***Avion***
"Avion, Sir."
I presented myself before the sentry. He looked at my outfit with rather suspicious eyes. I stood before him while bowing a little, not meeting the man's eyes. I wore a loose dirty yellow dress that barely covered my frail body.
"Can you say who it was that you wanted to see?"
"I-I am the only son of Mari- I mean- the fallen Lady Mariette who lived in the Rahn. Before her death she disclosed my father's identity to me and said that his name was Rafael Tylev. Af-after losing my mother, I h-had nowhere to go. Then I heard that my father was here. C-Could you please tell him his son, Avion, has come to see him "
The stoic face of the sentry went awry seeing the disgusting snot filled nose plead to him in a helpless tone. He went silent for a moment as if contemplating something.
"Wait here for a moment."
He rushed to the High Tower. A few moments later he came back but not alone. In front of him along with four other sentries was a Guardian Knight whose heavy armour made a periodic metallic clank with each step that he took as he strode forward towards me.
The pure white moonlight bounced off the flaunting silver armour that the knight had worn.A crescent golden moon beautifully branded on the chest plate.In the bleak dark of the night, the knight's armour illuminated him gallantly. A moon's image on the face of the earth. It was the Moon Knight.
!!!
As I glanced at the glowing sheen of his armour. I could feel the rush of the blood flowing through my veins. The moonlight represented many things for many people all across the entire realm. But in the Swara Kingdom the only thing the moonlight was synonymous to was the Moon Knight.
The back of my mind went remembering the plethora of tales of beauty and folklores of gallantry that were centred around the revered Moon Knight.
He was the literal personification of the 'Knight in Shining Armour.'
It was presumed by the majority that the Moon Knight was the most handsome man in the entire kingdom. Although no one had ever seen the face that lay underneath the shining armour still the existence of the mysterious knight riled up all kinds of weird fantasies inside the people.
But as they say, Danger hides in Beauty and Beauty in Danger.
The fact that the Knight had never been a part of a single lost battle always made them wary of the deadly and equally infamous 'Arched Moon Blade.'
The Arched Moon Blade was said to be the sharpest blade in the entirety of Swara. The tales of the blade were known far and wide. The blade was said to be blessed by the Wind Goddess herself.
I gulped down my saliva. My throat felt parched all of a sudden. I was trembling equally with both excitement and fear. The fear that there was a one in a thousand chances of my success but still there was some chance. Some hope left in the bottom of heart that my reckless plan could come into fruition.
My fists clenched as I kneeled in front of the mighty shining existence. My bow, so deep that I could feel the dry sand grains painfully rubbing against my forehead. I desperately clawed on to the only way out of this mess that I had suddenly been pulled into.
The ground stopped its throbbing as the metallic clank of heavy armour finally halted.
But something was wrong…
The footsteps did not stop in front of me. No.
They continued to move and I could hear them encircling around me akin to the vultures circling around the dead. I pulled my head up to find five iron spears pointed at me from all the directions. I was surrounded. Noticing this sudden hostility, I jumped up from the crouch-position.
But it was all in vain. I could look at the faces that currently surrounded me, they had no empathy nor had they any compassion for a boy who had lost all that he had in this world and had come here in search of his estranged father.
A truly desperate at not ending my own life.
"Si-Sir Moon Knight, T-there must be some kind of m-"
"There is no mistake. You are Avion Styler, a wanted thief on the run also convicted for the death of the Late Lady Mariette."
He looked at his sentries,"Now arrest this scum and throw him in the worst cell of the Rangier Dungeon."
An apathetic voice that came out from the horizontal slit of the helmet had arrested, convicted and sentenced me to imprisonment all in a single sentence.
I was in a bit of trance for a moment. But soon the verdict hit me and I tried to scream but..
It was too late. As the blunt end of a spear soon found its way to the back of my head. Knocking me out swiftly in a single clean blow.
I lost my consciousness. But that wasn't the only thing that I lost. I lost my last chance for life. Finally, there was nothing left in this world that could give my life a meaning. That was the moment that I truly died.
And was reborn.
***
***Moon Knight***
Pulling out my helm and placing it underneath my arm, I marched into the Royal Court.
It was dark except for the moonlight that dimly illuminated the court came out of the only glass arched window placed behind a regal seat at the end of the hall.
If not for the brilliance of the moon I might have fallen countless times headfirst on the sangria red carpet etched with intricate golden carvings. The only thing I could see was the black silhouette of a man that sat on the other end of the hall.
