The Lost Knight

Chapter 3

The ocean is calm tonight.

There are no waves and the stars are reflecting on the water, giving a beautiful scenery, almost unnatural.

Unfortunately, no one is appreciating it.

On the lone fisher boat, the unknown woman is silently sobbing, hugging the body of her deceased son.

The figure next to her does not disturb the woman, walking on the water with a slight limp, one hand on its chest, the second on the side of the boat where the aurora does not take effect.

The golden eyed entity can only stare at the woman, unable to talk it can do nothing.

It does not even understand what she is mumbling, the language foreign to the knight.

The boat stops and startles the crying mother who looks at the culprit.

The woman does not comprehend the goals of the creature standing before her, but it has fought the monsters of the isles before helping her escape with the body of her son.

If it is an enemy of the Shadow Isles inhabitant then...maybe...

She does not know what it want is but it seems friendly.

There is no point anyway, she has lost everything she could have protected.

She could have refilled the fountains but no, she had to be a coward.

A coward who lost her whole family to the isles.

She flinches when the figure puts its free hand on the golden dome formed by the aurora, the magic not harming it but still preventing it from getting in the boat.

The shadow reveals what it has been keeping close to its heart up until now.

The mother can not take her eyes away from what she sees.

A soul floats gently over the figures outstretched hand, the wind making its 'flame' waver slowly.

"Is it?" She approaches the knight, not believing what she is seeing.

A low rumble can be heard from under the water.

"AH!" The woman falls back as the shadows has jumped on the stern of the fishing boat.

Its feet and its free hand tightly gripped around the wood, the planks creaking under the pressure.

It looks like a frightened cat in this position.

The woman grunts as she takes the aurora closer to the bow to leave enough space for it to sit inside the boat.

With a thump, the figure sits with its knees close to its chest, this position being the only possibility for such a limited space.

The woman stares at it as it looks around the boat, its black and red sword clenched in its hand.

"It is nothing but an isokala, it is just passing by." She tries to calm it down, but apart from a glance, she got nothing out of it.

She sighs, not sure about what to do next.

But the figure seems to have an idea as it grabs the boy's dead body, his foot was out of the golden glob.

"No! Give him back!" She yells, to afraid to stretch her arm out the aurora's protection to retrieve it.

It stops, its inexpressive eyes darting from the body to her before slowly putting the body back down, the soul still floating silently on her lap.

After some hesitation, it pokes the flaming orb, the soul jumping in response, surprising the figure as it puts its hands in the air.

The soul then silently floats over its shoulder, remaining there even when the shadow moves around its narrow space.

---

The sun is rising and if everything went alright, they should soon see Ragna and Akim's boat appear in the horizon.

"I think we should prepare for their return." The man, Akan, gestures for the little girl next to him.

Niyah hums while taking her grandfather's hand, the 45 years old man is still full of energy.

Being the chief, it is Akan's duty to welcome back whoever went to the shadow isles to refill the aurora. Seashells decorate his long braided hair and gently click against each other as the 6 years old girl next to him looks at the sunrise in wonder. She is not allowed to wake up this early under normal circumstances.

Unfortunately for the girl, both her parents died from an incurable disease when she was still learning how to walk.

She is such a sweet child and the fact that she does not really understand what happened to her parents both saddens and relieves the chief.

Niyah was blessed by her ignorance and has not been traumatized by her elders suffering. But it also means that she does not remembers them clearly either, making her grandfather the only parent she has ever had.

However.

She is now old enough to understand the implication of the limp body before her.

Akan can only clench his fists as Niyah wails with her face pressed against his robe.

Another child, while less loud, is crying. Levar, a boy who has celebrated his 10th birthday a month ago cannot stop the tears from flowing.

His mother, who was ready to scold him for going out of the house this early in the morning, gasps at the sight before her. She hugs her son who sobs silently, her own sorrow adding to the heavy atmosphere.

"Ragna." Akan calls the mother.

But Kaba, the village's champion interrupts him. "What is this?"

The soul floats from inside the boat before slowly approaching his limp body, over which it hovers.

The chief can not believe his eyes. "Is that..."

"Yes it is him." Ragna says, tentatively stretching her hand toward the turquoise flame.

Akim's soul floats over her hand in response.

Akan frowns. "But it is impossible to retrieve a soul once it is lost to the isles."

"You forget about the light sentinels." Kaba crosses his arms, towering over the soul with his 195cm in height. "But as far as I know, none of us here has the power to do the same."

The mother looks back at the fishing boat. "An entity retrieved it from the harvester and the ruined king for me."

"There is such a powerful being on the isles?" The chief questions.

Ragna hesitates. "Not anymore." She gestures toward the boat.

Kaba is the first to approach it, and while the boat is empty, he can see that something is hiding behind it.

The villagers that have gathered because of the ruckus can not take their eyes away from what revealed itself, some in awe, others in fear.

The petite golden 'eyed' shadow before them seems comically harmless next to the giant that is Kaba. But Ragna saw what it can do.

Akim's soul goes back over the figure's shoulder, his light outlining some of its hidden traits. Unlike the sunlight, which light does not reveal the true appearance of the shadow.

"This is the entity." Ragna gestures toward the clueless knight.