"I will." I was determined to become the perfect prince, and finding suitable spirit weapons was the first step on this long journey.
With that thought aside, I climbed onto the ledge of the well and then dove into its depths with my swords in hand.
Headfirst I descended into the dark mysterious spirit world, with only the knowledge of the books I had studied and Leopold's advice to guide me. The spirit well felt like water against my body. Its cool ripples made my hair sway as if I was submerged in liquid, but I could breathe freely and knew that sensation was the effect of spiritual power in the well and not actual water.
The well was strange and I could feel a shift in my body weight. It felt like I weighed the same as a feather as my body gently glided down to the bottom of the dark well. It was a long dreamy journey down to the bottom of the impossibly deep well. It didn't just feel like I was falling down a well, it felt like I was passing through to another world.
Once I heard my feet tap against the stone of the bottom, I looked around in awe. The space around me resembled the night sky, with the pitch-black stone walls of the well lit up by the spirit orbs that were glowing like stars in the vast dark space around me.
The glowing orbs that had been floating seemed to sense my presence and immediately darted towards me. They surrounded me like a mob and began to whisper to me desperately, the begged me to choose them and to take them with me. Each of them told me they were as powerful as the spirit king and wished to serve me for all eternity. Their words were just as crafty as Leopold told me they would be. Each of the spirits wanted to pass through to the human world where they could escape and enjoy the nature and free magic, so they all told me they were the strongest and most powerful spirits within the well to get me to choose them. However, one glance at the orbs and I could tell they were third-rate spirits who simply wanted to get out of the well.
Not wanting to be surrounded, I pushed past the orbs and ran further into the dark space. Some of the orbs gave up and remained where they were, the others persistently followed me and kept on whispering about how amazingly powerful they were. I kept running through the darkness until their voices faded away. Most of them had given up and returned to just floating quietly.
The spirits down the way I was walking were not as bothered by my presence, a few approached me but quickly retreated when they saw I wasn't interested. It was obvious that the further I walked the more powerful and intelligent the spirits became. At the beginning of the well, the spirits mindlessly called out to me and asked for contracts, while the spirits further in could tell that I wasn't going to be an easy customer and promptly didn't waste the effort to bother me. I knew that if I wanted a great spirit, I would have to travel deeper into this realm.
As I carried on walking the number of spirits dispersed and the light got dimmer as their orb forms were not there to light up the way. At this point I couldn't see very well in the darkness, I was just following my instincts through what seemed like a maze of dark tunnels. I could tell there was a brilliantly bright light at the end of this tunnel. A spirit powerful and earnest enough to form a contract with, so I forged on, determined to find it.
After another long while of walking, I broke through to an area filled with spirits. The spirts in the area I had found myself in were much more powerful than the ones I had seen when I first touched the bottom of the well. These spirits didn't feel the need to come and seek me out, they knew they were powerful enough to have me come to them. So they patiently waited and watched me carefully as I walked by. Although these spirits didn't have forms as they were all in an orb-like state, I could feel them watching me. It was quite nerve-racking to feel all these stares on you. Honestly, it made me want to run out of the well and back to Leopold, but I knew that wasn't an option. A prince of the Rosenheim kingdom should be brave and strong. I couldn't run from the task I had been given.
As I slowly walked through this dark hall of bright stars a blazing ball of fire caught my attention. It was a fire type spirit powerful enough to take on the form of a fireball. I was tempted to stop right there and form a contract with it, but I knew I was sensing something else as at the end of this tunnel. Something truly brilliant, something much better than a powerful fire spirit. This journey felt endless and I had no sense of time down here, I didn't know how long I had been walking but judging by the aches in my legs and back, I knew I had been down in the spirit well for a long time.
I cast aside my want to get out of the well and kept on walking. Walking endlessly, and walking ceaselessly. This was a never-ending tunnel with an unseeable prize at the end.
