I had walked around for around an hour, until I coincidentally came by the same guard who had helped me to the training grounds.

“Oh there you are!” I said, trying this acting thing on for size again, “You cleared the first test so well that I’d like to give you a second test.”

The guard looked at me confused, but didn’t lose the air of respect in his eyes, “Of course, Sir Krystal. What would you have me do?”

“It’s nothing hard really, but I would like you to take me to bed.”

“T–t–to be–bed? Sir Krystal?” The guard stammered while his cheeks flushed to beet red. 

“No!” I shouted loud enough to echo off the brightly painted walls when I realized my awful wording. “N–no… I mean, to a bed. That I can sleep in… alone.”

“Oh… Okay, I can do that.” The guard said. I couldn’t decipher if he sounded relieved or disappointed, but either way, he turned on his heel and showed me to a room.

Finally, I had a bed I could sleep in!

I considered reading more of the book, but after the scenes I had read previously and the unfortunate circumstance with the guard, I could not stand the thought of reading any more lovey-dovey bullshit.

Go to bed.

Maybe things will be better in the morning.

As it turned out, real armor was way harder to get out of than I’d anticipated. I fumbled and twisted around, pulling at random parts and plates until I freed myself and got into a nice, comfy nightgown that’d been laid out for me on the bed. 

With my head ready for sweet, sweet sleep, I tucked the book under my pillow for safe keeping.

I thought I would have a hard time falling asleep with everything that had happened. Could I truly have been inside of the book? But I wasn’t Tiara. Now I had to go on a giant, dangerous quest to retrieve a million pieces of some key to reach a magical artifact… and failing would mean the end of the world? 

Not to mention Zantar. That was a problem on its own.

And I still didn’t know how to act… in more ways than one.

Part of me wondered if this was a dream. Maybe when I woke up, I’d be back in that small Danish hotel, with a headache from being knocked out on the shoot, or something.

Or maybe I just died, and this was hell.

I wouldn’t have been shocked with the safety measures Arri fucking Ryker had on his set.

But all those worries got washed away within seconds once my head found the pillow, and I drifted off to sleep. 

Dawn came, and we met outside the castle gates after wrestling myself back into the armor—which was even harder than taking it off. 

I wandered the castle alone, trying to avoid the guard from yesterday. This time, I actually managed to find my way fairly quickly. 

At least I was learning.

Some guards from the castle—and luckily not my friend who I never needed to see again—had already prepped our transports for travel, with food and supplies. 

There, among the working guards, I was met with the most majestic sight once more.

“Prince!” I called, running to my glorious steed, feeling tears nearly pooling out from my eyes. The horse whinnied in answer, looking happy to see me, too.

“Good morning, Sir Krystal,” the horse said with Zantar’s voice. Wait. No. That didn’t make sense. 

I turned to see Zantar and the squad behind me. 

How was I supposed to notice them next to a magical creature like Prince? 

“Ye-yes, good morning,” I said, trying to keep the joy I had for Prince, but very clearly failing.

“That’s a mighty fine horse you got there, lady!” Pip squeaked, matching my enthusiasm out loud. 

“It’s Sir Krystal.” Vincent grinded his teeth while smacking Pip on the back of the head.

“That’s a mighty fine horse you got there, Sir Krystal, lady!” Pip reiterated. Vincent sighed and stepped forward.

“Everything is ready. Knight Commander Zantar requested this for you.” Vincent pulled out a shimmering silver sword. 

It was gorgeous, as the colors of sunrise reflected off the unscathed face of the blade. That wouldn’t last long, but for now, she was a beauty!

I placed my hand on the hilt—carved with intricate, swirling designs and plated in golden accents—a bit surprised they gave me a gift so lovely.

“Thanks,” I started, but was too choked up to continue.

A beautiful horse? A beautiful sword?

If I’d died, this wasn’t hell; It was heaven. 

“It should be a fine fit for your fighting style,” Zantar, I mean…Sir Zantar, said, He put out his hand as if waiting for me to give him something.

The sword. He wanted the sword. But I didn’t want to let go of it yet. 

Still, it was a gift from him, so I placed the hilt in his palm.

