Tale Of A Knight 24 Volume 2: Chapter 14: Dance

Captured women with talents were forced to bear children…their screams as they were raped mercilessly. To the Salvation Bringers, they were just tools to create perfect army.

Children with strong mana were drained of their mana and as a result, each one died after their mana was extracted.

Children who had some kind of talent suffered worse fate, it was a common knowledge that by eating a creature with ability, the one who consumes the creature will attain the creature's powers, and the same was believed to be true with talented children.

Once captured, they were brought to one of the bases cult of Salvation Bringers occupied, and there, each and every single one was eventually killed. Their bodies eaten and harvested for power. What was left of the bodies were used in order to create magic tools, apparently Salvation Bringers learned a technique used by Pishak Priests, which was used in order to use blood and bone of a creature to make weapons.

Weapons made from bodies of talented children were the most effective. Children have denser mana than adults, and unlike grown-ups mana, it is more malleable, thus when their bodies are harvested in order to make mana based weapons, the weapons will possess more power.

Salvation Bringers kidnapped not only human children but demi-human children as well, to make different types of weapons for their members.

When they found women with talent that have reached a safe age of giving birth, they kidnapped them, and savagely raped them; making women give birth to the future generations of Salvation Bringers. That was how it was done ever since the founding of Salvation Bringers. They eventually became the soldiers of Salvation Bringers, many of whom were result of such practice.

Their philosophy was about rejecting the false G.o.ds and reaching G.o.dhood themselves. To that end, they idolized and worshipped a single figure in history who they believed had attained G.o.dhood and surpa.s.sed it even.

The ident.i.ty of the person in question was the Dark Lord. The paintings of him, riding on top of red dragons and fighting against humanity and its G.o.ds was one great scene to behold.

More than nine hundred years ago, there was a great tragedy. Half of the greatest kingdom of humanity, Kizilalem, was transported to another realm. Demons were responsible for such action, essentially halving the kingdom, leading it to eventually becoming known as Tazak kingdom of today.

While the demons were indeed responsible for such tragedy, the one whose name permanently entered the history books was the Dark Lord. When demons and humanity fought, with the aid of G.o.ds, humanity gained the upper hand, they thought that if they beat the demons then and there, they would permanently rid the world of demon kind.

However, at the critical moment, atop a red dragon and leading a platoon of dragons, came the Dark Lord.

He came out of nowhere, and with his aid, demon kind managed to fight back against humanity.

Not willing to hand over victory to demons, G.o.d of Power, Michael, one who is only second to King of G.o.ds, Solaris, chose to strike against the Dark Lord.

With his eight divine wings, he unleashed his power, attacking Dark Lord with the immeasurable power of G.o.ds, however, Dark Lord retaliated. Instead of being impaled by Michael's eight wings, coated in power of chaos, Dark Lord struck back at Michael.

Despite being a G.o.d, Michael lost three of his eight wings. Ever since then, he has been depicted in the murals with five wings. He never regained the three wings he had lost.

After attaining the biggest victory in history, Dark Lord vanished, never to be seen again.

Some cults prayed all their lives for the second coming of the Dark Lord, some cursed G.o.ds for their inability to stop the greatest evil in the world from rising.

Salvation Bringers, however, saw Dark Lord as an inspiration. A figure to emulate. It is not clear who started the rumor, but it is believed that Dark Lord was once an ordinary human being just like them, but after taking the power of those around him, he eventually reached a point of G.o.dhood and judging by his victory against Michael, he clearly surpa.s.sed them.

While they felt disgusted with demons stealing half of once great kingdom of Kizilalem, Salvation Bringers were a cult obsessed with becoming the next Dark Lords, to reach the heights where only that legendary person had ever climbed.

To that end, they wanted to steal mana of powerful and talents of those with abilities. Whether it was eating the talent holder's body or raping women with abilities to have the next generation have chance of possessing the said talent, it did not matter to them. All that mattered was to make everything theirs, in order to become complete.

If talent was exclusive to one body part, they cut off the said body part and implanted it onto themselves. Of course, Salvation Bringers were ok with making weapons out of bodies of those with abilities. If one possessed a talent to levitate on object, the weapon made of their remains will possess the same ability, albeit less powerful.

Like the Tazak kingdom, they did preach the supremacy of humanity, but they also saw themselves as the saviors.

Among Salvation Bringers, there were those who were devoted to the cause in a cult like religious fashion and there were those who handled it more like an organization to satisfy their desires for greed and l.u.s.t.

It was no secret that Salvation Bringers, although gruesome by nature, they produced results and being allied with them brought many benefits. In fact, several powerful n.o.ble families secretly supported Salvation Bringers, in exchange for their services and powerful weapons.

While Salvation Bringers could take mana and talents for themselves, one way or another, it was whole another subject when it was about an ability bestowed by G.o.ds, the Blessing.

Such was the case with Desti Laran, a girl Salvation Bringers have gotten their hands on. Her power was unique, unlike talent; it was a Blessing, ability bestowed by a G.o.d, and it could not be stolen by any means Salvation Bringers knew of. However, her power was not something they were willing to let go of.

