When Alix woke to silence, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. Somehow he had managed to survive the raging wind, the crashing lightning and skeletons chasing him through ruined hallways. Best of all, he hadn’t died from hypothermia in the night. Had it had all been a dream? The cave, the fox people, King Azuran and whatever the Cardinal had done to him. He had finally read one too many fantasy novels and vowed to never pick one up again.

As he breathed, lying on his side, he felt a solid shape along the length of his body, and something soft and squishy in his hand. It must have been quite the dream if he had become so wrapped up in his duvet, but at least he was home, back in his own bed. Strangely, he still had no memory of reaching it.

“Good morning, master,” his duvet replied as he subconsciously embraced its warmth.

Still asleep. The duvet is talking to me. Something about the duvet felt off though. It felt surprisingly solid. He felt around some more and his hand slid down a soft, slender body that wasn’t his own. A back was pressed to his chest, legs curled up against his own, and a rear that writhed at his roaming touch. His hand moved back to its original perch, an unmistakably fleshy mound. There was a girl in his bed. He was definitely still dreaming, unless Molly had a change of heart and let herself in during the night. That’s not right. Definitely still dreaming. Unless I really did die. Is this what heaven feels like? Molly wouldn’t be caught dead calling him master though so unless she was playing a very out of character prank, it had to be someone else.

Alix opened his eyes. There was no duvet to be seen, just the pathetic rags he had wrapped himself in the night before, crushing him with the knowledge that he wasn’t dreaming, that all the craziness was still real. The last dregs of sleep left him when he saw that he wasn’t alone in the bed. Silky black hair draped over dusty brown shoulders filled his vision. Another one of the strange text boxes floated into view. It read Tifayn, Lv. 226.

He cleared his throat, suddenly unsure of what to say or do.

“Tifayn?” he eventually said, trying out the name.

“Mmm?” she murmured in reply, rolling over slightly to look at him. As she did, her hair caught the light and he saw that it wasn’t black, but a deep dark shade of blood red.

“What’s going on here?” Alix asked. He seemed to be asking that question a lot lately without getting any satisfying replies. “I’m not complaining, but what are you doing in my bed?”

“Keeping you warm master. You looked so cold when you arrived last night but I didn’t want to disturb you. Why don’t I get us something to eat, and I will tell you everything. I’m sure this has all come as quite a shock,” the weird girl replied, her words coming as the understatement of the millennium. She pulled away from him and crawled from the bed.

Without Tifayn’s body to warm him, the bed quickly grew cold. When had he lost all his clothes? He was certain he had collapsed wearing them, sure the flimsy blankets wouldn’t be enough to keep him warm.

Tifayn was gorgeous, but her skin was the strangest hue he had ever seen. It was almost a grey tinted olive in the shadows. She slipped into a black robe, cinched it tight around her curves, then left barefoot without another word. Were those horns poking out of her dark hair? Why did she keep calling him master?

Alix wanted to stay in bed, force himself to sleep and wake up from his dream, but it was too cold and the bed could barely be classed as such. It was more like a torture device. The sheets itched like mad all over his naked body, poking and prodding like a gaolers tools. He threw aside the sheet and got up.

Alix found his clothes folded neatly in a pile on the floor and quickly dressed before the cold got to him. As his senses returned to him, he began to feel worse and worse. He was absolutely starving, he hurt all over and he felt like he hadn’t slept at all. If he was going to have to be spending any more time here, the first thing he would have to do was find a better bed. After he found out who Tifayn was though, and what he was doing here in the first place. Did she live in these ruins? Had he broken into her house last night? It was a sorry place to call a home.

Then he remembered the skeleton from the night before. He felt the urge to rush after Tifayn, but the door opened just as he was stepping towards it. He panicked, hand reaching for a weapon that wasn’t there, but it was Tifayn returning with a tray in her hands, covered with assorted fruits and vegetables he couldn’t recognise. She placed it on the rickety bed and motioned for him to sit beside her and eat.

