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  There was already activity in the morning among the stone and wooden buildings, and the people there seemed much the same as my neighbors had been, going about their mornings unaware of the horror that dwelled in the Cedar Forest, ready to attack.

  All eyes were upon me as I entered the inn. I realized that I must have been an unusual sight, barely a man in the armor I was wearing, but I made my way to the bar to speak to the lanky middle-aged man behind it. Like all the others, he stared at me, his eyes looked me over. I was a little worried about the possibility of a fight, but the NCI reassured me that no one here was armed, and most didn’t bear Threat Levels above 2.

  “I must warn you,” I told him. “I’m from the village in the next valley, and it was attacked last night by the Flesh Tree. Everyone was taken by the monster.”

  The man briefly went white with fear and then grew suspicious. Though I was armored, I was still only sixteen years old. I had to look like a boy in soldier’s gear.

  “It is true,” I told him. I gave him my name, that of my master, and more.

  The other villagers who overheard us were horrified and sympathetic about my plight, not to mention fearful of theirs. They asked about those who were their friends, even family, and I told them what I saw. Their village was also close enough to the Cedar Forest to fear the Flesh Tree’s legend and understand that if it was not satisfied, it might come for them next.

  “Can we defend against such a monster?” A bald man asked me. “With no emissaries or apostles of the Fate to aid us?”

  “I don’t know,” was all I could say. “If it comes for your village, all I can say is run in the hopes that some of you can get away.”

  “Can you not protect us?” A woman wondered, nervously wringing her hands.

  “I am just one... man,” I replied. “But I seek more. Knights of the realm...”

  I turned back to the innkeeper for answers. As I feared, he had some to offer, but not much.

  “West is where you must go,” he told me. “There is a city, Trebaspole, a week’s ride and a royal garrison there. Those there may know of these Knights you seek. Perhaps the new king will send soldiers to slay that monster. Though if it is Knights of the Fate you need, they may have been exiled from Lycia along with the church.”

  That idea alarmed me. The knights were my only hope. I feared betraying the Flesh Tree, and what it might do to those I love. Did I dare call for Lycian soldiers, an army?

  Another man, a traveler by the looks of his garments and demeanor, offered some hope. “I have heard that the Knights of the Fate have not abandoned us,” he claimed. “Several of them still wander the kingdom and battle the monsters that have risen of late. Yes, young warrior, seek them out!”

  When I mentioned the names of the Knights that the Flesh Tree told me to find, my heart sank at his response. “Aye, once there was a White Knight that did come to this region, but that was several years ago,” he told me. “Probably grown too old by now...”

  “Where might I find him now?” I wanted to know.

  “That I cannot say,” he admitted. “The best way is to send out word that will hopefully be relayed to one of the Knights of the Fate that a monster is causing havoc. But that was once the job of the priests. I do not know who will relay such missives now... The best I can do is tell those on my own route, warn them of the threat and hope it is passed on.”

  “All right, thank you,” I told him. “I will head west, and hopefully we will come across one another.”

  CHAPTER 4

  I continued my trek by the end of the day when I reached another village. I was anxious about who or what I might encounter. I saw another one or two familiar faces of those who traveled around our region, which calmed me a little. I asked about the world beyond and the Knights of the Fate of Elysium. Unfortunately, they could tell me little more than I already heard, though they did offer to spread the word. I kept going, expecting that at some point I would reach Trebaspole.

  The next day, as I was traveling west towards the city, the land turned to a plain meadow. A soft breeze was rustling the grass and flowers gently. There, I followed a narrow hunting path, till it chocked with weeds. Out of the brush, suddenly charged a band of creatures I have never yet seen before. They yelled and shrieked as they charged.

  Goblins, my NCI told me. Immediately, my interface changed into battle mode, and above each creature I could see their Threat Levels, HP and other stats. They were levels 2 and 3, and not deemed dangerous, but still there were 5 of them. Goblins were said to raid villages, but they were usually dealt with by the militia. As a blacksmith’s apprentice, I had never been called upon to fight such creatures.

  Before I could think more, the band of the smallish green creatures were upon me with their crude swords and axes. I didn’t know what to do, other than dismount from my now whinnying horse and pull out my own blade, pick the fighting mode and order my sword ablaze. The color of blue and purple swirled together around my sword. Once the goblins attacked, I swung my sword at them, which resulted in the creatures being pushed back a few steps.

