Something Evil This Way Comes

As I lay unconscious on the cold, dusty wooden floor, I had a dream... Well, it was more like a nightmare.

I saw a figure in the dark, a slim and nimble creature in a scary forest, shimmering beyond the full moon's light, even as the translucent white light shined through the forest greenery, the creature was still hidden behind all the light of the full moon, just behind some trees.

I was scared to approach the creature but did however catch a glimpse of its wings... They weren't wings per se, no, they were more like endless flowing light stuck to the creature's back. I was intrigued and curious.

I still couldn't see it from the few feet of distance between us and that perturbed me, I wanted to close the distance between us but it moved away from me, almost as if it was teasing me.

That made me disturbingly curious, so curious that I ventured towards the unknown creature without care.

“I need to see,” I uttered as I went forward to get a better look at it.

As I slowly approached the creature, I began to gradually see it for what it was. It was magnificent from three feet away, it looked incredibly slim and 7 feet tall. The skin looked like it was covered in scales, silver scales, almost like it was wearing armour. It may have looked like a man in a knight's suit but I knew that this was no man.

After all, the suit was too slimming, merged into the body, and the suit seemed too... Alive.

I went closer towards it, just enough to touch it but stopped myself the moment I noticed something else about the creature, in its hands was a sword, a silver long sword. It did not show hostility towards me even though I stood right next to it, it did not move.

But it did something else, its legs... Its legs were somewhat crouched in a stance as if it was ready to sprint or worse attack.

I was frightened for a moment but then I had a thought, “If the silver creature wanted to kill me, it would have done so earlier. No, it isn't me it waits for. I shouldn't shudder.”

I couldn't see its face but I could hear something from it, something hoarse yet soft, sharp yet rough, in and out, it sounded like... Breathing.

I took a step backwards and turned to see its face but its back was towards me and its face was completely turned away from me. It did not let me see its face no matter how much I turned around. So to see what its face looked like, I went forward to turn the creature towards me, to touch and hold it, and finally, to see it.

But before I could even touch it and see the face of the silver knight creature, I heard a voice, a familiar deep and eery voice...

[YOU ARE NOT READY!! LEAVE, I SHALL CALL TO YOU WHEN YOU ARE READY!]

The sound of the mysterious deep voice scared me awake.

“My lord!? My lord! Please wake up, sire! Sire! Are you alright!? SIRE!!" Paige kept shaking me and calling me to wake up.

I sat up and opened my eyes, “Huh? Wait... What, Where am I?” With my head throbbing and my entire being feeling discombobulated, I had finally awoken to Paige's consistent yelling.

I sat up and scanned the entire area with my bad eyes. My vision was still a bit blurry as I had lost my spectacles upon the collision to my head so all I could see were blurry images all over the area. Until...

“I found this on the floor, my lord, I believe these are your glasses?”

Paige gave me my spectacles in hand, luckily, they weren't scratched or broken in any way from the fall.

“Ah...! That's so much better,” I sighed a sigh of relief once I put on my spectacles.

It was annoying having terrible shortsightedness to the world around me. It was one of the flaws that made me feel weak. But I refused to let that fact slow me down.

Once my vision was clear again, I was able to see that I was still in the closet and came to a conclusion about my current situation in my thoughts...

“Damn it! It seems that I was attacked from behind. Urgh... My head aches so much... It must have been the man I sensed earlier. That strength though... Such brute strength to even knock an aura master out. Could he have been an aura master as well? That could be the only explanation, unless...”

As I thought to myself, I noticed once more that I had lost track of time in my thoughts and that I was still in the closet.

I stood up and looked around once more and noticed a few things. On the floor was a messy spread of clothing.

“If I remember correctly, there was a pile of clothes here, and now it's all scattered and messy all over the floor. Thus, it wasn't a hallucination when I saw the lady figure emerge from it. She must have been hiding in there," I thought as I slowly approached.

I walked towards the corner where the pile was, leaned down for closer inspection and clearly said, “There really was someone hidden here.”

“Umm, sire. If I may ask, what are you talking about? You seemed to be in your thoughts for a long while.” Paige nervously asked me.

“Aha!” I stood up, cheering holding up a strand of hair to Paige's face. “What do you see, Paige,” I asked meticulously.

He answered, “I-I see hair, sire.”

“Oh yes, hair...! But not just any hair, 'red hair’ and there's something special about the owner of this strand of hair, can you figure out what it is?” I asked Paige another question but this time with a cheering smile.

“I... I...!” Paige was unsure.

I looked at the concerned Paige, it seemed like he was very worried for my sake and most likely was looking for me for a good while. He must have been anxious to have found me here in the closet unconscious.

So I decided to spare him the semantics and go straight to the point. “Hmm... Nevermind. You're a good man so I'll help you understand. Listen carefully,” I leaned in for a moment to his ear and whispered, “Mr Peter Williams didn't die of natural means.”

“Sire...?” Paige showed me an even more concerned face.

I chuckled as I retreated from his face, “Oh relax! It's nothing too crazy, it seems that Mr Williams was murdered.”

“Murdered!!? B-B-But how!? Why!?” Paige exclaimed in surprise.

