Black Knight
Awakening: Part One
Christian J. Gilliland
For my girls. Destanie, Brielle, Penelope and Everly
Everything I do I do for you.
Thank you for giving me a reason.
For Austin. My old friend who has been a great
Amount of support and encouragement
For Grandpa. Because I miss him.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1.1 --------------------- The Demon I
Chapter 1.2 -------------------- The Bishop I
Chapter 2.1 -------------------- The Demon II
Chapter 2.2 ------------------ The President I
Chapter 3.1 ------------------- The Demon III
Chapter 3.2 ------------------------ The King I
Chapter 4.1 ------------------- The Demon IV
Chapter 4.2 -------------------- The Bishop II
Chapter 5.1 -------------------- The Demon V
Chapter 5.2 ----------------- The President II
Chapter 6.1 ------------------- The Demon VI
Chapter 6.2 ----------------------- The King II
Chapter 7.1 ------------------ The Demon VII
Chapter 7.2 ------------------- The Bishop III
Chapter 8.1 ----------------- The Demon VIII
Chapter 8.2 ---------------- The President III
Chapter 9.1 ------------------- The Demon IX
Chapter 9.2 ---------------------- The King III
Chapter 10 --------------------- The Demon X
“Perhaps we are all a part of something bigger, perhaps not. We can never know. I have seen the universe, it is big. We are not. To think that we mean something in a universe so large is laughable. I think that our only 'purpose' is to live. To live as much and as hard as we can and then our purpose is to die. That is what I have come up with in all my years of living. The only true purpose we have is the purpose we assign to ourselves. What other people hope or expect of you does not matter unless of course it matters to you. All that matters is you.”
-Sajinious Lynx
Chapter 1: Part One
The Demon I
22nd of Ramlia - 346 A.G.
09:00 - Belhaasi Weald
"I will find you..."
His quivering voice was fearful… desperate. His pale face twisted and as his eyes shot open he gasped. Everything was a blur to him, from his memories to his surroundings. He took in a deep, desperate breath and clawed at the mattress beneath him. As he exhaled, he snapped his body into an upright position and looked around.
His head throbbed at the brightness of the light shining down on him. It was not the brother’s light, but was instead something artificial. He raised his hands and clamped them on each of his temples like a vice trying to relieve the pain.
For a moment in his mind he re-lived what he had thought was a dream, but the details were fading fast. As quickly as he had remembered the entirety of his dream, it had all but left him. While the dream felt important at the time, that feeling quickly being swallowed by the pain that he was enduring. He tried again to open his brown eyes but failed and fell backward onto the pillow beneath him.
A shiver ran through his body which felt as if it had reached feverish temperatures. He felt so overheated that he imagined the sweat was dripping down his skin and simply vanishing in tiny plumes of steam. The throbbing pain in his head was unlike any he had ever felt. He pushed his palms harder against his temples until it felt like he was about to cave in each side of his head. Finally, when he felt that he could take the pain no longer he bellowed a loud yell and his body trembled in the bed.
His fit ended as his pain did. As he began to feel better, he let his hands fall from the sides of his head and allowed his mind to wander. He raked his memories for any remnant of the dream that had seemed so real but nothing was coming to him. He frustratedly sighed and opened his eyes.
As he examined the white room and its contents he quickly realized that he was nowhere familiar. He planted the fingers of his right hand into his brown hair and groaned. While his pain was virtually gone, the fatigue that remained was enough to keep him feeling lethargic and thus his head remained on the pillow.
"Fuck." He rasped, shielding his vision from the light. He blinked rapidly, trying to draw moisture onto his dry eyes. They felt as if they were about to crack from dehydration. He groaned again and reached over to scratch an itch he felt on his left arm. As his fingernails scraped against the skin they bumped into something... foreign, something that was not supposed to be there. Curiously, he grabbed the sheet that was covering his body and tossed it aside.
His eyes fell upon his own pale, naked body and he gasped when he saw the thick gauged wires that were protruding from various appendages and joints. With what strength he could muster, he flung his right hand across his body to his left forearm where one of the cables had been inserted. He wrapped his fingers around the wire and pulled it out, leaving behind a small bleeding hole. If there had been pain involved he certainly had not felt it. He felt that there was nothing more that that day could throw at him that would compare to the intensity of the pain he had experienced only minutes before. Methodically, he moved down his body, ripping the remainder of the cables out. One cable in particular, however, proved to be a bit more trouble than he had hoped for.
Protruding from the being's urethra was a tube that he could only assume was a catheter. Quickly, he grabbed hold of the tube and yanked on it. A severely unpleasant feeling shot through his body and manifested into a loud groan that burst from his mouth. He quickly let go of the tube and arched his back, kicking his feet as he tried to rid himself of the pain. Fortunately for him, said pain only lasted but a moment and he decided that he would leave the catheter for the time being. He rested his body and allowed his mind to wander.
He tried to recall where he was and how he had gotten there. Another quick look around the odd room yielded nothing that triggered any memories. To his knowledge he had never before been in the room that he was currently in. He surely was not at Base 21, his home as he recalled the infirmary there seeming much more organized. He continued to search his mind for the last memory he could find.
