Chapter 2

The trek was long and winding and draining. There were mountains and rivers and valleys on the way. These valleys bloomed with beautiful flowers and the rivers were filled with clean blue flowing waters. There were a number of sights to see and relax by, but the matter at hand was more important. The longer they took to getting to the siege site, the greater the risk would be that this long and perilous war that they had been fighting for centuries came to an undesirable ending. The frontline had made its way to the castle, but they were tired and drained after the prolonged war between the camp and the bastion. They were hanging by threads, almost about to collapse. The fact that some of the best paladins and sentinels were amongst the frontline was a reassuring thought indeed, that fed their minds with the fact that they might just be able to hold on. But it was still imperative for the assault force to meet up with the frontline as quick as possible.

Natsu sheathed his sword back into its hilt on his back for about the tenth time now. Every deer and jackal and rhino that the marching party went past, he would be alerted and draw his sword. The demon king was known to be crafty, so there was no indication when an unassuming looking wildlife would suddenly morph into an abomination from the demon's army and attack them. But until now, things had been uneventful.

"Guard down, knight. There is no need to fear yet."

Natsu heard a deep voice from behind him. He was lagging behind the rest of the assault force. He didn't think there was someone yet behind him.

He turned around, and gasped in fright and absolute panic. The man behind him was massive. Behemoth. He was a giant. His armour did half the work of making him look like an absolute monstrosity, with metallic spikes and absurd elements bumping out of his jagged metallic plates, and his helmet featuring ram horns coiling on either sides of his head. The rest was his immaculate and fearsome body. Natsu halted his walk, and watched the giant clank past him, each of his armour's separate unit clanking in almost a tune, singing a fearsome song. He was a walking machine.

The giant halted for a moment and looked back.

"Carry on with the march, knight. Don't get left behind."

Natsu stared at him. How could someone be so massive? He quickly dashed forward and joined the man's tail. The man resumed walking, and so did Natsu. He kept watching his leviathan back, the sunlight completely being blocked behind him. Natsu was shrouded in a shadow, and it was enough to further fit five more knights behind him under it.

"Natsu. Is that your name, knight?"

He heard the deep voice ask.

Natsu didn't answer for a while. Was he afraid? Beyond himself with fright and panic? Was he absolutely unsettled? Impressed? Shocked? He didn't know what he was feeling.

"Y-yes sir!" Natsu exclaimed.

Some other knights turned to look at him after his loud answer.

The big man laughed. "At ease, soldier. Just trying to whip up some friendly conversation."

Natsu knew this man was a sentinel. That was clear by the Cloak that he was wearing. Natsu studied that armour. It was absurdly big and bulky. But that man seemed unfazed by his weight. He never tripped or lost his balance. He walked on, nimble and swift as a snake.

He had never talked to a sentinel before. Even if he was being berated for his laziness, it was always a proctor or a Paladin, or a knight captain. It was as if sentinels didn't even need to bother themselves with knights. But this man even knew his name.

"If… If I may ask sir, how do you know my name?"

"Hmm? You're the flame user, aren't you? You are quite popular. Not everyday when you get to meet a fire magician. Your kind is rare."

"I see…" Natsu muttered. He looked down at his feet as he walked. That statement from that man brought him even more burden and shame than he was already feeling. He had a gift, a rare and powerful one, but he didn't know how to use it. It was almost as if he didn't deserve it.

"What's the matter? Don't like fire?"

He heard the heavy voice ask.

Natsu looked up at the man's back.

"That's not the matter, sir. I… I just… I am useless. I have no gift. I am neither good at swordfighting, nor at magic. I was just wondering why I was brought along at all."

Natsu realised that saying that out loud burdened his heart even further. It was as if someone else was saying those words to him. Saying it out loud put his incompetence into perspective.

The man stopped walking. Natsu bumped into his back, their armours clashing making a loud sound. Natsu staggered back, dizzy for a while.

The man looked up at the sun, directly into its blinding lightness, but he wasn't dazed. It was as if he had developed a habit of gazing at it.

"You are a knight, aren't you?"

Natsu wondered where he was going with that.

"Yes sir."

"Then you are capable. You must have done something that proved your worth to the Table. You aren't useless, soldier."

Natsu now knew where the sentinel was going with that statement.

"Sure sir, but I was made a knight only because I got lucky. What happened was–"

"It doesn't matter what happened." The man's heavy voice cut in, and Natsu fell silent. His voice commanded that fearsome aura that Natsu just couldn't continue talking back.

"What matters is that you did something noble. What matters is that you saved a life. What matters… is that you did your duty. Think of the people you protected by putting yourself in the harm's way. Think of the happiness and relief you've brought to someone. Think of the families you protected from misery and grief. That's what matters. That makes you a knight."

He resumed his walk.

Natsu stared at his back. What was he saying? He had never heard anyone say that to him before. His few mere words made Natsu realise that he did something worthwhile. Natsu felt proud of himself for a moment. If only for a moment. That was a new experience for him.

He quickly closed the distance between them.

