Deep in the moonshadow forest of Xadia at nightfall, a lone Moonshadow elf named Ethari scouted out the forest alone, riding a moon cat called a shadowpaw. For much of the day, and well into the night, he and the rest of the Silvergrove had been searching for five young assassins-in-training who had gone missing during a training session. The instructor of the apprentice assassins had given them a task that they must find an object he had hidden in the forest, but when they didn't returned, he investigated and discovered the young ones' weapons scattered, dried up blood on grass and leaves, and signs of a fight and kidnapping. Horrified by what he has seen, he went back to the Silvergrove and told the village leaders what has happened and what he had found. Immediately, a search was launched, starting at the place where the young elves were seemingly kidnapped, and the search party split up when they reached a spot where the kidnappers created several paths to throw whoever might come after them off, leading Ethari to where he is now.
Ethari hoped the young elves were alright, yet at the same, he cannot help but wonder that they were kidnapped by the same people who had kidnapped several other elves. For four moons since the deaths of the Dragon king and Dragon prince, several elves have also gone missing, kidnapped. Some of them are adults, but they were mostly teenagers and young children. Not only that, but many of the kidnapped elves were Sunfire, Skywing and Earthblood. There were also Moonshadow elves from other villages that were also kidnapped. The Guardian's search-and-rescue chaws have tried everything to find the missing elves, yet their searches ended with nothing. Ethari hoped and prayed that Rayla and his beloved husband, Runaan, both wouldn't come face-to-face with the kidnappers. He couldn't bear to lose two more people close to him after he lost his and Runaan's closes friends and Rayla's parents, Lain and Tiadrin, for they too perished on the same day King Avizandum and his unborn son died.
As Ethari continued to scout around, he heard a loud shriek before a small winged creature flew by and slashed Ethari on his right shoulder. He exclaimed in pain and clutched his wounded shoulder as he looked up to see the creature land on a branch. It was a broxa, a moon bird known to drink blood from creatures larger than itself and milk from livestock. Ethari and the bird looked at each for a couple of moments before it gave out a shrill screech like a Barn Owl.
The elf looked confused for a moment before he heard some odd sounds coming from deep into the forest as he looked to his right. There, he saw some shadowy figures with purple runes etched on them and glowing purple eyes emerge from the darkness. They looked like they're were elves, yet were made of smoke. Ethari felt chills go up his spine as the smokey elves approached. It's only after one of them swung a thin black rope at Ethari and his shadowpaw did he realize that the elves before him are not friendly.
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" Ethari shouted as he tugged on the reins of his mount to have her to go back the way they came. However, two more shadowy elves appeared from some bushed, blocking Ethari's escape to freedom. He become shocked at the sight of the two new elves before they swing more black ropes at him and his mount, causing the creature to panic, throwing off Ethari and running off, scared. Having no time to mourn the loss of his mount, Ethari unsheathed his sword and tried to fight off the shadowy elves. However, much to his surprise, they were really made of smoke. He tried to slashed at the fake elves some more, despite it being useless, until one of the fake elves from earlier threw its rope around his neck and yanked him back, causing him to drop his sword.
Before Ethari could retaliate, a cloaked figure emerged from the shadows, standing before him. Ethari gasped at the sight of the figure, who removed the hood of her cloak. She's a human and a dark mage by the looks of it. He heard stories of what dark mages can do to elves and none of them were pretty. The broxa from before flew in and landed on the mage's shoulder before she spoke.
"Thought you could get away from, then fought off the smokey wraiths, did you, elf? Well, not on my watch."
Growling furiously at the mage's words, Ethari tried to lunged at her, but another of the smoky wraiths threw its rope around one of his right wrist, yanking him back. He tried to pull himself free, but another wraith threw a rope around his left wrist and yanked him back as well. He continue to struggle to free as three more ropes are thrown around his wrist and neck, until one of fake elves threw a rope around his left ankle and yanked him off balance, causing him to fall on his side.
Breathing heavily as he got up to his knees, Ethari looked up to see the dark mage before him. "I don't know why you're here, but you're not welcome, dark mage!" he growled at her.
The dark mage simply rolled her eyes, and then pulled out a pair of silver manacles from a bag on her side, held by a strap over her left shoulder. Then, she grabbed each of the elf's wrists and placed the manacles on them.
Once the manacles were on his wrists, Ethari suddenly became weak as if his connection to the Moon primal became blocked. He looked up to the dark mage and growled, "Who are you?"
The dark mage didn't answer for a moment, then she spoke, "You'll find out soon enough." She turned to the fake elves before her. "Tie him up and put him with the other five. We're going back to St. Aegolius now I've got six Moonshadow elves."
Ethari didn't like the sound of that. This mage and her fake elves are the ones who kidnapped the five missing elves, and now they got him. How will he get out of this? What is this St. Aegolius? That's all the questions Ethari can think of before the smoky elves removed the ropes around his neck, wrists, and left ankle, then bounded his wrists together with another ropes and gagged up with a cloth over his mouth. Once Ethari is tied up and gagged, he is dragged away and was soon put in with the five missing young elves. To his shock, they too were tied up, gagged and have the same silver manacles around their wrists like him. They were surprised to see him and tried to ask him some questions, but they muffled by the cloths around their mouth. Ethari didn't know what to say or think. On one hand, he was glad the five elves before him were alright. On the other hand, they, including him now, are held captive by a dark mage and her fake elf wraiths and will soon be taken to this St. Aegolius place. What will they do now? How will they escape?
Ethari didn't have time to think about this, before the dark mage went to a large hole on the trunk of a tree and ordered the smoky elves and the prisoners to follow her as she stepped in the hole. The shadowy elves followed her, dragging the six captive Moonshadow elves with them by the ropes they tied around their wrists.
