Black Lotus

A youth leaned next to a large maple tree while he stared out into the vast plains. Inside of the plains a fierce battle took place recently. The remains of the knights that fell still remain. Though, most of their armor and weapons have been savaged.

The smell of the battle was still in the air, the smell of blood filled the surrounding area. The dead knight's bodies were now being eaten by the nearby animals.

The youth under the tree was none other than Arnold. The youth that killed all of these knights. In the battle, he was even able to kill a Golden Knight. Not only did he kill a Golden Knight but he was able to kill several Tier 1 and Tier 2 knights.

Getting up from the tree, Arnold brought out a small map that he kept in his backpack. The map showed the whole kingdom of Wincefell. Wincefell was a rather small kingdom on the continent, but it was just recently taken by the Church.

Hundreds of knights flooded the kingdom taking it by force. Luckily for the Church, the current prince welcomed them with open arms. With the prince on the side of the Church, the kingdom didn't have a chance to defend themselves.

Just overnight, the whole kingdom put down their weapons and was taken by the Church. The knights that came to fight were sadly disappointed but didn't stop killing citizens.

Looking on the map, Arnold noticed that where the battle took place was near a small village. This village was on the outer territory of the kingdom. The village was only at a population of three hundred people.

Having the Church just take over the kingdom, Arnold was pretty sure that the knights haven't made it out to the village yet. With that in mind, Arnold put away his map and started to track towards the village.

***

"Caroline!"

A young girl around the age of twelve looks up at the voice. The voice belonged to the chief of the village. The man was in his thirties and was a retired Knight.

The chief was a knight when he was younger but later retired after getting injured in battle. After he left the Church and Association, he started to notice how bad the Church and Association was.

The knights of the Church and Association were out to kill people and gain more and more power. He didn't want to live that life and started to train people in his own village to fight.

Knowing one day that the Church and Association would rain down on his small village. Living in Wincefell, he thought that the Church or Association wouldn't try and take over the kingdom for at least twenty years.

Though, with the influx of Knights going into combat the rate at which the Church took over Kingdoms skyrocketed. Leading the Church to take over Wincefell in only ten years.

"Listen to me Caroline, The Church and the Association have taken over the capitol. Gather all of the fighters and bring them to me."

The young girl shook her head and quickly ran out of the house. She was heading for the common area of the village. Inside, there were countless soldiers of the town training. This was the hot spot for the soldiers to learn how to fight from retired soldiers or current ones.

"Everyone!"

Caroline tried to raise her voice the best she could but no one noticed her. She tried again and again until a man by the name of Roufus noticed her.

"Caroline? What's the matter?"

"The Chief told me that the Church and Association have taken control of the capital of Wincefell. He also said he wanted to speak to all of the soldiers and fighters!"

'Capital...'

Hearing the capital was taken by the Church, Roufus couldn't believe his ears.

'The capital was really taken? When? How have we not heard of the battle?'

Roufus turned around and shouted at everyone.

"Everyone! Stop training. The capital of Wincefell has fallen to the Church! The Chief has all requested us to come meet him. We all know what he's going to say. So, Everyone grabs their weapons and armor!"

The crowd of soldiers were silent at first, but then all shouted and cheered as they ran back to their houses for their weapons and armor.

***

Arnold walked for a couple of hours until he saw the small village in the valley. He let out a small breath seeing that there were no fires, meaning the Knights didn't make it yet.

Edging closer and closer to the village, Arnold noticed a group of soldiers. They were all standing in formation and in front of them was a man in shiny silver armor.

Arnold slowly crept behind a house and brought out his longsword. He could barely hear what they were saying but was able to understand slightly.

'War? What, they are going to fight against the Church? They are going to be slaughtered.'

***

"Men! I've trained you very hard over these years. I hope that we can take out as many of the knights as we can before we die!"

"Ah!!! For the Chief!"

"Alright! Everyone get ready! The knights should be coming to our village anytime now!"

With that speech, all of the soldiers ran out in all directions. The soldiers were spread out into all sorts of positions around the village.

Some of the soldiers, unlike the others, were slightly nervous about the coming attack. A soldier in rusted armor stood on top of a house with a bow looking at all directions.

Below him, he noticed a man in black clothing sneaking through the houses. The soldier brought back an arrow and shot at the man without hesitation.

The man in black clothing reflected the arrow before it could reach him.

'What? He reflected it!'

"Enemy! Enemy spotted North!"

The soldier in the rusted armor started to yell at the top of his lungs about the man in black clothing.

At the rear of the village, the Chief heard the yelling of the soldier and rushed forward.

'Already? How are they here so soon?'

The Chief ran to the man in the rusted armor. Once he got to the top of the house he looked out and saw the man with black clothing looking at him.

The man not only had full black clothing, but he had a longsword. The man was in a very strong defensive stance. The Chief saw it multiple times from strong knights when he used to fight.

'Could this man be a knight? But, he has no armor...'

"You! Who are you, stranger?"

***

Arnold looked up at the man with the silver armor. From the looks of the man alone, the man was a knight at some point in his life. The armor alone was not something normal people were able to have.

Silver armor was the armor worn by men that have fought multiple battles and have earned medals.

Changing from his defensive stance, Arnold turned his blade and rushed forward. To the men in front of him, he was running at great speed. Arnold jumped and ran across walls of houses, jumping from each and every house.

All the men could do was watch as a man in black clothing ran towards them. Even if they tried to shoot arrows, they weren't able to keep up with him.

Arnold was only forty meters away from the men now, he took once final jump. The soldier's eyes widened as they saw the man come closer and closer.

*Boom*

Arnold landed right in front of the soldiers and the man in the silver armor. His longsword out in front of him ready for any attack that these men might launch.

The man in the silver armor eyes widened at the sight of the man in front of him. Thoughts started to race through his mind at the man. Soon, trickles of memories started to explode in his mind.

The man in front of him was the man that killed thirty knights just the other day. He heard news from one of the other villages that a man in black clothing with a longsword took out a whole raiding party of knights.

Raiding parties were meant to be used to clear out any soldiers or people that want to fight back against the Church before the main force came through.

The raiding parties were also used for scouting to see how many troops a city had. The thirty knights were a raiding party sent to figure out how many troops the whole kingdom had out of every village.

Though, they were all killed by one man. This man was the same person standing in front of him. This man was no stranger, he was Black Lotus.