Volume 1 Chapter 12 Fall of the Dark Knight

Chapter 12 Fall of the Dark Knight

I

The sun hadn’t dipped under the horizon yet while the moon had already shown up. Hanging high on the sky at the same moment, the sun and the moon were shining together

Bathed in the last ray of sunlight and the new moonlight, Yanni and Starsha were walking through the fields together in search of a merchant who sold eggs.

“The night is coming and we shall hurry up, Yanni,” commanded Starsha.

“Umm …” Yanni nodded.

Suddenly, Starsha began to stare at Yanni.

“What’s up?” asked Yanni, flushing.

“I wish I could have a little brother, too,” answered Starsha.

“Floria always say that I am annoying,” muttered Yanni.

“It’s true that you’re annoying sometimes, but somehow, uh, you make Floria complete,” explained Starsha.

“You’re being mushy, Starsha,” complaint Yanni.

“You can’t imagine how anxious Floria was when you and her got lost as if she would be incomplete if she lost you. I wish that I could have someone who had this kind of bond with me too. I’m really jealous of your sister, Yanni,” purred Starsha.

After around half an hour, they arrived at the place where Mister Berg said there was a merchant selling eggs.

“Have we arrived at the place that Mister Berg marked on the map?” questioned Yanni.

“Yes, I’m sure that we’re now at the right place,” affirmed Starsha.

Just after her voice broke off, a black figure came into their sight from the distance. It was a man in black armour, his eyes glowing demonically blue.

“Sir Bellum?!” screamed Yanni in fear.

“Long time no see, kids,” smirked Sir Bellum.

“S**t, we’re betrayed by Mister Berg,” cursed Yanni.

“No one can resist 10 million gold coins, except idiots like you,” teased Sir Bellum.

“Floria! Aislina! help! Help!” cried Starsha.

“It’s far from Mister Berg’s house here. No one will hear your scream for help. Clearly, I cannot fight with four of you at the same time, so I make Mister Berg come up with an idea to divide you into two groups so that I can strike you four down two by two. I am brilliant, ain’t I?” bragged Sir Bellum.

“You have lost your mace. You’re no match for us!” threatened Yanni.

“Oh, really? Obviously you underestimate me this time, boy. I am going to tear you into pieces and let your sister mourn for your meaningless death,” sneezed Sir Bellum.

Yanni hurled his shield towards Sir Bellum’s face but the latter seized the shield easily and it didn’t hurt him at all.

Starsha took out her daggers and dashed towards Sir Bellum like a flash of lightning. However, Sir Bellum held up Yanni’s shield which he just seized and parried her attack.

With Yanni’s shield forged with lunarite, Sir Bellum hit heavily against Starsha on her chest and bumped her off. Rushing towards Sir Bellum in aid of Starsha, Yanni pumped his fist fiercely.

Sir Bellum threw the lunarite shield which was glowing under the moonlight now back towards Yanni, who failed to dodge and was hit hard by it. The sharp shield crashed into his chest.

Yanni let out a scream of pain. He could feel that his sternum had ruptured because of the horrible impact with the his own shield.

With wicked laughter coming out of his mask, Sir Bellum walked towards Yanni who was lying on the ground and groaning in painfulness right now. As soon as he arrived besides Yanni, he caught him round the neck.

Yanni was choked and failed to breath, his face turned red. He started to feel headache and his sight began to blur.

In an attempt to save Yanni, Starsha charged towards Sir Bellum but the latter knocked her to the ground simply with his left hand while his right hand was still clutching Yanni’s neck …

Soon they would die, killed by Sir Bellum, the greatest general in Normanian Kingdom.

II

Floria and Aislina were working in the kitchen, helping Mister Berg to cook the dinner. With her hands emanating fantastic particles of light, Aislina was casting magic at the food, making it even more tempting.

Twilight kept pouring into the small kitchen in Mister Berg’s house through the window, casting slim shadow behind girls. There was shadow under the feet of Mister Berg too, but his shadow seemed older and weaker as if it were not a shadow but a grim reaper who was about to reap his life because there was not much time left for him.

While resting, Floria lit up some candles inside the kitchen, illuminating the whole room. The shadows of them began to fade and finally they disappeared.

Besides the roasted salmon, there were also meatballs, steaks, spaghettis, et cetera. Aislina hadn’t eaten any delicious human cuisines yet and her eyes kept fixing on those food and obviously, she was salivating over the thought of slicing into a juicy, pink steak and spaghetti with soft sticky cheese.