(~)
Viren looked at himself in a large golden, ornate mirror as he stood before it. It was a lovely mirror with runes around the edge. But, that's not the reason why he brought the mirror to Katolis castle before eventually moving it to St. Aegolius after he found it in the lair of the Dragon King and Queen the day Thunder was slain. After looking at the mirror for a few more moments, he reached out and touched the runes on the mirror's edge, wondering what do they meant.
Before he could think some more, he heard some knocking on the door behind.
"Hey, Dad! I got six Moonshadow elves like you asked." Claudia called out from the other side.
Viren walked over the door and opened it to see Claudia and the smoky elves with six captive Moonshadow elves, all tied up, gagged, and with silver manacles around their wrists. Five were teenagers, while one is an adult.
"What do you think? Will they do?" Claudia asked eagerly. "Caching the first five has been easy since there were no other Moonshadow elves around. Getting the sixth one was a little difficult as he came along with his people and I and the smoky seekers had to create many paths to split them up so one of them can be completely alone, which worked." Claudia gestured to the adult who glaring at her and was trying to protest, but was muffled by the cloth over his mouth.
Viren inspected the elves for a moment or two before he spoke. "Excellent work, Claudia. Now, go get some rest. You deserve it after doing such an excellent job getting six Moonshadow elves for our trap tomorrow."
"Thanks, Dad!" Claudia exclaimed happily, then hugged her father.
"Don't celebrate too soon, Claudia. Remember, we still haven't catch our enemies yet."
"Oh, sorry!" Claudia pulled away.
"It's alright." Viren said, before he gestured to the six captive elves. "Now we have the bait we needed, we'll set the trap. Then, it'll be up to you to use these elves to lure our enemy to their rightful place: into our grasp."
"Then, I'll bring them here with the other six once their job is done and the king won't be killed tomorrow night."
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Viren praised.
Claudia walked off with a smile on her face, towards the stables where her and Viren's horses are located so she ride back to Katolis for her well deserved rest. She looked at Viren for a moment before she turned her head towards the hallway.
Once Claudia is out of sight, Viren turned to the captive elves. "As for all of you, rest ensure you will all be treated well. I need you all to be well for tomorrow." He turned to the smoky elves and ordered, "Put them all into the same cell. They are to stay there until morning."
The fake elves nodded and took the real elves away from Viren, dragging them by the ropes still tied around their wrists to a room with prison cells beneath St. Aegolius.
Viren smiled to himself, confident his latest plan will succeed. Once the Moonshadow assassins are captured, they'll be sleeping under the light of the full Moon tomorrow night with their fellow Moonshadows and awaken as slaves, instead of infiltrating the castle to murder King Harrow.
(~)
Rayla stalked through a dark forest. The darkness was no problem to her nor to her kind as Moonshadow elves are creatures of the night, connected to the magical energy of the Moon primal. As Rayla walked silently on the forest floor, she spotted something, a cloaked figure with their back turned to her. Only once when she saw the five-fingered hands did she realized that the figure before her was a human, and even probably a dark mage.
Rayla crouched down, not willing to let herself to be seen by the mage before her, who seemed to be uneasy about something before relaxing. Once she's sure they had let their guard down, she tried to sneak up on them, but they quickly noticed her and let out a blast of wind from their mouth at her while shouting "Aspiro!". The blast caused Rayla to roll backwards and land on her back. Shocked by what just happened, yet furious that her sneak attack didn't work, Rayla ran up to the mage and held both of her blades to the mage's neck.
"No, please!" the mage exclaimed, holding his hands up.
Rayla froze when she heard his plea and took a peek under his cloak's hood, revealing a pair of green eyes filled with fear. Before Rayla could do something else next, she felt paws on her leg. She turned to see a small baby Sky dragon looking at her with pleading blue eyes. Unable to resist, Rayla lowered her blades, allowing the mage to remove his cloak's hood, revealing himself to be a teenager about her age, with brown hair and his green eyes almost having no fear in them anymore. He then picked up the baby dragon as Rayla looked at the human and dragon before her in shock.
Rayla opened up her eyes with a jolt as she woke up from her dream. Who was that mage and baby dragon? Why did they appear to her in her dream? How can the human mage do primal magic without a primal stone? And why did she hesitate to kill the mage upon hearing his pleas and seeing the fear in his eyes? She was an assassin. She wasn't supposed to hesitate, she wasn't supposed to think about what she was doing, and she wasn't supposed to sympathize with the enemy. If she did any of those things, how could she avenge the deaths of the Dragon king and prince, let alone the deaths of her parents if she met their killer? Maybe Ethari was right. Maybe she wasn't meant to be an assassin, let alone being able to actually kill.
Unable to think about something else, Rayla quietly crawled and saw that the other members of her team were still asleep expect for Ram, who is currently on a scouting mission to look for any humans on the lookout for them, and should come back anytime soon. Once she's out of her tent, she climbed to the top of a large rock and sat there, pondering about her dream and what could it mean. Was it trying to tell her that she'll met a human that can do primal magic without a primal stone? Yeah, right. Humans can't do primal magic. Was the dream trying to tell she maybe wasn't be meant to be an assassin or killer like Ethari said too? She already told of that before she and the other assassins left home. She didn't need to be reminded of that.
Frustrated, Rayla looked up at the moon. It was almost full, but tomorrow night, it'll be full, the perfect time to carry out the mission she, Runaan, Ram, Callisto, Skor and Ram were sent out to do: kill King Harrow of Katolis and his son, Prince Ezran, and avenge the deaths of the Dragon King and Prince. Hopefully on that night also, she would find her parents' killer and put an end to him.
"Hey, Rayla!" a voice said behind Rayla and looked to Ram up on a tree branch. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"
"Hello, Ram." Rayla said as Ram jumped off from the branch and landed behind her. While Ram can be a deadly assassin, he is a spunky fellow when not doing any assassination assignments.
