She stared at the shimmering pool before her, a faint reflection of herself curiously staring back as she took in the glittering stars in a void of darkness. It was unsettling to see the night sky before her instead of above, especially in a cavern on the edge of the world. She had heard stories from fellow Knights and old Mages that their Kingdom bordered oblivion, that the ancients of past had wielded the power of the universe and torn the fabric of existence around them. She had passed them off as fables of feeble minds. Now though, she felt herself ignorant of all she had known.
She drew in a deep steady breath, her toned frame flexing under her dark leather cuirass. The palm of her tanned left hand rested on the golden pommel of her short sword, while her right finally brought the unusual amulet she had been carrying, up between her and the barrier. She stared at the glowing orbs that levitated with a white aura mere inches above her open hand. They rotated on their own, circling an intricately knotted piece that appeared to be two snakes weaving around one another and eating their own tails. It crackled with a Magic she had never experienced before and when the old man at the entrance of the waterfall guarding this cavern had passed it off to her, he said not a word about it. As if it was not to be questioned or talked about, simply to accept that it be.
In truth, there had been little shared to her along this journey. She asked questions, received basic instructions to her next individual or destination, and was then dismissed to travel onward. Perhaps her reputation as her Queen's finest Knight had preceded her further than she thought. Or perhaps the severity of her quest had been shared quickly among even the lowest of creatures and no one sought to intervene. The weight of why she was here in the first place returned like a heavy cloak and she felt her shoulders curl inward, drawing the disturbing amulet closer to her body.
War among other Kingdoms had been ravaging their lands for years. Fields that once held prosperous crops now laid muddy with unmarked graves. Towns that had once bustled with travelers and locals alike going about their day today now rested in ruins, some burned so low into the ground they had sunk into the earth like a black pit of decay. Souls once alight with life now flickered with mourning and death, and she could no longer take it. Men with soured minds and more anger than they could contain were tearing scars upon their world and quickly closing in on her homeland.
On her Kingdom.
On her love.
A Knight should never have to know the sound of tears as her Queen weeps at night with fears of monsters that thrive on rivers of blood. Her cries echo on stones, barely muffled by warm sheets, as she aches for answers to save them all...including the soul of an heir that was soon to be born. It shattered her heart and filled her with a rage only a mother could know. She had wanted to build armies, to charge off with any who would follow and pierce these demons with her blade until none were left. But when she saw the eyes of her men, so willing to follow--and willing to die in her pursuit, she could not allow herself to be their harbinger to the Lady of the Reaping.
So she sought out other means, traded all fortunes she had ever possessed and finally found a single frail woman with answers she had never dreamed of. Together, sat in front of a stone hearth, their bellies warmed by stew, the partially blind woman had told her that to stop such evil she would need to travel to another land, one rich with inventions and magic--the likes of which she knew not. There, she would find a man, a Jumper who knew how to travel to places existing outside of their own, and he would lead her to a council, a great assembling of rulers who would hear her plea and give her the necessary tools to cleanse this world of the spawn devouring it.
She had presented her then with a map, tattered and worn just like her, and told her to make haste--that time only waits for the dying. She had departed moments later and not stopped to rest since, sleeping even in saddle on the horse she had been forced to abandon once she had reached massive cascading falls. Before passing into the water blocked cavern, she had wrote what she felt were her last words to her love on the beloved map, and had sent it off with a mighty Falcon that had heard her call for a herald. It was unlikely the note would reach her Queen before she passed through the portal, but she hoped, with a thundering in her heart, that she knew the words nonetheless should she fail and never return.
With another steadying breath, her eyes flickered between the amulet and the portal, before she secured her grip on both it and her sword, and took the last remaining steps. A sensation of charged air wrapping around her frame as the rushing of water fell into silence suddenly greeted her. They had been true, in their words, it was like nothing she had ever known. Her senses were everywhere and nowhere at once. And here, in these seconds, as she felt herself begin to dissolve to float between the stars, the echoes of her last words, still being carried on wings back to her Kingdom, filled the infinite space.
