The Dioz Capital, acclaimed for its wealth and exquisite architecture was then the proud beacon of Dioz Supremacy over its neighbours. Its wealth was almost unrivaled due to the careful but lucrative merchant class who spearheaded the growth of the kingdom under the influence and guidance of the King.
When the Senadate Theocracy started its brutal campaign against demihumans one hundred fifty years prior, the Dioz Kingdom was officially neutral but actually provided support and refuge to the demihumans whenever they sought their protection. Soon, the kingdom became well known as a safe haven for all sapient creatures. Such kindness, however, was frowned upon by their neighbors.
Demihumans were denounced by the world religions as the descendants of the great demons. These great demons were what the referred to the enemies that started and were later defeated during the first Great War. That was the claim of the Empire and the Republic and it has been passed down from generation to generation and integrated into the very heart of the world's religion.
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150 years ago...
The moon was blocked out by the dark storm clouds, providing little light to the soldiers down on the ground. The soldiers were Dioz Knights. The Dioz Knights were tasked with aiding the escape of a group of demihumans trapped behind the Senadate border. They were high skilled saboteurs and have saved many demihumans before.
This night, however, was different. The storm clouds were ominous and struck a feeling of unease that was shared among the knights. Still, they carried on with their mission.
The demihumans sent out a magic signature an hour prior to give away their location. This was a risky move, by this point the Senadate Theocracy has made its mage Supremacy known to the rest of its neighbors. A mage could feel this signature from a kilometer away and easily deduce its location. If felt properly, they would even know who sent the message.
The knights crossed the border under the cover of night. Before they got to where they were, they noticed that the surrounding area had become a marshy biome.
"These storm clouds must've rained a bunch to cause this" One of the knights said. "We have no choice but to go through this way, you kids don't mind having a bit of mud on your boots ey?"
The knights chuckled but remained focused. Their feet would soon be covered with a lot of mud from stepping over the shallow marshes. Around them were frogs that croaked and crickets that rang whenever they got near.
It was as if they were warning them not to go forward and turn back. The knights were oblivious and were actually annoyed by the abnormal amount of frogs that tried to block their war.
"Why are there so many!?" The knight got jumped on his ċhėst by a few frogs which he safely brushed off.
"Keep it together, for all we know these frogs could be working for the Theocracy!" The captain of the group said.
"Ay"
Being suspicious of the frogs was not without a real reason. A few other groups of Dioz Knights with the same missions as theirs were reported to have been attacked by critters to bears alike. The Theocracy must have cast their spells on them, making the wildlife hostile to the knights.
Still, they pressed forward and eventually they were out of the marsges and into solid ground. They were now beyond the frontier and were deep within tue Theocracy territory. When they came upon a wide grassland that stretched till the eye could see, it was their marker.
The knights huddled together for a brief moment to discuss their strategy and next steps.
"We are at the Southern Greens, further northeast we will come across a dirt road that would lead us east to where the magic signature was emitted. Our demihuman friends should be there or else we all went here for nothing"
The knights nodded and they hurried off. To prevent making too much noise and to lessen the load their group carried as a whole, they refused to ride their Land Dragons. Land Dragons were fast and could get faster then horses. Unlike horses that lacks the stealth needed, but Land Dragons are quite big, they could easily walk through any forest but across the vast forest between the Dioz and the Theocracy is different and very difficult that not even the Land Dragons could get through easily. They were also heavy and needed to be attended to, these knights also formed close bonds with their Land Dragons and taking them to such a risky mission such as the one they were doing now with no guarantee that the Land Dragons would survive was out of the question.
They found the dirt path that the captain talked about and they followed it eastward. The plains were wide and the grass though short was thick. Whenever a caravan would pass by, the knights would hide themselves in the tall grass.
The caravaneers, innocent as they may seem, were citizens who were dedicated to the Theocracy and hostile to the demihumans. They would not fail to report to the nearest Theocratic station if they were to spot the intruders.
By this time, relations between the Senadate Theocracy were hitting low and nearing the breaking point. The Theocracy had issued another condemnation of the Dioz Kingdom's actions through the diplomats they sent to their various neighbors.
They found the town where their demihumans should be in and where the signature originated from. It was a small town by the side of the dirt road surrounded by a few trees and hills.
The knights surveyed the area around it, checking for possible enemy patrols, Airship patrols, or magic sentries. They saw none, furthermore, they saw that nobody was outside, everyone seemed to be inside their houses.
The knights snuck through the first house on the edge, the people were indeed inside. They were minding their own business, unbeknownst that a group of enemy soldiers were just outside the walls they were leaning on.
The demihumans said they'd make sure to make a marker that would help find them when the knights arrived. And so, the knights searched each corner of the small village looking for a symbol that was unrelated to the Theocracy.
After a few minutes of searching, they found the symbol near the village center where nobody seemed to be in. The symbol was an oval-shaped cross, something that the Theocracy has judged to be heretical.
"This must be it! But why the silence here? I don't hear anyone inside either" One of the knights asked.
"Shut it, we can't be so sure that there is no one inside. Remember, they're demihumans, the people around here hate demihumans and would kill them on the spot if they find any!"
"Captain!" The front door began to creak and footsteps could be heard.
The knights drew out their swords and readied themselves. If the person that came out of the door was a normal villager, they were going to kill him or her regardless. The symbol was there and that meant their mission was there.
The door opened and out came a man similar to a human but with ears of a dog. It was a demihuman alright.
"Oy!" The knights revealed themselves to the demihuman.
The demihuman was at first stunned and frightened but after the knights explained who they were, he was relieved.
"Friends! You have indeed come for us" The demihuman explained.