"Why are you up here? You're not thinking about the mission, are you?"
"Sort off. I was mostly thinking of a dream I just had. I was in a forest and I saw a human who was an actual primal mage and a baby Sky dragon was with him."
"A human primal mage?" Ram asked confused before he looked around. "How can there be one? Humans can't do primal magic naturally."
"Yeah. I thought so too. When I first saw that mage, I thought he was a dark mage, so I tried to sneak up on him, but he defended himself with a Aspiro spell. Then I had both of my blades at his neck when I heard him plea and I saw the fears in his eyes. I couldn't find myself to kill him. That's when I saw the baby dragon and saw that age is about my age and he almost had no fear in his eyes. Then he picked up the wee dragon and the next thing I knew, I woke up and couldn't stop thinking about it."
"Is that why you're up here?"
"Yeah. I cannot help but think that my dream might be trying to tell me something like I wasn't meant to be an assassin like Ethari said or I might meet a human primal mage. How can I assassinate anyone if I hesitated, let alone avenge some people?"
"That could be a problem for our mission. The mage from your dream wasn't our target, so it's alright you hesitated to kill him. However, you must not do so on our mission. This is serious. One must not hesitate when doing an actual assassination. Hesitation has no place in it nor does sympathy for the enemy and thinking about what you are doing."
"I know that. It just how can I do it? I never done it before."
"I used to hesitate when I was your age. Got told to not be that way by my instructor for it a lot. But, eventually, I have gotten by the time I went on my first mission, and I think Runaan knows you can get better too. You can prove Ethari wrong, that you're too soft-hearted to be an assassin."
"Thanks, Ram." Rayla said sarcastically. "Really great trying to get me to try to be a real assassin."
"Well, anyway, let's get some sleep." Ram said, stretching out before jumping off the rock. "Xadia's counting on us to deliver our justice on King Harrow and Prince Ezran tomorrow night. Can't do it without sleep. Hopefully, we won't get caught by any pesky human guards."
Rayla didn't say anything, but followed her fellow Moonshadow elf back to camp.
(~)
The next day, Viren marched towards a room guarded by two guards after walking across the castle from his private study. He has to tell Harrow of his latest plan to save him from the Mooonshadow elf assassins, which he was sure will work as the first plan to do so failed miserably.
"Lord Viren, uh, King Harrow hasn't risen yet." One of the guards said, holding up his hand to halt the High Mage's movements. Viren ignored him and pushed open the doors. Now is not the time to ask for permission to see his oldest friend, especially when there is so more at stake.
Yet, when Viren entered the room, the curtains were already pushed back and Harrow is well and awake. He was clearly holding something in his hands. Viren walked over and got his attention by clearing his throat. "Ahem."
Harrow became startled when he heard the "Ahem" and turned to see Viren beside him.
"Ah, Viren. I didn't noticed you. Why have you come here?"
"My deepest apologies, my king. I came here to tell you of my latest plan to deal with our assassin problem."
"Really?"
"Yes. It's simple: we'll set a trap for them and catch them all. I thought of it after Soren and his team failed to find the elves. I'm confident this new plan won't fail."
"Are you sure? I'm afraid it or the fact that the defences are being bolstered won't be enough. I have accepted that tonight I may pay the price for our mistakes. Yet, by doing so, I might not see Callum. Every day I wonder if he's alright, that the elves who took him are making sure he's well cared for or are hurting him, even though he's an innocent boy if they really are the monsters we think they are."
"Don't give up just yet." Viren said, putting his hind on Harrow's left shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find him one day, but for that to happen, my plan has to work so you can live to see him again. Claudia has gathered the bait needed for our trap yesterday. Soon, we'll set it and Claudia will use the bait to lure the assassins to her and she'll catch them."
Viren knew where Callum is, but everyone else doesn't. Expect one: Claudia.
"What if your plan doesn't work?" Harrow asked.
"It will work. I promise you this. That way you won't die tonight once the elves are in mine and Claudia's grasps."
"What if the elves managed to escape you?"
"They won't. I found something that blocks off the Moonshadow elves' connection to the Moon once it's put onto them in an ancient fortress. With it, the elves will become powerless."
"Yeah, right." Harrow said, not quite believing Viren.
"I don't understand. The things I found are really effective." Viren said.
"I know you don't. Leave me." Harrow said, the tone in his voice brokered no argument.
Viren obediently left the room. Now left alone, Harrow looked down on the thing he was holding: a portrait of himself, his wife, the late Queen Sarai, holding a baby Ezran, and young Callum.
"I'm so sorry, Sarai. I have kept our boys safe for years but now I have lost Callum." Harrow apologized. At that moment, Harrow promised himself that he will live to see Callum again. For now, he has to find Ezran and Kasef so he can send them away to the Banther lodge for their safety. There's no telling if the Moonshadow assassins have other targets to go after tonight.
(~)
After leaving Harrow, Viren walked down a corridor where he is greeted by Claudia.
"Did the king liked your plan?"
"I'm afraid not. It seemed he rather let himself be killed by the elves, yet he wanted to see Callum again." Viren said.
"I don't understand. The plan will save his life." Claudia said. "We have the manacles which can block off the elves' connection to the moon, rendering them powerless so they wouldn't be a problem. Why would he say no?"
"King Harrow is a principled man."
"You mean, stubborn." Claudia rolled her eyes as she and Viren entered his study.
"Watch your tongue! But, yes, he is hard-headed, usually about the right things. But, about this? I don't know." Viren sighed.
Claudia looked up to see a portrait of Harrow and Viren. "You look so... happy in this portrait."
Viren looked up to see the painting himself. "I was. We posed for this a few days after King Harrow's coronation." He smiled as he looked at the painting with nostalgia. He insisted I stand next to him for the painting. Because he knew I stand by him through anything."
"And you have." Claudia added.