He balanced the blade on his hand, right by the hilt. “Look, it’s light with perfect balance, but,” he took the sword off his hand with his other hand and swung it, cutting clean through a leaf that was falling just next to me, “it’s also strong. Like you.”

Oh. Another love scene.

Believe me, yes! This was, indeed, a love scene.

A love scene between a woman and her new beautiful sword.

Fuck this old, shitty, beat-up piece of metal I had when I got here, I thought as I pulled out my old sword and launched it. It stuck in a tree somewhere off to the side, and I couldn't care less what happened to it.

Sir Zantar handed me back the gorgeous, new sword, and I grabbed it… probably too quickly. After one more glance at its flawless blade, and savoring the moment as long as I could and stored it in my now empty sheath.

Yes, it was light and strong. It was beautiful, but deadly. 

It was like me and it was mine.

“Thank you, Sir Zantar,” I finally said, feeling the gratitude through my throat and out my mouth.

He gazed at me expectantly, but I couldn’t care less what he wanted right now. I was fucking happy about this and I had no reason to hide it.

“So… is it time to make things bleed, now?” Blaze sliced through the touching moment with not only his words, but also with his sword. He attempted to pull the same trick Zantar did and swung it at a falling leaf. He missed entirely and only managed to push the leaf around in the air.

Grace wasn’t exactly his strong suit, was it?

“Look at the colors, look at the weather. I feel great! Today is such an amazing day to start a perilous quest!” Leo chimed in, though with the bass from his large body, it was more of a lion roaring.

“Yea, it’s an amazing day for death! That’s what I’m saying!” Blaze yelled. Vincent went over to him, took his sword away like he was taking a lollipop from a disobedient child, and went over to hand the sword to Sir Zantar.

“Thank you, Sir Vincent. Now, let’s get going, shall we?”

…These characters were really just one-note clichés weren’t they?

With a collective “Yes, Knight Commander Zantar, Sir!” from the squad, I mounted Prince, patted my sheathed sword and we were off.

We cantered our way out from the castle grounds and into the streets of the town. Folks moved around the buildings, taking part in their morning routines. A lot of them waved as we passed by, looking shimmering and strong in our armor and on our decorated steeds. 

Children ran after us, giggling and laughing and attempting to keep pace with the horses to no avail. 

What a quaint little town. Everyone seemed so kind and peaceful. I could understand how—

“HELP!” someone released a blood curdling scream in the distance.

Sir Zantar moved immediately, not missing a single beat to think about what might be happening. He thrashed the reins and kicked his horse in the side, speeding up to a full gallop through the streets. 

The rest of us sped up to match, following him through the small, crowded roads until we reached a few houses right on the edge of town.

Citizens were running and screaming for cover, pushing past our horses and startling a few of them. Fires blazed in houses, working through the streets to eat anything flammable. It took a while for any of us to focus past the chaos and locate what was causing it, but when I did my heart sank to the ground.

There, chasing the townsfolk with swords and throwing torches through windows, were five knights.

Five… very familiar knights in dark armor.

Pip and Leo took off to start protecting the folks, and help lead them to safer territory.

“Sir Krystal, aren’t those the knights you were sent to kill? I thought you reported them dead,” Sir Zantar asked when he, too, noticed the coincidence.

“Ye- yes, I thought I had kno- killed them, they were down when I left.” At least the last part was true. I didn’t want to know if there was punishment for failing the king’s commands. 

“Nothing like the opportunity to kill something twice,” Blaze said with a smile, holding out his hand to Sir Zantar with grabby fingers. Sir Zantar obliged with no hesitation, giving Blaze back his sword. Then he turned to me.

“I am assuming you won’t have any trouble killing people off of the training grounds this time?”

“Yes, Sir.” My voice was clear and filled with more conviction than I felt.

I had to actually kill these people?

But I also couldn’t avert my eyes from the catastrophe around me. These knights were my job to kill, and I hadn’t. Now they were hurting these innocent townspeople.

Well, if that wasn’t the consequences of my actions.

This was my mistake, and I had to fix it.

I said my prayers to Matty.

It was time for action.