The Ember Knight

Chapter 1

The faintest glimmer of early dawn paled the midnight sky into deep purple hues, which gradually faded even more, to brilliant lavender and pink. The last stars of the morning, finally surrendered their twinkling pinpoints to the greater light, but a soft round moon still lingered like a lonely sentinel on the horizon.
Random dark clouds scuttered across the brightening sky, as the last remnants of an angry tempest fled the new day. Creeping white mists hung low over a now tranquil sea, curling tentatively around the purple gray rocks that jutted sharply out of the cold waters. Gently lapping waves pulled carelessly at the shoreline, advancing and retreating, with the steady musical rhythm of the breakers after a storm.
In the growing light, a dark figure lay just out of reach of the foaming surf, sprawled wearily upon the gravel shore as if he were just to exhausted to move any further. The last of the enveloping fog was chased into oblivion as the first dazzling rays of the rising sun, broke over the horizon and splashed across the gleaming wetness of the beach. A playful salt scented breeze stirred tufts of shrubbery that grew randomly among the rocks and tugged the waters into small choppy peaks.
Although it was summer, the morning air was nippy, and the balmy sunshine that fell across the sleeping figure was welcome. The radiant warmth seemed to gradually inspire wakefulness into the man, and he began to move very slowly, he groggily raised his head, blinking rapidly in the bright reflecting sunlight, and then lifted a hand to brush the gritty sand from his cheek. He sat up, and gazed with puzzled eyes at the spectacle of the new morning.
While the sun shone down on his dark tousled hair, revealing a glint of auburn highlights. Little by little, he came to full alertness and pulled himself unsteadily to his feet. He seemed even more mystified than ever as he lifted his hands to peer at them as if they were strangers, hen down at his unfamiliar clothing. He was completely baffled, "Where was he", "How had he gotten here," "What happened?" As he asked the questions, his mind instinctively sought to remember the previous night, but instead it collided into a vast obscuring barrier. Undeterred, he tried to think past or around it, but it remained rigid, dark, and formidable. Naturally, he decided that if he could not remember the night before, he would recall the last thing he did remember. But once again his mind met the immovable obstruction, that seemed to have filled every recess of his memory.
A sense of uneasiness washed over him, and he began scrambling for any sort of memory to launch him past the mysterious black wall. A flood of questions poured chaotically into his head, "What is happening to me?" "Why am I alone?" "Where is everyone?" "How did I come here?" He stared down at his strange clothing again, and narrowed his eyes, as if willing himself to remember something. Then he felt a sickly distressed feeling settling into his stomach. He hardly dared ask his next question, lest he could not answer it.
Swallowing hard, he spoke aloud for the very first time, in a barely audible whisper,
("Who am I?")
("What is my name?")
The memory was there, he knew it was, and it seemed peculiar that he could not get at it. He asked the question louder, hoping the sound of his own voice would cut through the mysterious shroud in his mind. The answers hovered tantalizingly close, mere inches beyond his grasp, behind the dark obstacle. Yet reach as he might, his mind could not penetrate it. His head dropped in great concentration as he struggled for victory in his inward battle. Then slowly, his shoulders sank in defeat, and he appeared to come back to reality, almost like a man awakening from a strange dream.
He was on a long stretch of pebbly seashore, edged by a calm ocean. Ahead was a rise of steep rocky cliffs, covered in clumps of bushes and shrubbery, and far above that he could see the silhouetted tips of pointed tree tops. He became aware of a great weariness inside him, and as he started to walk he found that his body ached with stiffness and cold. He wandered aimlessly for a while up the beach trying to shake clear the murkiness of his mind, but not letting himself meditate to deeply, for he found it frightening. He had started to feel a powerful restless urgency that he could not explain, and he began scanning the shoreline.
As he rounded a bend, he disturbed a resting seal, that lay sunning itself among the half submerged rocks that were scattered up the beach. The frightened animal lept up unexpectedly with a sharp bellow, than lurched towards the water to disappear. The man had a impulsive jolt of his own at the startled creature, and staggered back a few steps. For a split second, a fleeting vision of a man lunging aggressively at him, flashed across his mind, but it was gone even before he realized what he had seen. He was so relieved to discover it was only a seal that he paused to lean against a rock while gathering up his bearings again.
He stared at the water where the animal had submerged, and he wondered at his strange fear. He felt a sort of stress or urgency rather, to be doing something, something of great importance. He thouht of the sudden shadowy image of a pouncing man in his head, and then abruptly it came to him, he was in great danger from someone. His every instinct was telling him that he must take cover, that he must not stay here, without another hesitation he moved swiftly towards the cliffs and began to hike, they were not to sheer to scale, and he climbed steadily with a great deal of resolve, until he finally pulled himself up onto the sloping hillside of trees that lay beyond.
Upon reaching the trees, he crouched cautiously among the sheltering branches, but his tension did not ease. He looked around with apprehension, half expecting to see some enemy that had discovered him while he lay exposed upon the beach. There was not a soul to be seen.
The flashback sprang at him again, and a crushing fear seized him in its grip, he felt the suspense of impending danger, yet he could not seem to clear the blackness from his mind enough to explain it.
He shook his head forcefully as if the movement would shake the darkness away, then swayed in dizzy anticipation, but still the dense fog remained.
Again the dark figure pounced, only this time it sent panic coursing though him, and he began to run to escape it. The incline was steep, and seemed to go perpetually uphill, but he raced as if some unseen enemy was at his heels. He leaped agilely up the hillside using rocks an exposed tree roots to propel him upward, until he reached the ridge where the trees stood like towering giants against the skyline. The mad urgency within him only seemed to grow, when he was seized with an overpowering need to escape the black barrier in his mind. He began to run blindly along the ridge until he slipped and plunged down the other side to crash into a thick stand of timber. When he came to a sprawling stop in the undergrowth of the forest floor, he lay still for a moment trying to recover his senses.
Finally, he rolled onto his side and opened his eyes, as his harsh erratic breathing subsided, he struggled to conquer the terror within him. Their was no dark man lunging at him, but it took a lot of persuasion to convince him otherwise. With supreme effort he subdued the powerful emotions, until at last he drew a deep breath of cold soothing air, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with his sleeve. He sat up and began to force himself to think logically.
For the moment, he was safe. The sudden panic slowly ebbed and a resignation finally began to restore his troubled mind. He climbed to his feet and moved deeper into the forest, concealing himself among the densely growing trees.