I was kind of happy to learn that I was going to be in the regiment of the new knight Bachelor, one even rumoured to be a hero. But how wrong I was…
I had just finished with my preparations, after all, they had been delayed, due to us having to help Banneret Holi's legion march. Then soon after their departure, we heard something about the dragons returning. But instead, it was the foul tempered Red Scorch not the calm Waeria, and even more confusingly it was coming from the south?
He arrived on its back? All battered and crushed. I was sure he was dead, but we were assured he lives, turns out this is not the first time he's been like this. Then again, I have never seen a red dragon behave so calm and collected, not to mention there were a few more. It felt strange to pass the area of the Academy where the dragons and the Knight were help up; a crushed knight in armour, guarded by a few dragons, red ones at that.
Some of the dragon kin in the city had even issued requests to see this site but were rejected.
I am not sure how, but every time I passed him, his armour had been slightly mended. The armour must have costed a huge commission of values, because this was the first of such, I had ever seen.
Days, passed, and we headed out, strange that he had not awakened yet. What's even stranger is the fact that he hadn't eaten a single thing. At his level I knew hunger was not common, but in his state, I figured he needed some. Weeks passed which soon became months, that is until on the third month of our march, Elleria finally came into view.
The dragons had brought him along, floating near the army, staying low to the ground. Guarded by multitudes of true beasts… surely, he surely must be a hero. I'm sure the girls would be all over him, if he wasn't so terrifying – even in the state he was in, we were sure he was still dangerous. This is how I got the belief of a hero skill. I hadn't noticed I myself got it, but since Commander Callen has an appraisal skill, even if just barely able to see skills and other minor details. In fact, he had this thing where he counted those with the belief skill.
"So, you too Baled? But I am sure you didn't have it yesterday… peculiar knight, isn't he?"
"He sure is sir."
This had been so because now, the knight resembled something close to valiant. His armour had mostly recovered. The commanders said that this meant he'd be waking soon, but we could all feel it. The better he got, the clearer the connection we felt towards him got. Then we made it to the woods of Elleria, and he was still not up.
"Greetings Paladin Solace, I am João, I am part of the Elleria guard and have been sent here to grant you safe passage."
He was using the most common human language; one used by all knights, he was quite fluent in it though. The reply came from the ever so vague voice, "Good, we have not but a moment to waste."
Before the army went any further, he stopped us. The light-green haired, pointy eared, slightly aged looking man with his skin the lightest birch ever, had this hesitant look on his face. He wanted to say something, but he was still thinking about how to say it. Soon, he gained some resolve and said what was troubling him before he lost the chance to.
"My apologies, but we cannot let the dragons pass. Fire barely has any effect on the forest, except of course the flames of Red Scorch's legion. I cannot tell you how dangerous they can get…"
With that the Banneret Paladin glanced back, and said, "No, problem, I'll carry their passenger onwards. We cannot leave him here. Now, dragons, do you mind…?"
"We have been given orders to not release him under any circumstances."
Adriel had turned back to say something too. "Well, do you think he would come out all the way out here just to stay on the edges of the forest. I may not know much about him, but I do remember him saying that we should not leave him in the city. I doubt that he would have went through the trouble of having you guys lead him here, instead of guarding him elsewhere, if he had not intended to enter."
Solace stopped Adriel. She had made a decision. "Let us not waste any more time on this. I will leave a small squadron here; they will lead the Knight inside once the man wakes up…"
Another of the dragons spoke, confusing for humans as they do not know they are one, "That will not be necessary, the pale short-haired one is right. Take him, he did leave us the freedom to make decisions if the time came to."
Then Solace took the Knight and caried the four meter warrior inside a glowing light barrier, like a child with a helium balloon (with a knight inside though). The knight Banneret had refused Adriel's offer to carry the Knight herself – her reasoning, 'He is my responsibility.'
Now that the whole thing was resolved, I could pay better attention to our escort's armour. It was not made of steel, more like carved from a tree. But when I looked closer, I realised something. It had not been made from carving a tree, more like the tree had been grown into the perfect shape of an armour... The other thing is that this armour was somehow still alive. I had heard about their powers over nature, but this was incredible. The other thing is that being a knight, I recognised that this armour was near impenetrable. Stronger than normal steel, it had become sturdy without having any dents for compromising. It had the majestic shape of forged steel, but the resilience of the root we treaded on.
I would have been tempted to say that they were better, but the major difference, is that our armour has patterns carved into them, making them beyond exceptional. I sincerely doubt they would allow someone to carve patterns into their armour.
I had thought their bending of nature was exceptional, but laying sight onto their homes was even more incredible than I had imagined. They had not built houses onto the massive trees, or made the trees into houses, even if it was close. They had let the trees mould themselves into accommodations, and just like their armour, one would be sure that these were made from stone, or some other alloy.
They had been made in the image of buildings.
These branches had grown to the exact shape of stone architecture. The houses looked like they had grown out of the branches like fruits and become the shape they were. The trunks even had winding staircases, reaching well beyond my vision, so did the rest of this place. This place is so majestic, it gave me the feeling that I was stuck in a lucid dream and had prompted myself into the most wonderful place I could imagine. I bet I could scour all of Ouran and not find a single place coming quite this close to synergy with its people.
