Crimson Twilight: Dusk

Chapter 24: Human Inhumanity

'The night feels differently here in Prontera.' Agranias thought as he stared at the night sky above him. Despite the clamoring orcs outside its gates, Prontera still held a peaceful atmosphere at its center. There was a certain...resolve that the walls of Prontera showed; resolve and a desire to simply protect its way of life. Glastheim's structures were towering edifices full of their builders' pride and ambition. Constructed of dark gray stones; they reached for the sky like greedy fingers. Its very walls demanded that he expand their horizons by going forth and conquering others.

Prontera's structures were more rounded and compounded. Its walls quietly asked him to protect its place, his place, in the world. He shifted his focus to the sohee beside him. Khaesilya was watching him curiously. He wondered if it was out of suspicion but she did not have that suspicious look in her red eyes.

"Sir Agranias." Khaesilya spoke the name and kept from reading Agranias's surface thoughts. She had done so earlier and she did not like the images of death and darkness that occasionally crossed his mind. While he basically meant no harm, she realized that his abysmal knight nature was still part of him.

"Yes, Khaesilya?" Agranias replied. He weighed his words carefully before speaking them. She was readily trusted by the Priestess Silmeia and her companions meaning that she can expose his true identity to them with a word.

"Why did the Lord of Death abandon you?" Khaesilya asked.

Agranias's eyes narrowed in recollection. He still remembered every minute of that fateful day he left the Lord of Death's service. "Can you tell me a little of yourself first?" He asked. "How are you related to the crusader who often accompanies Priestess Silmeia?" He asked.

Khaesilya allowed a brief smile to curve her lips. "I am a servant of my master, Makaelthos Solcry."

Khaesilya's introduction intrigued Agranias further. He had seen sohee slaves before. He watched them in Glastheim; being carted along into lines towards the laboratories or the lust chambers. Sohee slaves obeyed without question or variety. They followed the bearers of their silver knives of chastity like pets and never spoke unless ordered to. None of these things fit Khaesilya. "In a way, Khaesilya, it was probably I who abandoned him." He answered.

Agranias's words surprised Khaesilya. She knew little of the abysmal knights or the Lord of Death save for what she saw and heard in the last few weeks. The abysmal knights were unthinking and unfeeling extensions of the Lord of Death. She hadn't bothered to read their surface thoughts before because she thought they were like raydrics; empty underneath all that cold, black metal. It was a strange thing but everything that happened in the last few days were strange. "Why?" She asked.

Agranias stared at his hands. The black metal of his gauntlets mocked everything that he was trying to accomplish. They seemed to absorb any light that fell on them; giving them no gleam whatsoever. Even with all his efforts to change he could still see the unforgiving metal stained with the blood of his victims. "Because I could no longer bring myself to fight for his cause." He answered. "I could not stand another day of fighting for a being that cared only for death and misery and I couldn't bear the thought that I was ever a part of his darkness."

Khaesilya sat on one of the benches by the fountain. Agranias's tale was intriguing. She wanted to find out more; if only to make sure that he was no threat to her master. "And you just left?" She asked him.

Agranias sighed and took a seat as well. He felt strangely at ease with Khaesilya. Perhaps it was because they shared a similar dark nature as well as the same fate. 'To live among humans like so...' He thought. Agranias wasn't sure if his secret was safe with the sohee. But she had found him out already and sharing his side would be comforting. If he was to be judged, he wanted to be judged with his own words. "I didn't just leave." He answered. "I disobeyed a direct order from the Lord of Death. As punishment, he removed me from my position and ordered the rest of his abysmal knights to kill me."

Khaesilya watched as the last of the citizenry went home. Soon they were the only ones left in the main square. She did notice a few acolytes stare at them for a while before entering Baelthran's. "You were of importance to the Lord of Death as an abysmal knight, weren't you?" She asked. "How could he just cast you away?"

Agranias's thoughts went to the one who replaced him. His eyes narrowed in anger as he recalled the grinning, triumphant image of Aelumina; his former second-in-command. "I served as captain of the Lord of Death's abysmal knights." He replied. "During my captaincy I held life or death power over the rest of my troop but that didn't mean that there were no others who coveted my position. The abysmal knights, despite their seeming monolithic unity, have their own shares of ambition and betrayal."

