, I doubt rescue would be possi-"
Before she could finish her sentence however, she sensed malice approaching them and when she had turned to look -
"Eh?"
- she was too late.
In no less then a moment, a white blur appeared from the side and immediately slamming into Rosseweisse who was oblivious to its approach.
Along with the white blur's momentum, Rosseweisse was pushed into the gaping maw of the ravine.
'Damn!', Evaline tried to grab Rosseweisse but was unable to grasp even the hem of the Saint's shirt but just as quickly, before she could despair at the fact that she let Rosseweisse fall, a loud metallic thump echoed and the white blur was immediately brushed aside.
"Your Highness!"
Evaline looks at the most unexpected person she would expect to have been able to react, Kyrie - who now held Rosseweisse by one hand and a silver tower shield as tall as she was in another.
"Lady Maria! Steel yourself!"
Just as the determined Kyrie had called out, she raised her shield up high-
"Guard Skill, Sunfire!"
-and unleashed something Evaline had never seen before;
The silver shield shone brightly like the yellow summer sun and emanated a warm - almost blistering heat that melted the snow in a 6-foot radius around the young Guard and the Saint.
Evaline felt the biting chill of the surrounding blizzard disappear as the heatwave washed over her, enveloping her in what she perceives as the warm embrace of the sun.
"Just what-?", Evaline was confused but even then, she proceeded to draw her sword.
"Eh? Sunfire?", they hear the confused muttering of Maria who now looked like she had just snapped out of a strange reverie and then dropping to her knees, "What just...happened?".
'Was she...under some kind of spell?', was what Evaline thought as she looked at the bewildered Guard.
"Your Highness, Evaline! Come behind my shield! Lady Maria, Your support please!", Kyrie roared as she clutched Rosseweisse even closer in her arms. Her eyes filled with fiery resolve as she stared down at something that was over her shield.
Evaline was quite confused as she had thought the young Guard was as helpless as what her father, Ashen had said. Afterall, the two Guards weren't exactly helpful during their long trek across Europe and were even unable to detect the dreadful presence that had approached back in the cave.
However, now was not the time to go about pondering over how wrong Evaline was since they were actually under some kind of attack.
"Got it!", she quickly responded and went on over to Kyrie's side.
"Urgh...my head..."
Evaline looked down beside her and saw a groaning Maria.
"Lady Maria!"
"I...know...jeez...", responding groggily to the tensed Kyrie, Maria raised her hand and said, "Guard Skill...Snowbane...".
In an instant, the warm atmosphere around them grew even warmer and the circumference of melted snow grew even wider ever so slightly.
Evaline thought it was cool if she were to be honest, however, she does not seem to understand the purpose of such 'Skills'.
But just as she was about to ask, the shrill roar of something inhuman echoed all around them and the blizzard beyond their circle intensified as if trying to overpower the warmth of they had called forth.
"What the hell...", Evaline wondered as she tried hard to look within the white gloom hoping to see whatever it was that made that inhuman roar. Could it have been the white mass that just appeared out of nowhere and tackled Rosseweisse?
"Whatever that white mass was...it is not human."
"Yeah good guess, Sherlock.", Evaline retorted to Kyrie's statement, "I'm surprised you managed to quickly shove it away from Lady Rosseweisse. That was good response."
"It is but a natural reaction, Your Highness.", Kyrie did not take so much as a glance to Evaline and just kept her eyes trained towards the front, "However, since were in Russian lands, I am ashamed to say that I am not that knowledgeable of Slavic mythology so I would not know what to do in this kind of situations...", she immediately admitted.
"Then why the bloody hell are you even a Guard then?!", Evaline exclaimed in disbelief. For all she knew, as a Guard, one should be knowledgeable in all the world's mythologies so as to become capable of shielding the Saints against inhuman forces.
She then looked at Maria who was still on the ground clutching her head like she has one severe migraine and thus concluded;
"We are so screwed..."
Even Evaline was also not that knowledgeable of Slavic folklore. She is well-versed in English, French, German, and even the Chinese mythologies because she had spent a few years in those few places. As far as she was concerned, all she knew from Slavic folklore is the Baba Yaga, and even THAT she does not completely understand.
'Bloody hell...I wish father was here...', she wished solemnly in her heart.
"Your Highness, if I recall correctly...you were trained in combat by Her Majesty, Guinnevere. Correct?", Kyrie suddenly asked.
"Yes I was. What of it?"
"What kind of training did you do?"
As soon as Kyrie asked that, Evaline knew what she was trying to imply.
"I was trained in the use of lances and broadswords as for magic, I can use rune magic from Nordic mythology and my father trained me in magic disruption."
Evaline quickly replied with a slight grin.
"I was trained in the use of swords and shields. As for magic, I can use Holy Magic from the Christian faith and Flame-based magic from English mythology."
"What about those 'Guard Skills' you guys were using?", Evaline asked curiously.
Kyrie paused for a bit but quickly answered, "Guard Skills are specialized abilities that we, members of the Saint's Guard, developed during training. We do not know how or why, but it simply manifests itself in the most unexpected ways as if we received some kind of revelation from the heavens."
'Huh? A revelation?', Evaline thought to herself.
"Currently, I can use the Skills; Sunfire and Sunshine. To explain them in simpler terms, Sunfire is for protection and Sunshine is like a blinding light similar to a flashbang."
'So this Sunfire thing is some kind of barrier I assume? And that Sunshine is something she can use to either attract enemies or deter them.', Evaline then looks at the still-groaning Maria, 'This one however...when will she snap out of it?'
"I got a glimpse at whatever that white mass was.", said Kyrie, "it looked like it had furry hind legs and a long tail and when I bashed it with my shield, I felt like I hit something long and bony. Possibly a horn of some kind..."
'Furry hind legs? Why only hind legs? And a horn?'
As expected, nothing rings a bell in her mind. Well, except for a faun or satyr from Roman and Greek mythology, but she doubts there would even be any roaming around the Russian tundra even if out of a whim.
"Whatever it was, Your Highness - ", Kyrie called out to Evaline, "I am not up to par in terms of leadership, so may I ask you to give me commands when necessary?"
Her words surprised Evaline. Afterall, Saint's Guard answer to no one. That is one of their famous reputations across the world. Not even a king, queen, or a president could order them for they only follow the will of the Saints they guard.
"Are you sure about that? I am a princess you know?", Evaline asked for confirmation and expected the young Guard to hesitate. However-
"I am sure, Your Highness. I may be a match to a thousand men, but against a beast from legends, I am but a humble and inexperienced child.", Evaline received a resolute yet humble reply devoid of all the bravado she would expect from someone of Kyrie's status.
It made her smile, "I take back my words of ridicule towards you. You are indeed a Guard.", she said with a satisfied huff then drew her sword, "Very well, I shall do as you say and command the bloody hell out of you!"
Just as she had declared so, numerous pairs of eyes that glowed bright red pierced through the white blizzard gloom from all directions.
"This shall be a long day for us both then, Lady Kyrie!"
And thus the long winter had yet to continue in peace for the unfortunate group.