Along the way, the spirits got more and more tempting, to the point where my tired body was begging me to stop. I saw a beautiful water spirit that took on the form of a school of fish, swimming and diving through the spirit energy near the bottom of the hall. I saw a majestic wind spirit that took on the form of an eagle perched high up in a nook within the tunnel. I even saw the legendary 'black orb' that Leopold had told me to look out for. He had said to me that choosing a spirit was my own task and that I could choose what I wanted, but he firmly told me that the likely hood of finding anything better than a black orb was slim.
You see black orbs are a kind of spirit that can change in compliance with their contract holders. If the contract holder had an affinity for fire and wind, the orb would mould itself to suit fire and wind to be in sync with the master. Not just that but these orbs were ridiculously powerful and had the ability to increase the owner's power exponentially over time. On top of that, black orbs were very loyal and never betrayed their masters, so of course, many of the scholars in the books I had read had called black orbs the 'best choice' of spirit companion.
Although I could see it's valued, my heart wouldn't let go of that light I was sensing at the end of the tunnel. So I kept on walking. Walking past all the valuable spirits resting on the sides of the tunnel, never letting myself stray from my mission. I needed to find that spirit.
I don't know whether it was a moment, minutes or even hours later, but as the passage seemed to wind past a corner, the strong spiritual energy that I had been sensing since I dove into the well suddenly increased exponentially.
The air around me became thick with pure mighty energy, and as I walked out of the bend, I came face to face with the spirit I had been searching for.
Joy and relief flooded through me as I looked at the spirit and knew that I had not wasted my time by looking for it. The entire large stone cavern was covered in its brilliant aura that glittered magnificently like diamond dust suspended in the air.
The spirit was so powerful that it had taken on a human form, unlike the spirits I had seen before that could only take on the shape of animals or plants, the human form was much more complex and required an impressive amount of spiritual energy for a spirit to do so.
With curious admiration, I stared at the form of the spirit. It took the figure of a knight, with full silver chain-mail and armour, plus its own sword that looked quite like the long sword I had prepared for it to possess. Long golden hair spilt out from the knight's helmet, all the way down the knight's back. It took me a moment to realise that the tall muscular knight was actually a woman, but as I saw the gorgeous hair and pronounced chest area, I was satisfied that the knight was a woman.
The spirit glowed a warm white hue but I could clearly see its attire through the glow. Definitely a knights uniform, however, it wasn't the uniform of any kingdom I was familiar with. In fact, judging from the shape of the metal plates and helmet, this uniform looked outdated, ancient even. As if it were the suit of a bygone era.
She looked so mighty just standing there, exuding the breathtaking glittering aura so strong that I could feel it's warmth as it surrounded me.
Knowing that I had finally found my spirit, I unsheathed the mighty long sword that I had chosen from the treasury and cautiously took a few steps forward. It was then that I noticed a throne behind the spirit and immediately halted. It was a large and grande throne fit for a king, made up of the same energy that flowed out of the knight spirit. The spirit was facing me and had its back turned to the throne. I noticed that the spirit had its head hung low with an aura of sadness surrounding it, as if too ashamed to gaze upon the throne.
I looked at the spirit knight once again and felt a great sense of sorrow in the energy that surrounded it. So sad that I had the urge to cry, to just collapse on the floor and weep. This spirit seemed to have a strong emotional connection to the throne it wouldn't face.
Suddenly images flashed across my mind. People, a city, and places that I had never seen before. The only thing I recognized in these images was the knight standing before me. However in this vision, she wasn't a spirit, she was a living breathing human. A knight bowing before a faceless king who sat on the exact same throne as the one the spirit in front of me was turned away from.
I could feel a strong earnest relationship between the knight and her king. The knight held deep admiration and respect for the king and swore to serve her king until his death. I saw many happy moments of the pair laughing, true friendship and perhaps romance between the king and his loyal subject.
However, this beautiful scene suddenly changed to that of a war. People were running for their lives as the streets were burning, screaming and crying as another kingdom infiltrated theirs. Civilians all helplessly trying to outrun death and carnage. However, the knight in front of me was running in the opposite direction as all the other people. The knight was frantically running up the palace steps of a falling kingdom, desperately trying to reach her king.
