Into the Darkness: Devotion

It was a blank world, a white void. Not emptiness, but nothingness itself, the very absence of existence.

I was in the void. Yet I could move, I could think, I could act. 

But everything came to a halt when I saw something.

In the vast white expanse, I saw… me. I floated toward myself, my body drawn as if by an invisible thread. 

As I approached, I reached out, lifting my own chin. My eyes stared back into mine.

It was disorienting.

The only reason I could grasp what was happening was because fragmented pieces of information were slipping into my mind, scattered and incomplete.

Then, the other me spoke.

But the words were… wrong. Jumbled, like shattered glass trying to form a reflection.

"Live. Not. Lies. Break! He? Survive. No! Love? Please. Safe. Lightkeeper!"

The world seemed to shatter and crumble away like fragile glass.

My eyes slowly opened, but light instantly flooded in, causing me to raise my bronze arm to cover them.

I could hear the sound of waves crashing and people yelling, as one would expect on a boat. 

When I finally uncovered my eyes, I saw Astrea sitting beside me in a chair while I lay in a bed. 

There was a large white door with a wheel for a handle, and the room contained the bed I occupied, a small table with an untouched plate of food, and some bags that I was certain held clothes.

We were on a ship, and I knew we weren't heading to another island in the archipelago. 

As I pushed myself up, I realized I was covered in bandages and wearing new clothes.

 Astrea was sitting with my sword in his arms, his head oddly tilted upward. 

He was like that; if he wanted to, he could even fight in his sleep. 

I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, not that I had the strength to fight back anyway. 

He probably believed it would be easier to do so while I was unconscious. He was taking me home.

But I didn't mind because I knew one thing: I had killed that demon, or at least I had helped enough. 

Floating in front of me was an Aspect in its unclaimed form. 

It was only visible to the one it chose, which was me. It glowed red and black, taking the shape of an orb. 

I reached out, grasping its frame, and a surge of power coursed through me. It felt like an awakening. 

I realized I might be as powerful as I was when enhanced by my Gift against the demon. 

Even if I didn't gain a large reputation, I had acquired one thing: more power. 

And that's what I would need because I was being hunted by that version of myself.

 I wasn't sure what it all meant, but I knew one thing: each of those words served as a warning, a hint at something. 

I just needed to understand what it was.

I heard a slight groan and turned to Astra, whose eyes were opening slowly. Before I could even move, his arms wrapped around me. "Damn it, Art, don't do that again."

I hugged him back. "I won't."

He pulled away and looked into my eyes. "I really want to scold you, but Castor told me you managed to actually help against the demon." 

He glanced down at my chest and sighed. "I noticed a strange marking when changing you."

I did the obvious thing and took a peek, but what I saw was quite nerve-racking. It was a pair of goat horns tattoos on each breast. 

"Ah…this is—" 

"Bad," he interjected, leaning in. "You did something very dangerous. Do you know what I would have done if you had died?" 

I tried to speak, but he wouldn't let me, instead finishing, "I would have had to go and kill every demon that ever existed." 

"Astra, I needed to show you that I wasn't just some little girl you needed to shield." 

He sighed, crossing his arms in the process. "There's no point in arguing. Just take it easy, you were out for a week." 

"A week? No wonder why I'm so hungry." 

He sighed again. "Listen, you were heavily injured. Walking and even getting up is a no-go, so sit tight." 

I tilted my head in confusion. "What are you talking about? You think I'm staying in this bed until we reach the mainland?" 

"Yes," he said in a deadpan voice.

.

Arguing with him now would be stupid. "Can I at least bathe?"

He thought for a moment as if he was considering even letting me clean myself. "I'll have to help."

.

I could only sigh and leaned back on the pillows. "So what, how far along are we on the trip?"

He paused then spoke. "Around ten days."

"Damn, so three days of rotting in this bed?"

He smiled. "Three days of listening to me talk."

I made an audible groan and looked up at the small lights.

This boat was high-class, but we were broke. I then looked at him, realizing he was wearing clothes I didn't recognize. 

He had loose black shorts with long sleeves and tight white pants, along with small boots. I was in a robe with undergarments. 

Why was he so overdressed?

"Hey, where did all this come from?" I asked, inspecting his eyes.

He shrugged. "I sold everything, and this is also a reward for killing the demon. But don't worry, I kept it all for you."

"Ah, so people know I participated?"

He nodded. "Castor recommended you for the knights' academy, as well as me. This means we need to hurry."

