Mistaken

Asha typically stood guard for the school, in the rare instance someone or something foolish enough would attack.

This seemed to be one of those instances

"Blyke! Ethelyn! Daniel! Get your asses over here right now!" Barely after she filled her lungs again, she jumped from the spire, shooting toward the ground. Last second, she spread those wings of hers, and she soared over the gates. "Blyke!"

"Here!" he replied, running below her, on all fours like a panther.

"Ethelyn!"

"Present!" responded Ethelyn, riding her Alicorn to Asha's left.

"Daniel!"

"Got it!" He flew up next to her and listed off his Jacks' names. "Amelia! Tim! Rosaria!"

"Here!" they shouted back.

"Do what you will, but do not let them reach the gates!" Asha commanded. "Quetzico, Third Form! Materialization!" Asha grabbed the hilt of the sword, falling toward the ground. She rolled to lessen the impact before running, matching the others easily.

"That's them! The Guardians of Luminine! The King's Watchdog! Attack!" shouted the mob of terrorists.

Asha just smiled as the mob of people released their power. "Get behind and prepare to attack!" she shouted, readying her sword. As the magic drew nearer, Asha shouted, "Revenge: Counter!" She slashed her sword into the magic and parried, the magic stopping barely an inch from her face before curling and rebounding on the attackers.

Even their combined attacks were weak, knocking back only the front three rows, the rest plowing ahead.

And then they met the cadre.

~

Blyke skillfully delivered non-lethal blows, rendering his attackers unconscious on the ground. He'd never killed anyone, and he kind of wanted to keep it that way for a while.

He finished with his group before turning to look at the others. Only, he found something very wrong very quickly. There was too much blood on the concrete, the crimson splattering over two figures.

"What are you doing?" asked Blyke shakily.

A cold glare was Ethelyn's answer as she stabbed her sword into the throat of her attacker. Blood sprayed as she withdrew it to slash another opponent.

Blyke's eyes flicked to the second person. "Answer me. What are you doing?"

An almost sickeningly bright smile was on her face as Asha looked over her shoulder, one of her pale, slender-fingered hands fisted in a man's hair, holding him up.

"You...you'll never get away with this...bitc--"

"You're too noisy." Asha's sword buried itself up to its hilt in the man's stomach. She let him fall to the ground, blood gushing as she took the sword from his gut, slashing another attacker's head off her shoulders. She put her shoe on an injured man, squishing his face into the ground. She turned to Blyke, that smile still on her face. "Do you have a problem?" Her eyes were cold, though.

Blyke bit his lip He'd been mistaken. Mistaken into thinking that the Asha he knew, dangerous but kind, was real. The real Asha was the feral, cruel, and cold-hearted one in the tattered clothes and the mad eyes. Just because the snarl had been replaced by a smile...the eyes were still the same.

"Well?" Asha asked, not even looking as she swung her sword behind her, cutting a many across the chest, blood spraying the side of her face.

"I don't have a problem, but this is a new development…"

Asha laughed, the sword in her hand glowing before turning into hundreds of three inch, thin needles that hovered around her. "Quetzico, Fifth Form. Multiply." Asha swept her hand out in front of her, and the needles swirled around her like a swarm of insects, until they shot forward.

It was over before it really started. Bodies littered the ground, bleeding from tiny puncture wounds as the needles circled back to Asha.

She smiled at Blyke. "I thought you knew already. I've been a murderer for most of my life. I have no problem killing a few more. Isn't that right, Ethelyn?"

Blyke turned to Ethelyn, whose Amora signified the purity of the spirit, who was often known as the Scion of Light…

Ethelyn nodded, her sword vanishing. "Let's go back. We have preparations to do for the Interschool Tournament."

Asha nodded, unfurling long, black-feathered wings from her back, grabbing Ethelyn by the hand. She launched into the sky, heading back toward the school.

Blyke jumped atop Shadower, mind racing as he and the others raced toward Luminine. Now that he thought about it, he really knew nothing about Asha and Ethelyn, or any of the cadre for that matter. He worked with them every day, and thought he knew them like the back of his hand… but it turned out that he was only seeing one of the many layers of them.

