The Masked Knight

Chapter 1

The Masked Knight’s P. O. V.

“It’s alright…it was just a nightmare…” In the middle of the night, I quietly muttered under my breath in order to calm myself down from the sudden anxiety.

Yes, it was one of my attempts to comfort myself cause people like me usually have no one by their side to do the job instead of them. And, of course, this is a place where I am not just the only one but more than a thousand people are very much the same like me. Lonely.

Well, after all, it is the warriors’ base camp of the Uxtan Valley Kingdom, which I am talking about. What else we can expect from such a place which had seen mostly the hatred, aggression, brutality, blood sheds and other inhumane things about the warriors. And what about kindness, humanity? Well, those words no more exist in here.

We are warriors after all, and our job is to kill or to die. At least that is what the higher ups of the monarchy expects from the warriors and the knights. But things were not the same before. This kingdom used to be a beautiful place once and was ruled by a different ruler than now. It was a time when people of this valley used to breathe freely and enjoy their life but everything changed when a war broke out with the territorial kingdom and the king died in between all of this chaos, leaving the entire kingdom in the hands of the other family member of the royal blood line and as a result the unworthy sat on the throne. Since then, this kingdom had only seen its downfall and people say that the only heir of the king who had the right to rule after the previous king was the only princess of the Uxtan Valley but no one had even seen her after the death of the king. Many says that she had been wedded to another kingdom long ago.

But the fact is that no one exactly knows what happened to her. Even if one shows any kind of curiosity about the previous ruler or his heir, that person would be declared a traitor at that very instant and will be hanged to death in front of others.

So, we all are prohibited to ask, to speak, and to think for ourselves. We just need to follow orders. It is like the entire kingdom has turned into an enormous prison and all our lives have reduced to that of a prisoner.

Yes, this is the time we are living in now.

And it needs to change. I will bring the change even if I have to stand alone cause what I know about the whole conspiracy, no one else knows.

Yes, I know much more about the truth about our fallen kingdom, than anyone can ever expect.

That’s why…that’s why I can not die this soon, I can not afford to take off this mask which I am wearing for how long even I don’t remember. Even when I am sleeping, I must keep it on in order to keep my identity safe. It already took me so many years to make my perfect alibi regarding this mask and when people have finally started to believe in my story for such of my appearance, I just cannot afford to lose all my opportunities for such a stupid nightmare.

Well, this is the reason why I am called the masked Knight, but what is my reason to become such a person is another story for another time.

Anyway,

In the darkness of the night, I looked around only to see that the other warriors were still sleeping soundly on their own beds inside this huge tent. The oil lamp which usually burns at the center of our tent to keep the inside a bit warmer and brighter than the cold and harsh weather outside had already been extinguished at some point of time without anyone’s awareness.

All of a sudden, the night inside this tent appeared suspiciously quiet to me for no reason.

Subconsciously I moved my hand up to my face to feel the cold, rough metallic surface on my fingertips and only when I got sure that the mask was still there where it is supposed to be, I felt a bit relieved.

But still, it was getting a bit suffocating for me to stay inside this tent for any longer when I knew very well that I am not going to fall into slumber again for tonight.

I put on the furry cloak on top of my armor and took the sword without causing any kind of sound that may wake up the others as I have no intention to alert them about my movements.

And when I was done, I took a quick look inside the tent to see everything is just the way it should be. Only after making sure that everything is just fine, I lifted up the curtain and stepped out of the tent at last.

It is indeed getting more and more cold as the night kept getting older. As soon as I came in to the open, the heavy chilled night breeze did not fail to brush against my body, making me hold on to my cloak even tightly to fight with such deadly weather tonight.

Slowly, I passed the tents one by one as I kept walking and soon came to stand in front of the huge cornfield which was dancing in their silver gown with the rhythm of the breeze.

It is a good sight though.

Even when there is nothing special to acknowledge about a cornfield, amidst such brutality it is the only thing which I can call beautiful.

Anyway,

I took a long breath at last which I needed the most at this moment, but… but then, all of a sudden, my instincts told me that I am not the only one present here at this moment.

My hand naturally tightened around the grip of the sword as my quick reflect but I stayed still and waited for the one to come out first.

And then… I heard,

“A sleepless night again, huh?”