Opening Moves (The Lion Knight Book 1)

by Aurelius L. Zero

Taking a moment to calm his breathing, Leon wiped off the cold sweat on his face with his palms. Burying his face in them, he took a moment to recollect himself before answering.

  That dream again… why does it haunt me so?

  And… it’s so much more vivid this time.

  “I’M FINE!”

  Stressed out by his ordeal, he snapped back at Noire’s show of concern reflexively.

  Only after seeing her shocked and hurt expression did he register what he’d just down.

  Bowing his head in shame, he began to apologise in contrition.

  Smiling bitterly as she interrupted Leon’s apologies.

  “It should be me apologising, I wasn’t able to wake you. You… you looked like you were in great pain.”

  A grimace flashed across his face, he hid it well but Noire picked it up anyway.

  Geahart picked that moment to leap down from the trees.

  “My squire suffers from night terrors every now and then. There is no telling when they will strike.” Geahart explained Leon’s condition with a shake of his head.

  “No one knows why he suffers from them but when they hit, he can’t be awoken by any means and all we can do is let him ride it out. His fever comes and goes with the nightmare as well.”

  Nodding her head in acceptance of Geahart’s words, Noire turned a worried glance towards Leon who still had his face buried in his hands, visibly shaking with every few breaths.

  “Is… is there anything we can do to make it easier on him?”

  Shaking his head, Geahart answered the question with a resigned tone.

  “There isn’t, all we can do is give him time to recover on his own.”

  With his piece said, Geahart lapsed into silence as Leon didn’t trust his ability to continue his charade.

  It took the puppeteer another five minutes to return to normal. Taking a deep breath, he rose to his feet and began packing up his things.

  “Sorry for worrying you all, I’m fine now. We should get moving soon, no sense in wasting daylight. If all goes well, we might be back in Albri by sundown.”

  “Ah! Squire Leon, there’s no need to rush, umm we can help you pack up as well.”

  Noire piped up as she saw Leon rushing to pack up everything, not quite convinced that such exertion was good for his condition.

  “I need to do this milady. I… I need to keep my hands active, it helps take my mind of things.”

  Leon politely declined her offer of assistance, his eyes still shrouded by his bangs.

  Looking down, he did not fail to notice that his hands were still trembling ever so slightly.

  “O-okay then” Giving Leon one last worried glance, Noire began to pack up her own belongings.

  Wordlessly, the trio worked and in a matter of minutes, all were ready to move. Slinging his pack over his shoulder, Leon took one last look around the place before having his puppet lead the way to the tower.

  With his nerves finally under control, he resolved that now was as good a time as any to broach the subject about his… excursion to the tower the night before.

  “Milady, I’d rather you not come with us, but you’ve already made up your mind to. I’d suggest readying your strongest barrier spell now.”

  Noire’s face scrunched up in confusion at the puppeteer’s request.

  They were a ways yet from the tower, preparing the spell now was being too hasty wasn’t it?

  When she made her misgivings knows, she was caught off guard by Leon’s nonchalant reply.

  “YOU WHAT!”

  Her scream of shock echoed to the heavens.

  “I scouted the first nine floors of the Vitae Tower milady.”

  “WHY?”

  “I had a bad feeling about the place.”

  Seeing Noire’s incredulous expression, he decided to explain a bit more.

  “Haaah, whenever my gut tells me something’s wrong, I listen to it. And that tower was giving me all sorts of bad vibes yesterday. Forgive my presumptuousness milady, but I cannot and will not knowingly allow you to walk straight into a trap.”

  “I can take care of myself just fine squire! I can help too! It’s why I’m here.”

  I won’t be a burden again.

  Her dissatisfaction was written all over her face. She was angry, at her squire running off into danger because of her, angry at her knight for simply letting it happen.

  But most of all, she was angry at herself. For being so weak that her guards needed to throw themselves into danger time after time just to ensure her safety.

  If Leon noticed or knew what Noire was feeling, he made no mention of it, opting instead to continue his explanation.

  “Milady, my ‘bad feelings’ border on precognition at times. Things don’t end well when I ignore them without taking precautions. I think I did the right thing too, all the Jaegers and the monsters infesting the tower have disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?”

  “The tower was completely empty. I only went to floors one through nine, but on them all the Jaegers and monsters had gone completely. Not even the slain corpses of the monsters were left. No blood, no bone, no scattered arms and armour, no nothing.”

  “Bu-but how?”

  “That’s a good question as any. I could feel it, whatever was responsible was waiting on the tenth.”

  “Did… did you go check?”

  A bitter expression floated across Leon’s face momentarily at that statement before it vanished.

  “No. I could feel it in my bones, if I had gone, I wouldn’t be here now. I don’t know if… whatever it is… is still there. Either way, it’s best to have the barrier ready and not need it than need it and not have it.”

  “Muuuuu….” Noire pouted at Leon’s logical explanation of his reasons.

  “Still you should have told us that you were going to investigate, that way if anything went wrong we could have come to help. You agree with me don’t you Sir Geahart?”

