Chapter 1.1 - In the Classroom

"18 years ago, The Barrier was created by the queen of the Sun Kingdom, Queen Kyra. You may ask 'why?'

Well, Queen Kyra thought our former king, King Helmer II. was about to start a war. At the time, it was unknown if he had such plans.  Before she completely sealed off our land, she cursed the then-crown-prince-now-king, for the rest of his time, to roam the sealed-off Moon Kingdom as a werewolf. The trait would later be passed on to his eldest daughter and his youngest son.”

Mr. Lurel lectured the class on the Kingdom’s most recent history, Lycoris took the time to look around the room. They were 15 students in total, as she concluded this, she also noticed almost half of the class shared her werewolf trait. She had never seen that many in one class before. Then again, she never really took the time to examine her classmates.

She once again turned her attention to the lecturing teacher.  Mr. Lurel was one of the younger teachers at the school. He had only been there for about year or so.

One student raised his hand. He had short, dark yellow, messy hair, which might be the closest one could come to a truly blonde hair color in the Moon Kingdom Lycoris noted to herself. Her mind wondered to her cousin, Zaira. Her hair was platinum blond due to the blessing her great-grandmother received many years prior.

“Yes, Henry?” Mr. Lurel said in his calm collected voice. 

“Well Mr. Lurel, why did Kyra curse our King?” Everyone else murmured as if they had been wondering the same thing. 

“I don’t think the reason is known, at least to the public” Mr. Lurel answered. “My guess would be to punish former King Helmer II. For conspiring against her kingdom.”

“Why not curse King Helmer then?” Another student argued.

“The King was nearing the end of his life, maybe Queen Kyra was aware…” Mr. Lurel paused. “Keep in mind, these are my theories. Don’t go around claiming this as fact.”

He stopped with a meaningful expression on his face.

“Maybe…” he said quietly to himself. “Lycoris.”

The class collectively turned their attention towards her.

At that moment she regretted choosing the second row over the back.

“Yes?” she responded.

“Do you know why Queen Kyra cursed your father?” Mr. Lurel asked.

“I… don’t think even he knows.” She paused for a moment. “He never talks about it, that’s for sure.” 

A murmur echoed through the room. Lycoris had been bored before Mr. Lurel had asked his question, and now she just wanted to get away. She turned her attention back to the lesson, only to be caught off guard by a girl with mousy hair.

“Lycoris… um, uh. What’s your power level?” As soon as she asked that question, everyone swiftly turned their attention towards them. Lycoris stared at the girl for a moment.

“18” Lycoris answered shortly as she sat at her desk in a relaxed manner. Almost all people in the room gasped and a quiet murmur, yet again, filled the room. She was tired of that reaction. Yes, it was unusual, however, it was a well known the royal family possessed levels in that range. Her father, grandfather, great-grandmother etc. were born with the same level, why would it be a shock she did as well?

Losing her train of thought, Lycoris’ eyes fell on a werewolf boy with black hair and dark red eyes. His ears and tail were visible they were the same dark red color of his eyes at the tips, the color slowly faded to the same black color as his hair. Even when he was sitting down, it was clear that he was tall.

His name was Fortis. She had known him for a long time. Whenever there were meetings between the King and the leaders of the guard groups, the Archers, the Swordsmen, and the Mages, they would always drop their children off in Lycoris- or her brother’s room, so they could play together. 

Fortis’ father was the leader of the Swordsmen. In other words, his father was the second in command over the whole guard.

“Fortis, you seem like you have something on your mind as well.”

She could tell just from the look in his eyes and his stance, that he would not stutter like the girl before him had.

“How about Dash’s?” he asked casually. Lycoris stiffened, Dash had always been secretive about his power level ever since they found out when they were five. She contemplated how to answer that question the best way possible.

“My brother prefers to keep his level to himself.”

“But you’re twins. Shouldn’t you have the same level?” Fortis asked again. She was silent for a moment.  

“Step down. Fortis,” she said, with a stern tone, as she glared at him. Fortis visibly tensed up as the words left her mouth.

“I said that he prefers to keep it to himself,” she repeated, her voice slowly returned to its normal calm state.

“Yes… of course,” Fortis replied, reluctantly.

Just as he finished his sentence, two equally tall, armored men barged into the classroom. Some let out a yelp, most of the werewolves adopted a defensive stance, while the others just reacted by looking at the door.

Their armor was nothing to gawk at. The only metal parts were the helmets, and a few plates on the arms. The rest of the body was covered in normal, slightly structured cloth. The footguard’s uniform had never been that impressive to begin with. However, the armor was adorned with some decoration. A piece of quality fabric was draped over their bodies the only hole being for the head. The fabric was white with deep cyan edges and embroidered on top were a simple silver zig-zag pattern. The Moon Symbol was embroidered in the center of both the back -and front side on full display. 

“Lycoris Sillem?” said the guard the most to the right.

“Yes?” she answered calmy.

“The King has asked to see you” said the other guard.

Lycoris looked over at Mr. Lurel. “May I go?” 

Mr. Lurel seemed to still be calming down after the sudden entrance. He cleared his throat.

“Yes, of course, you may.”

Author's Note

I decided to split chapter one into three parts for readability. I prefer to keep my chapter novel-length as I always want to include way too much both in terms of detail and general plot. This decision provides a bookmark of sorts for the reader, which might improve the experience overall. Later chapters might follow this pattern.