The vision shifted again to the prince. There wasn’t any hesitation, and the flame made him forced to tell the truth. His mind was a mess, many thoughts surfacing one after another, his powerlessness as his childhood was taken from him, the need of his kingdom to surpass the danger unknown to him, his family, his colleagues. For what would he fight?!
He was trying to use the flame to help him find the answer, and to his surprise, the flame understood it, guiding him, assuring him that it was there for it, its guidance helped him find the answer, he wanted to be free, but he wanted to protect his kingdom, to honor his parents, he wanted to change the despairing reality they lived in, he wanted th—
“Choice!”
The power of the flame reached a crescendo, the color of the flame pure rainbow, the symbols in his skin becoming a mix of tattoos and birthmarks, most of them vanishing only one kept on his chest, trying to look at hit make his vision blur, what took his attention though, was that now he could hear cheers outside.
Roberion could feel that something was missing from the prince knighthood process, as from nothing the prince was already standing up and people near him.
“The chosen!”
“Praise the gods, we are finally blessed!”
“The changed that we needed”
The first one to reach him was his father and mother, both with tears in their eyes, like a mix of hope and incredulity.
“Son, I didn’t want to believe we had a chance, everything was against it, but the flame choose for you an unknown path, none of the knights heard of such an Oath Symbol, maybe that won’t make a difference in the ending, but for them its hope. With we want to face what is next to us, that is the thing people need.”, his father tried to hug him, but his mother was faster, embracing him warmly.
“My little ****, that is wonderful, but I fear the weight their hope will have on you, you need to focus on you, we will talk about some things we have hiding, of the situation all the galaxy is facing, why we choose to forget and live a normal life.”
“Enough of that ****, you see this people?”, the king magnanimously addresses to all present, “They want to celebrate, the problem can be dealt later, but now that I think about it, who we will deal with the next graduates? The knights are already trying to leave and bring in the beer for the gods sake!”
“Hey Percival, stop these slackers, we need to keep order!”, yelled the bald general, but anyone could see his easy smile.
The vision came back to Roberion, no cheers, no happiness, just silence and flames, Percival only looking at him with the same serious expression. There is no denial, he knew there was some connection with his friend Percival, the knight he saw, and who he is right now. But there is not a way to ask such questions.
His vision is lost the next second. All around him, all he could see was nothing, no black, no white, just nothing, the absence of vision entirely. He felt defenseless in this situation.
The sensation in his body was the same as the prince, his mind repeating the same memories over and over. But where the prince had his life to reflect on with the help of the flame, what Roberion has were moments, he didn’t even live a month, what does he know? Nothing, everything he knew could be a lie.
Maybe he shouldn’t strive for something, just a while ago, death seemed his best choice. He just wanted to be free, but what is freedom? Being alone in a forest and mayhem, being constantly hurt, pain being a constant companion.
Talking about companions, even Percival that he thought he knew, now seemed like was a lie all along. Where is the creature that seemed even like a friend? Roberion had nothing, only a weapon, a weapon that didn’t seem that powerful to begin with. The explosives saved my life more than I can count, now we are damned.
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“What is wrong with you? What is your answer, kid?”, asked Percival, showing that he still had his hearing, but the voice seemed to come from somewhere else.
It didn’t matter, there was no answer to give, that itself seemed like an answer enough to the flame. The tattoos engraved on his body were all white, almost mixing with white skin. To any viewer, the only way to see they were there was because of their luminosity, their design different and simpler than the ones of the prince.
“Oh well, such a shame, now you are truly damned. I’m almost feeling sorry for you. Death was indeed the best option.”, Percival said emotionlessly.
“What? Dammit, WHAT? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL THIS? SAY SOMETHING USEFUL!”, Roberion screamed in his mind.
To his surprise Percival answered, “Let’s say you poor sod, is a knightless squire, but that was obvious there isn’t any knight to bound with you, the benefits of it is enormous, and contrary for your other choices, it was synergetic, both side would gain something”, Percival took a quick look the Roberion’s tattoos.
“That isn’t the major problem, the problem is that you didn’t have anything to bound with the flame, to choose an Oath, that was the crux of the matter, with an Oath your knighthood would be complete, your true power gifted. But look at you, the Celtic Flame.” he takes a look at the flame. “Sorry. This is most an ember. In your vision, you should have seen a fragment of it, and don’t say anything of the knight's vision you have seen. It doesn’t matter to me, and maybe it will make our conversation shorter.”
“But the flame bounded with me. I still feel it!”
“Yes and no, you are indeed bound, but the bound is very fragile. I can’t even say you are gifted with any power. I would say to check the trinket in you nape, but it seems to be broken, or malfunctioning, weird technology, very advanced for a random guy like you, but there is no denying it’s made of trash”
“But let’s go to the crux of the matter again. I will give you a little help, because boy, you will need it. By the looks of it the power and the bound you have been gifted is with the neutral line, simplifying it, let’s say that you can improve things, simple things like making an ember becoming a flame, to bigger things like making waves become impenetrable walls.”
“It’s the weaker of the lines though. Take your little bag, for example, it’s of the space line. Do I need to tell what a bound with such a line can give you? I guess not, even a simple bag like that, can do a miracle. If you were bound to space, you could make a big mayhem. Neutral line…if it was in my time, we would make you protect some noble or any other menial task, or take care of equipments or armaments if you were good. So the whole thing I said to you, just give up and try to live the best life you can. When you die, you will join our torment.”
“You said something about having a way, about gaining power or something. It was a lie?”
Percival looks at Roberion with exhaustion, even though he knew he couldn’t see. “Fine, yes you are alive so supposedly you have a chance, about what I said of gaining power, make that double, or don’t even try, but let me give you one advice, every choice has a consequence, so sometimes some powers aren’t worth the price, and boy do I know it, so follow your heart, if there is some praise of me to give you, is that at least you were true to yourself, even if that is being a nobody”.
Percival takes another look at the Nulls’s tattoos. Most of them fading like what happened to the prince, the only difference being that the flame too was vanishing.
“It seems is time to say goodbye, take good care of this furry guy. He was a friend of someone dear to me, and good luck boy, if we meet again, you are on the right track.”
Just as the being inhabiting Percival’s body said his piece, his vision was back, but the only thing he could see is a little point of white or transparent, in an incomprehensible infinite space, the sensation was alien as the whole process was, because he could see the infinite space but at the same he couldn’t.
It didn’t take long for his reality to warp again. Now he could see himself back at the tunnel.
Looking around, first he takes a look at his body. He noticed that he had a tattoo near his heart, although he could barely see it, and also that… he was nude. Not that it made much difference, the lack of any intimate parts made him look like a white mannequin.
The flames vanished without a trace; it did more than their job though, now he lost his magic clothes. His body was batter than he remembered, feeling healthier than when he was born.
Near him, he sees what fake Percival had brought with him before the process had vanished. Only a rusted armor could be seem, it seemed familiar to the broken clothing vestment the body was wearing. He tried not to know what happened to the corpse.
Although all his clothes were lost, at least his bag, ring and necklace were safe, That guy could have saved my clothes, but I guess we didn’t have a choice, and he obviously woldn’t help, he didn’t seem like a nice guy. He hears a loud gasp, which interrupts his thoughts.
Percival seems a mix of incredulous, confused and happy, “Sir, wha-what-whathappenedtoyou?”