"Do… do you believe I am a knight, sir?"

"I do. You carry a knight's armour. You carry a knight's medallion. You are a knight."

Natsu thought about his words for a moment. Was he truly a knight? Did he truly deserve the title? A sentinel was bound by oath to never lie. And that man, who was a sentinel, had just said that he recognised Natsu as a knight. Natsu felt happiness welling within him. His heart beat with furious anticipation and pride. For the first time in his life, he felt happiness about the situation he was in. About his rank. About his responsibilities. About his duty. Is this what it felt like to be a knight and to know that you deserved it?

He smiled to himself. He now knew what it was like to be a sentinel. It were just a few words to the big man, but to Natsu, those mere words meant a lot more than that sentinel could know. This was the ability that a sentinel should have, Natsu thought. To inspire faith and happiness. To assume the role of a teacher and a mentor, to clear doubts and misunderstandings and confusions, and to instil pride and joy in their subordinates.

"Bardstown, right?" The man continued speaking.

Natsu was still engulfed by his thoughts. "Huh?"

"Bardstown. That's where you went to fight those raiders and protect the village. You slayed Cobra, and you even protected a local girl from her untimely fate at his hands. I was following your mission with great interest."

Natsu's eyes widened. "W-why?" He blurted, before correcting his tone.

"I-I mean, why, sir? Why were you following my mission?"

The man laughed, which sounded more like a grunt. "It was an honourable cause, for one. I was impressed at your willingness to take it despite the unwillingness of the top brass to embark on it. Any other person would shy away from it just from the fact that none of the top knights wanted it. They would assume it wasn't important enough. I knew you did it because you cared about the people that needed that help. Second… I was planning to take that task up myself."

Natsu was shocked to hear that. "But… Why would you intend on taking that mission, sir? I thought that it would be beneath a sentinel's rank?"

The man disagreed. "That is nonsense. A knight's duty is never beneath him. If there is a life to be saved by his sword, that becomes his duty to do it. If there is an innocent to be protected, then glory means nothing before that innocent's life. What is our motto, young knight?"

Natsu remembered what it was. He repeated the sentence timidly. "To… To Fight For Those That Can't, sir."

"Say it with pride. To Fight For Those That Can't." He said in an emboldened voice. "That should tell you why I wanted that mission myself. I wanted to uphold my duty. I wanted to protect the innocent. But when I got to the proctor to ask him the details, he told me that a young initiate had already been given that mission. Rather, he had taken that mission himself. He was very eager to do it. I asked him your details, and after that, I had been following your acts and conquests with interest. I was glad that you were able to slay the mercenary, and bring the girl back home safe. Good work, knight."

Natsu couldn't help but break a wondrous smile. He had to be honest, when he took that mission from the board of pending Ordeal quests, he had only thought of the girl that was snatched by the raiders. He had never thought that anyone would even know about him doing that simple retrieval job. And he didn't care. He just wanted to protect the girl. He was someone who was easily swayed by the allure of a glorious job, to ascend his ranks fast. In that sense, he was just as shallow as others. But something about this job really tugged at his heart. He wanted to take it, not for glory, but for protecting a village against rogue soldiers that the unarmed residents couldn't shake off. He never thought someone as high ranking as a sentinel would be watching him. Why was this man interested in him?

Natsu couldn't help but stare at him. Years of his experience with his seniors had muddied his view of them. He always thought of them as warriors of glory and fortune, always going after the toughest jobs not to help others but to be able to be called heroes. He was sadly aware of the fact that he was becoming one of them too. But this man probably saved him from becoming them. To know that this behemoth giant of a man–this honourable sentinel was filled with enough humility to try and take a job that no one wanted restored his faith in their order and their cause. This man was unique. A gentle-giant. While before he was plain terrified and afraid of him, albeit impressed, now he was nothing but impressed and flattered by his warm demeanour and his noble words.

Natsu took a deep breath. He was finally comfortable enough, or nearly comfortable enough, to ask this man of his identity. That was so he could always remember him. Who was he? Why was he so compassionate towards a nobody like Natsu? What was his deal?

"Uh… pardon my tone, sir. May I ask you something?"

"Out with it, lad."

Natsu gulped. "May… May I know your name sir?"

The man lifted his head and laughed heartily. "That's what you were afraid to ask? Hahahaha! Have you heard of The Ram?"

Natsu watched him in confusion, racking his brains. "I… I have heard of the great Ram, sir. Sentinel Gildarts is his name. He is a hero."

The man laughed again in his hoarse voice. "Flattery will get you nowhere, son. I don't know about a hero. But I am The Ram."

Natsu halted again. He halted breathing as an unquantifiable shock filled his lungs instead. He watched the big man trudge along slowly on the gravel path, his golden sentinel cape, battered and filled with holes as it was, fluttering gloriously in the winds. Natsu's face showed nothing but uncountable shock at the moment, just under his helmet. Was that really him? His size checked out, so did the massive sword on his back, and so did his unique identifiable helmet with the Ram horns.

