Knight | ナイト

We weren't even remotely ready for this.

The cacophony of weapons clashing against metallic claws, horns, and teeth fills the heavy, thick air around us. The air on this asteroid carries a sulfuric scent, making me feel queasy with every heaving breath of effort. The light is dim, filtered through an ever-present blanket of volcanic ash and smog.

Behind me, Seraph coughs on the air, before crying out in fear. I hear the crunching sound of her mace meeting a sloth-like monster's skull. It yipes in pain, but the blow doesn't seem to faze it any. Seraph goes stumbling into my back a moment later as she tries to dodge a swipe from the blade-like, single claws that extend from the monsters' purple, furry front limbs in leu of feet or hands.

"Watch out!" I hiss at her as she hurries to right herself. I'm busy on my end with another of the things.

"Sorry!" Seraph yells back. A moment later, I hear more crunching sounds. At least she seems to be holding her own alright at the moment. Unfortunately, neither of us is really in a position to offer much help to the other.

The monster I'm facing slashes at my mask with one of its claws. With a clang, I block it with my sword, but it tries to get in under my weapon with the metal horn protruding from the middle of its forehead. I just manage to lean far enough to one side to avoid the strike. With a grunt, I deliver a kick straight to its chin, sending it flying back several feet.

All of the few dozen monsters we've been sent to deal with seem to be of the same species. They're all smaller than most Nightmarish monsters I've encountered over the years, leading me to believe they must be juveniles. There's not too many more of them than there are of us. That's lucky, given the only soldiers we have at the moment are either fresh out of basic or officers who haven't really had to fight anything for the entirety of the war so far. I'm pretty sure I'm the one Star Warrior here with the most battlefield experience, but that does me little good when I'm just a lowly Corporal and my backup is causing me more problems than help.

The blade-clawed monster I just kicked away picks itself up and rushes at me again, running on all fours. Its claws dig into the crumbly ground with every step, forcing itself to expend extra energy pulling them out in order to keep moving forward. And yet, it somehow manages to move surprisingly quickly.

Typical Nightmare design, cruel on all fronts. Being ripped apart by one of these things once it got big would be agonizing. In the meantime, it must lead an agonizing existence of its own. I doubt it's able to feed itself without simply shoving its face into a feeding trough or something. And I can't imagine having a single claw at the end of one's arm instead of a foot or a hand feels particularly nice, even at the best of times.

At the same time, though, I don't feel too much pity for it. It's been sent here by Nightmare, and I've been sent here to kill it.

This time when the beast raises its claw to swipe at me, I send my sword cleaving through its slender limb, sending the metallic claw flying away from us. The creature screeches in anguish and raises its other claw to attack. But before it gets the chance, I run my sword through its chest. The silver blade is instantly surrounded in a scattering of static that spreads throughout the monster's body.

Seconds later, it's completely gone.

I spin to see where Seraph is, able to sense she's no longer right behind me. Sure enough, she's wandered off by several feet in her fight against her own monster. The creature looks worse for wear, its head misshapen and its clearly-broken jaw left dangling open. Despite the discomfort it must be in, it keeps rushing at Seraph, who keeps swinging at it like a baseball, sending it flying each time.

Clearly, though, the Private hasn't figured out how to deliver a fatal blow with her mace yet. And just as clearly, these creatures don't stop fighting until they're either dead or so thoroughly maimed that they've been rendered immobile.

The main thing is that Seraph doesn't seem to be in mortal danger at the moment, so I allow myself a few precious seconds to catch my breath and survey the scene. Around me, the handful of soldiers continues to work through the herd of monsters with, thankfully, a surprising amount of speed, despite the collective's inexperience.

Keeping a wary eye out, I take a step back, going into more of a monitoring mode in case any more monsters appear or any given soldier appears to be in severe need of assistance. I still keep my sword in a ready position, but I back up against a purplish, dusty rock shelf so that a monster can't sneak up on me.

I have to be careful of that, after all. My 'backup' is currently more than twenty feet away, still futilely mutilating the creature she's up against.

My breath finally starts to calm a little bit, although it's still quicker than normal due to the adrenaline of the situation. It does go back to being a bit shallow, so I don't have to suck down quite as much of the putrid-smelling air.

Still, though, the relative slowdown makes it easier to put some coherent thoughts together and try to evaluate the circumstances. I don't see why these monsters have been sent to this seemingly-insignificant asteroid. There's nothing here but a network of sprawling caves and hundreds of active volcanoes that never cease belching lava and smoke. It's even harder to understand why we've been sent here to fight them; nothing lives on this rock, not even any plants, as far as I can tell. The only logic I can think of is that we want to prevent them from setting up a base here, but even that doesn't really make sense. This spot isn't close to anything relevant to which Nightmare would want to have easy access; for Shotzo's sake, his actual fortress is far closer to the populated parts of the Galaxy than this apparently-random asteroid is.

