The long-awaited day of graduation had finally dawned. The air was filled with anticipation as the new cohort of warriors entered the halls. All eyes were fixed upon them, For today marked not only a celebration but a transformation: from this moment onwards, they were no longer pupils but warriors.

The halls of the elders' council were decorated in gold. The room was filled with guests from all over the two kingdoms of Akeshia, Otos and Viltarin. They were seated facing the statues of Emris and Draven the founders of magic. The statues stood as magnificent, colossal monuments crafted from marble and adorned with gold embellishments, their very presence was daunting. Even the mere sight of them was considered holy. Positioned directly before these awe-inspiring figures was the grand high table, its surface adorned with an array of exquisite flowers and captivating treasures. Only those deemed the title of archmage were permitted to be seated. Their presence exuded an aura of prestige and authority, infusing the room with a potent mixture of tension and excitement.

The grandmaster of magic Arenium entered the room, she glistened in golden attire, and her silver hair complemented the medieval crown she wore. The crown had once belonged to Emris, the deity of the mages herself. She sat upon her gold throne, and her gaze fell upon the crowd forcing them into silence. It is rumored that a glare from her could curse your entire bloodline , as she was known to be the most potent mage for generations. Her features were sharp and precise, she was elegant yet intimidating. She often compared to the statue of Emris since they posses the similar aura. To her right was her second in command, the slayer of all demons, Kraizen the third. He was undoubtedly the most ruthless hunter of his generation. No one who had felt the wrath of his axe ever survived to tell the tale.

Upon the grand high table stood the formidable figures: Lorillis, the lady huntress of Otos; Merikh, headmistress of the academia of chaos; Esmeray, archmage of sorcery; Roden, the grand duke and headmaster of the hunters of Viltarin; and Corvina, his youngest disciple, poised before their designated seats. The new graduates couldn't help but feel tension, for they had never witnessed such power gathered in a single chamber.

"Now my dear hunters and mages, from Otos and Viltarin take your seats. May we begin the ceremony in witness of our founders" Thus with words of great Arneium the ceremony commenced.

All of their ceremonies started with the tale, the tale of the fallen cruel king. A choir, all dressed in golden gowns appeared in front of the high table, and they began to sing the ballad of the "Dawn of the Shadows."

Hear the cries of woe,

For the cruel king has ruined us all.

The echoes of our ancestors' tales

Resonate through the battlefield's thrall.

Listen, young ones, heed the call,

The saga unfolds, the truth is told.

There once was a prince of riches galore,

Yet darkness consumed his very soul.

Peace disrupted, hence he sold us all,

To the malevolent seven who feast on souls.

Beware of Aieda, feasting on fear,

Its wine of misery binds you near.

Gula, the flesh eater, lurking in the forest's sphere,

May you evade its deadly leer.

Lustress, her heart veiled in deceit,

Dwells amidst the forest's retreat.

Zorn and Mammon, brothers sly and discreet,

Their treasures lure, but souls they deplete.

Gevah, the baby snatcher of Otos' den,

Preys on the weak with nefarious ken.

Thonos, son of Draven, fallen from his haven,

Seeks vengeance and his throne of right.

Once ensnared by Thonos' wrathful might,

Pray to the heavens for respite's light.

For in the shadow's embrace, we fight

To repent the king's sins, with valorous might.

May the fallen's sacrifice not be in vain,

Emris and Draven, guide us through the bane.

To victory, we march, breaking oppression's chain,

Till the dawn of shadows heralds our reign.

After the opening remarks were given by the high table, Merikh, the headmistress took to the descending stairs as she was about to introduce the newly appointed mages. "First we would like to invite this year's team of paladins," she said with arrogance as this year two of her students have received the title of the most skilled users of the year. "Luna Archerwood daughter of Atlas James Archerwood and Solar Kingston will receive the paladin of the defender" a roar of cheers erupted as the dark-haired girl walked to collect her badge of honor, smirking at her cousin who was to be announced next.