Khaesilya watched as the Agranias's fists clenched.

"Aelumina was my second-in-command. She was called "Eyes of Hell" and was next to me in fighting power." He continued. "She had been plotting against me ever since we awakened. When she saw that I was beginning to doubt our purpose, she used the opportunity to take my position. The Lord of Death made her the new captain and her first orders were to execute me. You can imagine her eagerness to carry out such a command." Agranias remembered the triumphant look on Aelumina's face when she brought her dark blade down on his wounded form. Even the former captain of the abysmal knights could not hold out against seven others of his kind. Khaesilya's question interrupted his thoughts once again.

"Are there others in your troop who believed in what you espoused, Sir Agranias?" She asked.

Agranias thought back to the faces of his troop. He remembered the cold expressions on every one of those faces. It was unlikely that he could have gained their support. Still, he remembered the only one who actually aided him against the plots of Aelumina. "No abysmal knight could have felt the same things I did." He answered. "We were meant to be extensions of the Lord of Death's will. It was not for us to think independently of him but to obey without question. However, there was one who could have supported me but he did not want to cross either the Lord of Death or his older sister. His name was Selinas. Perhaps he was the only one I ever trusted in the troop."

Khaesilya peered once more into Agranias's surface thoughts. While she had no access to his inner thoughts, she had the ability to see the images that flit about at the outermost edges of his thinking. What she saw were the faces and names of Agranias's former troops. Apparently, Agranias had led this troop for as long as he could remember. She saw images of arguments with a female abysmal knight. Another abysmal knight came into view. Two dark blades hung on either side of its hips as it rode towards Agranias. The new abysmal knight removed his helmet; revealing boyish features and a smooth face. This was Selinas.

Khaesilya's eyes widened; a gasp escaped from her lips as Agranias's thoughts shifted. All of a sudden she found them in the middle of a desert; standing over the body of a priestess that could only be- "You killed Lystra Cafilence?" She blurted out. She looked around nervously; fearing that someone might hear. Her master strictly forbade her from peering into his friends' minds; especially Silmeia when her younger sister died, but she knew enough of the priestess's state of mind to know that terrible things would happen to Lystra's killer if his identity became known.

Agranias lowered his gaze and nodded. "Since you are privy to my thoughts, Khaesilya, you must have seen it already." He answered. "My troop was scouting around the Sograt desert when we encountered a party of priests and wizards. I was the first to engage them and my only thoughts were to slay each and every one of them before presenting their heads to the Lord of Death. That was when I met Lystra Cafilence." Agranias stared at the night sky once again as he thought back to that fateful day. The night reminded him of both Lystra's and Silmeia's hair, dark and lovely. "To give one's life willingly in a supreme act of good." He mused aloud, more to himself than for Khaesilya. "Her actions surprised me as it opened a new way of looking at things. I didn't acknowledge it at first but I had realized then that there were far greater things than killing. To sacrifice one's life for another…I had never known that such things were possible. It made me question the reasons behind such an act and in the process I began to question the reasons why I had to kill in the first place."

Khaesilya sat motionless as she listened to Agranias. She had never expected such words to come from an abysmal knight. "What happened after that?" She asked.

Agranias gazed sadly at the city. "Despite my doubts, I continued to serve as before." He answered. "I couldn't show any sign of hesitation with Aelumina watching my every move for a slight hint of weakness. We easily took the desert from the Morroc frontier guards as well as Prontera's patrols. Our next targets were the lands around Prontera itself. The Lord of Death wanted the capital under his heel. Along the way my troop encountered a pair of Pronteran novices. They were busy training with their knives by practicing on some of the lesser creatures. I wanted to ignore them. What purpose was there to slay a couple of children? We could have passed them without being detected but the Lord of Death wanted them dead." Agranias clenched his fists tightly as he remembered the last day of his servitude. He remembered the outrage that welled up within him when the orders lacked sense but demanded to be obeyed. ""Kill them both, Agranias." He told me. "Kill the boy first so I may savor the girl's despair." I rode over to the two. They screamed and tried to escape but the rest of my troop surrounded them. I raised my dark blade to finish the boy when he did something that I never expected. He stood protectively over his friend and raised his knife at me. My troop laughed derisively while he glared defiantly at all of us. I heard him whisper to the girl; telling her to make a run for it while he distracted all of us. It was a weak plan but once more I pondered over such willingness to sacrifice. I couldn't bring myself to kill him."

