The Knight and the Princess
He knew he loved her the moment he saw her.
Oh not the kind of love that was blinded passion or unconditional devotion. It was the kind of affection that one feels for the hilt of a newly-minted sword or the scent of a rose. She was certainly akin to the latter, delicate and beautiful. And like the former she was also, full of steel-will, amid the tatters of her dress.
While the others searched the perimeter, healed his comrades and generally looted the temple, he took a sword to her chains, cracking them in mere minutes. Then he took her small hand in his and helped her stand, though he had the impression she was strong enough to do so on her own.
"Are you Princess Sarah?" His plate armor clinked as he walked with her toward the exit.
She smiled and said. "Yes, and you are?"
He hesitated. He had no name he was aware of. "I'm....a Warrior of Light. Come. I will take you from this evil place."
Her smiled deepened. "Okay...Warrior."
And so "Warrior" did. With his companions they travelled the treacherous terrain back towards her home, Cornelia. All the while he found her cheerfulness and talkative nature infectious. His lips rarely moved except to shout commands to his allies or give directions. She drew out an inquisitive side of him, even for things he'd have considered mundane.
And her strength. A princess could, and would, normally sit back and leave the dangerous fighting to her protectors. But Sarah was no ordinary princess. She fought with his parrying knife, and tended to the wounded with a medical proficiency he hadn't guessed was in her.
Upon returning to Castle Cornelia, Warrior and his companions were ushered in by the King. He, his wife Queen Jane and their other daughter, Amy, were ecstatic about Sarah's rescue. Though he and his companions were offered half a kingdom in jewels and gold, they refused it, asking merely for the bridge to the north to be built so they could continue their journey.
They could not tarry. A world needed saving and they were the ones to do it.
As Warrior slept the night before he was to continue his quest, he heard a noise in his bedroom. His sword came up in a flash, but when magical lights came on, there was Sarah. He let out a gasp, apologizing profusely for daring to draw his blade on her. Again, that smile.
A small object was pressed into his hands. A lute.
"If you feel lonely, play it and think of me."
Next morning they set out, the image of Sarah burning in his mind. It was many long weeks before Warrior could see her again. They visited a crabby old witch, tamed some sea-pirates, retrieved a crown, killed a dark elf and saved the prince of elves in Elfhiem. All the while he kept the lute near, playing in the deepest, darkest hours of night to stave off the loneliness of...what?
When Warrior could finally see her again, Sarah was at the gates, her gleaming golden hair like a banner in the breeze. She ignored all pretense and ran up and hugged him. It felt a part of his soul was put in place when he held her. His companions chuckled and made jokes and then they broke apart shortly before the King called them in.
A feast was arranged for them. And for the announcement Steve had--his daughter was old enough to wed, to become the next ruler of Cornelia. Across from Warrior sat a portly, middle-aged man all aglow at being named her soon-to-be husband. Now it felt like a part of Warrior's soul died. Something so intimate inside that he would always be half a man.
Then Sarah fled to her bedchambers. He followed her.
"He does not understand," she said when Warrior stepped within her chambers. She was desperately fighting off tears.
Demons and demi-gods was something he could deal with. This, the tears, he could not. "It'll be alright, I know it." It felt so hollow to say, but it calmed her.
Next morning he was gone again, off to another quest.
Through the decaying earth he and his allies plowed through, felling monsters risen more times than he could count. The vampire nearly did a number on them, but he was nothing compared to the first fiend they fought, the Fiend of Earth. Time and time again they came a hair's breath from failing. But in the end they emerged victorious.
Though Warrior longed to return to Cornelia his companions convinced him to head over to the volcano that threatened one of the villages. While the Earth Cavern was cold as a tomb, fittingly so, the Volcano made him want to strip to bare and dive into Crescent Lake. The monsters in here were even more dangerous than the ones in the cavern, eventually facing them off against the Fiend of Fire. All he could think about was that he would destroy this fiend and then return to Sarah, at least for a little while.
Then he took a sword to the chest.
Warrior barely remembered the end of the battle, the hurried sailing to the nearest village. When he was eventually strong enough to travel further, they returned to Cornelia. The wound still bothered him, but he would rather die than spend another week away from her.
Like before, she waited at the gate for him. When the royal family learned of his near-fatal wound they mothered him, especially little Amy, who clung to his leg like a sea-urchin. His wound was a wonderful excuse to spend more time in Cornelia. In the day he would take walks with the Princess; at nights he would play the lute in her bedchambers. Never did he do anything more than hold her gently, stroke her hair, perhaps a brief goodnight peck on the forehead.
With how kind and generous the King and Queen were, Warrior felt he committed some unpardonable sin. But he could nor more halt his feelings than one could stop themselves from falling after being pushed off a cliff.
And he was falling.
The day came that they had to leave again. As he was suiting up, Sarah called him into her bedchamber. In her hands she held a small stone object and he gasped upon seeing it. It was an identical replica of him!
