Prologue III

Arthur watched the holograms as the king's life story was played out. It was the most tragic tale he had ever heard, let alone seen. The king had endured so much, building a small society of heroes who were simply trying to save not only their own people, but the world itself. And yet, in the end, he had decided to sacrifice himself for the future.

These ancient people have built so much for the current civilizations. All the artifacts, the teleportation gates—the reason they still have a little bit of chance is due to them...

The auburn-haired could not express the admiration he felt after watching the holographic images. After all, all of these statues were of the king's loyal knights, who had protected him even after his death, even though they were dead themselves. This was hell of a story to tell, if someone would ever believe him.

[Arthur Leywin],

Suddenly, he was startled to hear his name spoken by the hologram. His eyes widened in surprise. Could it be a hallucination? He didn't believe it at first, but the hologram was now looking at him and nodding. Arthur took a step back, his mind racing. What was going on? How was this possible? The hologram continued to nod, its expression calm and serene. Arthur took another step back, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't know what to do. Should he run?

Should he try to talk to the hologram? The hologram spoke again, its voice soft and melodious. [Arthur Leywin,] it said. [We have been waiting for you for hundreds of years, your name told us by destiny in the direst moment of our existence...]

"Who exactly are you...?"

Arthur's question was at the wrong place at the wrong time, unfortunately, as it was already too late to receive a proper answer. [Arthur, there is not much time for you, and I'm unable to properly introduce myself and my knights to you...as this is simply a hologram of the past. I am not living, for I have already died.]

[The situation is uncertain, and I place my trust in you. We have been preparing for this moment, to provide you with something that will help you protect your loved ones. In exchange, we ask for one favor: that you fulfill our purpose in our stead. Asuras, particularly the dragon-kin of Indrath, are ruled by a coward of a king...] When speaking about the race of dragons, only bitterness was visible on the king's face. Understandably so.

[In their fear of power's might, they waged war and extermination upon my kin, yet ignorant of the consequences that awaited. Kezess Indrath, the self-proclaimed king of Asuras, fails to comprehend the fruits of his actions. He is unworthy of his crown... Thus, I entrust you with the Sword of Judgement, a noble weapon to safeguard you and bestow upon you strength unparalleled.]

The lid of what previously appeared to be a sarcophagus floated away on its own, revealing its contents. Arthur walked up to it and saw a majestic two-handed sword, as tall as he was and sharper than the tongue of the wicked. He was mesmerized by the ornaments that adorned the handle and the beautiful shape of the sword. It was truly a noble weapon, as described by the king...however, it was too much for him. The size of it was not optimal, unless...

When picked up, the sword changed its size... Not only that, but it adjusted to the user accordingly; instead of a two-handed sword, it was now one handed, easy enough to be wielded by Arthur. [With the authority of a leader of knights... I, hereby proclaim Arthur Leywin as the Protector of the Human, Elven, Dwarven and Asuran races all together and as the last of my kin, I declare you the last Sixth Knight of the Djinn.]

Holographic images once again appeared around Arthur, with the knights in their more human appearances pointing their weapons forward towards the center. All five of them, waiting for Arthur to do the same and create a full circle. He realized this was a sort of coronation, a ritual, and he actually felt like a knight for that moment...so he wasted no time and raised a one handed sword to match the holographic images.

Then the statues did the same; they raised their heavy, gigantic weapons above them, and so they stood. Arthur's hand felt the pain; it was burning. Still, he kept the weapon at bay and noticed a burning rune crawling on his skin. Unbeknownst to him, this was a sign of his affiliation and that he was a knight...

...

Holograms disappeared; there were no more explanations, but Arthur had enough of it. From what he has seen from these holograms, from what he was told, and from what he already knew. He fully understood what these ancient people wanted from him. 'Still unbelievable...' It was an honor to receive a different type of degree. It was real and he finally had the opportunity to be of some kind of help...

Although Arthur had yet to realize the real weight of his new responsibilities. He was part of the war in the lowest standing possible; from now on, he would elevate to a whole new level, and this will require a different approach from his previous ones. He had to be a lot more careful, even around his allies.

'So, this is Temenos... Knight's Temenos.' His eyes came to understand the runes—the ancient language depicted on the walls of this place. This was a secret hideout for years; the knights trained, planned, and hid here. 'But I have to get back to Reginald and get out of here.'

Arthur one last time took a look at the statues of the knights, understanding that they were finally able to rest. He would let them do so and not say anything about this place. The king and his loyal subjects deserved peace. 'My understanding of things may not be as clear... but what I have seen gives me enough knowledge to take my own side.' He thanked them and started leaving the place.

This was not revenge for somebody else; no, this was Arthur Leywin protecting honor of those who built and gifted them with civilization... There was no other way around it.

...

Reginald groaned as he looked up at Arthur standing above him. They hadn't even dried out and felt extremely tired; going through such an emotional rollercoaster surely took a toll on their bodies, not just their minds. "Did you find anything, Arthur?"