"The caverns..." He found his gravely voice muttering. Though his eyes remained closed he was at that point fully awake. "Izla'Axi Caverns...". The memory quickly pieced itself together in his mind and for a moment he re-lived it.
He recalled the fire blazing before him, casting shadows upon the ancient rock walls as old as the planet itself as his groggy eyes opened to the chaos that ensued all around. Shouts were being thrown in all directions and the smell of gunpowder tore through his nose. He remembered reaching for his sword and feeling the pain of something slamming into his ribs, knocking him onto his stomach. He was able to roll out of the way just in time to watch the tip of a spear drive into the ground beside him.
The being he stared at was naught more than a silhouette as the fire burned behind him leaving his face cast in shadow. Before he could grab his sword he felt the spear that had penetrated the ground only moments before skewer his stomach. He remembered hearing himself scream as his attacker twisted the weapon and instead of pulling it out, cutting through his body until it emerged from his right side leaving him cut wide open.
"Take him." He remembered a voice saying, "Take his body and go..." After that, something hard slammed against the side of his head and he remembered nothing more.
He looked down at his naked body and saw a long pink scar that began just above his bellybutton and seemed to wrap around to his back. He thought curiously about the magic that had to have been employed to heal such a wound and sighed.
He wondered what sort of misfortune he had wandered into.
As he stared up at the lights above him, the being feared for himself. He knew not where he was and whether he was in the company of friend or foe. He knew for sure that he was in no Black Knight base and felt more certainly that somehow he had ended up a prisoner of either the Govian Empire or the Agra Triangle Corporation. The thought of being at either of their mercies was enough to make him quiver.
Twenty three years was all he had. Twenty three years of living, breathing, eating, drinking, fucking, fighting and shitting it all back out. He sighed heavily feeling that although twenty three years was more than many people had had an opportunity to live in his world it had simply not been enough for him. There was more he wanted to accomplish, more he wanted to feel. He grieved for the moments he had not yet lived for he felt that whomever his captors may have been had taken them from him.
The sound of footsteps silenced his thoughts. He sat up in his bed and stared toward the cracked white wooden door. He growled for he knew he was trapped by the damned tube hanging from his dick, he knew that though he was unarmed he would be able to kill anyone who walked through that door... he would strangle them with his damned catheter if he had to…
As the footsteps drew nearer he could not do much more than search for a resolution of any kind. He had mere seconds to come up with a solution, barely enough time to even think. His eyes snapped to a rusted cart sitting on the left side of his bed. Sitting atop the cart was an assortment of blood-stained apparatuses and without putting much more thought to it he reached his arm out and grabbed a pair of old scissors. He tried to cut through the catheter but either the scissors were too dull or the tube was too thick. By then it was too late to come up with any other plan, the footsteps had stopped and the doorknob had turned. He held the scissors in front of him and waited.
The antique doorknob turned and its rusty components inside creaked. The white wooden door whined on its aged hinges and swung his way. When the door was finally open wide enough, a blue haired Elf stepped through the frame and the scissors were thrown at him. The scissors struck him square in the chest handles first and bounced off of him, clattering on the floor. The Elf looked down at them and hummed.
"Well... I should say that whatever you were hoping for seemed to fail." He said, sounding a bit of a dandy. He knelt down and picked them up, examining them for a moment and then setting them down on the counter top to his right. "What if I had been your mother?"
He stepped forward with a smile and the being on the bed got a better look at him. He was a pale skinned Elf nearly the same height as the being on the bed with side swept hair the color of deep ocean and two rings through the left side of his lower lip. He was bare chested revealing a thin yet toned figure and wore a waist length grey jacket with some kind of white fur lining the collar.
"Get back!" The one on the bed shouted, holding his hand out. "Get back or I will blast you into nothing!"
"You can not." The Elf said, rolling his eyes. "You have never used magic as you may call it in your life." The other groaned with dismay and fought to find words.
"Let us begin anew." The Elf continued, folding his hands together and smiling. "My name is Sajinious Lynx though my friends call me Sage." He paused for a moment and cocked his head slightly to the left. "What may I call you?"
"Where am I?" The other quickly demanded. Sage sighed and pursed his lips together.
"I am a master of games my child." Sage said, waving his finger at the other. "I could play you all day if I desired for I should say I do not grow impatient. Let us for a moment put aside whatever terrible thoughts we may have regarding one another and simply exchange names. Can we?" The other growled and ran his fingers through his hair.
"I am called Crinnan." The other replied. "Now where am I?" Sage grinned a victorious grin and nodded his head.
"Well I suppose presently you are in a bed." He said, holding his arms out. "In a white room in a house in a city that was once called Belhaas in a forest that is now called the Belhaasi Weald in a country called Izla'Axi of the great continent of Redodra in the Eastern Hemisphere of the only world we have ever known called Duraan." Sage paused and waited for a response.
"I am in the Belhaasi Weald then." Crinnan said. "Who are you with?"
"For a being in your position." Sage replied, "I should say you are quite demanding. Though understandably so. Why, if I were in your position I should say that I would not immediately be so trusting of..."