  “My apologies for my squire’s actions Lady Noire, it slipped my mind that you aren’t used to travelling with us yet. Leon is our designated scout since he is the most adept at stealth.”

  “But still, there’s no need for him to go off in the middle of the night to scout on his own without telling us is there?”

  “If we don’t know that he’s gone we can’t compromise him by accident. If he leaves and we get captured, as long as the enemy doesn’t know where he is, that's an advantage that we can exploit. Likewise, if he doesn’t return in the morning, we will know that something’s afoot and we can plan accordingly.”

  “Muuu… I, I understand. But I don't like it at all.”

  Noire reluctantly gave her assent before folding her arms in looking away.

  The image of a spoilt princess unhappy with being denied sprung to Leon’s mind and he couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle at that.

  “I’m sorry for worrying you again milady.”

  “See that it doesn’t happen again squire.”

  I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.

  Before they knew it, they were standing at the entrance to the Vitae Tower. If the building had looked imposing in the moonlight, it was even more awe inspiring in the sunlight.

  “Well, this is it.”

  Turning back to his companions, he noticed Noire taking a deep breath before nodding and Valor simply flapped his wings twice before giving a shrill cry of confidence.

  Swallowing his own fears Leon led the way in.

  Knives grasped firmly in his arms and ready to start flinging spells left and right, Leon cautiously entered the building.

  I’m not feeling uneasy anymore… strange.

  No use worrying about that right now, let’s see what we’re up against.

  Making their way up the floors one by one, Leon noted that nothing seemed to have changed. The tower was still deserted and his flux scan was picking up nothing except a large amount of flux flowing in the walls of the tower.

  Odd. That wasn’t th
ere yesterday.

  Noire was marginally less worried than Leon, being unaware of what Leon had sensed. Her attention was mostly fixated on the symbols on the walls and the frescos on the ceiling.

  Having never set foot in any of the towers due to the supposed danger to someone of her station.

  This was the first time she had the chance to enter a true Zeonite ruin. Her sense of curiosity had overpowered any sense of danger she might have had.

  “This… this is amazing.”

  She had never even seen pictures of the place or the wonders within.

  Now that she was here though, impressed didn’t even begin to cover how she felt about her surroundings.

  Despite her awe, something was nagging at her. The designs on the walls, the fresco on the ceiling, they were familiar to her. In the sense of a language she used to know but forgot about after not using it for years. It left her grasping at a memory that should have been there but was absent.

  I know this… why do I know this?

  Pushing aside her unknown familiarity for a moment, she resumed taking in everything about the place.

  The craftsmanship of a people who had disappeared more than a millennia ago was awe inspiring to say the least.

  In the years since the great cataclysm, nothing anyone had built even came close to the intricate design of the place.

  And as they made their way up, the sense of familiarity only increased in magnitude.

  Something about the Vitae tower seemed to call out to her.

  The noble felt like she belonged in this place for some reason. Every step she took felt less and less like wondering into a new world and more like rediscovering a piece of herself long forgotten.

  “There is something here…. I don’t know what it is but it… it’s calling to me.”

  “Calling to? Milady, please be on your guard. I don’t understand what is going on here but there is a large amount of flux running through the walls of the tower. This didn’t happen when I was here yesterday.”

  “O-okay.”

  Calling to her?

  Ah… this can’t be good.

  Mysterious forces beckoning people in strange places never end well. I’ve seen enough shows with Libra to know that things like this usually ends in blood and tears for all.

  Haah, ninth floor. Here we go.

  At this point, Leon no longer led the way. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he sent Geahart marching to the front of the group.

  Best to throw the non-living puppet at whatever was waiting first after all.

  Geahart cautiously made his way up the stairs to the tenth floor, Leon and Noire trailing a ways behind him.

  They were advancing blind, the walls were filled with so much flux that both Leon and Geahart had their sensors jammed.

  Stopping at the very last step before the opening, Geahart tightened his grip on the blade before dashing through.

  Once more the floor was devoid of life, determining the area was safe, the knight puppet backed through the wall of shadows to signal the rest to follow.

  Seeing the azure knight give the all clear signal, Leon and Noire exchanged a glance before heading through the veil themselves.

  As soon as both were through, two soft grunts left them and they were forced to bring their arms up to shield their eyes.

  Used to the dim interior of the tower, both were unprepared for the harsh sunlight suddenly bombarding them.

  Unlike the previous floors, there wasn’t a set of stairs leading up anymore. Where there would have previously been a wall, there was now a balcony that lead out into the open, allowing sunlight to flood in.

  The room itself was empty compared to the other floors, this time round there were no stone furniture lying around the place.

  The pillars that supported the floors above were still present and there was a single raised platform in the centre of the room.

  Other than that, only a few scattered piles of rubble lay near the entrance.

  Geometric shapes made of lines resembling those on the walls decorated the platform and a low hum emanated from it, but was otherwise inactive.

  Leon’s flux scan indicated that the amount of flux flowing through the platform far exceeded anything else he’d seen in the tower so far.

  Again, odd. So much flux in it but it’s not glowing like the walls?

  What makes this one different, those designs can’t just be for show can they?

