The impersonator let out a sigh of relief as they entered the dark abandoned building. Aldrich gazed around the room. It was mostly empty, with only small slivers of light leaking through the boarded up windows.
Aldrich found an old crate and slowly lowered the prince to sit on it. With both his hands free he could be more prepared if the impostor tried anything. Shans mumbled something unintelligible as he sat half asleep on the crate.
"Who are you?" Aldrich asked warily, keeping his hand not far away from the pocket he kept his relic in. "And what did you do with Shans' real guard knight?"
The impostor giggled. "Relax, she's right here. Just... asleep."
They lifted off the knight's helmet to reveal her face. The girl underneath had a young looking face save for a huge scar running diagonally over it, with tan skin and her blonde hair tied up. Her eyes were closed, it seemed she was asleep.
Just then, something dark started to bubble out of the armor. It looked like... a liquid shadow. It dripped down the armor and onto the floor below. Once it was all out the knight's still unconscious body crumpled to the ground. The sound of the heavy armor hitting the ground echoed loudly in the empty room.
From the shadows on the ground emerged another body. A girl, the shadows she emerged from clinging to her body as she stood up straight and stretched. She gave Aldrich a sly smile.
"Sorry for borrowing your friend. It's just so bright outside and their armor was nice and dark." She explained. "She'll wake up in a bit, perfectly fine."
Aldrich stared at her speechlessly. She watched his expression, not quite sure what to make of it.
"Y-y-you're..." Aldrich stuttered, raising a pointed finger at her.
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a fever or something? Even in this darkness I can see your face turning red."
"You're naked!" Aldrich managed to push out finally. It came out a bit louder than he had wanted. By this time he had his other hand over his eyes.
The girl didn't react for a few seconds, before muttering a soft "Oh."
Then she broke into spontaneous laughter, wiping a tear from her eye. "Oh my, don't tell me you haven't seen a naked woman before. You are quite funny aren't you?"
He wasn't trying to be funny, Aldrich retorted in his head. He was being serious, his father had taught always be a gentleman.
"There, is this better." The girl said. Aldrich peeked through his fingers warily. She had somehow used the shadows to cover parts of herself up. But just her chest and below her waist.
He lowered his hand from his face slowly, letting out a breath. With his hand no longer over his eyes he could make out some of the girl's features in the dim lighting. She had deathly pale skin, raven black hair flowing down her back and even darker eyes which watched him with an intensity that made him uncomfortable.
"Who are you?" He asked. "And what is it exactly you're after."
"I'm just a traveler who decided to stop by Yves for the tourney." She replied innocently. But Aldrich doubted that. "I noticed you in the city earlier and wanted us to meet in person."
So she wasn't after the prince, he realized. But why him though.
While thinking his gaze shifted from her slightly. By the the time he refocused she had disappeared again. He stiffened as her hand landed on his shoulder. Just like earlier, she had gotten behind him so fast.
"There's something about you." She whispered in his ear. Her icy breath making his neck hair stand up. "Something... missing? Something that really shouldn't be."
He turned around and backed up a few steps from her. Though that put her in between him and the prince. "What are you talking about?!"
The girl laced a hand on her chin, still staring right at him. "But this emptiness feels... different from mine. From the others' even."
She started to circle him. He kept a hand near his relic, following her movements. Though that was hard to do since she kept blending in with the shadows and almost disappearing.
"Tell me, have you ever heard of Naut?" She questioned.
Aldrich shook his head.
"The abyss author? The void watcher?" She added. Aldrich still had no idea what she was talking about though. "I didn't either a long time ago. Until he opened my eyes, and I fully embraced the nihility."
"Are you trying to convert me to your religion or something." Aldrich asked, confused.
"Religion..." She repeated. "I guess you could call it that. But really it's just you finally letting go of the illusion, and finally embracing the reality."
"And what is this 'reality'."
She stopped walking, and smiled dangerously at him. "That nothing matters, so why not live the way I want to?"
She disappeared once again and rematerialized a few inches from his face. "I like you. You should come with me, join the harbingers of Naut."
Aldrich laughed nervously, backing away. "Could I get back to you on that?"
She shook her head. "Sorry, but I stopped taking no for an answer a while ago. I can feel it, my 'end' definitely has you in it. Or maybe it doesn't, but I'll make it."
Aldrich shoved his hand into his pocket, grasping the relic. The girl wasn't making much sense anymore and was getting more erratic by the second. He felt a bead of sweat drop down his face. Was it just him or had it gotten a lot hotter all of a sudden?
The girl paused as well, her eyes on the metal door. The only entrance and exit. The metal began to change color. From a dull red to a sudden hot white. And then it melted to the ground slowly.
Behind it was a man in armor that glowed an even hotter white than the door that he had just destroyed. "My apologies. It seems I am a bit too far away from the king." He said sheepishly, stepping over the pile of melted metal into the room. He looked around the abandoned warehouse confused. "Hmm, this isn't the way to the castle. Did I take a wrong turn somewhere..."
"Sir Kazuki?" Aldrich asked. How had he ended up here of all places.
Beside him the girl shifted uncomfortably. The light being emitted from the knight's armor was irksome. A ray touched one of her shadows and it shrunk back in fear.
She let out a sound of annoyance at the sudden interruption. "How unfortunate, it seems we'll have to pick up on our little chat another time..."
She moved away from Sir Kazuki's vicinity, backing into the shadows of the room. In a few seconds she had all but dematerialized.
"My name is Nildi by the way." One last whisper in Aldrich's ear went. "Don't forget it, because I won't forget yours..."
And then the voice faded, and the last trace of the strange girl with it. Why did that last part sound like a threat, Aldrich thought to himself.
"Did I come at the wrong time?" Sir Kazuki asked, unsure of what was happening.
Aldrich shook his head. The knight had arrived at the perfect time even. He didn't speak because he found his throat impossibly dry.
Sir Kazuki noticed. "I've stayed for too long. I shall take my leave now. Farewell... Aldrich was it?"
Aldrich was surprised he remembered his name. The knight of brilliance turned around with a sweep and walked back out the door.
From across the room Shans groaned, slowly opening his eyes. "Why is it so damn hot? I'm literally soaking right now."
x
After Shans had woken up, he and Aldrich hauled his still unconscious guard back to the inn. Aldrich was not sure exactly how to explain that weird encounter to the prince, but Shans never gave him the opportunity to try. He assumed off the bat that they had all just drank too much.
"I have ended up in weirder places after a day of drinking." He told Aldrich back in the inn. "You wouldn't believe some of them."
He gazed down at the knight out of her armor, sleeping on his bed. "I have no idea how you convinced Rhea to drink as well though."
He slapped Aldrich's shoulder laughing. "I've been trying for ages to get her out of that armor. It's a shame such a pretty face is always covered up in that ghastly armor."
Aldrich placed a hand over where he had just been swatted. The prince moved to the window and gazed outside. "I wonder where Rakshasa went. She'll love this story."
Aldrich doubted that, but didn't bother saying. Instead he stood in silence, still thinking about the strange girl in the shadows. Weirdly he found himself unable to recall what her face looked like, and with every second that passed their encounter seemed to get more and more blurry in his head.
He sighed, shaking his head. Honestly, there was so much going on these days.