Rise of The Holy-Realm Rebel

In my sleep, I had a dream. A strange one. The first one since I awoke. In this dream, I had been standing in an area enveloped with pitch-blackness. My figure wandered forward in confusion. At least I think I moved forward.

I called out the names of those I remembered but to no avail. Frustrated, I screamed at the top of my voice.

Instantly, a strange force swept me off my feet, but I fell backward allowing my eyes to fall on the strange giant letters shining with golden intensity before me.

They looked nothing like what I had ever seen, yet I understood their meaning. My lips moved to say what they meant, but the darkness seemed to have a voice of its own since it said in unison with me, its tone being grave and mighty.

"THEY SHALL LAY HANDS!"

I awoke to the sound of movement around me.

Sitting up I shut my eyes in shock. A ray of sunlight previously hidden away by leaves had struck my eyes, sending my senses recoiling. I swore under my breath, annoyed.

"Good morning," Nura's voice reached me and I responded the same, managing to stand. I felt back to my peak again. Almost as though what happened the other night had never truly occurred.

Of course, Eiko's figure continued to disqualify that thought process. How was she even standing?

"It's a few hours after daybreak. We should start moving if we want to cover as much ground as possible," Eiko started to explain, right after we cleared the evidence of our camping. We did this for obvious reasons.

"If you truly intend to follow us I believe you have no issue with my decision?" She asked, I nodded.

"Great… our destination is a towned named Yarub. It is home to over five thousand people, and It used to be a meeting place for several knights traveling through the area, but now the empire has taken it captive."

"Yarub however happens to be the highest possibility of my brother's location. I discovered this during my missions taking out camps belonging to the empire," she continued.

"You do not know, but Yukov has managed to put herself together in bringing forth resistance."

"In only two months I've been involved in over ten settlements being delivered. It's small however seeing as there are hundreds of such settlements under the empire now."

She spoke a bit more and we set out not too long after. In less than four hours we reached the spot where she kept the horses. They remained in good shape.

She had situated them close to a river too. After letting them drink for a bit we set out on horseback. I sat on one, while the two sisters shared one.

Hours passed. I thought to myself whilst the sisters shared lighthearted exchanges.

Thankfully Nura had her smile on again. And she smiled often now. The mood of the other day had vanished. We were on our way to freeing her brother.

A familiar image abruptly struck in my mind, and my focus went forth to pondering about the dream.

What did it mean? Dreams were always believed to hold some sort of power in the lives of men, and I was no different. Fate, I believed was real. Which is what troubled me the most.

The dream was still as vivid as I had it, and so was the strange voice. After an hour of aimlessly pondering the matter, I felt my mind slip into fatigue.

Not literal fatigue, but confusion. My wondering was to no avail. I let it go, however.

Traveling on horseback reminded me of how vast the world was. After spending so much time confined within the tight system of the slave camp, I could not but feel my heart thrum in growing excitement.

I was free. And free indeed. Or so I thought.

"What is the meaning of this?" I asked, anger rising in my chest at what I was witnessing. Eiko had her sword pointed at me, and Nura stood behind her, her face bowed low.

My frown deepened when I did not get a response even though we stared into each other eyes.

Eiko's eyebrows creased, and I could spell the shape of confusion and uncertainty. But that was not enough to calm my growing fury.

After nearly six hours of riding, we had come to a stop, and after creating a clearing that would serve as our camp for the night, Eiko abruptly pulled this on me, before beckoning on Nura to stand behind her.

"I mean you no harm. I still owe you my life. I just don't know whether or not I can trust you," Eiko explained, the difficulty now evident in her expression.

"What you did was not normal. I did not experience anything normal. You don't radiate an ounce of Solarin. Nor do you feel like a growing 'Rebel'. As such I have no explanation of how you could have done that."

"Such has never been seen in the whole of Yukov… and you say you want to go to Ushan…"

I didn't need her to complete her words to understand—and in response, my eyes widened in realization, even if it was quickly followed by an even denser wave of fury.

Still, I calmed myself.

Eiko sounded more worried than hostile. I would be the same if I were in her situation, especially considering the situation of their nation.

It was not a far-fetched possibility that I was indeed a spy from Ushan. She also did not want to jeopardize the safety of her siblings.

I sighed in helplessness, allowing my shoulders to drop.

Revealing an "I don't know how I can make you trust me," expression, I let my attention wander a bit.

The winds blew softly on my skin, making my clothes flutter and playing with my hair. The dry leaves rustled and occasionally their rustling grew clamorous when the winds increased in strength.

It was towards sundown, and the sun was beginning to lose its pure yellow radiance and slowly inch towards orange.

Shutting my eyes for a bit, I was certain my rather calm response further confused the sisters, but I didn't care. It took everything within me to not act rashly. In the end as a Knight, Eiko had the responsibility of dealing with possible threats.

Still, she promised not to hurt me, and I knew she wouldn't.

"Sister—" Nura finally spoke up. "I think this is enough," her voice trembled, strangely.

I appreciated that she cared enough about me to want to cry, though.

Eiko gave an even more difficult expression.

"You don't have to look at me that way," I finally spoke. "You also don't have to worry. I'm not a spy from Ushan. I don't even know my way around this whole nation."

I realized that was even more suspicious so I continued.

"I don't have the type of strength to threaten you, and I'm not interested in doing so. I only seek a safe way of travel, and you are my best option at that."

"If you still don't believe me, you can leave me. I promise not to follow. I'll only ask that you point me in a direction that would lead me to a settlement, not under the empire's control."

The tension in the air lessened, and after seeing that Eiko did not lower her blade I sighed again. By this point, Nura was already holding onto her sister, tears streaming down now.

I had nothing else to say.

Eiko eventually shook her head and exhaled in relief.

"I believe you," she stated and surprise appeared in my mind and my eyes. She could read it.

"My sister told me a bit about you, but I trust your eyes more than I do your words."

A questioning gaze landed on her figure.

"You can call it foolish, and even reckless. But I've learned to discern people by the look in their eyes. You indeed are ready to be left alone if it pleases me. I have not sensed dishonesty. And I hardly believe you can hide from me due to our gap in strength."

I shrugged and nodded in response to her last point. It was true that higher-level individuals could read those of lower strength with ease. This was thanks to their improved minds.

"I hope I am right about you." She sheathed her sword before giving an apologetic bow.

I merely waved my hand in dismissal, glad that the crazy tension was gone. Knights were scary. She could have decapitated me at any moment, and my mind buzzed at the thought.

"Let's gather wood for extra protection, we're currently rather deep into the forest of this region. I heard there's the possibility of encountering roamers," she explained walking away. Nura gave me an apologetic bow which I half paid attention to.

'Roamers?' I wondered inwardly.

"Well, not that mere wood can stop one from attacking us," Eiko chuckled turning to look at me. Surprise filled her features when she saw the look on my face.

"You don't know what shade beasts are?" She asked bewildered, and both sisters exclaimed in unison when I nodded in response.