"So far, yes." Viren said. He became silent for a few moments before he spoke again.
"I have to stand by him through this too. I need to be the man he once believed I was. We must carry out the plan. We have a trap to set."
"Well then, what are we waiting?" Claudia said excitedly, before grabbing her father's arm and dragging him down the corridor. "We have to get to St. Aggie's! We have six Moonshadow elves to lure out their fellow elves!"
"Whoa! Claudia, slow down!" Viren protested.
"You're Ablah General of St. Aggie's, remember? You have to be there for any new elves that are brought there when they arrived." Claudia said.
"Right. I guess it's off to St. Aegolius. We have to go there anyway." Viren said.
(~)
Runaan sat quietly on a rock as he mediated. Everything seemed peaceful for the elf, until a shadow came from his left and try to slash him. However, Runaan dodged the attack and the shadow, revealed to be Ram, ungracefully landed on his face.
"Too soon, Ram." Runaan said as Ram got up, spitted out grass and dirt from his mouth and sat crisscrossed with his arms crossed and him pouting.
Soon, another shadow appeared from behind Runaan and tried to attack him. But, Runaan dodged the second shadow, SKor, and he ended tripping on a root, rolling on his back and bumping back first against a tree.
"Ow!" Skor moaned in pain as he land on his belly.
"Too clumsy, Skor." Runaan said. Skor's response was to sit back up, spit out some grass from his mouth, and glare at his leader.
Then, a third shadow came from Runaan's right and tried to slit him on the cheek, but he outstretched his leg and caused the shadow, Andromeda, to trip and fall on Skor.
"Too slow, Andromeda." Runaan said, sounding unimpressed. Both Andromeda and Skor moaned as they get off of each other.
A fourth shadow jumped from a branch above, letting a cry, but Runaan grabbed him by the ankle and threw him to the ground.
"Too rash and noisy, Callisto." Runaan scolded. "You have to do better than that."
Callisto just glared at Runaan while crossing his arms.
While Runaan was occupied with Callisto, a fifth shadow appeared from behind a tree, ran towards Runaan from behind, and slashed the lead assassin's left cheek with one of her blades, causing a trickle of blood to leak down on his face.
"Wow, she did it. And she didn't even hesitated or think about it. Maybe, she really does to have what it takes to be an assassin." Ram said in wonderment before clapping.
Runaan touched the blood from his cut and looked at it on his fingers for a few moments, before turning to Rayla. "Well done, Rayla."
"Yeah..." Rayla said, feeling flustered. "Though, I could've used both of them."
"You're lucky I'm not our targets for tonight. Once any of them is in your sight, you could do that." Runaan said before tossing a cloth to Rayla, which she caught and used to clean of Runaan's blood from her blade.
"As fo the rest of you, try to do better than what you did. If you cannot withotry to attack me without making a mistake, our targets will escape their well-deserved justice by our hands."
"We're sorry, Runaan. We're just more used to how we kill our own targets." Andromeda apologized.
"Andromeda's right. We kill using our own methods with our own weapons on our own missions while you kill using your own." Skor said. "Try cutting us some slack, will ya?"
"You guys practise whatever you do with your weapons. I wish to practise doing our mission with my own weapon and method elsewhere but here." Callisto said, walking off.
"Be careful, Callisto! You might get spotted by any human guards looking for us. They've been on the lookout for us since we arrived here as somehow we got spotted without us noticing." Ram called with concern.
"I won't get so easily spotted. None of us will. Consider yourself lucky that you didn't get spotted yourself on your scouting mission last night." Callisto said coldly before he disappeared into the shadows.
Ram drooped his shoulders in sadness before Runaan put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Ram. Callisto will stay out of trouble. He kept himself hidden on his own missions many times. SO, I doubt some human guards will find him and kill him."
"I guess you're right." Ram said.
(~)
Some time later in the day, Rayla was exploring the wilderness of Katolis, taking in the sights before her, and practising her reflexes and swinging her blades in preparation for the mission. The forest she was in was different from the Moonshadow forest back at Xadia. There's the obvious lack of primal magic and the animals here aren't fantastical. Yet, she couldn't help but admire Katolis. There's a beauty to it she just couldn't describe. She was allowed to explore the human kingdom as long as she stays hidden from humans and she comes back in time for the binding ritual, where each of the assassins will bind their lives to justice tonight with ribbons that will tighten as long at the target lives, only coming off and transforming into a blood ribbon when said target is killed. Once the mission is done, Runaan will use a shadowhawk to deliver a blood ribbon message to the Queen of the dragons.
While Rayla did a good job of slashing Runaan while the others failed miserably, she couldn't help but think of how well she'll do when actually carrying out the mission. Will she think about it and even hesitate for real? The thought haunted her more than she liked it to do. How she can do it if she does the things she as an assassin is not supposed to do? How can she bring justice to the man who killed King Avizandum and his young son? Maybe she'll find out tonight.
She thought back to a conversation she had with Ram before she went exploring.
(Flashback)
"I cannot believe you actually slash Runaan without a moment of hesitation." Ram said. "You really do have the makings of an assassin."
"I dunno, Ram. My mind was just blank at that moment." Rayla said. "I don't think that counts."
"But, you didn't hesitated or think about it. That's a good thing."
"I still don't know. I don't know if my mind will go blank once again when the time is right."
"Why would you think that? You shouldn't doubt yourself. You did great with what you did back there. This should give you some confidence."
"But-" Rayla tried to protest, but Ram cut her off.
"Don't be silly, Rayla. I gain some confidence and stop doubting myself after slashing Runaan on the cheek if I were you. You go far if you kept doing what you were taught right over and over."
(Flashback ends)
"Sorry, Ram. But, I still don't feel confident. How can I kill two humans to avenge the Dragon King and Prince, alone kill the human who killed my parents, if I think about it and hesitate and that I'm empathic?" Rayla asked to herself.
