The Knights

On the fourth floor, outside the castle, knights fooled and played while Sam and Tito sat on the steps amongst them.

"This is all so crazy right?" Sam asked Tito.

"Huh?" Tito looked at her, his chin in his palms.

"Like, all this monster hunting nonsense. Has this ever happened before?" Sam asked.

"My grandparents once sent me a letter about when they were kids. They were at an ice skating derby match and a mister mammal got trapped in the rink. They brought in the knights and they killed it, but everyone kept taking turns looking at it. Maybe it's not so similar as it is gross but, that's all I can really think of," Tito said. A mister mammal is a small fuzzy rodent like a mouse.

"Ew, yeah. I guess it would be similar if there was a really big mister mammal eating people, but that's not really the same," Sam said.

"Has a dragon ever come into the ADC?" Tito asked.

"I don't know. Doubt it," Sam said.

"If that happened then it would be similar to now," Tito elaborated.

"...We should just go ahead and plug up the hole in Law Lake. I don't know why nobody's done it yet," Sam said.

"Lazy I guess," Tito rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you do it then huh? Mister director of sports," Sam asked. Tito bit his lip.

"Sports is my thing, not public safety. Isn't that your job?" Tito made eye contact.

"Eh yeah actually. I'll talk to the king about it sometime later," She leaned back into the stairs and closed her eyes. Tito did the same.

"...Sam?" Felix asked.

Sam and Tito looked up at the normal sized Felix looking down at them.

"Felix? What are you doing here?" Sam sat up. Tito stayed stiff. Was he shivering? He didn't look guilty right? Did Felix remember?

"I need your help Sam. You and your strongest and bravest knights," Felix barely flinched, it was almost robotic... like somebody else Tito knew.

"Are.. are you gonna draw us?" Sam smiled.

Felix sighed and held the bridge of his nose.

"No. I'm not going to draw you guys," Felix said.

"Oh, sorry Felix. I'm listening, what's up?" Sam stood up straight.

"I need to talk to you, in private please," Felix said.

Tito's eyes darted to and from Felix and Sam.

"Heh, Felix, Felix? You are not going anywhere with Sam," Tito stuttered.

"Why not?" Felix folded his arms.

"Don't.. Don't play dumb. You're going to eat her or something! You want the knights so you can eat them because you're the monster. Everybody saw how big you were yesterday. Like anybody is going alone anywhere with you!" Tito shivered.

"I don't know how else to say it Tito, but I'm not the monster. I'm going to kill the thing," Felix said.

"And why should I take your word for it? How does denying it make a difference?" Tito snapped.

"Tito calm down please! It's day time, and everybody's out and about. I'm not going anywhere with Felix that's going to get me in trouble. He just needs to talk to me just like anybody else," Sam said.

"Are you sure?..You sure?" Tito stuttered.

"Aw man don't be like that. We'll find the monster and put an end to it I swear. They won't ever get you a second time you hear me?" Sam said, turning her whole body to face him.

"Ok.." Tito avoided eye contact.

Sam stood up and followed Felix down a crowded hall.

"Where are we going?" She growled, "Just because I'm following you doesn't mean I fully trust you. You nearly tripled in size yesterday according to multiple eye witness accounts, and you're always the start of a new fad in never before seen crazy around here. I think you're a nice guy, but that's really suspicious Felix."

Felix sighed.

"I know what it looks like, trust me, I do. I'm going to explain everything, but I wanted to find some place secret to talk about it with you," Felix eyed the shops and centers in search of a place to blend in or whisper.

"Why me?" Sam put a palm to her chest as they passed the bowling arena's entrance. Giant clatter of pins and other pin substitutes could be heard.

"You're a knight Sam, and you're friends with Una so I thought you might understand.." Felix looked to the floor.

"Oh no... are you sure she was..?"

"..Taken. Her purpose, at least how she sees it, is to be my friend. I haven't seen her all morning. It's.. the only explanation..." Felix breathed.

Sam caught up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Felix. I know she was your tail friend," Sam's ears drooped.

"Thank you... but I think there might be a way to save her, it's really stupid but it might be the best we have," Felix stopped and turned around to face her, "We don't have long to live Sam."

"....Felix?" Sam pouted, confused.

