The nation of Izadi

We left the castle after destroying all of Amets weapons and went into the castle town and we were met with loud cheering from both the knights and the townspeople. I smiled.

We went to rest after cheering with the townspeople and tomorrow would be the day that our plans shifted.

In the morning I thought to myself, it’s nice to rest in a city with normal sleeping conditions. And then I remembered that Julia is still hiding in the Resistance Headquarters, “We have to pick her up later” I thought to myself.

We commenced a meeting on the old throne room floor to decide what to do now. The main topics were: The rebuilding of the nation of Itxaro, what to do about the other dark knights and Satan, the hunting of remaining ghosts, How will the neighbouring nations react, and what to do with me.

We began by talking about the rebuilding of Itxaro and how we are about to choose who to be the new leader of the land, and with a unanimous vote everyone present voted for Brandon as the new leader of Itxaro. He was surprised and said "I'm not fit for this”, but everyone reassured him and said you led this army for years, you are perfectly fit for the task, as a matter of fact you're leading us even now during this meeting. He was very honored and thanked us for the encouragement, but he also went to God to double check if he truly was fit for the task and God said yes.

We continued onto the next topic which was about what to do about the dark knights, the remaining ghosts and me. “There are still four dark knights left which we will struggle with more than with Amets. Three of their locations are known, but very difficult to get to. And then there is the fourth one Esmerelda who no one knows where she is.” Brandon pointed out and continued by asking “What knowledge do we have of the others?”. We know that Sol is currently situated on the island of Ember in the fallen nation of Iñaki. I stopped the conversation right there and asked “Sorry, but what is the nation of Iñaki?” I asked in confusion. Everyone was lost how I didn’t know, John said “The nation of Iñaki is the nation that protected the Armor of God and the Sword of the Spirit. Didn’t Julia tell you?” I was confused why neither Julia nor Egil had told me anything about it. I knew I had to ask her what this is about. But we had to move on.

The other dark knights are in too difficult places. Einar is somewhere on the Continent of Astrid and Meri is in the fallen nation of Itsasne and Ibai which is not possible without the help of one of the two standing nations Irati or Izadi.

John immediately pointed something out which was strange, when Amets declared in front of his army that they would in his own words "Conquer the whole continent of Vitale after defeating the nation of Irati. But there is also the nation of Izadi, why wouldn't they be a threat?” That sparked a debate and I pointed out “If we need to investigate this and need the help of the other nations to defeat the dark knights, why don’t I, Julia and John head to Izadi to investigate what is going on. In the meantime you need to focus on what you have to do rebuilding and taking out the remaining ghosts. After we are done with investigating Izadi we will head into the nation of Irati.

They all agreed and we ended our meeting by a prayer for protection against all evil.

But before we would leave for Izadi and go by to get Julia, we celebrated with the townspeople and had a festival. We ate bread and fish which they had stored for this kind of a moment. And we drank a little of what the wine they had. And then a random man asked “Knight, why do you never take off your Armor?” And then it hit me. I haven't taken it off once since I put it on. It has had the perfect amount of comfort and my hygiene has been completely fine. I said to the man “This Armor is a gift from God and it has everything I need, even comfort and hygiene!”

After we celebrated God and life, we headed towards the resistance headquarters to pick up Julia. It took us quite a few hours to get there. When we arrived we started to look for Julia. But she was nowhere to be seen. John found a letter that said “Hi Matthew, when you are reading this I am gone. I had to leave for your safety, I can not explain now, but if we ever meet again

I will explain everything. From Julia”.

I didn’t know what to say, I prayed to God and asked that she be protected from whatever she had to save us from and that she would be safe through her journey. I was a little afraid for her, but I knew she knew God so I had nothing to fear.

We headed off to the border of Itxaro and Izadi and there was a stark difference immediately. On the side of Itxaro it was full of rocks and pebbles, but on the side of Izadi it was full of green and lush forest filled with life.

We noticed immediately that the border was surprisingly unguarded. The news of Amets fall would not be so quick to reach Izadi that they would be able to pull away their whole border guard. Something felt odd. We entered into the beautiful green forests of Izadi, they were stunning, such beautiful works of God. We continued walking through the forests, but something felt off. It was like we were being watched by someone.