Red [Private]

"So many places and I still haven't seen all of the wonders in my own home" he thought while pondering exactly why he came here. It never seemed to be still, the volcano, was grumbling and shifting like an impatient, starving dog. Basalt surrounded the natural structure, obviously forming from previous lava that had come spewing at an earlier date. Just by looking at it, he could tell the rock was very sharp just from looking at it, so he concluded that scaling it would be a bit of a dangerous normally. He didn't care, he underestimated the volcano and there was nothing that would make him think that a tall formation of rock would be any more of a challenge to scale than a hill of the same height. Climbing was climbing and if some sharp bit of coal colored rock happened to make its way into his hand, then it would just be a little stained with crimson.

Zenshin's goal was the zenith of the beast with fire in its stomach, volatile and ready to blow at any minute. He wanted to see inside, however silly the reason may have been. It was just really that he had yet to explore the major parts of his own nation despite his travels to the others, some of which was actually quite a challenge to get through. Pergrande, now that was a thrill. Those that lived in that kingdom didn't quite take kindly to mages, actually. More like they hunted all those with magical powers down like animals and locked them away to torture and eventually kill when they had broken them. If the magi were lucky, they would be killed immediately trying to flee from the "peacekeepers" of that land. He wouldn't even consider sneaking past the border that separated that country from its neighbors if he didn't think he was prepared to take on the best of what they had to offer.

There was only one part of his experience in that nation which he found a little strange, as if he was being watched. It was when he was fighting Captain Scarlet, also known as the Crimson Judicator. Now that was a fun duel, possibly one of his favorite in his history of fighting one on one. During it, however, he felt a distinct feeling of eyes on the back of his head, ones that did not belong to the crowd of guards that came with the captain. Once he had defeated her, he took her weapon as a part of the deal they had, the other part being that they needed to make him a citizen of Pergrande, so he could roam as he pleased. Scarlet never once thought that a magic user could ever beat her in a one on one duel when it came to weapons, but he had a good teacher.

Eventually, he reached the summit. Not much now he thought before climbing the rest of the way and staring down into the volcano. Just as he thought, bubbling molten rock. There was something hypnotic about it though, something about it that made him glad that he put himself through all the trouble of climbing up. He focused on the space above the hole of the volcano before stepping out onto thin air and walking towards the center of the hole prior to taking a seat. The air around him was very hot, but he liked the heat, it relaxed him. I think this is the perfect place to think about what happened then

Clear skies often herald pristine days, someone once said. Another line in praise of the glory and radiance of the sun. No doubt largely accepted, sure, but it largely overlooks the torturous nature of the star. Sunlight and warmth are gentle, but only when there are clouds and winds to dampen them.
The azure man could do with some winds at the time. It was a slow day, uneventful and muggy with just a tinge of sulphur and impending death by fire. Seemingly a staple, too; quite a few days have passed alike near the volcano, making Aegis doubt the necessity of his presence there.
The knight was in an absent-minded leer as he pondered. He was sitting in the crown of an incidental tree, an unremarkable vista spanning before him: sparse vegetation, occasional trees here and there. A small thicket, barely even a coppice, flanked by a few shrubs and what-not. Could it even be called a sight? Of course, beauty is "simply hidden" somewhere in the scene, or so people like Aegis would claim, if they cared to comment; something he rarely did any more. Just like the beauty of this land, his own outward enthusiasm had long since burned and only a thin layer of it persisted.
The Knight's ears twitched. His nose soon followed suite. A familiar scent -- "Ahh..." The knight moaned in a deep baritone; his joints cracked into motion -- it's been days since he last moved -- his coated back leaned off of the wooden trunk supporting it and he slowly got up. He balanced on the branch beyond effortlessly, not even as little as the hint of instability appearing. Sunlight struck his face, draping it with a layer several hues lighter than before he rose. The thin cloth tied over his eyes almost glistered with morning dew; you could imagine for how long it's been standing in the shade of leaves. His coat seemed good as new, however. Naturally.
Aegis gracefully lifted his left arm with almost clockwork precision. Fingers balled into a fist seemed to clutch some invisible bow, though it was soon made material after a small expenditure of mana. He hooked the string. Creak it sung, imploring Aegis to stop but he kept on pulling. The bow, ironically named Mercy, received none of what it supposedly gave, instead only bending and bending like a spring being wound.
Half-drawn. Fully drawn. Overdrawn. With relentless stability, though questionable reasoning, the knight prepared longbow for firing. With a sound akin to the reversal of breaking glass, a blue arrow-like projectile formed pre-nooked and ready to loose. Aegis' hand began shaking, beckoning him to release the burden. Small streaks of sweat shaped beads on his forehead -- the bow was that difficult to use. Regardless, he held his breath soundlessly, face unstrained, and patiently waited for stability to return to his hands after they go numb.
A minute passed, then another three. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Aegis' arm was so strained that the sleeve of his coat was barely wide enough to contain his bulging biceps, yet he still held on to the the bowstring. Like a lion stalking his pray.
Thirty minutes had passed and the azure's chest finally heaved a breath. It was clear that whatever he was waiting for didn't happen, so a change was necessary. His arm relaxed, for an instant, before he drew the bow again up to its very limit. The tinge of magic stung the air as he drove extra power into the bow and, somehow aiming through his blindfold, loosed the shot. The magical arrow whistled loudly and shot out of sight within a heartbeat, leaving only a thin silvery trail painting a trajectory from Aegis all the way to the peak of the volcano, where a certain magus was sightseeing.

