A miracle and a name

An eerie silence consumed the throne room as a tense silence was held.

You could hear a pin drop within the silence.

A visible frown crossed the face of a shadowy character making the room tense.

An orc, a monstrous creature with the body of a human and the head of a pig bowed low in hopes of having his life spared by the shadowy figure on the black throne surrounded by Serigals armored in black standing sentry-like statues.

"what did you say?"

The orc flinched as the female voice asked full of malice and almost broiling in anger

"t-t-the necromancer f-failed your grace" the orc stuttered nervously

"and what of the manticore?" her voice rumbled again like thunder. the barely restrained rage in it sent shivers down the spines of those present

"W-when we found it one of the hearts were pierced and the beast looked like it was torn to shreds with the stinger completely removed," the orc said quickly in hopes of surviving this confrontation

Silence.

The orc looked up hopefully.

*Squelch!*

"huh?" he asked as he looked down

A dark spike emerging from the earth had impaled him, the spike piercing his heart without him even knowing about it.

Blood erupted from his mouth as he fell to the floor in a dead heap of flesh and bone.

"feed him to the spiders, and send out a Serigal with a horde of undead to retrieve the princess We can not have another light caster on the enemy side" she ordered the armored figure next to her who dutifully nodded and moved to pick up

"and figure out who's responsible for killing the manticore." she snapped at another

"We don't want an unknown player in this game…"

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It was already night time in the plains of Koroth as Sebas stared at the elf currently passed out on the ground as if he had just drunk way too many bottles of rum after having almost killed him during drunken training.

He rubbed at the bruises forming on his body shuddering. Making an important mental note on not giving him any alcohol any time soon.

a passed out Lilian to his side who looked like her usual adorable self.

He sat there Wondering.

How did Lilian do what she did?

Healing magic was rare for a person to possess naturally and takes decades of practice to even perform correctly and even then it was never as strong as what she did

Or more importantly How in the hell the elf took care of a half dozen bandits and a necromancer like they were ants while seemingly making fun of them in a drunken spew while calling the necromancer 'some angsty goth woman' and batting her undead minions like rag dolls

Sebas chuckled at the memory. Before facing the little fire he managed to build. a ghost of a smile on his face remembering how he survived the night.

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Flashback __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Goodbye, princess…" he had said through the pain of a hole in his chest and lungs from where a spear had stabbed him earlier

He was bleeding out.

"no! Sebas don't go!!" Lilian screamed tears streaming down her little face

With the elf already there despite his unusually drunken state Sebas knew she was in good hands. Even though he hadn't known him for long he felt he could trust the elf. Every time he looked at Lilian gave him a look of sorrow as if she reminded him of his own daughter.

Even if he didn't know his actual name he did figure out an important detail.

He was a father.

And a kind one at that.

He could leave Lilian to him.

He can trust him.

"don't leave me Sebas…" Lilian sobbed into his chest

Oh how he wished he could do just that, and stay with her.

help raise her to be a good queen and stand as her knight.

Be the shield for her when she was in danger.

But alas, his story ends here

"No" Lilian whispered a faint glow beginning to surround her form in motes of gold and warmth, growing in intensity Until Sebas swore he saw the heavens looking down on him and an angel had descended upon the earth to grant him salvation

"I'm not losing you Sebas!!!" Lilian declared as the gold light consumed the cowardly knight's body engulfing him in gold light

The cowardly knight's wounds began to heal as he felt the gentle caress of the light.t feeling the oddly comforting warmth that came with it.

he felt his strength return to him as the light empowering him

"there… you can keep being my knight…" Lilian said swaying side to side as if she was dizzy before collapsing on top of him

"princess?!" he asked in concern before calming when he saw she was only asleep

"so you do live" a too cheerful voice called out to him

It was the elf.

Smiling drunkenly at him.

Covered in blood. Well, granted both of them were covered in the stuff.

"thanks to her highness here who appears to have a talent with healing magic" he responded seating her highness down on a comfortable spot where she slept peacefully

"She's a good kid," the elf said the nostalgic look in his face was back with a hint of sorrow " I just wish Amanda liked me half as much as she did" he had said a small smile plastered onto his face

Sebas looked at him strangely. He didn't know quite what to say to that

"is Amanda the name of your kid?"

"was the name of my kid" the elf corrected making him wince "I left to fight for her future and returned when she was all grown up and she disowned me as her father," Sebas saw a hint of a tear streaking down the elf's face at the thought

"and who am I to blame her?" the elf ranted on like a drunk in a tavern "I'd left her alone and didn't even bother to visit when her mom died" he hung his head low

Sebas for all the fear he had- no. For all the fear he used to have of elves and other nonhuman creatures found himself patting the back of the elf comfortingly

In a way, he sympathized with his story.

Being a knight in the guard meant leaving his family to serve the country.

But he couldn't fully understand the elf's pain.

The pain of losing someone you love doing the very thing to protect them

"you did what you had to to protect your future didn't you?" Sebas said comfortingly "and in my book that marks you as a great father elf," he continued

"thank you" he whispered "and call me Willem"

"huh?"

"Willem, that's my name"

"Okay then… Willem"

There was a comfortable silence that settled on the two

"you know…" the elf drawled still drunk "you did ask me to train you, so as your trainer (tormentor) i should teach you the importance of diligently keeping a routine" he continued

Sebas began to pale

"no! I think we had enough action for toda-" a fist hit him square in the jaw

Had the elf always hit that hard?

No.

He was holding back before. His face paled further as he figured out the implications of the situation at hand.

He was going to be trained/tortured by Willem without the elf holding back to keep from accidentally killing him

And Sebas didn't think he can survive form a near-death experience twice