My awareness snaps back to the present as I suddenly see a golden flash in the center of the valley we're all gathered in. I try to figure out where I saw it and what it was, but all I can find that seems out of the ordinary is one of the monsters, slightly bigger than the rest, pushing through the crowd. Wriggling through the warring mass of beasts and Star Warriors, it finally bursts out and goes running headlong into the nearest cave mouth.

Frowning, I start to go after it, only to have my attention instantly snatched away by a rising screech of agony.

I quickly trace the source of the horrid sound to the monster Seraph's still fighting. I hurry over, trying to figure out what's got it screaming like that.

Seraph is repeatedly bashing the thing back with her mace as over and over again, it flails at her with one clawed arm. The other has been left dragging uselessly behind it, as its head bounces limply against its chest, its neck apparently having been added to its growing list of broken bones.

I can't help it; I wince at the sight. "Private Seraph, for the love of all things peaceful, put the thing out of its misery."

"I'm trying!" she answers with a panicked crack in her voice. "It won't die." She sends the thing stumbling back with another swing of her mace, producing another sickening crunch from the creature, which just keeps screaming, even as it gets knocked over. Despite the rising ridiculousness of the situation, it rolls over and begins slowly dragging itself back towards Seraph with its one good arm, plunging it into the ground over and over again and pulling itself forward a few inches at a time. The dry, ashen ground crumbles beneath its claw with each strike, giving it less and less purchase. But despite the pain it must be in and the slowness of its movement, it still keeps trying to pull itself toward her in some sort of deranged, blood-crazed determination.

Seraph, for her part, turns to me, trembling. Her mismatched eyes are filled with a haunted sort of look I've never seen in them before. "Corporal, it won't die," she repeats, her voice cracking more. With a jolt, I realize a moment later that tears are welling in the corner of her eyes. "No matter what I try, I can't kill it."

I am quickly filled with two conflicting emotions. Sympathy for her and the anguish of her position—I remember the terror that came with my first kill, even if it was necessary to save Blossom from being digested by a fire-breathing octopus—and yet, at the same time, fury. Fury at the innocence in her eyes. Fury that she hasn't had to be in this situation before. Fury that I have, so many times, long before this war even officially began.

"You have to kill it," I tell her flatly. "It's not a choice."

"I know that," she cries at me, wincing as the creature screams louder in response to her voice. She brings her mace down on its head yet again with another crunch, but it still tries to take a stab at her foot, which she barely stumbles away from. "I want to kill it. It just won't die. It just won't die."

The frustration wins out over the sympathy, but the screaming of the monster combined with the rotten-egg-like stink of the air is beginning to make me feel like I'm going to be sick. For my own sake, I raise my sword and stab it straight down through the creature's back, to where its heart would be, if it had one.

The screaming rises in volume and pitch. But then, finally, it stops.

With a smattering of static, the beast disappears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Seraph is sobbing when my ears stop ringing from the monster's last cry. "I tried to kill it; I wanted to kill it. It just wouldn't die."

"We need to get you a dagger or something," I say coldly, not looking at her. If I have to see the haunted look in her eyes again, I'm going to snap. "Clearly the mace isn't effective at dealing a finishing blow, or, at least, you're not effective at using it that way. You're going to need to be able to actually kill monsters to last long as a soldier."

"I know, I'm sorry," she cries. I want to tell her to shut up, but I know that's unfair, so I just spin to face away from her and try my best to tune out her voice for the time being.

I know it's irrational, but some angry part of my soul is just repeating to itself, 'How dare she.' How dare she not have been touched by this trauma before. How dare she be just now figuring out how to cope with the realities of battle. It's not fair. I know it's petty to be feeling this way, but I can't help it. It's not fair that she's incapable; it's not fair that I'm stuck with her; it's not fair that I don't know how to make her capable.

It's not fair that—to put it nicely—I suck at training her.

Trying to shove everything else aside, I refocus on the situation around us. Only a few of the monsters are left on the battlefield, and the other soldiers are making quick work of them now that several of them can take on each one at the same time.

Suddenly, I remember the single, larger monster I saw. "Private, follow me," I order, and hurry towards the cave. Seraph doesn't answer verbally, but I hear her hiccupping sobs keeping pace with me, so I know she obeys.

The dim natural light doesn't go far into the cave mouth, so I only take a few steps in at first. I squint my eyes in an effort to get them to adjust to the darkness faster. I can't see anything inside, and I have no idea how deep this cave goes. And I can't hear any signs of the monster, either.

But I know it's in there, somewhere. And I know we're supposed to be killing these things, so I can't in good conscience just leave it be.