There is was again, that feeling that someone whom he did not expect was watching him. Something that just didn't fit, didn't click. They were there, maybe not the same person from before, but someone who wasn't revealing themselves to him, which was quite bothersome. No I'm just being paranoid. Who would be watching me up here anyways, it's not like there are too many places to hide around a volcano or a biome like that he thought, looking across the area of the volcano to see the lush plains landscape that succeeded the smokey black basalt of the cool lava. The man who sat upon the air took a deep breath with his eyes closed, hesitated a few seconds, and then exhaled it. I'm just being paranoid he figured before shaking his head with a vague smile making its way onto his lips while internally scolding himself for being so overly cautious.

Then a silver gleam made its way into his periphery, causing his head to snap to where it was coming from. It seemed to be getting closer, and then he thought about how it looked as though it was actually gleaming. The black clouds from the volcano should be blocking out the sun... why in the world is that glittering? What even is it? he thought while his brow furrowed in curiosity. Before it knew it, the object zipped by the space above his right shoulder and next to his ear, causing the whistling to penetrate his cochlea and cause him slight pain in the listening department. He instinctively shut his eyes and looked down, placing his right hand cupped over the ear for a few seconds before standing and looking around. Thanks to the silvery trail that it left, he could definitively tell where in the hell it had come from. So, he hopped through the air and back onto the volcano, then slid down roughly before making it to his would-be assassin.

At first he couldn't believe his eyes, or his mind, but then he could because this was definitely the man he was thinking about and he wouldn't put any of the actions that had just conspired beyond him at ALL. "You're a terrible shot, you know that?" he said, his smile unfaltering, to the blindfolded man. This particular individual seemed to be the same particular individual who'd come and gone as he pleased, though every time it was quite the trip to see him again. "I missed you" he continued, going in for a loving embrace that only a happily married couple together for fifty years could quite compare to. Though he looked quite a few years older, there was no hiding his stubborn visage or his uncompromising aura that surrounded him. This man was his mentor, and no matter how long their reunions were, Zenshin viewed him as family.

Aegis simply gawked. Zenshin has been beaten, cut, shot and almost-assassinated by him a thousand times over just on a whim... and the bastard hugs me!
For the first time in years, the knight just burst out in bellowing laughter. He could almost swear he felt dust and cobwebs break in his lungs.

"Baha, I loose a stunning shot and it's me who's dazed! Amazing.
The matte black longbow suddenly collapsed in on itself, shattering into naught; the Azure man occupied his hands with his pupil's back now, hugging him back a tad harder than needed, due to the lingering strain in his arms.

"You missed me, huh? What, did I miss the head to hit the heart?"
Aegis teased with a softer tone, shattering his stoic confines. It was funny: he almost felt like a different person when around close ones, no matter how few they may be. There was almost a liveliness in his voice where once a livid monotony would languish.

The knight hopped off the branch, dragging Zen down to the ground with himself. The soft grass cracked meekly under his boots as he strode backwards twice, fingers caressing his sturdy chin giving the impression of a thoughtful stare even with the dark blindfold. "You," he trailed off to find the right words, "seem rather scrawny. I could've shot you another dozen times before you got here, too."
With exaggerated motions Aegis moved closer and leaned towards Zen's face so close he could taste his breath. Sniff sniff.

"... Depressed? Stressed? Ah well, nothing a good bleeding can't fix."