Before Rayla could think some more, something suddenly appeared in the corner of her. She turned to see something moving in the distance. What is it? Feeling really curious, Rayla turned back to the direction she came from before heading towards the moving thing. Whatever it is, it might spell trouble or not. Either way, she felt like she has to find it. After jumping from tree to tree for a few minutes, Rayla came upon a trackway, made recently by the looks of it. On the grounds were tracks made by two horses, a cart or wagon of some kind and... elves? No, it couldn't be. She and her teams are the only elves here. Regardless, she'll find out about the moving thing soon enough.
Eventually, Rayla found a clearing where she found the thing she saw moving before: a wagon and the creature that has been moving it as she was attached to it: a dark sand-colored horse. Rayla petted the creature who whinnied and nuzzled her cheek in response. Rayla returned the gesture with a stroke on the neck, before she went to investigate some human footprints with the elven footprints after she found them, although the mare tried to stop her by grabbing her belt with her teeth.
"I don't know who's here, but I doubt I'll let myself get captured by any humans." Rayla said, stroking the mare's head before heading off, leaving the horse behind. "Good bye." Rayla waved to the horse.
Rayla followed the footprints deeper into the clearing, closely examining them and seeing what they were leading. What she found next as she followed the trail shocked to her very core: Ethari and five of her fellow assassins-in-training gagged and tied up to a trunk of a tree. She gasped at the sight before her, then quickly calmed herself down and went over to the tied up elves.
What Rayla didn't know is that owners of the footprints were nearby and watching her from behind some bushes.
After Rayla approached her fellow Moonshadow elves who saw her coming in towards them and makes some gestures and nods, which Rayla ignored as she approached Ethari and removed the cloth around his mouth.
"Ethari, what's going on? Why are you and five of the other assassins-in-training here?"
"I wish I can tell you, Rayla, but you need to get out of here." Ethari said frantically.
"What? Why? I'm not leaving you or the others here." Rayla said, bringing out one of her blades and started to cut the rope.
"Because we were captured by a dark mage yesterday and brought here to be used as bait."
This got Rayla to cease her cutting. "Bait? But, for what?"
"To lure you, Runaan, Ram, Callisto, Skor and Andromeda into a trap the dark mage I have mentioned set. I heard what she and her father planned after she brought me and your friends to Katolis. That's why you have to leave now. She'll captured if she sees you with us." Ethari said. The young Moonshadow elves nodded in agreement.
"I'm still not leaving you and there's no way I'll let myself get captured by any dark mage-" Rayla said before suddenly, a thin black rope was thrown around her wrist and pulled her back, causing her to dop her blade. "Hey!" Rayla exclaimed in anger and pulled on the rope to free herself. When that failed, she took the rope off. At that moment, the dark mage emerged from the bushes with some shadowy fake elves by her side.
Despite being somewhat scared, Rayla refused to show it and prepared herself to stay and fight.
"Looks like waiting for you bloodthirsty elven assassins to come is easier than I first thought. I just didn't know it would be this easy the moment I spotted you coming in." The dark mage said.
"Get out of here, Rayla! Get out here now!" Ethari shouted, struggling against the rope holding him. However, his pleas fell on deaf ears as Rayla said confidently that she won't leave him and her fellow assassins-in-training. Then, she charged at the dark mage, grabbing the blade that has fallen while pulling the other one out, but she blocked by the fake elves. She fought against them, slashing and stabbing them with her blades as best as she can. Yet despite this, her efforts were in vain as the fake elves were made of smoke and cannot be harmed easily. Meanwhile, Ethari could only watch as the fight between Rayla and the fake elves went on.
Elsewhere, Runaan and the other assassins were looking for Rayla after some time waiting for her to return and wondering what's taking so long. Only upon hearing the sound of a fight going on did they realized that must be where Rayla is right now and possibly in danger.
"Rayla." Runaan said before bolting off to the direction where Rayla could be. The others followed him without question. Once they arrived at their destination, they see there was indeed a fight and not just any fight. It was Rayla fighting against fake shadowy elves and she is struggling. Watching this was a female dark mage and a young one at that.
Not only that, but after watching the fight for a few moments, there is something else that shocked Runaan to the core like it did with Rayla the first time: Ethari and five young assassins-in-training tied up to a tree, Ethari in particular struggling to free himself from the rope that was partly cut. Runaan didn't know what to think. Seeing struggling was one things, it was another thing to both her and Ethari struggling as he is tied up. Why is he and the other young elves here? Did the dark mage kidnap them and brought them here? It didn't matter. He has to help. He must help Rayla and free the captive elves. Without about the consequences, Runaan jumped off from the tree he and the other assassins were on, much to the others' objections. But before Runaan can touch the ground, a black rope was flung around his neck and he fell to the ground with a massive thud and he let out a painful cry.
Upon hearing the sound, Rayla turned to see Runaan on the ground.
"Runaan?!" Rayla asked, not believing what she was seeing. While she was distracted, one of the shadowy elves came up from behind her and wrapped a cloth over her mouth which she struggled against.
"Rayla!" Runaan only managed to get up to his knees before another fake elf put a cloth over his mouth too. The other assassins didn't like what they were seeing and tried to help, but they too have roped flung around their necks and gotten cloths around their mouths, much to Rayla and Runaan's horror.
"Well, would you look at that? First, you came. Then, all of the rest, thinking they can help you out." The dark mage said to Rayla. "Instead they let themselves get caught one by one."
Rayla in a fit of rage, tried to charge at her, but a shadowy elf swung a rope around her ankle. She tried to charge at it, but another flung a rope around his left wrist. Then another flung a rope around her right wrist. Rayla struggled against the ropes, but the fake elves pulled at her with their respective ropes, until one pulled the rope around her ankle and she fell to the ground.
