I woke up and yawned deeply. Vera was cooking something, and it smelled great. “’Morning,” I said with a smile on my face.

“Good morning,” she replied, glancing at me then returning to her task. I took another pill, swallowing it with some saliva. I looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly through the glass, illuminating the room. It was early in the morning.

Vera brought me a dish of rice and vegetables with a spoon. The tantalizing scent of the food made me realize how hungry I was. “Thanks,” I said, and ate quickly but doing my best to remain civilized.

“Are you going to leave after this?” the woman asked.

“I should, as I need to take care of a few things,” I answered without looking up from my plate. “How is your apothecary recently? Is the business doing well?” I asked, attempting to start a conversation.”

“Unfortunately, no. Although many are sick, the townspeople have no coins to buy my medicine. I wish I could make it cheaper, but I’ve made it the lowest it can go without going below the cost to make it. The ingredients aren’t cheap,” she replied, sighing. Her face was ridden with worry, and I noticed that signs of wrinkles were already showing.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it. I finished my meal and handed the plate to the lady and thanked her. I began to put my armor, starting from the bottom and finishing with the helmet. I kept the visor up, as I did not want to appear hostile to the local folk. I planned to keep out of trouble, as the guard had advised.

“Thank you,” I thanks Vera. I handed her a gold coin and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Her cheeks turned red.

“I’m not a prostitute!” she said angrily, trying to give me back the coin. I realized that she had taken the gesture of kindness the wrong way.

“Calm down, it’s not for that. It’s just to show my thanks for your hospitality,” I replied in a kind tone.

“Oh, I see. Sorry about that,” Vera said, embarrassed. “You can stop by and receive some more ‘hospitality’ whenever you like,” the beauty said flirtatiously with a wink. “Stay safe, my knight.” The redhead gave me a peck on the cheek, and bade me farewell.

“Goodbye. I will come again, as I was pleased with your ‘services,’” I replied with a smile. I picked up my sword and hooked it onto my armor, walking out the door. I stopped and looked back at Vera, and she smiled at me. I was about to exit when I remembered something.

“Vera, where can I get my sword sharpened and my armor polished?” I asked her.

“A man runs a place on the right of my store. He can do that for you, although he may not be very friendly,” the beauty answered.

“Thank you, and goodbye for the final time,” I said and exited the apothecary. I looked for the place Vera had described. It did not take much searching to find the building, which was right next to Vera’s place as she had said.The door was closed, and the place seemed uninviting. I entered the place. There was a tall, muscular man vigorously sharpening a sword on a whetstone. There were wrinkles on his forehead and his hair was turning grey. He had heard me enter, but did not even look up from his work.

“Hello,” I greeted the man. “I would like to have my armor polished and sword sharpened.”

“Just set it over there on the table,” he said. I began removing my armor and setting it on the wooden surface. I removed my coins and medicine from the shoe and held them tightly in my hand. I was a little uneasy about giving this man my only weapon, leaving myself unarmed. I tried to erase my worries and set my blade with my armor. I had a seat in a chair in the corner. A minute later, the man took a look at my items.

“This will take an hour at most. That will be two silvers,” the man gruffly said. I stood up and found that I only had two gold, one silver and three bronze.

“Only got a gold, sorry,” I apologized. “Mind giving me back three silvers?” I asked. Without response, he took my coin and handed me back three dull silver ones. The man got to work, starting by cleaning the rust off my sword. I watched as he applied something to it and began to scrub the brown stains off. He paid extra attention to the red jewel in the hilt, carefully wiping dust and dirt off. When he was finished, the blade was a bright steel color and looked new. The jewel shone a brilliant crimson. The man proceeded to apply some oil on the whetstone and sharpen sharpen the edges of the blade, moving his arm forward and backwards repeatedly.

Some time later, the man carefully laid down my sword and began polishing my armor. He placed a few drops of oil on a cloth and began rubbing away at the rust. The process took a long time, as there were many pieces of armor that needed to be polished. Once he was done, he inspected his work. My sword and armor laid shining on the table, appearing new aside from a few scratches. I was impressed.