Felix looked around them. There were still some gwenens around a corner seating area in the main corridor, but it wasn't crowded or very popular.

"I think we're alone, enough," Felix said. He leaned onto the wall and waited for Sam to do the same.

"Uh.." Sam didn't understand. Felix tapped the wall next to him, "Oh."

Sam leaned against the wall.

"I want you and your best knights to come with me to the wilderness outside the ADC. We'll do it in order to rescue the kidnapped gwenens if they're still alive. The only problem is that this is a suicide mission. There is no guarantee that we'll come back alive, but as we are, we only separate our fate by maybe a few days anyway. There isn't just one monster Sam, there are legions, and getting bigger. I've decided I don't want to hide anymore, but if I'm going to do this I need backup," Felix said.

"So what you're telling me, is that there is an army of monsters coming to eat us and we should go out there and save Una and the other people that were kidnapped. Felix, do you even know how many people were kidnapped last night?" Sam asked.

"I don't know actually..." Felix played with his hands awkwardly.

"A little over forty Felix," Sam said.

"...How is that possible?" Felix gasped.

"I don't know," Sam shrugged, "We've been taking reports of missing persons all day. If we don't have anything then at least we have numbers."

"The monsters probably want to use them for something if they took that much," Felix mumbled.

"How do you know about this anyway? Are you like, one of them and decided to snitch?" Sam snickered.

"No.. I just.. I've been exploring the wilderness for a long time and while I was out there they started to show up. I've had a way out of the ADC for a long time. I never said anything though because I don't really like hanging out with people. It was just me and the challenges that the wilderness laid out for me. I didn't want anybody else to follow me. It.. It would ruin it," Felix explained.

"I would say 'I understand' but I really don't. Being alone sounds boring, I would've given away the location to the wilderness as soon as I found it. Not that I'd stay there long. Isn't it pretty empty?" Sam asked.

"Maybe to you it would be," Felix crossed his arms.

"I'm interested in your mission to save Una Felix, but you still haven't explained why you were so tall yesterday," Sam said. Felix sighed and looked away.

"To be real with you, I'm still not entirely sure. It's kind of this whole can of worms... To try to make it simple, you see this?" Felix made eye contact and pointed to his collar.

"Your neck thing?" Sam didn't see anything interesting about it.

"My collar. It.. wasn't working properly yesterday," Felix rubbed it.

"It actually does something? Oh yeah.. I think Una was telling me about you being anxious over it at some point. Slipped my mind. I thought you just wore it because it looked cool," Sam said.

"You think it looks cool?" Felix tried to keep from smiling.

"Well, it's very you. Nobody else wears one and you wear it all the time. Sometimes kids joke that you don't really have a neck, like if you took your collar off your head would fall off or something, but that was like four years ago," Sam said.

"Well I can't take it off. If I did, I would get all tall again and then over time become some strange animal...? I didn't actually take the collar off but I did stop taking my medication for it. Una suggested it because it would be the same as taking my collar off but with slower results or something," Felix explained.

"Why did she want you to take your collar off in the first place?" Sam asked.

Felix sighed and rubbed his head.

"We wanted to see if I was one of those.. things.. out there. Una didn't think I was, but I wasn't exactly sure and my collar's mystery has haunted me all my life. We don't have a guaranteed rest of our lives ahead of us, so I guess I wanted to see what I really was before I died."

"That's really ballsy of you. Did you find out anything?" Sam asked.

"I mean, not anything conclusive, but basically I'm not really a gwenen and this collar has been keeping me a gwenen my whole life. That or I just have a really strange genetic disorder," Felix said.

"That's really cool dude, not gonna lie," Sam said.

"Yeah but you wouldn't want it to be you," Felix scoffed.

"No, I wouldn't... So, what are you going to do? We need to get Una right?" Sam said.

Felix's ears straightened out for a bit.

"You really want to do this? You do know that we are likely going to die doing this. You and whoever you decide to bring with you," Felix said.

"I don't really see how I could die doing this honestly. If a monster jumps up in front of me I'll just hit it with my bat," Sam said.

"...I don't think you understand the danger we're in. There's going to be way more than just one," Felix said, soft.

"Then I'll just bring a lot of people? I don't see the big deal. They're just like animals right?" Sam said.