"I call him George."
"Will you....call me George too?"
Her smile lit up his world. "Yes...George."
Then he was off to save the world again. This time it was many months before he could see her again, because after conquering the Ice Cavern, he and his companions acquired an airship and flew off to the north. In his heart he knew it was the right thing to do, to not delay in protecting people and restoring the Crystals. Only the lute kept his spirits up.
And so Warrior braced the dark waters of the Seashrine. Though many a beautiful mermaid was rescued by him, not a single one deterred his attention from slaying the fiend and returning to Sarah. Why did that matter so much to him? She was not his. He was not hers. They had no real ties to the other. He could dally with whomever he wanted.
But he did not want.
Several times he and his comrades flirted with death when they finally found and challenged the Fiend of Water. Twice as strong as the last fiend, they found themselves nearly beaten several times, but again they were the ones to win the bout.
At this point Warrior pleaded with his companions to rush back to Cornelia. But their advice was sound. They were already high in the north, and the last fiend remained. If they could kill her, they could restore the last crystal and end this quest forever.
This time they had two fortifications to conquer: the Tower of Illusions and the Flying Fortress. The first was hard enough, but the fortress drained every single ounce of courage and strength from them. At one point they even got horribly lost until they eventually figured out that the room was bespelled and they had to just walk two corridors up then left.
Then they stood before the final fiend. And just as how her fortress made all of the other fiends domains seem like a hunting trip, so was her own might. They all nearly died at some point, battered from her magical array and beaten from her fierce claws. Steeped in blood, Warrior himself landed the final blow.
He couldn't hurry home fast enough.
This time when Sarah greeted him at the gate she didn't just give him a slightly-inappropriate hug; she flung her arms around him and drowned him in a deep kiss. The other light warriors whistled and made more jokes. To Warrior it felt like he finally came home, finally belonged. For a man who knew nothing more than this journey, arriving in Cornelia with no memory save emerging from a forest with a crystal in hand...finally he knew home.
Then they broke apart. She was crying again.
"Don't cry," he whispered. "I'm home, and I'm never leaving you again."
Sarah shook her head. "It's not over and...we can't be together."
His heart sank when he recalled that she was to be wed. Then his brow crinkled.
Up the stairs to the throneroom he ran, hand on his sword to keep it from clanking. Sarah and the others followed, calling his name. When finally Warrior burst into the throneroom, he saw the King and the Queen on their thrones talking. They stopped, shocked, when he entered and fell to a knee, head bowed.
"I know I'm but a lowly knight, not worthy of the hand of your daughter, a princess."
"George..." Sarah stood in the room. His companions stayed in the hall beyond.
"But I beg for the chance to earn it if...if she'd have it." He did not look up, dared not, afraid his emotions were far too raw.
But still he sensed her smile. "I will wed George."
"Sarah..." Queen Jane shook her head. "You could not rule with him as your husband."
"Then I shall abdicate."
Warrior...rather, George, stood up. "No, Sarah I can't have you give that up."
"I have made my choice." The Princess stepped over him and took his hand.
Then his companions entered, face grim. They'd been speaking with the prophet. Apparently their quest was not over. By coordinating the energy currents and the diagram in the Flying Fortress he determined that the final fight lay back in the Temple of the Fiends. Unless they destroyed the temple, darkness would cover the land.
"Go," King Steve said. "Do this and you shall have Sarah's hand and you shall rule the kingdom together."
By dawn's light he was at the gate again. For the final time, he swore to himself and to her. Their separation was the hardest ever, even though he knew it would be the last. Something inside George told him not to leave, that this quest would somehow keep them apart forever. But how could he let the whole world plunge into darkness? Sarah deserved a world full of light, so bright to dance off her golden hair and beautiful eyes.
As if the entire might of castles of the fiends had converged upon this single point, the warriors were pushed to their every limit. Level upon level they descended what seemed was straight into hell. His sword never seemed to stop, his mind a blur as he kept on fighting the onslaught. Then it finally happened.
One of his companions died. Nothing they did could save him. It was then that George realized that he might not be coming back, at all.
Then the second and the third fell, til he alone stood in the throneroom of the Temple of the Fiends, face to face with the God of Discord, Chaos.
George didn't even seem to be there as he battled Chaos, the twisted incarnation of Garland. Like he was floating above his own body, and his body had a mind of its own. Parry. Slash. Cut. Dodge. Heal. Parry. Slash. Cut. Dodge. Heal. Blow after blow he took, yet stood on his feet.
When his sword at last delivered the fatal blow to Chaos, the demon uttered something about endless battles and time-loops. It mattered not to George who collapsed next to the body, his own consciousness fading. He would not see Sarah again, not in this world. But maybe, someday, in the next...
*
With a start he awoke.
"Cosmos?"
