"My lady! Please calm yourself, my lady!"
"Please be careful, my lady!"
"Oh no, you might get hurt!"
"My lady--!"
In the middle of a bright and spacious hallway filled with multiple luxurious ornaments, a group of servants is worriedly running after their young lady dressed in her military uniform and armed with a sword. Her long and wavy brown hair is flying everywhere as she ran in panic but she didn't bother to fix it nor to make herself look presentable.
"Get out of my way! Clarence! Clara! Clarissa! Where are you?!" she shouts as she shakes off the servants that are trying to hold her back
Hearing the loud commotion in the hallway, a young boy peak his head out from his room and looks at them with an annoyed expression but when he saw the state that his sister is in, his annoyance immediately turns into a look of concern.
"Claire? What's happening? Why are you running?" the young boy asks his sister after approaching her at the speed of light.
Claire's green pupils trembles in anxiety for a moment but it quickly stops when she saw her younger brother, Clarence, looking at her with a worried expression. No words can describe how grateful she is after seeing her younger brother, but a shocking perception made her eyes widen before she could even express her relief.
"Claire?" while looking at her trembling figure, Clarence immediately senses that something is wrong. He knows that something must have happened and he took his instincts precariously because despite being a young seven years old kid himself, Clarence is still an Alderidge and his instincts can be compared to one of the beasts.
Clarence takes pride in his family not only because of their familial bond but also because they are among the strongest people in the empire so seeing Claire shaking in her place, Clarence starts worrying for his sister and the servants start fearing for the unknown.
'What is making the young lady tremble?' everyone thought to themselves but no one had the courage to ask.
Everyone knows that Claire is the girl who became a master swordsman at the young age of sixteen despite learning about everything by herself. She starts participating in the war when she was only eleven years old so seeing blood, and corpses are nothing to her. The third lady of the ducal house of the Alderidge practically grew up on the battlefield so her will and stubbornness are out of the ordinary. Just what could shake her up this bad?
"Why... Why are you so small, Clarence? Where is Clarissa, and Clara?" Claire who finally calms herself ask while holding at her brother's hands as she stares intensely into his eyes,
"What do you mean, Claire?"
"..."
"I'm sure that I am pretty tall compare to other kids my age, and why are you looking for our sisters? Didn't we just see sister Clarissa off last week? And sister Clara has been in the white tower for nine months now"
After hearing her younger brother's answer, Claire's thoughts started swarming everywhere around her as her brain continues to try to do its best to comprehend everything that her brother said.
'Clara is back in the white tower? Why? We send off Clarissa? And Clarence has gotten smaller? What is happening? There must have been a mistake' as Claire starts drowning in her own thoughts, her body gradually grew hotter and hotter as if she's in boiling water and before she knows it, she starts falling.
"My lady!"
"Claire!"
Everyone got frozen in their places as they watch Claire's body slowly fall but before she could even hit the ground, a knight that is standing behind Clarence caught her and immediately politely lift her unconscious body. The knight doesn't need to be told what to do as he immediately followed Clarence, who is running towards the infirmary in their mansion.
*Bang!*
The loud sound of the door hitting the wall behind it echoes in the whole room, startling the family doctor, but Clarence didn't bother with him and instead ordered the knight to place Claire on one of the beds.
"M-my lord!--" the family doctor, Edward, immediately stood up from his seat and rush towards them. His small eyes suddenly widen as if it's ready to pop out.
Startled is not enough to describe what he is feeling right now as he felt his heartbeat beat faster while looking at the pale complexion of Claire. Never have the children in the Alderidge family ever gotten sick so this is the first time that he is gonna be attending to them.
"She ate her breakfast and lunch with me earlier. She is not hungry but she suddenly falls unconscious. She's sweating so much and her body is cold. Check what's wrong with her. Now!"
Clarence rushed to order as he felt his palm slowly getting drenched with his sweat. He feels anxious but he doesn't dare to show it, not wanting to make Edward feel nervous, resulting in a wrong consultation that will put his sister in danger.
As Edward carefully checks Claire's health with Clarence watching him like a hawk, Claire's consciousness is wandering in her memory, slowly catching up to the current reality.
'Are all of this really true?' Claire thought to herself while remembering everything that happens. She tried her best to stay awake but the more she remembers, the heavier her eyelids become until she couldn't take it anymore and finally give in.
With her thought being 'How did it all start?', her memory took her back to the day she unconsciously tried to forget.
Alderidge's Ducal Mansion
May 26, 154 (3 years in the future)
It is a silent, and chilly night in the ducal estate of the Alderidge yet despite the cold weather, the four masters of the house are enjoying a peaceful tea time in their garden as they comfortably talk among each other.
"I think it's about time for you to make a social debut, Claire. Don't you guys think so?" Clarissa, the eldest among the bunch, and the duchess of the house said. Her dark brown hair is elegantly styled to match her beautiful purple dress.
"Is it important? It's not like we have a lot of allies to invite. Aside from that, people only approach us when they need something" upon hearing the comment of their second sister, Clara, all three of them couldn't help but nod their heads in agreement.
The Alderidge family represents power and wealth that could compete with the imperial family. Many covet to have their attention and support but despite having the power they hold, generations of the duke and duchess that pass decided to devote their loyalty to the emperor of the empire.
"It's not that you need to do that but--" before Clarissa could finish what she was trying to say, loud sounds of swords clashing against each other resonate in the whole mansion, attracting their attention.
'Are the knights having midnight training right now? Isn't it already past their bedtime?' Claire thought to herself while looking towards the direction of where the source of noise is.
"What's happening?" Clarence calmly asked the servants after seeing his older sister's confused expression. His hair that has the darkest shade of brown glistens as moonlight hits it, illuminating his strong yet delicate facial features.
Despite being an eleven years old kid, Clarence gives off an authoritative aura that immediately made everyone around him bow down in fear. It's not like he is doing it on purpose though. It's just something that he and his sisters naturally possess, just like how a tiger naturally knows that it is a predator and not a prey.
"M-my lord, there seems to be a-assassins attacking the mansion right now. The Fanged Beasts knights are currently clashing with them right now"
Hearing what the fear-stricken maid said, Claire and Clara immediately stood up from their seat with wicked smiles plastered on their faces. Claire, wanting to avoid the talk about her social debut, pulls out her sword from its sheath in a hurry while Clara merely wants to have some fun.
Both of them are in a hurry to annihilate the assassins that somehow manage to invade their mansion but before Clara could even use her magic to determine the exact situation, a dark and threatening aura spreads everywhere as if it is swallowing the ducal mansion of the Alderidge's in whole, alerting everyone.
Clarissa, Clara, Claire, and Clarence finally acknowledge this assassination attack as a real threat to them after sensing the darkness behind the spreading aura. To be able to use dark magic this strong means that the enemies they are gonna be facing are not someone easy to defeat so they couldn't let down their guard as well.
"What is this barrier?" Clarissa asks her siblings while looking at the sky that looks like it is covered in blood now.
While looking at the black sky that is slowly turning red because of the barrier that's rapidly spreading, the atmosphere in the mansion suddenly becomes so heavy that a few servants that couldn't handle the sudden change of their surroundings fall unconscious.
"This is not just a barrier. This is also... a portal" Clara, who has been studying magic her whole life, answered her older sister with confidence. She isn't wrong about it though as they saw how multiple black holes opened at the same time and walking out of it are hundreds of soldiers in a cloak.
"Prepare to fight"