Oh wow, was that actually an attempt at a joke he thought, stifling a giggle before laughing along with the Azure swordsman, well, rather at him than with him. His biceps were huge, probably from firing that wind shattering arrow with less than pin point accuracy just a second ago, causing his spine to creak and crack upon his hug's reciprocation. "Scrawny? Right. I'm sure you could've shot *at* me a dozen times, but you'd rather save the embarrassment of missing so many arrows" the pupil retorted in a frankly snarky tone while rolling his eyes.

"Also, you can't tell how a person is just from their breath, Aegis" he said, stepping back a bit to regain what little personal space that the swordsman had left him with. "Besides, you couldn't make me bleed if you wanted to, nor would that help with any problems I *would* have, if I had any to begin with. I'm just a little confused because I felt a serious disturbance recently. That doesn't matter though, how have you been, and where did you disappear off to this time around?" he asked, taunting Aegis and asking about his ventures in one fell swoop. After such an absolutely putrid burn such as the one that Zenshin had inflicted on his mentor, there was no way that Aegis wouldn't bow his head in defeat. It was only natural, after all.

"Well, after holding the arrow nocked for half an hour and watching you fail to comprehend the copious amounts of mana I was flaring with, it seemed that shooting you was the only way to help you notice. And lookie here, I made you rush down the mountain a full kilometre."
Aegis tossed a small smirk before resuming.

"Oh and by the way, in case you haven't noticed, I was blindfolded. Not that it matters, I suppose. The wind knocked it out of kill trajectory anyway.

"Can't all be perfect," he finished, choosing to abstain from commenting on the confident neophyte's breath for the sake of their relationship.
A sudden gust of wind tugged at the teal hair. It had grown a few centimetres since the last the magi talked, so it now freely flowed in the wind, like water. The cool breeze gave him a smile, though faint.

"I haven't been anywhere in particular, though I did end up looking for some things..." - a pause - "Let's just-...
Another gust, this time more forceful, grazed off the knot on his blindfold, freeing it. Aegis immediately cringed and sought to shade his eyes, which seemed different, somehow damaged. Their colouring was less than a bleached purple, and his retina seemed blurred and somehow incandescent . The knight sighed.
"Geez. As I was saying, let's just agree that I haven't been doing anything."
A nonchalant swipe and the blindfold was quickly replaced.

"And you? How's your life?"

"Failed to comprehend? Or refused to acknowledge? And you should've taken the wind into account" he said, continuing to smile at the failure of a marksman. Using a blindfold and wind as an excuse, is this even the Aegis I know, or a phony? he thought jokingly to himself while he listened to his former mentor prattle on about absolutely nothing.

"Well I have a child now, a daughter, so I don't much time to hang around outside of the home. Happened when I left the country for a good amount of time. Didn't want my lovely lady to have to go through such pain to create life; hence why trekked all the way to Seven. A town there knows me and owed me one for a favor I did once. I also made a detour to Pergrande to look for Marick, but instead I found this" he said, holding out his hand before blue energy materialized in the shape of a sword without detail.

In the next second, a small burst of energy came from the outline and a strange red sword could be seen. "It's neat I guess, it's more of a trophy than anything. Now, what happened to your eyes? They're not the same vibrant color that I remember" he asked with slightly raised brow, worried about what could have happened to Aegis in their time apart.

Aegis's face slowly began changing from a mostly dispassionate pond to a stoic grimace, though not untouched by a rare softness soon after. "That has got to be the most hideous cross guard I have ever seen. Where's your sense of fashion? You're like a traffic light with this" his voice was a giggle by the end, and though his small smile persisted the succeeding question, something inside him clenched up when it struck. Whatever lax demeanour there was around his poise vanished, or rather turned to ice. A spring seemed as a good portrayal of the knight, and it slowly began to wind up again.

"... It's a... he'd choose his words carefully "... souvenir."
Another gust of wind. Was it a strong one? When Aegis' lips began parting only the sound of hesitation weighed down on his jaw. Unnaturally long silence. Amidst it, merely the whistle of wind; could it be some distant entity's echo? If so, it must have been closing in -- the shrieks felt like they grew louder.
There was, of course, an explanation and it could not be simpler. The wind was picking up and Aegis felt like it came for him. Like it wanted him, yearned for his senses to notice it. Layer upon layer of alarm and suspicion draped on his mind like a tablecloth of fears: resurgence of memory, remembrance. Recollection of thought -- all the concepts pooled behind his sealed eyes like tears seeking to escape. But they didn't. He wouldn't let that, so his frame merely remained firm; excessively so. Without consent, weathered fingers caught the unbuttoned rim of his coat near his left hip -- where a sword hilt may have once stood poised for the draw.

