Crimson Twilight: Dusk

Chapter 12: Armored Darkness

"We shall make our base deep in their desert. Scout ahead with your troop, Agranias, destroy any who would lay eyes upon you."

The Lord of Death's orders were simple enough and Agranias executed them to the letter. Riding at the head of the abysmal knight troop; he scanned the endless stretch of sand for anyone who might be a witness to the coming of his lord's army. The noon sun beat on his helm mercilessly; heating the metal until it burned to the touch. He wasn't bothered however. The only irritation he had about the sun was that it made vision slightly difficult. Though hindered, his vision did pick up a small grove of trees. An oasis. He raised a hand to stop the rest of the troop. His second rode beside him; bow already in hand. "Stay here and watch for anyone leaving that oasis." he ordered them "I will see if there are possible witnesses within." His second nodded and the rest of the troop moved into formation. Without another word, he rode into the stand of trees.

The sand kept his horse's hoof falls silent enough to sneak up on the unwary and no one could possibly expect to encounter an abysmal knight in this place. His horse, Domnadriel, slowed to walking pace as soon as he was a few feet away from the first tree. He parted some leaves as he entered the grove. If there were any people here, they would be by the water. The oasis was actually large, once he had neared it. It was made up of several pools of water and surrounded by trees all around. It was by one pool, one of the smaller ones, that he encountered someone. 'A human female, wearing purple cloth, a dress with a holy symbol on the chest. A priestess.' he carefully analyzed the person. She was kneeling by pool by herself, staring at the reflected image. Domnadriel took another step. This time, his hoof make a muffled thud on the sand. At the sound of it, the priestess looked up. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized what stood in front of her. Agranias drew his sword from its sheath. The black blade did not gleam in the desert sun, as if it were more a hole that sucked in even light. "You have seen me and must now die." was all that he told her before spurring Domnadriel to a trot. In response, she raised a hand. A blast of concentrated light struck him on the chest but the force did not so much as make him hesitate. He rode on, his sword ready for a killing stroke.

"Lystra! What's going on? Oh God, why is there an abysmal knight here!" someone cried out from behind the priestess.

Agranias spurred Domnadriel on. There were more people here and they all had to die. Domnadriel suddenly reared up as an enormous wall of ice, seemingly conjured from the air, materialized in front of him. Several men; wizards from the way they dressed, had joined the priestess. One of them helped her to her feet while the others began casting spells. He recovered with ease and brought his dark sword down on the wall. The ice shattered like cracked glass and Domnadriel moved on. More walls appeared in succession in front of him but he dealt with them with the same ease as he did the first. Before one wizard could finish casting his next spell, Agranias was already upon him. Domnadriel reared up, plunging the man in shadow. His hooves came down with brutal force, smashing bones and trampling the man into the bloody sand. The other wizard tried to run back but the abysmal knight's blade found the middle of his shoulder blades; slicing right through as if it were cutting tenderized meat. The priestess sent another blast of holy light at him but he ignored them as if they were flies landing on his armor. She cast the spells frantically until her wizard companion dragged her away.

"There's no way we can match it! We have to get away!" the wizard told her. A logical choice. At least one of them was thinking. Another wizard and a pair of priests came into the pool as well. One of the priests started a prayer and a small pool of swirling light appeared by his feet.

Agranias recognized the warp portal and moved to kill the caster before they escaped. A single escapee would be disastrous for his mission. Before he could even near the man, however, an arrow, black and large enough to be a small javelin, suddenly found its mark on the priest's chest. The swirling light vanished and he fell over dead long before his companions could even begin to heal him. "Aelumina!" Agranias cursed silently. Once more, his second had gone ahead without his instructions. He was going to have to discipline her again. Sure enough, the entire troop burst into the oasis; riding at top speed despite the foliage. Trees snapped and plants were trampled as they barged into the area. Another black arrow flew through the air; striking the remaining priest dead. All that was left was the wizard and the priestess that Agranias first encountered. They had run a good distance but another black arrow had found its mark on the wizard's leg; forcing him to hobble away from the oasis. Unless the priestess abandoned him and ran, they were going to get caught. Suddenly, the priestess stood still and began casting a spell. Before Aelumina could fire on her, she had completed a warp portal. She heaved the wizard into the swirling light before collapsing. The portal had closed only a few seconds after opening. Realizing that a survivor had escaped, Agranias suddenly turned to face his second; his dark sword whipping about and pointing directly at her. "Shoot another arrow, Aelumina, and you will lose your right hand." he warned. The priestess was as good as dead but there was something about her actions that struck him strange. He had to ride to her alone.