"They talk too," Felix said. He crossed his arms.

"Oh," She thought about it, "...So what? Talking animals," Sam shrugged.

"Talking animals that are clever, terrifying, strong, but especially infectious. If they bite you, look at you funny or they put a spell on you, you might become one of them. That's how they take things down. They've done it before on other planets and I don't see how we're any different," Felix told her.

"Mmmn... Could you get turned into one by being attacked?" Sam asked, her face hardening.

"It depends, by a lot actually," Felix rolled a hand.

Sam looked away.

"You ok?" Felix asked.

"Yeah, just... taking it all in ya'know?" Sam shuffled awkwardly.

"I'm glad you're taking the time to think about it. All my friends but one have already been taken by the monsters," Felix said.

"Which friends?" Sam faced him again.

"Una, and this big red mechanical dragonish guy named Error," Felix said.

Sam's brows fell as she focused on what he said.

"... A who what named what??" She asked.

"He's like a couple thousand year old frogen visiting his home planet. It's like a dragon but not really, and he was made of metal because I guess he had to replace all of his old organs or something," Felix tried to put together the shape of Error with his hands but ended up confusing himself.

"And this guy is your friend??" Sam asked.

"He saved my life twice and likes talking to me so yeah," Felix put his brow up, bottom lip out, nodded and shrugged in a single gesture.

Sam shook her head.

"What the... Felix, how are you so cool and nobody knew?" Sam asked.

"I'm just me? All the time? Same me who's friends with Error is also the guy who never talks and just draws critters. You guys never ask," Felix explained, "Technically anyone who's friends with an artifex is friends with an infinitely old time traveler from another planet."

"If they can time travel then why can't they fix this?" Sam gestured outwardly with a hand.

"I don't know. Nick says it's because of the wrist thing they all wear," Felix said, pointing to his own wrist.

"That sucks," Sam stopped leaning on the wall and stood forward, "I want to show you something." She went back the way they came.

"Oh?" Felix followed her.

Back at the castle Tito watched them walk up the steps.

"Uh?! Hello!?" He threw his arms out.

"Hey Tito. Felix is still showing me some things but we'll talk in just a bit k dude?" Sam said bluntly.

"What is he showing you!? I deserve to know!" Tito snapped. Sam put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a stern expression.

"We need to talk..." She told him.

Tito gave a silent gasp.

Sam moved on into the castle, but Felix watched Tito for a moment before following her into the castle.

"What was that about...?" Felix whispered to her.

"It's..." Sam's eyes darted to Felix's holster, "It's tail friend stuff."

She stopped just inside the castle.

"The castle doors Felix. They're pretty sturdy you know," Sam said. She knocked on a door with the back of a fist.

The door opened. Behind It was the sports fan knight Olive, who was once friends with the now eaten Nate.

"... You do know that the doors are unlocked right?" She breathed, energy drained.

"Yes, I was just demonstrating that with Felix here," Sam said.

"Oh. The doors are super cool. It.. it can be locked using this beam over here," Olive shuffled to the inside of the castle and then to a thick metal bar attached to the inside wall. She slid the thing through the door handles so it was barricaded from inside, "Inside you can just slide it off, but outside you can't open the doors, unless you are really, really strong," She sighed.

Felix walked up to the door and pulled the handles, but the beam in between them kept the whole thing firmly shut.

"Huh..." Felix said, impressed.

"If we succeed with the rescue then we can hide in here during the night," Sam explained, "These are the only doors and the castle walls are pretty thick, well, at least that's what grownbots said in a letter after installing the place as a gwenen history museum like a hundred years ago," She leaned on the door with one arm.

"But wouldn't we starve?" Felix asked.

"I'd just go out and collect food with the other knights every once and a while," Sam shrugged.

"Food expeditions..." Felix thought aloud.

"...Wait what's going on?" Olive asked. She was still there.

"We're making a rescue squad for all the kidnapped gwenens. We're going after them, but we need knights," Sam explained.

"But weren't those kids eaten...? " Olive asked.

"Maybe, but there's a chance they're alive," Sam said.

"If they've been kidnapped then where were they kidnapped to?" Olive asked.

Sam looked to Felix. Olive followed her gaze.

