Every time the mid-spring of May arrives, all the nations of the Eudorian Continent would celebrate an illustrious grand festival called the Esprites festival also known as the Festival of the Divinities. The event would serve as a tribute to the grace given by the three moon gods and their messengers - the transcendental creatures known as Esprites. Based on the history of Eudoria, most of these beings would only let the living races catch a glimpse of their visage in this month. Thus, May was called ‘Month of the Esprites’.
These beings were mysterious and elusive mythical creatures depicted all throughout history as demi-gods or servants of the three moons. The foundation and birth of each of the greatest kingdoms in the Eudorian continent or rise of legendary heroes documented the appearance of these divinities. They represented omens, may it be good or bad.
A good example was the appearance of the Heavenly Elk when the heroic King Leon ascended the throne and established the Knights Kingdom of Rutherford. During his ascension to the throne, the people saw a blinding white light and loud rumbling coming from the sky, they saw an Elk covered doning a pure and holy aura, written records said that it looked at the throne of King Leon before vanishing as it ran back to the clouds. Or the appearance of the Eustacia Empire’s Blood Tiger in a battlefield during the warring era, following the appearance of the Hero Bolkov the Mad Sword, who ended the war against the conquerors coming from the Dark Continent. Each appearance of these beings was considered as a sign of great change, the rise of a new era, or a warning of an upcoming calamity.
They were also known to embody different distinct concepts such as time, light, darkness, war, space, death, and life. Though, it’s still widely believed by scholars, historian, and well-learned individuals that there were more of them hidden in the menagerie of the three moon gods.
Still, there would be much to learn about the nature and origin of these mythical creatures. There were a lot of big questions about the Esprites existence. Where they came from or what birthed them to be? Where they created by the gods or not? The reason for their existence? And could they only be seen in the Eudorian Continent?
-excerpt from Themas’ Book of Eudoria: The Esprites of Eudorian Continent’s - Volume XI
♠♠♠
The last glitters of sunlight receded like a tide as the darkness of night came to the village of Lothar.
Sounds of heavy dry breaths could be heard across the stone courtyard of the knight’s house. The tension crept its way to the hearts of each warrior. Each of them had their brains running in full gear as they lined up in a strict army formation, questions of what was really happening popping up on their minds.
The first-timers who just joined the Knight’s troops were also lining up, their backs straight as they wait for the Lord. This would be their first maiden battle as part of the knight’s troops, their strained nerves were like a strung bow ready to be unleashed at any moment now. These new guys felt the choking atmosphere as they jittered in both agitation and nervousness, the pressure made them feel like there's a bunch of butterflies playing in their stomachs. Some of them were also starting to get pale, fearing that their knees would buckle up due to the stress brought by the scary looking uncles side maniacally grinning from ear to ear on their side as they played with their blades and swords like hoodlums.
“Hehe.”
The battle-hardened veterans, on the other hand, were continuously checking their equipment, there were no fear or anxiety that was present on their face. Instead, you could feel a calm edgy feeling building around them, their faces carrying a foolish grin as peals of disturbing cackles and titters sounded in the place. The stupid smiles on their faces even made them look like grunts, crazies or madmen, scaring the greenhorns who were still wet behind their ears.
Despite their efforts of trying to look normal as possible for the sake of the newbies, it was hard to hide the glints of passion and anticipation budding in their eyes, their grins unmasking their hunger for battle as well their honed bloodthirst hidden deep within each of their hearts.
They knew that the swords on their waist were calling for blood to quench its thirst.
In short, the old salts were already itching for more action.
Burning torches lit up the darkness of the evening as the grey clouds above veiled the light coming from the stars and the three moons hovering in the sky. The curious soldiers rattled about the real reason why their were rallied here.
“I wonder what kind of great monster will be huntin’ in this mission tonight? A goateed veteran soldier asked the other old timers as his fingers played with a sharp dagger, spinning it like a top. “After all, it’s rare to hear that grating sound coming from madam’s wooden whistle.”
“If I were you dud, I will just shut my mouth and wait for the Lord.” One of the old soldiers hissed at the guy. You better not jinxed it! Or I’m going to cut that lousy tongue of yours.”
“Haha! I’ll cut yers’ first oldie! The soldier barked back. “I’m goin’ to make sure that your little tongue will not be able to wag anymore in front of me.”
“Oh yeah? Ya wanna try me little punk? I’m going to slash that wimpy whinny under your belt. Hehe.”
“Stopped that fools! We got no time for that. Just look at our obedient baby colts, they’re already shakin like crazy.”
