The Black Knight

Another fall morning let its dry leaves fall to the ground. However, Theo was five years old at the time.

Recently, Midian was declared by Duke Ethan himself to be a District of the capital of Loureto, and the main farm in the region. With technological advances becoming more and more intense on the continent, the exchange of human labor for machines has become a major reality in the Duchy of Lawrence.

Ethan has invested all his resources in the use of machinery to increase production efficiency, especially in agriculture.

Struggling to control a harvesting machine, Michel tried to keep a straight line.

A mana crystal, below the iron platform where Michel's cabin was, supported the whole machine, playing the role of the engine in a vehicle.

The cutting bar was the only part of the machine that had brief contact with the ground: the back, where the crystal and the cabin were, was levitating thanks to the sound and energy waves emitted by the mana crystal.

"He's still adjusting, isn't he?" With his arms crossed, Duke Ethan commented while laughing next to Anton.

"Yes. He can barely keep the machine in a straight line."

Ethan couldn't stay serious.

"He's like: this bum machine... it would be better to pick it up by hand."

Anton laughed along with the Duke.

"Of course," said Anton, wiping away a tear from his laughter.

Looking around, Ethan's attention was drawn to a warehouse at the beginning of the plantation.

"Tell Michel I'll be right back..." Ethan said, turning around.

"Where are you going, Mr. Lawrence?"

"To the warehouse."

☽✪☾

At a stream in the woods, Theo, next to Agnes and Magnum, was sitting and chatting on the bed. Hanging from an apple tree, Theo searched for the best stealth while debating with his friends.

"Theo, yu know that clay nail you threw at me hurt, right?"

Agnes slapped herself on the forehead.

"It's stone. And the right thing to say would be you."

"Aaah, Miss Blah, Blah, Blah. Why don't you become a teacha?"

An apple was thrown from the top of the tree and landed on the back of Magnum's head. Later, Theo threw himself to the ground with some more fruit.

"You really should, Agnes. And you, Magnum, should join my mother's training to stop being illiterate."

Magnum gritted his teeth.

"It's free, all it's going to cost is those hours when you're damaging the farmers' work. So maybe you should try…"

Exploding in a fit of rage, Magnum threw the apple back at Theo. However, the Young Master easily caught it with his bare hands.

"You geniuses think it's easy! How do you expect me to learn to read when I'm four?!"

"Well... learning..." said Theo, unable to come up with a better answer at that moment.

Really, comparing Magnum to the two of them was unfair. While the two of them were considered geniuses and newly"awakened deviants, Magnum was just a low"class peasant with no family incentive to study.

In reality, that whole society did not encourage peasants to learn to read and write, monopolizing knowledge in the hands of the nobility since the beginning.

Magnum only had opportunities thanks to Duchess Camille, the current education secretary for the Duchy of Lawrence.

"You geniuses play dumb, don't you?"

"Slow. If you're referring to people, in the plural, every sentence should be…"

"Aaaah, go to hell!"

"Hey! Are you going to swear at me now?!"

Theo laughed silently as the two argued. The Young Master wiped his apples in the running water, listening to his friends hurl curses into the wind.

However, an irrational line of mana attracted his attention. A vaporized energy, in blue tones, cried out for Theo and begged him to follow.

There will be times when sis will talk to you, but not with words...

The message that Ethan had passed on to his children came back to Theo's mind.

She will catch your eye and seduce you, just like a nymph would. This is exactly why the forest of the nymphs has such a title... Mana attracts its invaders and guides them to the beasts' prey. So, no matter what's going on, whether it's a peaceful day or not...

"Hey, where's Theo?" Magnum asked, looking at the apples lying on the bed.

Agnes turned around quickly.

Resist this enchantment.

'That mist...' Theo thought, completely covered by the loneliness of the death zone.

It was so dense that it would be fair to call it solid, like a curtain of wind blowing the boy sideways at every moment.

A majestic glow buzzed through the mist, breaking the imperfect sense of danger.

