“I’m sorry my beloved, but your dream still has not been fulfilled. Does the fault lie with me, or is it simply humanity’s instinct to reach for the Stars? I have tried time and time again, in each civilization, in each corner of the world, yet the result remains the same. I grow weary of this never-ending struggle, but I still persist. For you. For your sacrifice to bear meaning, no matter how long it must take. I-I miss you, with all my heart.”
The Knight
———
The Knight
A horde of Polus soldiers silently march through the land, their movements concealed by The Order of the Sovereignties, a division of the army that specialize in sorcery and incantations. Many of the Magi that serve Polus belong to this order, and they are responsible for the various defensive barriers that surround the cities and fortresses.
They are but one of the numerous knight orders that exists within the nation. The army is separated into seven distinct divisions, each one unique in both their combat style and responsibility. Each order boasts soldiers numbering near ten thousand except for The Order of the Thrones—who take command over the other divisions—and The Order of the Seraph who garner only a few thousand.
The Knight observes the vast army with a melancholic gaze. It has been a long time since it has walked alongside such a force rather than against it. There is a beauty in such discipline, one that it's always admired through the ages. Humanity is strong in their convictions when need be, and it is this very conviction that has hindered its duty since the very beginning.
Ascalon senses the bittersweet emotions emanating from The Knight and attempts to cheer it up as they trot through the green fields.
“Is everything ok, Lorelai?” he asks in a worried tone.
“Ah, yes. Sorry if I worried you,” The Knight replies. “I suppose I’m just a bit…overwhelmed.”
“Haha, I understand the feeling. Truth be told, it is also my first time commanding over such a large force. You don’t remember this, but I have always been confined to the capital ever since I ascended the throne, so I never obtained the opportunity to direct the front lines.”
“Really? You have never stepped foot outside of the city?”
“Well, I did once, but that was before I became King back when I was but a mere squire for The Order of the Powers. ‘Tis the responsibility of one who wears The Monarch’s Wings.”
“How so?”
The Knight has fought many Polus soldiers in the past, but it now realizes that it has never actually seen a King in combat. The Seraph and The Thrones are the ones that engaged it while The King stayed protected behind the capital’s walls.
“Simple; the citizens are my strength. Quite literally.”
The Knight stares at Ascalon blankly, confused at the vague statement. There has been a Magus in the past that siphoned power from their subjects, but their sorcery required the sacrifice of many, many lives. The Knight didn’t sense anything off in the air while at the capital, and the people look healthy, so just what does he mean?
“Confusing, isn’t it? It’s… a bit hard to explain. I don’t quite understand it well myself, but you’ll be able to see it firsthand once we reach The Magnus Murus.”
“How shall we engage the fortress? I am unable to command right now, and with Annalay gone, we only have Sarathiel and you to direct the knights.”
“It will be fine. The captains of each order are very capable themselves. Although I organize the overall deployment and strategy, they are able to give more in-depth commands while out on the field. I was actually thinking of having you shadow one of the captains before we arrive. It’ll help you familiarize yourself with the army’s structure.”
“Oh? Is it the captain of The Order of The Principalities?”
“Not quite. Although you did serve there in the past, the current captain doesn’t really mesh well with you in terms of compatibility. He’s more of the strategic type while you’re the instinctual type, so it’ll be hard for you to learn from him. You’re going to be with captain Surasha from The Order of the Virtues. She was your disciple before she became a captain, so she knows your style of leadership better than anyone else.”
Ascalon takes a second to scan the vast army, looking for The Virtues’s banner, before spying a female knight in red and white armor in the distance.
“Ah, there she is.”
He takes The Knight’s hand and flies over to the captain, his wings garnering attention from the legion below. Surasha rolls her eyes at the flamboyant King and crosses her arms as the pair lands near her.
“Ascalon, we’re not supposed to fly right now,” she sighs. “You know that. Simon is probably seething right now from the sudden energy flux within his barrier.”
“I shall make it up to him later. I want to entrust Lorelai under your protection for the time being. You know her commanding abilities best, so I’m sure that she’ll regain her tactical sense while being with you.”