The golden-haired beauty stood next to his bed, smiling down at him. He sat up. Everything came back to him in an instant...how he'd been summoned to this strange land to defeat the minions of Chaos, along with the nine other Warriors of Cosmos.
"My....my name is George?"
She nodded.
His eyes closed. His voice trembled. "Thank you. That's all I ever wanted...that, and to protect you and the world."
Jumping off the bed, George rushed over to his plate mail armor and hurried to don it. Chaos awaited with his minions so not a moment was to be lost. Already he felt guilty for even asking the Goddess to indulge his desire to know his name. And maybe even a sliver of his past. Or anything she would deign to give him.
Then he heard it. Crying.
"Cosmos? Why are you crying?" He stood up and walked over to her. Something was different about her. No, not different. Just like George could see the Goddess with new eyes. Like he'd finally remembered something.
He did not know if her lips moved towards his or his towards her, but for a moment they were locked.
George pulled back and fell to his knee, head bowed. "Cosmos...please forgive me."
"Do you not know?"
Slowly his head lifted to stare into her gleaming eyes. "Know?"
"Who I am?"
The shake of his head said that he did not.
Turning away, she mumbled, "I'm...Sarah."
As if the image of Princess Sarah was super-imposed on Cosmos's body, she was there, smiling at him. George stood slowly, his eyes glazed, his mouth agape. Sarah? His Sarah? The woman he....he loved? But that was a different world and she a different person.
"How is this all possible?" he heard himself ask.
The tears fell freely now. "Because...I made you."
"What?"
Even as George digested the long story of how Cosmos was in an eternal conflict with Chaos, and how she needed a champion to her cause he could barely breathe. He simply could not believe it as she explained like how Garland was created to be Chaos's champion, so was he hers. That was why he had no memory past Cornelia, why he had no name.
In her hands was the stone carving of him.
"No."
"George..."
His words cut her. "Don't call me George." He took a swipe at the carving and it smashed against the floor.
Hurriedly Warrior flung his armor on, sheathing his sword, reaching for his helmet. Someone held it. Cosmos. Sarah. Whoever she was.
"Please, forgive me..."
The Warrior of Light snatched it from her hands and donned it. For a moment they stared into each other's eyes. Her beauty was marred by reddened eyes. His hand extended towards her like the day in the Order of the Sanctuary. Just as that day he retracted it, defeated. His words were cold as his steel as he explained to her that he would defeat Chaos and end the cycle.
"I made you," she said as he was turning towards the door. "And then I fell in love with you."
Warrior was out the door a moment later.
*
She was dead.
In less than a second she was gone, burned to dust by Chaos's flame. When he and the warriors of Cosmos had come together after their trials, they were ready to take on the God of Discord. And the God of Discord did appear, but within minutes he'd slain the Goddess.
Warrior of Light was devastated, but he didn't have long to despair. He drew his sword to stand his ground with the other champions of Cosmos, but all of them glowed with fire and disappeared, as he himself soon faded to black.
It was utterly dark and cold. There was not one ounce of light in the space that became his world. Yet in the darkness he could hear voices telling him to hold on, to be strong.
Was that Cosmos's voice?
He and the other champions converged at a untouched haven in the Order of the Sanctuary to regroup and prepare to strike back. Warrior didn't allow his despair to consume him, helping his comrades defeat their enemies on their way to the final fight against Chaos. Sometimes he even felt like Cosmos...Sarah, was there, by his side. Guiding him.
He never even got the chance to tell her he loved her.
The last warrior of Cosmos to mount the dais that housed the God of Discord, Warrior felt like every step he took, he was nearing some sort of destiny. Not a destiny he'd chosen, not like the others. They had a life, a home, loved ones to go back to.
Where was he to go when it was all over?
The others stepped back, allowed him to challenge Chaos. Maybe they sensed his destiny too, to slay the God that had taken the woman he'd loved from him.
"Chaos!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
The God of Discord stood up from his throne. "I will extinguish all light."
"Cosmos's..." Warrior shook his head. "No, Sarah's light will always be with me."
If it was even possible, Chaos looked puzzled. "Sarah?"
Warrior of Light screamed out her name and attacked.
It was a battle for the storybooks, the kind that old folks tell to little ones over a campfire. Full of fire and blood and steel it was. Warrior scored barely a hit, resorting to dodging nearly ever minute. His sword felt like an extension of his hand, acting of its own accord. It was a deadly dance against the most powerful being in the universe.
Again it was him against Chaos.
And again he defeated the God of Discord.
Trembling, Warrior fell his knees, gasping, feeling like the life was evaporating from his body. He'd done it. He'd finally brought light to the world. His mission was complete. He could disappear now, because he had nowhere to return to.
"My...my name...is George." Then darkness gleefully took him. .
*
He was walking in a dense forest, a crystal clenched in his hand, approaching a castle.
Who was that standing by the gate?