Night had fallen and after a hot day, everyone had fallen asleep.
Yna's students all volunteered to patrol the wall and I allowed them to do so under the strict condition that they don't engage with anyone they find. They were to report to Yna or I as soon as possible.
I closed my eyes while resting on Yna's lap.
.
..
I opened my eyes and found myself in a certain throne room.
Sitting in front of the throne was Kenos, who's head was lowered.
I walked up to him.
My hooves loudly clacked as I walked, making me slightly more nervous than I already was.
"Kenos?" I called, but he didn't respond.
"Kenos!"
This managed to get his attention.
He raised his head and looked me with his pure black eyes and like with other Rendaro, I couldn't quite tell where he was looking.
"What's up?" He asked weakly while stretching his arms.
"Are you… are you alright?"
"Who? Me? Yeah, I'm great." He said with a grin.
I shook my head.
"Come on, dude. We both know that nightmare wasn't mine. I won't force you to talk. I don't think I can, but if you ever feeling like sharing, I'm right here."
"Err… yeah. Sure. I'll let you know when somethings bothering me. Anyway, I must say, I'm impressed with what you've done with Coh. It's almost the size worthy of the prince of the Rendaro." Kenos said while thoughtful rubbing his beard less chin.
"Oh? I'll take that as a compliment. As you can see, it's not quite done yet, but even now, it's ready for any troubled souls in search of home."
"Wow… aren't you the altruist?" Kenos scoffed.
"Does that bother you?"
"Nah, not really. I mean, we could be absorbing a lot of darkness a lot quicker if you spent less time playing around."
"Playing around?" I asked, slightly insulted.
"Mmm….perhaps I phrased it poorly. I just know that we would have been miles ahead if your attention wasn't so… divided."
"What do you suggest? That I go out into the Dark Expanse and absorb everything at once?"
"Like I said. That would be unwise. And hey, stop being so sensitive. I'm just thinking about how to speed up our recovery." Kenos said.
"To what end? What exactly do you want to do with your full strength?" I asked and like that time before, Kenos frowned.
"There are forces in this world far stronger than that knight and when they come, you'll wish we were at full strength." Kenos said before his body dematerialized.
"Hey! Don't just say something ominous like that and leave! If something bad happens I'm totally blaming you!" I yelled even though I was deathly afraid.
Perhaps he was right.
Maybe I should absorb more darkness.
My vision darkened and my eyes slowly closed.
.
..
I awoke and quickly noticed that the space around me was slightly distorted.
I then saw thin wisps of darkness entering the cabin.
They rapidly made their way into my body.
I frantically escaped from Yna's embrace and ran outside to find that I was passively absorbing darkness at a rate faster than ever before.
This wasn't a usually a problem, but I then saw that the buildings around me were also losing some darkness.
Dammit, Kenos!
I completely halted all absorption while Yna walked out of her cabin with a yawn.
"What's wrong? You just ran out." She said sleepily.
"Its Kenos. We had a nightmare yesterday and he's definitely upset about it."
"Oh? Well, you might wanna talk to him about-"
"I tried. But he disappeared on me." I said with a sigh.
Yna opened her to speak, but was interrupted by a distant cry.
We both looked up the road and saw one of Yna's students sprinting towards us.
"A Legion of knights is heading this way!" He yelled.
Yna and I glanced at each other and almost instantly after, Yna grabbed me before dashing northward.
"Tell everyone to go the throne room!" I yelled as we sped past the Rendaro.
We zipped towards the northern wall where, after climbing to the top, we saw a legion of knights marching in our direction on horseback.
They looked like Golden Knights at first, but the longer I looked at them, the more I realized that their armour was silver, it just had a lot of golden embellishments.
"Oh, those are Goldcrest knights." Yna said with narrowed eyes that glowed their brightest.
Shit.
"Aren't those…"
"Yep. How should we deal with them?" Yna asked and it almost looked like she'd have killed them all if it weren't for me.
"Let's see what they want. See if they can be reasoned with." I said prompting Yna to tighten her hold on me.
"Katsíki, please remember our promise." Yna said and before I could reply, she jumped over the wall.
We landed with a thud and Yna slowly walked towards the approaching Knights.
The one in front, the one I assumed was their leader stopped about ten metres away.
Every part of his body other than his head was covered in glorious silver armour that was covered with gems and golden highlights.
He didn't look too old and yet had a head full of grey hair.
His eyes were bright white dots that stared at Yna and I.
"Well, well. Could this be Red Death herself?" The knight asked before hopping off his horse.
He then walked a little closer before stopping about five meters away.
"I am unsure of whether I should bow… or slit your throat." He said with narrowed eyes.
He then relaxed his face before placing his right hand over his heart.
"Ah- where are my manners. My name is Joha Todias Wendell Altruim, captain of the Goldcrest Legion of Silver Knights."
What a needlessly long name. I thought.
"It really is a pleasure meet you." Joha said before pacing back and forth.
"How many centuries has it been since your disappearance? One hundred years? Two hundred? What did you accomplish after you went rogue?" Joha said before looking at the dark wall behind us.
"Looks like something heretical." He said as his face stiffened again.
"Well? Speak. Unless all your treachery somehow led to you becoming mute." Joha said.
