Prologue

Rain drowned the sound of footsteps approaching the two young brothers cowering in fear, both had their eyes shut after seeing the blood curling presence of that man, the eldest brother was embracing his kneeling younger brother as if to protect him, despite being the elder brother he was only 9 years old. Their attire was ragged and old, it was clear they did not come from wealth, and their being orphaned made something even clearer there was no one coming to save them from the thing approaching them. The man approaching the terrified brothers had muddied boots and a drenched black cloak, the cloak covered his face, so nothing was distinguishable except the blood-red glowing eyes that were the very essence of evil, his eyes were not human they glowed crimson, and his pupils were shaped like those of snakes, one glance at those eyes and it was enough to understand you were starring directly at death. The man approaching the brothers spoke.

"Why so afraid do you not think you are being quite rude to me, after all, I simply wanted some directions. The rudeness you displayed truly warrants your death, but do not be afraid your death will not be in vain you will serve as sustenance to me, so rejoice young humans you will be useful in your very last breath."

As the elder brother embraced his trembling younger brother he felt his warmth, the storm ongoing left him completely soaked, extremely cold, and muddied, he looked behind him to see the man was nearing him, each step splashing the muddied water, and with the closing distance, he also saw the immense grin in the man's face truly befitting of a demon, one glance was enough for him to turn his head and shut his eyes again in fear. The demon had longer and sharper teeth where his cuspids should be and he was licking them as a dog would salivate over a delicious meal. If the enemy were anyone else or anything else they would try running, but one glance at his eyes and they understood that escaping was out of the picture, maybe by accepting their destiny they could suffer a more painless death. Richard understood that the act of protecting his younger brother was as useless as trying to run but at least he wanted to bring some comfort to his brother, he also wanted to act manly and courageous in his last moments. He had hoped to be a knight one day, a person capable of protecting his brother. Now in a final attempt to bring a bit of peace to his brother and fulfil a dream that was now impossible he held his brother tight and held back tears as he said.

"It will be alright Jack, as long as I am here you don't need to be afraid."

The demon laughed at the brother.

"How noble of you, human scum should know its place, I will kill your brother slowly so you can witness how truly worthless you are human."

After hearing those words in an act of impulsivity Richard forgot his fear and turned in anger to look at the demon and when he saw those crimson eyes directly in front of him, he was reminded of the fear that had temporarily vanished, paralyzed, unable to move he met the demon's eyes. The demon's good mood seemed to have vanished and now he had a serious expression.

"Know your place."

he said as he grabbed Richard by the scruff of his shirt and separated him from his younger brother. The demon threw Richard with so much force it would have killed him upon impact, however as he swung his arm the scruff of the shirt by which he was grabbing Richard ripped, probably due to the shirt being old and deteriorating, the force was lessened dramatically and Richard just kind of fell to the ground splashing mud all over him. Richard was completely drenched in mud now, he felt pathetic, he was incapable of protecting his brother, he was on his knees and held himself up with his thin arms, that is the most strength he could muster, as he looked up he saw the demon with his arm held high and his hand outstretched as if it were a sword, but seeing the unreal sharpness of his long nails it could practically be called a sword. As he was about to bring his hand down in a sword-like fashion Richard screamed.

"NOOOOOOOOO, PLEASE!! Kill me leave my brother out of this!"

Tears and snot ran down his face as he shouted, he knew it was pointless, he knew he had nothing to offer this demon to make a proper deal, and truth be told he was terrified of bringing more attention to himself, he even considered running and leaving his brother to try and escape, but he could not bring himself to abandon his brother instead he stayed true to his ideals no matter how much he desired to escape, right now all that mattered was his brother. The demon looked at him and his glowing eyes seemed to glow a brighter crimson and his face twisted in anger.

"Trash should lie down and wait its turn to be killed."

The demon kicked Richard so hard in the stomach he flew from the ground and fell back down landing on his back and taking all the air out of him.

"AAAAUGH"

Richard screamed or tried to, but it was hard to scream when the air flew out of his lungs. Richard was on the ground squirming in pain and grabbing the part of his stomach he was kicked in.