"Who are you with!" Crinnan demanded.
"Please elaborate." Sage replied.
"Are you with Govia? One of the points of the Agra Triangle Corporation? Are you a Marauder?" Crinnan's tone was angry and his demeanor cold. Sage shook his head.
"No." He said. "I am neither affiliated with any faction nor am I with the events of this world. I dwell alone in this desolate place so that I may live freely and peacefully. I know that outside the protection of this un-monitored wilderness lies only war and pain and I for now have not the time for either. Tell me now, Black Knight, what are you doing in this great weald when there are oh so many battles to be fought elsewhere?"
Crinnan eyed Sage suspiciously and lowered his head into his hands. It would be nice to believe the Elf, he thought, but he had no good reason to do so. The being seemed the type who could talk his way out of or into anything he desired while Crinnan in nearly all occasions where talking was required could never seem to find appropriate words.
"I wish to leave this place." Crinnan said. "I wish to return to my squad."
"Then you shall." Sage said, stepping up to the soldier. "Though first we must remove that catheter and get you dressed and fed. If you do not mind terribly I will go ahead and..."
"Stay back." Crinnan replied, holding his palm back up. He felt a bit woozy but was able to shake it off. "Do not touch me." Sage smiled and nodded his head.
"If that is how you wish it then so it will be." He replied. "I understand that you do not trust me, I am no fool and your lack of trust in me suggests that you may not be either. I do however hope to convey to you that I am sincere in what I am saying and so I will say what I sincerely want you to understand. I am no enemy of yours. Now, the only way you will be walking out that door is if I remove that tube."
Crinnan shook his head and sighed. "Do as you will then." He said in a defeated tone, laying back down on the bed. "But make it quick, I wish to..." Sage turned a valve on the tube and gave it a tug. A weird sort of pain shot through Crinnan's body and his back arched again. Sage grinned a mischievous grin and stepped back.
"Done." He said, shaking his head. He was visibly humored by Crinnan's reaction to the procedure. "I should say you handled that rather well." Crinnan clenched his teeth together and sat back up in the bed.
"Am I free to go now?" He asked, glaring at Sage.
"You always were." Sage replied, "Though you may want to give the medication time to..." Crinnan fell onto the concrete floor with a loud thud.
"The effects of the drugs I gave you will not wear off for a few more hours." He said, kneeling down next to Crinnan.
"What did you do to me?" Crinnan replied, trying to stand his naked body back up.
"I saved your life dear boy." Sage said, grabbing Crinnan by the arm and raising him back up to sit on the bed. "When you are able to stand again you will find your belongings in the cabinet just to the left of the sink." He pointed to their right and nodded. "I will leave you to rest. Until then, consider staying for lunch. You will need a bit of food in your belly if you plan on traveling any bit of distance today."
Crinnan looked at Sage and simply nodded his head. Having calmed down from his adrenaline rush he realized how disoriented and weak he truly was. By then he could barely hold his head above his shoulders. He knew he needed to rest and he decided that he was going to risk it... not that there was any real choice in the matter. Sage could only grin at the efforts of his patient as he turned and walked back toward the
door.
"Would you prefer the lights off?" He asked before he left. Crinnan nodded and Sage flipped the switch to the right of the door.
"I will prepare lunch then. Please, rest and regain your strength." He started to close the door but stopped halfway through and poked his head back in. "Oh, and do not bother thanking me. I hate such things." He shut the door and Crinnan closed his eyes.
"What in hells." He asked himself as he lay in the dark. He took a deep breath and allowed himself to fall asleep.
Chapter 1: Part Two
The Bishop I
22nd of Ramlia - 346 AG
08:30 - Canrom City
Before Sym and Syl, the Brothers of Light, had seized their opportunity to shine on that morning, the clouds reigned supreme in the skies over Canrom City. Blotting out the Brother's Blessing, the thick clouds not only filled the heavens but also the streets of the grand capital of the country of Canrom. Only a handful of souls, however, were aware of the muddled light as it was Surra'a, the day of rest and mental preparation for the Sab'at, the day of devotion and worship of Govia's one true Goddess, Dura'Ana.
She walked alone with her head bowed, the hood of her grey cloak covering her face as she passed the few beings who had ventured from their homes. While she was aware of the people that she walked past, she bore them no mind as hers had no room for any more thought.
The night prior, she had flown in from Cidroska; the Capital of the Govian Empire and as the citizens of Govia called it, the seat of the Saviour as it was home to their Emperor, the son of Dura'Ana. She was conveniently in Canrom City on official matters, though her mind and the path she was choosing to walk was leading her toward settling a very personal matter.
She had not seen him outside of her nightmares since she had flowered many years ago. That was the last time he had shown any interest in her and while she, during the course of their relationship, felt honored and loved by the attention of such an esteemed and powerful being, she eventually matured and realized the true and horrible impact he had left on her. This realization, of her being naught but a toy, led her to realize this being was wrong and unjust and used his facade of piety for nothing more than to satisfy his own sick desires.
Black Knight - Awakening: Part One Page 1