Surasha nods and turns to face The Knight, a gentle demeanor enveloping her body. Unlike the large and bulky warriors that surround them, Surasha boasts a more slim figure than the others. A red-white hue covers her light armor while soft, silver eyes look at The Knight with nostalgic familiarity. An elongated whip-like sword called an urumi rests by her side, covered in a sickly green liquid. She does not have any symbols of wings, or the Polus insignia, embedded on her helm; Instead, four thin blades are inscribed on the left, signifying her position as captain of the fourth division of the army. The other captains hold similar looking symbols, and they are the closest in line to becoming the next Throne.
“Hi Lorelai.” she smiles. “I saw you briefly in the throne room, but you probably don’t remember me. I used to be your squire way back before you became a Throne and I eventually transferred over to The Virtues after you left for the front lines. It’s been… maybe three years since then? You’ve been busy this whole time so I never got the chance to speak with you after I got promoted.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I’m sorry that the reunion didn’t go as planned,” The Knight replies with a feigned embarrassment.
“Oh, no! I’m just… I’m just happy that you’re alive.”
Her voice begins to tremble slightly and she attempts to wipe away at the tears forming in her eyes, unfortunately blocked by her helmet. Her docile behavior starkly contrasts with the hot-blooded knights around her, and The Knight becomes curious at how such a timid person became a captain.
“I’m so sorry… I’m glad that I’m able to see you like this. There’s so much I have to tell you, so many stories I want to reminisce about, b-but that’ll have to wait until after we come back home.”
She calms herself down and puts on a brave face as she salutes The Knight with an aura of authority befitting a captain.
“Let me introduce myself again,” she shouts with newfound composure. “Captain Surasha of The Order of The Virtues reporting for duty! Our division specializes in medical techniques and the healing arts. We have apothecaries, doctors, medicinal magi, herbalists, and all other kinds of people that’ll bring you back from the brink of death. You name it, we’ve got a cure for it!”
“I think you might be going a bit overboard,” Ascalon teases, chuckling under his breath over her nervous display.
“Shut up,” Surasha harshly reprimands. “Go do your kingly duties or whatever it is that you do and stop bothering us.”
The Knight is taken aback by the almost seething tone used against The King. Every person that The Knight has met so far reveres him to an almost fanatical degree, so to see such clear-cut hate directed towards him is quite an odd sight.
Ascalon dramatically covers his heart with his hand and lets out an exaggerated gasp of shock.
“You wound me so, Surasha. To think you who shares my flesh and blood would treat me with such disdain. How can I possibly recover from this hostility?”
“Fuck off.”
“By your word.”
Ascalon wraps Lorelai in a quick hug before taking off to the sky; A faint cry of irritation can be heard over by The Sovereignties as he makes his way back towards the front of the army. A King must lead the march, after all, and a little bit of rule-breaking can be dismissed with good cause. Whether he has good cause or not is something that he’ll find out personally once the army congregates by the entrance to the underground.
Meanwhile, Surasha slowly shakes her head at Ascalon’s figure as his appearance shrinks in the distance. She lets out a sigh of annoyance before putting her attention back onto The Knight.
“Sorry about that. My blood just boils whenever he shows his face,” she says with a hint of irritation covering her words.
“Are you related? I don’t think I have seen anyone else treat him with such disdain.”
“We are, but…I don’t actually hate him. It’s a bit complicated. Did he ever tell you about his life before he became King?”
“Not much. Just that he was a squire for The Powers.”
“Ascalon and I are actually related to the Power royal line, but we’re from a vassal household. One that has long since fallen from grace.”
Her voice softens as memories from the past flood back within her; memories that she cares not for. Her hand trembles slightly as she recalls the dark days of her youth.
“We were kicked out when I was just beginning to learn how to talk. Ascalon was only a few years older than me at that point, but the burden of responsibility fell onto him to take care of us. We didn’t have the luxury of residing in the capital. Instead, we lived in a small town located near the southern border where The Nox would occasionally invade. There were too many mouths to feed, so we got the boot.”
Surasha chokes on her words as she tries to continue the story, but the pain from those harsh times prevented her from speaking. The two walk in awkward silence for a moment before she finally gains the courage to relive her memories.