The appealing smell of food had filled the whole kitchen. No matter how dangerous the journey tomorrow would be, they could enjoy a fantastic and take a good rest tonight at least.

Now the only thing they needed to do was waiting for Starsha and Yanni coming back so that they could cook the last dish with eggs, after which, this feast would begin!

“The food smells awesome. I bet it’ll be incomparably delicious,” Aislina gulped. Clearly, she was content of the food they created because both her eyes were glowing light blue, which meant that she was happy.

“I’m old and there is not much time left for me to enjoy my life. What is the meaning of life? Have you two ever thought about this topic, the meaning of life?” inquired Mister Berg suddenly.

“When my mother passed away, I thought that the meaning of life was revenging the humans and protecting the world of wilderness but when I first met Yanni and Floria, I suddenly came to realize that the most meaningful thing of life isn’t fighting for some abstract ideas,” answered Aislina, deep in thoughts.

“Then what is it?” pursued Mister Berg.

“You’re a 60-year-old man, but now you’re asking a little girl for philosophies of life?” giggled Floria.

“But she is an elf. Elves are always wise,” explained Mister Berg.

“That’s a stereotype. Anyway, I think the most meaningful thing is daring to love. You shall dare to love your life, love the people around you, even though love itself is ridiculous, even though the world is dark and evil essentially, and everything else is meaningless,” continued Aislina.

“You’re right, everything else is meaningless…” muttered Mister Berg.

After a short silence, something suddenly dawned on Mister Berg.

“Oh my heavens, what have I done?!” screamed Mister Berg.

“What happened? What have you done?” questioned Aislina and Floria, their faces filled with confusion.

“Your brother and that bard girl were in danger! I’ve betrayed you four!” exclaimed Mister Berg anxiously

“You’ve betrayed us? What do you mean? Are Yanni and Starsha in danger?” Floria asked a bunch of questions while Aislina stunned to the spot, her brain working quickly in an attempt to figure out what has actually happened.

“This is a trap. The merchant who sells eggs has already gone home! He is not there at all! Sir Bellum is there, he wants to kill you all! Follow me! Quickly!” explained Mister Berg in panic.

No matter what had happened, there was no time to waste since Starsha and Yanni were now in danger.

III

Yanni’s chest was burning. The broken places of his sternum were aching. Around Yanni’s neck was Sir Bellum’s powerful hand. Yanni wanted to struggle but he was losing strength.

There was no air coming into his lung and without getting enough oxygen, his brain was turning into a blank hollowness.

Gradually, Yanni began to stop struggling and kicking. Life was leaving and death was coming.

Just as Yanni was about to stop breathing, an arrow coming from nowhere pierced Sir Bellum’s right hand which was clutching Yanni’s neck.

Sir Bellum let out a scream of agony and the grip on Yanni’s neck loosened.

It was Floria. Standing beside her were Aislina and Mister Berg.

“F**k! Mister Berg, you betrayed me! Master Mortis will revenge on you for your betrayal,” yelled Sir Bellum. He pulled out the arrow that punctured his hand and black blood began to drip, forming a small puddle on the ground.

“However, Master Mortis will not know what has happened, right?” smiled Mister Berg.

“I died in this place, and he will punish you!” roared Sir Bellum, his voice twisted with anger.

“No, he won’t. If he asks me what has happened, I will tell him that four criminals have come to my village, commandeered my house and killed you. He will be sympathetic to me,” Mister Berg pointed out.

“How about the money? How can you give up ten million gold coins?” demanded Sir Bellum in despair.

“Money cannot fill the emptiness in my soul. I am too old and soon I will pass away. I know what is important and what is unimportant,” drawled Mister Berg.

“You bastard! If I have a chance, I will tear you into piece!” shouted Sir Bellum.

“But you don’t have a chance, because you’re no match for four of them together,” said Mister Berg confidently.

While Sir Bellum and Mister Berg were quarrelling, Aislina was healing her wounded friends.

“Yanni, Yanni!” called Aislina.

“I don’t feel well. Sir Bellum hit me on my chest and my sternum has been broken. I should have work out more,” muttered Yanni.

Aislina placed her hand on Yanni’s chest. The power of life and recovery was channelled from Aislina’s hand into Yanni’s chest.

“How do you feel now?” inquired Aislina when she finished the healing process.

“Great! My broken bones had recovered! You’re the best, Aislina,” exclaimed Yanni, standing up to his feet.

“Starsha, how about you?” Aislina walked towards Starsha and asked.

“Sir Bellum hit me on my chest too, but I was luckier than Yanni, because I,” answered Starsha.