Another heaved breath, then Aegis shook, but just barely. It was a jolt of signals to perform a hard reset of his alarmed senses, to... force them to relax. When his lips broke embrace after, sound did ring, though far from being a lively chime. A rumble, and one with no defined emotion appended to it.
"I... broke a law. In search of something..." his lower lip quivered faintly; it was clear he wasn't referencing a government's rules. "Breaking laws has a price... and I found my answers."
Once-violet eyes, now more veered towards pastel lavender, shoot a murderous glare to nowhere in particular. Was it the wind he cursed, or something more?

"Yeah it's a little silly, so I didn't think I'd ever use it. I just keep it stored away. It was called something else, but I renamed it to the Ribbitar because the cross guard kinda looks like a frog is watching" he said with a smile, definitely knowing how repulsive it looked, but in a comical way. Almost immediately after he said that, he made it disappear back to where his creations go when they weren't in use. That place high above that he used to bank different 'blueprints', that magical place where nothing physical had power. The wind began to pick up to the point where it was actually whistling, the sound filling the silence between Aegis' next sentence and Zenshin's last. He simply stood there and blinked as the awkward silence took hold of the situation like a mass of tar that would not come off.

Then he spoke again, visibly distraught by the questioned which was posed by the man who put away his silly scarlet sword. This was it, the time had finally come. Aegis cannot possibly get more cryptic than this he thought while squinting his eyes at the man who, despite his emotions that seem to be strewn across his being, could still manage to be as elusive as a jackalope. "Wow, then we had pretty similar times away from each other. The law I broke was being a mage in Pergrande, looking for Marick rather than a something. Which law did you break? And in search of what exactly?" he asked, comparing the Knight's time to his, though he was well aware that he did not break any ordinary law that citizens have to follow. From his reactions, it seemed a lot bigger than a simple thing like that.

It was pretty plain that Zenshin only feigned his ignorance, but the sheer amount of fail he radiated was musing enough to encourage a reply. Even a smile.
"... I went to see Akasha."

The following instant was probably more than just eternal. Winds flowed, critters skipped about but the overall development of the place seemed frozen. Sunlight barely even grazed the reality of it. The event, or lack thereof, was a quirk of Aegis' -- his penchant for over-analysis embedded into his brain seeped through whenever something notable was thought to happen. In that case, his pupil's reaction. Aegis couldn't fight the urge to savour it, since for once he was just too tired to be aloof. Secrets held little significance with the knight now; truths, lies, falsities, beliefs, love and hatred all had weighed too heavy for too long, so his choice was to escape them. Honestly, what he really cared for was watching the world for what it was though he knew it would probably not last for long. Still, hopes high, he smirked at the dark memories in his mind and turned his back -- dwelling on choice of words would only make him think of the topic more than necessary. The knight did not want that. He could not handle it. The only choice left was to try and end it before it began. And fuck the wind for causing this.

"I'd advise against further inquiry, for your sake more than mine. Truth isn't something human minds can bear to witness.
... Shall we have tea?"

Zenshin blinked at the man's response. So nonchalant. It was definitely a trap. Aegis loved those, and he knew what his pupil's reaction would be. As damaged as they were, Zen looked at Aegis for a while after his invitation to drink some leaf water. "You went. To see. Akasha." he repeated, wanting to hear it aloud a second time to help him process what he was hearing. Why is the wind so loud he thought, the only thought to pop into his mind following the repetition of what the blue knight said a few minutes ago. It was at this point that he really noticed the howling of the wind that did not seem to get duller as time went by. The sound was unnatural, strange, off putting. He tried to ignore it, but it finally reached a point where it could no longer be ignored. At least, he thought as much. Another minute went by and the wind was gone, leading him to believe that it was never really that loud to begin with. Why do all these weird happenings go on whenever Aegis is around His conclusion? It probably had something to do with his mentor. It always did.

"You can't just leave it at that Aegis. I don't want your tea. Thanks for the offer though. What I want is to know how you went to see Akasha and you're here. As far as I understood you could do either or, but not both"

The knight heaved a heroic sigh, intermittently sipping from his cup with a regretful slurp. Zenshin. The name of a person, who happens to be a man. A man who happened to want power, which happened to be given by an Aegis. An Aegis who now vividly lamented the entirety of that sequence.

