The Holy Knight

A single knight, his armor adorned with golden accents that marked him as a captain, stepped forward. He raised a gauntleted hand, and the circle of knights halted, their spears leveled, their shields locked.

“By the divine authority of High Priest Theron and the light of the sacred moons,” the captain’s voice rang out, amplified and distorted by his helm, “you are hereby declared heretics. Your unsanctioned use of profane magics and your consorting with a known demonic entity mark you as foes of the faith. Lay down your arms and surrender for judgment.”

Heretics. Foes of the faith. The accusation was so absurd that for a moment, they could only stare in disbelief.

“Heretics?” Baro finally said, his voice outraged.

“We’re the ones who brought the demon to you! Are you all blind?!”

The captain gave no reply. He simply lowered his hand.

TWANG.

An arrow, fired from the ranks of the knights, whistled through the air, aimed directly at Elysia’s head. Elysia thrust her hands forward, and a shimmering, bubble of water erupted into existence around them, enveloping the wagon and its occupants. The arrow hit the barrier with a dull thump, its energy absorbed, and it clattered harmlessly to the ground. In the next second, a dozen more followed, whizzing and bouncing off as they hit the watery shield. Then the knights in the front rank charged, their swords and spears clanging uselessly against the dome of water.

Elysia gritted her teeth, the strain of maintaining the barrier creeping up. “We have to get out of here!” she gasped. “I can’t hold this forever!”

Through the distorting lens of the water, they saw the ranks of knights part. A single man walked through the opening. He was clad head to toe in golden armor that seemed to radiate its own light. He carried no shield, only a large two handed greatsword that glowed golden.

Keito’s breath caught in his throat. “By the moons,” he whispered, his voice a mixture of awe and panic. “It’s him. Minoan. The Hand of Judgment.” He looked at the others, his face pale. “He is a legend. A holy warrior said to be blessed by the God of Judgment himself. His power is absolute. He is rarely ever seen in public.”

Minoan came to a stop twenty feet from their barrier. He raised his glowing blade and began to chant, his voice powerfully deep, resonsting that made the very stones of the city vibrate. The light around his sword intensified, growing from a soft glow to a blinding, holy fire. He was preparing an attack that Elysia knew with certainty, her simple barrier could not withstand.

“Let me out of these chains.”

The voice was a calm purr in Elysia’s ear. She glanced back. Kivarus was leaning against the bars of his cage, looking at the scene with an expression of bored annoyance, as if this were all a tedious interruption to his day.

“What?” she snapped, her focus strained. “No! I can’t deal with all of them and worry about you trying to kill us too!”

Kivarus let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, you mortals are so delightfully dramatic. Trust me, I couldn’t harm a hair on your pretty little head even if I wanted to. I signed that stupid, binding contract of yours, don’t you remember? My will is magically, and quite irritatingly, bound to your survival and well being. Now, are you going to let me help, or would you prefer we all get vaporized by that self righteous tin can?”

The pressure on her shield was increasing. Gaps were beginning to form in the watery surface as the knights redoubled their assault. “I don’t know much about the contract!” she confessed, her voice tight with strain.

Kivarus actually laughed, a short, sharp laugh of amusement. “Imagine possessing a power that can bind a demon general, and it falls into the hands of a complete novice. The irony is truly delicious.” His voice hardened. “Release me, girl, before your ignorance gets us all killed.”

She had no choice. Minoan’s chant was reaching its end, the light from his sword now so bright it was painful to look at. With a desperate cry, Elysia flicked one trembling hand towards Kivarus. The silver shackles around his wrists dissolved into light.

“Please,” she begged, turning her focus back to the shield, “don’t make me regret this.”

Minoan raised his blade high above his head. “By the sacred light, I call forth HOLY JUDGMENT!”

