"And I want to be as cool as you are!" said the little elf girl to me and it made me think back of my atrocities that I have committed for the sake of revenge. "Rest now, we move in the morning." is what I replied to her for her own sake.
Looking at her it reminded me of the good old days of where I was a knight fighting for and serve justice.
I started getting flashbacks of the days I was a proud knight.
Good morning Rui!" a villager in the kingdom greeted me warmly. "Good morning Loid!" I shout back my greetings and make my way to my post. On the way I meet a sweet little girl named Aida. She is a girl that really like my company because I was sort of her father-figure after her dad Rudolf died with me in the great war that happened some time go.
"Ruiiii give me a ride pleaseee!" she said while hanging her arms for me to grab. "Sure let's go for a ride to my post and then let's have some fun playing some of those board games your fath- I mean my squires have." I almost slipped up and made the girl sad. I should start to remember my words with her. "Yayy I like those games!" said Aida cheerfully.
"Alright we have arrived let's start playing!" I put her down carefully and looking around for the games. "Where is it Rui?" "It's right here let me set it up" I put the board and start putting the chess pieces in place. "Do you remember how to play chess?" "Yes I do and I'm going to beat you this time hehe" she chuckled a bit and looked at me awaiting my answer.
"No I will beat you harder" we both laughed. We began playing a traditional game of chess. While I do know how to play well and strategize I still can't take her seriously because she just moves her pieces randomly and I try my best to not make her feel bad by obviously winning against her and while I was still thinking of my next move, Aida questions me something I didn't expect to hear.
"How good of a person was my father before Rui?" She said it with a serious tone and I had a hard time to give her a good answer because it could make her cry. Rudolf was one of my squires in my battalion and he was one of the bravest soldiers I have ever seen. He did get carried away with his ego at some instances but he was a genuinely a nice person to be a battle brother and a friend with.
Sadly when the lich lord Kadan began his attack unexpectedly they captured Rudolf with other good men and women squires. They were converted into twisted animalistic monstrosities and they began attacking our Kingdom and I had the chance to release him from his own misery. He was tough to fight, he was very agile while converted. It made me very depressed but my other friends helped me out calm out my nerves and keep fighting. Kadan fled away and we claimed victory by outnumbering them with manpower and strength. It was a very brutal war.
"He was a very good man, one of my best friends. He slayed monsters and he was very brave." I said it with a sad look in my face. "It's just like him, but here is another question is. Where is he?" she had a puzzled face while saying it innocently. It made my heart ache, I don't want to deliver the news to her because that would scar her for life. I had a hard time figuring out an answer so I came up with "He is traveling to the Holy Lands of Aziena. He is going to train himself the way of the blade." a blatant lie.
"Wow he must be amazing if he got invited there! I can't wait for him to come back here. I miss him." She has a sad face while looking at the king piece.
The memory cracked like a glass window.
'It's not lies that cut, but the sharpness of the truth.' is what a wise woman told me. But the truth is nothing of this ever happened. I have this positive memory of myself with Aida but it is all a false memory implanted into myself to forget the acts of treason that I have committed. I deserve to be dead and not given mercy. In truth -
I killed him. Not for pity but for Joy.
I was a worthless piece of flesh being to exist in this world. I killed her father, raped her mother and her. Another knight from my battalion saw me doing these horrendous acts and instantly went and reported it to the hierarchy. I wasn't given the death sentence because it was quick and painless head chop. Instead they had the bright idea to send me to the enemy territory of the Lich lord Kadan. I was taken in as a prisoner of war. I was tormented, experimented and was losing my manhood. There were others like me four of them.
I didn't get to know them until we got released and began a new experiment. Because the five of us were very strong from different origins and races we were handpicked and put to the test of lord Kadan personal death squad. We were put to the test. They handed us armor, weapons and variety of equipment. four of us passed and one died in the process, the prisoner was not compatible with the amount of burden and stress of killing. We were named with code names.
Thaemine the death knight. Ines the unholy warlock. Sulyvahn the undead hunter. Leroy the death knight.
They gave us these names to forget our past selves. I was named Thaemine as in the legendary warrior who fought an army while staying still and doing nothing while his sword answered his will. We got a task to wipe out any of our desired nations as we chose. The majority voted for the kingdom Eden to be wiped out. The country that I used to serve. The country that I hate. The country I wish to cease its existence.
It took less then a day to kill everyone living there, even the king and his successors didn't survive. The bloodline of Jason IV has been erased.
After 40 years of serving the lich lord Kadan, we realized he wanted to get rid of us and replace us with new prisoners of war instead of working under us four. So the four of us staged a rebellion. The strongest soldiers under the service of the lich lord. No other soldiers were as deadly as us. Our rebellion was a success, the forces of Kadan was futile against our power and ultimately was defeated by our hands.
Words spread fast after the defeat of the lich lord and all the kingdoms were at joy and had a breath of relieve that their strongest enemy had been defeated. The world didn't know who defeated Kadan because there were no survivors present. His castle was destroyed.
The four of us agreed to go on our separate journeys to atone for our sins. The world still feared the Death squad because it was a very known group to everyone on this continent. So our gear strikes fear to anyone knowing our legend. So we planned ahead and all us hid their gear except for me because my armor is bound to my soul and cannot be removed easily. The rest took it off easily and hid it in my personal storage portal that they can access at any time.
"Goodbye leader!" Ines waved at me.
"Goodbye my friend" Sulyvahn shook his hand with me.
"Goodbye brother" Leroy hugged me.
It's been a year since that time and I already miss them dearly. They were my true family and I wish I could reunite with them again soon.
Thankfully I have her to keep me company, I haven't spoken to anyone since our group disbanded. Thank you elven girl.