Chapter Four: Trespass

"Trespass? Nobody has stopped me from moving forward as of yet.'

"And I am stopping you here, do you even realize where you are?'

"No, but I do realize that one of your people shot at me and got an arrow stuck in my wing.'

"You were that dragon…?' The knight appeared confused, and drew his blade and pointed it at Tex, and the other knights drew their swords ready to strike if needed.

"That's not a dragon, that's called an airplane- more specifically a 'Warbird' known as the Mustang.'

"Horses don't fly, and they most certainly are not birds.. Imbecile liar!'

"Calm down buddy, I just wanted to come see what this place was about.'

"How dare you make a mockery of our holy knights? A man cannot be a dragon, and a man cannot stumble into this territory and a man cannot toy with our knights and walk away with his head remaining on his shoulders!'

Tex had put his hand on his holster, staying vigilant and ready to shoot should his life be attempted on. "Listen here pal, I got a weapon that'll pierce your armor without even a chance.'

"The only weapon that can do that would be that of a poisoned feast, and you will be far on your journey to Hell by then.'

"I have a gun.'

"What is- I get it! You're trying to scare me now, very funny.' He hops off his horse, and looks Tex in the eye, "It isn't cute, now cut it out, what's your reasoning for being here.'

"I was simply in the area and found your town by accident, you guys aren't on any maps anyways… I was just curious as to what I saw.'

"Hmph. Then maybe I won't kill you after all.'

"If you'd be so kind, tell your men to sheathe their armament.'

"Everyone at ease, if he does anything then I will kill him.'

The soldiers sheathe their weapons, and Tex releases his grasp on his holster,

"May I enter this estate then?'

"After I show you our beautiful town, can you ride a horse?'

Tex looks at him, despite being raised over half his life on a Texan ranch, he still found trouble with equestrian riding even after years of practice.

"Of course I can ride a horse.'

And then the knight smiled.

"I thought you said you could ride a horse,' the knight would be hysterically laughing after watching Tex get bucked off the animal's back and kicked into the stable's wall. "Can't even ride a horse, what has this world come to.'

"Oh shut up will you, I've got a lot on my mind these days.'

"You won't have much on your mind when the horse knocks you out.'

Tex would get back up, and once more hop on the horse, praying that the horse would accept him. "Hey- I did it!'

"Congratulations, you barely did something my four year old son can do.'

"Shut it, let me feel proud of myself.'

"You didn't learn anything. Come on.' the knight gets on his horse and starts heading out the gate, and Tex would follow. Astonished even further by the mysterious town, silhouettes of people hide in the shadows yet not a single living soul is in sight. Tex continues to look around, trying to find a trace of life but all he is met with is dull and lifeless. The once majestic seeming town has been belittled to a ghost town for the lifeless inhabitants.

"You know, this town once was beautiful until your kind decided to show up,' The knight randomly says, breaking the silence.

Shocked, Tex can only reply, "What is it we did?'

The knight chuckles and returns to his silence, a morbid sense of sorrow fills the air as the knight stops in his path and dismounts his horse. "Come with me.' Tex obeys and gets off the horse, the knight goes into a building and Tex follows. "My name is Stefan, I am the protector of this fallen empire.' he says, filling the room with a morbid sense of regret, "I am the reason this city is so empty, we were attacked by a group of barbarians wielding what we could only describe as magical weapons. Your kind are the ones who invaded us.' Tex doesn't know what to say, and fights himself to apologize despite not being at fault. "All we knights have left is our duty to protect what remains of us, and our sacred assignment to protect our princess with our lives.'

The tale of a once prosperous kingdom continues, Stefan removes his helmet revealing a battle scarred face missing an eye. He looks at Tex and seemingly stares into his soul. "You and I aren't so different, are we? We're both soldiers fighting our own battles.' He draws a dagger and walks up to an altar with a bowl of crimson, Tex watches as he raises his hand over the bowl and slices his palm open, adding to the bowl's content. He puts his dagger away, and kneels before the altar and chants a prayer. Tex watches in silence, unwilling to disrupt the sacred stillness emitting from the newly activated altar. Stefan stands, looks at Tex and grabs his helmet placing it back where it belongs, "Let's go.'

Tex and Stefan remount their horses and begin their way back in silence. Tex looks down an alleyway and stops in his tracks, and dismounts and runs towards a figure.

"Oh my god, Cowboy! What are you doing here?' he wraps the figure into a tight embrace, "You can't scare me like that, that wasn't funny.'

"You have to let me go.'

"I'm never letting you go again, I can't let my brother die.'

Stefan turns down the alley and grabs Tex and drags him away as he watches Cowboy dissolve into a shadow and fade into the darkness.

"There was nobody there son, you're losing it- so welcome to the club.'

Tex is forced upon Stefan's horse, and Stefan sits upon his horse and drags the spare steed along. Tex's mind races a million miles a minute, unsure of what had just happened to him. He watches the road ahead of him, and sees the castle in the distance growing ever closer.

Once again within the walls protecting the estate, Tex is led inside the main building by Stefan and brought into an empty dining hall.

"If you wait here, I'll have something brought to you for your troubles.'

Tex would nod and take a seat, 'How on earth was he there?' he would think to himself, 'If I can't even be sure of what I see anymore, can I even still go on?' he would continue the train of thought seemingly driving him mad. His bright green eyes drain of all color, appearing rather as a bright shade of gray and his skin would flush to an almost ghostly pale almost as if he too had turned into a corpse. His eyes lock onto the table in front of him and refuse to avert themselves from a dark stain on the wooden table, a stain of crimson- a stain of blood. "Tex… let me go,' the stain would seemingly speak to him, the blood seems to grow into a brighter shade of red, he continues to watch as the stain begins to flow down the table- an ache in his chest arouses and he reaches to touch the stream of crimson, his fingers stain with blood and a burning sensation overpowers his senses. He panics and starts looking around for some kind of savior. He notices a door swing open and standing before him is his wingman with charred skin coated in a thick layer of blood and gore.

"Arno… forgive me…"

The corpse walks closer to Tex, ever so slowly he progresses his march forward. As he reaches Tex, a door creaks open and the zombie vanishes into thin air, and a young woman in a servants' dress enters the room with a small cart carrying platters.

"Greetings, Princess Olivia is on her way, please be patient while she makes her way here. Thank you."

The servant lays out the platters, fills the glasses, and takes the cart away, shutting the door behind her.