“Rose!?” Dahlia said. “W-Why come out!? Go back inside!”

But instead of retreating backwards, Rose stood her ground for a few seconds. There was a choice she needed to make for herself, and she knew the direction of her next step would decide it.

Everyone watched as she quietly stood there with her head low, while visibly shaking.

“I’m guessing you’re the girl,” Iris suddenly said. “Well isn’t it a bit pointless to just stand there?”

Rose then took a single step forward. “I-I…I’ll go too,” she stuttered.

Iris squinted her eyes. “I can’t hear you from all the way there. Why don’t you come here and tell me what you have to say?”

After a moment of hesitation, Rose began to walk through the guards.

“You don’t have to go,” said a guard, as she walked past.

She recognised the man as the rider who had escorted her to town. But Rose didn’t stop, and eventually reached Iris.

“So, what did you say?” Iris asked.

“I’ll go too,” Rose replied.

Iris sighed. She then retracted the bladed end of her whip away from Dahlia.

“Looks like she’s choosing to cooperate. So how about we stop fighting and get going?”

Dahlia tried to walk to Rose, but Iris stopped her.

“If you want to say something, say it there,” Iris said.

After passing Iris an angry look, Dahlia soon looked toward Rose.

“Why did you come out? I said we would keep you safe.”

Rose became teary eyed as she looked down. She then lifted her head and looked at Dahlia.

“E-Everyone has been so nice to me. I-I just don’t want to see anyone get hurt because of me anymore,” she said.

As Dahlia was about to quickly respond, she seemed to change her mind as tears formed in Rose’s eyes. After a few seconds, she smiled.

“I…I understand,” she replied. “Thank you Rose.”

The tears from Rose’s eye’s began to fall. Even with how hectic the situation was, hearing someone thank her reinforced that she had made the right choice. In that moment, it didn’t matter if she was to be taken away by the bandits.

After accepting her flaws for so long, she had now taken her first steps toward a new desire echoing inside her mind.

She no longer wanted to be a burden.

“Rose…” Iris said, as she looked at her. “There’s something familiar about—”

However, she suddenly took a step away from Rose. “W-What are you doing!?”

Rose had suddenly began to glow a bright pink colour. Initially being only a dull shine, it increasingly began to become brighter. Everyone staggered backwards due to it’s intensity—with most having to cover their eyes.

Then, a soft shock wave burst out from Rose—dispersing the light outwards. The snow both on the ground and falling around them briefly turned pink, but eventually faded back to white.

When the light from Rose finally subsided, it revealed a strange change in her appearance.

No longer was she wearing her long black skirt and pink sleeveless shirt. With a new black dress, shoes and short pink cape covering her shoulders—Rose had emerged in new elegant clothing.

There was a silence, as everyone there stared at her.

“W-Who are you?” Dahlia and Iris asked at the same time.

But before Rose could say anything, a click sound came from behind Iris. When she looked to see what it was, the masked person was kneeling on the ground—wrapping bandages around their wounded arms.

It seemed they had pulled them out from their bag, which was now on the floor and open. With the heart shaped lock unlocked and now dangling, the masked person grabbed something else from out of the bag.

Two daggers.

“What the…” Iris said, as she watched them stand up.

After a few air tosses and thrusts of the daggers, the masked person firmly held it in their hand as they looked straight at Iris.

Iris smiled. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I can see our performance continues.”

She moved Dahlia to the side and began to approach them. As soon as Iris began to spin her whip, the second round of their fight immediately began—and the start of it mimicked their previous clash.

With Iris still keeping a distance between them, the masked person was back to being on the defensive. But with two daggers, it was now easier to deflect her attacks instead of simply dodging. This allowed the masked person to more easily approach her compared to before.

But outside their battle, there was a sudden commotion from behind the bandit circle.

It seemed more guards had arrived—with some of them wet from the shoulders up, indicating they had recently been splashed with water. As a fight soon broke out, the guards at the Inn also joined in and focused on the bandit’s inner circle.

Now, everyone but Rose and Dahlia were in a fight. But even so, the fight between Iris and the masked person continued in the middle.

The masked person had managed to close the gap, but Iris once again started to twirl as she prepared her final attack. However, before she could do so, the masked person threw one of the daggers at her. Unable to both attack and defend herself against it, she altered her swing and instead blocked the incoming dagger.

However—as it bounced away—the masked person rushed in and delivered a kick to her stomach. They then grabbed the whip with their unarmed hand and went in to slash her with the dagger. But she quickly let go and jumped back.

