Nero watched the dark fields.

Night had fallen and he took the first watch over the camp. The events that took place earlier seemed to gnaw at him. The sight of a broken man was unsettling, especially when it was your friend. Alex had lost everything in his life in just a few moments. His family had been slaughtered and there was nothing he could’ve done to save them.

Nero looked over his shoulder, his teammates were sleeping on mats they had packed for the journey. Even the captain was taking a rest, despite being uptight most of the time.

Alex slept restlessly, his body was shaking and he was covered in sweat. Aria was cuddled next to him attempting to comfort him through the night. The captain took his sword away just in case he tried to end his own life again.

As Nero looked into the field, he noticed movements in the shadows. There was a group of people watching their camp from afar. Nero had been watching them for a while now, waiting to see if they dared to come any closer. No doubt it was members of the Dead Eye gang who came across the bloody mess the group had left behind earlier that day. Nero was easily able to see into the darkness, he saw that there were about 15 of them and he made it seem unobvious that he knew they were there.

After a while, the bandits disappeared into the night. It seems they were just scouting at the moment.

Nero looked up to the sky. There was a galaxy of stars before him, they seemed to beckon him. He wished he could fly to them and take part in their eternal dance. However, the moon caught his attention the most. It was large, taking up a fraction of the sky. It had an orange hue to it that was reminiscent of a wolfs eye. He began to stare deeper into it, and his surrounding vision turned to darkness.

Before he knew it, he was in the dark waters once more. The strange place in his mind that almost felt like a true home.

“Did I fall asleep?” Nero said to himself.

After a moment, a faint voice was heard from the eternal blackness.

“No...”

Nero recognized the voice; it was the other side of him. The shadow who lurked inside of his mind.

“Come out.” Nero said.

A dark figure appeared from the blackness. He was a shadow made up of pure darkness, he even stood out in the void around them.

“So... we finally meet in person.”

Nero realized that the shadow had the same figure as him. Perhaps he really was the “other-Nero.”

“You’ve been quiet for a while, I thought you died.” Nero joked.

The shadow tilted its head, as if to show perplexation.

“I will only die once you do. And you do not die easily.”

“So, if you’re the “past me”, why are you here?” Nero asked.

“I’m not exactly the “past you”, just a fraction of who he was.”

“What can you tell me about myself? Why am I here? Why was I asleep for 2,000 years?” Nero asked frantically.

“I don’t know as much as you think. However, I know you were a King. King of the Night Elves. They called you Nero the Ruthless, The Black Wolf. You were a legendary warrior.”

Nero chuckled and beamed with excitement.

“A king, huh? I had a vision not too long ago; I saw what happened right before I slumbered. Why was I put to sleep?” Nero asked.

The shadow didn’t answer.

“I asked you a question.” Nero said with frustration.

“I can only guess that you led the Night Elves to their doom. Perhaps you were punished by exile. Or maybe your closest followers tried to save you from execution by putting you to sleep and sealing you away.”

Nero groaned in impatience.

“You don’t have the answers either.” He spoke.

“You aren’t asking the right questions. I wasn’t designed to be a history teacher.”

Nero sat down in the shallow dark waters.

“Then why are you here? What are you?” Nero asked.

“The past you, the real you, predicted he’d be put to sleep with the miasma. He knew that losing his memories was a possibility. So, he put a very small part of himself into his unconscious. He was right, you now have no memories and I was awakened when you drew power from the moon while being tortured.”

“What is your purpose then?”

The shadow chuckled.

“I am here to teach you how to be, well... you again. You may think you are strong now, but you haven’t even reached 10% of your full power. Being asleep 2,000 years will do that to you. However, when I take control of your body, I’m able to take you to 20%, but it comes at a high physical cost for you.”

Nero was in complete awe, he wanted to get stronger.

“When I was fighting Eclissa, she was about to kill me, but you stepped in and instantly turned the tide of the fight. She’s one of the strongest knights alive and you weren’t even trying that hard. Are you saying that at full power I could be the strongest person alive?”

“Possibly, but there could be people out there who are stronger. We may never know.”

“Well, I want to start learning more about Night Magic. What can you teach me?” Nero asked with excitement.

The shadow shook its head.

“I can only teach you by taking control of your body. I’m like the key to reawakening your muscle memory, if you will. I’m coded to know what to do, but I am unable to teach you like this.”

Nero grew more frustrated.

“All I want are answers, Shadow.”

Shadow paused for a moment.

“Shadow, I like that name. I don’t know why, but it suits me.”

“Was... that a joke? Did you make a joke?” Nero laughed.

Shadow laughed with him a bit, but then grew quiet.

“Nero, pay attention.”

Nero opened his eyes. He was back at the campsite with his team and he was sitting on a large rock that faced the field.

Dawn was beginning to break.

“Was I sleeping during that time? Or perhaps in a trance?” He thought to himself.

He looked over his shoulder and saw that the captain was awake, he was boiling water by the fire, to make tea no doubt. Nero joined him and knelt down next to the campfire. The captain looked at him, and then looked at Stella, who was still sleeping. He looked back at Nero and began to talk quietly.

“Today will be very dangerous. Make sure you protect the Princess; I still don’t believe she is ready for combat.” The captain said.

“Who knows, maybe she’ll surprise us.” Nero said back quietly.

The captain then looked at Alex, he was worried about him.

“Look Nero, the only capable fighters right now are you, me and Aria. We have to take down an entire fort of dangerous bandits and I believe their leader is among them, he’s a powerful warrior.”

The captain handed Nero a hot cup of tea.

“Who is their leader?” Nero asked.