Seeing her death ride out to her, the lone priestess stood up; her legs shaking more out of fatigue than fear. Agranias towered over her; casting her in shadow. His dark sword pointed directly at her chest. "Why did you do that?" he asked.

The priestess was taken aback. Though he had spoken to her earlier, she still seemed unused to the idea of this armored monster. "What?" she replied.

Agranias repeated his question; adding some observation as well. "If you jumped into the portal you could have escaped. Why doom yourself and let him live?" he asked.

She was silent for a while. Agranias looked at her carefully. She looked very young, perhaps at the very beginning of priestesshood. Her hair was combed to one side; almost falling over one eye. It reached up to her shoulders. Her pale skin was reddened by too much sun. Despite her fear, she stared defiantly at Agranias through dark brown eyes. For a brief moment, he felt that she could see what he looked like underneath his helm. Finally, she answered. "I cannot live with myself knowing I could have saved a life but didn't. For a friend's life, I will give mine."

"He is not your liege. Nothing is to be gained should he be the one to live instead of you. It is a pointless trade you have made, priestess, one that you would come out of worse than before." Agranias replied. He prepared to stab the priestess. Perhaps her decision was nothing more but the product of being out in this sun for too long.

"It was not a trade, abysmal knight." the priestess answered. "A gift of my life is what I gave him. You may not believe me but I have not come out of it worse off. If you can only look at the world through lieges and servants. You will not understand it."

Agranias paused for a while. She was addled for sure but she did not exhibit other symptoms of delirium or any confusion due to heat. There was something in the way she stared back at him that made it feel like she stood on an equal footing with him. Before he could reply, however, the sound of hoof falls resounded behind him. Aelumina had led the troop forward yet again.

"What are you waiting for?" Aelumina asked. "Finish her!"

Agranias hesitated a bit more until he saw the priestess raise a hand for one last spell. His right arm moved on its own; plunging his dark sword into her chest. She looked at the blade for the moment and then at him. Her gaze seemed to look past the slits in his helm before she fell face forward into the sand. Cursing silently, Agranias whipped his sword about to clean it of blood.

"You hesitated, Agranias." Aelumina sneered.

In response, Agranias backhanded her. She fell off her mount at the force of the blow but quickly regained her footing. He stared down at her before riding on. The mission was a failure, someone had survived their assault. Still, the damage would be minimal. All that wizard saw was a troop of abysmal knights. He would have no idea that they were but the tip of a far greater threat. "Pick yourself up, Aelumina. You will be punished for this." he answered her. The punishment would come later though. They still had plenty of distance to cover.

And more killing to do.

Agranias suddenly woke up to find himself inside the infirmary. The priestess, Silmeia, had asked him to stay there for at least a day. His gaze fell upon the portrait even as he cleared his head of memories. "Lystra." he spoke the name softly. "So that was your name. I wish I had known you through different circumstances. Is it fate that brought me to your sister instead?" He rose from the bed and prepared to leave. He had completely recovered from his wounds anyway.

"Not so fast, black boy!" someone bellowed.

Agranias found himself face to face with the knight he had encountered yesterday. This Gardzen Haelungrein irked him with his bluster and acted as if he could beat someone like him easily. He did not fear this man's power. He was not so special. He was tall for an ordinary person; over six feet in height with broad shoulders and a large torso. He was heavy for his height and that weight did not come from mere fat. Agranias was not impressed. He had slain thousands like him without pity. 'Him again.' he thought. He refused to simply kill the man, as was his usual practice when someone seemed to be challenging him. He was among people once again and he had to look for the proper ways to react to this.

Sir Gardzen raised himself to full height. It didn't matter to him that the knight he was trying to intimidate stood a foot taller than him. "Sialsanderin isn't here to save your hide, black boy!" he sneered. "I'm going to teach you a lesson for distracting Silmeia!"

Agranias still couldn't relate to the knight's problem. Why was it so important for Silmeia to watch him? He didn't want any trouble though. If he fought here, someone might recognize him. Worse; he might kill someone again. He tried some simple reasoning. He knew that much at least. "I don't want to fight you, knight." he offered.

Gardzen grinned mercilessly. This Agranias was big but he acted like a complete pushover. "Of course you don't." he answered. "No one wants to get in the arena with Gardzen Haelungrein! You'll have to any way! I'll be waiting in the arena, pretty boy!"

Agranias sighed in relief as the knight walked away. He was determined to avoid the arena at all costs.

Agranias spent the whole morning wandering the streets of Prontera. The peaceful atmosphere of the bustling metropolis brought a slight smile to his lips. He had never seen a place so…alive. The streets were free of the violence and darkness of Glastheim. Ever since he awakened, he had only known the silence of a desolate battlefield. Prontera's atmosphere was a relaxing change. People in the streets greeted him as a knight even though many were perplexed by his black armor. He also appreciated how he could walk past a group of knights without having to slay them. 'This kind of life.' he thought. 'I wonder why the Lord of Death would want to destroy this.'