As the golden warrior prepared to bring his sword down, Kivarus moved. He seemed to simply cease being in the wagon and reappear directly behind Elysia. He placed his hands on her shoulders, his touch surprisingly gentle. He grabbed her right hand, his long, cool fingers interlacing with hers, and brought it up to mirror her left. It was an intimate, shocking gesture, like a dance instructor correcting his partner’s form. He leaned down, his long, pale hair brushing against her cheek, his lips close to her ear.

“You’re trying to hold back the ocean,” he whispered, his voice hypnotic. “Stop fighting it. Let it go. Now, focus on expanding your magic outward. Push.”

She did as he said. She stopped trying to maintain a rigid bubblel and instead poured her will into a single, explosive burst. As she did, she felt his power surge into her, a deep, resonant feeling of dark energy that felt like the weight of a fallen star. It merged with her fluid water magic, creating something new, something powerful.

Minoan’s sword came down. A beam of holy light shot towards them. At the exact same instant, their combined magic erupted. The water barrier exploded outwards. It was a tidal wave of shimmering, dark purple water, each drop imbued with the crushing weight of Kivarus’s gravity magic. The beam of holy light hit the wave and was simply swallowed, its energy dissipated into the overwhelming mass. The wave crashed into the ranks of the holy knights, throwing them through the air like dolls. Minoan, caught at the edge of the blast, was thrown back, his golden armor saving him from the worst of it, but the attack left him stunned and staggering, the divine light of his sword flickering.

“GO!” Keito roared. He was already in the driver’s seat of the wagon, grabbing the reins. “EVERYONE, IN!”

Baro, Corin, and Heidi scrambled into the back. As the wagon lurched forward, Kivarus wrapped a strong arm around Elysia’s waist, pulling her backwards off her feet. He floated with her into the back of the moving cart just as Keito cracked the reins, forcing the terrified horse into a panicked gallop. Dust and debris kicked up behind them as they sped towards the main gate.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Baro yelled over the rattle of the wagon wheels. “ELYISIA, WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?!”

Corin and Heidi were huddled together in the back, holding on for dear life as the wagon rocked wildly. Elysia, still held loosely by Kivarus, was breathing heavily, her heart hammering from the sudden infusion of his dark power.

“I don’t know!” Keito shouted back, expertly steering the horse through the empty streets. “But something is deeply wrong with the church here. The moment we mentioned the convergence, the High Priest’s entire demeanor changed.”

BRONG. BRONG. BRONG.

The sound of the Grand Sanctum’s bells began to toll, a deep alarm that echoed throughout the entire city.

“Oh, no,” Keito groaned. “That’s the alarm. They’re locking down the city.”

Up ahead, they could see it. The main gate, a giant structure, was slowly grinding shut. They weren’t going to make it. Elysia looked at Kivarus, who was now leaning against the back of the wagon, looking unfazed.

“Help us!” she pleaded.

He sighed, annoyed. He glanced at the closing gates, then back at her desperate face, and rolled his eyes. With a flick of his wrist, a sphere of energy, visible only as a distortion in the air, shot forward and slammed into the grinding gears of the gate mechanism. With a deafening screech of protesting metal and a groaning of stone, the massive doors shuddered to a halt, then were slowly forced back open just enough for their wagon to thunder through.

They didn’t stop. Keito pushed the poor horse to its absolute limit, leaving the holy city of Sanctum Luminius behind in a cloud of dust. They galloped for miles, the alarm bells fading behind them, until the horse’s sides were heaving and it could run no more. They finally pulled off the main road, deep within a hidden grove of trees, the adrenaline of their escape slowly giving way to exhaustion and a bunch of unanswered questions.

It was night now. As they all climbed out of the wagon, the silence was heavy, except for the smirk on Kivarus’s face. Corin, ever the pragmatist, was the first to speak, his voice flat as he looked at the demon.

“You knew this would happen,” he stated. “Did you do something to the church?”

Kivarus laughed, shaking his head. “I didn’t have to. The rot was already there. I was just the reason to show it to you.”

Elysia walked up to him, her expression a mixture of gratitude and suspicion. “Look,” she said, her voice firm. “Right now, we need your help. You know more than we do. You saved us back there, so there has to be something good inside of you. Please, just… tell us what you know.”

