[PLAINS FINAL – STRUGGLE]

Masaru steps out with the others into the sunsetting plains.

Looking up, he sees The Knight, waiting up on the hill, but watching them intently.

“Ride to me, and be measured,” it commands, and now the phrase has a deeper meaning to Masaru – he thinks he gets it now.

“Always knows where we are at all times…” Masaru mutters under his breath. “Always watching over us… maybe it was really how we treated it all along.”

“It?” Valerie asks.

“The Enemy,” Masaru says. “It’s not trying to kill us… it’s trying to teach us.”

He watches The Knight, its red gaze burning behind its visor as its horse and armor glint by the power of the setting sun.

“Wh-what’s going on?!” Sato asks with a wheeze.

“They’re gonna joust!” Yuna exclaims, her eyes locked dreamily on the enormous horse up on the slope.

Her gaze is pulled away only as a beautiful white horse appears around the side of the shop next to them. It parks itself dutifully next to the rack of items that Masaru only now notices is jousting equipment. He notices the saddle of the horse is extended, large enough for two people to ride facing the front.

“A-alright!” Masaru says as he pulls in slow, calming breaths. “Let’s do this!”

Valerie picks out a lance, and heaves once it’s fully out of its wooden rack.

“These are… heavy!” she laughs.

Masaru picks a heater shield from the rack, and almost loses his footing as he carries it over to the horse.

“This… should do!” Masaru says as the two of them get on the horse.

“What?! Where’s my horse?!” Sato scoffs out.

“This is a challenge for those who are meant to meet it!” the trusty shopkeeper exclaims from inside the building. “Watch closely, and marvel at their dedication!”

Sato huffs in confusion as Masaru moves to help Valerie up onto the stirrups, but surprisingly she swings over onto the mount with the trained ease of an equestrian. She offers him her hand.

“Why am I not surprised,” Masaru says with a smile as he takes her hand.

She smiles back, giving him the front of the saddle. “I did spend a few years on my uncle’s farm, after all.”

With a little help from Yuna and a less-than-thrilled Sato, they get a good handle on their equipment, and Valerie puts her hip into the steed’s side, sending him forward at a trotting pace.

“Blessings of The Crystals upon you both, brave warriors,” the paper man encourages. “Meet with The Knight, and show him you are ready to take on the challenge of authority.”

With his words and Yuna’s cheers fading behind them, the two ride up to the opposite side of the hill’s crest. Only now does Masaru realize just how perfectly flat and straight the top of the hill really is: suitable for a charge, and with enough room for two horses to do so.

With Masaru and Valerie working together to keep the shield and lance raised, he muses about just how difficult it can be to hold up the expectations of society when the tools its authority weigh this much.

Masaru struggles at the reins of the horse for a moment to turn, but as if by tradition, their steed turns itself and sets its hooves in the perfect position.

As the generous breeze tosses their hair, they watch The Knight for a moment, when they notice something strange.

“Hey,” Valerie whispers from behind Masaru.

“I see it,” he says.

The Knight, when the sunlight hits it from the angle they’re viewing it at, is made of paper.

“Honored warriors,” The Knight begins, “are you prepared to take on the commitment required to protect the village?”

Masaru blinks at the peculiar paper form of The Knight, and he looks down to the village. He finally places the thing that was bothering him about it all this time. It’s all paper, but the spirits surrounding it are real.

He looks back to The Knight. “Yeah. I’m ready now… I’m sorry that I didn’t understand before. It takes a lot to take care of so many people. Even if I’m just a cog in the machine, I guess I have to do my part by being as strong as I can. I won’t hide form it anymore.”

“I’m ready,” Valerie says. “You were just waiting for us this whole time, but we’re prepared for it, alright?”

Despite the breeze, the air seems to thicken as the sunset glows with a new-found splendor.

The Knight lifts its lance and shield, and then leans into his stirrups. “Show me.”

Masaru nods with Valerie, and they both lean in. He doesn’t even notice the pressure of her chest pushing against him— all that’s on his mind is why he is here, and what it’s trying to tell him.

“You’re not so bad after all, are you?” Masaru asks with a smirk. He never thought he’d say that to something that’s killed him, let alone three times, but he’s done stranger things, he’s sure.

“I am only what I am,” The Knight explains. “I am whatever people see me to be. Real and yet false all at once… and yet a necessary existence to defend the town and its people.”

Masaru can feel his equipment become lighter as Valerie lifts them with all her might.

The Knight pulls in a breath, as if the breeze of the wind were coming directly from its body. “I will measure your commitment. Ride forward!”

Masaru leans in as Valerie sends a strong kick into their noble steed.

The salaryman holds strong with the model, and they lift the lance, aimed for the center of The Knight’s shield, as it does the same.

For a moment, the thundering of hooves overpowers the strength of the breeze. Every sense Masaru has focuses into the moment, the aim, the moment. The weight doesn’t even phase him now.

The Knight’s steed propels it forward to them like a bolt of red and black… and their equipment meet.

It’s over in a moment of pure dedication to the act.

It’s light, force, and the crackling of lances against shields.

At the end of their pass-by, both lances are shattered, The Knight’s own crumpled like origami.

Bruised from the pass, but otherwise unhurt, the two turn to meet The Knight’s gaze from the other side.

It nods.

“You are ready.”

At that, it gives a salute with its lance, repairing itself as if by magic, and then, after a breathless pause, it pulls hard on the horse’s reins, rearing its steed into the sky before storming off into the red of the sunset.

The Knight fades into the air as Yuna and Sato catch up to the hill.

Masaru and Valerie spare one last look to The Knight, and both look down to their wrists.

Masaru sees the first of his three marks disappear, leaving a mild blemish over his skin: a reminder over what he’s overcome.

Valerie grins.

“It worked?” Masaru asks.

“Two left!” she exclaims as she taps their steed to set him back trotting down to meet the others.

Sweaty, a little battered, but more than anything in shock at their victory, the two ride along together as the realm blurs slowly into a kaleidoscope of ideas and colors.

“Feeling okay?” Valerie asks.

Masaru nods. “Yeah. More than okay. That was… that was it,” he says, still short on breath. “Like… that was easy!”

She hums. “Easy, once we figured out what it represented and how to deal with it.”

“You guys did amazing!” Yuna shouts as she stumbles up as quickly as she can, waving her arms with wonder-struck abandon. “And you didn’t hurt the horses!”

Masaru grins sheepishly as Valerie stifles a laugh. As he runs his hand along the mane of the steed, he finally notices the very smooth, paperlike quality it has.

“Yeah, lucky us, huh?”

Yuna looks around as Masaru and Valerie dismount the horse, carrying the remains of their jousting equipment along with them – even the handle of the lance has the texture of folded origami.

The horse gives a knowing look with a doodled-on face, and gallups back to the town, but not before giving Yuna a quick nudge with its snout.

She giggles and waves off to the horse, who rears up in the distance like a glorious and free stallion.

“I guess we’re off to the next one,” Valerie says, looking over the collapsing, shifting forms of the forests around them.

“This is lovely!” Yuna says, jumping about in an attempt to hop over the fluctuating waves of their disappearing world.

“I… phew… I always knew you two could do it,” Sato, finally catching up to the others, says as he leans over and rests his hands on his knees. “So… when’s mine coming?” he asks.

Masaru shrugs as the entire world, and the sunset with it, fades out. “Beats me. I assume we’re going to The City next.”

Valerie moves her mouth to speak, but Masaru cannot hear anything. He cannot even feel the drowning sensation.

They move on to their next challenge.