"Now now settle down... Now we would like to award the paladin of the healer Helene Archerwood daughter of Aries Fern Archerwood " said the headmistress rather unimpressed. "Even with great odds she finally managed to make a competent enough mage," she whispered under her breath as the girl with snow-colored hair took on a paladin with pride. She had a petite stature, she gleefully smiled at her audience. But her colleagues knew that under her delicate appearance, lay a vicious warrior.

After more names and more applause, the ceremony was finally over. They prayed to the founders and left as their first mission as formal hunters and mages were about to begin.

"Well hello, paladin Luna Archerwood. May you please do me the favor, my quest seems to be missing a defender. Oh please join me will you? " Helene said jokingly to her cousin. "You do know we registered for our royal quest officially before right... oh, wait you were too busy swinging around your sword oh wait what was her name again?...I keep forgetting." Said Luna mocking her love for swordsmanship. "For your information, me and Belle were just celebrating our victory. And I for one don't think I ever saw you leave the altar. You should seriously get your head out of those spell books" Helene said back. Then suddenly it clicked " Oh my Emris I forgot to register us" Luna struck a blank face at her cousin "Grandma's going to kill us you know. We are so doomed and we just got graduated " As she started to panic, a familiar voice came behind them "Will you two idiots stop bickering for once? Fear not for I, Mylo your savior have arrived. I registered us before the deadline. Cuz frankly I don't trust the both of you to do anything on time... like ever "

He said, handing them the mission scroll with his victory smile. "Oh my knight in shining armor what would we ever do without you," Helene said, trying and failing to hug her comrade. "Also why did you miss my sword lessons you know I give them for free right? you still have a chance to be my one and only student" said Helene tugging his shirt." Because last time I came you charged me head-on with no explanation and almost gave me my last ever sword fight, so please do ask as much as you want but the answer is always no '' he said revisiting the near-death experience he had while Helene was acting heartbroken. "Everyone calm down, let's read the assignment. This is our first step to our future, aren't you excited? '' Luna said, ripping the seal away and reading the parchment thoroughly, then after a few minutes of silence. " Come on tell us what we have to do, go to the devil's border, behead a monster, oh please don't keep us waiting," said Helene trying to peek into the assignment. "Well my fellow companions, it's far worse than the malevolent seven themselves," Luna said with a grim face. "Oh please don't be the devils border I have so much to live for," said Mylo whimpering, then Helen grabbed the paper and in absolute disbelief, she said "Protect the ministers' house you mean we have to protect crusty old Jenkins house" almost throwing the parchment away. Mylo picked it up with joy "Ohh finally something easy and non-risky I can do this even an infant can do this.'' he said hugging the scroll. "At least one of us is excited," Luna said rolling her eyes

Luna and Helene were disappointed, to say the least, as they wanted the quest to end with them riding the streets with glory after catching a vengeful beast. "Mylo come on, don't you wanna go see where the real action is? It'll be so much fun" said Luna, trying to convince him to agree with them. "Mylo !? on the devil's barrier, all the shadow monsters will be in the kingdom eating cake with the king if he's on duty.' ' said a familiar vexing voice. It was none other than Ace Silverwood. He stood tall, his brown curls were brushed and his uniform was ironed and neat, not at all how he is usually in practice. ''Isn't it funny that your father, one of the greatest hunters of our time, has a son who barely even passed the physical exam because he threw up all over the monster'' he said with a snarky grin, showing off his emblem as he was the paladin of the hunters. ''Talk more and you'll find yourself sleeping with the monsters tonight,'' said Helene with annoyance. "Actually funny enough me, Lyla and Krypto are stationed to watch over the devil's border. Maybe it's because we don't have a weakling dragging us down. Also Helene I'm not referring to the nasty human blood in your veins' ' said Ace further trying to prove his superiority. "That's enough Ace get out of here before I decide to throw you to Draven's den myself. And might I remember what happened last time in combat" Luna said, trying to hold her anger. He immediately backed off remembering the embarrassment he faced during school. He left almost immediately when he saw the anger in her eyes, and knowing the one thing about Luna was that she never made threats only promises .''Calm down mage, for Emris's sake. I was just leaving, my team needed me anyway. Good luck on whatever your quest is. Trust me,with you three together, we'd be lucky to find your remains in the same place" he said as he scurried away to his team.

