Chapter 3: Defend the Ranch
Psuuchh! Psuuchh! "What was that?" Cremia thinks to herself as the noise wakes her up. She looks outside the window to see bright orange lights spawning all over Romani Ranch. She looks at Romani's bed and notices that she is missing. On instinct, Cremia bolts outside shouting, "where are you Romani!?" To her surprise, she sees Romani shooting her arrows at what appears to be the "ghosts" Romani is talking about.
"Sis, they're here!" Romani shouts to Cremia. Romani takes aim at another ghost, "the ghosts are here! They are after the cows!" Cremia stares in horror at the ghosts coming before the ranch. With each one Romani vanquishes, another one spawns. She thought Romani was just joking when she mentioned the ghosts. To her surprise, the ghosts are very real. She could do nothing but stares in confusion and horror at what is happening right before her very eyes.
Purple beings with bright orange eyes and long hands are hovering over the ground towards the ranch. Their eyes are empty and show no feelings but evil. An evil unearthly orange aura glows around each being. Cremia could do nothing but be frozen in fear as they move towards the ranch.
As the ghosts come closer and closer, Romani is running out of arrows. "Sis, do something!" Romani shouts to her sister. Cremia snaps out of her fear and realizes her situation. She heads to the barn and brings out a pitchfork to drive the ghosts away. As one ghost comes close to her, she stabs it with the pitchfork. Instantly, the ghost vanishes but another one appears. Soon more ghosts appear.
As they defeat more and more ghosts, more and more ghosts spawn as well. Soon, weariness overwhelms Cremia and Romani. They no longer have the strength to fend off the ghost and morning is still an hour away. They are exhausted. As the ghosts approach the barn, a ghost grabs Romani and carries her to the barn.
"Help! Cremia! Sis!" Romani screams to her sister. Too exhausted, Cremia could do nothing but collapse on her knees and watch what is happening before her. Romani is dragged to the barn. Suddenly, the roof bursts opened and an orange sphere hovers above the barn. "Awwwwwww!" Romani screams as the orange sphere lifts her into the air along with the ghosts and the rest of their cows.
"Romaniii!" Cremia cries out as she lays down on the ground with tears stream downing her face and her hand reaching out. It is such a depressing day for Cremia. First, she has to take care of everything by herself. Secondly, Kafei gets married. And now strange beings are taking away her sister Romani and the cows. Everything now seems to just be a nightmare for Cremia as she closes her eyes, grits her teeth, and clenches both of her fists.
"Hiiiyaaa!" a man screams. Cremia looks up to find the orange sphere enveloped in a silvery blue glow. The sphere shakes violently as it throws Romani and the cows back into the barn. Luckily, neither Romani nor the cows are hurt because of the soft hay. Cremia sighs and thanks herself for having extra hay in the barn.
"Heeeh!" the man screams again as silvery blue circular disks fly towards the ghosts. One by one, the ghosts vanishes as the circular disks hit each one. "Saaaahaaaaa!" the man roars as he fires a giant circular disk at the now sky blue sphere. On impact, the sphere explodes and the ghosts halt their movements with the sphere's demise. More and more disks connect with each ghost, obliterating each and every last one of them.
The sun has just risen as the last ghost is disposed. Cremia turns toward her savior. The morning sun reveals who he is and it appears that he is the same man who she saw sneaking around the bush the other day and the one who reached out his hand to her shoulder on Anju's wedding day. Cremia tries to get up but fatigue envelops her and she tumbles back onto the ground, too exhausted from the event. Cremia looks into his blue eyes, radiating brightly along with his silver hair as the sun climbs up the horizon. Her eyes begin to close as the young man approaches her. Soon, her eyes close completely and all is dark as Cremia passes out into the morning.
Cremia suddenly wakes up from her bed. To her surprise, she is in her bed covered by the soft warm blanket her parents gave to her before they passed away. Slowly, she takes off her blanket and finds that her clothes are dirty. This proves that what happened last night is real and then it hit her. "Romani!" she gasps and then looks at the other side of the bedroom. To her relief, Romani is still sleeping as well. This brought great relief to Cremia as she sighs. Then she remembers the young man who saved her and her sister. Without him, they would have been goners. "Who is this man?" she thinks to herself as she cuddles the warm blanket back to sleep.
Chapter 4 of Silver Knight will be updated next week on Friday, April 12th, 2013.