We were taken deeper into these woods, ones so massive, it felt like traversing a plain filled with mountains that had grown vertical. Each towering well beyond the clouds, which is where we were headed, above them on the centre tree.
At the centre of the forest was this tree, thee most massive ever, one that was just as tall as the others but ten times larger. On its largest branch, grew the most massive fruit like building. None of these were round, I describe them as fruits, because this is how the emerged from the branches, like square, perfectly shaped, hollow fruits. This one that I was staring at, had its base at the point where clouds began.
The light somehow had been made to enter the forest without being blocked by the massive foliage above. I, being a novice light elemental user, could still tell how. It was similar to the patterns carved into the city walls to let light in. Light elemental, for those on par with a paladin like Adriel, have the power to decide what is pure. Those of us who learn this from the others use the subjective purity of the one who created the skills we use. They however can decide what is pure.
This comes from mastering the power over the light elemental, not just skills. An example would be the Banneret Paladin. The field she created had judged gravity to be impure within it, thus making the Knight float. Usually, skills just chose materials to be impure on default, thus their vaporising effect, but this is just a basic form of the power. The person, who created the field around the entire forest, must have been even more powerful. I am just a novice and am not really sure what they had decided pure. What I can say though, is that they placed a field around the woods, and decided that leaves are impure to the light, thus letting it pass, unimpeded. It's definitely more complex than that, but that is as much as I can tell from it.
The woods had a range of colours for the buildings, and the ones on the palace were screaming magnificent.
This allowed the light to illuminate this building. There were clear skies today, allowing me the view the magnificent palace in all its splendour. From below, due to the clear skies and the light, I could see most of the castle in all its glory.
Once we made it inside, the Commanders and Bachelors went with the Banneret, to meet with the one who requested our help, the queen. All but one thought, the Knight. He was placed in a holding area, still surrounded by the barrier. I was with those sent to guard the Knight, and my Commander, Callen, later told us about what happened in the meeting.
Other races have their versions of a royal family, the same was for humanity, it is the Laurel, in the house of mother. Today the paladin stood before the court and the royal family.
She stood before them, her Commanders and Bachelors behind her. Meeting the royal family meant bowing in reverence, but all had come to accept that the knights bowed to no-one. They did not have any delusions of this; they were the ones who needed them after all. The knights are the ones who should be revered, even in the face of such royalties. And as a knight Banneret, Solace stood there, all could not help but feel the urge to prostrate themselves before her. Not that they were intimidated, or that she had been expressing her presence, but because they all could feel the power emanating from her.
"Xarion, queen of the woods of Elleria, we have responded to your plea for help."
Upon the thrown sat the only one not affected, the queen, surrounded by her children.
"I thank you for coming, the ambassador we sent was worried that he would fail his nation. We would have loved to enjoy your company for much longer, but we have not the luxury of time. The guard have been almost wiped out. The darkness is on the western side of the woods, swiftly approaching. The losses are piling, and the damage would be irreversible should they reach the forest, at best, we have a few weeks before they get dangerously close." – she and her court knew the language well.
"Do not mind the hospitalities, we are knights, the only thing we live for is to battle the darkness. How much of the guard will be joining us."
This was not a request for assistance, just one to let her know in advance how many souls she will have to babysit. Not that the queen picked this up though.
"We have a few still in the forest, most are guarding the darkness and will meet you there. My eldest son is amongst them. My children here are not yet strong enough, but those who are will be leaving with you. I will remain to defend the forest from any other forces."
They then discussed the details of the expedition. The court and the bachelor's conversed on the issues pertaining to the army. A being above level 100 barely needs necessities. In fact, if they did not exert themselves in battle they could live indefinitely, but while fighting they need food almost once a week. This is why the Knight was strange, after a battle like that, and having to recover, he would need some kind of supplements of some kind.
For others though, using power and skills, continuously on repeat, over and over, night after night, against the destroyers, each survivor needs a whale's diet to survive. They were not affected by most ailments, like getting sick, or suffering from injuries. But fighting the destroyers means exerting yourself beyond your godly levels of strengths, as such, they needed the food, only because it helped them remain spiritually sane. People have died, or worse – become monsters, because they had not eaten. Their bodies could survive, but their minds, needed the reminder that it was human.
There were other things like this, that were needed to help keep the knights remain mentally attached, and these are what the knights consider necessities – the habitual reminders of one's humanity.
For the first months we conditioned some of the guards, helping them get accustomed to the darkness, as best we could, and as much as we could. We could never let them become knights with their level of awareness, but they refused to let us handle it alone, as such we wanted to make sure they would at least not slow us down.
It was strange to look at someone stronger than you and think that they were nowhere near enough. It's true, simple strength is not enough to face destroyers, and they did not have what it takes.
The time came when we started facing the darkness, and wouldn't you guess it, our knight Bachelor was still a no show. He was still all the way in the palace, enjoying sleep, as the guards started dropping like flies all around us.
I winced in anger thinking about him, but the thought soon vanished, such a thought could mean death if I was not careful. A month more in battle and I found out from my commander who heard from the paladin, Adriel, the 'hero' was finally up. I really hope he can show me the hero everyone believes in soon.