A3. Visions of the Noladmet

I keenly watched as the farmers ate their gruel under the watchful gaze of the Silver Knights.

I desperately needed to sleep, but I couldn't let my guard down.

I had eaten the single serving of gruel Neela had served me and I strongly declined any further servings.

Last thing I wanted was to feel indebted to that wide-eyed woman.

Speaking of which, she sat next to me and chatted on and on about her comrades and their adventures.

"I've never personally killed a dragon, but the captain over there says our legion once aided the golden knights in felling one of the many dragons that swarmed Lanceberg all those years ago. Unfortunately or fortunately, I was still training at that time, so I couldn't participate in most of the war- hey! Are you even listening?" Neela asked, but I didn't respond.

I merely rested my head against the tree behind me and leaned into the darkness of the night.

"Tsk! The least you could do is nod or grunt in response."

I ignored the woman and this was seemingly the final straw.

She got up and walked towards the camp where everyone else was.

I heard her superior ask who I was and she told him what little I told her.

My eyelids slowly fell as the flames of the campfire massaged my inner eyes.

It was a pleasant, yet stinging sensation that unfortunately led to me sleeping.

.

..

My ears ached in pain as I was bombarded by extremely loud noises. Noises that forced my eyes open.

I looked around to find that I was floating in a dark plane, a void-like space littered with countless streams of strange pulsating matter.

It looked inorganic and yet it stretched, convulsed and contorted like flesh.

These tubes of flesh ran across the void coming in and out of existence at points I couldn't determine.

My body was also being pushed around by waves of energy.

Dark energy that seemed to be the driving force behind the madness of this plane.

I looked up to find the body of a gigantic naked woman floating in the void, only she was bleeding.

Just below her left breast, was a wound and standing above the wound were eight dark beings whose bodies were bathed in the dim light of the chaotic world.

One of them floated away from the woman's body and approached me, but my heart couldn't handle being in the presence of whatever that thing was.

I desperately tried swimming or crawling away, but I seemingly couldn't move.

I closed my eyes and hoped that whatever the dark being did to me was painless.

A moment passed.

Then another.

Nothing happened.

All the noise from before was gone as gone and I was completely engulfed in dark silence.

.

..

[AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!]

A voice deep within me cried forcing my eyes open.

"What in the world?"

Someone asked.

I looked at the campsite to find that all the knights were standing and were all looking up.

I looked up as well and saw a swirling vortex of dark smoke high in the sky.

Shit!

I closed my eyes and begged that the inner voice within calm itself, but it was in far too much pain.

It was an excruciating pain. One akin to burning while also drowning.

I took deep and even breaths and the building storm above eventually disappeared, revealing the clear night sky above.

I sighed as the knights spoke among themselves.

"What do you think that was?"

One of them asked.

"No idea." The one Neela referred to as captain said.

"Perhaps it's a warning from Summus?"

I deeply sighed, but just as I rested against the tree again, a loud explosion came from the camp.

A large plume of dust was sent flying everywhere, but it quickly settled, revealing something that made me bite my teeth so hard they cracked.

A Golden Knight stood completely upright at the center of the camp.

He stood at about twice the height of a normal person, had a head full of curly white hair and had bright golden eyes.

His armor was embellished with the images of a golden sun, but I threw away all rational thought as I stood up.

"What brings you all the way out here, great knight?"

Neela's captain asked as he knelt in front of the Golden Knight, who simply ignored him as he turned to face me, but I had already started walking away.

I heard the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching, but ignored them as best as I could.

That is until a heavy, armour-clad hand landed on my shoulder.

"Mmm?" I sounded as if I was forcibly turned around.

The Golden Knight glared at me with eyes that burnt like the sun.

"Being of darkness, what brings you to these lands?" The Golden Knight asked.

"I'm headed north."

"Why?" The Knight hissed as the Silver Knights cautiously approached.

"My heading is my business alone, no?" I asked, but the Golden Knight unhanded me before stepping away, his Golden sword in hand.

"Turn back. Return to the dark hole you crawled out from and never return. There will be no second warning." The knight said.

"I knew something was weird about you," Neela muttered, but I didn't really want to deal with all this.

"What are you going to do if I refuse?" I asked as the sky rapidly darkened prompting the farmers to all cower beneath their wagons.

The Golden Knight looked around as the surrounding land was blanketed by black smoke.

He then raised his sword and pointed it at my neck.

"Refuse and your life is forfeit." The knight said prompting the silver knights to slowly back away.

I dropped the heavy golden sword before dashing towards the knight as my nails grew significantly longer and thicker, but just as I reached out to claw the knight's face off, he hit me with the back of his hand, sending me tumbling to the ground.

This caused my cloak to fly off, revealing my naked body.

"Dear moonlight." Neela gasped as I stumbled onto my feet.

The Golden knight didn't even give me a moment to prepare for his next strike, he simply dashed towards me with the full intent of beating me to a pulp, but just as sent forth his fist, I dashed to the side and clawed at his face, taking what bits of skin I could, but it wasn't enough.

This guy wanted to kill me, I couldn't afford playing around any longer.

The knight turned to face me and even though blood ran from the fresh wound on his face, he didn't flinch or cry out in pain.

He simply dashed towards me again and this time he had his sword raised.

I dashed towards him as well and just as he swung his sword to separate my lowered body from my upper body, I jumped above it using the strength of my hooved legs.

I then landed on his shoulders as my head transformed into that of a goat.

I then violently clawed at the knight's face, ripping out one of his eyes and an ear in the process.

Without making a noise, the knight grabbed my neck and squeezed it so hard I let out a pained squawk.

"Now, die." The Golden Knight hissed.