Chapter 1 - Vasco Lumos

Under the shade of a lone tree stood an ocean of green grass which was shining due to the bright afternoon sunlight.

The sky was naked as the sun was easily shining the entire land as enveloping it in its warm light but under the tree shade stood a man who was having a full black attire.

It seemed to be like the man was there to enjoy the beauty of nature along with the peace which is offered by countryside where less humans live as it had a certain beauty to it.

But as he was enjoying nature at its best, humans followed him to end the peace he was enjoying as humans are infact annoying at times.

Infront of the lone man, a group of 5 men stood about 11 feet away from him as they were wearing a white armour which was shining due to the sunlight.

It was noon after all, as the sun was especially bright since the sky was naked revealing the endless blue ocean and at the very center a shining dot.

The man leaned towards the tree on his left side as he looked rather bored at the sight of the 5 men who were clearly there to not be his friends.

"Well... Well... Well." One of them spoke with a gleeful expression "It may seem we finally got the most important target for a Paladin."

"Indeed." Another one of the paladin commented as he unsheathed his sword from the silver scabbard "Aren't we all just lucky."

"Luck?." One of them said "I would rather say misfortune for his majesty the king of Lumos or ex king considering the king is about to leave this world."

"What a tragedy." One of them added "As he won't be able to join his wife as she is still there in the palace suffering, Oh perhaps we could visit the palace after we are done with you and treat her well before sending her to you."

Laughter was heard from them, as if it was joyous moment to berate others especially the one who are suffering under the blind actions of others.

The lone man was in fact the king of Lumos, Vasco Lumos a 31 year old man who have been crowned as the king at the age of 17 and married at the age of 18.

Perhaps it was fate that he could only spend 1 year with his beloved, as she was a victim of a unknown curse.

The curse gave her pain every second of her life while also keeping her as a mute for she cannot even scream in pain due to it as she is forever bedridden as even a single movement could cause more pain for herself.

Tears fall from her eyes for it was the only way she could show that it was a living nightmare for her, a cruel life.

It requires constant attention of healers who must constantly heal her and rejuvenate her as mana is keeping her body from natural destruction due to how she cannot eat or sleep or do anything.

But this method cannot prevent her from feeling the pain she must go through in a daily basis, it is a famous rumour that the original target for this curse was the King.

But there was a mistake and the Queen got cursed instead as this drove the king into depression as he wasn't able to focus on his duties but instead ended up drowning in a world of sorrow and drunkenness.

But he did try to find some solutions but everyone told him the same thing "Only the caster or the ones who know about the curse can undo it." but the problem was the castor was found dead.

It was a maid who made a mistake in cursing the wrong person as the maid was found dead in her quarters as there were clear indications of her committing self harm which resulted in her ultimate death.

Some even told the king to end the misery of the Queen by putting her to sleep forever with a dagger right towards her heart.

But the King ended up ripping the throat of those who suggested the death of his beloved as the solution as they all seek that he must conceive a heir or else the kingdom will fall.

Perhaps that was the plan, The King was obsessed with his wife as he was in love to the point he was willing to rip the whole kingdom into a total civil war especially since there were suspicion that it was the Church.

The Church has some known ambitious plans to turn the kingdom into a theocracy as some of their priests clearly talks about such ideals in their speeches but of course he was prevented from doing such acts.

But instead he decided to travel towards the region of Rothal which currently is ruled by the church against the laws of Lumos.

The reason for his travel to Rothal, Well it was so he can spend some quality time ending his depression even if it's temporary.

He roams at the outskirts of the region where he won't be noticed much except for the small number of Paladins who patrol this areas.

The Church has reported missing cases of Paladins which has reached nearly 2000 for the past 10 years.

In the meantime, Vasco was leaning into a tree as he seemed to be rather bored but he decided to speak since the paladins were berating his beloved.

"So the rats decided to aim for the lion." He said in a rather mocking way "Tell me traitors, Was it easy? To betray this nation."

His questions made them laugh more as if they found it as a joke "Betray? We are saving it from heretics like you who deny the existence of our God." One of them commented on his words whilst laughing.

"Tell me." He asked "Will your God save you all today."