Which is why, they chose to clip her wings instead. Her legs were chained and she was left in a cage, fated to spend the rest of her days in a cage. They forced her to help them with her ability to Foresee the Unknown, her ability to sometimes give accurate visions of the future was a power that they could not afford to lose.

Chained in a cage, she watched as the Salvation Bringers committed their atrocities.

She lost count of how many children she has seen, drained of their mana and turned to lifeless corpses, so many talent holders butchered alive for the sake of their flesh and making weapons.

Women at the age of being able to give birth, raped, violated, tortured, and sometimes killed for their amus.e.m.e.nt.

She was forced to watch everything from her cage, wishing it all would be just a horrible dream.

Because her body was small and was not at the age of being able to give birth, they did not touch her for a time, but once she reached age of fifteen, they were planning on using her as one of the wombs. It was only a matter of time before the fate of those women befell on her as well.

After seeing so many horrors, she wanted it all to end, even if it meant her life would end as well.

But once she tried to kill herself, the Salvation Bringers proceeded to chain her hands up in a cage, making her unable to choke the life out of herself for weeks. Then, one day, she gave up.

She concluded that her life was pointless, meaningless, destined to spend the time she had left rotting within that wooden cage.

Desti could only hope that at least in heaven she would be able to see her parents, in a sole memory she had of them, them dancing together. Two of them were adventurers, so they were not exactly the most graceful bunch, but the memory of them dancing together, hand in hand, was one thing that was burned into her memory. That memory was the only thing she had left of her parents, who both died on duty due to monsters.

If only one day I could dance like that….with my beloved.

But that is but a dream…

* * *

Desti woke up in an unfamiliar room, within her mind echoes of cries and screams of the victims of Salvation Bringers she had witnessed.

This room…I am not inside the cage…and this bed, pillow, and blanket…why am I here…

Then her mind flashed back to the event of almost two days ago, the face of her rescuer, the one called Bakit.

Like a knight from fairy tales, he swooped in from the above, he took her, a girl fate to die in a cage, with him, and he even gave her a life she could never imagine in her wildest dreams.

Prince Sala recruited her as his personal secretary and for mobility she was provided a wheelchair. After she told Prince Sala about the Salvation Bringers, his eyes took on a look of clear anger, but he calmly stated.

"Do not worry; I will take care of it."

The very same day, the base of Salvation Bringers she was once held in was raided by Prince Sala's personal knights and several members of the evil cult were arrested, but it seems like the executive members managed to escape. The sad fact is that Salvation Bringers had many bases within the Tazak kingdom, even though Sala was the prince; he was only one of the five candidates for the throne.

He did not have enough troops at his disposal; the other candidates for the throne had their personal troops as well.

Because he refused to take a bride, Sala's current position as successor to the throne was uncertain, and if the ten n.o.ble families choose to give their approval to someone else, mainly to Sala's rivals, the other four candidates, then the line of Rondeleia monarchy shall come to a stop.

Right now, Sala was on the even ground with the other four candidates, in a sense it was a tug of war, each one was trying to make a good impression upon their subjects, thus the ten n.o.bles, who represent their respective people will decide on the most suitable candidate.

The matter would have been so much simpler if Sala could have just taken a wife and produced an heir, but for some reason he refused to do so.

Once, Sala tried to have his maid, Aurelia, be his bride, but the ten n.o.bles did not approve of it, they stated that they would be fine if Sala chooses anyone who was not of such lower cla.s.s, and former slave like Aurelia, in their eyes was not worthy of being his bride, concubine at best. Prince Sala however, managed to make them promise to give their approval if he finds a woman who is not of lower cla.s.s, and no matter who she is, they will have to approve. Ten n.o.bles, unwilling to be seen as hypocrites by their own people, were forced to concede.

However, as things stand, Sala was no closer to becoming the king than the other four candidates. All four of them already have spouses, and if they make good enough of an impression within the span of less than two years, until the time of coronation, then the new king would be of one of the four houses competing against Sala: Buwurus, Locustus, Venlader, and Zainos families.

Each one had their own soldiers, loyal only to their own n.o.ble families, and by extension to the future king. Of course, the soldiers usually served the n.o.ble family they thought had the highest chance of winning.

Sala's support currently was in a very sad state. Under his command was one former captain of royal knights and former member of Holy Swords, Mekros Renow, and the soldiers who he used to command, numbering at most fifty. At his side he had Aurelia, and apparently Bakit and Desti now. His current state of affairs was in a sad state to say the least. He was the prince in just the name and status; otherwise he was no different from the other four vying for the throne.

Although Prince Sala was apologetic about being unable to destroy Salvation Bringers altogether, according to him such a vile cult should never exist, Desti just felt thankful for him taking her words seriously and taking action upon them.

Prince Sala is very kind~ He is not weird or pervy at all~

As thankful as she was to Prince Sala, the name that kept coming to her head was not his name, but the name of the man who rescued her, Bakit.

I wonder what he is doing now~

* * *

After being done with a day's worth of papers, Desti was visited by Bakit, and before she could say anything, he ended up taking her along with the wheelchair she was sitting in for a tour of the city.