  They charged back at me, and I tried to swing my sword at them, block their attacks and figure out how to take advantage of the situation, the fire the sword created. I managed to get it to create some gouts of flame, but that only stopped the attack momentarily.

  Thanks for nothing, Flesh Tree! I swore.

  The goblins surrounded me, and I decided to attack the one that was closest. I swung my fire sword and performed a horizontal, clean cut that disconnected the goblin’s head from its shoulders. My NCI informed me that I had achieved a Critical Hit of 24 points.

  Momentarily, the goblins retreated, fearing that I was some kind of seasoned knight. Soon, however, they attacked again, this time aiming for my neck. I ducked under the blow of the first and countered back with a piercing strike to the second. The goblin parried in time and returned back to its position. The strongest of the goblins, having a Threat Level 3, pulled a dagger from its sheath and advanced me with a series of attacks that I barely managed to avoid. If it wasn’t for the sturdiness of my armor, I would have received some deep cuts.

  Now, having trust in my armor’s sturdiness, I charged head on. My opponent’s blade shattered in pieces the moment he tried to pierce my breast plate. He was surprised and caught off guard, and I easily buried my fire blade into his forehead and threw him to the ground dead. Brain matter splattered the ground.

  You achieved a Critical Hit, my NCI informed me, then another notification showed me that I had leveled up and reached Threat Level 3.

  As for the other goblins, we traded blows for several minutes, but it seemed like hours to me. One by one, I managed to slay them and level up. The battle quickly exhausted me. The light armor I wore grew heavier and heavier as I fought on, but I was able to cut down the goblins, wound them mortally and somehow become a higher level as I did. Though the fight seemed to be over, my NCI was still in battle mode.

  Then I saw their leader, something my NCI called a Hobgoblin, and it was level 6! My first instinct was to run away. I cursed myself for facing these creatures on foot, but I knew I must fight or die in the effort. I couldn’t escape now.

  The hobgoblin leader was as tall as me, as muscular as my master was, and spitting with rage. It even bore its own crude armor. The battle with that creature was brutal. It was faster than me, stronger. It shrugged off my attacks with ease, even though I used my Fire Sword. I was hit again and again, bruised from the cuts, even with the Fire Knight armor I was wearing. The pain from my wounds made me gasp, hesitate each time I was hit. Exhaustion slowed me, and my limbs turned to stone as the melee dragged on. It seemed like my life as a knight would be cut short, my quest a failure.

  My HP bar was below half. Only 6 out of 26 points remained, and I was nearly dead. Then, somehow, I managed to disarm the hobgoblin and take the sword that he was holding. Just as my vision grew dark, my NCI pointed out an opening in the hobgoblin’s attack and flas
hed a demand that I strike. I thrusted my blade out. I felt it made contact and sunk into his pudgy neck. A gush of blood sprayed the air as I watched my opponent’s HP bar decrease. My NCI finally informed me that he was dead and changed back to normal mode.

  Then I was struck again and fell into darkness. The only thing I could see was a notification: You have been paralyzed!

  CHAPTER 5 – EPISODE EPILOGUE

  “And then I woke here, lying by your fire, alive, saved by you,” I tell the Knight, the man in a light-colored breastplate and white cloak. “That is my story, sad as it is. I’ve heard such tales of Knights in battle, and I was almost killed by some goblins.”

  “Do not be ashamed, my young friend,” the white bearded man tells me. “You are safe and healing. And you might be inexperienced, but I would expect you fought bravely and stood your ground the way a Knight would. To my old eyes, you saved yourself.”

  Somehow destiny had led me to cross paths with a Knight of the Fate, the White Knight himself, who had found me laying senseless after having slain that hobgoblin.

  The old Knight had heard there was a band of the creatures that had been raiding the farms hereabouts so came to deal with them while he was on his way east. And instead of a battle, he found me surrounded by the dead creatures I’d chopped, rather inexpertly, apart, not to mention scorched and charred.

  I hadn’t been completely done for. I still had my sword, my pack. Even my master’s horse was nearby. A Knight this man was, no thief at all. I shake my head. A Knight of the realm he is. He bears a level of 24 while I’m now level 7, greater than before, but nothing close to him.

