Tale Of A Knight

That is the only way I can describe the b.l.o.o.d.y picture in front of me.

Out of the fifteen people who were sent on this mission, I think I am the only one that is still breathing. The others…

They are everywhere…

In pieces…

I look down at my body, feeling the pain around the wrist area of my right hand. To my horror I found that I am missing my right wrist below the forearm. My right wrist was below a large crystal shard size of a boulder, crushed into a pulp. Apparently I was freed from there because the sharp crystal ended up cutting off the wrist from my forearm.

The injury wasn"t bleeding, it was covered in blood but the blood flow has stopped somehow. I look closer at the injury. The injured area indeed was b.l.o.o.d.y, but there was something else on the stump. There were crystal flakes, bluish in color.

"How did this happen…" I look in front of me and see a crystal wall made from bluish crystal.

All of the body parts of the knights were covered in crystal shards.

"I remember now." My mind recalled what I saw before pa.s.sing out.

I was going to train with Master Mekros, but then I was called over by a group of knights and ordered to help them with their mission. They said they needed all the available knights in the area and a squire (that is what I apparently am) is acceptable. They basically forced me to come with them, saying that not helping them is equivalent of treason. Apparently they were knights who served a certain lord in this area who has large influence upon the populace. Defying his will by refusing his mission would be met with an execution. That is what they told me.

I thought it would be just a short trip, delivering food and supplies to a neighboring city, what could have gone wrong? Turns out everything could go wrong in the blink of an eye.

After reaching a certain point in a trip, we were far away from the Aina (that is apparently the name of the city I was in apparently). The plan was to travel to the city called Ashu, which was experiencing major changes due to its ruler being overthrown. When I thought that the trip would go smoothly, that is when everything went completely wrong.

We were ambushed by strange creatures. They looked humanoid, but their bodies were strange, some were made of rocks, few others were made of different colored crystals. There were others who look like they were made of flames and ones who resembled a liquid.

When they attacked us, we were quickly overwhelmed. The ones who could use magic were killed first, leaving the swordsmen to defend themselves, but their futile attacks did nothing to them who were either too tough (made of rocks or crystals) or phased through attacks (Fire and liquid).

It would have been a one sided defeat even if the creatures did not attack and just stood there, doing nothing. But unfortunately it was me wishing for it all to end. The crystal creatures unleashed a wave upon wave of sharp crystals from the ground and impaled few unlucky knights.

Another crystal user shot crystals out of her hands and when the crystal projectiles struck a person, the crystal would grow through the inside of the body, ending up exploding them from within. The way it happened, in a very derisive way I could describe it was popping a grape with countless needles. That was why there were so many body parts lying here and there.

When I and several other knights tried to escape, the crystal creature unleashed a crystal wall blocking our exit, and then the other crystal creature joined in the fray. The female crystal creature used bluish crystals, while the other one used dull green ones.

Suddenly blue crystals came out of the ground, floated up in the air for a few seconds and then came crushing upon us.

The crystals that fell upon us were gigantic; there was no way for us to avoid it. I looked around me, the crushed bodies of the knights; this was the direct result of that blue crystal creature"s attack. And it seems like I was not lucky enough to avoid her attack either.

My memory flashed back to what happened. I was pushed away from the upcoming gigantic crystal spike by an older knight, he ended up being crushed instead. Unfortunately, a smaller crystal spike landed on top of my right hand when I was on the ground as a result of being pushed away by that knight. The pain of my arm being cut off, it was overwhelming. The pain was so unbearable that I ended up pa.s.sing out.

"I see, so that is how I ended up like this." I look at my right forearm, b.l.o.o.d.y. So much blood. Apparently it was bleeding before but then it ended up coming into contact with the crystals, so now the injury was no longer bleeding.

I just sat there, thinking why I was alive, whether it was over, or the creatures were still here, hunting us down.

Yet, it seems like they left the area after thinking all of us have died. That was my luck, losing a hand but keeping my life. What a sick sense of humor luck has.

At my feet was a severed upper torso of a knight, its arms covered with gloves and gauntlets. I see, so he was the knight who pushed me away, saving my life. I owe him a debt of my life, but it seems like he no longer will need it.

Looking at my injury, I took a scarf from a corpse and wrapped it around the stump of my forearm.

I decided to take the old knight"s gauntlets and gloves. I put the gauntlet on my right forearm and then covered it with a glove, creating an illusion of having an arm.

I had to do this. If anyone saw that I was crippled, I would be an easy prey for anyone. There was no telling what would happen to me if the Prince I am currently am forced to serve found out about this, I was afraid he would throw me to dungeon or execute me for being incompetent.

The gauntlet had adjustable straps, so I used my teeth in order to strap it tight to my right forearm, preventing it from falling off.

The end result looked like me wearing a black glove on my right hand. I only put the glove on my right hand; I couldn"t do the same thing with my left.

When the creatures raided us, it seems they took everything of value, including the horses upon which the high ranking knights were traveling.

Now I was forced to walk back to city of Aina on foot. I knew the route; I memorized the road by which we were walking. But it took me a few hours to get back to the city.

When I finally reached the city, I collapsed from exhaustion near the feet of a stranger, then I could hear strange noises of worried people…And then everything turned completely dark.