It seemed the masked person had gained the upper hand, as she now bore no weapon.

“Nice trick,” Iris said as she held her stomach, but with a large grin on her face.

“But he taught me the performance is not over until you lose all your weapons,” she said, as she then clenched her fists. “I still have two left.”

In response, the masked person gripped harder onto their daggers and prepared to fight on.

But suddenly, the neigh of a horse echoed at the other end of town.

Rose, Dahlia, Iris and the masked person were the only one’s to notice—seeing as everyone else continued to fight.

As they looked to where the neigh came from, they saw a horse with a rider atop it. However it was dark in the distance, making it hard to see who the rider was.

“Who is that?” Iris said.

Dahlia took a closer look. Her eyes then widened. “B-But why?”

The horse soon took a few steps forward, allowing the rider to be seen.

Iris glared at them. “Sir Romance…”

With the reveal that Sir Romance was the rider, he soon lifted his thumb and finger to his mouth. After a loud whistle, everyone soon had stopped fighting and the town became quiet.

“What is happening here?” he asked, as everyone now faced him.

But there was a silence in response, as his appearance was a sudden one. He then began to scan the town, looking at each person there.

After a few seconds, his eye’s stopped on the masked person.

“So you followed us even here,” he said. “I know you were the one trailing us on our journey.”

He then noticed their open bag on the floor. “You’ve opened it? How is that possib—”

Sir Romance’s attention then immediately shifted to Rose, as he looked at her new clothing. He then stared at a heart shaped jewel attached to the middle of her shoulder cape.

“So it was her you were following,” he said. “It seem’s that she is the one after all.”

He then looked at the masked person again. “But for the bag to open to a thief such as you. I wonder. Who exactly is behind that mask?”

They stared at one another as a silence followed.

“Where are the others?”

Iris suddenly spoke, drawing Sir Romance’s attention to her.

“I know you ran into Baron’s group yesterday,” she said. “Why have you returned, but they have not?”

However he did not respond, and quietly looked down.

Iris began to look irritated. “Why did that girl over there have Baron’s coat?”

Sir Romance continued to sit silently on his horse.

“I can still see it in your eye’s,” Iris said. “I haven’t seen you in months, but I can still clearly see the resentment in your eye’s.”

She gritted her teeth. “You still blame us for her death, don’t you?”

Sir Romance kept his head low, and did not respond.

“So is that why you’re here?” Iris said as she took a step forward. “Do you now seek revenge for the queen’s death?”

Sir Romance’s eye’s widened as he then lifted his head.

“Revenge? Did that fool…did Cupid tell you such a thing?” he said as his voice grew louder. “Do not insult me with such a motive.”

“THEN ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE THEY!? Iris suddenly shouted, as tears began to drop from her eye’s.

After her voice echoed across town, she slowly began to compose herself and wiped away the tears.

“No one but our group is aware of this yet,” she said. “But it’s time everyone here knows the truth. For months, many from our group have gone missing and all but vanished. However we recently discovered what had happened to them.”

Her voice began to wobble. “We found dozens of them, but only their bodies. They were scattered in discreet areas, and not a single one of them was alive.”

There was some shocked stares between the guards, as quiet gasps whispered from nearby houses.

She took a step forward. “The only sightings of the culprit were from travelling townsfolk, but never anyone from our group. Every witness we found described this person as being some sort of large knight like figure.”

Iris clenched her fists as she looked at Sir Romance. “I still don’t want to believe you had anything to do with the person who did this, but I need you to answer me right now. What happened to Baron and his men?”

Sir Romance kept silent for a few seconds, as everyone waited for a response. But before he could do so, Dahlia suddenly took a step forward. With her hand lowered, she was holding the letter that was given to her earlier.

“King….Sir Romance,” she said. “What is this all about? Why would she think you’re involved in something like that?”

She gripped the letter tighter. “Did…did something happen at the castle? Is that why I have not received a letter for so long? Does any of this have to do with why you’ve been avoiding me?”

Sir Romance slowly closed his eye’s, and then opened them again.

“After….after the incident, I was lost for many months,” he said. “I was in a dark place, which was made even darker as I received news of the kingdom beginning to lose it’s way. Hearing that the towns were quarrelling once again was hard to hear, especially seeing how they had just began to love one another’s differences.”

A slight smile then formed on his face. “But then a miracle happened. Someone appeared, and showed me the light that I thought would never return. And with their guidance, I have now found a way to fix everything.”