"Oh!.. Well they have to be somewhere outside the ADC. I don't know exactly where, but we can check places where monsters are common," Felix said, playing with his hands.

"Monsters...?" Olive squeaked.

"Do you want to help us go outside and rescue them?" Sam asked Olive.

"Oh..Me? Really?" Olive pointed to herself.

"Your tail friend was eaten by one of those things. Out of anybody you deserve to go out and get revenge, that is if you want to. Nobody's forcing you. This mission is really dangerous," Sam explained.

"Una was kidnapped right?" Olive said.

"Yeah.." Felix said.

"Then.. I'll go. It's what Nate would've wanted, for me to resume my hero," Olive smiled briefly and put a fist up to her chest.

"Alright. I've got a few knights in mind for volunteering. I'll go ask around in the rest of the ADC and you guys ask around in the castle. Meet in the castle battle room by one o' clock ok?" Sam said.

"Yes miss!" Olive saluted.

"...Yes!" Felix tried to do the same.

***

Within the battle room Felix stood in front of a white board waiting. The room, a lot like a classroom, was filled with long tables, chairs, and too many cork and white boards on the walls. The knights he had invited sat away from Olive who was sitting closer to Felix. Bored, Felix picked up a red dry erase marker sitting in a tray attached to the board, and took off the cap. In an open space amongst the chaotic doodles Felix doodled Error's head on one of the boards.

"...That's really good," Olive said. She was sitting in a chair nearby reading a sports magazine.

"Thank you," Felix said without looking away. He began to add Error's legs.

"...I'm sorry about what happened to Una.." Olive leaned forward in her chair.

"..Don't be. We can't blame ourselves for what other people do to us.. At least not too much," Felix stopped drawing briefly to think and then continued.

"B-but I could have been kinder about Una's initial change right? I mean, I never did anything to her, but I sorta stopped being a fan of her right that day. It felt .. really wrong, like I was taking something away from her even if what I took was... imaginary...?" Olive rubbed the back of her head.

"We were all really confused about Una's change, and I guess that's ok.. Being confused is just the start of understanding. We can't expect to know everything all the time," Felix glanced at her, "Knowing what I do, I almost shot her when I saw her like that. I don't know who I'd be if I did shoot her, but I'm glad I didn't. Una might be different, and REALLY hard to understand through all her protocols, but at times when I see her clearly I realize she still cares about and respects me the same.."

"Nate and I always had a lot of respect for one another.." Olive scratched the table with her pointer claw, "We always asked one another what we wanted to do and if we both needed a break because breaks are good and needed. We were always in sync, so sometimes we didn't need to ask one another. I'd discover this cool new arcade game and I'd always know that he'd love it because I did," She squeaked, "All the coolest stuff that I can think of.. It involved him, and now.. and now I don't know what to do.." She looked up from her desk clawing and put a fist over her mouth, tears in her eyes. Felix heard her gasp and stopped. He hesitated, tapping the marker on the whiteboard and sighed. He turned around and walked up to Olive. At first he didn't know what he should do next, so he improvised and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey..." He cooed. He pulled up a chair next to her and sat in it, "You alright?"

"... No.." Olive mumbled. Her face morphed into a grimace and she wept a little more.

"You want to go to your apartment or somewhere private? You don't have to but if you feel more comfortable being there then it's ok to go," Felix said softly.

"No.. I can stay here.. It's fine.." She sniffed. Olive rubbed her eyes and inhaled, "I'm good... I'm good," She breathed.

"You sure? It's ok to cry if you need it," Felix said.

"Yeah, I know.. I'm good.. I'm good," Olive nodded.

Felix rubbed her back and then let go, getting up. Just then Sam walked in with two knights following her. Reading the room, she looked to Felix.

"Is.. everything good in here?" She asked, chuckling awkwardly.

"Yeah we're fine. Just had a little moment but we're all good now," Felix nodded and gave a polite thumbs up. Olive looked away.

"Who did you guys choose?" Sam asked.

"Oh.. uh.. What was it? Oh att- attention!..?" Felix tried to get the confidence up to make the command. One of his knights darted up and put their arms to their sides and feet together, while the other took their time and just stood shoulder to shoulder.

