Chapter 1: "Herald"

In the depths of a dark, gloomy cave with no presence of light except for presences of a few people, barely human, they gathered before an empty table placed in the middle of nowhere. Their ruler is still asleep, sealed, in fact, under a strong spell casted upon him by a strong spell caster of the past. Despite so, his dark, enormous aura could still be felt from the depths of their beings, sending shivers down their spine as they desperately seek for his awaken.

Soon, very soon, he shall break free and rise again.

"Patience."A voice whispered from the opening of the cave, as her small, petite body swayed into the cave. She gently stroked the frozen seal that sealed the enormous beast and chuckled. "We have a deal here, my friends." Her low, amethyst orbs smugly looked down upon the beasts that obeyed her words.

A soft droplet sound cleared the silence that clouded the dark cave. A flame ignited before their eyes, and there they noticed, some of them had disappeared from the cave.


Heavy steps moved across the corridors of the Palace of Ereve, as a man with silver-blonde hair deliberately rushed towards the young empress's chamber as he caught of news of an intruder. What in the name of Cygnus are the guards doing? Allowing trespassers in… In the Empress's chamber of all places! Afraid, he sprinted forward and rammed the door open. He was close, so close to screaming bloody murder, until he realized the intruder was no other than that familiar blonde knight who was busy chattering with the young Empress.

"It's just you, Chrome…" The silver-blonde lad ran his fingers through his long bangs and sighed in relief. He had thought to call an army to screw over the intruder who dared to enter the Empress's chambers, but now that he knew who it was, he was glad he held back from doing so in the first place. But then again, that doesn't stop him from getting furious at the blonde man.

The blonde named Chrome looked up at the younger lad, the wrinkles by the corner of his eyes clearly shown as his eyes formed a smile when he carefully got up from his seat. "I apologize, my Empress, but you see, Nineheart here might want to have a word with this old man." He pointed at himself with a foolish grin on his face.

Without a second thought, he was forcefully dragged out of the room by Nineheart who grabbed him by his collar as he waved the Empress goodbye with a white flag stuck on his back.

"What the heck are you thinking? Chrome! You could have given me a heart attack!" Nineheart poked Chrome's silver armor, hard. The blonde knight chuckled and raised both his hands in defeat. "Apologies, boy. You see, this old man here just needs a chatting partner. And the empress is always bored, so I thought I could tell her stories about my travels to the land-"

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT OR WHAT!" Nineheart messed up his usually neat, straightened silver hair. "What are Josephine and Meg for?! They're your colleagues! Talk to them instead of her majesty!"

The blonde knight chuckled, taking a step back. "Well, Jo's the chief knight of the Wind, and Meg's the chief knight of Flames. They're busy people-"

"AND THE EMPRESS ISN'T BUSY!?" Nineheart was on the verge of crying as he tried to communicate with the knight. It's simply impossible after all, as the old man had that permanent foolish grin played on his face.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you." Chrome smiled at the silver-blonde as they settled down by the nearby bench. "Actually, I have something in mind. It has been on quite sometime now. And I thought it might be best to speak to her majesty first before announcing it to anyone else."

Stunned, Nineheart did not utter a word, but allowed Chrome to continue his speech. The blonde man smiled, as the breeze danced pass their faces with mocking smiles. "I'm thinking of appointing new successors." He turned to Nineheart as the latter raised his brow in confusion.

What on earth is he thinking? Nineheart questioned mentally, but didn't bother to voice out his thoughts. Thanks to his old age, he's going nuts. Yes, that must be it.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Chrome sighed, a silent pant casted on his lips as he watched the comical expressions that were formed on the royal advisor's faces. Usually, he would have burst into a laughing fit seeing the looks on Nineheart's face, but no, not today.

"Gladly." He chuckled. "But sadly, no, I'm not kidding. I'm rather serious here, Nineheart, and this matter had been in our minds for long." Chrome carefully stumbled on his steps and chuckled at the advisor's doubtful look.

"We're only humans, Nineheart. Our time is limited after all."


"Mihile? Mihile!" The handsome young lad with short blonde hair groaned as he gently dropped the training guide he held in possession, "The Theory of Light", in which he had stumbled upon in the dormitory hall. He furrowed his eyes as he turned to his left, noticing the soft swaying of grass green flowing right next to him.

