The Heartstone Journey

Book 1 | Ch. 9 - Flying High

The dark knight was first to arise hidden from the morning light creeping inside his prison with fresh cold air seeping around the throne room. He surveyed the area twice looking down and back from the decrepit halls of the forest. He marched on brazenly through the hall without a single care right up until he reached the medical bay where he breached the door open forcing it to fling across the room becoming unhinged from the wall. The sound of the door slamming against the other side of the room wall immediately woke up two out of the three sleeping with the obvious odd one out being Nick still snoozing away as if it was his own abode. The knight made himself known as the door magically drifted back to its original spot and fixed itself molding the hinges together making it brand new. He smacks Nick upside the head flinging him sideways as he shot up awake from the sudden hit.

"Gah! What the flying fuck was that for?!"

"If I show myself to you, you in return give me your attention."

"I was sleeping?!"

"That is not my problem. Well now that you're all awake line up on the wall so I can get this over with without issues."

Gatekeeper stood tall as he pointed towards the wall; Cloudy hurriedly walked to stand side by side while Royal followed him closely behind. He still had a look of confusion on his face wondering how he got here and why he was in such a situation.

"Listen up carefully because I don't have time to repeat myself."

He glared at them all with a sinister glare making his point clear.

Royal and Cloudy asked what he had planned but instead he left them for a while making them question even more than before as to what was going to happen. Nick slumped over to the wall in a daze complaining a good part of the way there until the knight returned with a large bag of items inside. Before they could say anything he tossed a separate bag for each one of them, afterward he threw the larger bag before all three of them telling them to open what was inside. Nick being too lazy to peek inside encourages Cloudy to look inside for him. What happened though was Royal volunteered himself and saw what inside was a generous gift given by the guardian. A few sets of new clothes and better armor than what they wore.

"Inside the smaller bags I threw at you graciously is rations, medicine, and in case of an emergency a pungent bait that can distract any beast for a short period as long as it has a sense of smell."

Gatekeeper detailed clearly so they knew exactly what was inside with no lies hidden underneath.

"From here on out what lies on ahead for you three is on a whole other playing field compared to this tiny forest. You've learned well but that is only the basic requirement to adventure out into the vast corrupt world we reside in. At least you can adapt quicker to harsher environments unlike before and grow accustomed to it thanks to my teachings. Don't waste another moment's notice from here on out. Put on the armor I thoughtfully graced you with and get out of my territory finally."

Royal couldn't help but think that Gatekeeper really didn't like anyone inside his area and absolutely wanted them all gone as soon as possible. Suddenly a thought came into mind when looking at the armor he was about to don.

"What kind of armor is this made out of? It's not of any kind of animal I know of? Is it the same as your armor Gatekeeper?"

"No~. It's not the same and you would wish it wasn't if you were forc-... had to wear what I have. It's made out of materials I've manifested using my unique powers of the forest. The armor is the most durable and flexible you will ever set your eyes upon so do not throw it away. Armor you get from merchants or from any armory is nothing in comparison to my creation. It wouldn't even get a scratch even if a massive boulder were to hit it. The only issue though is it still can mess with your internal system if you are hit with a blunt weapon. Bear that in mind."