"Mylo don't listen to him, You know we could never be here without your strategic skills I mean your foolproof plans are the only reason any of us go out alive during those horrendous forest tasks. And Helene you..." just as Luna was about to finish "can rip him into pieces and give them to the dogs I know" Helene said furiously staring at Ace with bloodshot eyes. "Enough pleasantries let's all leave for crusty old Jenkins house shall we don't wanna be late on the first day right... comrades?" said Mylo trying to break off the tension. "Yeah, who wants to hear about MR MY DAD IS A GENERAL anyway," said Luna, and as they stormed off. As they walked they could hear Ace say "Actually he just got promoted to ....."

They arrived at the mansion and soon found out that the minister had received a threatening letter. Knowing how infamously greedy he was he requested that his house was guarded by Royal mages at all times. With little to no information on the culprit or anything for that matter, they decide to secure all surroundings just to be safe. Helene and Mylo were stationed near the front gate whilst Luna was guarding the back entrance. A few hours went by "Hey can you check on Luna and ask her if she's ok" whispered Mylo to Helene with a nod she used her mind link to connect to Luna and said" LuLu how's the back gate looking anything suspicious" Luna replied "nothing yet hells but I have to admit I feel like I'm being watched, but could be first day jitters you know... will report if I see something unusual."

"OK be safe out there who knows what our mystery thief is up to" She cleared off he mind link and turned and said "She's fine she just had some jitters that's all'' Mylo who was gazing at the stars got surprised and said "please next time let me know when your done. You guys are so weird sometimes, you know the whole telepathy thing. Even after 8 years I still don't know if y'all are done talking" he said annoyingly as Helene always found it funny to scare him. "oh no, did I scare you! Sometimes I forget how squeamish you are'' Helene said unable to control her laughter "Helene Archerwood, you have no right to say that, do you know how much time, no years it took me to convince that the Gevah wouldn't take you to the forest. The amount of stories I read for you to sleep" Mylo said jokingly pushing her. Whenever they were together Helene forgot all of her troubles, all of the stares she gets for being a half-blood, for not being quiet, in a way she was at peace with him and she knew Mylo felt that way too.

Meanwhile, Luna was investigating the back entrance when suddenly she felt the air around her begin to shift. She could sense her surroundings change but very slightly. The air, it was intoxicating. It felt as if she was getting pulled towards something. "hey, hells...do you perhaps feel something rather odd? '' Luna asked her cousin through the mind link. "Yeah! I was about to ask you the exact thing." Before Luna could reply, she was interrupted by the shuffling noise. "someone's here. Hells come to the back end with Mylo as soon as possible." Luna was already striding towards where the sound came from, hoping whatever it was would not kill her tonight.

Helene was already dragging Mylo with her. "Can you guys at least give me a warning before you do that weird mind link?'' Even though Mylo had seen the two girls talking to each other through the mind link since they were both nine, he was still mesmerized by it. It was something only Luna and Helene possessed. Luna's excessive interest in learning forbidden magic was the reason for this link. Even as a child Luna was fond of learning spells, so when she found a mysterious book on her grandma's bookshelf you have no doubt her first instinct was to try it out with her favorite cousin. What was meant to be a family trip ended in both of them losing consciousness for two weeks. Even though the healers tried their best to get their consciousness back, the dark spell Luna casted caused somewhat permanent damage causing their minds to be forever aligned together. Although at first it was hard, later with years of practice they found a way to communicate telekinetically.

'' Don't be a baby Mylo. There's an intruder so we need to go to the back end, now." Helene said. "An intruder already.... This was supposed to be a free fun night.'' Mylo huffed while catching up with Helene. She couldn't help but chuckle at Mylo because she knew he was already scared of this mysterious intruder. "Well we don't want Luna going all rouge at us don't we.? Let's just move on quickly." She said when Mylo suddenly got a reality check and dramatically acted scared, "I would face a monster rather than hearing her non-stop bickering." Helene chuckled under her breath God I really do love these two idiots.

