The Masked Knight

Chapter 2

The masked knight’s P. O. V.

**** five years ago, ****

“Hey!!! Hey!!! Wake up, dammit. Give me a sign at least. Show me that you are alive, please. Don’t die for god’s sake, or I will have nothing to answer to others. Moreover, what am I going to say to him? How am I going to face myself after today, if you leave my side like this now, when I have already promised someone that I will protect you with my own life……”

I kept hearing his irritating voice for quite some time. I know that he is crying very badly, but I can do nothing at this point of time because I am already struggling with life and death, without knowing whether I will be able to stay alive the next moment or not.

I do not know how my body had turned now as I have not opened my eyes yet, but I am pretty sure that after falling from the cliff of such a great height my body must have been tattered badly. So, what, I have barely managed to escape from getting hit by the hard rocks down at the bottom of the cliff and fell on the water instead, still, the height was great enough for me to get badly injured even by the surface of the water.

But I might have survived even after falling from a cliff because I am always a pretty good swimmer, only if I was not badly injured beforehand. My already broken limb and slashed body did not allow me to swim up to the shore no matter how much I tried to do so, nothing worked. And except for drowning deep under the dark sea, there was nothing I could do.

So, knowing that it was the last moment of my life, I slowly closed my eyes and accepted death while the water kept feeling my lungs bit by bit and at last robbed me of the last breath which I kept holding endearingly.

Darkness soon engulfed me as I found myself at the deepest part of the ocean.

I do not know what exactly happened after that but quite unexpectedly I started hearing the voice which kept telling me to stay alive. And I know to whom the voice actually belongs to.

Sabastian. He is Sabastian. The naughty younger brother of someone from the troop whom I knew from my childhood. And that is why even when Sabastian becomes quite annoying sometime, he is still like my brother too.

May be, it was him who pulled me up from the bottom of the ocean hoping that I might be still breathing. But except for that he could do nothing to save my life. Cause you see, the boy who could not stop shedding his tears even for a single moment after finding me unconscious like a dead log, is only fifteen years old who must have never faced such kind of situation before in his life and so he might have no idea what to do next.

No, I am not complaining. Instead, I am grateful, because he did one thing right by not calling for any help from other people. If he did so, I might have surely killed by them. And Sabastian knows that too. He is indeed a child but old enough to understand what kind of situation I might have been through which had brought me here like this.

And even if I survive today, no one should know about my existence anyhow except for the one who saved my life today. If that ever happens, only then I could get back what I have lost today.

Yes, the whole kingdom must not know what happened to me after I fell from the cliff.

Everyone must keep on believing that I have died today.

But for now, how should I stop this silly boy from bawling his eyes out? How am I going to make him understand that now that he has already saved the life of someone who was supposed to be killed by the new King’s army, he has even more crucial thing to be concerned about. If anyone gets to know the truth about today, he too will be in danger and then no one can save us from our deaths.

Tsk.

This silly boy!!!

Sabastian, you fool!!!

You should have looked away even when you saw me dying. You should have thought for your own life first at this age of yours, cause, you have to fight your own battle, someday.

But no. You did nothing like that.

I guess, you and your elder brother is no different from one another. Right?

“S-st-stop…” I somehow managed to let the words out even when I still could not open my eyes fully cause, they are badly swollen due to my injury. But I guess, this little gesture of me was enough for Sabastian to stop crying and get extremely excited after finding that I am still alive.

“What? What did you say?” He screamed energetically, attempting to listen to my words carefully while he just could not stop his happiness.

“S-stop a-annoying m-me, S-Sabastian.” This time the words came out a bit clearer than before which was enough for him to understand.

“Yes, yes. I will never annoy you. Promise. But, do not die. Okay?” Said the silly little boy.

“Wh-where are we?” I managed to ask somehow while I slowly tried to move my body but the intolerable pain did not allow me to do so.

“Don’t. Don’t try to move. Let me help you. And we are hiding inside a cave. Do not worry. No one ever comes here. So, you are safe.” His words made me relieved for some time at least, while he went busy to made me sit up and helped me to lean on the cave wall making sure not to hurt me even further.

“W-water.” As soon as I muttered under my shallow breath, Sabastian was fast enough to catch what I was trying to ask for.

“Yes. Here. Let me help you drink up.” He held a bowl filled with water to my mouth in an instant so that I could drench my throat at last.

No, I do not know when this boy grew up so fast to be this much responsible.

The last time I saw him, he was still the naughty and annoying boy, Sabastian, somewhat different from how he is behaving right now.

“Rest here. I am going to get some herbs and medicines for you. I will be back soon.” He uttered and left fast even before I could say anything.

Being the only one in this cold dark cave right now, I could not help but think about how life is going to be from this moment onwards cause, I somehow managed to survive, you see.

****coming back to the present****

“What are you doing here Sabastian?” I asked and loosened my grip from the sword, knowing that the one who is present here right at this moment is no one but Sabastian, the one who once saved my life. Rather I should say that he is the reason why I am still alive today.

Sabastian is no longer the annoying boy whom I used to know once. Not only he grew up more than his age in the past five years but he has also become one of the troop members and is one of the strongest warriors I have now.

But it is just that, his presence in the middle of the night not only reminded me of the time from five years back but also deepened my urge to shed bloods of those for whom we are standing at this point of our life today.

I took a deep breath once again before I finally turned around to look at his face which was filled with different emotions tonight, and I know why.

“He is coming back. The war is over.” He said and turned his gaze towards the never-ending silvery cornfield which was still dancing in the wind right in front of our eyes without anything to worry about in the whole world.

And I can only wish if I could become like them.

But life is way different than one could ever imagine it to be. At least to me.

“I heard.” Except for that I had nothing to reply.

After all the one whom I am going to see after seven long years is coming back.

Tristen is coming back.