“Let’s play a bet guys!
“Oh, okay. We’ll go with how many greenhorns will pee their pants during the battle?”
“Bahaha.” [All the veterans]
“I’ll say three!”
“Bah! Too few! I’ll call for 13 greenhorns!”
“Ha! 17 newbies, I’ll bet for 17 newbies!”
“Okay, okay calm down. Glen go write down the bets!”
“Alright!”
“Ladies and gentlemen! Throw your coins in!”
The guys were successfully riled up by the betting, most of them throwing their savings to the drain without knowing that the soldier bookie was one of the Madam’s men.
On the other hand, the greenhorns couldn’t help but turn green and black like the bottom of the pot after knowing that they were the subject of the bet. Looking at each other, they made an oath in their heart that they wouldn’t be the one peeing on their pants later.
All of a sudden, sounds of rustling and clanking of armors and weapons echoed in a rhythmic manner as the soldiers tapped their heavy armor, bowing their heads towards the direction of the door of the knight’s house. It muted the lips of the noisy bunch, as the soldiers gazed straight at the people coming out.
The swaying light coming from the torch illuminated the figures of the Knight, the Madam, Davin, Uncle Sept, Auburn, Lady Leine, Old Gazz and all of their close aides. And looking at the knitted brows and drooping corners of the people coming out from the knight’s house, it seemed like the meeting had concluded in a quite serious mood.
Seeing the knight and the madam fully-armored, the veteran soldiers knew that things wouldn’t go easy as it seemed to be. Silence loomed around the yard as the knight cast a serious gaze on each of his soldiers.
“Men, hear me! It looks like your luck today is quite rotten.” The knight said leering as he looked at the people in the wide courtyard. “Today, we have discovered tracks and signs of death wolves in the nearby forest of wilderness. Ahem, not just one but a lot of them.”
Hearing the announcement of the knight, the soldier's eyes grew three sizes as their figures turned rigid in just a few seconds. The hands of the veterans who were holding the hilt of their weapons shook then stiffened due to shock. Some of the coins they were supposed to throw in for the bet after the announcement fell to the ground as clinking sounds of the coins ruffled the stone courtyard.
“Oh, what happened to your faces?” Knight Levo added, a smirk forming in his lips as he gazed at the paling faces of the soldiers. “Don’t worry, this will be perfect for your training. Haha.”
“…”
The soldiers who undergone the strict training methods of the Knight were also required to study under the tutelage of the Madam and Lady Leine. The brutes had also undergone proper etiquette lessons and training, only shying away from using in public, calling it too girly for their taste. Still, they used it to be like an enlightened cultured man in the presence of Madam, Lady Leine or for the girls they like. When circumstances change the brutes call for changes too.
Though the brutish soldier looked like a bunch of stupid men, they also knew a lot about the history of Eudorian Continent as well as the three volumes of the Almanac of Monsters which the two ladies nailed into their dumb heads. Thus, their reaction after hearing the word death wolves was something not so unexpected.
In all of the three volumes of the Almanac of Monsters, death wolves were known as harbingers of death, blood drinkers, and black vagabonds in the continent of Eudoria. Almost all of the places they attacked fell in just one night, leaving destruction as well as dead bodies in their wake, their path covered with entrails as they painted the land in rosy blood. There were even written documents about a certain big town which fell due to the Death wolves, massacring thousands of people in a single night, sending horror to all of the people in all kingdoms.
The documents described them as fiendish wolves covered in steel like furs, these monsters’ teeth and claws were said to be always covered in old bloodstains and rotten flesh, their eyes hues were rose crimson representing the madness within them. They were like a vermin and locust coming and killing without any warning. Aside from that, scholars and researchers in the Empire of Eustacia who studied a living sample of one of these death wolves discovered that these monsters were extremely cunning, they were capable of hiding their tracks in a smart way.
It was also established that the death wolves’ sharp claws were cursed and poisonous. In a few words, it’s deadly. The researchers in that facility found it in a hard way after testing the monster’s poison on a few death row inmates, losing a dozen of researchers and scholars along the way due to the specimens mishandling.
From then on, many of the smart ones shied away from the job, emptying the facility after killing the beast. Putting the empire-sponsored research to a dead end despite the generous rewards offered by the nobles. In the end, the researchers just gave the ruler of Eustacia Empire a thick report about what they found in their experiments.
At the end of their written report to the Emperor himself, few words were written.
“These wolves were monsters of monster. They carry death in their wake. We conclude that these monsters were a few stairs away from the Esprite of Death. Courting this monsters is courting death”