Kivarus looked down at her, his eyes tracing the lines of her face in the moonlight. He seemed to contemplate her words for a long moment. Then, he lifted a hand and gently cupped her chin, tilting her face up to his.

“Oh, I’ll let you in on what I know,” he whispered, his voice intimate. “If you’ll allow me to…” He leaned closer, his hair falling around her face, his lips just inches from hers.

Before he could close the distance, a hand clamped down on his wrist like a vice. Keito was there, his face filled with fury, pulling Elysia back into the safety of his own arms. Simultaneously, the massive head of Baro’s axe appeared, its sharpened edge resting lightly against Kivarus’s throat.

Kivarus laughed, a real sound of amusement. He stepped back, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Ah, ah, ah,” he chuckled, his eyes dancing with mischief. “I won’t touch a hair on her pretty little head. My, my, I can see you all are very protective of her.”

He smirked, then turned and hopped onto the edge of the wagon, sitting casually. “Very well. Since you all are so very tense, I guess I can enlighten you with my precious information.”

Keito and Baro slowly relaxed their stances. Elysia, her face flushed, untangled herself from Keito’s protective embrace. They all gathered around the wagon, their exhaustion forgotten, and listened as Kivarus began to speak.

“The holy city has been corrupted,” he stated simply, as if discussing the weather. “It has been for some time. You see, the veil between my world and yours is thin. Thinner than it’s been in centuries. To ensure dominion when it finally falls, I came here with two other demon generals. The goal was simple: set up strongholds in key strategic locations across Tara so that the eventual takeover would be… efficient.”

His expression darkened, the amusement replaced by a flicker of genuine anger. “Yet, when we crossed over, I was betrayed. I was nearly beaten to within an inch of my life. Raketh, the First General, the leader of the main demonic force, believes that if he can secure this entire world alone, he will become indispensable to the Demon Lord. Me, the Second in Command, I was in his way.” He scoffed. “The Third General is a sniveling weakling who will do whatever Raketh wants, so he isn’t a threat. A puppet. And that’s what happened to your precious holy city. It fell under Raketh’s compulsion. It is the most sacred place in all the land, so it makes perfect sense to start the rot from the heart, does it not?” He glanced over at Heidi. “And I’ll admit, after my… disagreement… with Raketh, I was forced to retreat and find a quiet place to recuperate. Your little mountain village, with its inherent connection to the earth, was a suitable place to lick my wounds.”

Everyone was stunned, the sheer scale of it all settling over them.

“Raketh will use the holy city to bring about the convergence,” Kivarus continued, now all business. “But it’s a process. There are steps, things he will need to accomplish first. If you want to stop him, you won’t do it by attacking Sanctum Luminius head on. It’s a fortress now. You have to cut off his resources.”

He leaned forward. “There are three ancient sites of power on this continent, three ‘Beacons’ that have helped stabilize the veil for thousands of years. The first is the Sunken Heart of the Jade Forest, a place of immense life magic. The second is the Silent Pinnacle, a mountain peak where the flow of time is warped. And the third is the Nexus of Whispers, a hidden desert cave where all the world’s ley lines intersect. Raketh’s forces are already moving to corrupt them, to turn their stabilizing energy into a dark energy that will eat away at the veil from within.”

He paused, letting the weight of the task sink in.

“That’s not all. The heroes who stopped the last convergence didn’t just push the demons back, they created a lock. A Celestial Key. They shattered it into three pieces and hid them. Raketh is now hunting for those pieces. Once he has them, and the Beacons are corrupted, he can perform a ritual at Sanctum Luminius during the next Waning of the Tear…when your second moon is at its weakest. That ritual will use the re forged Key to shatter the veil for good.”

He leaned back, a smug look on his face. “So, there you have it. Three Beacons to protect, three pieces of a key to find before he does. All while being hunted by an army of corrupted holy knights and a demon general who makes me look like a pleasant house guest. Any questions?”