With every step Theo took into the forest, a familiar sensation touched the back of his neck. A feeling from another life...

Every twig he stepped on gave him the same feeling that Liam Mason hated... The vagueness of the future. Not knowing what will happen, without being able to see at least a few meters ahead.

Only the wind was carrying the young man to the end.

Guiding us to the face of despair and death itself.

Swept away by a gust of wind, the mist opened up intensely, creating a small clearing in the middle of the woods.

The neighing of a horse extorted Theo's eardrums.

Running his eyes along the new edge of his vision, the boy tried to find the author of that noise... But apart from the inferior creatures running around and birds fleeing from the trees, he found nothing.

Until the mist showed a new limit: opening the passage and the view for a small hill of rocks to be revealed.

A black horse, covered in a dazzling steel breastplate, reared up above the Young Master's head. Its white eyes met the most beautiful amber that tinged Theo's eyes, drowning him in fear.

The rider on his most merciless beast was dressed in the same black steel, with a metal spear in his left hand. However, there wasn't a head in the right place.

A white cloud, therefore, came out of the neck cavity and dissipated a few centimeters into the air.

Theo's body was already paralyzed. But when he met that being's eyes, his soul froze...

When the knight turned sideways, his head was being held by his right hand; a pale, dry face, as dead as a rotting corpse. The empty, black eyes looked like the abyss itself.

His dry lips moved to release his hoarse, commanding voice.

'Michel Hansen, Anton, Ramires, Frans...'

Those names stabbed Theo's chest, causing pain and pressure that forced the boy to spit out blood.

His eyes fluttered as he recalled a scene from another life: a knight on a yellow horse plunged his sword into Liam Mason's chest.

Former General Mason spat out the blood, as did Young Master Lawrence.

Weakness overtook Theo's body, as did the paralysis of his eyes.

The knight continued to pronounce the names of the inhabitants of Midian, without missing a single word.

Although Theo was the only one in front of the knight, his name wasn't even mentioned. That was a relief for him.

The moment of tension between the spirit and the boy was broken by an explosion accompanied by an intermittent tremor.

Theo snapped back to reality and, when he felt the blood rush to his mouth, he wiped his lips and ran back.

His vision oscillated between the past and the present; after being attacked by the rider on the yellow horse, Liam Mason walked through the forest, clinging to trees along the way and losing his strength with every step.

Running through the forest, Theo had no idea where exactly he was going to get out, or what he would find in that mist. That's when another explosion erupted...

Liam, however, tripped over his own weakness and crawled through the forest, dragging the open wound through the branches and leaves along the way. His regrets were not fading away.

However, Theo's regrets hit him at every turn.

On his deathbed, Liam found a rock in the middle of a clearing and tried to support himself. With his last strength, he managed to stand up one last time.

The clouds released the crimson glow of the blood moon so that Liam could catch a glimpse of nature.

However... When he came out of the mist and looked up at the sky, instead of clear clouds and a beautiful sky, Theo found clouds of smoke covering the horizon.

"Theo!" Agnes shouted.

Running and struggling against the force of the current, Theo stretched out his hands to Agnes...

While Liam, feeling the pain in his empty chest, reached out to the blood moon that bathed him for one last time.

"Theo..." said Agnes, stopping him by the shoulders "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's get out of here…"

Theo looked back with a feeling of regret. However, before he could sink into the bitter feeling, another explosion caught his attention.

Subsequently, numerous explosions took over the wheat fields.

The three children ran down the path, detonated by a cloud of smoke that was impregnating their noses.

The tremors became more intense with every step...

'What's...' The sunlight caught Theo's eyes, announcing the transition between the woods and where the plantations were. 'There being...'

His eyes went wide and his little body froze. The huge fields that looked like a sea of flames in the sunlight were nothing but a dead place dominated by chaos.

Towers of smoke cut across the sky, taking the heavenly blue for the gloom of chaos. The smell of despair, as Liam Mason was already aware, was present for Theo.

Indomitable fate brought back the sensation of death...

In the form of a black cataclysm.