'Should night fall upon you as you read this, my love, know that I have Crossed the Heavens and moved Earths to save you and our child. And one day, even if it is not on the morrow, we will meet again, for I exist only because of you.'
She drew in a deep steady breath, her toned frame flexing under her dark leather cuirass. The palm of her tanned left hand rested on the golden pommel of her short sword, while her right finally brought the unusual amulet she had been carrying, up between her and the barrier. She stared at the glowing orbs that levitated with a white aura mere inches above her open hand. They rotated on their own, circling an intricately knotted piece that appeared to be two snakes weaving around one another and eating their own tails. It crackled with a Magic she had never experienced before and when the old man at the entrance of the waterfall guarding this cavern had passed it off to her, he said not a word about it. As if it was not to be questioned or talked about, simply to accept that it be.
In truth, there had been little shared to her along this journey. She asked questions, received basic instructions to her next individual or destination, and was then dismissed to travel onward. Perhaps her reputation as her Queen's finest Knight had preceded her further than she thought. Or perhaps the severity of her quest had been shared quickly among even the lowest of creatures and no one sought to intervene. The weight of why she was here in the first place returned like a heavy cloak and she felt her shoulders curl inward, drawing the disturbing amulet closer to her body.
War among other Kingdoms had been ravaging their lands for years. Fields that once held prosperous crops now laid muddy with unmarked graves. Towns that had once bustled with travelers and locals alike going about their day today now rested in ruins, some burned so low into the ground they had sunk into the earth like a black pit of decay. Souls once alight with life now flickered with mourning and death, and she could no longer take it. Men with soured minds and more anger than they could contain were tearing scars upon their world and quickly closing in on her homeland.
On her Kingdom.
On her love.
A Knight should never have to know the sound of tears as her Queen weeps at night with fears of monsters that thrive on rivers of blood. Her cries echo on stones, barely muffled by warm sheets, as she aches for answers to save them all...including the soul of an heir that was soon to be born. It shattered her heart and filled her with a rage only a mother could know. She had wanted to build armies, to charge off with any who would follow and pierce these demons with her blade until none were left. But when she saw the eyes of her men, so willing to follow--and willing to die in her pursuit, she could not allow herself to be their harbinger to the Lady of the Reaping.
So she sought out other means, traded all fortunes she had ever possessed and finally found a single frail woman with answers she had never dreamed of. Together, sat in front of a stone hearth, their bellies warmed by stew, the partially blind woman had told her that to stop such evil she would need to travel to another land, one rich with inventions and magic--the likes of which she knew not. There, she would find a man, a Jumper who knew how to travel to places existing outside of their own, and he would lead her to a council, a great assembling of rulers who would hear her plea and give her the necessary tools to cleanse this world of the spawn devouring it.
She had presented her then with a map, tattered and worn just like her, and told her to make haste--that time only waits for the dying. She had departed moments later and not stopped to rest since, sleeping even in saddle on the horse she had been forced to abandon once she had reached massive cascading falls. Before passing into the water blocked cavern, she had wrote what she felt were her last words to her love on the beloved map, and had sent it off with a mighty Falcon that had heard her call for a herald. It was unlikely the note would reach her Queen before she passed through the portal, but she hoped, with a thundering in her heart, that she knew the words nonetheless should she fail and never return.
With another steadying breath, her eyes flickered between the amulet and the portal, before she secured her grip on both it and her sword, and took the last remaining steps. A sensation of charged air wrapping around her frame as the rushing of water fell into silence suddenly greeted her. They had been true, in their words, it was like nothing she had ever known. Her senses were everywhere and nowhere at once. And here, in these seconds, as she felt herself begin to dissolve to float between the stars, the echoes of her last words, still being carried on wings back to her Kingdom, filled the infinite space.
'Should night fall upon you as you read this, my love, know that I have Crossed the Heavens and moved Earths to save you and our child. And one day, even if it is not on the morrow, we will meet again, for I exist only because of you.'
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