Knightshade Forgotten.

Defeat

1 Year past Initiation.

"Azura! Get up!" I was being shaken by Vexthel who had a grim look on his face. "Come with me." he said as I looked at him. I rubbed my eyes and put on my uniform. What the hell is his deal? No one else is up. I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts and left the room.

He had been waiting for me on the very roof of the arena. Once I had gotten up there he said "Walk with me, we need to talk." I followed at his side as he slowly started walking. "The combat magic you pulled off, where did you learn it?" I was expecting a different kind of talk from him but I decided against asking him about it, "I didn't, they seem to react upon emotion or desperation. Your combat magic is more genuine than mine which tells me you inherited it. Mine drains more mana than yours and puts more stress on my body." He seemed a little interested "How do you know this?" He asked me, "When you're locked in a dungeon your entire childhood with no friends but the war prisoners you meet, you tend to catch up on these kinds of things."

"But the defensive field you conjured, you couldn't have learnt that anywhere. That, as you said felt as if you inherited it." I was searching through the memories of my childhood to see if my first family had shown me this at least once. "Sorry, can't support or reject that guess. My family have been long dead for a while." he was silent for a while

"And the beast?" I almost felt like hurting him at this point. "All you people care for is that thing. No, I wish I myself knew where that came from so that I can learn to rid myself of it, It is no friend Vexthel, I wish you would understand that." He shrugged "I'm a warlord, you can't blame me for thinking like this. Not when I could have a trump card up my sleeve." I stopped and was taken aback by his words, I knew it shouldn't but it hurt more than anything to think that I was just an expendable part of his wars.

"We're expecting a raid soon, ever been in one?" he suddenly decided to change the subject. "If by 'in one' you mean caught in the crossfire? Yes, multiple times. Who's raiding?" He chuckled a bit "Jardia, not like they'd win, no one would dare stand against me." I rolled my eyes and could hear the recruits heading into the arena for practice. "Does Molarus not recognise me? I thought that by now he'd be hunting me down."

Vexthel glanced at the trainees working on archery or getting food. "It's not that he doesn't recognise you, it's that he can't remember you. You see, the Knightshades themselves have a unique ability based on their character. For example, Molarus had faced lots of hardships and wished for them to never happen." I thought about it for a while, who would want something like that? "I'm guessing he got his wish." Vexthel nodded "His ability allows him to forget any memory for an extended period of time, it can't be permanent as it's impossible to truly forget something."

"So then how abou-" I stopped dead as we were interrupted "Milord!" I heard a female voice say, "It's the Jardians, they're here." Vexthel turned to me "Rally the recruits, they're here faster than I expected."

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I had rallied all the soldiers that were awake and agreed to meet Vexthel at the port. "Glad to see you completed your task, How are you with a bow?" Geez, he's going to piss me off if he keeps his hopes up like this. "I don't use them, too much patience is involved." Molarus spoke up next to me, "Sir, I excel with a bow, where do you want me?" Vexthel pointed to a bridge leading to a large building. As Molarus rushed off, I noticed a larger soldier with a greatsword on his back chased after him.

"Vex, is that?" He nodded "Yes, Lance thinks highly of Molarus, it's hard to see them separated. Now about you, you seem to excel in combat magic. I believe you should be best sent to edge of the cliffs to hold back attackers." I looked to where he was pointing, there were two large cliffs that led down to the docks, where the Jardian forces were going to be coming from.