"How many others are with you inside? We need to go NOW" The captain rushed.
The demihuman then showed a worried look on his face and said, "We cannot move under the moonlight"
"What!?" The captain reacted.
The demihuman then pulled the captain inside and gestured the others to come in quick. They were just in time as a group of villagers appeared from inside their houses.
The knights and the demihuman kept silent as the villagers passed by their small derelict hut that was insulated by the many hays it had.
Inside, the knights stumbled upon five more other demihumans. There was a woman with the same extraordinary features as the man and four young children with also the same features.
"We've got ourselves an entire family" One of the knights said as he withdrew his sword.
The children cowered behind their mother as some of the knights approached them.
"Oh no no, we mean you no harm. We are here to get you out" Assured one of the knights. The captain of the group stepped forward and asked the demihuman man.
"Why can't you go under the moonlight?" He asked with a stern voice.
The demihuman sighed
"It be a double moon sonata. Two full moons, you know very well that us demihumans don't act as we are supposed to under such a rare moon" The demihuman explained.
"Wait, wasn't it cloudy when we got here and when we crossed the border?" One of the knights said.
"Yes, yes it was," The captain said.
"No, you dont understand. These clouds are temporary while the sonata lasts for the entire night! If even a dim shimmer shine on us, we will lose control" The demihuman made his concerns clear with his growing voice and tensed up attitude.
The knights had no choice but to stay put for the night until the moons had left the sky. They made themselves comfortable with the small hut by lying down on the haystacks and playing with the kids.
The captain and the demihuman father went to a corner of the hut to talk.
"I'm sorry if this is a pain for you to endure" The demihuman said.
"But we foxmen are creatures who go wild and berserk when the sonata of two moons plague our skin. We can massacre this entire village if we ever get touched by its light"
The captain nodded and sighed.
"I understand. My only concern is that we may be found out here. There's a chance that some random villager is just going to check this hut out for some reason and we'll be busted for sure" The captain said.
The foxman nodded in agreement but would still not agree to go even under the cover of the storm clouds.
"It's not raining, that's also a problem. If these storm clouds would stay as long as you say, it must rain. The rain means we are in the center of these storm clouds and if the winds are with us and they blow from north to south, then may the heavens bless us more!"
The demihuman had a point. There was no way to ensure that the storm clouds would stay as long as they needed for them to get the hell out of enemy territory. The two did not reach an agreement and the both just settled with what they had left to do.
The demihuman slept while the knights kept watch. The foxlady and her children were all curled up together while the foxman was curled up next to them.
The knights took notes of their behavior in their heads.
Demicreatures are unique, so to speak. They are a combination of lowerlifes which are the animals and upperlifes which are us, humans. To say that these demihumans were children of demons is just pure botched truth. We don't even know if those demons even existed in the first place. For all we know, three superpowers emerged from the ashes of the forgotten era in a continent that was torn apart and devastated. They suddenly took control and governed us like puppets! Even vassals are treated better. We are nothing more than their playthings and who is their scapegoat? The demihumans - Captain Roy.
He wrote the paragraph in his journal before this very mission. It was his last entry.
The night was still young when the knights spotted a group of villagers wielding pitchforks and torches. They were a group that soon grew larger and larger.
"Crap I think they know we're here!" The knights woke the demihumans who cowered behind them. The knights drew their swords from the scabbards and readied to fight.
"No! They're going to burn the hut!"
And indeed they were. The villagers surrounded the hut by the many and threw their torches at the sides, the walls and up to the rooftop. The hut was made of rotting dry wooden material, it was oil waiting to be lit by the smallest spark. The hut began to burn and the heat was felt inside and each minute that passed the heat got more intense.
The villagers were all hurling insults and curses outside.
"Die demons!" They shouted and hurled their insults.
"We have no choice! We need to go now!" The captain shouted. The foxman nodded for he had no choice, if they did not do anything drastic, his children and his wife would be certainly killed either way.
The knights barged through the door and charged at the villagers. The villagers were terrified when they stormed out of the burning hut. Their shadows against the rising flames made way for a terrifying image of void figures charging at them. The villagers who saw them scattered turned tail and ran.
The knights were not having any of it and chased down the nearest of the villagers. The villagers who stood their ground with their pitchforks were hacked and stabbed to death while the others who fled were chased down.
To their surprise, the foxman joined in the action. He showed inhuman strength and speed. He ran with his four limbs and chased down those who were already far off the edge of the village and gnawed them to their deaths.
It was a massacre.
30 minutes passed and there was only the silence of the night.
The knights had finished off the last of the villagers, killing the children for last. They had no remorse for even the young.
"If we let them live, they will grow to be our enemies. We cannot have that" The captain reminded his men.
"Yes, sir!"
The knights scavenged the houses for anything they could use to travel back. They took away blankets, coins and a magic crystal that was oddly placed inside one of the huts.
They gave the blankets to the demihumans who in turn used the blankets to cover themselves from the moonlight.
"Thank you.." The foxlady gave her thanks to the knights who nodded in response.
The foxman returned from hunting down the last of the villagers and bowed to his knees.
"Thank you! Thank you! I am forever in your debt!" He said.
The captain stepped forward and lent him his hand.
"You are not in our debts, you and your family are our friends and our responsibility until you find a safe home back in our kingdom"
The foxman smiled at the kind gesture and took his hand and stood up.
The children cheered as their father walked towards them, giving them all a big hug.
The knights were in awe but they still noticed the bloodstains on the fox man's mouth. He was terrifying, it was a wonder why he did not just massacre his way through the countryside and escaped through Dioz. Nobody would have known that it was him that was responsible.