Uriah looks down at Arina, who is tired for only having walked a few hours.
"Hey Arina. Have you ever heard the tragedy of Sir Dothamir the Dark?" Uriah asks, looking back to the road.
Arina looks up at him, confused. "Who? What?" She replies, truly mystified.
"It's not a story White Knights would tell you. It's a Dark legend. Sir Dothamir was a Dark Knight of the Daemons, so powerful and so corrupted he could use his powers to influence all matter around him to create black holes. He had such a knowledge of the ways of the Daemon that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying." Uriah says with a dark tone.
"What happened to him?" Arina asks, preparing for a gruesome answer in response.
"Well, to put it simply, no one knows. One day he was terrorizing the people of the Kingdoms, the next he just vanished." Uriah states, smiling creepily to finish his tale.
Creeped out by the story, Arina moves a bit closer to Uriah. He notices and chuckles.
"You hardly know me and you're just gonna hug up to me and completely trust me?" He smirks slightly.
Arina takes a moment to think before speaking. "If you were gonna kill me, you would've done it already. If your bounty was to collect me, then you would have tied me up. If your true intentions were to psych me out and do something unspeakable to me, then we wouldn't be entering the very populated and busy village." She reaches for his hand and holds it, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Well, that certainly is well thought out. You're a whole lot smarter than you look" Uriah smiles in response, a faint blush growing on his pale cheeks.
A few moments of silence pass until they enter the village market. The smells and sounds of the good food and laughs of families walking by starts overwhelming Arina, making her hold on to Uriah even more so. Showing signs of concern for Arina, Uriah walks towards the outskirts of the market, using alleyways and backroads to get to his destination. Around a bounty board is a small crowd of local adventurers all gasping at a knife placed on a piece of paper that has a skull seal on the bottom. A few of them are trying to pull out the knife, but none have success. Uriah walks up to the board and takes out the knife with ease, putting it in a small sheathe on his hip. The adventurers look at him with awe, not in fear, but admiration.
"The Dark Knight!" One exclaims.
The adventurers and townsfolk start to crowd around him now, asking for autographs and kisses on their children. Once again fearing for Arina's health, he grabs the paper that his knife was stuck in and seemingly disappears in a cloud of smoke. Immediately after his disappearance, a small boy grabs Arina's hand and starts to run. With her senses already overloaded and her confusion reaching new heights, she has no strength left to pull away, subject to the boy's pull. When they're behind a dark alley, the boy let's go, catching his breath. With a cloud of smoke similar to the one Uriah disappeared in moments ago, the boy is replaced with Uriah, who is now sitting on the ground and taking deep breaths.
"Sorry if I scared you, I was just caught in the moment and did what I could to get you away from there." He says, examining the paper.
Arina falls on top of him, crying.
"This is how I know you don't want to bring me harm." She says between sobs.
Uriah smiles, hugging Arina.
"By the way, how old are you anyway?" He asks, brushing her burgundy red hair away from her eyes.
"I'm seventeen and three months old, why?" Arina responds, picking up her head from his chest and looking at him, her tears starting to dry up.
"Well, you seem to be childish in some areas, but in others you present yourself as a young lady." Uriah laughs.
After resting for a few more moments, Uriah stands up and picks up Arina, setting her down next to him.
"Do you wish to rent a room for the night, or do you feel like walking another mile?" Uriah asks, stretching out and cracking his back.
"We can go another mile." Arina smirks, imitating Uriah's movements.
"Well, ok, but if you fall behind, I won't be coming back for you." He jokes.
"Right, because you totally didn't just stop me from having an anxiety attack." Arina responds sarcastically.
They both laugh for a second, Arina's eyes gleaming, her gaze set on Uriah, whose eyes are also focused on her. Arina steps a bit closer, her heart nearly busting out of her chest. Arina doesn't know why it feels like she's choking, but she knows that she will never find a man like Uriah ever again. She places her hand on his breastplate, Uriah visibly blushing as he breaks his gaze, looking away with a slight curse under his breath. Arina backs up, worried she might've screwed up and invaded his personal space without permission. He grabs her hand and starts to pull her with him, heading to his final destination.
"Come on, we need to get there before nightfall." Uriah looks back and smiles.
Though he tries hiding his pain behind the smile, Arina piercing through his disguise. She hates to see him in this state, and she knows it's her fault, but she can't help but follow him without question.It's not like she had anywhere else to go. For now, she would deal with the consequences of her misjudgment, and follow Uriah to their next stop on a lifelong journey.