Unimpressed with the sight before as it is similar to how Ethari struggled when she captured him, the dark mage simply walked over to Rayla, grabbed her wrists individually, and put on silver manacles on each of them. Rayla felt weak after the manacles were put onto her. The dark mage ordered the shadowy elves to bound Rayla's wrists together with rope before she did the same thing she did with Rayla with the other Moonshadow assassins. They resisted, but were the shadowy elves restrained them. Once the manacles were on them, they too felt weak.
"That was both easy and hard getting all of you into the trap." the dark mage said. "Now it's done, perhaps all of you will behave much better once we reach St. Aegolius." She turned to the fakes elves. "Tie them all up. Then, confiscate their weapons and get them loaded up into the wagon. Then, load up the others next. We have a schedule to keep."
The fake elves did as the mage told them and sure enough, one by one, they loaded all the Moonshadow elves into the wagon after confiscating the assassins' weapons, dragging them to it with the ropes around their wrists. Once all of them were in the wagon, the Moonshadow elves were off with the dark mage riding her own horse while commanding the mare Rayla meet previously, and the fake elves, to go forward towards this St. Aegolius place said dark mage mentioned. The elves were all scared and they didn't know what's going to happen to them. But at least they were killed. If anything, there could be a chance from them to escape when the time is right. But, so far, none came.
The trip seemed to have taken a long time as the captive were led further towards their destination. Every now and then, Rayla would peek out from the wagon and still the dark mage and her fake elves still moving on, not once stopping for a break. Then by late afternoon, when Rayla peeked out again, she could see that it was already sundown, almost close to when Moonshadow elf assassin strike to take their target.
"I wonder what dad would think when I told him about how I caught all of the assassins." Rayla heard the mage talk to herself. "Would he believe it or will he find it hard to believe? What would Callum when he sees that I captured the bloodthirsty assassins after one of them came to the trap with all of the others trying to help only to get caught themselves? After all, dad it taking him out of his tower to show him St. Aggie's and how things operate in it. That'll probably be the only time Callum will out of the tower as he has to stay in it so the Guardians won't know about him or turn him against his own kind."
"Rayla?" Rayla became startled when she heard Ethari's voice and went back inside the wagon to see him looking at her. "What's going on out there? And what did that dark mage said?"
"I saw it's already sundown and I heard that mage talking about this dad of her, and about someone named Callum and how he's being let out of some tower of his and being shown around this St. Aegolius place where she's taking us.'
"Do you have any idea what that place would be like and she has planned to do with us?"
"Hey, stop talking! We're here at last and you all better behave." the dark mage said outside before the wagon stopped. Rayla peek out again and saw an elven fortress, seemingly centuries old, and the dark mage getting off of her horse before she gave the fake elves new orders.
"Alright, now we're here, let's get our guests out of the wagon and into St. Aggies. Dad will be especially pleased to see all the assassins all together."
Once again, the fake elves do as they were told and dragged all of their captives out of the wagon and into the massive fortress. The captive elves weren't happy about it and struggled to free themselves as they were dragged out of the wagon, inside the fortress where they dragged through a few corridors, before stopping at a large room with a large silver platform 3 feet high. In the room, there are several other Moonshadow elves, as well as Sunfire, SKywing and Earthblood elves, much to Rayla's shock. Why are they all here? Once she and her fellow assassins and six other captive Moonshadows were inside the room and in front of the platform, they were all pushed to the floor, but they all got up.
"Quiet, please!" Rayla head the dark mage's voice in a harsh tone amongst a torrent of protests and questions by several kidnapped elves. "Listen and you will understand why you're all here!"
Rayla looked up to see the fake elves surrounding all of the captured elves who kept on asking and protesting, as if to ensure that escape is futile.
"Rayla!" Rayla to see Runaan and Ethari running to her before they all turn to the dark mage in front of the crowd of elves.
"Silence! I and the smoky seekers went through the trouble to bring you all here and you behaved like misbehaving children. You should know better than that."
"The only one I see who she know better is you, dark mage!" one elf growled.
"Oh, really? Now, pay attention. Your families have abandoned you, so from now, you'll be classified as orphans."
"I'm not an orphan! I still have my family and I wasn't abandoned, you lying witch!" anther elf loudly protested, before he was pulled back by one of the smoky seekers.
"Horribly tragic, I know. But, by our mercy, you have been rescued and brought here to St. Aegolius Home For Orphaned Elves."
This earned the mage growls and sneers from the elves.
"In time, you'll come to become grateful for the kindness given to us. You'll repay that kindness with labor for all of you will become pickers."
"Picker? What's a picker?" One young Skywing elf asked, terrified.
"Rayla, stay with us." Ethari said as he and Runaan wrapped their arms protectively around, or tried to as it was somewhat difficult because of their wrist tightly bound.
"In our ways, all of you will serve my father, the Ablah General." The dark mage said.
"Let us go! We don't belong here!" Runaan shouted in anger. The other elves joined in his protest.
"Silence! Please! You'll anger the Ablah General!" The dark mage shouted back, angered that the elves are protesting again.
"We don't want to serve the Ablah General!"
"You're no rescuer! You're a kidnapper!"
"Who is this Ablah General!"
"Silence!" The Dark mage shouted again.
It was then a loud clank sounded off from the left side of the platform, silencing everyone in the room. They all watched as a man in silver and black robes with golden accents and a silver staff with an amethyst in his left hand, walked to the center edge of the platform. Behind him was a young human boy with brown hair and green eyes. Rayla gasped as she recognized that the boy was the same one from her dream. The man and boy faced the elves and stared at them for a few moments with a stoic look before the man introduced himself.
"I am Lord Viren, Abah General of St. Aegolius, and the High Mage of Katolis, advisor of its ruler, King Harrow. I will also have you know that I will not tolerate you showing ungrateful behaviour towards my daughter, Claudia, as she worked hard to help our smoky seekers bring you all here. You know right now you all missed your families and homes, but soon enough, you will understand St. Aegolius is your new home."