"Hmm," Sam put her hand to her chin as she approached Felix and Olive's picks.

On the shorter side was a grey striped gwenen with big triangular ears and long cheek tufts.

"You're Zaps right?" Sam gestured to him.

"Yes Ma'am. I'm a very good conductor and hope to power a great police machine one day. Can.. can I demonstrate?" Zaps relaxed for a moment.

"Proceed," Sam rolled her eyes.

Zaps pointed with his index finger and concentrated. A little electric discharge flashed briefly from his finger.

"Nice," Sam nodded.

Zaps stood back into position with a smile on his face. Sam moved on to a muscular gwenen her own height. He was brown and white with a long head, folded ears like a dog, and a shorthaired tail with a tuft. He wore a red bandanna around his head.

"Heeey Brian..." Sam gulped.

"Nice to see you too Sam. I see we have a way out of these ADC Chambers you never told me about. I'm ready to fight monsters if that's what it takes to get out of here. So many critters getting in It's a wonder that none of us have gotten out yet huh," Brian said.

"I'm not the one who knows the way out. Felix does!" Sam said.

"Ooh.." Brian breathed. He looked down the line to Felix, "You hiding stuff from me Felix?" He smiled.

"UH uhm. Not anymore! We're getting out of here now so you don't have to worry about it!" Felix stammered.

"Hmm. Alright. Let's hear the game plan then. Chop chop," Brian clapped.

"Brian, I haven't introduced my associates yet," Sam said, a little more frustrated now.

"Then do it," Brian said. He took a toothpick from his pocket and began to chew it.

"Attention!" Sam shouted. The two gwenens behind her stood up straight shoulder to shoulder with their feet together. Sam pointed to a properly armored orange gwenen with grey striped spots.

"This is Janet," She said.

Janet had long bat ears protruding from her hard plastic helmet but her face was covered. The rest of her armor was a hard grey plastic as well, making her look expensive at least. In her left hand was a fiberglass shield double layered with even thicker edges.

"Pmitng tmh spmr mm" She mumbled behind her helmet.

"Janet we can't hear you," Sam said.

Janet lifted the visor that covered her whole face.

"Permission to speak miss?" Janet asked.

"Granted," Sam put her hands behind her back.

"So we're going out to find the kidnapped guys, and fight monsters outside the ADC right? Like real alien monsters?" Janet asked.

"Duh, didn't they tell you anything?" Brian spoke out of turn with the toothpick in his mouth.

"I was just making sure.." Janet said. She dropped her visor and mumbled a complaint.

"It's a good question, that's alright," Felix told Janet.

"Mmmfm," Janet said, her speech unintelligible.

"Moving on," Sam pointed to a gwenen on the short side next to Janet, "This is Kevin. He's the only guy with a sword."

"Indeed! My destiny is to fight these invaders! All my life my blade was left sheathed until an emergency arose. My father bestowed this sword to me when I first arrived into the ADC as my ancestors have passed it down to dwellers of this historic nursery for hundreds of years! First created after the twenty second king fell in a time of crisis, my ancestor Paul commissioned the sword and used it to secure the kingdom. Ever since his bloodline, like myself, have taken care of the sword. Sharp as ever with the names of my ancestors engraved within, the sword is now ready to take on this new role with me welding it. I will save gwenen kind and claim my first kill in the name of justice. I will-"

"Ok! Ok. That's enough Kev," Sam cut him off pretending her hand was a mouth and shutting it.

"Yes miss!" Kevin saluted her.

He was a shiny copper color with very few black spots. He had a long haired tail like Felix's and short triangular cat ears. He wore makeshift armor mixed with knee and shoulder pads just like most of the knights did, but with no helmet.

"If he has a sword then what do the rest of you guys have?" Felix asked.

"Bats," Sam said.

"Mmn, I got a knife too," Brian took the tool out from his pocket. The blade was as big as his hand.

"Fbnmm gm tm smms," Janet pointed to her shield.

"I'm alright with a bow but I mostly use a bat," Olive shrugged.

"Zap.." Zapps shot another tiny shock through his finger.

"I have trained with the blade everyday waiting for this moment!" Kevin fist pumped.