  “Well, no Jaegers, no monsters and once again no sign that either were here. Maybe the balcony will have some clues as to what happened here.”

  As one, they headed out onto the balcony. The beauty they beheld struck them speechless.

  “My word. I didn’t realise we were this high up.”

  The balcony afforded them the view of almost the entire kingdom of Albion. It was the most breath taking view any of them had ever seen.

  Rolling green hills stretched away from the tower, ending where Arthuria Lake began.

  Sunlight reflected off the surface and the entire lake seemed to glow.

  Across the lake stood Highwind Castle, home to the royal Esmelas family.

  The stained glass windows of the castle forming a riot of colours visible even from their position.

  To their left the floating island hosting the Zirnitra magic academy hovered above an icy landscape, a raging blizzard washing over the plains.

  To their right, the city of Bose stood, the giant factories that made the city famous standing out proudly.

  A slew of white amidst a sea of brown.

  Further beyond was the Umbra Forest and the Granseal region.

  Valor took to the skies eager to stretch his wings.

  To the two humans present, the view was magical.

  Neither had ever seen anything even close to the splendour of the view they were currently sharing. While both had been on airships in the past, the view simply could not compare.

  Once the awe had faded slightly, Leon managed to pull himself back to reality.

  Slightly ashamed of letting his guard slip so easily, he shook his head and composed himself.

  Nice view….

  Now to deal with the extra.

  Subtly channelling flux into his glove, Leon prepped a spell as he directed his puppet to draw out the hidden observer.

  “That's long enough I think. I know you’re there, the one hiding in the shadows come out now or taste my blade!”

  “HIIIIIIIIIII!”

  A shrill scream answered Geahart’s challenge. A man all but leapt out from his hiding spot behind the pillar.

  “Please don’t kill me! I-I don’t have any money an-and I have a large family to feed! And… and….”

  The man was a blubbering mess, tears streaming down his cheeks as he begged for his life on his knees head bowed.

  What the… who is this guy.

  He’s no Jaeger at any rate.

  The crying man was dressed in a set of slightly worn travelling robes, not unlike what travelling scholars would wear. A set of wide rimmed circular glasses sat on his nose and dishevelled long blue hair covered his ears.

  “If you answer my questions truthfully, I won’t kill you.”

  “Yes! Yes, I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Just don’t hurt me, please!”

  “First off, who are you and why were you hiding from us.”

  “I-I am Professor Arno, I’m from the federation.”

  Pausing to take a deep breath before continuing, “I am an archaeologist here in Albion to study the Zeonite ruins here. I-I was hiding be-because I thought you were bandits.”

  “Lie.”

  “HIIIIIIIIIIII!”

  “Sir Geahart, there is no need to scare him like that now is there?”

  “Sorry young miss, but I need the truth from him.”

  “I-I am telling the truth.”

  “Do we have to do this charade? I’m sure if I start hacking off extra limbs the truth should flow.”

  “O-okay, I-I�
�ll talk. I’ll talk! I was a-afraid that you were here to finish the job, an-and that you were controlling tha-that thing.”

  “Finish… the job? Thing? Explain.”

  “Li-like I said, I am in this kingdom to research the Zeonite ruins. I was on my way here when I was waylaid b-by those men in red armour”

  Jaegers.

  “The-they told me that if I didn’t lead them up the tower, they wou-would kill me. S-so I led them up here. There were so many mo-monsters on the way up. I-I thought I would b-be eaten a few times.”

  Arno was trembling as he recounted his harrowing experience.

  Noire’s face held nothing but compassion and concern for the poor archaeologist while Leon and Geahart looked on with stony expressions.

  “We… we made it here eventually. The-then that thing showed up. Th-there was this terrible voice that ca-came from everywhere at once. H-he was laughing at us, say-saying that we would be food for his pet. It-it was a giant, so-so much teeth….”

  Curling up into a foetal position, Arno began babbling incoherently. The sight of a grown man reduced to such a state was not a pretty one.

  Unable to help herself, Noire knelt beside him to offer him some comfort, placing one hand on his shaking shoulder.

  Leon however stood still, his mind racing at Arno’s revelations.

  So much teeth? A strange voice claiming a monster as his pet?

  It can’t be that guy from the forest… can it?

  “I have more questions I need answered professor. Get your act together.”

  “Sir Geahart! I can’t believe you would be so heartless, this man has clearly been through quite enough as it is. There’s no need to be so-”

  Geahart cut her off with a shake of his head, “I’m afraid there is young miss. It sounds like he’s describing that man from the forest. We need to be sure about this lest we get blindsided.”

  “Professor, that beast that attacked, did it look like a lizard with a large number of bone spikes sticking out of it and a maw filled with teeth where the neck should be?”

  “I… I… yes, yes indeed. Ho-how did you know? No… no no no no no! You! You’re with that thing. NO! You won’t get me too!”

  Arno rose to his feet and tried to run away, only to be stopped by Leon standing in his path.

  “Wha-what did I do to you! I have done nothing to you people, I don’t even know you! Please let me go… please let me go….”