The laughter stopped as all of them unilaterally unsheathed their swords as if they all got into a serious mood to fight.

Suddenly the tension rose in the area as if from laughter it turned into a scenario of men preparing for a all out war as none of them desired to joke about such a life and death situation.

"Tell you?." One of the Paladins spoke in a rather serious tone before continuing "Would rather show you."

"We shall follow our code of honour." One of the paladins said while looking towards his partners.

As another one of the paladin moved forward while the rest stood their as if they were waiting for their chance "1 verses 5 so we shall face you one at a time that is if you beat us.

"Why?" Vasco said "Is it to not be embarrassed considering getting beaten up by a single man after attacking at the same time can be quite disappointing."

"ENOUGHT." The paladin said as he lunged forward with his sword which was about 40 inches long.

Vasco simply turned to his side to avoid the swords trajectory as he looked at the paladin "That's disappointing." He stated whilst grinning.

Before the paladin could move the sword to the left and strike Vasco, he decided punch the paladin right in the nose which disoriented the paladin for 2 seconds.

Enough time for Vasco to utilise the Paladin's weakness as perhaps they might have underestimated him as the paladin wasn't wearing their helmet for some reasons.

Before the paladin could catch his breath and regain balance, Vasco smashed the paladins face especially the nose multiple times forcing the paladin to fall down.

But that didn't stop him, It was more like an invitation as the paladin fell Vasco just leaned down to punch the Paladin's face more and more especially at the nose.

As he punched the sound made out from this began to change untill it sounded as if there is a puddle on the face of the paladin as it was like Vasco was punching something wet.

It was the blood of the paladin as Vasco stood up and shook his hand as blood splattered all over the ground as it was not just blood for their were bits of his brain it seems.

The rest of the paladins held their ground and followed the rule as one by one they came as they didn't wanted to break the laws which they believe made them the better person.

The next one died after his jaw shattered and ripped apart while the third paladin would get impaled by his own sword as Vasco took the sword the moment he could just to penetrate the right eye socket of the paladin.

The fourth desired to last longer but Vasco tripped him as making him fall onto the corpse of the third paladin as the third was laying down while his sword was sticking out from his head which resulted in the fourth being impaled right through his face.

"Unfortunate." Vasco commented seeing the fate of the fourth who died without even being able to fight properly.

The fifth lasted longer as he wore his helmet which covered his face as well except for his eyes as he launched considerable amount of attacks towards Vasco but it didn't end well as after nearly an hour of launching attacks and Vasco dodging them all.

The paladin could feel it, the exhaustion resulted from moving nonstop inside of a hard armour as it was very clear that the battle was over.

Vasco walked back towards the tree as to stay under the shade as he looked forward, the corpses of the paladins lay down there and fifth one well his helmet was crushed with his head inside leaving a quite gruesome scenary but of course the nature's beauty and peace hid it or gave it less importance.

As he could enjoy the moment of peace he heard movements behind him, it was his top advisor Fabian who apparently found him again as Fabian is the only person who seem to be able to find him whenever he goes to hunt like this.

He turned around a bit to see fabian kneeling down as his red eyes looked down upon his servant with rather disappointment especially after hearing "Your Majesty." as he always expect to hear the words that his beloved has gotten better.

Silence was his answer as Fabian decided to continue "I have reports from OOL, It's urgent and I have found a solution to your predicament." Those words were met with Vasco turning his back towards Fabian as Vasco actions were to show Fabian he didn't care.

But Fabian knew how to get his attention "Solution to save her, Your beloved the Queen." upon hearing those words Fabian lifted his head up to see the reaction of the King.

But the moment he lifted his head up, turning his gaze onto the king his whole body shivered as the king was indeed looking down on Fabian with his two red eyes which was shining perhaps the rage which he has held back inside of him for a decade.

He could only feel fear as he broke eye contact as it was too much of a pressure as Vasco showed no signs of joy as he knew it was useless to be happy in another one of the so called solution as he has faced such scenarios more than often.

Vasco walked forward towards the carriage used by Fabian to travel towards his location as Fabian followed as their destination was the Capital City.

To Dale they go, perhaps it was nearing time for Vasco to finally be reunited with his beloved.