Story:Kings of Strife/Part 44

Part Forty-Four
Vik grabbed the Chosen Knight by the throat and stared into her glowing eyes with hatred. Hot breath emanated from his tightened jaw like a growl from a wolf, and his vein-lined hands threatened to choke the life out of the woman before him. She offered no resistance; she only looked at him with the influence of the Tyrant.

“Cidolas Teftah,” Vik quietly roared without breaking eye contact. “What is this woman doing here?”

Summoned by his words, Cidolas left the bridge of the boat and jumped next to Vik. Not wasting any time, the blond male in the heavy green cloak gripped Vik’s thick forearm with surprising strength. “Do not threaten our allies, Hero of Flame.”

“Allies?!” Vik let go of his prey and looked to Cidolas with rage in his chest fit to burst. He was warm, almost sweating, though he did not know whether this stemmed from the matching coat he wore or the fire inside his body. “You call her an ally? She almost killed Silverius and I, twice! She’s one of the Serpent Knights! She’s a part of Ouroboros!” Saying the name of the Serpent Society was almost too much for him to bear without manifesting the unholy black flames. As it stood, wisps of black smoke started to emanate from his right eye, but for now he kept the power in check.

None of it made any sense. He had just left behind a Serpent Knight who had promised to kill his father and beloved younger sister – and now here was another, on the boat supposedly leading him to his imprisoned comrade, as an ‘ally’. Serpent Knights killed his original Herohji squad members, Cidolas many times over, almost killed himself and Silverius, and directly killed thousands at Zeta Academy.

And now one of them was supposed to be his friend?

The raven haired Chosen Knight walked a step closer to him and looked up at the burning passion in his eyes. As if reading his mind, she spoke: “I am very sorry for what the Black Knight is doing to your family.”

Without a second thought, Vik threw a punch and sent the Knight sprawling to the floor.

“Next time I’ll set my fist on fire, so you’ll have the pleasure of feeling your face melt off.” He stood over her, face contorted with rage, and shook off the quickly advancing ache in his knuckles. “I haven’t hit a girl before, but people like you are lower than dirt, so I don’t think it even counts.”

“Whoa, whoa!” The woman named Karilyn ran up to Vik and slapped him, but it had little effect on him. She stood in front of the seething Nneonian and shoved him backwards. “I don’t know what’s happened between you two before, but this is too much! Come on, man! She’s helping us! We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for her!”

Vik looked at the short redhead with irritation, but was helpless to her efforts in pushing him back. The Chosen Knight rubbed her bruised jaw as she stood up slowly. Her eyes were still just as cold and just as bright golden as she looked up to her attacker again. “Next time I won’t let you have any hits on me. That should suffice in setting our records straight.”

“You bitch,” he growled. “You knew! You knew what he’s going to do, and none of you came to help me, anyway!” Karilyn looked up at Vik with incomprehension, but the Chosen Knight continued to look impartial.

“There was nothing any of us could do. If I had interfered, further stages in the plans would not have advanced. He had to have thought you left on your own. The sacrifice was made to further that.”

“Sacrifice!” Vik was shaking now, and clenched his eyes shut to prevent any flames from accidentally manifesting. He had long since ripped his eyepatch off and shoved it into his scarf. No matter how irritated his countenance became, tears refused to flow from his eyes. Only regrets. “They’re more than sacrifices… That was my family! I hated my father, but that was my family! My sister… I promised her! I promised her!” He fell to his knees, slamming on the planks of the boat and screaming. Cidolas had long since returned to the bridge when the physical altercations ceased, and Karilyn stood looking down at Vik uncomfortably. The Knight once known as Maria did not change. None of them said anymore for a stretch of time.

It didn’t take long for Vik to regain his composure and stand with his head lowered. He forced his eyes to return to their normal chilly blue colors, the same hues as his father’s. Karilyn and the Knight still stood around him, both of their chilling eyes looking over him. “This plan of yours,” he said. “What could you possibly have planned that required the death of my family?”

The Chosen Knight crossed her arms. “We’re going to free Silverius, and then we’re going to destroy Ouroboros.”

Vik looked to her with open surprise. “What? But… You’re…”

“Not anymore.” She shook her head and looked out to the dark seas. By now the boat was moving quietly through the waters, away from Nneoh, and the rocky beach was starting to become a mere vision on the black horizon. “I went looking for answers while you and Silverius fought at Icarun. I went looking, and I found some. What the Leader has planned… what the other Knights have planned… I can’t allow it to happen. I just can’t.” She frowned, and a glimpse of a deeper pain manifested on her face.

Vik still felt out of place and confused, but Karilyn stepped towards him and twirled a lock of bleeding red hair around her finger. “I managed to swipe Silverius’ Crystal from Icarun at the last moment, and our blond friend back there found me while I was running away. I didn’t believe any of his story at first, not any more than I believed Silverius was really a bad person. Then we found Chosen here, and when I saw her powers… when I heard her story… I knew we had a chance. We can do something about Silverius, and this world.”

“You have a lot of trust for someone you haven’t known for that long,” Vik mumbled. He regretted saying this, considering how hypocritical it was.

Still, Karilyn showed no aggression, and only smiled sadly. “I’ve made mistakes before, and I’ve been around bad people. I can tell that Silverius isn’t a bad person… not at heart. He wants to be free. I know it.”

“He isn’t,” the Chosen Knight said without moving. Her golden eyes seemed to be searching for something out in the dark waters of the night. “He wouldn’t have saved my life or risked his own to rescue me if he wasn’t. I remember telling him to be happy… and he gave up all of that, to save me.”

“Wait,” Vik butt in, “You remember?” He struggled to think back on what he and Silverius had went through in Shorica. “He called you Maria. He said he loved you.”

The Knight chuckled. “Yes, that’s correct. But I am not Maria. Not anymore.” She looked down, and closed her eyes as a breath of wind pushed past them all. “I tried to leave Ouroboros before, months and months ago. That was when I first learned of my real origins, and the true plans the Leader has in store for the world. I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape, so I hid and used my own illusory powers to lock my memories and personality away. Sealed away like that, I was supposed to die alone… but Silverius found me, and saved me. He prevented my original plan from going smoothly… but he saved me. He loved me. And I was going to repay him by destroying him and the world.”

Admittedly Vik was lost. This was the first he ever heard of the history behind Silverius and ‘Maria’. “So we’re going to save him. That’s fine with me. But… what was this plan that was so horrible? Would killing yourself really have solved it that much?”

She nodded. “It would have crippled the plan, or at least delayed it enough to cause problems for the Leader. I could never defeat him and all the other Knights by myself. Not when they have all the Njash on their side, and almost all of the world governments, as well… We’ve all been so foolish. Everything has been going in his favor, and we’ve all played our parts like pawns.” The Chosen Knight looked to Vik, and her eyes started to burn with her iconic ruthlessness. “With all the Crystals in his hands, the Leader would induce a world-changing event that would halve its population. The rest would be under his control, and by reintroducing the Crystalline magic to the atmosphere, he would force humanity to a magical state of evolution once again.”

“In other words,” Karilyn added, “if he gets all the Crystals, we’re all fucked.”

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