He was sitting sideways with his legs dangling out of the armrest of the elegant chair that everyone had always lusted over. A regal seat, or popularly known as the Sovereign Throne of Swara. The Throne that even I couldn't help but admire and look up to; now sat a hundred steps above me. I kneeled to the throne that he sat on.
The Sovereign.
"May the Sovereign's reign be eternal."
"Hm…"
"Did you take care of the thugs that were hindering the trade routes?"
"Yes, Sovereign."
"Good."
I waited for him to finish.
"Hm… Is there anything else?"
"Yes, Sovereign."
"Speak"
"Another heir to the Second Throne had made an appearance outside the High Tower tonight."
There was a moment of contemplation before he spoke again.
"Did you verify it?"
"Yes, Sovereign. The blood-bond came back a perfect match."
"How many heirs are there now?"
"Four, Sovereign."
"Kill him. And kill any other that comes after him. We need only three heirs. No need to ask for my approval."
"Yes, Sovereign. Fu~…" I tried to hold back my smile that threatened to spill out.
As the large wicket gate clicked behind my back simultaneously a pure and heartfelt laughter resounded the desolate hallways of the Palace.
"HAHA- With this, the [ Integration ] will finally be complete."
***
I made my way down the stone staircase that led down to the pungent hole called the dungeon. It was dirty down that gutter that caged the most heinous criminals. The shrieks of the people locked up in here were enough for anyone to go senile in just a single night. Squeaking rats and mice twice the size of small cats scurried around in the corners.
But these things that I usually found disturbing felt barely acceptable. I tightly grasped onto the hilt of my sword that rested inside the silver plated scabbard.
My greatest treasure..
The Chaos Sword.
I was hiding this sword in plane sight by naming it something as frivolous as the 'Moon Arch Blade' which did no justice to the actual potential of this sword. It was simply a miracle that it even existed.
Trotting down the stone pathway with a flickering torch in one hand, I finally reached outside the cell of that derisible fool of a boy.
I looked into the cell through the rusty bars, to find a filthy body with its head shoved inside the shit bucket.
'Ptui…' I couldn't help but spit distastefully at the boy's miserable and gruesome state. But fearing he might already be dead, I immediately entered the cell.
Unlocking the large padlock I entered the pitch black cell that nosed the blend of all kinds of filth, turds and shits. I had to stop my breath everytime I entered a cell, in here. But the state of the body was truly forlorn.
I walked up his body and gently held his wrist to check for any pulse. It was there but was very weak. If I had been any more late then I probably would have had to wait some more.
"You look like you are suffering a lot buddy. I will make it a swift end." Whispering near his ears that poked out of the dump, I stood and brandished the arched longsword.
Everytime I drew it out one couldn't help but appreciate the sheer beauty of the sword.
"Chaos is birth. Chaos is death. Chaos is the beginning. Chaos is the end. Chaos is eternal."
Completing the chant. I swung the sword aiming for the neck. The sword moved swiftly, piercing through the air and…
CLANG!!!
The sound of steel hitting steel reverberated loudly throughout the entire cell.
"AH...AH…HELP ME!!!! AA…."
Squeals for help escaped my mouth. My hand was burning. It was literally burning. The hot steel metal from the sword had started melting. It was dripping down my hand.
Drops of red hot steel and iron flowed down the melting sword.
I could feel the piercing sound that still resounded in the cell burst my eardrums. Hot blood slowly started gushing out of my ears, down my shoulders. But suddenly an eternal silence reigned in my vicinity.
Silence.
I had turned deaf. The fact that my own shrieks now went silent proved it. The metallic maddening clanging now had been replaced with desolate haunting silence. It was no way better now when the bone in my right arm laid naked before my eyes, rid of any trace of skin.
Both my sanity and consciousness started slipping away. I had fallen; Fallen into the same shit that the boy I wanted to kill was in. My brain could not process anything.
Everything had gone so wrong, so fast. I was so close. So close. Yet now so far. My death was inevitable. I had accepted it yet it felt so… so unfair.
My eyes started to close. When I saw him. The boy. Avion. He stood in front of me. His eyes were pitch black darker than abyss. They stared down into mine without any hint of emotions in them. The soulless black eyes that stared at me felt chilling.
But the next thing he said (mouthed) gave me goosebumps. The thing that I had always wanted to attain, wanted to achieve. I could understand his words as they repeated the very words that led to my demise.
CHAOS
!!!
***