A large majestic castle stood in the centre of the a bustling fief under the control of the most powerful King within the region.
Calvin De-Klein, he was the King of the current and reigning, De-Klein Kingdom and surprisingly; they have never seen their decline.
The castle stood tall and proud, its stone walls rising high above the land. Elegant towers crowned with gleaming spires stretched toward the sky, their banners rippling in the wind.
A grand arched gateway led into the fortress, guarded by statues of past rulers.
Sunlight caught the stained-glass windows of the great hall, casting colourful patterns on the cobbled courtyard below.
Strong yet refined, it was a place of power, history, and unwavering majesty. The land surrounding the castle was rich with green dotting all over and the sky; azure blue.
Within the opulent castle was a young man sitting in his chamber. The crown prince's chamber was dimly lit, with heavy velvet drapes blocking most of the light.
A tall, ebony bed stood at the centre, its dark canopy casting deep shadows. Shelves lined the walls, filled with worn, unlabelled books.
A single candle flickered on a desk cluttered with maps and sealed letters. The air was still, carrying the faint scent of wax and old parchment.
Despite its grandeur, the room felt cold—silent, waiting. The shadows stirred with his every step as if they were cowering out of fear.
Knock! Knock!
There was a knock at his chamber's door.
"HAIL THE CROWN PRINCE!!" "There is a letter from General Fitzgerald."
"Under the door."
The Prince muttered in a low manner, the letter was small and stamped with the seal of his family crest. He slowly opened it wondering what could be so important, as he read it his face contorted and thoughts, a mess.
He grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote.
****
"Hey we're hungry you little brat!!"
A man dressed in tattered cloths barked at Jahn, as he demanded food. Jahn looked at him and said,
"Where am I going to get food from, oh I know come and make me food. Tsk, FOOL!"
Jahn retorted. He was assigned to observe the prisoners as soon as he was dismissed from the General's office, yet he still couldn't believe what had transpired hours ago.
He was a Soldier Rank now. In the past few hours he would get glares from those under Leon's rule, it wasn't his fault though, was it?
Jahn thought back to how simple his life was before that damn General Wykes had cascaded everything.
"FOOOOOOD!!!!!"
Jahn turned around and looked at the prisoner who was wailing. The prisoner gulped and looked down.
Jahn was so bored of observing the prisoners of war, for the past twenty days he hadn't learned anything useful but he knew them so well he could practically go to the enemy kingdom and fit in perfectly.
A robust man approached Jahn, his amour was steely grey and his rapier was thin and beautiful.
"You have been called up by General Fitzgerald to help us hunt the Wulfric that is tearing down the stalls and houses of our people."
Jahn looked around and wondered if the man was talking to someone else besides him.
"M-me!?"
The man looked at Jahn without an ounce of humour in bones.
"YES, YOU!"
Jahn hastily stood up and went to the Armoury to get a sword and armour. He then met with the rest of the men who were also assigned the task of defeating the Wulfric. U
sually a Wulfric would only need 3 Soldier Rank men to take it down but the reports about this certain Wulfric mentioned it's abnormality and it's irascible behaviour. In this cohort there were 5 Soldier ranked men and 1 Captain rank, Leon. Jahn looked at him and knew today was not going to be easy.
They marched towards they rural area of the Kingdom known as, Commons. It was large almost as large as the current base, they were famers there who were grazing their cows and feeding their chickens.
They stopped what they were doing when they saw the cohort of men who had come to save them and their businesses.
Leon went straight to the man who was in charge of dealing with the people in this lush piece of land.
"HAIL CAPTAIN LEON!!"
The man got off his one knee and gave Leon the report of what was happening.
"And it keeps eating our livestock, please help us."
Leon looked at the man and said.
"Don't worry we will take care of it as soon as possible."
Night soon came and we were all waiting for the Wulfric to show up, rustling could be heard yet there was nothing to match the sound with, everyone was tense.
The dark night sky and the stars in it shimmered give the night some luminescence. Every sound made the Soldiers wary of lowering their guards better yet daring to get some shut eye.
Jahn was the most tense and scared, it was his first time doing such and it was killing him mentally. After what seemed like a century, a large wolf looking animal appeared, it's eyes were red and it's fur was thick, it had a contrast of red and white.
"Its the damned Wulfric!! AHHHH!!!!"
The people of the Commons screamed and wailed in disparity, they all hid in their homes and hoped for the best outcome because now, it was life or death. The Wulfric opened it maw and revealed it sharp milky fangs.
The soldiers assumed their defensive positions and Leon barked,
"Protect the people and kill this thing!!!!"
Leon had managed to boost the Soldier's morale and 3 Soldiers with Leon leading them charged forward and the remainder remained behind to protect the people.
Jahn obviously stayed back, he didn't want to be the snack of a damn beast. He readied and gripped his sword, awaiting the possible attack.
As the men charged forwards, the Wulfric's fur had seemingly come to life, the Wulfric looked bigger than before.
The men noticed this change and began rotating their positions so fast that they left afterimages, the Wulfric looked around in a daze.
As the men and their images got closer to the Wulfric it started whipping it's massive tail at them, it hit one soldier, this gave Leon the opening he needed, he shifted his weight on his right foot and added some essence to boost his step.
He bolted in the direction of the Wulfric's front legs and cleaved them off.
"Howl!"
The Wulfric howled in pain as it's front legs flew in front of it, it glared at Leon and opened it mouth.
An orangish-yellow, sphere was centred in it's mouth, it came hurling at at Leon. Leon could not believe his eyes, but before he could think of anything he had to dodge the oncoming danger, but who would save the residents of the Commons who were behind him?
He nimbly moved his body to the left and barked at Jahn and the other soldier to save those residents.
Jahn was shocked, a fireball was coming in his direction and there were residents right behind him. He didn't know what to, it was his first time in battle but he didn't how to deal with anything magic.
He just prayed that anything would extinguish the fire, he was sweating and as the ball made from flames got closer and closer to him he felt his heart drop to his stomach. Is this the end?
He thought to himself as he closed his eyes and prayed that something, someone would just save him and the people behind him.
He jumped out the way.
He did something no soldier would do. He chose his life over the innocent civilians and kids behind him.
The soldier next to him attempted to at least vacate the house behind him and the people came flocking out.
Leon had no time to glare and scold Jahn, he had to kill the Wulfric in front of him. He readied his sword and imbued his feet with essence and jumped.
He exploded into the sky and came down like a guillotine, he cleaved at the neck of the beast and it's head came rolling of. It stopped at Jahn looking him directly in the eye.
Jahn freaked and crawled backwards and started bawling for a minute. Leon came running and kicked him in the ribs, he snapped at him,
"How? How could you jeopardise the lives of innocent civilians and kids? COWARD! DAMN COWARD!!"
He threw his fists on Jahn and pummelled him like a grape, Jahn covered himself with his arms to defend himself. Leon stopped his barrage of attacks and detained Jahn with some rope.
"I hope you're ready to face the General. Coward! Ptuh"
He spat on Jahn and dragged him as they all made their way back to the base with the carcass, including the head, of the Wulfric. It was no big deal for a Captain to kill it in, basically, one strike but what bothered Leon so much was the fact that it could use magic.
Mages were not so rare but a beast especially the Wulfric, they never hunt alone and they have never used magic. In all the reports that Leon had seen, none of them mentioned that a Wulfric hunts alone, and is capable of using magic.
But that problem was dealt with, now he needed to deal with this scumbag rat on his left.
Jahn looked broken and shocked, no one could tell what he was thinking.
All that was left was for him to be handed to the Generals and see what punishment he would get.