Kingdom of Heildin, Remote Village: 936, September 2nd, Sunday, 8:00 AM.
A cool breeze carried the rustling leaves across the dense forests of Heildin, with the soft rays of the sun leaking through gaps of the tall trees that covered the sky above the dense forest. Under its protection was a humble village with small cabins, fields to grow crops and farms to raise animals—all occupied by the busy residents wearing their working cotton clothes.
In one of the cabins—its interior illuminated by the somewhat bright outdoors, Maulik sat on the floor near a group of futons, lined up in front of the wall made from sturdy large and sturdy logs. He pressed multiple buttons in a device of two screens, which produced strange high pitch noises through its bright colorful screen.
“Maulik, it’s my turn now!” Gal protested at the man keeping all the fun to himself.
“For what?” retorted the hybrid while keeping his eyes glued to the bright lights of the screen. “I bought this with my own money while you wasted it all on candy.”
“Gigi! Maulik doesn’t want to share!”
“You are being childish!”
In the same room as the pair of young hybrids, Ninigi kept his legs crossed with both hands resting on his knees. His back was straight, and his eyes remained closed—breathing in and out through a slow and constant pace as the gentle light of the sun caressed his face.
“Gigi!” His meditation would be abruptly interrupted by the redhead girl, who throttled her way to the knight with protesting words—pulling at Ninigi’s sleeve with furrowed brows, and pursed lips.
“Hah…” the knight sighed defeated, gently opening his azure eyes to address the problem. “Maulik… can you really not share that, uh… thing? With Gal?”
“But I bought it!” protested the hybrid a second time. “I’m in the middle of a mission too, and haven’t gotten a checkpoint. She will just ruin my progress, or make the wrong choices.”
“What… mission? Checkpoint? What are you talking about?” the knight couldn’t help but tilt his head and raise an eyebrow at the strange concepts coming out of the hybrids mouth. “Listen… you left for the empire last month without my permission. That’s where you bought it, right?”
“Guck… yeah, but… Gal came with me too, master!”
“Because you took her with you. It will only be thirty minutes, and then you can go back to play.” He turned to look at Gal with a smile. “Does that work for you?”
“Yep!” nodded the girl with a bright smirk.
“Maulik?”
The young hybrid was reluctant in his answer, clenching his jaw while a drop of sweat rolled down his cheek—eventually dropping his shoulders with a sigh. “Yes, master… but you better not ruin my game, Gal!”
Celebrating her victory, Gal took the portable game console from Maulik’s fingers before starting to mash buttons like a lunatic. This—needless to say, upset the hybrid and caused to begin a verbal fight with the girl. Minutes passed and the arguments between Maulik and Gal watered down as the girl slowly learned how to play, their remote and peaceful lives in the small village would be suddenly put to a halt by a thundering arrival however.
“Ninigi!” Atalanta pushed the door open—wearing only her one-piece black suit as she stomped inside.
While The Golden Lightning’s expression and attitude revealed nothing but calmness, the clomp in her every step exposed the urgency of her arrival. The woman’s sudden burst into the room interrupted the knight’s meditation, who’s eyes shot open in surprise as he immediately looked up at the blonde knight—kneeling right in front of him before speaking.
“That took you by surprise?” she said with a pensive look. “How injured ar—"
“Woman!” yelled Gal, slamming the game console in Maulik’s chest and forcing him to drop backwards. “Leave Gigi alone!”
Ignoring the girl’s words however, Atalanta stood up to continue her talk—making Ninigi lift his head to look into her eyes. “It’s been a few weeks… are you still too injured, Ninigi?”
“I am,” replied the knight. “Some areas of my pathway have not returned to an active state yet, but it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“That’s good enough,” nodded the blonde knight. “Are you available this week? Maybe right now? Can you perform physical activities without harm?”