The boy responded with a nod, "There is a way up, and we should hurry up. I'm sure we've wasted a lot of time without realizing that." They have to track down their teammates, and Arthur is left to believe that they are in an entirely different place already. This rollercoaster, after all, was purely a facade behind a scheme of things that knights were preparing.

"What about others? We fell in the same river, they should've followed us soon enough."

Arthur pondered that this was true; however, there was a chance of them just stopping soon enough to fall down the waterfall like them. "Do we have other options? They must be up there; we'll find them and return."

"That's true...ah, let's get going."

...

Reginald and Arthur found a way up in the cave system; for how many minutes they walked upwards, they couldn't say, but the fact that they were so deep below the surface of the earth was mind boggling. They definitely walked kilometers, and their way was unbothered. Silent on their way up there, they didn't have much to talk about. 'We found a way into an entirely different dungeon...'

The only thing that bothered them was if Arthur's mana was going to run out soon, because his hand was burning with fire and lit up their path. So far, they were supposed to be near the wall, only in the vicinity of a mountainous system could there be this much cave system.

"Do you hear footsteps?"

"Not only that, the sound of armor plates scratching against each other. Definitely, soldiers, and most likely ours." Reginald responded to Arthur; they did, however, put hands on their weapons and were prepared for anything.

Soon the orange light came into their view, and they heard a voice call them out. "Who are you, and what are you doing in this cave! Hands from the weapons!" It was a commanding voice, and at some point in the war, everyone at least heard it once.

The blond-haired male left the shadow and appeared in front of them, holding a lance in one of his hands. "This is General Bairon Wykes. I'm repeating. What are you doing in this dungeon?" His stern eyes pierced the two's souls.

"General, our squadron was sent to scout the vicinity of the wall near the Xyrus for more dungeons. We have discovered one and given the order to dive; we did so; however, it did turn out to be disastrous for our squad." Reginald, as the older one, gave a direct explanation for Bairon's question so as not to anger him.

The general hummed, "And where is the rest of your squad right now? How did you appear so south of Xyrus?" He appeared to be suspicious, but nonetheless, what they said was true. Bairon actually remembered Arthur's face from the time he once visited Xyrus, so it helped their predicament.

"Underground river systems—we've fallen into one and it took us far away from our previous location... I'm unsure if others got out yet or not; we had separated after all."

Bairon Wykes turned around and faced his soldier, saying, "Send these two to the flying castle; we'll take it upon ourselves to map out this cave system. Inform them about the situation near the wall as well. It seems that they have no idea about what has happened." With his command, multiple soldiers separated from the group and took the two. While he and the rest continued their march.

...

"Alright, before we take you to the flying castle, We have to verify yer identities. Names, both of ya'll." The soldier asked while standing in front of the towering man, not feeling intimidated by him at all.

"Reginald Bastion, and my teammate here is Arthur Leywin."

The soldier started digging through some parchments, searching for a certain paper. Already knowing where the two were stationed, he found the parchment with the names of the fighters that were stationed there. He rolled his eyes over the parchments and found Arthur's name instantly, "Alright, this one is clear." and soon enough Reginald's name was also followed.

"Yer guys are the lucky ones, ain't ya? Let them in." Arthur was clueless about what was going on; hopefully they will be told by the escort. They started conversation only after they passed through the teleportation gate.

The man leading the escort, whose face they couldn't see because of the helmet, spoke up, "Clueless, right? Well, it's understandable since you guys were just victims of this event. The wall was attacked, with you guys being distracted and trapped underground... We are facing a betrayal. So we are taking you to be questioned by higher ups. So far, you guys are the only ones who came up from those dungeons."

"What?! When does that even happen? We were literally gone for..." Reginald paused, bewildered by the situation. "It's hard to keep track of time in the dungeons, huh?"

"And understandably so, there is no sun and moon; besides, you were not supposed to go with just thirty people in the dungeon. Speculation is all about the betrayal; someone planned this out. Sent squadrons of people, at least seven hundred experienced fighters, and ordered them to dive in the dungeons... thing is, no such orders are supposed to be given to just one squadron."

"Definitely, someone set this up to distract battle capable forces from the wall, while attacking it when there are fewer fighters...The council is planning to send additional forces, and I believe they want to get some intel from you as well. So, we recommend speaking about everything that happened."

The two nodded, obviously understanding where they were coming from. Reginald and Arthur went through the grand hallway, adorned in gold and silver. The door opened for them, and two guards greeted them. Their escort was joined by a few more people as they followed them from behind...They now stood in front of very thick gates, which opened slowly, meeting the gaze of the council.

Here they were, previous monarchs, Virion, Alduin, Merial, Blaine, Priscilla and another unknown person... with a purple eye on the forehead. However, mainly, it was the girl who captured their vision.

Tessia Eralith.