Her terribly urgent words 'Your majesty! I'm coming!" Rang in my ears, as the knight, ran up the stairs with all her might. However, as she finally reached the top, a heartbreaking scene unfolded in front of her. The king was dead, a needle-like blade pinning his lifeless body to his throne with his red blood pooling on the floor in front of him.
The knight let out a pained scream full of anguish and fell the to floor in defeat.
'I failed you, Your majesty...'
In a state of complete depression, the knight drew her long sword and pierced it through her heart. Her blood leaked out onto the marble floor from her self inflicted wound. She took her life as an apology to the king whom she didn't protect.
For the last moments of her life, the knight looked forward at the king and expressed her regrets for not being able to save him, as well as regrets for not being able to protect the people of his kingdom. Just as she was passing away, a dark figure moved out from behind the throne with a cruel smile on his face. The knight was suddenly stricken with grief at the realization that her king's murderer was still in the room. Once again she was filled with anguish and regret. More than anything she wanted to get revenge for the king she loved and admired. However, there was no turning back from piercing her heart, so she took her last breath staring at the evil face of the man who had killed her king, unable to exact revenge.
I truly felt for the spirit. Not being able to avenge her king, her feelings were so absolute that she had taken on the form of a sorrowful knight even after death. Like a curse, her regret and anguish followed her into the spirit realm. Even now, she felt so ashamed that she could not get herself to look at the empty throne behind her. A righteous principled woman who believed she did not have the right to look at the throne of the man she could not protect.
Taking a few breaths. I walked straight up to the spirit. I knew what I had to say.
"In your life, you died not being able to protect your king. Consequently in death, you still feel this grudge. I know nothing is more painful than having to say goodbye to the ones you love."
Images of my dad crying on my death bed came back to me, and once again I recalled that terrible heartbreak. This spirit and I, we had something in common. If I could get her to serve me, I knew we would form an unbreakable bond.
Without any hesitation, I walked past the spirit and saw its shocked eyes through her armour as I headed over to the throne.
I turned and sat on the large throne. The spirit turned around to look at me, the presumptuous human who had dared to sit on the throne of her beloved king.
"How long will you stay here? How long will you just exist, welling in your own sorrow...?"
The knight had looked like she was about to draw her sword and fight me, but at my words, she hesitated.
"More importantly, would your king have wanted this for you? You knew him better than anyone and served alongside him for the longest. You were his most loyal and faithful servant." I called out to her as emotion swelled in me.
"So tell me if this was what he would have wanted for you. Do you think he would have wished you to suffer an eternity of heartbreak for not being there to save him?"
I watched as glistening tears of spiritual energy collected in her eyes and slowly began to spill down her cheeks.
"Come with me and be freed of you eternal punishment. Once again be a mighty knight, of a future king."
As I looked at her eyes, I could see that they were still slightly doubtful. So I sat upon the throne and looked her straight in her eyes.
"I'm not asking you to forget him, or the pain, or the emotions you felt. I know I never will... " The image of my dad's face was forever burned into my mind.
"No, I want you to let those memories fuel you, and help you forge a new path, as you know he would have wanted you to. So come with me and serve as my knight. Together we shall use our memories to keep us on the righteous path and fight for those who need our strength."
From the throne, I drew my heavy sword and pointed it at the knight.
"Come with me on a new path, and let us never forget who we are, and let us never forget to who we owe everything..."
I felt a few stray tears fall down my cheeks as I thought of my dad. He made me who I am in this life and the next.
The knight and I were still for a moment as we looked at each other, each of us looking into our own souls. Suddenly the knight moved. She walked the three steps up to the platform the throne was on and stood directly in front of me. For a moment I wondered whether she would agree to come with me, or if she was about to duel with me for sitting on the throne.
She got down on one knee in front of me. Her hands went up to her face and she slid her helmet off her head and she bowed her neck. Her waves of golden hair spilt all around her shoulders, pooling on the stone floor around her plated boots.