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Black Knight
The war of Midkyron was over.
The Great Divide was just beginning.
The latter was what most people were calling the war now, as I was seated within a circular assembly of the world.
But, in one way or another, both sentences were constantly repeated throughout all the people.
Along with that, rumors have leaked around the world about a certain controversial project.
Although I didn't know much information regarding the agenda.
Two days have passed by since I killed Headmaster Chronisius. To my silent shock, everyone praised me for the unplanned assassination.
New, bulky armour comprised of dark plates and white lining huddled around my body, while a black sword was sheathed onto my back. A blade stuck out on each of its long ends.
To my side, I carried my heavy helmet with one arm, with small spikes protruding decoratively from the top of its head to the back.
The leaders of new civilization and independent races spoke; a discussion within the massive room. Glittering chandliers hung from the tall ceiling. Orange carpets were laid across the clean stone floors. Tinted windows depicted Niytri with his quill and scroll. About a hundred Midkyron representatives were seated around the center floor. Positioned in bleacher-like seats in a circle surrounding the midpoint. At the middle ground surface, someone would speak into an enchanted megaphone on a stand.
The setting was a familiar sight. Yet I sat with a constant loop of confusion in my head. I couldn't focus on the details of political discussion around me.
I just knew I did what I thought was right.
I also knew now that I was the 'Dark Lord's' son, with a brother, and a Kyronian past.
Still, however, I hadn't fully remembered who Kallei was before. And now I was treated like the hero I didn't feel I was.
The prophets told me it was because I saved the innocent. Headmaster Chronisius' acts of destruction were not only killing the Drownei, but also the people that followed him. He was doing any means necessary to wipe out my kind.
As far as everyone could tell, it worked. Not just on the Kyronians.
Flashes of Aziel appeared in my head. Was she dead? The headmaster. . . he seemingly killed her too. I felt my fingers slowly enclose into a fist and briefly shake.
Then I heard a Chronicle Order prophetess at the center, with her rich orange robes and tied-up grey hair, repeat the prophecy into the megaphone.
'Heroes of all kinds shall rise against a dark regime
The world helping on their shoulders to destroy those titled supreme
And one will retrieve the power of the crown trusting in each soul
To end the infinite cycle of control.'
It made me question the quest even more. Technically, it all came true. But it was vague. Too vague. Did control truly end at this point? Or did we just end one instance of it?
". . . now, with the tyrant eliminated under the hands of destiny," The prophetess spoke with a rousing confidence once again. "We shall call up the chosen one who defeated him, demonstrating that even those on the darkest side can rise up. . ."
I chose to stand up and get this over with, having not prepared a speech. As everyone looked at me, the unexpected saviour, I analyzed who was in the crowd. Flivians, Marines, Dwellvens, and Humans. I sat in the very back. Not a Drownei in sight.
". . . Black Knight!" The speaker finished, as the assembly applauded and shouted my codename, and not my real one.
I adjusted the black cape attached to the armour on my back, leaving the spiny helmet on the seat. I walked down one of the staircases in between the seatings.
Before I could process it, I stood at the middle of the staring assembly. They were divided and grouped together into their respective species.
At the front seats of the pointy-eared Dwellven representatives, were Seifer and Jade. The girl's father had his darker red cloak of rich material, and long braided hair, as he had his arm around her.
And Jade?
The once energetic and smiling young wizard had the blankest expression on her face. She was looking at me with the most serious expression. Even if she wore the same pointed hat, braids, and short dress; the mage gripped bitterly onto her scepter as if it was her only safety.
Thorne and their mother, Ruby, were absent.
I didn't care enough to prepare a speech for this. I always thought that following destiny was the right thing to do. But how did we know it even real? Or did it have to be, for the world to be ordered?
I killed Headmaster Chronisius. Was that really what the prophecy foretold? If it was, I'm confused as to why the Chronicle Order hadn't replaced him with a new leader yet.
But perhaps doing that would just control fate again.
Standing like a loyal knight, I spoke emptily into the megaphone.
"Fate for all."
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I tried to live what was considered a normal life, but it was hard to do that considering I was Midkyron's chosen one now.
