Varyndor, the second strongest kingdom in the human continent, is known to have some of the best and most powerful factions and guilds.
There are the Alchemy Guild, Hunters Guild, and many others that comprise a variety of professions and ways of life. In Varyndor, if you are a cultivator and want to earn handsomely, the best way forward is to form a team and join a guild.
Aria is a young lady who specializes in archery. In fact, she is one of the best archers in the city of Stonehaven. She is a member of Eagle Eye Hunters, and due to how much she contributes to the team, many of her teammates respect her.
She is an orphan and a lively one. She ran away from many orphanage homes and chose the life of the wild instead.
With silver hair and blue eyes coupled with her hourglass figure, even heirs from noble and merchant families have their eyes on her.
“Aria, the leader said we will be going to the Demon Mountains today. He said a new treasure has been discovered, and most teams will be going to try their hands at obtaining it,” a young lady who had just escaped her teenage days said with a cute little smile.
“Alright, Melody, I will come as soon as I am done. For now, let me rest a little,” Aria said, making the young lady pout.
This young lady is practically her sister. She used to follow Aria from one orphanage home to the next, so when she chose the life of the wild, she followed her, and Aria took care of her until she came of age.
“Sleepyhead,” Melody said before standing up. “Also, Thane, the second heir of the Malric family, will be going too with his team. I heard he has been keeping an eye on you of late. You better be careful. I won’t be able to shield you from all of them.”
“Go away, Melody. I am sleeping.” Melody chuckled and left.
Aria is a beauty, so when it comes to catching the eye of most youngsters and thirsty, she doesn’t pale in comparison to some of the ladies from these noble families.
Time went by, and a while later, Aria the Eagle Eye Hunters, comprising 21 members, headed out to the Demon Mountains where a herb had been discovered, and it’s said to be somewhere in the Demon Mountain.
From time to time, people who specialize in locating rare herbs will have something of a premonition, which, in a way, sounds weird, but 100% of the time, they will be right.
Of course, it was mostly because they didn’t know where it was exactly, so they gave a general location and let the lucky teams fight over it.
The Eagle Eye Hunters are no different. They went after most herbs like this, which sell for thousands, if not millions, of spirit stones.
“Aria, you will take care of support when a fight happens. We want our best archer watching our backs. If something is wrong, make sure to grab the herb and run. We don’t want to miss out on this chance to change our lives.”
The leader of the eagle eye hunters said while the road was on their mounts. Aria was riding on a beast that looked like a combination of a horse and an antilop.
It has cute little legs and a horn that seems to come from a very powerful bloodline of a spirit beast. It’s the fastest mount in their team.
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“What the…” Aria shouted as they gazed at the herb that had appeared on a certain peak. It wasn’t just them. Some other teams were also there.
“Its actually a Ten Year Old Gold Essense Mushroom. We are rich,” Most started shouting as they gazed at the herb on the mountain.
It’s a one-of-a-kind herb that when Alchemists get their hands on, they will be able to concoct crazy pills that will sell for millions of spirit stones.
However, it’s guarded by a spirit beast that is at the Root Great Sage stage. But it will be dead soon, considering the number of teams coming after it.
“Aria, the moment we engage in combat, grab the herb and leave with melody. You two have the fastest mountains in the team. The moment we get this to the Alchemy guild, its ours.”
Aria nodded and prepared to execute her mission to the best of her abilities.
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“Get them!”
Someone shouted as Aria grabbed the herb and made a beeline, speeding away with Melody laughing and giggling behind her.
Within seconds, they were gone, and the fight against the spirit beast, which had just lost its precious herb, went berserk and started attacking with ferocity.
“Everyone scatter. We meet back in Stonehaven,” the leader of Aria’s team shouted before he sped away, following the direction Aria and Melody had gone.
The others also went their way, and as the leader had said, they would meet back in the city. That’s how they usually ran their missions when they involved many teams.
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“Aria, let’s wait up here for the leader,” Melody said as they sped away, keeping miles between them and the fight.
“The leader said we should take it to the alchemy guild, so let’s do that first,” Aria said, but Melody insisted they wait for the leader, fearing they would be cheated.
Hearing her sound reasoning, Aria chose to listen to her and wait, as they mostly did sometimes on missions.
Aria stopped at one of their checkpoints and dismounted her mount. Melody did the same and stood beside Aria while waiting for their leader.
But that didn’t happen. A few minutes into the wait, when Aria turned to look in the direction they came from, a pain stabbed from her back, piercing her heart.
She immediately coughed blood and turned to look at what happened. There, she saw Melody stabbing a dagger through her back, a smile filled with hate spreading across her lips.
“W-why?” Aria asked. She couldn’t think of anything but to ask that.
“Don’t blame her, Aria. You aren’t the only one getting the attention of every young heir. My dear Melody here caught my eye, and as the heir of the Malric noble family, I have to make her feel loved.
You had all the attention.
It’s your fault for being so nonchalant about your beauty and not choosing a man. Perhaps that would have calmed my dear Melody’s jealousy. But alas, here we are.”
Aria coughed blood and asked again. “W-why?” She couldn’t believe the one she trusted and took care of would backstab her. But alas, it was already too late.
“Let’s go, Melody. I heard the annual auction is a month away. This will sell well. I’ve already made provisions with my family, and they will take us to the Althea kingdom for a while while we put this on auction.”
Their leader, now revealed as the aloof heir of the Malric noble family, delivered a stab to Aria’s mount, killing it immediately. Melody flinched but didn’t do anything.
“Okay, leader—I mean, Darrel.” Aria watched as Melody took the herb from her bag, and without even looking back, she left with their leader, or as she now discovered, the first heir of the Malric noble family.
Tears fell from her eyes as she knelt on the ground and waited for her life to end due to the betrayal from the one she loved and cared for.
In her heart, she vowed that if there was life after this, she would return and get her revenge. But alas, death is a one-time thing.
Unless you have a destiny transcending that of the living or the dead, in Aria’s case, she did, and thus, fate decided to step in.
Just when she was at her last leg, a dark portal opened, and a hooded figure with green eyes riding a shadowmare stepped out and stopped before her.
“Revenge is for the night, for they shall scream as you burn them with the flames of vengeance. Your destiny doesn’t want you to die here, Aria; you are to rise and ride into the night.
Your destiny wills you to heed the call of our master and ride into battle with him. So, I call you to rise and ride with me using the night’s flames, the Night Riders’ Authority, and my name, Kael Duskbane.”
Uncle Drew, now in his Night Riders form, extended his hand, and Aria took it without hesitation.
Soon, her horse also rose from the ground and transformed into a shadowmare, and she mounted it, and like what happened to Uncle Drew, she also transformed into a hooded figure. But there was something different about her.
It was like she hadn’t fully taken her Night Rider form yet.
“Let’s go and greet our master, for it is said the Riders of the Night shall grace the battlefields once more.”