Fallen Nobility (3)

The vibrant flowers of the villa's garden shown with immense beauty under the moonlight of the night. A tapestry of colors perfectly merged together to give the garden a true sense of light, and in the middle of it all a blood red light danced with perfection and lethality. Nia didn't have much time in the afternoon to train after ironing out details with Rahonam and talking with the beastfolk, and more importantly, she didn't want their constant cheers to annoy her during her training.

She would've much preferred to be training against a runewoven dummy or even another person, but artifacts are far deadlier compared to normal weapons, especially in the hands of someone who has never used an artifact of such strength before. And although she could get help from Vanra Zacarias or even Mute, their aid would do little in terms of development of skill.

At the very least, whilst an artifact is indeed a unique tool, they are still in the end no different fundamentally as what they are made from. A runewoven sword is called an artifact, but it is still a sword in the end, is used like a sword in the end, and is treated like a sword, and for Nia, her understanding of spears and how to use one is near the best in the Kingdom. So the only thing she had to focus on was keeping the flames under control, but also, get used to the new weight of the spear.

Unlike her usual spears which were a wooden shaft with leather coating, and an iron tip, which meant the weight was fairly heavy. Her artifact however was made entirely out of metal, yet not a sturdy metal like steel or iron, but instead an unknown silvery one which was notably light. Not super light, but there was enough of a difference from her usual gear compared to her current spear that she needed to adapt to it.

So she continued to move with grace and precision in the garden, uncaring for the chill that came with the late night breeze.

"If you want to watch, it'd be nicer if you didn't do it so secretly."

Nia had noticed his presence for quite a while, yet had presumed him to make some sort of notion to alert her more directly of his observation. She didn't mind him watching, granted, as the minor distraction had proven actually helpful for her trying to control her artifact without absolute focus on the flames, yet she was growing tired of his silence.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt."

Fenrir revealed himself from the depths of the garden, his silver-gray hair shining beautifully in the moonlight, which contrasted heavily with Nia's long black hair which seemed to eat the moonlight whole. The wolf boy usually had a more mature expression when interacting with his juniors, and a more reserved expression when talking with adults, yet whenever it was just the two of them, he let his childish nature show in full force.

His face was neither sharp nor round, a perfect balance which with the treatment from constant bathing, made for the look of a healthy young teenage boy. The only thing that ruined the impression were his silver-gray eyes, which were exceptionally sharp even among wolffolk, a consequence of his constant reading of books and his training with a bow and arrow.

Nia shared his sharp eyes, yet hers were deep-blood red, which gave a very ominous look to those who stared into them. Her face however was much sharper than Fenrir's and although she had gotten rather luxurious treatment ever since leaving Misty Forest, it was not enough to make her exceptionally beautiful.

Her tall figure didn't help charm others either, but it wasn't like Nia cared about these things to begin with, so she wasn't hurt that the wolf boy looked more beautiful than her.

"Is there something you want from me or did you really just want to watch?"

Nia was surprised to see him here, not because he normally doesn't watch, he does, but because he had spent the whole afternoon playing around with the White Rabbit children. She didn't think it'd be enough to fatigue him, but she did expect them to want to sleep with the wolf boy, both out of simple childish wishes and to help fend off their trauma.

Also, she didn't even think Fenrir would be aware of her being out training, since the two of them didn't sleep with each other this night, and instead Nia had simply taken a quick nap before Fenrir had even had the opportunity to go to bed and escape the attention of his fellow beastfolk. 

"Just wanted to watch, I noticed you weren't in bed and I've always enjoyed watching your training."

Nia didn't choose to mention how weird it was for Fenrir to enter a woman's bedroom in the middle of the night, mainly because it didn't matter, and he was free to do so anyways. Instead she just scoffed at the words of the wolf boy, unknowing as to why he enjoyed watching her train. He wasn't a tutor of hers, people who always loved seeing how Nia was always pushing to new limits, nor was he a fellow student, who admired Nia's fortitude and resolve to push forward.

Fenrir sat weirdly on the sidelines as an individual to her, and whilst she understood he had a childish admiration for her bloodline, she didn't know how much he truly admired her. Did the wolf boy just enjoy the heroic tale being reborn to reality, or did he admire Nia as an individual, uncaring as to whether or not she was interested in writing a legend? Nia didn't know.