Alix was ravenous but Tifayn absorbed all of his attention as she lounged on the turd of a bed like it was a throne. A pair of stubby horns poked out of her hair, which was shoulder length and dark red, framing a pretty face, with deep violet eyes. It was a strange but stunning combination of features. “What would you like to know?” Tifayn asked, tilting her head as she stared at him with a cheeky smile.

Alix didn’t know where to start so he sat back down and took a breath. It took him a few moments to calm the maelstrom in his head. When his stomach growled furiously at his indecision, Tifayn picked up a fruit that looked like a blue peeled orange and fed him a segment before he could stop her. It helped to dull the ache in his stomach. “Everything, I guess? I have no idea what’s happening to me and no one seems to be willing to give me any straight answers. I was walking home, then I blacked out and woke up in a cave with another guy. Then we got taken to meet this guy King Azuran, and then some religious guy waved his staff around and I was wearing these clothes, and this ring.” He paused to show her the ring but she didn’t look surprised at anything he had said. “Then I was shouted at for some reason, Leon was taken away and I was herded into a cart by some soldiers. They dropped me off in front of these ruins. Then I was attacked by a skeleton and I ran up here to hide. I found this bed and woke up to…” Alix trailed off as the memory of what they had done rushed back to him.

“I don’t think Mr Bones was trying to attack you, master. He was probably trying to welcome you, but I can see how you might have been alarmed. The ones the church summon don’t always come from world’s where these sorts of things are common,” Tifayn said in a voice like honey.

“…Mr Bones?”

“Yes, all of the servants in the castle are undead,” Tifayn replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

That explained why the place was in such a rough state. What use did skeletons have for windows or roofs? Still, that didn’t answer any of his questions. Tifayn noticed his confused expression and continued.

“I’m sure it must be a lot to take in, but I will do my best to explain. I expected better of King Azuran and the Cardinal, they should have explained everything to you before escorting you here. It sounds like they have decided to try and make things as difficult for you as possible so that you have the greatest chance of failure.”

“All he said was that I have five years, and he called me the Darknight. I don’t know what any of it means.”

“I will try to explain it as best as I can, but if something doesn’t make sense then please let me know. It is my duty to help you as best as I can.”

“Where exactly am I?” Alix asked for what felt like the millionth time. “That’s all I really want to know. Where the hell am I and how did I get here?”

“We are in the Darknight’s Keep, on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Celadon, which itself is part of Babyl, the name of our World Tree and all the land it covers. Beyond its reach are the Deadlands, where you must never go. No life can survive there. You were brought here as the commencement of the Terminus Ritual, although you are several months early which is strange. It is not like the church to lose track of these things. Babyl must be in a dire condition for the summoning to have been moved up. You see, Babyl, the World Tree that gives all of us life, is in a constant state of decay, and only the Terminus Ritual can prevent its death. That is where the Solknight and the Darknight come in. Every five hundred years, the Church of Babyl perform the summoning ritual, bringing forth two from another world to save us, one destined to become the Solknight and the other the Darknight. Once you have been named, you have five years before you have to fight each other. The king will do everything he can to help the Solknight as his ancestors always have. He is the Hero of the Babyl religion. He could have at least given you some money though. He knows that if you die before then, the Terminus Ritual will fail and the World Tree will die, along with everyone and everything in Babyl. He is forbidden from laying a finger on you before then, as is the Solknight, but once the five years are up, you will both be drawn together for the final battle, the Terminus Ritual. One Knight will cut down the other and their lifeforce will be drawn into the World Tree, replenishing it for another five hundred years, after which the ritual will repeat itself.”

“I think I’m going to need the long version,” Alix replied. He felt like he had blacked out half way through her explanation and missed some vital piece of information. “It sounds like you are saying I was just brought here to be a sacrifice for Leon?” Alix couldn’t imagine the blonde haired man wielding a sword, much less killing someone with one. “That doesn’t seem very fair.”

“Well, the Solknight doesn’t have to win, that’s just the way it has always been. The Kingdom provides the Hero with whatever he needs, training him for five years into a champion, while the Darknight is left to fend for himself, an outcast from the world. There is no reason you cannot win, you just need to spend your five years wisely.”