"......"
The sound of blue silence. Perhaps, given other circumstances, there'd been a lonesome cricket chirping away the awkwardness, but no such luxury presented itself. Only the ring of sipping, and when it ended the knight closed his eyes, bobbed his head and shot Zen with a glare that honestly screamed did you really just do that? Another deep sigh.

"Yes, well, things happened. Though they didn't, since they did, but I made sure to un-redo their doing." He tried to sip some more tea, but even that little comfort had ended for him, marking a definitive end of any semblance of peace he had.
"Look, I'd rather continue this meaningless existence without any more of this Akasha-holds-the-meaning-of-life nonsense. I already went through the mess once, I don't intend be mad a-..."

The silence that had grown so recurrent didn't wane after that. His words, cut into jagged little spikes lodged themselves in his throat. Eyes veered shut to finalize a mild grimace, as if of self-scold and mental flagellation. As a whole, the situation was all too familiar. Just like.... no... I won't!

The azure spun, his coat flailing a slash through the wind, or the conversation. No further words were needed, or wanted. Aegis simply walked away.

Zenshin laughed when Aegis turned away rather than the typical response of "you can't just end a conversation like that you sociopath!" for a very simple reason. Turns out that he was finally discovering his humanity after all this time. "Well well, look who's human after all, eh Aegis?" he said, likely to get the swordsman's attention enough for him to turn around and actually face him as he spoke. "Did you actually think you'd find answers anywhere? That's crazy. You're like a human with the means to answer his own 'big' questions" he explained, still shocked that he managed to go see Akasha and not cease existing, though hiding it for the sake of his friend. "It sucks that you couldn't find the answers you were looking for, but there's no need to be raw about it. Just because you didn't find them doesn't mean they aren't there. Perhaps the meaning of life is never to give up looking for the answers?" He posed the question in the hopes that Aegis would come out of this sudden slump he found himself in. "And hey, Akasha is one less place to look. You'll always have your eyes to remind you of that one, haha"

Aegis did indeed stop, and listened too -- he faced Zenshin and with each subsequent instance of failure his mouth spawned, the knight's jaw hung lower and lower. He was not aware that it was possible for someone that close to his essence, someone who outright had to relive half his life, would fail so hard at understanding things as simple as this. In fact, the word 'fail' did not suffice. This was something more, and it merited a facepalm so forceful that a small shockwave poured out of Aegis' forehead. He was mad to the point of exasperation. Definitely mad, and there were only a handful of things that could do that to him.

"You... I... This... wow."
The pupil didn't even notice what Aegis said. Not only that, but he seemed to be pushing the knight into thinking about it more.
This is not just a fail. It isn't even an epic fail, no; this is a legendary fail.

Aegis malfunctioned. This... this phenomenon was impossible to foresee. It's like Zen was given the key to the evil overlord's tomb to guard and he not only didn't do so -- he was so eager to open it he was shoving the damned thing in the padlock with full force!

No words.

"I know you're stunned. How couldn't you be with my deep insight to the inner workings of the human spirit, though these are things that come with existing. I implore you to continue your search Aegis, or to at least give me your thoughts when you actually manage to organize them properly" he continued, all the while smiling at the man who seemed to be getting the slightest bit frustrated for some reason. This was the most fun Zenshin had had in a long while, and he wasn't about to finish this conversation with his mentor so suddenly and so abruptly so as to ruin their reunion. What were Zenshin's real motives, some would wonder? Well, they were very simple. He tried his *best* to get Aegis worked up with all this babble of life's true meaning being hidden from those with the keenest of sight. It was pretty apparent from the fact that he called it all nonsense not even a minute ago that he'd like to put it all behind him, though that was the perfect opening for Zen to come in. "I know you'll find it if you really try" he said, hoping to hit a nerve with one of his comments. Maybe, if he hoped hard enough, Aegis would explode and he'd be able to see what he looked like mad. He'd only ever seen him mad through the equivalent of replays, after all, so he was curious to see it in person. Aegis, truly mad. A terrifying thought no doubt, but an equally interesting sight.

The atmosphere in that field was oscillating more than a seismometer during an earthquake -- highs to lows, the whole gamma, but just like in a tremor, what was visible didn't even get close to the forces at play.
Aegis was truly exasperated. His interlocutor -- or is he now his foe? -- stood tall to mock him with no remorse. The knight's choices now hung low in the air, seemingly pulling down the sky as they dangle in front of him, writing out the word "mistake", though he read it as "trust". Indeed, he trusted Zen enough to show him his back. He'd have never felt the knives otherwise.