"I have a gun," Felix said, taking it out of his holster. The room quieted, "If you are wondering, yes it is real and yes I have killed monsters with it... I wanted to make it clear that this gun is for my use alone.. so.. don't ask if you can have it or anything," Felix put the revolver back into its holster.

"... Where'd you get it?" Brian asked.

"That's not important Brian," Felix closed his eyes and put a palm up to him. Brian raised his brows.

"Alright Felix enough about the gun," Sam turned to him, "Tell us what we're supposed to do."

"Right..." Felix put his hands together and played with them as he looked to his knights, "It's a pretty simplistic plan really. We have very little information about our enemies but we're doing this because things are already so very bleak for us. If we can save our friends then I think it'll make a lot of people really happy to see them again. If not then we'll all die but it won't necessarily be anything new. Anyway.." Felix turned to the board and erased a cluster of doodles, including his drawing of Error. Erasing that one in particular made him freeze for a moment, but the feeling was pushed away as he returned to the task. Taking out a black marker he drew an incredibly tall rectangle with plenty of room on the inside. In the top left he drew a large square, "This is the ADC and all the Gwenen Chambers. I don't really know how big it is but that doesn't really matter," He drew a dotted path to the right of the Gwenen Chambers, "This is the path we're going to take in looking for our friends. One way we can use is to go down into the Highway Chambers using the really big stairwell that leads to them, but that's if we don't find anything on the same floor as us," Felix took out a red marker and began to dot out a bunch of spots on the same floor as them, "There are so many more monsters on the same floor as us. Especially in the Statue Chambers," He drew a large red dot there.

"I still don't really get the point. What are we even fighting? A dragon? A beastly dorn? Nobody's gonna get close when I have my knife and bat, especially when I combine em," Brian chuckled.

"Ooo! A knife! -They aren't afraid of you Brian," Felix mocked.

"Excuse me?" Brian crossed his arms.

"Uh.." Felix froze for a second.

"Oh and you're so scary? Ooo! Felix! Look out it's Felix!" Brian chuckled.

"I guess it depends.. A-Are you afraid of me?" Felix stammered.

"Hell no," Brian started to stomp toward Felix, "Maybe you need to be reminded that I'm fully capable of-"

Felix took his revolver from its holster, pulled the hammer back and thrust the barrel to touch Brian's chest. Brian froze. Felix looked up to him.

"Remind me again what you were saying?" Felix asked, expression blank, heart racing.

Brian scowled. He stomped out the door, and then turned back and sat in his chair again. He avoided everyone's eyes.

"If you're afraid of this gun then be prepared to be even more afraid, of this... hold on," Felix took out a black marker and drew a large devil wolf with its teeth showing out of its open mouth, "This is a devil wolf, and it is the majority of what you might come into contact with. Since Janet is all armored up I suggest that she go up first to hit one of these things with her bat and shield. Once she's in the way of it getting to the rest of us, I'll finish it off with a shot to the head, if I can. If I can't make the shot for whatever reason then it's up to you guys to bash the monster, especially you Kevin. You should aim for the legs and torso if you want to stab the monster. If its legs don't work we can finish it off without it being able to run away. If you stab the monster in its torso then it's very likely that the monster will bleed out and then it would die. Stabbing the monster's legs might not be super good. Bat people try to break the bones, Kevin, slice the tendons," Felix made a slicing gesture with his finger.

"Felix I don't know why but I'm feeling kind of sick.." Olive stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah Felix this is making my blood not feel that great," Zapps said.

"Mgvm mmm ammbm," Janet pointed to her ankles.

"That's normal. It's called anxiety... I think. Just as a reminder nobody here is being forced to go on the mission, but staying in the ADC isn't going to keep you safe from the monsters. It might just give you a little more time, but not much," Felix explained.

"I'll never back down from a fight! This is my destiny!" Kevin pointed a thumb at himself.

"Anyone else have an opinion?" Felix asked the group.

"... I just wanna get out of this hell hole," Brian grunted.

"Nate would want me to go, so I'll follow you Felix," Olive stood up.

"Pumpkin would want me to do the same.." Zapps sighed.

"M Mphm MmmMM Mnmnnfy mu mmn mnn mmm," Janet mumbled under her helmet.

"Well, If everybody is still ready then gather your weapons. I think we've waited long enough," Felix said.