I shrug around the leather satchel of basic supplies I have tucked across my back under my cape to where I can reach it. I tug it open and dig through it until I find a flashlight, which I quickly switch on, shining it into the cave. I exhale through pursed lips when I quickly find there are several tunnels inside, all of them leading deeper below the surface.

Seraph walks to stand beside me. Wiping her tears with the heel of her free glove, she asks me in a hoarse voice, "Why are we in here, exactly?"

"I saw one of the monsters head in here earlier," I tell her, trying my best to keep my voice even despite the anger I feel at her. It's not her fault; I know that. It's not fair of me to be mad at her for her inexperience. That doesn't change the fact that I am. "It was bigger than the others; I think it might have been carrying something?" Squinting, I shine the short beam of the flashlight into each of the tunnel openings, searching for any hint of where the creature went. I don't catch anything on the first pass through, so I start again.

And then I see it, deep inside one of the central tunnels. A tiny, distant flash of gold that vanishes just as fast as it appears.

"I think I know where it went," I tell Seraph. "Stay here at the cave entrance so you can tell the others where I've gone. I'll yell if I need help."

She hesitates, hugging her free glove to herself, her mace dangling limply in her other hand. "Are you sure? I know I'm supposed to—"

"That was an order, Private," I say coldly. She flinches, able to hear the small amount of bite I let into my voice. I know I should probably apologize, but I'm not wasting time on that right now. "I'll be back shortly, more than likely. Just keep an eye and ear out."

"Yes, Corporal," she agrees weakly, hurrying back to the cave mouth.

Shoving her aside mentally for the time being, I hurry toward the tunnel where I saw the flash of gold, keeping my sword clenched tightly in my one glove and the flashlight clutched in the other. The tunnel slopes slowly downward, but I'm still cautious as I maneuver down it. The ground is dry, ashy, and crumbly, and I don't want to get trapped sliding down it in a miniature landslide.

I follow the tunnel down for several meters, only to sigh in frustration a moment later when I see where it leads. A steep drop-off precedes an almost-circular chasm at the bottom, which is—of course—surrounded by the openings to several more tunnels.

Wherever the creature is, it's surely long gone by now. I exhale in frustration again and scrunch my eyes shut in annoyance, only to freeze as soon as I do.

The room below has flooded with light.

Slowly, slowly, I open my eyes back up and peer below, only to be all the more confused by what is at the bottom, staring back up at me.

A golden horse, made fully of light, its mane and tail streaming in the air behind it as if held there by a mighty wind, despite the total stillness of the air. I say it's staring up at me, but it doesn't have eyes that I can see. Its face is too bright; its features—if it actually has any—all vanish in the glow.

"It's not time yet," the horse tells me. At least, I assume it's the one talking. But the words are not spoken by just one voice; no, it sounds like several voices speaking at once. "But oh, Meta, how I wish it was time." It bows its head slightly, seemingly in sorrow. "Oh, dear Meta. I don't want to be here."

"How do you know my name?" I question, dumbfounded. I realize a split second later that in my shock, I've reverted to my natural accent for the first time in months, maybe years at this point. Clearing my throat, I force myself back into the practiced Chivalry accent I've used ever since joining the Army. "Who are you? What are you?"

The horse doesn't answer me. It just stands and stares up at me, giving off a sad sort of aura.

I don't know why, but it all makes me want to cry.

"Corporal!" Seraph's voice suddenly yells down from up and behind me. "It's time to go; the officers want us on the transport, stat!"

I open my mouth to speak to the horse again, but suddenly, it's gone. There's no flash to herald its disappearance; the room simply goes dark. Where it stood just seconds ago, nothing now remains.

The only light left in the space is my flashlight.

With a crumbling sound, Seraph slides down the tunnel behind me and stops right next to me, sending several pebbles scattering over the edge into the emptiness below. "Corporal, are you okay?" the Private asks me, her voice still trembling a bit. "It's time to go. The officers are getting impatient." Seemingly following my gaze, she peers down into the clearing below us. "You're never gonna find the monster down there, if it's even actually in here. And even if it is, there's only one of it. It's not like it's gonna be causing anybody any problems, and with how chalky this rock is, I doubt it's gonna be able to climb back up and go running back to Nightmare."

"There was a horse," I say lamely. Of course, I instantly realize how ridiculous that sounds and curse myself for saying it out loud.

"A horse?" Seraph questions, confused. She looks over at me and once again follows my eyes back down into the now-empty abyss. "Corporal, the air smells even worse down here. You're probably, like, hallucinating or something."

She's probably right. A glowing horse with multiple voices that somehow knows my name—and on a lifeless planet, no less—certainly sounds like the stuff of hallucinations.