“Enough!” howled Sir Bellum. His hand had stopped bleeding at the moment.

“Hi, Sir Bellum, long time no see!” greeted Aislina, her face turning to Sir Bellum the dark knight.

“Today is our final battle! Magic versus Necrology! The power of necrology was with me, and I will …”

“Well, since that, stop talking trash and let’s make it quick,” interrupted Starsha.

Yanni and Starsha charged towards Sir Bellum together, who was punching his fists crazily. With his shield, Yanni parried Sir Bellum’s attack and with an elegant dance step, Starsha moved behind Sir Bellum and backstabbed him, her lunarite daggers breaking his necrite armour successfully.

Floria loaded her bow and shot an arrow, which hit Sir Bellum exactly on the joint of his breastplate. After that, the armour of Sir Bellum began to come off and Aislina summoned some vines, with which, she tore Sir Bellum into pieces.

Finally, one of their most fearsome nemeses fell.

“You win! That great! No harm done, great, fine …” Mister Berg breathed a sigh of relief.

IV

After Sir Bellum was down, Starsha, Aislina and the siblings went back to Mister Berg’s house to eat dinner. Their stomachs were rumbling and they really needed to eat a great dinner now after such a tiring fight.

“I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I was such an asshole …” apologized Mister Berg.

Yanni looked at the food on the tables, but he had no appetite to eat at all.

“I promise that there is nothing poisonous in the food I make, boy,” Mister Berg assured him.

“I am an elf and my friends have bathed in the Spring of Sylvana, therefore, we’re all immune to poison,” Aislina pointed out.

“I really wish that I could win your trust back,” sighed Mister Berg.

“I know, Mister Berg. It takes time, however. After all, Sir Bellum nearly choked me to death just now,” muttered Yanni.

Now the room was dipped in an embarrassing aura and Starsha knew that it was her responsibility to make her friends happy so they would have a good sleep after the dinner, which was quite important for the journey which would start tomorrow.

“Anyway, the food is yummy … Hey, come on, friends, why the long face? We just won an epic battle! One of the most powerful deputies of Master Mortis was just beaten by us! It’s a marvellous victory! Now, I am going to sing a song about victory!” exclaimed Starsha in an attempt to lift the air of awkwardness.

Taking out her collapsible harp, Starsha unfolded her instrument and began to pluck the string and sing with angelic musical sounds coming out of her mouth.

“Feel the wind blowing in the air,

see the sky and clouds upon there.

Pick a fruit of victory for us.

Enemies down, our quest of fate …”

Her sweet voice softened the atmosphere in this house and when she finished, everyone else applauded.

“That’s an uplifting song, Starsha,” Floria praised her.

“Can you sing, Aislina? I’m really curious about what is the music of elves like,” asked Starsha, her blinking eyes turning to Aislina.

“Well, in fact, my mom said that I was wonderfully good at singing. Now, I am going to sing the elven folk song, ᛌᛐᛅᚱᚿᛆᚿ ᛆᚡ ᚿᛆᛐᛐᛂᚿ!” answered Aislina with a confident smile.

Aislina began to sing. The moment her sounds came out of her mouth, the whole room was drowned in silence and embarrassment, because Aislina was a total tone deaf and her voice was rather quite unpleasant on ears when singing.

Given that her voice was pretty beautiful when talking, the others couldn’t believe their ears.

“Is the song good?” inquired Aislina when her song was finished.

“Artistic,” answered Starsha. Aislina’s song was hellishly awful, but Starsha really didn’t want to ruin the sweet smile on Aislina’s face, so she recognized the song as “artistic”.

“Abstract,” commented Floria.

The girls then looked at Yanni. Floria was snickering because she knew that Yanni had a low EQ, especially when talking to girls.

“Umm, the song was, uh, avant-garde. Yeah, avant-garde…” stammered Yanni.

Floria and Starsha couldn’t help but burst into wilder laughter.

“You two are so adorable!” Starsha tapped on Yanni’s shoulder.

The room was totally immersed in a convivial atmosphere now and after three hours of enjoying the dinner and chatting, they decided to take the shower and go to bed.

“Now, we have two rooms, but there are four of you. I’ve got three girls and one boy. Well, it’s hard to distribute the rooms,” Mister Berg pointed out.

“Since that, I’ll share a room with my little brother,” suggested Floria.

“That’s fine,” agreed Yanni.

“Then I’ll sleep with Aislina. Wow, it will be the first time that I sleep with an elf,” murmured Starsha, putting her arm about Aislina.