Sir Romance looked at Dahlia. “To restore the love the kingdom’s people once felt for each other, sacrifices must be made. You must trust me, for I now require your help in order to bring back everything we’ve lost. And Iris—”

“WHERE IS BARON!”

Iris suddenly retrieved her whip from the masked person, and ran forward. She then did a spin and shot it straight toward Sir Romance in the distance.

It however, didn’t hit him.

Something had deflected it, and caused it to ricochet away.

“What….what is that?” one of the bandit’s said, as they stepped back in fear.

In front of Sir Romance, was an armoured hand holding a large sword. It had appeared from a pink like mist that slowly began to grow in size.

As it grew wider, a large figure seemed to emerge from inside. Metal greaves appeared from the bottom of the mist, and stepped onto the snowy ground.

After a few seconds, the mist slowly faded away.

“No. It can’t be,” Iris said.

Everyone was now staring at a large figure that had appeared from within the mist. Wearing a metal armour—with a cloak running under it from bottom to top, was a tall hooded knight. They were wielding the large sword that deflected Iris’s attack.

“It…it’s the Wondering Knight!” a bandit shouted.

As the bandit’s began to shiver in fear, the large knight took a step to the side—moving out of Sir Romance’s way.

“Dahlia. Will you come with me?” he asked.

Still gripping the letter and shaking, Dahlia slowly shook her head to say no.

“That is disappointing to see,” Sir Romance said. “It seem’s you’ve forgotten all that I have done for this kingdom. And it also seems you’ve forgotten what this kingdom took from me in return, and the great debt it now owes.”

The Wondering Knight began to walk forward, and Sir Romance watched as it approached them.

“You’ve left me with no other choice. I know what is best for this kingdom. I always have.”

In anger, Iris ran forward and started to spin her whip. However—when she swung it at the large knight—it simply grabbed it. Iris tried to pull it out of it’s hand, but the knight continued walking forward while winding the whip around it’s hand.

It eventually made it’s way right up to her.

She looked up at it’s metal helmet inside the hood, but there was just darkness within. It then reached it’s hand out to grab Iris, but she was suddenly pushed out of the way by one of her men.

Soon, dozens of bandits were now in front of the knight.

“You will pay for what you’ve done to the others,” one of them said.

They then all rushed at it, but were immediately pushed back as the knight did a massive swing with their sword. As they all fell to the ground, the knight looked at Dahlia and began to walk to her.

Suddenly, a small dagger came flying toward it’s helmet. But it easily caught it at the last second and threw it to the ground. When the knight looked over at the direction it came from, it saw that it was thrown by the masked person.

The masked person ran up to it and threw their other dagger at their helmet once more. It was immediately smacked away by the knight, but allowed the masked person to retrieve their other dagger and slide between the knights legs.

After swiping at both metal greaves, the masked person stood up but saw there was no damage to their armoured legs. They then ran toward the knight again, and attempted to attack them from behind. But the large knight quickly turned around and swung their massive sword.

Using the small dagger to block, the masked person simply went flying and crashed into some crates near a building. The knight then continued it’s walk to Dahlia, and soon came up to the guards in front of her.

The head guard looked up at the giant knight, as it slowly approached.

“M-My King…..what is this thing?” he said.

“Please move,” Sir Romance replied.

“I…I cannot do that my King. My job is to protect the townsfolk—”

But the knight suddenly walked forward and picked the man up by his throat. As he struggled to breathe, his face began to turn bright red. The other guards watched in horror, and appeared too scared to react.

“Don’t,” Sir Romance said.

The knight then threw the man to the side, causing him to crash onto the snowy ground and gasp for air. It then began to walk forward, but it appeared the guard who Iris had caused to faint earlier was awake once again. Clearly still disoriented, the man ran toward the massive knight—but it simply swung it’s fist to the side and hit him to the ground.

He was now unconscious once again.

Soon it was upon Dahlia. Rose—similar to the guards, was also frozen in place. She watched as the knight reached it’s hand out to Dahlia, and all she could do was watch.

But then it quickly turned, and blocked an attack from two different sources. The first was Iris’s bladed whip. The second was one of the masked persons daggers. Their weapons rebounded of it’s massive sword, allowing the masked person to catch their own as it bounced right above them.

“I’m not done with you,” Iris said to the knight.

Iris and the masked person then began to fight the knight once again, but this time together.

While they fought, a horse suddenly came up from behind Dahlia and Rose. Riding it was the elderly Inn keeper, who then got off and brought the horse up to them.