He had been talking to a hero this entire time. He had his suspicions, but he had shoved them away. There was no way this could have been Gildarts, he thought. But it was him. He had been talking to the great Gildarts. This great man had been so simple and unassuming in his speech that Natsu couldn't have guessed that he was talking to one of the greats. A God amongst knights. A warrior of many skills, wielder of the mysterious gravity magic, and a known victor of many hundreds of thousands of ruthless battles. He was talking to a legend.

Gildarts turned his head again. "Come on, Natsu. We are about to head into the tunnel that will get us across the mountain. We will be at the bastion soon."

Before Natsu could even respond to that order, muttering senselessly in his absolute shock as he was about to, Gildarts closed the distance between them in a flash. Natsu's widened eyes widened even more when all he saw was Gildarts almost teleporting from his position a few metres away to right before his eyes. His massive figure towered over Natsu, shrouding him completely in a tall shadow.

Natsu slowly gazed up. He saw the man having extended his left arm over Natsu's head, it quivering under some kind of pressure. Natsu couldn't tell what was going on.

Gildarts then spoke. "Outta the way, kid."

Natsu, as confused and lost as he was at what was happening, slowly moved out of the way. He turned around and looked back at the scene before him.

He was shocked, to say the least. First, he was shocked at the massive thing that stood in front of Gildarts, applying pressure to its giant axe that was nudged against Gildarts' gauntlet. It was clear that that axe was about to be brought down over Natsu's head, but Gildarts had held it just in time.

The second thing Natsu was shocked at was the… thing… that held the axe. It was giant. Taller and wider than Gildarts–which was something Natsu could have never expected. It was heavily muscular, bearing four arms and fur covering its entire ripped body. Chains and cuffs hung onto its arms and legs, and his ankles were tied to giant prison balls of iron. Many cuts and bruises adorned its flesh. It had a bull's face, giant curved horns spiralling out of its head.

Natsu regarded the scene before him in disbelief. He was literally watching The Ram fighting a giant berserk Minotaur. He had never ever thought that he would get to witness this sight right before him.

Before the Minotaur could use its two free hands to draw its second axe to attack Gildarts, Gildarts acted first. He quickly, almost as fast as lightning again, grabbed his greatsword off his back, and swung it. It was so fast that Natsu couldn't even see it moving. He only saw his hand move across the Minotaur's chest, and it was over.

There was silence.

The knights and paladins and other sentinels that were walking ahead noticed the disturbance now, and drew their weapons, the clanking sounding together with the gasps of their shock. But they were late to the fight. It had ended just as fast as it had begun. Gildarts had already won.

The Minotaur's upper body fell to the left of its position, while its lower half under his chest fell to the right. Loud thumps were heard when its body collapsed, dust sweeping up off the ground. Blood pooled out of its remains, and then the small rippling and quivering of its hands and legs halted.

Natsu stared at the droplets of blood before his feet. His heart beat out of his chest, and he started to sweat under his helmet.

He looked back up at Gildarts, who flicked his greatsword around as if it was a popsicle, sending the blood on it flying to the grass on the side.

This was a sentinel.

Gildarts walked up to the dead Minotaur and studied its face. The Minotaur had been almost twice the size of Gildarts, so its upper half was almost the same size as him. Gildarts studied its horns.

"Male. About 110 years old. Packless. Rogue."

He pulled its eyelids up and checked its eyes. They were completely black, as a void.

"Look." He called to Natsu. "Eyes as dark as the moonless night. That means this Minotaur was corrupted by the demon's power. Not intentionally. Poor thing probably just walked over the same stone that the demon king had walked over. It's a shame. Minotaurs are intelligent creatures. Peaceful and sociable. Us humans could learn from them."

He stood up, and called for a Paladin captain. A man dressed in paladin's armour walked forward. He bowed to Gildarts.

"Send the message ahead that we could be under threat. This marks the territory where the demon king's power starts to corrupt normal wildlife. Even intelligent creatures. Tell everyone to be on guard."

"At once, sir." The paladin rushed forward again.

Gildarts watched him run by the rows of young knights and disappear far ahead. He turned his helmeted head to look at Natsu.

"You okay, boy?"

Natsu couldn't bear up the courage to even respond. His knees shook. The thought that he had been that close to death without even knowing it, and the fact that if it wasn't for this giant man before him, he would have perished completely painlessly in a snap was horribly unsettling to him. He was that close to his demise. Was this what awaited him at the demon's castle?

He nodded. Or maybe his body was just shivering. He didn't know.

Gildarts nodded once. "Good. En garde. Also, I laud the fact that you were wary of your surroundings in the beginning. Your perception of future threats is admirable. I was wrong to have assumed that we weren't at risk. It's quite the opposite. Keep your eyes sharp. Understood?"

Natsu nodded again.

The man then walked ahead, sheathing his sword.

Natsu gasped, finally getting to breathe. He coughed once or twice, and almost felt like he would throw up. But he didn't. He breathed and controlled his nausea.

He didn't know what he was getting himself into.