“Hey, I said leave him alone!” Gal warned a second time while leaping at the blonde knight with a flying kick—which Atalanta stopped by grabbing her ankle, and hurling her away in a single motion. “Blach!” the girl bounced off the wall of logs before landing face first in one of the futons.
“Atalanta, I would prefer not to train at this moment…” said Ninigi with furrowed brows. “And this time is not just because I don’t like it, but I won’t be able to keep up with you in my current state.”
“We are not training,” she shook her head, her eyebrows scrunched down with determination and eyes fixed on the sitting knight. “I want to make a baby with you, Ninigi.”
Silence filled the room after The Golden Lightning’s sudden request. Gal’s eyes rolled to the back of her head before losing consciousness, plummeting back into the futon. Maulik slammed both screens of his gaming console together to shut off the device, his eyes and mind became empty as he stared at the null void that his thoughts retreated to.
“Atalanta…” Ninigi said under his breath. Unlike his students, the knight’s expression remained as composed as usual, but his bright azure eyes revealed a hint of concern towards the blonde knight standing in front of him.
Stolen story; please report.
“Can we do it now?” Atalanta pushed her demands, pulling the neck of her suit slightly downwards with one hand. “You can tell the others to leave if you want.”
“No, Atalanta…” Ninigi gently shook his head, picking himself from the floor. “I’m not doing that.”
“Why not? If you are worried about the generational gap between us then don’t.” she told him. “We are gladean knights, the strongest of us reproduce and give life to a better generation. That’s how we do things.”
“It isn’t. That’s just the way the order worked when you lived there, but that’s not my problem.”
“Then what is it? We are wasting time.”
Stepping away from the blonde knight, Ninigi walked towards Gal to envelop the girl in the futon’s blanket—gently patting her head before turning back to face Atalanta. “Tell me why you want to have this baby, and will tell you my problem with it.”
The request caused The Golden Lightning to squint her eyes and tilt her head slightly. Throwing her skepticism away however, she quickly began to explain her intentions and concerns to the knight. “I’m… I’m not healing as fast as I should be. I know that’s the effect from fighting Specter, but…” she exhaled through her mouth before continuing. “Ninigi… You, Loki and I are the only people alive that can actually put a stop to him. If we fail then it’s over, there will be no gladean knights left to defend the people from him.” She said while slowly walking towards Ninigi. “The order is incapable of stop Specter with its... you know, them. We need a new generation… something to hold on to in case we don’t succeed… I’m sure you can agree with that.”
Maulik cleared his throat before jumping on his feet, avoiding his gaze from both knights. “I-I… I think I remember something important… its outside, bye!” he said before rushing out the door.
“I do, Atalanta.” Said Ninigi, showing no emotion through his voice or expression.
“Then?”
With a gesture of his hand, the knight invited The Golden Lightning to sit at the small tea table placed at the center of the room—which she accepted immediately. They sat on the floor in front of each other, and Atalanta’s eyes peered with urgency while Ninigi calmly lowered himself into a meditating position—elegantly pressing his knees on the wooden floor while resting both palms on his thighs.
“So?” said Atalanta in a hasty tone, bringing her fingers to the collar of her suit once again.
“You know I was the first knight to be created by Gladea, right? You know why I exist.”
“Of course, she needed someone to put an end to Specter… and you did.”
Ninigi nodded slowly with no expression in his face, explaining his situation to Atalanta. “The need for a warrior that could stand up to a god was the reason of my creation. I was never a child or had the need to be protected like one... a shield does not hide behind itself, Atalanta.” He told her. “I was brought here to fight and kill, from the very second I was given consciousness.”
“To kill Specter and his army,” the blonde knight scrunched her brows. “There’s nothing wrong with that. They aren’t human, or knights... or even hybrids.”