  “I’m not a knight, though,” I tell him. “Even if I have this armor and this sword. I was set on my quest by a monster. I’ve told you what it wants. To be strong enough to defeat its adversary, for you and the other knights of the realm dead.”

  The White Knight offers a quiet laugh.

  “Oh, I have heard legends of such a monstrous creature haunting the Cedar Forest,” the White Knight muses, “But as you’ve told me, it mostly fears its adversary. There is a legend I seem to recall, that says the Flesh Tree and its adversary can be defeated, each by a gathering of no less than six Great Knights. I do say there is hope for your quest. You have a long way to go before becoming a warrior powerful enough to take on even one of us, I’ll warrant. Don’t worry about being blackmailed into killing any of our kind. Consider more that it might be your destiny to earn your way to becoming a fellow knight of the realm, my boy.”

  “But I was given my armor by a monster,” I protest.

  “A monster, though evil I would agree, sounds to be motivated by fear,” he tells me. “And anything that feels fear can be defeated.”

  I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, yet I am still confounded by my despair.

  “Melanthios, I too earned my armor when I was young, around your age in fact,” the old Knight tells me. “And it was a complicated inheritance. Literary, all the weaponry of the Great Knights of the realm come with complications. Destiny, it seems, plays a great role in our God deciding who is gifted with such power and obligation. Do not distrust the powers that have been bestowed upon you. They know far more than you or I could ever know.”

  “And our God also wished to punish my village in order to gift me this armor, this sword, this magic diadem?” I say, gesturing at my knightly accoutrements.

  “It is true that enemies of Lycia and all mankind have risen. And if the Flesh Tree has come out from the Cedar Forest, then it is but another sign that great dangers have truly cast a pall shadow over our kingdom,” the Knight states. “Which is why we are offered quests, to make wrongs right and to ensure good triumphs over evil. Your diadem did offer you a choice, did it not? Yea or nay?”

  “It did,” I sigh.

  “And you chose yea,” he tells me.

  I can’t help but nod. The White Knight smiles at me.

  “Then you have chosen the path of knighthood. I would ask to aid in your quest, help you defeat this monster, help you restore your family and your neighbors,” the White Knight tells me, tapping his breastplate. “This is my calling, as I am a protector of all and can think of nothing so noble as to aid a fellow knight in opposition of such a foul and legendary beast.”

  I can hardly believe he is calling me a knight. I can’t believe that he sees me as some kind of equal to a man like himself, when we so obviously aren’t.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  The guilt I feel from the bargain I made with the monster suddenly threatens to overwhelm me, but I resist, reminding him that as part of my quest, I also agreed to maybe kill this noble man or lure him to his doom.

  Then he lifts a gauntleted finger.

  “Do not thank me yet,” the White Knight warns. “The Flesh Tree is not the only beast that haunts these lands. While I was seeking out the goblins, I received word there is a fiery giant beast that also troubles a village to the east that also must be slain. It will probably be good experience for you to help me defeat it. Will you accompany me, be my squire in the slaying of the monster that my quest demands?” He asks.

  I nod my head and agree to accompany him and kill his beast. Then together we will seek out the other Knights of the realm, to fight the Flesh Tree or perhaps it’s even more powerful and likely more evil adversary.

  “Good,” he says. “Then we will head off first thing in the morning. But here, let us share our food and drink, because I’m certain you are still tired and sore after your first great battle. You must be quite hungry.”

  “That I am,” I agree, and thank the White Knight again.

  It’s late, and after having my fill, I tuck into my blanket. I’m tired and exhausted from the long trek and battle, but I can’t stop thinking of Leda and my parents and their unjust end. The monstrous Flesh Tree has taken everything from me, and now I’m forced to complete a terrible quest.

  Eventually, I gaze around, trying to distract myself with something else. I watch the black sky for a few moments, and at last sleep pools on my eyelids. My ears fill with the soft sounds of sleeping nature. And without being aware, for some time, I’m wrapped in profound sleep.

  Dear Reader, a minute of your time please!

  I want to thank you, for coming along on this ride. I hope you had as much fun as I did. If so, please consider writing a review on my Amazon book page. I'm truly grateful for all feedback! If you have any questions, complaints or suggestions, I'm happy to hear them all. Just shoot me a message.

  Cheers,

  Alex Itsios

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  Interested in another story? Fire Knight appears in Paladin series, book 2 as a side character.

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