“Can I go home if I win?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that.”

“And what do I get to help me win this fight?”

“Me, and this castle,” Tifayn replied, smiling as if she had just given him a mighty gift. Alix’s eyes subconsciously slid down to her long slender legs, then up to her perky breasts that were almost spilling out of the loose robes as she lounged on the bed, picking at the platter of fruits.

Alix sighed deeply. He felt like a bad joke was being played on him, like the hidden cameras would jump out at any moment, although he hoped none of what they had done was on film.

“It doesn’t seem like much of a castle. What am I supposed to do with these ruins? I’d be better of finding somewhere better to live for the next five years. Why can’t I just get a house in Galdea?”

“Hmm, I guess things have become worse than I thought. There are nicer quarters I could have brought you too last night, but you looked so comfortable and inviting. As for Galdea, now that you have been named the Darknight, no one will help you there. They aren’t allowed to harm you but they would make your life miserable in other ways.”

“If there’s somewhere nicer then can we go then? This room is just depressing,” Alix said. The wind no longer howled through the holes but there was still a damp in the air, although the robes he had been given seemed to do a decent job of keeping him warm despite their flimsy appearance.

“Of course,” Tifayn said, rising gracefully to her feet with the barely touched tray of food and leading the way out of the room. Alix was glad to leave it behind, although he did so with trepidation now that he knew he really had encountered a real skeleton the night before.

The corridor beyond looked just as shabby as the room they left. The floors were damp and light shone in through holes in the ceiling. There were no skeletons in sight but Alix still quickly followed Tifayn down the corridor towards a different wing of the castle.

A few stout doors later and the breeze that had been his constant companion was finally cut off. The walls they passed were devoid of moss, the floor felt sturdy and all the windows were whole. She brought him to a cosy room, with a large plush bed along one wall and a cooker that reminded him of his grandmothers Rayburn on the other. The dank smell was replaced with the pleasant smell of cinnamon. Several side rooms held a pantry, a washroom and a small study. It was a comfortable living space. From the brief glance he had seen of the castle before, he hadn’t imagined anywhere inside could be so well maintained. If nothing was done though then he couldn’t imagine it lasting much longer. The damage would spread and Tifayn’s small cosy den would rot away like the rest of the place.

Alix longed to crawl into the bed but Tifayn led him to a table by a blissfully whole window and took a seat in one of the chairs beside it. She placed the tray of foods down and motioned for him to sit and eat.

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“The castle looks like it needs a lot of work. How have you managed to live here?” Alix said, taking a seat. The room was a lot more comfortable and he finally found his appetite. He began to pick at the tray of foods, all the while wishing that it was a donner kebab. The sparse fruits did little to dull his seemingly insatiable hunger. It had to be close to two days since he had eaten last.

“It used to be maintained in your absence, but…”

“What is it?” Alix asked when he saw how uncomfortable Tifayn suddenly was. “I don’t think there’s anything you can say to upset me at this point.”

“I guess you don’t know anything about our history but it still feels like a shameful thing to say. The Darknight wasn’t always abandoned to his fate. There were many races that once called you their lord and master.”

“What happened to them?” Alix asked, suddenly feeling a small flicker of hope. If there were entire races out there that worshipped the Darknight, maybe he could call on them to help them in his fight.

“They got tired of the Darknight constantly being defeated. It is difficult to follow someone that is only around for five years out of every five hundred. In those centuries they were left to defend themselves from the wrath of the other races and kingdoms of Babyl. The last time the Darknight was defeated, they gave up, and your keep has been left to ruin. Now they follow only themselves and no longer recognise your authority. Now that the ring is back, I’m sure you will have no trouble in fixing it up, but unfortunately you can’t count on the support of those you once could.”

“I guess I can understand that. What is this ring anyway?” Alix said, examining the strange black ring on his finger. The dragon seemed to writhe with a life of its own when he wasn’t looking directly at it. It refused to come off. Then there was the question of the curious words appearing in the air. He hoped he wasn’t getting a brain tumour. He didn’t want to see what hospitals were like here.

