Tears of a Knight

An hour after, Leomord that is deeply unconscious was brought back to the Fortress of Despair by Selena, a demon witch who saved him. Outside the fortress, the Acolytes yell in pain while being sacrificed and mutilated for Vexana, the Queen of the Damned. Beyond the sacrificial pit arise the dark energy came from the souls of the Acolytes. Vexana with an evil smile on its face showing satisfaction over morbidity. She turned around and sees Selena dragging Leomord towards her. "Here's your pet!"

"Your Dawn Maiden's there." shouts Selena.

"Don't you ever call me again for such a small thing like this!" Her devilish smile faded.

"Leomord... my..." reaches her hand on Leomord then Selena slaps her hand.

"Say, do you still have any plans of using him? If he's such a big sack for you, then you could handle him over me, how's that?"

Vexana furiously stared at Selena.

"Stay away from him! He's my only exemplary to complete my revenge against that damned...!"

Vexana gets agitated.

Selena laughs in a sarcastic manner.

"Goodness gracious! Am I the only one here who's noticing something?"

The crowd falls silent.

"Your majesty, he is not a suitable weapon for you to have your revenge on that Succubus, trust me," Selena laughed, continued.

"You cannot deal with me! Because whatever you do, I will still have him in my own premises. Better keep your mouth shut, my dear! Or you won't see tomorrow's grandeur." Vexana replied.

"To hell, I care though? yet, I'm still impressed by how you carry out that hotheadedness of yours in an unguarded status. I could've easily killed you if I would want to!" Selena chuckled.

"You little—" When they were almost at the peak of their fighting, Leomord suddenly mumbled. The two stopped.

"Maiden... My..." Leomord voiced out with an unclear voice.

Selena's mood begins to change as she hear Leomord's mumbling about the Dawn Maiden.

"The Abyss's call then... I should be going." Selena leaped out of the balcony. Tears suddenly fell from Leomord's eyes. His heart devoured by the feeling of great loss.

"What is this I'm feeling? What is this?!" Leomord knowing that containment is not the solution to what he feels. He could not help the pain inside him and go uneasy and troubled. Vexana stood up and walked towards the end of the balcony watching below, glory and chaos, trepidation is certain. Leomord in a sudden, rises up from the floor, breathing heavily.

"Leomord my warrior, is it true that you've encountered the Dawn Maiden?"

"What do you mean?" Leomord fell unguarded. He asked pretending not knowing a thing.

"Selena told me everything." Vexana added.

"What Selena told you about is not true! I haven't met or encountered any lady on that tribe! It's just that they've set me up on an ambush!" Leomord reasoned out.

"I dare not to lie if I were you Leomord! You're not going to stop me from doing my plans! I trusted you but you disappoint me!" Vexana replied seriously. She ordered her minions to get rid of Leomord and lock him away but Leomord became aggressive and killed Vexana's minions.

"My queen, I stayed loyal to you and to the King for how many years! I've done a lot of sacrifices just to please you! How could I even tell you a lie if the truth is what I am speaking? It is true that I did not follow your orders the last time but I never lied to you of not pursuing your commands!" Leomord said.

"Leomord... you know that you're one of my trusted servants! I never thought of you lying against me! But you've changed! All I ever asked from you is that your will to act on to what you have been told to do so! I know you know that I am still powerless and you're the only one I could rely on to! The only thing that I ask from you is to protect what I love the most and that is the fortress!" Vexana replied.

"This fortress is not worth protecting at all! You've corrupted the entire land, you destroyed the dreams of our people and you've forsaken us all! And yet you still think that we would be aid of your such evil desires?" Leomord cried.

"For feeding your selfish desires, you will do all of this even if it costs a lot of innocent souls? Remember the children playing around here? The people living in harmony? For all those years, you haven't lain any single importance?" Leomord added.

Vexana remained silent and in grief.

"We are happy to see them playing, the children playing... but now this feeling of anger makes me want to slaughter more of them! MORE OF THEM! How could you do this to me? How could you?! Leomord wiping his tears.

"This is the fate that I have chosen for us!" Vexana replied.

"Well, eat your own fate! I don't want to be part of your loathsome plans!" Leomord replied.

"Even if you're an undead, you'll still deny that your fate is not inclined with my fate?" Vexana replied with a serious tone on her voice.

Leomord fell silent and shook his head.

"Well then if you want to choose your own fate, i'll grant you the freedom to do so! I'll take away your eternal curse as a puppet for my plans and I'll give you your own free will but you'll still remain to be a breathing corpse! And as soon as you'll leave this fortress, you'll abandon everything that you have in your past life! Your friends, your fellow warriors, everything you have in this place you will abandon it all" Vexana seriously replied.

"You're not good at handling your responsibilities, and I don't need that thing here!" Leomord remained silent and afterwards he picked up his sword, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Your curse will be upon you!" Leomord cried and left.

Vexana's tears falling from her eyes.