Chapter Text
Nothingness. A familiar feeling, even if it is the lack of feeling. Nothingness was all I knew. But then, something changed.
I was born, not from biology, but from magic.
My first memory was of standing still up with my back pressed up against the wall, the cold and rough texture of the stone a new sensation I haven’t felt before. I am in a dark hallway made of old stone bricks, dimly lit by flames on sticks. I see a few men and women in front of me, all of them with greyish skin. 3 of them wear pointy black hats, and another 2 have crossbows, with the last one standing in front of me in an elaborate black and yellow robe. The man in the robe was chanting what seemed like gibberish, but it seemed like whatever he was doing was successful, since he stepped back with a smile on his face upon seeing me. I slowly push myself off of the wall I was leaning against, and they all step back cautiously.
“...”
“Hello?”
“...”
“Is it alive?”
“It must be. I don’t know if it can speak though.”
One of the grey men with crossbows walks up to me, and snaps his pale fingers in front of me.
“Hello?? Is anybody in there??”
I swat his hand away, and he quickly steps back. The man in the robe begins speaking again, his tone serious.
“Greetings, knight. Your duty of being a stationary knight statue has been relieved. However, you have a new duty. You will be a warrior, our warrior. You will fight on the behalf of the Pillagers, whether you like it or not. If you try to escape, we will kill you”
I shake my head. I speak but few words come out, my voice sounding low and scratched. Everything feels weird, this feels so foreign yet I know what to do.
“N-noooo,. I will not..”
“I beg your pardon?”
The grey man in the robe starts reaching for iron shackles a witch is holding, and tries to place them on my wrists, but I clumsily back away at the last second, still not used to standing or walking in this body. The man in the robe then takes one of the crossbows from the other men and points it blankly at my face while charging it.
“WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!”
Something in me snaps. I quickly lunge forward and I push him into the floor, the back of his head striking the brick floor, stunning him. The witches and crossbow men begin to fight me, the witches backing away to a defensive position while the men charge their crossbows. I reach for the charged crossbow dropped by the robed man and shoot one of the men, the bolt piercing his face. He falls limp to the ground with blood pouring from his face as I focus on the other man. He manages to get a shot on me with the bolt hitting my left shoulder. I feel the bolt strike me and I hear the loud ding of the bolt ricocheting from my shoulder plate.
I swing my fist at the other man’s chest and he stumbles backwards, dropping the crossbow while absorbing the blow. As I wrestle with him, I hear the sound of glass shattering on me, which follows with a dull stinging sensation flooding me. The witches began throwing splash potions at me. I grip the man by the neck and begin repeatedly hamming his face with punches until his face is bruised and bloody while he barely hangs on to consciousness. I throw him to the floor, his battered body unmoving like his friend who is leaking blood from its face. The man in the robe coughs and stands back up, ready to fight again. However, I kick him in the chest, his ribs crunching against my metal foot as he falls to the ground once more. I then charge at one of the witches and slam her into the wall before punching her in the chest with my hard fists. The witch lets out a cry of pain while coughing up some blood, and I put her out of her misery by picking up another loaded crossbow one of the men dropped and shooting her in the face. The last witch grabs me and tries to force feed me a crimson-coloured fluid. I overpower her and I steal the potion from her grasp, pouring it on her face. This causes her skin to blacken and her face to bleed profusely. She starts wailing and screeching in pain as the crimson liquid melts her skin. I throw her to the floor and she screams in pain for a minute before stopping, her face bloody and disfigured from that liquid. I then walk to the robed man who is again laying on the floor, his head bleeding from the repeated hits to the stone floor. His voice is more panicked and weak as he speaks.
“Ough…how? How did you..”
I take one of the crossbows dead men and quickly search their person for a bolt. I find a new bolt and I load the crossbow. I stare at him, his expression fearful for his life as he looks into my face while I aim for his chest.
“I..will not be.. your slave.”
I fire the bolt at him, and his body seizes up as the bolt pierces his chest, killing him. They’re all dead. Now what? Now I’m free.
I wander around the dark stone halls for a while before finding a way to the surface. A decrepit wooden staircase leads to the surface, sunlight peeking down into the stairwell. I ascend the staircase and I feel the warm sun beam down onto my armour while the weak breeze gently flows by. I slowly walk around, taking in the starkly different environment here than underground. I stop under a tree and I lay down, looking up to see the leaves dancing in the wind. I stand up and approach a nearby lake, its waters pristine and calm. I crouch down, looking into the blue depths of the lake. In the water, I see myself in its reflection. A living suit of armour with no knight inside. But maybe there is a knight inside and I just can’t see it. I notice 2 small blue stars in the void of my helmet, they must be my eyes. While I look into my eyes, I wonder what I used to be before I was given life. How do I know about this world already? Who were those people and how did they give me life? What is my purpose here?
I seek an end, but to what end do I seek it?