“It is the ring that marks you as the Darknight, and gives you all of the power that entails. If the other one had appeared on your finger, then you would have been marked as the Solknight. I can’t tell you much else about it. You will have to ask him yourself.”

Him? What are you? Alix thought as he held up the glinting ring. It had tiny faceted emerald eyes he hadn’t noticed before.

I am the only thing that can save your life, a voice spoke, the dragons head turning towards him. It sounded like it had come from the air all around them but Tifayn seemed not to have heard it.

“What was that?” Alix gasped. If he had been able to get the ring off, he would have thrown it across the room, but no matter how hard he pulled it remained firmly stuck, as if it was a part of his own body. It would be just as easy to tear off his own hand and throw it away.

“Mmm?” Tifayn said, tilting her head and staring at him with those gorgeous violet eyes.

“You are going to have to start getting used to things a lot faster than this if you want to have any hope of surviving,” the tiny dragon spoke into the room.

“You can’t expect me to just accept all this so quickly. It’s insane!”

“Calm down, that is why you have me. I can teach you a lot of things, if you are willing to learn,” the ring replied.

“How many Darknights have you saved before then?” Alix asked.

“Well…if you want a specific number then I would have to say zero.”

Alix felt the panic begin to rise again, but then he felt a flow of warmth emanating from the ring, and then a rush of information filled his head. Some of the tension left his shoulders and he relaxed a bit.

“What did you just do?” Alix asked, looking down at himself to try and see what change had come over him. He felt like he had been given some calming drugs and a massage at the same time.

“I’m just starting you off slowly. I gave you some basic information on how to use your powers. It will take a while for your body and mind to process it all though. Give it a few days and then we can take things from there.”

It felt strange to suddenly have new memories in his head that weren’t his, but at least they made him feel more secure. The words he was seeing in the air came from the ring, analysing friend and foe for their name and level. As soon as he began to wonder why they had a level, the answer came to him. The ring found a comparison in his own memories. Every living creature in the land levelled up through age and experience. It was disturbingly like living in an RPG, but at least that was something he was familiar with. It was finally a point of reference he could understand.

Alix focused on his own marker that hovered at the top left of his vision and a new menu appeared in the air. It felt like what he imagined wearing augmented reality smart glasses was like. The menu had several submenus within it that read Status, Equipment, Titles, Items, Skills and Map. Before he checked any of them further, he noticed a bell icon in the top right of his vision. A Notification menu? The number 3 hovered beside the bell. He focussed on the bell and a new list of text appeared below it.

Title Unlocked: Darknight

Title Unlocked: Adventurer

He quickly cycled through the other menus, finding them depressingly bare, before closing them all with a thought. “I’ve got a few Titles but apart from that, all the other menus are empty,” Alix said, choosing not to mention the exact Titles he had unlocked.

“The Solknight will be starting at the same place you are, so don’t worry too much about it. I’m not sure the Title Pampered will help him out at all anyway. If you think about it, this place is much more suited to giving you a fighting chance at beating him,” Tifayn tried to say reassuringly, but the more they talked of fighting the more panicked Alix became. He had never been a confrontational person. He had never been in a fight before in his life.

“Do you know about all this stuff that I’m seeing? It’s making me feel like I’m in a virtual reality game or something.”

“What’s a virtual reality game?” Tifayn asked, face tilting in confusion.

“It’s hard to explain, but the things I’m seeing feel like a game interface. I can see your name and your level. I can see menus and unlocked Titles. My life has a Notification menu.” It sounded crazy as he said it but Tifayn looked happy to hear it.

“I can’t see those things myself, but I have read about them before. Only the Solknight and the Darknight have such abilities, granted by their rings. They can help or hinder you. I’ve heard that the Solknight always gets the Pampered Title because of how the royal family treat him. I’m not sure exactly what it does, but I know that it makes the Solknight more arrogant the longer he has it.”

