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Black Knight
I dreamt like it was real again, standing on an unfinished tower made of wood with pale brick.
My little hands and scaly body of a child leaned forwards. Clawed fingers clutching to the concrete wall, only half-built. The grown-up Drownei civilians, way below, hurried around the village. Even the humans, dwellven, winged and fish people came to work for us. To support Midkyron's world union.
And our people were the only ones to lead it.
The capital of our new kingdom, Kyronia, looked like a tiny town for now. A little drab with the cloudy weather. And with a river of lava beneath this future palace, a bit dangerous for even a resistant kid like me. But nobody could deny all was stable.
Besides, father said all was being constructed with a passion.
I turned around to see him behind, climbing out from the temporary ladder placed for workers.
"Kallei!"
Father walked to me, with his richly-decorated white robes, and an empty crown on his head as our people prepared another for the gems.
"I've been looking everywhere for you. Even your brother knows I can't keep track of everything each time."
Then as he stood to my side, he stopped to look at my view. And the new king smiled. His eyes lit up in a confident beam.
"What a view, hm?"
I stared at our settlement as we stood above the people.
"Lucky us." Words of the overlord repeated from my mouth."It's ours forever."
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A roar underground with a rumble opened my eyes. And I sat forwards in a jolt.
My hand clutched onto my forehead, gripping the corners of my spiny hair. It ached beneath for a few seconds until the pain faded.
I felt as though I've escaped a distant memory. Of a life I shouldn't have left.
But the feeling dissippated too, with its details becoming blurred.
Everybody around me leaned up with shouts and mutters of surprise.
Aziel awoke with a panicked gasp, standing from her bed and raising each finger ring, in a spell-casting position.
I unsheathed the longsword from my waist, almost stumbling while I planted both feet on the floorboards.
Even the Dwellven sibling Jade gasped a bit as she woke up. Her hand clumsily clutched onto the bronze scepter, and the other towards her pointed hat.
The only questers missing were her brother, along with the Flivian who took over guarding earlier.
The ground shook again, with sounds of quick footsteps approaching, before our door was swung open.
"We have to get out of here now!"
Thorne exclaimed to us, standing outside the doorframe like a silhouette.
"I'm going to the headmaster." Vexx said beside him while flying away.
While wearing my spiked helmet, apparently?
I briefly shook my head in all the confusion. Gripping onto another dark hair part, and blinking more to fully wake up. There was barely any remembering of what I just had a dream about.
"What is even going on?"
I questioned as we all ran out to the hallways, feeling the deep vibrations under our toes.
Vexx returned with every puzzled troop, surrounding Headmaster Chronisius, as if it was common practice.
So Thorne began stumbling over the first word. "Well- long story short; a guardian Cynid monster has been revived within a sort of. . . underground fight club using cave beasts."
"Hah! That means you trained a baby Cynid??" Jade declared to him at once, while everyone headed towards the stairs with them. "I knew it, I knew you were hiding something!"
"The bloodstone activation from Valeria probably revived the mother beast, with the others of its kind."
Thorne realized with scrunched eyebrows.
"So. . . they're probably more attracted to their parent."
"How'd you even tame it??"
"It senses your fear. Simply trust, I suppose"
Vexx turned to me strangely while we quickly followed, waiting for soldiers trailing behind. A short expression of his hesitance turning into a confident wink. Like he was hiding something."Good thing I skillfully performed my duty of patrolling, am I right?"
"Why and how do you have my helmet?"
". . .ah, this thing?"
He was holding the head covering from his face, curling his bottom lip outwards casually.
"Eh, I found it on your brother. You're lucky I didn't sell it or anything."
The winged person tossed it over to me while fluttering past.
I blinked once more while my hands caught it. "You're explaining a lot when this is over."
Then as we all made it to the bottom floor, the sounds of hurried people started to flood our ears. And the room began to increasingly shake.
Crowds of Dwellven poured out from the backdoor near the counter. They ran for the entrance, and the lantern-lit walls began to crumble and sink lower, along with the ground of tiled wood.
"We must flee with them." Headmaster Chronisius commanded at the sight. "Hurry, questers!"
But while his guarding troops surrounded him at the forefront, I stared back towards the others, my frozen self right behind the robed leader.
Aziel was assisting one of the Dwellvens, trying to remove a huge fallen piece of the roof that trapped the a lanky man underneath. More pieces of the ceiling collapsed and barricaded more escapees from passing through.
I thought about following the headmaster to save my own life. But I remembered what the righteous leader said a few days back. We all had been chosen as prophesied 'heroes'.
By remembering definition, was it correct for a 'hero' to leave the innocent behind?
Every person thought I was evil, and purely that, because the Drownei are. I might as well leave a good impression.
So I stayed at the back and ran towards Aziel.
Braided and sooted, she struggled to lift off the fallen rubble that caught the figure, and entrapped the other civilians. Before she could possibly use her burning rings, I stepped forwards and grabbed each solid piece like feathers, throwing them to the quaking walls and floors.
Aziel stood with a stunned wordless demeanor. I reached a hand out to the wavy-haired person uncovered after being stuck.
And as I saw his scarred facial appearance, Finber managed to rise up with my help.
The aproned worker's legs were a bit weak. So I put his skinny arm around my neck with no time to waste.
"Escort every last one of them out."
I told Aziel loud and clear. Which she was already doing anyway, despite her apparent surprise of my decisions. At least I was given a respectable nod.
Though as I moved forwards, the wizard girl Jade stood beside us while holding her scepter, approaching Aziel a little too late while we exchanged surprised glances.
"I can help you with that too, Miss Korr!"
"Jade, you're still here??" She exclaimed. "Your brother needs you safe over there."
"Nonsense!"
Then the trainee raised her spellcaster weapon up. It glowed another bright green, as the cracks beginning to open in the floor struggled to shut. But the effort was just enough for everyone remaining to run past.
After allowing each individual to move in front of us, Jade followed Aziel and I, rushing to the exit at the other side of the room.
Finally, we made it to the double doors held open by the headmaster's troops. Where the members of our squad were waiting, within the panicked cavern settlements.
A brief moment passed. A tug in my gut warned me again. Similiar to when I met the man wielding the dark gemstone.
With a gust of wind, I saw the flashing image of a familiar beast beyond the exit as it soared by.
And atop the Skollur rode the blurred figure with a cloak and steel mask. Another man and his soldiers, wearing a variety of different armour, sat behind him.
My brother at the front locked his covered eyes at me. Then they flew off.
Snapping out of the sight after pausing too long, I unwrapped Finber's arm as the group took him into safe hands.
Thorne's sister was right behind him. About to step back outside.
And she was briefly pushed forwards by her heroine before danger struck.
The cracked wooden floors split open beneath Aziel and I, revealing a tunnel dug deep below. Hints of a gigantic arachnid with smaller ones, inside the hole, crawled away from our view. The tavern building began to plummet into the depths.
I became the first to react while standing by her. Immediately grasping Aziel's hand, while the human's pale face showcased pure fear.
My metal boots stumbled once more on the cliff's edge. As I tried to pull her upwards within the millisecond, I was slipping away from even ground.
It was too late.
Both of us fell into the dark abyss.