Cinder-knight (bxb) ||completed

39th rule| you.

There was something smouldering in the deep pit of nothingness. Perhaps, it was an unknown entity, or maybe it was something that Eric knew very well. It turned out to be the latter, as the knight gasped to himself when his frame that was in the middle of sinking down the stagnant water, suddenly got clasped by a tail of a large snake.

No.

It wasn't a snake.

The creature hissed with its nose flaring, the exhaled air itself managing to heat the water around the knight till it was lukewarm. The tail of that creature coiled around Eric's waist, making all the oxygen in his lungs get squeezed out of his body. Its scales wounded the knight, made him feel like he was dying, but he couldn't- not until his prince was safe and out of danger.

"Mmmmfffff!" air bubbles that left Eric's mouth and nose, whirled out of the water in small circles. With extreme force, he swung his sword against the waves to slice through the creature's scaly body, but from the collision, nothing happened. Eric realised that whatever this thing was, it had a really strong layer of skin- even stronger than a turtle's scute.

Unexpectedly, the creature's tail grappled him tightly by his belly and raised his whole body up with one swift motion. Eric was suddenly given the chance to breath as his face was extricated from the water, literally thanks to that creature whom he then realised to be a dragon. Face of a boar, horns like an ox, mane of a lion, claws like scythes and veined, spiked wings with a tail ending in a battle-axe shaped wedge, proved Eric right in a matter of seconds as the dragon opened its mouth.

Out came a flame that made Eric scream. Everything went black. He couldn't hear anything anymore. He couldn't feel anything anymore. His body that was burnt and bloody, was thrown towards the shore, only for it to slip back into the water like a piece of dead meat.

The dragon hovered over him and its tail clutched him again, however this time it was by the ankle. The knight was unable to do anything at all, and his eyes squeezed shut hopelessly, ready to accept his end as the dragon tried to let out another shot of fire.

Maybe, the prince must've already left with his love; Ella, so there wouldn't be any reason for Eric to keep stalling more time.

It was okay to die.

Even though a tear fought hard to slip past his eye, Eric held it in, wanting to reach his demise like a real knight and not a fucking coward.

But a sudden neigh that came from somewhere, made the dragon freeze.

The creature let Eric's body slide down its hold and a sound of water splashing came. The viscous liquid of the conduit sucked the knight in, and the sword in the knight's hand floated out of his grasp, leaving only the sheath that hung in his belt to be embedded in the waterway with him. Eric sunk down, down and down, like a capsizing boat. His red hair buoyed in rhythm to the blood that oozed out of his body.

There were stinging wounds everywhere in his face, arms, chest and legs. Most of his clothes were gone, no burnt. His face was ruined with blemishes and burn marks. His chest was bleeding, so were his stomach, ankles, wrists and neck. He was like a cinder-knight by then, all blackened and branded by a fire that screamed, 'you are useless'.

Even if he somehow survives this, how would life turn out to be for him in the future? He was going to be repetitively reminded of how hideous he was, like how he had done to Pase. No one would even want to look at him. He was going to be ridiculed. Abandoned. Alone.

But then again, wasn't he already used to being those?

A disturbing scream rang. It was the exact same sound an animal would make when it's getting murdered. The shrieks penetrated across the water and allowed the knight to listen on, purposely trying to haunt and slash his heart beyond comprehension. Eric couldn't breathe. Those screams had to be from Avianthan, he thought- no, he knew.