“Food and medicine were always in short supply because of The Nox, so we had to scrounge around like rats. No one would take us in because they were suffering from the shortage as well, so the dirt and scraps of the forest became our meals. I-I had to force myself to even eat worms and bugs just to have something in me. But we survived. I survived, because of Ascalon.
“A few years later, our village was razed to the ground by a Nox accompaniment. We were the only survivors, but luckily we were found by the knight captain of The Powers during his investigation of the wreckage. He was impressed by Ascalon’s tenacity, so he took him in as a squire and taught him how to be a knight. We were plucked from that disgusting place and brought straight to the capital. It was…it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, but nothing compared to the moment I first saw you.”
Surasha suddenly grabs onto The Knight’s waist, wrapping it in a desperately-tight grip. Her tears flow freely as she buries her head in The Knight’s cuirass, her sobs only loud enough for it to hear.
“You had just become the captain of The Principalities, the youngest in history at only sixteen years old. It was an unprecedented achievement, and you were paraded around the entire city as the people celebrated your ascension. Ascalon and I saw you then for the first time, and…and it was like a fire had blossomed within me for the very first time. Your shining light pulled me out of the darkness, and I witnessed the world for how beautiful it truly was. Your aura exuded such pristine grace, and your eyes burned brightly with hope. That hope…it was just so infectious.
”You were the very definition of a hero, and I aspired to be like you so, so much. I-I don’t know what came over me, but I ran up to you and latched myself onto your leg, desperate to bask myself within your glow. Ascalon and the other knights attempted to pull me off, but I refused to let go. It felt like I would lose my only chance at happiness if I did. Do you remember what you said to me?"
“I-I’m sorry. I don’t remember,” The Knight murmurs, struggling to hide its guilt.
“You promised, right then and there, to take me in. You said I showed spirit, bravery like no other, and that our nation would be lucky to have someone like me. Me, who was just a dirty, discarded urchin left out on the streets. I was stunned; I couldn’t believe the words that were leaving your mouth, but you stuck true to your word. You took me in, taught me everything I know, and showed me what true devotion looks like. That’s why I can’t forgive Ascalon. I can’t forgive him for failing to protect you. I can’t forgive him for locking himself within that castle. I can’t forgive him for abandoning me all those years ago when he gained those damned wings!”
She struggles to catch her breath, her rage slowly beginning to dissipate. She hasn’t told anyone her true feelings until now, remaining stoically determined like her brother, but it feels nice to let it all out. To free her heart from its shouldered burden.
“I-I love you, Lorelai. You were the parent I never had—a role-model for the entire nation to follow. Ascalon’s stone-faced no matter the occasion, but even his guard melts a little bit when he’s with you. That’s why it hurts so much to see you like this, to have all of your memories with us disappear. All those days of us soaring through the sky, just the two of us, gone. Just why? Why did that damned idiot have to screw up so much!? I can’t forgive him. I can’t.”
The Knight feels hollow. It doesn’t deserve this. This adoration. This innocence. A gnawing guilt burrows itself within its core, but it cannot afford to break its facade. It is not Lorelai. It can never truly be Lorelai, but here it is, taking the love she should have received for itself. It took her life, but in the end, it is a mere pretender. A fake. The one that truly does love it has since long passed, and now, it is completely alone in this world.
A worried tap hits the top of its head, freeing The Knight from its self-imposed burden. Aegis senses its depression and attempts to get it back into shape—doing so silently so that he doesn’t alert the crying captain. It lets out a small smile as Surasha is comforted within its arms. Perhaps it is wrong; it may not be alone in this world after all.
“Ah, I’m sorry Lorelai,” Surasha apologizes as she composes herself. “I didn’t mean to get so personal. You’re probably so confused with all my, um, I’m sorry-”
“It’s ok Surasha,” The Knight reassures. “It’s ok. Take as much time as you need. I’m here.”
The two stay together for a moment in silence. Eventually, Surasha perks up back into her old self and takes The Knight’s hand.
“I feel bad for only blubbering on like that, so let’s get you back your old commanding abilities! Follow me, I’ll show you something that you’d always go nuts over in the past.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“A library!”