The man looked at me and spoke. “Say, you look like an experienced fighter. Once upon a time, this old man was a champion. I bet you didn’t expect that, eh?” I was surprised, and the man smirked and continued. “I’ll get to the point. I challenge you to duel with stakes. If I win, I get to keep that red jewel in your sword and replace it with some common stone. I have never seen anything like it before. If you win, however,” he thought for a moment. “If you win, I will give you my trusty bow and a quiver full of arrows. These old hands can’t work it anymore, it’s no use to me.”

I considered his proposition for a moment. A bow would be useful, and my jewel did nothing but shine. On the other hand, I did not know how good of a fighter he was, or even me. A few hard minutes of pondering later, I made my choice.

I picked up my polished sword from the table and retrieved my chestplate and helmet. I put them on, slipping the visor down. I stood in a defensive stance, gripping my blade with both hands. The jewel glowed a crimson red, as if filled with blood. My opponent smiled and retrieved a long blade and similar pieces of armor from underneath the table. The hilt was oriental, and contained a sparkling bronze stone. He slipped on his armor and held his sword with both hands, staying in that position for a few moments, sweat beginning to drip from his forehead. His helmet did not cover his face, leaving it unmasked. We stood across from each other in the small room. “Don’t aim to kill,” he said. I nodded in agreement.

I made no move to make the first strike, for I first needed to know his skill. My enemy took that as an opportunity and with lightning speed, he stepped forward and made a quick slash at my chest. I deflected the blow with some effort and found that my opponent was quite strong. I began to worry, for perhaps I had overestimated myself or underestimated my opponent. However, this was no time for doubt. I followed the parry with a stab at his protected chest, which he knocked aside with little effort.

My opponent unleashed a flurry of slashes directed at me, going offensive. The swordsman first attempted an overhead blow which I avoided by stepping to the side. Then, my opponent did something astonishing: after missing me with his first attack, he used his momentum to quickly spin around on one toe, executing the movement with perfect balance. The spin allowed him to rapidly attack again in the same direction while leaving very little time for me to prepare another counter. Unprepared, I registered what had just happened just as the blade came swinging towards me. Panicked, I leaped backwards. I found myself pressed flat against the wall, and I could see my opponent smiling. He stood still as a stone for a few seconds, challenging me to fight back. I was trapped in a corner, and had no other option. I made two fast steps towards my opponent and feinted a blow at his head. When he leaned back to avoid the tip of the blade, I tried to swipe his legs out from under him. However, I only managed to take one foot out from under him, and he quickly balanced himself before I could take advantage of his weakness.

“So you want to play dirty, eh?” the man asked, slowly backing up away from me and closer to the other wall. “Because I have a few tricks up my sleeve too,” my opponent said, smirking, and began charging at me. I did not expect this act of boldness and recklessness, and had only a moment to decide my next move as the enemy raised his sword in the air for a downwards strike, the bronze stone in the hilt shining brightly. I held onto my blade tightly and readied myself.. I raised my sword to meet his and they collided with great force. However, my opponent was less affected by the recoil of the blow, and quickly slashed at me again from the side. I parried the blow and he rapidly spun his sword around and brought the pommel of his weapon towards me. Something metal glinted on the pommel and my eyes widened as I realized there was a small, unnoticeable dagger protruding from it. The swordsman had meant it when he said he could play dirty too. The small blade could actually cut through my armor and kill me. I kneed him in the groin as hard as I can. My opponent had clearly not expected this, and doubled over for a second, allowing me to recover and counterattack. I brought down my sword towards his armored back with all my strength in order to end this fight. In a flash, the enemy brought his blade up to meet mine, and with a loud scraping of steel on steel, our weapons were knocked out of our hands like us two, who were sprawling on the floor on our bottoms.