He wondered how many layers of darkness he'd have to peel back to see the real, true Asha.

A smile replacing a snarl… he had really been mistaken to think that someone could change that easily.

∽

Asha was in charge of cooking, her shocking speed getting the next day's welcoming dinner completely prepared for cooking within four hours.

When she was done, she stood on the spire until sunset, watching the students head to the dorms. She jumped down, securing the crossed crescent moon emblem of Luminine's Disciplinary Team on her cuff.

Asha's favorite part of the day was once the sun set. It was quiet, and she could stare up at the moon until it fell and the sun replaced it again in a never-ending, beautifully perfect cycle.

If only everything was that simple.

"Just let me go back to my room!"

"Not until you bow to me, you loser!"

Well, maybe not as quiet as she thought.

Asha's temple throbbed and she followed the voices silently, until she stood barely ten feet away in the shadows, watching Keren Willows, a low-tier, get smacked by a mid-tier. One of the longevity animals, probably.

But they were still students out of bed past curfew. And they ruined her night.

Asha sent a sharp blast of wind at the mid-tier, sending him rolling in the grass.

"Who the hell was that? I swear I'll beat your ass--" his eyes widened as Asha stepped under the moonlight, a slightly irritated smile on her face.

"What did you say, again?" she asked.

"N-nothing, Miss Asha! I was just teaching this low-tier a lesson."

"Oh, really?" Asha walked up to the mid-tier, holding out a gloved hand. But as he took hers, a gleeful smile on his face, she fluctuated the air around his elbow.

CRACK!

He screamed as his arm snapped at the elbow, sending him back in the dirt.

Asha frowned. "What? Do you not want my help?" she asked, eyes shadowed.

"O-of course not, Queen," he said, raising his other arm.

Asha narrowed her eyes, this time the air around his neck responding. She looked up, at one of the towers of the school, searching for a figure in black. She grabbed his broken arm, throwing the body as hard as she could into the maze on the outskirts of the school. Nobody would miss a mid-tier.

Her eyes fastened on the trembling low-tier. "Do you remember anything that just happened?" she asked, smiling.

He took a deep breath, regaining his composure. He gave a timid smile. "What are you talking about? I was just talking with you about getting a book from the classroom."

Asha's smile deepened, real this time. The kid was smart. This would save time. "Good. If you have any more problems, Mr. Willows, let me know. Now, off to bed. I'll let you off with a warning tonight." She watched the young man, no older than her, run off toward the boy's dorms.

It was a shame how smart, bright things like him were constantly oppressed by students, the common gentry, and even their parents alike for not having combat abilities.

Asha sighed as she thought of the hierarchy again. The strong ruling the weak was the only way to ensure power in Artemesa, something that had come into play even more rigorously once King Raul took his brother's place on the throne once the late King Korrin died.

Before, the hierarchy was less obligatory and more optional, some people ignoring it all together. But now, with a strong, powerful monarch, everyone wanted to be on his good side, even if that meant abandoning morals just to impress him with power and titles.

Even Asha wasn't exempt from that, as a member of the aristocracy with a very close place next to the King. She was part of the nobility, and some resented her for that.

Asha honestly thought that Raul had given her the title just to put an even larger target on her back, so he'd be safer.

Asha walked to the front gates, Oblivinite, a strange metal that gave off black particles that could eat through anything except itself. The gates had been programmed to destroy anything that was on the other side of the gate, unless the particles sensed the Luminine crossed emblem that was given to all of the students.

Asha jumped up onto the top of the tall, looming gate, wrapping her legs around the top and hanging upside down, eyes watching the moon travel across the sky.

The moon shone in the darkness, casting a silver light across the grounds. The light made her almost sad, reminding her of a different shade of silver she used to see on her mother.

At the thought, Asha's eyes wavered from sapphire to a bright shade of gold before changing back to deep blue.

Some thought the moon symbolized sin and evil, others that it as a blessing and symbol of fortune and good-luck.

They were all mistaken, though.

Asha watched the moon glide through the sky, until it disappeared with a new dawn.