The old Jenkin's mansion sure was huge. And it was certainly giving Luna a hard time finding the intruder. As she was entering the back garden when she saw some shadows lurking around her. It was surrounding the whole garden as if hell itself was resurfacing from the grounds. She felt a cold breeze pass through her and then... There she saw the mysterious guy wearing a hooded cape. She couldn't see the face clearly as his moves were too swift to notice. Luna took out her sword trying not to make any sound. But it ended up betraying her as the intruder quickly noticed her.

The mysterious person turned back all alarmed, their gaze falling directly at the mage. Luna felt chills running down her spine as the air suddenly shifted to a much heavier one. The hooded man now facing Luna bowed down as if to mock her. "Who do we have here? A little mage! Did you lose your way out darling.." he said while relaxing his somewhat tensed muscles. Luna thoroughly investigated this new mystery man and according to his body structure and his voice, it was evident that he was not that much older than herself. "Could say the same about you. I presume you don't work here otherwise you wouldn't be sneaking in. And you are certainly not that old enough to call me 'little mage."

The intruder laughed and said, "how would you know? You can't even see my face. Just by my voice you already guessed my age?" he was telling the utmost truth. Luna couldn't see his face because all she could see was shadows. "pleasant to meet you princess. But I must bid my farewell. He was not escaping but rather trying to get inside the minister's house, while Luna was STILL there. The audacity of him, it's like he doesn't even care she couldn't take it all at once. She charged at him with all her might while mind-linking Helene, "Helene where the fu_ing hell are you for Emris's sake?!" "On my way! This mansion grounds are freaking hu_" Helene didn't even get to finish her sentence, as Luna and the mysterious man's swords were already clashing together with mighty force.

Both were incredibly strong ,the man possessed the power of shadows which was supposedly banned for mages a long time ago. She possessed the power of the defender, which uses her mana to create a deathly fire, which is only prohibited to use against shadow monsters. "I could do this all day princess. But I lose interest very quickly." the intruder said whilst fighting with the young mage. " oh do you? Why do you need to attend a tea party later then?" Luna could not hold back from mocking him. One powerful strike from him and Luna was thrown back to a tree . "Fuc_ing hell! Arghh!" The strike nearly knocked her out, but as a trained warrior and a girl who refuses to loose, she got back up while catching her breath. "I did not intend to hurt a beautiful mage like you. But you don't leave me with many choices deary." The intruder created a shadow portal and entered it without looking back. "HELENE!" was all she said as she went inside the mansion to make sure that this guy was gone for good.

"Emris !!You don't have to scream Luna!! I'm near the back entrance". Helene surely knew her cousin was not able to catch whatever the thing she was after just by her tone. "Lulu, was it a monster?" "a guy around our age... wait! Oh he didn't leave! Hells come near the second window..uhh..from the right". "On it!" Helene ran as fast as she could, leaving a yelling Mylo behind.

As Luna went inside the master bedroom, the intruder was stacking up gold coins and every jewelry he could possibly grab. "YOU! How dare you steal from one of the king's men." Luna screamed. "Miss me already princess, so excited that you are screaming." The guy was slowly approaching the window step by step. He was trying to escape through the window. Even a small child could tell what his movements intended. " On second thought before I go...' the man stepped in front of the small light emitting from the moon which was now slipping through the window, '' Luna..." his dark blue eyes which were swirling with shadows was a sight Luna thought she would never live to see. "How ..do you know my name?" The man knew her name, did they know each other? "Your friend, hells was it ?, is so loud with her thoughts it is giving me a headache. And very interesting how I can't read your mind darling." Luna's mouth didn't utter a word to the man; she just stared at him. She knew he was going to escape one way or another .So there was no point in fighting "So long darling. Till we meet again." with a wink he jumped through the window throwing a jet black rose to Luna's hand. She ran towards the window and saw her cousin was already there. " What in the draven? Hey you! You are not going to get away from me, you little rat." Even though Helene yelled and and charged towards him, he was too fast to create a portal. And just like that their mystery man vanished in front of their eyes . Helene was shocked to her core. " Lulu am i hallucinating shit?!" was all she could yell at that moment.

But Luna couldn't answer as she was admiring the black rose safely laying inside her palm. That night she wondered if the fates would help them to reunite because the next time they meet, she was surely not letting him go.