Yna looked down at me with a pained expression.
I didn't know what she wanted.
"Err… what do you people want?" I asked.
"Holy shit, that goat just talked- Ahem! Enough with the tricks. Speak up. Or am I to believe that the real Yna, captain of the Tsudo Legion of Golden Knights, hound dogs of the order, died all those ages ago and the thing in front of me is but a pitiful simulacrum?" Joha asked, but again, Yna didn't speak.
"I guess I will have to see if you really are the original." Joha said as he placed his hand on his sheathed sword's hilt.
I could tell just from the hilt that it was very different from Yna's sword. Hers was a golden great sword, while Joha's was a rather thin straight sword.
Joha unsheathed his sword and slowly swung it downward.
I then watched a space distorted in front of him completely silently.
The fissure in space then crawled towards Yna and I.
I wanted to run away, but one look is all I needed to know that Yna didn't feel threatened.
My worries then shifted to the silver knights.
I needed to make sure they didn't die.
The divide in space eventually reached us and Yna simply grabbed it before squeezing it so hard that the fissure dispersed with an ear piercing crack.
"Oh? Did you see that, men? With little to no effort. Could this really be Red Death standing before us?" Joha asked with a smirk.
"I am not too sure, captain. Try giving her something only Red Death could evade or catch."
One of Joha's men said.
"Oh? Alright…"
My attention quickly shifted to Yna who started squeezing me a little too tightly.
"Katsíki… please… stop them." Yna begged and it looked like she was on the verge of tears.
I frantically nodded before jumping out of her grasp.
"Oi! Calm down. This really is Yna. Why don't you put your sword down before someone gets hurt?" I asked, but Joha complete ignored me.
Instead, he placed his sword in front of him and assumed a battle ready stance.
Things were about to get really hectic.
I needed to stop him.
Or more precisely, I needed Yna to convince them that she was who she was.
"Yna, subdue him-"
A bright flash bathed everything in light.
My ears rang and I struggled staying on my feet for a bit.
My senses eventually returned to me and I saw that Yna was standing in front of a kneeling Joha.
I ran up to them and saw that Joha's teeth were chattering along with his trembling eyes.
All of Joha's men charged towards us while raising their weapons, but it was Joha who awkwardly stood up before raising his hand.
"H- halt!" He barked and all of his men and their horses stopped.
Yna simply stood while glaring at him with eyes that looked like miniature suns.
"Ahem!" I sounded and Yna promptly picked me up.
"Now, as I asked before, what do you people want?"
"We… were sent to investigate an old… Cavumium mine in the Dark Expanse." Joha said weakly without looking at me.
His gaze remained glued on Yna who glared at him making him shrink into himself.
"What are going to do now that you know that Yna is here?" I asked
"I… I could inform the High Priests or the Grandmaster, but that could be messy."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Oh… do you not know? The prince has awoken. Stirring up trouble now will only lead to further trouble for me down the line." Joha said before looking himself over.
He then dusted off the sand that had gotten onto his armour.
"So…"
"I will play the- the fool. I would rather someone else deal with this." Joha said.
"I see."
Joha then looked at me for a moment before looking back at Yna.
"With that said, I cannot disobey an order from the High Priests. I have to see if there is any Cavumium left in a mine a few kilometres south from here." He said.
"Oh, that's totally fine. However, there's Rendaro settlement in the works far south. Don't interfere with them."
"What?" Joha asked with a perplexed expression.
"You heard me. Yna and I are working very closely with them. I will not tolerate any aggression on your part."
Joha looked to Yna for answers, but she didn't react.
"I… see. Fine. We will complete our task and leave without interfering with the mud crawlers." Joha said with a deep sigh.
"Good. Come. We'll accompany you into the Dark Expanse." I said.
"Sure." Joha droned before walking back to his horse.
He then silently regrouped with his men before Yna and I led them west to a path that went around Coh and led into the desert.
I knew the knights were probably gathering information on Coh as we walked, but fortunately, Coh's walls were tall and dark.
We eventually reached the dark expanse.
"Alright, bye for now, I guess." I said.
Joha simply stared at Yna before leading his men south.
I then sighed and looked at Yna, who's eyes hadn't dimmed whatsoever.
"That was intense, but something tells me this is far from over. What do you think?" I asked, but Yna didn't respond.
Instead, she glared at Joha and his men as they grew ever more distant.
"Yna-?"
"You're right. This isn't over." She said flatly.
"I see. What can you tell me about the Goldcrest Legion?" I asked.
"Mmm… they were always very showy and they participated in every parade and every celebration, but rarely ever did I fight alongside any of them. You'd think the third ranked Legion of silver Knights would be more of a presence on the battlefield, but no."
"I see. Well, what should we do wit them? We can't kill them, but we both know that as soon as they return to Lanceberg they'll tell everyone about us- about you."
"About me?" Yna asked. Her voice a whimper.
I remained silent as her grip on me loosened.
"Me… Yna… Captain of the Tsudo Legion of Golden Knights… Me… Red Death." She muttered before sitting down on the hot sand.
She placed me in front of her and looked into my eyes with an almost frightened expression.
"I'd like to change the conditions of our promise. I want to tell you my story, my truth. The truth of a weapon."