Agranias watched the way Prontera's citizens interacted with each other with such interest that he didn't notice the time go by. The afternoon sun soon shed its light on him. He continued to watch as a group of acolytes approached him. "You're Sir Agranias right?" one of them asked.

The acolytes that stood in front of Agranias were mostly young girls. There were three of them. He guessed that they were in the earlier part of the training. For some reason, he could not imagine standing over their remains even though it was but a few days ago when he could have done so without a second thought. "Yes, I am Agranias." he answered. He remained seated so he didn't have to look down on them. The lead acolyte, the oldest looking one in their group, stared indignantly at him. Blue eyes seemed to quiver with fear and indignation at the same time. The other two kept behind her; giving and taking support at the same time.

"How could you say that about Head Priestess Cafilence?" she asked. "She found you and took care of you and now you're spreading such vile rumors!"

Agranias raised an eyebrow. "What? I have done no such thing!" he answered.

The acolytes looked perplexed at Agranias's answer. He reached only one conclusion. 'That noisy fool, Gardzen!'

Word quickly spread among Prontera's knights. "The knight in black" as they had called him, Sir Agranias had accepted Skirmisher Gardzen's challenge to clear his name of the knight's accusation.

When one of the arena's officials began to explain the rules of dueling to him, Agranias encountered some difficulty understanding the concept of it. Fighting someone with steel and trying not to kill was perplexing to him. He was too used to seeing death occur with each swing of his arm. Their match was set in the late afternoon. A few hours seemed to fly by. He found himself in the arena; facing a fully armored Gardzen who came at him with a claymore. He was given a two-handed sword when the knights realized that he did not carry a weapon. Gardzen sneered as he urged his pecopeco forward. "This is the end of you, black boy!" he roared.

The claymore swung directly towards Agranias's armored chest.

And promptly bounced right off.

Gardzen's eyes widened in disbelief even as the black-armored knight reached towards him. A pair of hands, with armor-denting grips, lifted him off his feet and hurled him several feet into the air. He crashed several feet away from his opponent; his claymore clattering right next to him. He scrambled for his weapon and stood up; watching his opponent warily. He refused to think that this pushover had just tossed him around like a rag doll.

Agranias stared at Gardzen curiously. He simply could not understand why his opponent was going through so much trouble over the fact that he prevented Silmeia from watching anything. It was best just to ask the man. He doubted if this Gardzen would provide an answer that was the least bit intelligible. "Gardzen, why do you have to go through this?" he asked. "What is it you want from the priestess?"

Gardzen swung his claymore with both hands; aiming at his opponent's legs. To his surprise, Sir Agranias, grabbed the blade in mid-swing and held it in place despite his strongest efforts to push it through or pull it back. The dark-armored knight didn't even look like he was straining from the effort to hold the attack back. Panting, he decided to answer anyway. He wasn't ashamed of his reasons. "Do you want to know why, black boy?" he asked in return.

Gardzen forced a grin as he put his entire weight on his weapon. A crowd had gathered to watch the duel. Many of them were knights who were curious at how well Sir Agranias could fight. They were silent though. It was rare for Gardzen to have so much difficulty over an opponent. "Because I want her, black boy!" he continued. "Her beauty and power…it would be a grand conquest to take her and bend her to my desires."

Gardzen licked his lips as he said these things. Agranias's eyes narrowed with recollection and fury. "Bend them to my will." He only knew one being who said such words.

Agranias's eyes widened. "You sound exactly like him!" he shouted. He snapped the claymore in two. Gardzen stepped back and watched him in disbelief. Fear twisted the skirmisher's face as he tripped and fell on his back. "You are nothing before him!" Agranias continued. "What is your power to his might? Nothing! Less than nothing! Yet speak using his tone and arrogance! How dare you?" Agranias's hand went to the two-handed sword. To his strength it would feel like he was carrying a dagger. It was then that he caught sight of Silmeia standing amidst the crowds. His outrage quickly dissipated like a dying flame. 'No. This man knows nothing after all. I will not kill him." he whispered. He released his sword and smashed his fist on Gardzen's face. His opponent wore no helmet and neither did he. Blood spattered on the ground and dripped from the metal of his gauntlet.

The skirmisher sprawled to the ground. While he had the strength to rise, he dreaded having to face the black-armored monster before him.

Agranias turned his back to the fallen knight. Gardzen's face was a bloody mess. A massive bruise had began to swell and purple on his left cheek. "I will protect this city from him just as I will protect her from you." he said firmly. "This I swear on my new life."