"You, are you insane?!" Aegis spat the words out with decreasing affection. Enmity began to permeate his demeanour. "Do you even realise what-..."
His teeth jolted to a clench of pain. He veered back like he was punched and bandaged his abdomen with his arms. It wasn't so much physical pain that caused it, however; his body was more resilient than most other creatures alive. The issue was his other weakpoint, made weaker by past events that sought to paint themselves before his eyes once more.

A groan muttered itself against renewed gales that rushed by the magi. Flowing clothes promptly billowed, hiding any other grunts that followed.
"...Haaa.... haaa..." -- ragged panting. The Azure's legs seemingly gave way under some unseen mass which pushed him down to a kneel. What he gripped, however, was his face; left hand, fingers spread like a mechanised gripping hook, covered the frontal half of his head easily. He wanted to grab it, that little voice in his head that was awakening from peaceful slumber. With angry screams he'd have ripped it from himself if only he knew how. But it didn't matter any longer, because the images of yore, vivid and graphic, had already begun replacing his sanity.

"What I'm doing? No, probably not. I'd like to think that we're just having a little fun with our game. You know the one. You try to kill me and I retaliate. This time, though, I don't quite have to retaliate physically, which I know I'd certainly lose" he explained ad libbing the end of Aegis' sentence, because he definitely wasn't going to finish a single one in their entire exchanges. "You make it really hard to find cracks in your nearly infallible exterior, for obvious reasons, but now I see that you too have your weak points" he explained under the screaming of the man on his knees. "I think I'm going a little too far though, so I think I'll drop the topic. Minds just aren't meant to remember some things, wouldn't you agree? Oh! And would you like some tea?" he explained, self resentfully, before recreating a small cup of cold tea on a small saucer in his hand.

And there they were, if Aegis could still even comprehend reason in his fading sanity. The two reasons that Zenshin looked for and exploited his weaknesses as early as he could. Was it just to do this? Absolutely. Was it right? Well. That didn't quite matter now that the deed was done and it was up to Aegis to pull himself together. The white haired student knew that if his mentor truly wanted him dead he would have done it by now, though that didn't stop him from beating him to near death whenever they came into contact. Now, as much as he would like to help the blue Knight up after such a hard fall, he decided to make a judgement call and stay a relatively safe distance from him, as his arm would likely be pulled off should he extend it in assistance.

Stillness. Thick, though brittle, it blanketed the field with unnatural uneventfulness. The reason was one -- the sound of clenched jaws gave it away nonchalantly. A subtle quivering and bristled clothing alone could oppose what may have very well been the eye of the storm. And what a storm indeed.

Aegis rose. The grass beneath him creaked fearfully under his trample, like it knew more than necessary or could even understand. What few were still unbowed rustled in the wind like bladed tendrils that reached for their next pray, gifting it with the embrace of cold, sharpened steel.
The knight was well-acquainted with blades of steel, however; under closer observation some could even say he's taken some of their likeness. Indeed, a blade need be sharp enough to kill with a single strike, light enough for agility, strong enough to impose and flexible enough to bend but never break. Aegis was undoubtedly all of it; an apex predator of sorts. His quest to the purest of sword mastery changed him in ways few could even dare imagine, though that was no longer a necessity -- it was rare for Aegis' iron stoicism and penchant for power to portray anything other than a simple sword in all its noble grace.
But there was one thing that even he had neglected. Weapons, just like him, aren't meant to have a soul; no, it is the lack there of that allows them to take lives with a hunger under the command of those with a will. It isn't something open to discussion. A sword cannot exist alone, for without its wielder it is force without guidance. Power without use. Might uncared for -- and without care, steel can only rust and wither away.

The knight's motions were slow and forced, clearly so. It appeared as though he struggled to retain his form, like his chest bulged under the pressure of something that sought freedom. His body trembled. His lungs didn't even look like they moved at all. Was his breath held? And if so, by what? A small answer rung like a bell's toll, marking 13 o'clock sharp; the time of reckoning. It was not an answer he wanted to hear -- not one he could ever truly ignore. The closest thing was to muzzle his mind and flee, hoping that the voice will tire out eventually.
And so he did. With choppy, but consistent steps he trundled away, back against the man whose name seemed important, though indistinguishable from memory. Names didn't matter anyway. He was just another obstacle that Aegis would annul if it barred his path.
The winds attested to it with force, too. And the mountain rumbled belligerently with each gust, like it was about to erupt.