“How am I supposed to win a fight with just a ring though? I don’t have a weapon. I don’t even know how to use a weapon.” From the sudden dump of information, and from what he had seen hanging on the belts of every soldier he had seen, Alix knew that this world used medieval weapons; swords, bows and other assorted blades. He thought of the decorative mall-ninja swords he had back home and cringed internally. If he ever got out of here, they would be the first things he threw out, followed by his stash of RPG’s. He doubted he would be able to play one without getting PTSD now.

“This is the Darknight’s castle. I’m sure if you look around you will find something that can be of use. There are many areas I haven’t been able to access, and many more that only the Darknight is able to enter.”

“What are you doing living in this place anyway? Surely you could have found yourself a nice house somewhere instead.”

“My grandmother served the last Darknight. My family have always been at your service, although only a few of us live to see your arrival. I am the only one left that still believes in you. It has been almost five hundred years since the last Darknight so I knew you would be arriving soon. I arrived a few years early to see what I could do to restore the place but I only managed to fix up this small part in those years. I wouldn’t have managed it without the skeletons help. There is not much more I can do without money. The skeletons only have limited skills in carpentry and stonemasonry. Maybe you can find a way to make us some money. I can at least teach you the sword in the meantime.” Tifayn said, although that was something Alix was content to leave for future Alix to deal with.

“I don’t think I’m in the mood to start that today. I should probably have a look around first, get a feel for the place. I’m starting to feel restless doing nothing.”

“I should introduce you to everyone else as well. There aren’t many of us but maybe you can wake up some more,” Tifayn said, getting to her feet. Alix didn’t want to ask what she wanted him to wake up.

Before they left the comfort of Tifayn’s quarters to return to the chill of the hallways, she untied the sash around her waist and let the robe fall to the ground. Alix forced himself to look away as she dressed herself in a pair of trousers and a blouse, which were just as loose fitting as the robe.

Once dressed, Tifayn led him back down to the ground floor where he had almost pissed himself the night before. He knew it was coming, but it was still shocked when he finally saw a skeleton in the light of day. He had only seen the name floating in the air the night before, but it had been enough to scare him off. When one walked up silently behind them, he almost passed out from the fright. He temporarily lost his voice as he jumped behind Tifayn, putting as much distance between him and the skeleton as he could.

“Ah, Mr Bones,” Tifayn said in greeting. It wasn’t the skeleton he had run into the night before, as his name clearly said Mr Bones, Lv. 999. “He” wore a crisp black suit. The hollows where eyes once were stared at him, before he bowed slightly. Alix had to admit that it wasn’t such a terrifying sight, once the initial shock wore off, although the suit definitely helped. Mr Bones looked more like a regular guy wearing a very good Halloween costume.

“He cannot speak, obviously, but he can understand commands. You should also be able to communicate anything you wish him, or any of the other castle servants for that matter, to do through the ring, even at long distances.”

Mr Bones walked off silently before he could think of a command to give him, although his only command would have been to leave him alone for now.

He followed Tifayn through the castle, a vast sprawling maze of rooms, staircases and hallways. It looked like it would take years to repair it all. A lot of the rooms near the centre of the castle seemed to be in better condition. He opened the map from his menu and saw the track of where they had been appear in the top right of his vision. Focussing on it, the map grew larger and filled his vision. Labels marked a few of the rooms they had passed; Kitchen, Dining Room, Library. Some were marked ???. He was glad to see that there was now a marker for Mr Bones wandering around. If he knew where the skeletons were at all times, it would be a lot less frightening running in to them.

They came across several more skeletons and they all bowed in greeting, although these seemed to move more crookedly than Mr Bones. They rattled away in shabbier clothing, their tags appearing in his map as they disappeared down the hallways, going about their mysterious tasks Tifayn had set for them.

“Is it just you and the skeletons here?” Alix asked.

“Yes, it is just us.”

“What about your family?” She had mentioned that her family had always served the Darknight, but he had seen no other sign of anyone in the castle. Anyone living that was.