Khaesilya nodded; finally understanding. "That was why you disobeyed your lord."

Agranias's fists unclenched. "I told the Lord of Death that I would not do it." He said. "There was no sense in killing them, especially after they displayed such courage. All he did was to appoint Aelumina as my replacement. Without so much as acknowledging my decision, the Lord of Death declared me a traitor and ordered them all to kill me. I broke past their circle and allowed the two to escape but Aelumina shot the boy down before he could even take a step. I threw myself at her to let the girl escape but the rest of my troop closed in on me quickly. After a terrible battle, I managed to escape but I was badly wounded and I must have collapsed. The next thing I knew, Priestess Silmeia was beside me."

Khaesilya's expression grew concerned. Silmeia Cafilence was an important friend to her master. Anything that might hurt her would make him worry as he always did for his friends. "Does she know?" She asked.

Agranias's face twisted in remorse. "She doesn't." He said. "How could I tell her?"

Khaesilya was silent for a while. How could the abysmal knight tell the priestess that he was the very object of her hate? The thought brought her to realize another truth; that Silmeia's hatred of abysmal knights and the Lord of Death had taken root deeply into her being. She doubted if there would ever be an opportunity for Agranias to tell her the truth without facing this hatred. "Then…do you plan to stay this way?" She asked him. "Hiding your true nature?" What a miserable life that would be, hiding in fear always.

Agranias looked at Khaesilya. She did not hide her nature from the people of Prontera. But he was not like her. There were no abysmal knights who served as servants like many sohees did. His troop had plagued humanity for more than a thousand years. "I must, if I am to stay by her side." He replied.

The two were silent once again. Khaesilya didn't know what else she could ask Agranias. He seemed so secretive that she even found his thoughts to be difficult to navigate. She admired his loyalty to Silmeia though; it reminded her of her own loyalty to her master. "Sir Agranias, I will keep your secrets safe with me." She said. "Though I pray for the time when there is no longer any need to do so."

Agranias nodded; relief was obvious in his eyes. "And I thank you for it, Khaesilya." He replied. "May I ask you a question this time?"

Khaesilya smiled once again. "I think you deserve to do so, Sir Agranias. I've been prodding you about your past too much."

Agranias returned the smile before asking his question. "You are not bound by a silver knife of chastity, Khaesilya, yet you choose to remain in the service of your master. Why do you remain loyal to him?" He asked.

Khaesilya's eyes went to the direction of Baelthran's tavern. "Master Makaelthos deserves my undying loyalty, Sir Agranias." She answered. :It's not that he asks for it. Indeed, he would rather see me living for myself." Khaesilya looked back fondly to the days she spent with her master. "I had thought first that it was out of gratitude that I served him. A lifetime of service could never repay everything he has done for me. It goes deeper than that. I have never felt more content than when I am beside Master Makaelthos. Watching him live, aiding him in all things…it's not something I have to do. It's what I always want to."

Agranias watched Khaesilya curiously. She seemed so happy that she served Makaelthos Solcry. He had never seen a happy sohee before. Khaesilya was different. While she possessed features that were common to all sohees, such as pale skin, long, black hair and slanted, red eyes, she looked different from them for some reason. She seemed more radiant than other sohees. When she stood behind Sir Makaelthos, something seemed to light up her face. He, on the other hand, had never felt that way when he served the Lord of Death. "Khaesilya." He began.

Khaesilya turned her attention back towards him. "Yes, Sir Agranias?"

"How did you come to serve the cru-I mean Sir Makaelthos?" He asked her.

Khaesilya's smile saddened slightly."I suppose I should tell you of myself, Sir Agranias, as you have shown me so much of your past." She replied.

Agranias raised his hands in protest. "You don't have to if it pains you." He added.

Khaesilya shook her head and raised a hand to stop the abysmal knight's halting apology. "It's alright." She said. She was silent for a while before she spoke again. "I was…a birthday present."