City of Aina, such a beautiful place, with so many wonderful sights she could not satisfy her desire to see it all.

"And here is Rolgo's tool shop, I work there as testers for his inventions, but word of advice, try not to buy anything, his products do more harm than help."

Looking at Bakit with her ability, Desti was able to see a small memory fragment of Bakit being stuck to the ceiling due to a malfunctioning magic device and then falling down hard once the device deactivated.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the silliness of it.

After touring the entire city, seeing many food shops, her eyes caught the sight of the performance, the theatre stage area; there she saw men and women dancing together, hand in hand, their feet seemingly swaying with undeniable rhythm.

Their movements were so beautiful~

After seeing the dances, Bakit pushed her wheelchair towards Mekros's place.

They stopped near a flower garden that was nearby. With Bakit's help, Desti climbed off of the wheelchair and on her knees she gazed at the beauty of the flowers, the sounds of the wind, and the chirping of the birds.

Everything around her produced such an absolute and magnificent melody, she felt as though her senses would be overwhelmed any second.

"Might as well leave her alone for a minute to take a leak." Bakit went off towards the bushes.

Just when he was about to do his business, he heard a voice behind him.

"I thought you would be here."

That voice, the cold icy voice that seemed to be filled with desire to murder him, it was Aurelia all right.

"Why is your timing so bad?"

"I should be asking you that." She tersely replied.

"I don't suppose you came here to just play word games with me?"

"No, that would be the last thing I would want doing with someone like yourself. However, this is a matter about His Majesty's new secretary, but I believe you have already noticed her …handicap."

"If you mean her inability to walk, yeah, but after sometime she should regain her muscle memory, right?"

"Unfortunately, that may be impossible. While she was sleeping, I examined her body thoroughly….Don't look at me like that!" she ended up saying after Bakit looked at her with suspicious gaze.

"It is not just her being unable to walk due to being held in a cage, her captors went further than that, the tendons on her legs have been cut, I doubt she will ever be able to walk again. She already seems to be aware of it."

Bakit's expression grew dark.

"Is that all you wanted to say?"

"No. By freeing her, you attracted the attention of Salvation Bringers on us, even though Young Master chose to strike them down, if anything happens to His Majesty due to Salvation Bringers' retaliation, I will hold you accountable." She brandished an ax that she manifested out of thin air.

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

"Of course not, and neither does his majesty, you are just a man he reluctantly was forced to accept to his side."

"By side, do you mean bed side?"

Aurelia swung the ax, stopping right near Bakit's neck.

"I would advise keeping your jests to yourself."

"Humbly noted."

"I still don't trust you, but the girl, I can tell she is going to be helpful to my prince, so for recruiting her, I reluctantly give my approval. However, I wish to know the truth, divulge to me your true ident.i.ty and your relation to Aristan n.o.ble family."

"My name is Bakit; at least I think it is, I don't think I have a last name. As for Aristans…they keep coming after me for some reasons, already encountered two of them, both are complete murder machines….Yikes! And that is as far as I know."

"Would you say the same words had his majesty asked them of you?"

"Why yes, I would."

"All right. I will believe you for now. But…if you do anything that could negatively affect my prince…You will die before you realize it."

She withdrew her ax, it was a halberd, and Bakit finally remembered the proper name for the weapon.

"I will keep watch over you; do not think you can keep any secret from me." She proceeded to leave.

"It's not like I have secrets." Bakit simply shrugged and walked back to Desti.

* * *

"Bakit! You're back! I thought something happened to you when you walked off for so long~"

"Do not worry, Desti, just had a talk with a frienemy."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Both of them sat and now lay down on the gra.s.s, listening to the music of the wind.

"Music here reminds me of the music I heard at that dancing stage, but far more peaceful."

"Indeed, far more peaceful." Bakit had to agree.

"If only I could stand and dance to these sounds~" she said, not to Bakit, but to herself, almost as if she was wishing. Bakit could tell her desire to be able to stand on her own legs was genuine, but according to Aurelia she already is aware that it is impossible.

When we looked at couples dancing, her eyes betrayed her fascination…it was obvious just how much she wanted to be able to dance with grace just like them…Well, might as well…

"Desti, hold on to my shoulders."

"Ok, but why?"

"For this."

Holding on to her waist with his left hand, and her holding on to his shoulders, he stood up. The fact that she was light helped as well.

Now they were together, her leaning upon him, in an embrace of intimacy.

"Bakit!? What are you…?"

"Like this, we can dance." With her holding on to his shoulders and neck with her hands, he began the awkward movements.

Although what he was doing could hardly be called dancing, to Desti, it felt like living a dream.

As they swiveled from side to side, seemingly following the music of the wind, Desti's memories of her parents dancing together just like this had flooded into her mind.

Without even realizing it, she ended up shedding a few tears, but Bakit did not see them, thankfully, due to his position.

As they continued their dance, Desti couldn't help but think.

Bakit…Are you perhaps my promised one?

Desti promised since that day that no matter what the circ.u.mstance she would treat Bakit out of all people, with kindness he deserved, because to her, he was the one who made her dream come true.