“How...? Mushrooms Paige... Mushrooms. Funny, huh? And as for why...? Hmm... I have a good guess but I can't say right now. I guess we'll see... Oh! So that's what it was...” I said as I caught my sights on a bulky hardcover book on the floor, it read ‘Carpentry—All About Wood’ on its red hardcover.

I was curious about its weight so I picked it up, weighing it in my hands.

“What is it, sire?” Paige said upon seeing my weird behaviour.

“Oh yes, sorry about that. Actually, it was just one single person that killed Mr Williams. As you can see in my hands, this was the book that one of the accomplices used when they bonked me to sleep earlier. Haha... It's a good volume too!” I laughingly said as I kept weighing the book in my hands by tossing it, little by little in the air, then opening it to see a few of the pages.

“Bonked you!? You mean you were actually attacked, sire!? That's treason! Who would dare lay their hands on the sire!?”

I ignored Paige's outburst and continued to slowly turn through the pages of the Carpentry book, “Yes, I wonder that as well...” I said nonchalantly.

“Sire, shall I summon the town's guards?”

I noticed something in the book but refused to mention it as of now. Instead, I asked, “Paige, let me pick your brain for a moment.”

Paige immediately accepted, “Of course, sire. Please, ask away!”

“Very well. Tell me, Paige, do you believe in the premise of good and evil?

“Good and evil, sire? I... I couldn't say.”

“Try...” I insisted.

“Well... I-I believe that there are no necessarily good or bad people, just trying people. I think evil comes from a survival instinct that one tends to adopt once traumatized in life. Some overcome such trauma, some... Don't. And some don't even experience such trauma in their lifetimes, going through ignorant bliss. Those could even claim to be good people as good people aren't tainted by evil. Uh, it's just an opinion of mine, sire. Please don't take it to heart.”

Paige's words were so refined and pure to me, he was a true scholar and survivor of life at heart. I could see, no, feel it from his words. But yet...

“Good words, Paige, good words indeed but... Those words are still naive! I'll say this only once, to you and you alone, my trusty page. There is no such thing as good or evil, there is only evil, and there is the necessary evil and unnecessary evil.”

“Necessary evil? Umm, if you wouldn't mind, my lord. Please enlighten me.”

“Well, it's fairly simple. Mankind is inherently evil by nature. The only difference is how we choose to act. Let me give you an example, Paige.”

Paige came closer to listen to my words of wisdom, there was so much curiosity in his young eyes.

“Listen here Paige, a long time ago, I stumbled upon a moral text for my ethics class. I found an interesting question in the textbook, it went like this; would you sacrifice the one for the many or sacrifice the many for the one?” I smirked a little and watched as Paige began to turn the gears in his head but couldn't choose his answer.

“Oh come now, we don't have all day! Answer the question, Paige! What would you do!?”

“I-I... I would...” he couldn't answer.

“Now that's a trying question, isn't it?”

“Yes, sire. I simply couldn't choose I feel like such a responsibility shouldn't be given to just one person. It's simply too much for one man to handle.”

“Well, it is already one person's choice, someone that rules over the entire kingdom and is thereby responsible for every life in the kingdom.”

“You mean to say–"

“–Yes, my father, the King.”

I took a deep breath and spoke, “If you didn't know the King reduces the pressure on himself through us royals as well as nobles who are trained and taught ways of managing territories, preserving and improving our subject's lives.”

I also said, “I have been through such training and all such training requires is a certain catalyst to act as your so-called 'noblesse oblige' and sadly, it is to drink tea.”

“Drink tea?”

“Politics, my dull page. It's all politics. They don't actually do anything than say a few things to make themselves look important.”

After saying so, I walked out of the closet with the Carpentry book in hand and looked at the evening slowly coming to a close.

I said something that made Paige shiver a bit. “Paige, hear me when I say, that when plagued with such a trying choice of whether to save one or many. I'd rather save the necessary one and sacrifice the unnecessary many, be it hundreds, thousands or even millions.”

Paige gulps nervously, “B-But sire–”

“–Listen to me, I say this not as hate to others but love towards only the precious one. To me, I rather have necessary evil than unnecessary evil taking there, for me, a diamond in the rough is only much more valuable than a multitude of valueless pawns!”

“But sire, wouldn't you say, the lives of many are more valuable than the lives of one?”

“Naive! That's would be rational, reasonable even, but you're still wrong! Do not be confused, every life no matter how many are precious, what matters is the value it gives to you. Tell me this, Paige, would you save your mother if she were on the verge of death or sacrifice her and save your townspeople? Better yet, would you save your lover, your wife or save the many people who looked down on you?”

“I-I...” Paige was speechless.

“Never hesitate, Paige. You may think you were being kind but I promise you all it does is leave you with regrets.”

“Don't you see, it only matters if their life holds that much value to you. If I could, I would have saved my mother if I had the chance but I lost that choice a long time ago”

My words made Paige think in silence. For the many years that I came to know him, I never truly knew what his thoughts were at that moment. But I think I had an idea from his future deeds.

With my inspection of the closet and office complete, I held onto the Carpentry book tightly and proceeded to leave the room. “Come on, Paige! We have some evil to deal with.” Paige followed behind.

Before I could leave through the broken door, I caught a glimpse of the messy closet once more, “Wait!”