Strangely enough, not a lot of people noticed me without my 'signtature' black-lined armour, which is why I decided to work with a tunic and a dark apron provided to me. I also wore gloves, and a white mask that the tavern owner offered for my heroism. It was a simple attire, that covered my scaly skin and deep green face, except for the inky eyes.
Indeed, I was working the night shift in a quaint tavern,. Located within a decently populated human village. I watched the vacant chairs and tables under the flickering candlelights. All the while I was polishing off bottles with a towel.
Something about it spoke to me. The emptiness in the late evening. Being alone with my own thoughts. Perhaps it's because of all the chaos I've experienced, and the fact it was all I knew since waking up.
I thought about it again. How much did I really remember?
I was born in the royal family controlling the empire. Now my home was dead with its people. It was a good thing, in my eyes. And it was right for me to kill Headmaster Chronisius. I did what I felt I had to do.
But still, the details of my past were blurry enough, that I decided to trust my own judgement alone.
While putting dishes away on the rack of the counter, I could only focus on what's been happening in the present.
The world of Midkyron was free from oppression. However, it was divided more now than ever before. Land disputes, between leaders of each species, have reached a tension so high that word's on the street a war can happen anytime soon. Riots have been sparking between each new independent nation, which all respectively only allow their own kind as civilians.
It's all been building up once more to chaos.
Is this what Kyronia meant by controlling it, against written fate?
I knew what I believed in. That idea didn't seem correct either.
Now, all I could do was focus on the consequences of this quest.
My scaly hands continued rinsing the dishes, while I heard only crickets outside, and the light water from the bucket I used on the counter.
The other questers. . . I couldn't even save most of them.
Not even Aziel.
I froze in place thinking her again, along with the others we lost, for the purpose of this outcome.
Then again, Aziel's body could not be found after the attack on Kyronia palace. And the remaining Goldwave Pirates from the battle had survived.
I also found out that Vexx was still alive.
Despite not being able to talk to him, I passed by the hybrid who was laying down in a Chronicle Order infirmary. I, meanwhile, had prepare for another world meeting that day.
Although I did see Lare sitting next to the boy, so I came to the conclusion that the situation was decent enough for him.
I was suddenly snapped back into reality as footsteps approached. As I held another dish in my hand, my head turned towards the double-doored entrance of the tavern, then at my other surroundings. Barrels, shelves of drinks, stools, and tables.
But the wooden floors continued to creak.
I slowly placed the clean plate on the rack, and gripped onto my two-sided darkblade with both hands.
The doors opened slowly; far in front of me and the counter I was behind.
A shadowed, cloaked figure stood in the night.
With his right metallic glove, the man flipped the hood off his head, and stared at me with a serious demeanor behind the mask.
The familiar stranger had dark hair let loose instead of slicked back. I could only see his black eyes from his thin face covering, seemingly made of steel.
He simply began to walk forward.
The grip on my longsword weakened. There was that familiar feeling again.
Then I froze as he took off the masking. His deeper green face revealed itself.
It was Zeleos.
I didn't move towards him or away from him, maintaining the same position behind the counter, with my palm clutched onto the hilt of my blade.
My brother calmly sat himself down on the stools, on the other side of where I stood.
There was silence between the two of us. And it felt even more deafening than before he arrived.
I expected a happier reaction from myself. But it was hard to know what to think after everything. After all, he did try to capture me during the entire quest. Yet I knew our past enough to know it wasn't maliciously intended.
His actions and the Drownei caused a lot of damage. Yet we weren't much better. The Chronicle Order started the war.
However, if Zeleos wished to harm or capture me now, why would he be acting so casual?
"Your order?" I asked him simply.
"I'll have a gin." He replied simply.
And so I turned around as if nothing ever happened between us. From a barrel, I pulled out one of the glass bottles he requested. Grabbing an empty polished glass from the shelf, I placed it down on the counter facing away from him, and began pouring the drink.
"I've made quite a few errors." Zeleos said as I froze in place.
"I apologize for father. But I can see that you know it was the correct outcome."
There was a heavier silence between us as I dared not to look at him. He spoke in a genuine tone. But I've learned not to take statements like that at face value.
I couldn't wipe off the memory of his arm ran through our father.
Was he really the one who killed him?