“You need to leave here,” he said to Dahlia. “I saw the seal on the letter you got. The Oracle wants to see you doesn’t she?”

Dahlia nodded.

“Then go. She probably understands why all this is happening. Why the King is doing this.”

Dahlia looked down and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them with a determined stare. She hugged the innkeeper and then got up on the horse. After riding the horse forward, she reached her hand down to Rose.

“Grab on,” she said, as she pulled Rose up behind her.

She then rode through the guards and bandits, reaching the knight. But distracted by Iris’s continuous attacks, it was unable to react to the approaching horse.

Dahlia reached out her hand as she rode passed the masked person. It happened in a split second, but there was a clear moment of hesitation that came from the small figure. Even so, they grabbed on and sat at the back of the horse—but facing backwards.

“Iris!” Dahlia shouted. “Come with us!”

As some bandit’s rushed to Iris’s aid, she took a step back and looked at her.

“No, just go. I’ve finally found the one responsible for everything,” she said. “King Cupid will continue to look for you. I would advise you to go to him, as he’s the only one who can guarantee your safety.”

The knight then spotted Dahlia upon the horse, and rushed toward her. But Iris swung her whip around it’s legs and stopped it. The head guard then appeared from behind the horse and blocked the knights path with some of his men.

“Go!” Iris and the head guard shouted.

As a tear fell from Dahlia’s eye’s, she quickly turned the horse around.

It was then Rose made eye contact with Sir Romance, who was still on his horse in the distance.

She couldn’t help but see a gruelling sadness in his eye’s, just like before. Then, he began to mouth something silently. Rose could not hear what he said, but recognised the movement of his lips from the time at the camp.

“Nothing will change if you just accept things the way they are.”

Rose then had a realisation, as memories of the past flowed in.

The moment Sir Romance told her to look at him when she fell out the carriage.

The moment she saw an arm and large footprint in the snow.

The moment she felt a sinister aura that scared the wolf away.

The one that killed the wolf and dropped it outside their tent.

The one that got rid of the bandit’s who stopped them.

It was all the doing of the Wondering Knight.

Suddenly, the masked person slapped the back of the horse—causing it to ride in the opposite direction of the king. When they rode out of town, Dahlia turned and began to ride through the forest. There seemed to be a path she was following, but it was clearly still difficult to manoeuvre through the trees.

“We have to find the others,” Dahlia said, as she put the letter in her pocket.

“The others?” Rose asked.

“The other princesses,” Dahlia replied, as she then briefly looked back at Rose. “Sorry I didn’t properly introduce myself. I am Dahlia, the princess of Aoser.”

She looked ahead again. “There are five of us, and we are all from the five great towns of the kingdom. Each of these towns are different from one another, as they all have their own unique culture based around the five love languages. And each town has a princess that represents this. I of course represent the act’s of service love language.”

The horse began to run faster. “We must gather the others and go to see the Oracle, who resides in Lover’s Sanctuary. And I am sure that is where you woke up.”

“The Oracle,” Rose replied. “I remember Sir…Sir Romance calling the woman I met there that name.”

“Not just anyone can enter the sanctuary,” Dahlia said. “So when I heard you describe the place you woke up in, I realised that you must be an important person. And that strange transformation you did pretty much convinced me of it too.”

Rose looked at her new clothes. “I’m not really sure how this happened.”

A few seconds went by as they continued to ride through the forest.

“How about we give the one behind you a name?” Dahlia suddenly said.

It was then Rose remembered the masked person was sitting at the back of the horse.

“There seems to be a connection between the two of you, seeing how their bag opened after you finished glowing. Since their usually a companion for hire, how about we just call them ‘The Companion’,” Dahlia said.

Rose now understood why Dahlia said she wasn’t really a creative person.

“Yeah I know. It’s a simple name, but I kinda like it,” Dahlia said.

The Companion didn’t respond.

Suddenly, the piece of paper Rose had put back in her hair band flew out. The Companion caught it as it flew back, and quietly handed it back to her. When Rose looked at it, something on it seemed to have changed. It now read:

Romance Fundamental

Trial 1 - Take the first step to create the change you desire. COMPLETE✓

But before Rose could wonder what it meant, she noticed something strange above the paper. In the centre of her shoulder cape—was a pink heart shape jewel shining brightly.

Suddenly, Dahlia lowered her head. “Duck!”

But the warning came too late. When Rose looked up, there was a tree branch coming right toward her—above Dahlia’s head. Unable to react in time, Rose simply closed her eyes in reflex.

However—before it hit her, something happened.

Rose woke up.