Agranias's eyes widened. "A present? By whom?"

Once more Khaesilya was silent. Her first days of servitude under a silver knife of chastity were dark and gloomy. She remembered being forced to stay in a cage under one of Morroc's damp cellars; waiting for someone to provide her with any food at all. "I remember only glimpses of my life before NightKnife's agents captured me." She said. "The guild mistress hunted for me specifically, I was told. It was her right hand man's birthday soon and she couldn't think of a better present than me. I was to be the personal slave of NightKnife Master Makaelthos Solcry." Khaesilya's mood lightened as she switched from speaking about NightKnife to the first time she met her master. She remembered the warm smile he gave her. The look of understanding in his eyes that made her feel disgusted with herself for slashing at him with her stiletto. "When I first saw Master Makaelthos, I immediately knew that he was different from the rest of NightKnife's members. He did not eye me lustfully like the other thieves and he was not taken aback that I was so distrustful of humans back then."

As Agranias listened, he realized more similarities between him and her. His days in Glastheim and her days as a slave showed them just how cruel and callous humans were. It took time for them to learn otherwise.

"There was no master kinder or nobler than Master Makaelthos in his guild. Indeed, he was the only one who was even interested in knowing my name. To the others I was simply called "Makaelthos's slave". As I stayed longer in NightKnife, I saw how other sohee slaves were abused or even killed. I pitied them greatly and I learned to hate NightKnife just as I learned to care for Master Makaelthos. I soon realized that he no longer condoned the activities of his guild." The sohee remembered the day her master left NightKnife. That was a dangerous time for them and a confusing time for her master. "The guild mistress, Trynis Eviskrae, didn't want to let him go but Master Makaelthos refused to take part in her guild anymore. It was then that he destroyed the silver knife of chastity that bound me in his service. He told me that I was free. He could not force his path on me."

Khaesilya smiled once again.

"I knew little of my own past but I knew that I wasn't welcome in the Payon Caves." She continued. "While I pitied the sohee slaves, I had no love for my own race otherwise. I know it sounds callous and, perhaps, it's part of the silver knife's effects. I never dwelled long on it and I've stopped trying to understand it. I do know that I feel completely content in being of service to Master Makaelthos. I have no need to understand what happened to me before. What I have now is good enough."

Agranias felt himself smile at the Khaesilya's tale. The resemblance and contrast of their stories somehow made him more at ease with himself. At least he knew that he wasn't the only one who struggled to fit in human society because of someone. 'So it is only in Sir Makaelthos that Khaesilya finds what she always wants. I wonder if I feel the same with the priestess.' He thought.

It was midnight when the abysmal knight and the sohee parted ways. Morning would come soon and both of them had someone very important to protect from the war.

World Notes

Silver Knife of Chastity – a silver knife of chastity is a device created to control sohees. It resembles a curved dagger made of a gleaming silvery material. The handle and blade are all made of the same material. The glastheimians were the first to create these devices and the method has survived all the way to the present. To create a single silver knife, the fragments of, at least, ten sohee life-stilettos must be smelted into the silvery metal. The metal is then forged by a blacksmith with the aid of two wizards with skills in frost magic and a priest who knows how to cast the Exorcism spell. A complicated ritual accompanies the forging and the result is a completed silver knife of chastity. Silver knives are not reliable, however, and have been known to frequently break when used to "tame" a sohee. It has been discovered that greater the number of life-stilettos added into the smelting, the stronger the silver knife becomes but as the amount of material increases, so does the price of a single knife. A "tamed" sohee is forced to obey the bearer of the silver knife of chastity. The knife may be given to others but a period of time is required before the sohee acknowledges the new master. Prior to that time, she continues to follow her old master. Due to the difficulty of creating the silver knives and their unreliability, the price of a sohee slave can easily go to millions of zenny.

Life-stiletto – all sohees emerge from their sacred pools as infants holding a stiletto. This stiletto is called a life-stiletto and it has several magical properties. Life-stilettos grow with their owner and are unbreakable so long as their owner remains alive. Upon a sohee's death, her life-stiletto immediately breaks into pieces. Sohees are also able to summon their stilettos no matter where they are and know where they are located at all times.