We stood up. My opponent removed his helmet and chestplate and kicked his sword aside. He assumed a hand-to-hand fighting stance, fists hovering in front of the face. “We will fight like men!” the man shouted. I realized what he was proposing and followed suit. We were both unarmed in a fight to the end. This time, I made the first move. I stepped forward and swung one first at his face. As I predicted, my opponent stuck out a hand to catch my fist. With my other hand, I grabbed his wrist tightly, not letting go. I stepped on one of his feed and kneed him in the stomach. I was about to knock him to the ground when suddenly, his other foot hooked around my ankle and flipped me over. I was now lying on the ground on my stomach. I quickly rolled right side up just in time to see his fist flying towards my face. I rolled to the side again and this time, he aimed right below my ribs, attempting to knock the wind out of me. I caught his fist and used it to pull him towards me as I aimed a kick below his ribs. I successfully accomplished what my opponent had tried to do to me and knocked the wind out of him. He was caught by surprise, and I used this opportunity to pull him to the ground beside me. I rolled over him and put one hand around his throat and used the other hand to direct blows at his face, which he weakly deflected with his two hands. My knee was on his stomach, further restricting his breathing. After half a minute, I heard a hoarse croak.

“You-” he coughed. “win,” my opponent said, forcing the words out of his constricted throat. I immediately ceased my attacks and released him. I began to put on my armor as the swordsman slowly stood up, coughing blood. This went on for a few minutes before he walked into his home behind the store. He came out with a bucket of water and a bow and quiver full of arrows.

The man raised the bucket up and drank greedily, swallowing as much as he could. An eternity later, he slammed the container down on the table, droplets of water flying onto the wooden surface. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hands and sighed a deep, heavy sigh of relief. He smiled at me and said, “That was a great fight. I have not been defeated in ages, although my age is catching up to me.” The swordsman chuckled at his own joke. Then he raised his head and looked me in the eye, dead serious. “No ordinary knight can possibly be capable of defeating me, for despite my age, I am still fast and strong. Who are you?”

“My name is Shadow.” I replied to the man, uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. “That’s all you need to know,” I added.

The light returned to the man’s eyes. “You are right. That is not my business.” He picked up the bow and handed it to me. It was made of a smooth, flexible wood. There were expertly carved engravings carved on it that gave it a hollow eerie beauty. The string was strung tightly and was made of a very strong yet flexible material. At the grip of the bow was a red shard with a crimson color identical to the jewel on my sword. “It was my father’s, and although it pains me to part with it, I have no son of my own to pass it on to. It is yours now,” the man said. He handed me the quiver with eight steel-tipped arrows with delicate feathers on the ends. On the quiver there was also a stone similar to the one on the bow. It was obvious that they had been made together by the same person. I found a place to hook it to on the back of my armor, and gently placed the bow in there with the arrows.

“What is your name?” I asked the man who had gifted me such an exquisite set.

“Erebus,” he answered. “Take care of the bow,” he said. “And yourself,” Erebus added.

I nodded. “I will,” I replied, and began to exit the place. “Thank you, Erebus.” I exited his store and walked towards the exit of the city on the opposite side of which I had entered it. On the way, I saw a board with papers pinned to it. On the top was one that caught my eye. “The Freedom Union offers five thousand gold to any man who can topple the corrupt throne of King Moros. Be warned, anyone who attempts this feat, for he is extremely dangerous. King Moros is said to be an excellent swordsman and rumored to possess magic. He resides in a dark castle in the forbidden lands. We bid anyone who challenges the black king good luck, for you will need it,” the passage finished. Below was a square where I assumed was supposed to be a portrait of the man, but it was empty.

It seemed like a death wish to challenge this king, and it very likely was, for no man had ever fought King Moros and lived to tell the tale. I looked up into the skies and saw a sight that had been previously hidden by fog and clouds. A lone mountain stood in the distance. There was a black castle built on top of it, and even looking at it sent a chill down my spine, causing me to shudder. However, I felt a strange calling towards the forbidden soil. It was fate’s calling, beckoning for me to gamble my life on a perilous journey.

---