Astrea and I were both seventeen; the knights' academy only accepts people eighteen and up, so Castor must have praised us well.

"Finally, I get to be a knight! Do you think they'll give me a cool title like Castor's?"

He thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, his title was Lightbringer."

I paused for a moment, then sighed, realizing it was slightly different from what she had told me. 

Of course, that didn't mean I wasn't going to investigate, but at least I was sure he wouldn't be...evil. 

I was still not exactly sure what she was warning me about.

I was about to ask Astrea for the details about our trip to the academy when someone knocked on the door.

Astrea stood up and walked over to open it. 

A small girl, maybe fifteen, with bright yellow hair, stood there holding a plate of food.

He grabbed the food after saying thanks and she left humming a catchy tune, then he shut the door and locked it, turning back to me.

"Are you still hungry?" 

I was never one to refuse food so I sat up and moved the cover down a bit. "Definitely."

It was fish, served with warm seaweed, simple, but still good enough for me. 

He picked up the fork and broke off a piece of fish, then held it to my mouth. 

I bit down, and the fish almost dissolved in my mouth; it was pure heaven.

Fishermen always knew how to cook good fish, and Astrea continued to feed me. 

After a while, the plate was empty, and I felt slightly more full, but I could still eat.

I leaned back against the pillows, feeling a little more satisfied but still curious.

 "Alright, Astrea, explain. How are we even able to attend the academy early? They don't just let seventeen-year-olds in."

He smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Well, normally, no. But Castor managed to pull some strings. Apparently, they make exceptions for people with extraordinary achievements."

I raised an eyebrow. "And killing a demon counts as extraordinary?"

He shot me a flat look. "Of course it does. Most knights don't even survive fighting one, let alone someone our age."

I thought about it for a moment, then crossed my arms. "Still, wouldn't they have to test us? I doubt they'd let us in just because Castor said we were strong."

He shrugged. "I'm sure by now you remember who Castor is."

"So what? He waves his hand, and we can just enter the most regulated, high-class knight academy in the world?"

Astrea thought for a moment, then shrugged again. "Yeah."

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. "But there's one little thing I forgot to mention."

I raised an eyebrow, and he sighed. "Well, I won't actually be attending. I'll be… your guard."

"What? You're stronger than me, and he didn't give you a recommendation?"

"Listen, Art, it's not really about strength. I'm sure I'm stronger than most people there. It's about resolve and mindset."

"And you don't have the mindset of a knight?" I shot back, sitting up straighter. "You're the one who managed to defeat the monster no one else could!"

Astrea, at the age of ten, completely erased a dragon, one of the few sentient monsters. 

While some dragons are known to hold back or even show kindness, the one that attacked us was pure evil.

It was a dragon made of darkness, the kind that, if left unchecked, could've destroyed the world. And he defeated it.

All with a single slash. I know because I saw it.

When I was running to the shore, I looked back. I saw him raise my father's blade. 

There was this strange energy around it, black, but not like shadows or ordinary darkness. It was something else entirely.

When he swung, the dragon was erased completely.

Astrea remains the strongest person I've ever seen.

"Astrea, you can't just play guard while I'm learning how to be a knight."

"And why not? It's not like I need to be a knight to slay monsters."

"Ash, I wanted to become knights together, that was the whole point of going to the eastern continent."

He didn't respond, he just sat there, staring at me, like I was wrong, but I'm never wrong."

"Let's put this conversation on hold, you need rest, you shouldn't raise your voice." 

I ducked under the covers and turned around, trying not to show how much it hurt.

I wasn't sure if he was going to sit there watching me or if he would get in bed.

All I knew was that I didn't feel like talking to him.

I heard him get up and turn on the sink in the bathroom; it sounded like he was washing something. 

After a while, he turned it off and then sat on the bed.

This is how all our fights go. We always say we'll talk about it some other time. 

But I always hate how we resolve them, usually one of us just drops it and gives in to the other. 

Last time, it was him not caring about me going off to fight that demon. 

Now it was my turn, to accept that he was going to sit there and be my royal servant in some stuck-up academy.

I really do want to go, but not without him.

It's just like before, I remember that day, the day he rejected me.

We were both fighting against a Thought Bird, it had transformed into a large snake.

It was raining and we ran away into some cave. Novastia has a large number of mountains along the coast.

While in there, it was cold, I was sitting back to back with him and I just blurted it out.

We talked about everything that day, I told him everything and in the end he said we'd talk about it later.

Later never did come.