It was cold and windy on that fateful night. The night where it all started. 

The kingdom of Rymana was a beautiful place. A staple of the Etrian continent. At least it was, until they showed up. The Legion is what they called themselves. They were a group of wizards who foolishly followed the demon Xegris. They caused destruction and chaos by burning religious sanctuaries and killing anyone and everyone that opposed them.

  When they first arrived they were nothing more than fools spouting nonsense, so the guards did little to stop this new group who came to push their beliefs onto others. Rarely did anyone actually listen to what they had to say, and those who did quickly left on account of their beliefs being so outlandish that it made the deranged seem sane. They were harmless, or so everyone thought. Even the king himself did little to deter this group, but I should've known better. I was the head knight of the royal guard, Sir Leris of Rymana. I had been the head of the royal guard for almost thirteen years at this point and I had thwarted plan after plan to take down Rymana. From the plan to poison the king orchestrated by the king's own nephew; to the assassination attempt of the king while he was on his daily commute through the kingdom. So when this new group came and word of their teachings got to me I should have done something. However, I couldn’t possibly have known that they would go this far. Yes, they said that their demon should rule instead of a human king, but I never thought that they would stage a coup in order to make their fantasy a reality. I should have known, but I didn't and the kingdom paid the price for my foolishness.

. . . . . .

 It was a day before the hundredth annual peace celebration. It’s a huge celebration that lasts an entire week that has been thrown every year since the kingdom of Rymana declared peace with every other kingdom on the continent. The founders of Rymana  all thought that this peace treaty would only last a few years, but to the surprise of the Royal Rymana family the kingdom finally made it to a century of peace. The day before this huge celebration Sir Leris of Rymana, the captain of the royal guard, was called into the king’s private office. “You wish to see me, your majesty?”

“Yes, come in and have a seat Sir Leris.” The captain did as he was told and entered the room but instead of sitting he closed the door and said to the king, “Why do you want, old man? You know I have to be at my post to make sure nothing happens.” With a smile the king replied “You know I could have you removed from duty for your disrespect Leris. I am still your king.”

“Yea, yea, you say it everytime and yet I can never seem to get you to throw me out Derin.”

They smile at each other knowing that this playful banter is what they both looked forward to whenever they had the chance. Outside of the king's private office they have to keep their snarky remarks to a minimum due to them being a king and his knight. However, behind closed doors their bond is more that of a father and his son.

“How have you been Leris? Did you ever make your move on Lily or are you still too much of a chicken?”

“I’m no chicken you old toad, but I haven’t found the right time to tell her my feelings so i’ve kept it to myself for the time being.”

“Oh I’m a toad now am I? Well how about I help you out Sir Chicken, take the rest of today and tomorrow off. Go to the Peace Festival with Lily, and please for the love of all that is holy tell her how you feel. You’ve been putting it off for eight whole years now. First, you didn’t tell her because you fell ill. Then, you didn’t tell her because you were training the knights. Now, you try to hide in your duty to protect me. For once in your life do what I say and go have some fun. Go find love and be happy. You work so hard for so little in return, yet you don’t even give yourself the chance to have something good. So, this is an order. Get out of here and live a little.”

“I can’t. I have to be by your side, for your protection.”

“I don’t need you to protect me Leris, I have other guards to cover for the day and a half that you’re gone.  So just listen to me and go!”

“What if something happens to you while I’m not here?”

“Then I’m sure you’ll come running back here like the good little knight that you are, but until then go have fun.” the king said as he shoved Leris out the room.

“Fine but you had better send someone to fetch me if you so much as get a paper cut.”

The king laughed at that and sent Leris on his way. Leris exited the castle to find that Lily was waiting for him at the gates. She waved at him and when he got to her, they embraced. “What did the king want with you? Are you in trouble?” She asked more out of curiosity than concern. “No I’m not in trouble, that old ma- I mean his majesty just wanted me to take the rest of today and tomorrow off. He says I work too much so he wants me to rest and have fun during the festival.”

“Well I’d have to agree with him, you’ve been so busy working recently that we haven’t been able to see each other. I miss you Leris.”  Leris hadn’t realized she had felt that way. They walked through the town and went to their favorite spot, a small pud called Hemdal’s. The pud was always filled with an assortment of people all coming from various backgrounds and skill sets. Leris looked around seeing so many happy faces and realizing how much he had missed out on. They ordered food and sat at a table outside and watched as a small flurry of snow began to fall. 

They laughed, ate, and drank for what felt like only minutes but was easily a few hours. It was late afternoon now, when suddenly, Leris got quiet and mustered up all the courage in him before finally beginning to speak.

“Lily, I have something I need to talk to you about.” He said in a manner all too serious for the mood that was playful and light only a moment earlier. 

“What is it Leris?  Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong I just wanted to talk to you about something that’s very important that I’ve been putting off for far too long now.” he hesitates, “Lily, I lo-”

Before he can finish the sentence they’re interrupted by screaming coming from the town center and a guard running up to them screaming for Leris. “Sir Leris, there’s been an accident in the square! Come quickly, someone is hurt!”  Without so much as a pause for thought he jumped up to leave. Before he left he turned back to Lily, 

“I’m so sorry but I must go. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can”

“It’s okay Leris go, you’re needed there, I can wait for a little.” At that Leris ran off with the knight who had interrupted him at such a crucial moment.

When they arrived they saw a crowd gathered with a group of the Legion in the middle. Leris wasted no time to push through the crowd and get to the center where he found a man who lay in a puddle of his own blood. The culprit being one of the Legion followers who was easily found out due to him having a blood soaked knife in his hand. Knights surrounded the man with swords pointed at him ready to strike at the smallest twitch of his muscles.

“What’s going on here?!” Leris asked no one in particular. He checked the pulse of the man on the floor and confirmed that he was dead. 

“Why would you do this? On the day before the peace festival, his majesty's favorite time of the year. After a month of you being here and our constant warnings to stay out of trouble you do something so damn foolish! I should cut you all down where you stand!” The guard who had fetched Leris grabbed him on the shoulder and calmed him down by reminding him that there were people watching. Then a hooded figure stepped out of the group and began speaking to Leris. “Sir Leris, I humbly apologize on behalf of my subordinate. He just joined us recently and has been a bit of a handful to keep under control. I would assume you know how unruly some subordinates can be. Please allow me to take him and reprimand him accordingly for this.”

“Absolutely not, as much as I understand that subordinates tend to step out of line, this is a crime. One that is not taken lightly in this kingdom. He will be taken back to the castle to be dealt with properly and according to our laws.” The hooded figure was not pleased by this but he could not go against the word of the captain of the royal guard so he simply bowed his head, walked over to his subordinate, and dragged him over to Sir Leris. Leris handed him off to the guard and turned back to regard the hooded figure, 

“Thank you for being civil about this. However, if I hear that you all are causing trouble again I shall drag you out of the kingdom and handle you myself.”

“I understand sir and I assure you that nothing like this will happen again. May Xegris be with you.”

“Damn cultists making me work on my day off.” Leris muttered as he walked away, just loud enough for the hooded figure to hear it. As he left one of the members of the legion came up to the hooded figure, “Sir did you see his eyes? They were lilac, do you think he could really use it?”

“I don’t know, but if he can he gave no indication that he could. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. Send someone to watch him just in case, we don’t want him interfering.”

“Yes sir."