Ethari, who had listened to this man spoke, didn't like what he heard and protested. "St. Aegolius is not our home! Let us go!"
"He's right! Let us go!" Rayla protested as well.
Angered, Viren went down from the platform on a series of stairs at its center and walked right up to Ethari and Rayla.
"Still acting ungrateful, are we?" Viren asked, oddly calm. Ethari didn't respond, and instead put on a stoic face.
"Elf, don't waste your time! My patience can get thin very fast at times. Now, answer my question." Viren asked again.
"You leave him be!" Rayla exclaimed.
"Ah, quite spirited, are we? How touching. You two will stay together then..." Viren said calmly, before he spoke again in a severe tone. "As Prince Callum's slaves."
"Slaves!?" Runaan protested. "Why would they be slaves to this Prince Callum you speak of?"
Viren struck Runaan in the face with his staff and the assassin fell to the floor. "Silence! Or do you wish to enjoy these two?"
Rayla and Ethari didn't like what they have just seen. Runaan struck down by a filthy dark mage. Runaan just spitted out some blood trinkling from his mouth onto Viren's face.
"Very well. You'll enjoy the other two as well as Prince Callum's slave while the rest of your fellow elves will get to be pickers." Viren said, gesturing to the human boy on the platform, who is in shock by what he has seen. "I'll let all three of you get acquainted with your new master before you all go to the sleeping chamber with your fellow elves."
Rayla, Runaan, and Ethari were dragged up onto the platform by some of the smoky seekers to be brought before the boy.
"You okay, dad?" Claudia asked, coming towards her father.
"I'm fine, Claudia. Just felt like I could teach them a lesson after showing more of their ungrateful behaviour." Viren sighed. "Now that's done, tell me, Claudia. Did you captured all of the assassins?"
"Yep, I did. It was easier than I thought to lure them into the trap." Claudia said happily. "One came and all the others followed, trying to help her."
"Well done, Claudia. Now, can you show them to me so I know what they are like?"
"The first two assassins which you just made into Callum's slaves are that elf girl and big scary elf," Claudia said, pointing to Rayla and Runaan on the platform, who forced to bow down to Callum along with Ethari by the fake elves, before she gestured to Ram, Skor, Callisto and Andromeda grouped together. "And here are the other four."
"Did they give some trouble?" Viren asked.
"Yeah. But, it was nothing I couldn't handle. The adults behaved like misbehaving kids when I put the manacles on them, but the smoky seekers helped me out by restraining them."
"Let's see if they'll behave like that once they awaken as slaves." Viren said, turning to see Callum talking to Rayla, Runaan and Ethari, before deciding to go up to the platform towards the group.
(~)
Callum's morning routine had started out normally, although it was more somber than usual. This is because today's the day Viren will take him out of the tower and show him how Viren collects the metallic bits called flecks, St. Aegolius and what he does in it. Luckily, Callum managed to keep Zym hidden in the same cuphead he put him in when Viren came to visit the tower a week when he heard the sounds of horse hoofbeats outside. However, after being knocked out by the blackening out spell, Callum found himself outside the tower and inside St. Aegolius. When he ask Viren what's going on, the dark mage simply said that he didn't want Callum to know how he got out of the tower as he doesn't want to give Callum any ideas about escaping from it. It didn't matter to Callum as he has planned to escape the tower with Zym soon anyway either through a Sky spell or things in the tower that could be useful in escaping if he finds them. Shortly afterwards, Viren led Callum to a large room filled with Moonshadow, Sunfire, Skywing and Earthblood elves. Also, Claudia was there with the elves like Viren said she would at times. There, Viren introduced himself and said a few things to the elves including that they'll understand that St. Aegolius is their new home, which caused two Moonshadow elves to protest. This led him to where he is now.
Callum didn't like what he has just saw. He knew Lord Viren hated elves, but he never knew would do the things he did. First, Viren made the two protesting elves his slaves, then a third Moonshadow elf protested against, leading to Viren to struck him in the face with his staff. After the elf answered Viren's question by spitting his own blood at the mage, Viren made him Callum's slave as well and all three were dragged up to Callum to be brought before him and the smoky elves made them bow before him for a moments before they raised their heads up. He didn't like the idea of them being slaves, much less his own slaves, any more than the elves do. He has to show them that he doesn't want them as his slaves, but as his friends, if he can.
"I'm Callum." he introduced himself.
"I'm Rayla. Are you really Prince Callum?" Rayla said. Callum could see that Rayla is the Moonshadow elf dream from his dream a month ago
"Yeah, I'm the stepson of King Harrow of Katolis." Callum said. "But, rest ensured, I don't want you or your fellow elves as my slaves despite what Viren said."
"Why are you here at this place instead at home with your stepfather?" Rayla asked.
"Viren kidnapped me a month ago and imprisoned me in a tower near St. Aegolius. This is my time being inside here."
"Why did he do that? Are you a primal mage, like a real one? Is that why you imprisoned in a tower?"
Runaan and Ethari couldn't believe what they were seeing. Rayla seemed to be all too friendly with the human boy, Prince Callum, and not only that, but she seemed to recognized him despite not meeting him before and even asked him that he's a primal mage. But why? Ethari doesn't seem happy about it but he wasn't angry about it. Runaan, on the other hand, is not at all pleased. Once this is over, he'll talk to Rayla about this.
"How touching." Viren said as he approached the group. "I could see that the elf girl is very friendly with you, Prince Callum. I though Moonshadow elves are deadly creature hostile towards humans. Now, that getting acquainted is out of the way, it's for your new slaves to go into the sleeping chamber with their fellow elves. Nightfall is nearing and the full moon will soon appear."
"Why are you having the elves go to this sleeping chamber when the full moon is about to appear?" Callum asked.
