I don’t know how long I spent in the darkness.

There was nothing there but myself, floating in the air as though I had jumped very high and was unable to land.

I would try to move, but all I could manage was to curl up. A position that felt so comfortable that I didn’t feel like moving.

Time passed and then voices pierced through the darkness, bringing with them shards of light.

Sleepily, I watched the shards come in and dissipate.

But as time passed, the shards would dissipate slower and slower until I could see them coming together and forming a new shape.

A face.

Curious, I watched the face speak, but the words eluded me.

Lethargically, I pulled myself away from my fetal position, and rising painstakingly, I stumbled to the shard of light and touched it.

Exploding into bright fragments of light, I heard in the dark space a girl’s voice,

“Faust, today we fought more pirates off... We’re losing men as we sail but I can fight harder and harder knowing that you’re behind me, safe and sleeping.”

Fascinated, I moved to another shard of light and touched it, which exploded and the same girl’s voice came out,

“I laughed today after a long time. A pirate ship, seeing how battered our ship was, came close and boarded us. Only to find half a dozen knights on it, and you know what our devil teacher did? He gave them a choice - your pants, or your lives. They chose their pants and after a few got hurt, they chose both their pants and their lives. Now they’re crewing our ship and making merry with us.”

Tired now, I curled up where I was in the air and went back to sleep.

The next time my eyes blinked open in the black space, I saw that the white shards had increased, but their edges were more jagged.

“Faust... when are you going to wake up?”. “It’s been over a month. I miss you... Ares, Sir Aaron, and Teacher keep coming to check on you and they look sadder and sadder every time they leave. Come back Faust, people miss you... and you need to fulfill your promise.”

Confused, I felt a dull ache in my heart at the words "I miss you" and then a stronger ache at the word

'promise’.

Like a moth to fire, I floated rapidly toward another shard of light which shattered and the sound of the girl sobbing came through.

My heart twisting even further, I gasped in breaths as sweat began streaming from my skin and falling to the ground.

“Sia…” I murmured.

“Sia!” I shouted.

Crazily touching more shards, I floated in place as different voices from different conversations came out.

“I don’t know how he’s holding on. The potion couldn’t heal his heart, but he’s still alive. It’s a miracle.” a gruff voice said.

“I know what’s making him hold on,” a tired voice said.

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“The girl?” the gruff voice broke.

“The girl.” and the shard faded away.

Another shard,

“Faust... I don’t know if you can hear me, but whatever happens, I am your knight. I swear this upon Falka and my soul be damned if it is otherwise.” A soft voice whispered.

“Ares,” I thought.

“Boy, you’re a tough lad and I’ve taken a liking to you, so make sure you live - you understand?”

The image of Sir Chase appeared in my mind.

Frantically, I touched more and more shards, and the voices of Sir Patrick, Damon, Sir Faaris, Sir Galen, and other voices I didn’t recognize floated out of the broken shards.

And then I saw a big shard and slowly floating over, I touched it and as it shattered, bright light enveloped me.

“Faust, you have to wake up. If Mom saw you like this, she’d beat your ghost back inside and if Dad saw you like this, He’d probably find me for a gentle spar. You wouldn’t want that to happen, right? So wake up little guy. It’s time to fight.”

Then faces of my Mother, my father, Frizelda, Thomas, Master Wagner, Edwin, and everyone else flashed before my eyes and then an image grew taller and taller until it stood two heads above me.

Craning his head down, Sir James looked at me kindly.

“Teacher,” I whispered.

“For a while more, yes.”

“Teacher, what is this place?” I asked uncertainly.

“A place you are not meant to be in.” He said with a smile.

“How did I get in and how do I get out?” I asked, with unease apparent in my voice.

“Fight.” He said simply.

“What?”

“Fight against yourself. Trigger your warforce and fight against yourself. Bathe yourself in it, burn yourself within it, torture every single bit of potential that you possess and you will make it out.”

I repeated his words in a daze before asking, “Why are you here, teacher?”

“I have been here for a long, long time…” Said Teacher with a faraway look in his eyes before he turned to me and said, “Then I heard a familiar voice and so I came to look, and lo-and-behold, I found you.”

Knocking me on the head, he continued, “I was quite disappointed, you know. To think that my disciple doesn’t know the art of running away.”

“But I was quite proud too,” he smiled as he unslung a wineskin from his waist and raised it to his lips.

“Teacher, I-”

I stopped as the rogue teacher raised his hand and turned away, fading slowly with the staggered gait I recognized as his sign of intoxication.

“Fight, Faustus. Fight.”

Nodding fiercely, I gazed at his retreating back until he was no more and the only light left were the broken shards in the black space.

Seating myself in a cross-legged posture, I delved into my memories of all the fights. I went through each and every moment as though it was a picture book come alive.

I felt each and every bruise, each and every cut clearly.

I reached for the heat that hid itself within me, only to find that no matter where I searched for it, it was not there.

I tried, and I tried, and I failed every time.

Closing my eyes, I thought back to the voices from the shards.

I thought of my brother. I thought of my father. I thought of my mother. I thought of my teachers. I thought of Ares. I thought of all my comrades in arms. I thought of Sia.

And somewhere deep inside, I felt a call. The black space changing to reflect my thoughts - I found my feet on the ground again and a path ahead.

Following it, I discovered a deep abyss in which a fragment of light danced freely.

Warned by the uneasy feeling that coursed through my veins, I hesitated at the edge of the abyss.

But the fragment of light, as though it knew I was there, began calling out to me again, stronger than before.

Taking a deep breath, I firmed up my decision, and heat from my waist flowed into me and I grasped out into the air and willed it into being.

The horn of Valor.

In the black space where the light was scarce, a horn blew, and a boy flew. Straight into the abyss.

And the abyss claimed him.