Warriors of the Night

Aster

The two moons casted a pale blue light through the opened ceiling of our training facility. I stood on the far left of the long room while my opponent stood on the opposite end. My adversary sized me up a bit, pacing the room eyeing me up and down but I knew I couldn't let him psych me out.

I put myself in my combat position drawing in closer as he did I knew I had to do something unexpected something that would have him caught off guard so that I could land the first strike to take him down,

"You could do this"

"What?"

I went down low doing a sweep kick in the same moment I lowered the temperature of my right arm until cold mist rolled down my sleeves. I stabbed my fist into his stomach sending him across the room. Although I limited my opponent's movements, I have now sacrificed my arm for just that. I could already feel the numbness settling in I needed to act quick again.

The man swiftly recovered though I'm sure he realized he can't be that much mobile any more giving me a slight advantage. I went in for another blow but he side stepped my attack, a cold, hard, heavy object hit my shoulder and a boot to the back brought me down on my face.

The wind got knocked out of my chest, I couldn't even shout in pain. The weight on my back lightened and a pale hand entered my view, I clasped it with my good arm and was brought to my feet,

"You need to work on your form, you're too hasty in attacking and your reflexes for countering attacks is sloppy"

"Yeah but-"

His glare cut my retaliation short. I grumbled and looked away, the other classmates began clapping and Lumi took a bow. I think I also failed to mention my brother only had one arm which made me feel even worse for losing to him not once, not twice, but over five hundred and sixty-three times.

I groaned to myself as I picked up my jacket. I exited along with the other students and I couldn't help but hear the whispering chatter of a few them in the crowd,

"Why does Aster even go up against Lumi? She knows she'll lose"

"I heard she isn't gonna get to go to Utopia on the daylight training mission"

I clenched my jaw and balled my fists pushing past my peers I stormed into my palace, well officially it is called the palace but it looked more like a fortress. Unlike our esteemed neighbors, our palace grounds have sentries that only allow this who has been given permission to enter. I'm sure you can guess what happens to the ones that don't.

I made my way into the dining hall where I saw my parents and my brother, the same guy who beat me in our little sparring match,

"I don't know if she's ready to go just yet. Aster only has a one trick pony that temporarily paralyzes her opponent but it comes with price and that's a too big of a ri-"

Lumi stopped his harsh criticism as soon as he noticed my presence. A swirl of emotion clouded my mind and soon spread across my entire body. My chest tightened but also burned my stomach felt empty my appetite, gone. Father looked at me with concerned brown eyes, mother's on the other hand stayed serious with a cold expression,

"Aster-"

"Save it Lumi"

I shook my head as I left, I heard my father's shouts as well as his hurried footsteps behind me. I felt a touch on my shoulder and I stopped and turned around facing him, he pulled me in a tight embrace and I couldn't help but break down into a teary mess,

"It's not FAIR. I've worked so hard for this, to get to where I am but there's no acknowledgement for what I've done! I'm just so tired of this dad.."

I hugged him burying my face into his chest, the negative emotions soon ebbed away leaving a hollow feeling inside me,

"I want you to know you are a strong and fierce warrior Aster. You're not like anyone I've ever seen before, you my child are indeed your parents. You hold my tenacity mixed in with your mother's stubbornness, and we've created a child who's determination precedes all of us. I love you Aster and I always will don't you forget about that"

Father's words touched my heart and lit a flame I never knew I had, the passion to do better to prove I am cable of going on the training mission to Utopia,

"Thank you for your encouraging words father"

The middle-aged man grinned at me and I couldn't help but smile at him myself.

"You know what you could do to prove yourself to your dear old mother?"

I raised my eyebrow at him questioningly,

"What could I do?"

"Bring back the Ivory Flare"

Hearing the name of the relic gave me goose bumps, only my ancestor Luminous, who my brother was named after, has ever owned the ivory flare. Tales of his epic battles always stayed with children. The question is how am I supposed to get Celeste's blessings as this relic is a very rare and special. My mother does have a relic but the name and the power is different. Celeste's Wind Rider is what my mother has and in order to impress her I need something better and that better had to be the Ivory Flare.

I thanked my father for his solid advice and went to my quarters to turn in. Li-En my wolf companion greeted me by the door licking my hand,

"Li-En, is it a good idea to traverse the land to find a rare relic I'm not even sure I'll even get?"

The wolf cocked its head to the side looking at me with interest,

"I have to do this! I've been in Celestial Tundra for far too long. I want to see the world"

The furry beast sat down on its haunches by my bed, I joined her unconsciously stroking their black fur and saying my thoughts out loud,

"Maybe it's my father's blood him coming from Sienna's Sand Grove that makes me feel so adventurous, but my mother's curb the thoughts of adventure and to only dedicate my time to training and to serve my birth land under the name of Celeste"

I sighed to myself mulling over my thoughts while slipping out of my garments and crawling into bed. I waved my finger lazily and a cool gust of wind swirled around the candelabrum and blew the ousted the light.