In the distance, Sir Seyren Windsor heard a clanging ring, and shortly after, the sound of a wall collapsing. He had been pacing back and forth within his cell for a while, trying to determine how he was to escape, all the while praying for salvation. Surely, the destruction of the wall meant that God had sent a savior to free him. He pounded on the wall now, shouting for help.

"Let me out!" he cried. "I'm here!"

"Stand back," a gruff voice replied, and he crossed himself, thanking God for answering his prayers. He stepped away from the wall, and soon after, it caved in.

Through the smoldering hole Seyren saw the face of his rescuer for the first time. Salt and pepper hair, eyes the color of coffee, and the build of a blacksmith – not that the hammer in his hand hadn't made that apparent at first glance.

"You must be Seyren Windsor," the blacksmith said. "The name's Howard. Howard Alt-Eisen."

"Thank God you came to save me," Seyren replied. "How did you know where to find me?"

"There were blueprints in the cell I was held," Alt-Eisen replied. "I'm assuming that you are a lord knight?"

Seyren shook his head, confused at the apparent lack of logic to the man's questions. "No, just a simple knight. Why do you ask? And these blueprints. How many others are there?"

"Many." The reply was brief.

Seyren fidgeted. "So do you remember how you came to be here?"

The blacksmith shook his head. "I doubt that you do either," he replied. A pause, then – "Have you really not noticed that you are now a lord knight?"

Glancing down at his gauntlets, Seyren realized with a start that the blacksmith – nay, whitesmith – was right. "I suppose I am. Ah – that's right! A few…colleagues and I were here to investigate human experimentation. Perhaps we were captured and used as subjects."

"Perhaps?" Alt-Eisen snorted. "No, we were definitely captured. And this laboratory was abandoned, with us still in it."

"I wonder why," Seyren mused aloud.

"Probably a fire, given that half of this room looks charred," Alt-Eisen replied brusquely, and turned to leave. "Now come on. There are several more test subjects to save, and if they are all like you, we might be in for some trouble."

"All like me?" Seyren repeated incredulously. "Look, I have only known you for the better part of a minute, but for some reason, you seem to take a personal affront to my existence. Why is that?"

The retreating figure of the whitesmith stiffened, and too late, Seyren realized that he had struck a nerve.

"I'll tell you why, Sir Seyren," the whitesmith replied, infusing the title with mocking sarcasm. "You may be a knight of the holy Church, but I am the one who has freed you from this prison of a laboratory. I am free to treat you however I wish. And I say, 'like you', because for the better part of a minute, all you have done is ask pointless questions whose answers should already be more than evident."

Taken aback by the sudden scathing stream of criticism, Seyren was struck speechless for a second. He opened his mouth to deliver his own retort, then shut it as he realized that every last word that the whitesmith had spoken was true.

With some difficulty, he swallowed his rejoinder and apologized. "My apologies. In that case, I will keep my questions to myself. But it may be useful for you to know that my skill with the sword is unsurpassed in all of Prontera."

Alt-Eisen raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really? Then good. That will come in handy."

"Why is that? Are there monsters in this laboratory?" Before he could stop himself, another silly question forced its way out of Seyren's mouth. Mentally, he kicked himself for his mistake. Of course there were monsters in the laboratory! Why else would a sword come in handy?

But instead of berating him for asking another useless question, Alt-Eisen nodded slowly. "Monsters, in a manner of speaking. Whoever captured us was also interested in cloning."

Cloning…that could only mean one thing. Out there, in the world outside his cell, lay doppelgangers that possessed his abilities and skills. In Prontera, Seyren Windsor had no equal. In this strange world where science and magic became one, his equal would be himself. For the first time in a long time, a lance of fear penetrated his calm.

He prayed to God for strength, and for courage.

A/N: Hope you liked it :)