"Stop sleeping, you sleepy head." That brave young girl snapped her fingertips on his forehead and forced him awake. "Chief Chrome is calling for us. Well, not just him, but all of them actually. You won't want chief Chrome to hunt you down personally now would you? I mean… Knowing Chief Chrome, he might just come up with some new ideas to embarrass the heck out of you-"

"Would you shut it, Irena?" Irritated, the blonde named Mihile glared at the emerald and groaned in frustration, while Irena, the emerald haired lady would simply ignore his tantrums and got up.

"I'll head to the hall first, don't you dare continue sleeping!" All she got was a shrug of his shoulders. As she left the scene, the young lad slowly stood up with a pat of his back, an attempt to remove the dirt off his white uniform, and slowly proceeded to the agreed meeting place, the Hall of Knights.

Noises, whispers, and questions arisen as he carefully opens the door to the hall room, but as the door squeak open, he was greeted with nothing but silence, with all his fellow knight colleagues staring at him blankly. He could have cared less about how they disliked his sudden appearance in the house of knights without the need to go through any harsh training from Kiku, the knight trainer, or any theoretical exams from Kinu, the Piyo Professor of Knighthood. Therefore, his choice was to ignore them.

"You're late, kid." Chrome smacked the back of his head as he grinned at the blonde male. "Late, but at least you're here." He smiled proudly at him. "Now that you're all gathered here, we shall start the briefing." He patted on Mihile's shoulder and urged him to move forward.

"First of all, I would like to thank all fellow knights for attending this meeting in such a splendid afternoon, with such soft breezes enlightening our feelings for today's marvelous announcement. Isn't that just about right, sir Chrome?" Josephine, the Chief Knight of Wind called for their attention with a smile placed gracefully on her face.

"Well, you're just about right, Jo." Chrome chuckled as he turned to the crowd. Meg, the Chief Knight of Flames, Roo, the Chief Knight of Lightning, and even Swatz, the Chief Knight of Darkness were present in the hall itself, causing a roar of excitement, panic and fear to the crowd of knights.

Each in their respective houses, Mihile could see Irena's smirk on her face as she crossed her arms at him mockingly, he rolled his eyes in response. Familiar faces. He thought, as they were always near his sight. He was, after all, one of Chrome's favorite apprentices, while Mihile would say that Chrome was one of the most despicable mentors he had ever had.

Despite so, he respects him. That's for sure.

The sound of a clear of throat echoed throughout the whole hall, allowing silence to fill the room. Chrome smiled slightly, before proceeding with his speech. "Recently, we have heard news about a new dark organization that has been stirring quite a number of attention all around Maple World. An organization that goes by the name 'Black Wings' who serves with unknown motives and under an unknown leader."

Murmurs and whispers could be heard within the knights, around Mihile, which irritated him to the core. He was close, so close to bursting in anger, but of course, his patience weren't that shallow. He closed his eyes in attempt to ignore the noises.

"Silence." Chrome stabbed his huge sword to the ground, steadily causing a clean stab on the ground as his sword stayed still as his hand left the handle. "Usually, these investigations would be given to the Knights of Darkness, who are more skilled in the shadow works than any of us. But as we have discussed, it is simply impossible to give this task to only one house." Meg continued as she placed her hand on the knight's shoulder.

"Therefore, we have come up with a conclusion." Roo continued, a goofy grin on his face as he watched the knights' confused expressions. "For once, we will need you to form parties for this quest."

"Need not to fear, we already made up a list of parties. There are a total of 4 parties that will be form for this quest. Each party consists of 5 members, one of each house. Any questions so far?" Josephine questioned with one of her brows raised. When there was no response coming from the crowd, she proceeded. "Therefore, I shall announce the knights that are appointed for this mission…"

Mihile yawned in boredom as the list goes on slowly by Josephine. Investigation quests, those were never his cup of tea. He was never interested in quests anyway, as he would prefer to sit back here and guard the royal palace, in peace. He looked away, with his mind slowly drifting far away until his name was suddenly called up in one of the last parties.