"You'll see soon enough." Viren said, before gesturing the smoky elves to have Rayla, Runaan and Ethari joined their fellow elves before taking them all away to this sleeping chamber Viren mentioned.
"As you can see, this is where Claudia and I greet elves after they were brought here before we sometimes put them in cells until a night of a full moon where they put in the sleeping chamber. Other times, when there's a full moon tonight, we put the elves in the sleeping chamber almost right away." Viren explained. "Now, come. I'll show why we put elves in the sleeping chamber when the full moon is here."
Callum didn't like the sound of that, but he followed anyway. He has to find out the things Viren does in St. Aggie's. The knowledge he'll gained from being shown the place and what Viren does in it might be useful to the Guardians when he and Zym escape from the tower and into Xadia. He'll do this for Zym. He has to do it.
(~)
Nightfall has came at last and it was almost time for the full moon to appear in the sky. Under different circumstances, Rayla and the other assassins would have infiltrated Katolis Castle and kill King Harrow and his son. Yet, instead, they're all here at this place that shouldn't be called an academy with several other elves who have also been captured, and being marched done to this sleeping chamber that Viren the so-called "Ablah General" mentioned. Rayla felt chills go down her spine as she walked down the corridor leading to the sleeping chamber, Ethari by her side.
"Rayla, would you mind telling me why you friendly with the boy?" Ethari asked. "Why did you recognized him? You haven't meet him before. Ad why did you ask him that he's a primal mage? He's a human."
"I know him the night before in a dream I had and I saw that he can primal magic and has a baby Sky dragon by his side." Rayla said before bumping against an Earthblood elf that looked dazed. His eyes were milky white which freaked her out. "What's with him?"
"Looks like he's been moon blinked-" Ethari said to himself before being cut off by Claudia.
"Alright, elves, move in it, move it in! Come on! We haven't go all night."
Soon, Rayla, Ethari and all of their fellow elves were led to a large room lined with beds and a large opening on the roof that allows the full moon to be seen.
"So, tonight, we want all of you rest." Viren said as all of the captured elves were brought over the beds and forced to sit on them. Rayla and Ethari were brought to one bed where they were forced to sit on together. "Now, once the glorious full moon appears, lean back, put your heads and turn yourself towards its light and sleep while you listening to some enchanting music." Viren continued, walking amongst the eves before going back to Callum.
Ethari didn't like the sound of it. He knows what the dark mage is up. "Rayla, we wasn't fall asleep. He wants to moon blink us."
"Moon blink?!" Rayla exclaimed.
"Sometimes, magical creatures get forced to sleep under a full moon with magic and when they wake up, they weren't the same as if they have forgotten who they are. The only magical creatures that don't get moon blinked are those connected to the Moon. So, they won't moon blink us or the other Moonshadow elves here that easily."
"That's a relief, but why did that Claudia put these manacles on our wrists? When they were put on, I suddenly felt weak like my connection to the Moon Primal became blocked." Rayla tugged on the manacles on her wrists.
"I felt that way when the manacle were put on my wrists." Ethari tugged his manacles too.
Nearby, Callum who had watched the elves being put on every bed in the sleeping and Viren instructing what to do when the full moon appears,, before he came over to him asked. "What's Going on? What exactly do you do with elves once they're brought to the sleeping chamber?"
"What I'm really doing preparing the elves to undergo something called moon blinking." Viren said in a matter-of-fact matter.
"Moon blinking?"
"Sometimes, with magical creatures like elves ended up being forced to sleep under a full moon. Once they awakened, their eyes become a milky moon white, they become mute and their will is gone. All that's left is a perfectly obedient husk that is turned into a slave. Unable to lie or betray their masters."
Callum didn't like what he had just heard. "Why would you moon blink elves? Would they immune to it or something?"
"Ah, yes. Creatures connected to the Moon Primal are immune to moon blinking, which can be a problem if the elves are Moonshadows as their connection to the Moon will not let them be moon blinked easily. That's where the manacles on all of the Moonshadow elves' wrist came in. According to some notes I find at St. Aegolius, they're designed specifically to block the Moonshadow elves' connection to the moon, making them easy to moon blink. I once tried to moon blink a broxa without the manacles on it to see if it can be moon blinked. When that failed, I put the manacles on it on the night of a full moon and had it sleep under said full moon, it successfully became moon blinked as the manacles took away its immunity to moon blinking. That's why we put the manacles on Moonshadow elves once they were caught."
Rayla and Ethari didn't like what they heard from Viren. That's why the manacles were put on their wrists and those of the other Moonshadow elves here: to take away their natural immunity to moon blinking so they can be moon blinked.
It was then the full moon finally appear in the sky.
"At last. It will finally begin." Viren said before turning on a music box and the music it played began to put the elves to sleep. "Come, Prince Callum. I must show you happens next after we moon blink elves." Viren turn to Callum.
"But, why is the music box putting the elves to sleep once it's turned on and not us?"
"This music box is a magical one. It plays music enchanted to put elves to sleep. Humans are immune to it. Now, come along. You must see what happens next after the moon blinking process." Viren began to walk away. Callum didn't like what he had just heard, but still followed Viren out of the sleeping chamber, but before looking at the elves in the room, hoping the three Moonshadow elves he had met will be alright.
Meanwhile, Rayla and Ethari are trying their hardest to resist the music and stay awake.
"Ethari, did you think we'll get out of this?" Rayla asked.
"Yes, we will. So will Runaan, Ram, SKor, Callisto and Andromeda." Ethari said. "We'll be free of this place." He saw Rayla shivering, although she tried not to show it. "Now, now, Rayla." He said, wrapping a blanket around both of them. "I don't want you to get cold."
Throughout the night, the two souls refused to sleep under the full moon, which is normally where Moonshadow elves are at the height of their power, lest they become moon blinked.