Tifayn seemed like she didn’t want to answer first. “It is complicated. The last Darknight was almost five hundred years ago. The skeletons are my family now. We are the only ones that remember our duty,” she eventually said.

“What do they even do around here?” Alix asked once the chill had left his spine. He would never get used to the sight of skeletons walking around. One had tried to communicate with him through the ring but all he heard was an unintelligible Ughhhh.

“Protect the place mostly, do what basic maintenance they can. Every couple of years they have to scare off robbers that hear a rumour about hidden treasure. For some reason they never seen to believe the rumours that this place is still being guarded, and that it is a worthless ruin to anyone but the Darknight.”

They eventually exhausted all the areas that were still accessible, which was only a fraction of the castle’s full size, so Tifayn led him outside to show him the grounds.

“I hope this isn’t rude of me to ask, but what exactly are you Tifayn?” Alix asked as they left through the large doors he had arrived at the night before. The hinges squealed terribly. His eyes couldn’t help but twitch towards her horns, although they did nothing to make him less attracted towards her.

In the light of day, he finally got a good look at the castle from the outside. It was built on the edge of a cliff on the side of the mountain, its grand spires rising up and out over the precipice. The cliff provided a natural defence on that side, but the other was surrounded by a large wall that extended off into the forested mountainside. Inside the wall, it looked like there had once been a grand garden, but it was now overgrown with weeds, shrubs and trees. It was so dense that it was impossible to find a path through it. Instead Tifayn led him to a crumbling set of stairs that climbed up the side of the wall to the parapet walkway.

“I am a demon,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Do all demons have horns like that?”

“Yes, of course. I am still young though so mine haven’t fully grown in yet.”

Alix didn’t really know what to ask after that. There was too much running through his mind to verbalise, and he didn’t want to talk about the Darknight and the Solknight, or what they had both been summoned here to do. He felt like he could hear a clock ticking menacingly in the background everywhere he went, counting down to his doom.

They continued their walk along the parapet, but there was little more for him to see apart from the overgrown and ancient forest on one side of the wall, and the overgrown gardens on the other. It looked like a five year project just to clear the gardens, and that was before they reached the sections of the wall that had collapsed over the centuries.

At that point they had no choice but to turn around and head back. It had only been a few hours since he had woken up, but he was already exhausted again. His rest had been non-existent and the light breakfast hadn’t been enough to restore his energy. Tifayn noticed his declining state.

“You should rest, master. Tomorrow we will have to begin your training,” she said, taking his arm in hers as he struggled to keep his eyes open. If he fell asleep on the parapet it would take weeks to dig him out of the jungle below.

“Please, just call me Alix.”

With Tifayn’s help he managed to make it back to the castle. He tried to insist on finding somewhere else to sleep, but Tifayn declared that she would just follow him, so he eventually caved and climbed into her plush bed. She crawled in naked beside him, ‘to keep him warm’ she said, but he made sure to lie facing away from her. As soon as he closed his eyes he fell into a deep sleep.

Alix awoke the next morning with what felt like the worst hangover of his life. He silently cursed his existence. Why was he suddenly incapable of having a decent night’s sleep? He felt rougher than the morning after his 21st birthday, but this time he woke up to the sensual feeling of a woman in his arms. He had rolled over onto his back in his sleep, and Tifayn had taken the chance to roll onto his chest. Thankfully he still had his underwear on. He felt too dizzy to enjoy the feel of her large soft breasts pressing against him anyway.

He let out a low groan and threw an arm over his face to block out the light. The piercing sunshine was doing nothing to help his spinning head. It felt like a dozen voices were trying to speak to him all at once. He was desperate for a drink of water, or a beer to dampen the headache, but he feared any movement would wake Tifayn.

Slowly the voices began to fade and he realised what was happening. He had forgotten the rings words from the day before, that it would take his body a while to absorb all the information he had received. He seemed to have processed it during his sleep. With the new knowledge Babyl suddenly felt a lot more familiar. Where before his thoughts had been blank on what to do next, he found that he now had an idea of what he had to do, but for now fell back asleep in Tifayn’s grasp. He had plenty of time.