"BROTHER!"

screamed Richard's younger brother who he had failed to protect. With a face of irritation, the demon turned to jack the younger brother, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him using only his left hand, the demon was not terribly muscular, he seemed fit but not enough to pull off such a feat he clearly was superhuman, Jack started squirming and trying to free himself, he was unable to breathe. This time he readied his right hand as a spear ready to impale jack instead of using a sword-like motion like before. Richard out of breath and in excruciating pain could not even muster the strength to scream again for his brother. Jack looked at the demon, he was crying, he looked so terrified it seemed he would die from fear alone. As the demon was about to kill Jack he said.

"Now do your only job and sustain me."

Then lightning struck nearby and engulfed the area in its light, it must have been awfully close because the light blinded Richard and the noise was so explosive his ears were ringing. Richard prayed the lighting hit the demon as an act from God, but when he looked, the demon still stood with his brother suspended, Jack started turning pale. However, something was off, a glow so bright and calming remained. That glow alone gave his heart a bit of peace despite the situation, when he searched for the source, he found it came from a sword being wielded by a man who suddenly appeared in the distance, the sword was beautiful any person's eyes would naturally gravitate to this saintly weapon, the presence of it alone eased the mind of the wary and the light emitting from it gave the hopeless hope. The man wielding the weapon wore expensive-looking attire, he wore what a knight from the royal select would have. Knights from the royal select are known to be well-groomed, well-mannered, and dignified, not to mention the strongest of knights, however, the man standing before Richard, in contrast, had a rough look, to say the least, he had had handsome features but those were hidden by his unkept and unshaven beard, long hair tied down by one single band, and baggy eyes. His eyes looked exhausted, a tad swollen and reddened as if he was crying, if he was then the rain was hiding his tears, and his green eyes despite the beautiful hue looked empty yet furious at the sight of the demon. As the demon was turning around still holding jack tightly around the neck he uttered.

"Where did you?"

From that unfinished line, it was clear the demon was shocked by the man's sudden presence, but before he could even finish speaking, the man in a blink of an eye was in front of the demon. The demon tried to take a step back, it seemed as if those crimson eyes that instilled fear unto others had finally experienced fear themselves. Before he even finished taking a step back the man swung his sword and the arm of the demon came clean off in one fluid motion, Jack fell to the ground and inhaled as much air as he could before he started coughing. Vapor started coming off the shoulder where the arm was cut, his fear had turned into anger, the demon shouted.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

His eyes started glowing even brighter as if to express the burning rage he felt. Instead of backing up again, the demon tried to push forward using his remaining arm to try and impale the man as he tried to impale Jack earlier, but his efforts were in vain, the next moment the demon's head was cut in another fluid motion. the demon in pieces started evaporating into the air and what remained was the glow of the knight's sword. Richard saw everything in disbelief the demon who seemed unstoppable was killed so easily, Richard was feeling a mixture of emotions joy, fear, and anger. Joy he was saved, fear the demon may come back, and anger he was not rescued sooner, he understood he was being unreasonable feeling angry but that is how he felt. Richard looked at the man that had saved him and his brother, his sword was beautiful it's glow was so soothing it felt as if the heavens had descended on earth.

The man sheathed his sword and the glow emanating from it vanished, the man looked at him and his younger brother and took something out of his satchel. Richard wanted to express his thanks to the man but before he could even speak the man threw two glass bottles one at him and one at his brother, he caught the bottle it was made of glass and had a blue liquid inside of it, it appeared to be a potion, as he drank it all the pain he felt started disappearing however in its place immense fatigue plagued him instead. Jack had not caught the bottle thrown at him and it landed on the mud, the potion had cracked, and the liquid oozed out, the man came walking over to Jack who was on his knees staring at the ground crying with one hand rubbing his throat, he was still in shock, the man placed another potion in front of him. Without looking back, he stood back up and left the two brothers. Richard did not get to talk to him or thank him, he wanted to run over to him and express his heartfelt gratitude, but he did not have the strength for that. So, all he could do was shout as the man walked away.

"Thank you so much for saving us!!! I promise I will become a strong knight like you and protect everyone!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

As he shouted, he started crying again, he felt an immense relief that his life and that of his brother were spared. Whoever that man was Richard would never forget the debt he owed him.