“His name is Samson. He is no bandit, but a rogue knight.” The captain replied.

Nero sipped his tea.

“A rogue knight? I hadn’t even considered that possible, knights all seem so loyal to the guild and king.” Nero said.

The captain stared into the fire and drank from his cup.

“It’s rare for a knight to go rogue, but the ones that do, they’re always strong. Samson was an awarded golden knight. We will not take him lightly.” The captain said.

The captain stood up and approached his sleeping comrades.

“Wake up. All of you.” He ordered.

Alex sat up quickly and let out a horrified scream. Stella and Aria jolted up as well and reached for their weapons, but ceased when they realized there was no danger. Alex was breathing heavily; he wasn’t wearing his armor so the sweat covering his body was noticeable.

The captain kneeled in front of his comrades.

“Today is the day. We are going to scout Fort Highpoint and plan an attack. I know yesterday wasn’t a good introduction into knighthood, Alex, I know you lost your family. But we need to be strong today. We need to kill these bandits and free this land from their tyranny.” The captain said.

Alex looked visibly angry now. His rage focused him. He began putting his armor on and put his shield on his back.

“Where’s my sword?” He said impatiently.

The captain looked up at him.

“Alex, I think you should stay behind to watch the camp while we scout ahead.” The captain said.

Alex quickly turned to him with an angry look.

“Watch the camp?! You want me to watch the fire? The bedrolls and Stella’s books?! Where is my sword?!” Alex yelled.

The captain quickly stood up and pinned Alex against a tree.

“Kid, I’m sorry about your family, but you’d do best to remember who you’re speaking to. You follow my orders, and I order you to grieve. You don’t need a sword to do that.” The captain said sternly.

Alex began shaking with anger.

“Fuck you Captain, respectfully.” Alex said with a smirk.

The captain saw that Alex was just trying to pick a fight, he wasn’t in his right mind after all. The captain let go of Alex and walked behind a nearby tree. He returned with Alex’s sword and tossed it to him. Alex caught the sword and just stood still, unsure what to do next.

“We don’t even have to worry about the bandits killing you, you’ll do that yourself.” The captain laughed.

Alex rushed the captain but was stopped by Aria and Stella.

“You had no right to say that captain.” Stella said angrily.

Alex fell to his knees and looked down to the ground, he went silent.

“Watch the damn camp, that’s an order. The rest of you, we are leaving now.” The captain ordered.

Nero was watching them in silence. Although he did feel bad for Alex, there was something inside of him that resented his weakness. He would not act on it though because he had no idea how Alex felt after the events of yesterday. Nero stood up as the captain walked away from the camp and he began to follow him.

Stella gave Alex a hug and left with them, Aria stayed back for a bit but eventually joined up with the group, who was now on the grassy path once more.

The group walked in silence, if this was their introduction to knighthood, it was not a good one. Eventually, the captain took them up a rocky hill that was shaded by trees. There was a cliff on the top and when the group arrived, they looked down in awe. It was Fort Highpoint. The walls were pristine, there were no cracks or mold. There were also 2 small towers on each side of the fort, each one had archers stationed along the top. The fort was made entirely of thick stone, and the only entry point was a large metal gate.

The captain sighed.

“This is going to be difficult.”

Nero observed the fort with his enhanced vision. He noticed that bandits were appearing from behind the fort, in the groups blind spot.

“There may be an entrance on the other side. I see bandits going in and out.”

The captain squinted, but could not see what Nero was talking about.

“Okay, I’ll try to get a different angle. You guys stay here and get a count on enemy heads.” The captain said as he began making his way around the cliff side.

Now that the captain was gone, Aria looked at Stella and Nero, and began expressing her feelings.

“The captain went too far with Alex, it’s like he no emotion at all.” She said quietly.

“I think he just wants Alex to be safe, he won’t be able to fight after what happened yesterday.” Stella replied.

Nero looked at them with doubt.

“No. He doesn’t want him to compromise the mission, if Alex had his way he’d just waltz right into the fort and try to take all the bandits on. That would get us all killed.” He replied.

Aria scoffed at Nero.

“I really hope you don’t turn out like the captain Nero. He hasn’t been the best role model so far.” She spoke.

“This is trial by fire, if you wanted a good role model you should’ve joined a trade guild.” Nero said as he began counting the enemies below.

After a few moments the captain returned with a smile.

“I have a plan. How many did you guys count out there?” He asked.

“20 archers on the towers and walls, 20 men on the ground. The rest are probably inside or scattered about the countryside.” Nero replied.

“Good work, I found a wooden gate on the other side. That’s where you saw the bandits entering and leaving. We will attack at night. Nero, you and me will scale the walls and take care of the archers quietly. Once we are done, Stella and Aria will break through the wooden gate. Without the archers, we should be able to take the ones on the ground by surprise. By the rest of the bandits are aware, it should be an even fight. We just have to watch out for their leader.” The captain spoke.

“Who’s their leader?” Stella asked.

“Their leader is a rogue golden knight named Samson. Me and Nero will take care of him when the time comes, He’s very strong. He has a special ability that allows him to...” The captain didn’t finish.

The captains skin turned pale; he was looking towards the front gate. Nero quickly turned his head and felt his heart drop.

Alex was walking towards the front gate, sword and shield in hand. The bandits noticed him and began gathering on the gates. Yelling was heard from down below; they were taunting him.

The captain began to breathe heavily.

“Damned fool!” He yelled as he began to scale the cliff.

“They’ll kill him!” Aria said as she followed.

Stella jumped down as well, leaving Nero alone on the cliff.

“Pathetic.”