Her wavering thoughts however caused her spear to flare up, the blood-red flames threatening to consume the nearby flowers. It didn't take much focus to restore control and keep the flowers safe, but that slight disruption and her complicated emotions ruined her desire to train anymore, which was a first for her.

Yet even if she wanted to stop, to rest up a little and return back to focus, it wasn't truly what she wanted. She had to tell herself time and time again in her mind that giving up now was no different to letting those who ruined her life get the better of her, that all the sacrifices she had made so far were for nothing. Real fights didn't give one time to breathe whenever they simply weren't in the mood for it, and Nia knew that better than anyone else.

So she continued training even when Fenrir's face showed his sadness, whether the sadness was because of her slight loss of focus or her choice to destroy her own mind and body just to keep going, Nia didn't know, and she didn't care. The flames had grown larger, but at the same time, more attune with Nia's spear, leaving flames to linger in the air wherever her spear striked.

This was the true essence of how Nia fought, because no matter how much she tried to implement her hard fought techniques and strategies, in the end it always came down to whoever could kill the other first. Once more the flames threatened to consume the flowers, and this time, Nia didn't stop them, the fires around her quickly growing in extremity.

Fenrir himself was forced to back off, but his eyes never moved away from Nia, even as the intense heat pushed him away. All admiration had faded from his expression, instead worry now covered it, not for himself, but for Nia, who was trapped in the middle of all of these flames at risk of being consumed by them all.

The wolf boy knew that the fallen noble didn't care for her own body, her own mind, that she would destroy them both if it meant revenge for her family's fall.

He wanted to push through the flames, to help calm her down, afterall, who wouldn't want to help the one who saved them? But he couldn't because the flames were too great and truthfully, he was enumerated with the view. Long black hair no longer absorbed the moonlight, instead now glistened and almost shown under the intense red of the flames.

Her eyes which were once calm and focused before Fenrir arrived, now were chaotic and maddened, a reflection of the ever-growing flames. Fenrir always knew she had a slightly crazy side inside of her, everyone sees that just by the look in her eyes, yet never once had Fenrir seen it in its entirety.

The true Nia Roguepalace, the last daughter of the Roguepalace Family, the Fallen Noble.

"Dammit it all!"

With Nia's last shout the flames suddenly receded and then faded away, leaving nothing but red sparks to flicker throughout the darkness of the night. What was once a beautiful garden with countless flowers of different colors, now was nothing more than charred black ground. The cold breeze could no longer threaten the duo, as the warmth from the flames lingered and carried along the wind, along with the smell of ashes and dust.

It was a horrifying look, a figure with a long black cloak, ashes all around her, and a spear with blood-red flames on its tip. Yet Fenrir wasn't horrified, he just stood there silently, watching Nia with no idea what kind of expression he wore. Was it kindness? Or was it pain? Fenrir didn't know, but he knew he wasn't in a position to say or do anything. Just watch, and that's all he did.

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A few days later, Rahonam was finally free from the burden of watching over the rabbitfolk and was free to bring Nia and Fenrir to the Alchemist Guild. Yu was also in the carriage with them, the most uneasy of the four since it was the middle of the day and just outside of the carriage she could see countless humans walking to and from to wherever they needed to go.

Whilst she had grown comfortable, a little too comfortable, around Nia, beyond her and Rahonam, Yu was still too traumatized by the events that led up to her selling to be even near other humans. The maids at the villa she was at before were no different, and in fact despite sharing the villa, neither the rabbitfolk nor the maids ever really saw each other as to not traumatize the White Rabbits anymore.

"Did you really burn down part of the garden?"

Yu's question caused Fenrir to shudder, and for Nia to wake up from her half-sleep. Whilst the fallen noble did claim responsibility for what happened, not many people actually believed it. Not the setting fire part, but controlling the flames and putting them out, since the area Nia burned was by no means a small one. 

It was extremely difficult to influence the aftereffects of an artifact as well, so for Nia to do so was something incredible. 

"Yes."

Nia herself wasn't in a good mood after the events that night however, despite how much control she had actually gained over the effects of the artifacts. She treated every training session as if against a real opponent, which whilst that meant she often didn't remain on her technique for long, it also meant she was focused heavily on her emotional state and focus.

And especially with an artifact in hand, Nia was embarrassed if anything for losing control of herself in the power the artifact gave. For the first time she felt truly powerful, that the likes of Lotho and Naumov wouldn't be able to stand in her way and that revenge would come easy. It made her feel foolish thinking back on it, since it went against everything she ever believed and built.