Requiem

Chapter 1

Kain Everstill

Sparks of celestial bronze and black-gold spat forth from the two swords as Kain and another knight in another division clashed. From 4 in the morning to 8, he had been training division 5 out of 12 in defense. However, it seemed that the agitated knight was taking this as a way to show his fellow comrades that he could defeat the legendary Dark Knight. The entire division knew that no matter how many times you stabbed or slashed Kain, he wouldn't feel it, and, eerily enough, he would continue to flicker away repeated attacks. Still, for the young knights, it was worth the challenge.

Kain pressed his blade down and watched the young knight's eyes contort into fear as he realized that Kain was pushing the young knight's own blade up towards his sweat slicked neck. Honestly, Kain wouldn't have hesitated to slice his neck off and walk off, but under the King's orders he had to instruct them, no matter how much time the foolish children wasted.

"Kick his groin! Kick it!" Another knight screamed. The young knight smirked and swiftly executed a kick to his groin. There was no pain as usual. Kain lowered his blade and stared at the young knight, who now saw that his attack hadn't worked and now his eyes had widened in fear once more, as if the world were already ending.

"I-I'm sorr---" Kain hadn't allowed him to finish, for he flipped his sword over and at an unnatural speed, delivered multiple hits to his stomach and side using the hilt of his sword. The young knight doubled over in pain and began coughing. It wasn't fatal, but he would have a series of nasty bruises that would keep him from sleeping comfortably for the next two weeks or so. Kain stood over him, his shadow wavering over the curled up knight like a bad omen. The rest of the young knight's comrades grew silent, no one came to help him. In the battlefield, there was no such thing as playing around. Once you were down, you were down.

"Fear is like a dagger. It will stab you repeatedly until you are dead and become your downfall." Kain whispered smoothly so that only the young knight would hear.

Then, Kain looked up at the other knights and dismissed them with a sharp strike of his hand and strode off, going up into the tower and to his quarters. His quarters was bigger than most of the other knights, since the King and Queen favored him as their right hand man. Despite the size of the room though, Kain had kept the room mostly bare, since there wasn't much that he needed. There was a single bed with a smoothed pillow and an old blue quilt and a shelf at the foot of the bed filled to the brim with novels. Next to his shelf was a drawer with some of his clothes. His windows were closed with maroon colored curtains, giving a dark aura to the room. A desk was placed a little ways from the window and upon it sat a medium sized lantern, a quill with ink, a small stack of parchment, and a box with some personal items. There was also a bathroom, but he rarely used the tub to bathe in, and there was also a small kitchen stocked with a few food items, mostly apples.

Kain slipped out from his dark colored armor and was left in only a thin black undershirt and dark brown trousers. He pulled off the ponytail, allowing his now dampened jet black hair to drift down to his shoulders. Picking up a pack that was slung on his desk chair, he placed a pair of clothes and an apple inside before heading out to the lake that sat peacefully a couple yards away from the stables. The lake was the only serene place in the kingdom and a place were Kain liked going to often.

As he slung his pack over his right shoulder, he spotted Aida sitting on the edge of the castle bridge, swinging her legs carelessly. It had been 18 years since he last found her drenched with the blood of her mother in Wisteria. It had been a long 18 years. At first, she wouldn't let go of Kain, always whimpering whenever he left to train the divisions, so he had to make her sit in the field and watch him. The most troubling part, however, was finding her name. It had taken a lot of reading and observations to finally settle of Aida, meaning "happy". Aida was a very happy child. In fact, too happy for her own good. As years passed, Aida got her own room, near the Queen, whom Kain noticed she disliked, and had told her to ignore it and only obey. Kain had also placed a distance between them, one that he would never want to shatter. However, Aida still ran over to him whenever he appeared, trying to spur up conversation, especially about her role in the kingdom and her past, to which he either ignored, grunted, or simply said "yes" or "no". Still, he never truly ignored her. She was, after all, the King and Queen's item.

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Aida:

Sitting down on the large, smooth rock at the edge of the lake, I sighed as I let the coolness of the water sent relaxing shivers up my spine and throughout my lightly tanned skin. It was nice, and it was much better than staying with Claudius. I absolutely cannot stand to be with that boy, despite his name portraying his personality. He is a snooty, rich panty boy who loves to show off his wealth, fame, and fortune to anybody who is lower than him. I ought to shove his money down his poufy pants and then just kick him into the pig den, where surely they would accept him as their own kind.

But then, Kain would get mad. He's always been distant...Which maybe is the reason why I like him so much. It's not just me that likes him, a lot of the women that live in this kingdom like him too. I mean, I'm not going to lie, but he's a pretty handsome guy. Besides his looks, I feel the reason why I'm attracted to him is because I feel as if I'm connected to him in some way. Though I might not see it, I somehow feel it throughout my body like the rush of cool water around my body when I swim. No matter where I go, I feel that there is be someone who is watching me, not in a bad away I mean, but as in a guardian angel.

I sighed again. "I should probably get back to my studies." I quietly said to myself. To be honest, I didn't understand as to why I was here in the palace in the first place. It was an annoying thought that prodded at my brain for years. I wasn't a maid nor a goose herder. I wasn't a knight nor a stable hand...I was just a girl who lived in the palace with no mom or dad or even a past to declare as mine. I've asked Kain more than once, since he had been the one who found me, and all he said was that my parents had died during the Siege of Wisteria.

My father was a loyal knight for the Kingdom of Karakova and my mother had come along because she couldn't bear to leave him. Unfortunately, they were killed during conflict and Kain had found me. That was all he said, but I felt some missing pieces.

"Ok. Snap yourself out of it." I grumbled and pinched my wrist.

"Her highness might get angry." I stared down at the crème colored shirt that was given to me and the black pants that ended at my knees. I scoffed inwardly. "At least it's better than what the royals and lords wear. They look like they can't breathe in those attires!" I then began to laugh. Maybe under all that white and pink powder that they cake on is probably their blue faces from them suffocating.

As my laughter began to die down, something had caught my eye. I looked across the lake to see that Kain was sitting down under the shades of the large trees, pulling off his black t-shirt, and blushed immediately. He looked well hidden yet at the same time seems that he was just casually sitting there minding his own business.

I began to chew at my bottom lip. 'I hope he didn't think I was talking to myself...then that would be weird.' I sighed somberly as I made my way back into the castle. 'Let's just hope things run smoothly than it usually does.'

Of course, most times, it seems like trouble is just a part of my DNA.

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Yay! Great job Luna_Waters with the intro of Aida! XD Whoo! We're finally on a roll! To those who are reading this story of ours, just know that updates will take time due to it being a collaboration as well as the pressures of...SCHOOL. =_=

Bear with us folks and just keep reading! ^^

We thank you all,

Legend and Luna