“Maybe… but you grew in a world where fighting was all you were taught. I didn’t… I was shown peace, and life. I was given flowers, not swords. I learned to enjoy and respect life, not take it.” Ninigi continued—a chuckle escaped his lips, revealing both melancholy and hesitation in his face. “I hated Gladea and myself for a long time... I didn’t ask for this power, or to be thrown against an army to put an end to some conflict I knew nothing about. That’s what she brought me here to do against my will, but then again… I still loved the life she gave me.” His eyes became lost in the empty space, a faint smile drawing itself in his expression. “Every time she’d take to a settlement to speak with people, or see the animals. When she’d tell me stories of the life she’s led, or when we would just explore the forests, fields or swamps of this world. She never saw me or treated me as a weapon. Instead, she fought in my place once I shown my hesitation to join the conflict. All because I hated to be seen as a tool for violence.”
“Ninigi…” Atalanta whispered, her fiercely determined gaze now softened by the knight’s words.
“I’m not like you or Loki, Atalanta.” His voice became softer as his eyebrows furrowed. “You were raised to become warriors, and even when that choice was made for you before birth. You chose to embrace that life… I didn’t.” He told her while raising his head, offering a warm smile to the blonde knight. “I do hate the reason of my existence… but I do not reject its purpose. To protect, love, and respect the world I was given the pleasure to know and live in. Give life to someone I will not threat humanly, with love and compassion… goes against everything I’ve done to this day.”
“We have to stop him…”
“And we will,” the knight reassured her. “But I cannot… and I will not, create a life with the sole purpose of dropping my responsibility on them. A child who’s only reason to live would be to take a life… to train and fight to exhaustion with no real purpose or future ahead of them.” He concluded with gentle shake of his head. “I will not participate in something like that, Atalanta.”
The determined words of Ninigi caused Atalanta to lower her eyes before dropping her head with a sigh. She pulled herself back up, and bowed respectfully to the kneeling knight—raising her head slightly to smile at him. “Thank you, Ninigi…” she said. “Sorry I bothered you with this.”
“It’s wasn’t a bother,” he replied while returning the smile. “I won’t stop you if you choose to pursue this plan of yours, but it won’t be me who’d help you accomplish it.”
“I know… excuse me.” She said while making her way to the exit, sliding the door open, and leaving the cabin into the bright outdoors.
Floating City of Paradise, Knight’s District: 936, September 2nd, 11:00 AM.
At an enormous colosseum—with a fairly large portion of its structure having been turned into piles of rubble, a gladean knight crouched in front of his defeated opponent with both arms resting on his knees—watching the bald man lying face first on the blood-stained sand, his breath slowly dropping until eventually coming to a complete stop.
“Not what you used to be… Warden.” Said Loki, frowning with dissatisfaction at the gladean knight disappearing into azure particles—who left not a trail of himself behind. “How can I improve when everything here is already dead…” he muttered through gritted teeth, snarling in frustration.
Nearing the end of the morning, the knight decided to abandon the arena and stroll through the ruined district of the gladean knights. Mostly desolated—with the cold breeze of the wind carrying dust across the broken stone paths and burnt grass, showcasing Paradise’s dire situation after the specters’ invasion only a few months ago.
The sorry state of the once prideful city drew out a scornful grunt from Loki, who continued walking by his lonesome across its ruined streets—eventually reaching the human district, which displayed a worst state than the previous area.
“Tch, how sad…” he said to himself disgusted snarl—turning to look behind from over his shoulder, setting his gaze on the giant white castle of King. “A statue with the souls of every knight that has died in this place…” he whispered, turned to look in front once again. “Just you wait… after Specter is dealt with I—hm?”
A loud thundering noise roaring from below the island caught the knight’s attention immediately as he turned towards the sound—interrupting his inner thoughts. He bent his knees slightly before lifting off the dirt with an enormous jump, traveling across the air to land on top of the wall protecting the edge of the human district. The clapping lightning strikes under the clouds brought and a curious frown on Loki’s face, who tilted his head slightly upwards while looking down at the agitating storm under him.
“Well then…” he whispered. “What could you possibly want?”
END OF CHAPTER