"Party leader 5, Mihile of the House of Light." His eyes twitched in pure irritation, which was much to his mentor's sickening fetishes. Chrome knew, he knew all too well that Mihile hated boring, complicated work, and he just had to appoint him to go on a bloody journey out there just to investigate some crap work. God damn troublesome. He glared at the old man, while the old man merely whistled his way next to the Chief Knight of Wind.

"Members, Irena of the House of Wind…" He turned to his left as the young girl in emerald green grinned at him with her signature smile. Well, it would be fine if it's just her… He thought, but of course, that wouldn't be just the case.

"Hawkeye of the House of Lightning…" All of a sudden, cheers could be heard by the crowd, 90% consisted of female knights as a tanned young lad with shabby blue eyes walked up to him. "That's me." He winked to the crowd, and the crowd responded with screams. Mihile's eyes started to twitch in irritation.

"Eckhart of the House of Darkness… Where the heck is Eckhart again?" Mihile forcefully squeezed his eyes shut. Thank god, at least one quiet one. He thought as he felt the slightest bit of presence behind his back. A soft footstep could be heard as the raven haired male stood right beside Hawkeye, surprising the tan boy as his eyes widened in glee.

Mihile mentally chuckled. He had heard about this knight. Ekhart's presence always comes and go, therefore, makes him one of the most splendid knights of darkness as his presence and thoughts are hard to catch. It is simply impossible to read his thoughts with the mask constantly placed on his face, nothing less coming from his movements.

Just when he thought that they're done with the whole announcement, he turned around and reached for the exit. He was going to ditch the rest of the speech, after all, Irena can report to him as she pleases. Just when he was about to reach for the door, the door slammed right open revealing a bright auburn flow that unintentionally crashed against him, throwing him right to the ground with a loud thud.

He could feel weight holding him back from getting up. Blame gravity, he thought and opened his eyes to the flash of redness flowing gently on his sapphire orbs. That was a short moment of silence, when sapphire meets emerald, captivated, and unable to pull away.

Soft, like marshmallows.He felt on his lips.

Gasped, the girl with flaming hair pulled away with her hands covering her lips. It could be her hair, he thought, but the faint redness was flushing brightly on her cheeks. He noticed how her emerald eyes were glowing in embarrassment, and there, was where he realized what happened just now. His emotionless sapphire eyes came to motion, as his eyes widened and looked at the girl in question.

"I'm sorry!"She bowed to him, her eyes were squeezed shut, and her front bangs covered those beautiful emerald eyes of hers. He was short of words; having everyone staring at them isn't helping the situation either. He stayed there, stoned and utterly speechless, until he heard a light cough from his back, which calls for attention.

"You're right on time, Oz." Meg smiled gracefully, almost too gracefully for the knight's taste as the young crimson lady bit her lips in embarrassment. She clasped her hands together and apologized to Meg. "I'm so sorry! I knew I was running late but I kind of got caught up in a sticky situation like having my staff stuck in a fireplace so-"

That's it; all the patience and stress that were pilled up in his mind went out in a full blast. His eyes twitched in complete annoyance upon the girl's long, exaggerated bloody hell of an excuse and the loud laughter that ran pass the entire hall, particularly the girl's voice. Annoying. Was all he thought when he eyed her a short glare when she met eyes with him.

"Well then Mihile, here's your last member. Oz of the House of Flames. Isn't it just so hot here?" Chrome swung his arm around the young male's neck as he teasingly grinned at the male, while everyone continued to laugh, he was close to killing the poor girl who tried to protest to her friends who were grinning at her.

"Annoying bitch." A nerve snapped, and the girl turned to Mihile with a loud roar. "Suck it up, asshole! It's your fault for blocking my way in the first place! Blind jerk!" She screamed from the top of her lungs, which causes Mihile's veins to pop right on his forehead. He is at his limit of controlling his emotions, he thought as he eyed a hard glare on the girl. He stood up, patted the dust of his pants and walk over to her. He made it clear that his height is towering hers.

"I apologize that I could hardly see someone as short as you." He commented bluntly, which in result, insulted the young lady. "Egoistic shorty." She looked up at him, despite her hood covering her face; he can already feel the heat that is emitted through her flaring emerald eyes, literally.

"I don't take comments from you, prideful mute." She poked her index finger right at his chest, in which he would only raise his brows in return. She turned away, sparing one last glare at him before she leaves.

"To hell you'll go, asshole."