But it's a good thing the Dark Lord was dead. And it's a good thing Headmaster Chronisius died, too.
Without responding, I slid the glass to him without meeting his eyes, directed towards me.
"But we need to unite our people again, Kallei."
Staring down at the kitchen sink, I felt a confidence in my breath.
"They're dead."
"No." He corrected. "Some of us Drownei managed to escape. They're just being killed off one by one."
I blinked.
"How do you know?"
"I led."
Zeleos said the statement in simple terms. Not trying to praise himself, like how I once knew him.
I turned around immediately and locked eyes with him. He calmly noticed my serious expression.
"If you're proposing another Kyronia, then I decline your offer." I said.
His composed demeanor hinted a break, as Zeleos let out a singular, short laugh.
"Midkyron will have their own Kyronia at this point, with how they are using you."
I opened my mouth, then slowly closed it.
In a few seconds, I reflected on how the world was treating me, after the battle of Kyrone. The constant meetings with myself as the focus, and the final judge. Leaders of each species inquiring for my political advice. The never-ending praise. They seemed to like the idea of a Dark Lord's son becoming a hero, as proof to the public of what's correct.
I wasn't fully a leader yet, considering how I could so easily try to live the simple life.
For now.
But then I realized something else.
If I could make things right in the world, being crowned as the controller of everything didn't seem wrong at all.
It would just mean the cycle would continue.
And the world would agree, because it was my destiny.
I knew now that it didn't matter which side I took.
I had my own.
"So," I stepped towards my brother for more information. "To start; us and what army, Zel'?"
"Allow my demonstration. I won't summon as to not gather attention."
"What?"
He leaned forwards in return, combing his slicked-back hair with a hand once.
Then he removed the thick, metallic glove, off of one of his hands.
His right one.
It was formed with a deep red, misty aura, as streaks of pure blood hovered around it. It glowed like a light, but somehow I had the knowledge that its origin was a complete contrast.
He stretched it out towards the shelf of bottles next to me. Veins of blood unwrapped around his new hand, and whipped across the counter, gripping down a bottle and pulling it to his palm.
The ability was performed as if it wasn't one, done so easily as if the power was part of himself.
It was the bloodstone's power.
And surely there was more where that came from.
"As father said, sometimes magic can suit its host in unpredictable ways." Zeleos said. "Even if they were a right hand man."
"Tell me your plan." I pushed further.
"We collect all the Gemstones. And destroy the Infusion Project."
My eyes widened as I forced them back to normal.
But I thought. . . I destroyed the Gemstones?
Then I remembered what Aziel hinted at me during our time together.
The power of the world cannot be destroyed, and neither can the gems which hold an immense part of it.
Also, I couldn't get my mind off that latter statement.
"Infusion Project?"
Was that the one that everybody in Midkyron rumored about?
Before he could answer, gunshots started outside, as it would again and again.
We faced the window to the outside world.
The Dark Lord's heir and knight, who became a quester and a 'hero' to all. And the Right Hand of the same overlord, who fought for independence, now for the people.
I unsheathed my double-bladed darksword, as he stretched his magically infused palm out to the side while it burned.
Beyond the glass separating us and what was out there, bullets pierced through the wind. Explosions shattered the village buildings. Magic was used not to cultivate, but to reap blood.
Although I didn't know the reason for now, I witnessed as I did before.
Destiny is apparently still a lie.
Or is it? Not even the supposed gods could answer. Us who strive to know, however, fight in an endless cycle for what to believe.
It didn't matter if I was a quester.
I knew whatever I believed in.
To no longer serve a side in blindness.
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?
"Test subject 3092."
"Heroes are made after all."
"Finally, after decades, we've figured out how to infuse magic into beings."
"Endless experimentation, hiding, failures, and secret labour has all led up to a breakthrough the world can only dream of."
"This subject is the first success of the Infusion Project."
"Sex: Female"
"Age: 25"
"Codename: Core"
"Original Name: Aziel Korr."
"Public Status to Midkyron: Dead."
"But we know that's not true."
"Not anymore."
"Biological engineering and reconstruction is now complete"
"Wake her up with the others."
So the voices woke me, as I opened my eyes and sat with a gasp, on the grass of a white room,
and I forgot everything that I was.