And yet, I still feel so sad, as if I've just lost a dear friend. Not nearly to the degree of the sorrow I felt when Blossom or Forest left me, sure, but still plenty painful enough to make it hard not to cry.

"Seraph! Knight! Get up here!" an officer's voice barks from above, laced with impatience. "We want to get home; quit holding everyone up!"

"Corporal?" Seraph repeats, her tone growing in concern. "Are you alright?"

I shake myself, forcing myself to tear myself away from the edge and go heading back up the tunnel I came down. "I'm fine," I make myself say, though it doesn't sound particularly convincing, even to me. "Let's get out of here."

Seraph tags along close behind me. "Good idea. I hate this asteroid. The whole place gives me a bad feeling, and I don't just mean the nausea."

I snort despite myself. "You can say that again." Taking a deep breath despite the aforementioned nausea it induces, I pick up the pace, not wanting to make the officer more annoyed with us than he clearly already is. The closer we get to the surface, the easier it is to believe that the horse was a figment of my imagination. And yet, I still feel strange.

Tearing my mind from it, I tell Seraph again, "As soon as we get back to base, we're finding you a dagger or something."

"Yes, Corporal," she says quietly, voice laced in shame.

I feel like I should say something, offer some word of consolation, but I can't think of anything. So, I just pretend not to have noticed her discomfort.

At the mouth of the cave waits the officer, a purple fellow whose name and rank I can't remember. Giving him a small bow as he huffs at us, I hurry towards the troop transport starship and climb onboard. Seraph scrambles up behind me, and once the officer joins us, the hatch slides shut and seals with a pneumatic hiss.

The one battlefield medic we have on-staff hurries over to us, scanning first Seraph and then me over with a small device; to check for injuries, I assume. As soon as she's finished scanning Seraph, the light-pink Star Warrior turns her eyes back to me. "You alright, Corporal Knight?" she asks sweetly, pointedly ignoring Seraph now that she's finished her basic duties.

Seraph sighs in frustration behind me. From what I understand, Nurse Lily-leaf is one of her chief tormentors among the other soldiers on-base. "Fine," I tell her flatly, and turn to Seraph. "Private?"

Staring at her feet, Seraph nods and says, "Fine here, too."

"I see," Lily-leaf says, turning back to me. "You sure?"

I nod once. "Did we have any casualties?"

The nurse shakes her head. "Nope. A few scratches and scrapes, but nothing major, thankfully."

"Good," I say. Turning away, I gesture for Seraph to follow me with a jerk of my head.

Lily-leaf deflates slightly, seemingly disappointed somehow. I ignore it, though. My thoughts are elsewhere.

Settling down on one of the benchseats that lines the walls as the ship begins to hover off the ground beneath us, I stare off into space, waiting for Seraph to join me. She settles down next to me a moment later, leaving several inches of space between us.

Closing my eyes, I sign and lean my head back against the ship's hull. I know it was probably a hallucination, but I can't stop thinking about the stupid horse. I haven't heard anyone call me my real name in forever, much less my full name. Actually, I've never heard anyone call me my full name out loud. It was a name I gave to myself, after all, that one early morning in Startropolis. Albeit, it's also both of the names given to me by the two closest friends I've ever had.

A lump grows in my throat. I want to pull the wooden cherry blossom Blossom gave me that gray, dreary day out of my cape for comfort. But then I'd have to explain how and why I have a Dimensional Cape to all of the watching eyes around me, and that's not a conversation I really want to have right now. I guess I could pass it off as a Halcandran-grade storage cape, but even then. I don't want to deal with it.

"Corporal?" Seraph's voice asks me quietly. I glance over at her. She's staring straight off into space. Her gloves are still shaking. "I'm sorry for doing so badly. I'm sorry for sucking as a backup and as a soldier. I'm trying; I promise."

Again, I feel like I should say something to reassure her, but I can't think of anything. Besides, I can barely handle my own emotions right now; I don't have the energy to try and patch hers up too. Turning my face forward, I tell her flatly, "We need to focus our training on fighting together against a common foe. We'll need to look into doing sparring doubles with some of the officers or something. We were woefully underprepared today."

"I know," she murmurs quietly. "I'm sorry."

I exhale slowly through my nose. "It's not just your fault," I manage. "I hadn't even thought about how we'd need to practice working together. I've been so focused on teaching you how to fight at all."

"I know. I'm sorry," she repeats.

I sigh, closing my eyes tighter. "Private, please. No offense, but I need some quiet."

Next to me, her presence goes colder, emptier somehow. "Understood."

The nervous post-battle chatter of the other soldiers and officers continues around us. But for the rest of the flight back to base, Seraph and I both remain silent.

And would you look at that we're finally halfway through Part One yeet. Just took us literally more than a year to get here lol