The Lady Knight part II
A few years after a once upon a time, after a story about a brave lady knight who saved her queen from an evil dragon, the lady knight is called to battle once again. This time she faces an intangible enemy we all must come to face; ourselves. As the Lady Knight grows stronger, so does the pull down the path of darkness. The Lady Knight started her day like any other. She woke up, gave her wife a quick kiss on the head, and suited up in her armor to go train the recruits. After that, she would eat lunch with her wife, then attend the usual boring political meetings. She loved her wife, she really did, but the position their marriage put her in, not being able to leave the castle to hunt her own game, not being able to take serious missions into her own hands, barely being able to do anything that involved leaving castle walls, made her restless. Her little fairy friend who helped her slay the dragon which stole her wife now sat perched on her shoulder, and sensed her boredom. He couldn't help but giggle at her constant demandings to let her travel freely outside of the castle. When the meeting was done the fairy flew out in front of her and stopped her. “Why do you stop me?” she asked, annoyed and cranky from the unnecessary length of the meeting. The fairy crossed his arms. “Dont be so dull friend! I can get you out of these walls!” he chimed. The Lady Knight scratched her head even more annoyed. “Oh yeah? And is this going to count as my neglected third wish?” she growled. The fairy had granted her many wishes since they met. After a while it was almost like a limit was never placed on how many wishes she could have. Then again, they became very good friends--if they weren't tending to their political responsibilities, they were entertaining the queen or goofing off. The fairy snickered, “No you dunce, consider it a pity wish.” he said. The Lady Knight tilted her head confused. “Why do you pity me?” she asked. The fairy sighed, and tugged at her clumps of hair, grumbling. “You look like you just crawled out of the ratway. We need to cut your hair and get you some fresh air. I know you love spending time with your wife, but take time for yourself too.” he said, already starting to think of what to do with her hair. He tapped her head with his wand and her hair grew out. It was soft and lush, and admittedly she liked it, until the wind blew and she was blinded. After the fairy and the Lady Knight agreed on a haircut, the fairy hauled her over the wall and summoned a horse. They rode off into the enchanted forest. This forest was very special, for within it all colors turn to black and white except for blues and reds. The Lady Knights ice blue eyes glew ominously with her fairy friend. After riding around in the forest for a while they decided to turn back, but quickly realized they could not find the exit. All the sudden the Lady Knights horse reared back then fell over dead, tossing her back against a tree and knocking her out. When the Lady Knight came to, the fairy was gone, and in the distance she thought she saw a shadow figure. She jumped to her feet and drew her heated blade. The blade glew red along with her cape in the black and white landscape. She stumbled through the woods, the feeling of eyes digging into her very present in her stomach. Her ears twitched at every little sound and she tried to keep up with the rustling that followed her. Suddenly an all black figure with glowing white eyes and gnarly horns jumped out at her swinging a hunk of metal at her. She blocked the creatures attack then pushed it away. She tried to catch her breath. A simple swing from that monster was enough to knock the wind out of her, and she blocked it. The creature charged towards her again, this time she attempted the completely dodge it, but the creature managed to quickly spin around and cut into her side. The Lady Knight gasped and howled in pain. She had worse when she fought the dragon, how did a single slice at her side hurt like nothing she had ever felt before? The creature was doing some kind of cheerful dance, jumping up and down and clapping. It tossed aside its hunk of metal and charged towards the Lady Knight. She tried to move but the pain was too much. The creature pounced on her then turned into some kind of liquid and went inside of the open gash on her side. She screamed in pain, confusion and fear. Suddenly, all the pain stopped, and she sat there on her knees, frozen. She fell forward onto the forest floor, and began to violently shake. suddenly, like a snake sheds it’s skin, a black and white clone of herself separated from her body. Its glowing red eyes peered around the forest, taking in its surroundings. It observed its nude body, trying to make sense of it. It grabbed her sword, and pointed it downward towards her. The clone raised the sword, and brought it down. However, the sword bounced off of the Lady Knight, for she could not be harmed by her own sword. Fighting the pain, the Lady Knight pushed the clone off of her then reared her arm back and punched it so hard it flung into a tree. The clone dropped the sword then ran off into the forest. The Lady Knight recovered her sword, and grabbed at her side. “What the hell….?” she let out under her breath. She looked up hoping to gain a sense of what time of day it was, but the branches were so thick they blocked out the sun. The Lady Knight sheathed her sword and walked further into the woods. After what felt like hours of pointless walking, the Lady Knight’s stomach growled. She looked around, hoping to find any form of game: squirrels, rabbits, deer, anything. But she saw nothing, in fact, she suddenly noticed the silence. The only noise she could hear was her own footsteps and an occasional crack and snap of branches and twigs. There was no wind, no birds chirping, nothing. She knew that the silence could drive her mad, so she took the risk of drawing attention to herself so she whistled to give herself some leverage. She continued walking then she came across a large pond. It wasn't too big but it was large enough to have an island at the center. The water was black and murky, and didn't seem to hold any form of life. The Lady Knight pulled out her sword and went into a fighting stance. She heard scratching coming from the small island. On the island was a single tree, and something on the other side was sharpening its claws. As much as she didn't want to she swam across the water and hid on the other side of the tree. The scratching stopped. She held her breath. There was a cracking sound, like the cracking of bones and joints. A scaly claw reached around the tree towards her face. She ducked as the claw quickly went for her face. She jumped back as the figure walked out from behind the tree. It was her clone, dripping with bright red blood, from its mouth and all over its body. The clone now bore a very twisted version of the same armor the dragon she defeated wore. Behind the clone was a body, twisted, ripped apart and mangled. The Lady Knight squinted, trying to make out the figure. Her knees gave out and she dug her sword into the ground to support her. Tears rolled down her face and she muttered to herself about her queen. "How did she get here? Did they come looking for me? My love I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry......" she muttered. Her voice trailed off. The clone tilted its head in confusion, then an unnaturally long grin spread across its face. The clone stepped forward, with an awkward walk. It grabbed her face and pushed it back gently. The clone leaned by her ear. "You are losing control, you will hurt her, you will kill her. You. Will. Devour." it whispered. The Lady Knights eyes fogged over. Was she losing control? Suddenly something clicked in her head, and memories began to flood in her mind. She had been getting more violent. She and her queen lived peacefully, but something changed. The color returned to her eyes and she shoved the clone away, looking at her wound. There were cursed symbols around the wound. She was cursed, and the curse made it seem like her life was normal to herself, but in reality she grew violent. Her anger overflowed and she grabbed her sword and lunged for the clone. "Too late." Suddenly she came to. Her vision was still black and white, only blues and reds. Her sword was driven into the neck of one of her men. She pulled her sword out and dropped it, slowly looking up at all the crossbows and red banners that surrounded her. Her queen stood before her, eyes wide with shock. The Lady Knight took a step forward. The incoming arrows burst into crows, and blackness overcame her. Followed by silence. Followed by nothingness. Followed by death.
