Davina was taken aback when she saw him up close. The man she had been admiring in the moonlight was nothing like she had expected. It was clear to her that he wasn't a heavenly masterpiece, but rather a manifestation of darkness and malevolence, forged from the furnace of hell.
He looked like the epitome of sin in human form.
"What is a little one like you doing wandering around here in the dead of night?" A mischievous light passed through the man's eyes for a brief second as he looked down at her like a meal served to him on a silver platter.
"Walk- I-I was just talking a walk." The words tumbled out of Davina's mouth like a rock rolling down a hill.
The man cocked an eyebrow, seemingly amused by how well Davina was holding up at his presence. "Is that so." He purred the words, strutting toward the center of the court to resume his training as if Davina wasn't there.
Davina watched in awe and fear as the man walked away. Finally free from his scrutinizing gaze, she felt like she could breathe a little. His eyes held a magnitude she had never felt before; they looked like golden orbs, as if the sun was plucked from the sky and placed in his eyes. Davina had never seen eyes like those or even heard of them before.
"How long are you going to keep standing there?" The man caught her off guard.
Before Davina's mind could work fast enough to cough up a reply, the man spoke up again. "Join me."
His words weren't a request, and they both knew it, but Davina oddly found herself walking towards him yet again, only this time, she could tell it was willing and not by the pull of some invisible force.
She was willingly walking toward him despite having the option to back out- despite all the warning signs going off in her head.
The man seemed glad watching her take slow steps in his direction as if he were testing her to see if she would actually come. His mysterious golden eyes now glistened with satisfaction.
"Hold it." He held out one of the daggers he was training with to her.
With shaky hands and a confused mind, Davina took the dagger from him.
'What the hell are you doing Davi.' She cursed at herself mentally for doing everything the strange man told her to do without question as if she were a puppet.
"Are you familiar with the workings of a dagger?" He asked her once the dagger was in her hands.
"N-no."
"Looks like you have no choice but to learn." He started walking off to the corner to grab a bottle.
As Davina glanced at him, she instinctively began to assess the man before her, a habit she couldn't break. At that moment, two things caught her attention: Firstly, she couldn't help but notice that his hair bore the same striking dark hue as hers. It was long and luxuriously thick, almost appearing as if it emitted its own ethereal glow under the moonlit night. If she didn't know any better, she might have believed that the moon took inspiration from his mesmerizing appearance.
The second thing she couldn't help but notice was his demeanor, which seemed to contrast sharply with his surroundings. While he appeared outwardly composed and as calm as the smoothest waters, the intensity of his presence seemed to set everything around him ablaze. Unlike people such as Sir Martius, who displayed minimal emotion, this man didn't just seem emotionless, but rather devoid of a soul. He looked like an empty shell, aimlessly traversing the earth.
His fox-shaped eyes were truly mesmerizing. They were not just brown; they seemed to defy simple description. Their hue was a lustrous golden brown, reminiscent of the radiant glow of the sun. It was as though two orbs of sunlight had been captured and placed within his gaze, creating an otherworldly and captivating effect. She had never seen anything like it before.
He looked beautiful, too beautiful one could mistake it as scary.
"Are you done?" He nonchalantly asked her as if he were speaking of the weather.
There was no excuse Davina could come up with to save herself from the embarrassment of getting caught. "My apologies." She shyly looked away.
"What is your name, little one?"
She despised being called "little one," but he felt entitled to address her as such. Compared to him, she was indeed petite. His entire frame could effortlessly envelop hers, leaving plenty of room to spare. He stood as a mountain, while she barely amounted to a small hill.
"Da- Dimitri, sir." Davina bit her tongue, shocked from nearly saying her real name rather than the alias she came up with.
"Dimitri..." The man let her fake name linger in the air a while longer before nodding. "Take a defensive stance."
Davina's body moved on its own once again and she took a defensive stance, one akin to what she had seen Sir Martius do on several occasions.
"Good." The man seemed impressed by her stance and for some reason, that made her want to do more to make him even more impressed.
'Get yourself together, Davi.' She scolded herself, pushing away all unwanted thoughts to the back of her mind. 'Might as well make good use of the free training while it lasts.'