The Masked Knight

Prologue

The day has finally arrived for which the entire kingdom was preparing for several months ever so eagerly. The whole palace has been decorated by fresh and expensive flowers, soft crimson carpets were spread all over the palace corridor, all the curtains has been lifted already to open the door and windows after so long to bring in the new hopes and happy days for all. The huge paintings, the sculptures, the expensive porcelain vases got cleaned and polished for another uncountable number of times. Invitations were sent a long ago to several kingdoms as well as the gifts and guests have already started to arrive to attain today’s ceremony.

Yes, today is a big day for me.

Because, it is today when I am going to be crowned as the next ruler of our Kingdom. And everyone around the palace is busy to get everything perfectly ready for my coronation ceremony.

The maids came and dressed me up in the most beautiful gown in the whole world within a few hours. My hair was perfectly done too just like every other little thing and now the only thing which is left to be done is to walk to the throne where everyone must be waiting for my arrival already.

The sound of the sacred bell of our palace hall soon started resonating all over the palace, reminding me of the fact that now it is time to enter the royal court where a golden throne is waiting for me.

As soon as I came to stand in front of the door of the royal court room along with all my attendants, the huge iron doors were pulled open just when the royal guard announced my presence on top of his voice only to make the guests stand up to show their respect for their next ruler.

And I knew that now it is my queue to walk the path to the throne.

So, taking in a deep breath, I took my very first step to the golden throne which remained empty right in front of my eyes. And then I kept taking my steps one by one ahead of me to reach my destination and as I did so, all the fears inside my chest kept disappearing one by one with each passing time.

Happy cheers of the crowd kept coming to my ears but my eyes were still fixed on the only thing that kept shining before my eyes without any fail.

But…

But somehow, I could not ignore the deep-seated feeling inside my heart that there is something strange about all this ceremony.

Cause, even when I kept walking straight ahead without looking behind even for once, for some reason it felt like all the happy cheers of the crowd inside this huge royal court kept turning into dreadful moans behind my back.

No, I do not know, whether I am still imagining things or not, but the sounds of painful screams kept getting stronger and stronger as I kept getting nearer to the throne.

And then it happened, within just a blink of an eye.

The entire palace and even the royal court room fell deadly quiet and before my eyes the golden throne which was shining as the very pride of our kingdom is now dripping with thick crimson blood.

.

.

.

I sprung up on my bed with wide open eyes only to find that the tiny dots of sweats had already covered my forehead while I could not get enough air to breath properly.

Even though it was still difficult to believe but I got a bit relieved, finding that it was only a dream.

No, a nightmare actually.

The very same nightmare which kept haunting me for several years now. And who am I?

Well,

For now, I am only a knight of the Uxtan Valley Kingdom.

And people call me the masked Knight.