2 Choices

 

2 Choices

 

            I walked home, but didn’t get there before my soon to be wife. Lady Serine was already weeping when I opened the door. Her beauty, even in sadness, lit my heart ablaze. I knew I had to console her…I walked over and sat next to her.

“Aid…how could you be so happy to leave me like this…?”

            “Serine, I must do this, I have been chosen. Like my Father. Like my Brother. I am the next in line, you know this”

            She sighed as I wiped tears away, “I love you Aid, and I will wait for you. No matter what you will come back, promise me this.”

            “I promise love, I promise.”

            They embraced, and kissed.

            “I want nothing more out of life than you.”

            “As do I, but you must accept the fact that I am obligated to do this. Even if I refuse, they will take you, the only thing I have left worth having, and kill you.”

            “Aid…”

            “Ser…”

            “Goodbye”

            “I shall think of you Every Day, goodbye love...”

            I sat up and went to my room. I could hear her sobs from across the hall. A beautiful lament shed for my passing. Did I deserve such wonderment? I contemplated this now more than ever. Serine…the women that is most dear to me, who is love and kind; I am to leave behind—maybe forever. My love for such a creature is surpassed by only the love of the gods themselves…If only I could guarantee my survival…     

            Could I live without this? Without her? I guess I was about to find out.

            But strangely I was calm. Strangely I wasn’t excited nor angry at the fact that I must depart this great city. But calm, which is the strangest of all emotions indeed.

Packing shouldn’t take much time. I already carry everything I needed. The sword of my Brother…he gave to me when he left. I wonder everyday if this was the best of ideas…I wonder if this could have done him aid. I never really said goodbye.

            How nostalgic this all has become…my whole family has been of the chosen. And now I too, am to set out on the very same path that they too had trodden.     

            I carried no bag; I needed no items, and thus a burden, but a belt to store some things there. My armor, a mix of heavy and light, and are all gifts from my Father’s youth.

            Obtineo is what my Brother called this sword. This is the name I must call it as well. I took the weapon out, and examined. The blade was sharper then any other I knew of. Made right from the hands of my Brother; I had seen him do it in his three days. I placed it in sheath and walked about the room. Contemplating and soaking in all memory of this place, asking myself ‘is this really it’?          

            It pained me that I did not know the answer to such questions as of these.

            I heard a sound from the outside, a call; a call to me saying that it was almost my time and a call to the people that it was almost midnight. I knew I had but moments left. I donned my full helm; I made this one, my Brothers work inspired me to do great things.

            I felt powerful behind my full armor. Never did I wear it all before, in one complete set. For I make the weapons, for I make the armor. That is my profession, but yet I still practice in the Arts to uphold my family tradition. I Never wore any of it to battle. But still, Lady Serine knows I am different; different somehow. Many more have told me this too and I could never explain why they had said such things. I strode out the house with no passing glances or double looks. I could not bring myself to see her in such a state. The stars hold my fate, they say.

 

 

***

 

            “Sir Aiden, you know you must be knighted before your departure, right?”

            “I am to be a Knight…? A Sword?!”

            “Yes, yes” Iscariot chuckled, “call it what you will.”

            “My liege! To be of my Father, and Brother, the same status as them, this fills my heart and soul with such honor. Just to be considered a Chosen, a Knight.”

            The King smiled with a speckle in his eye. He patted Aiden on the shoulder and walked away leaving the unknighted Chosen behind, alone. Sirens sounded. A call to the people; an event of this magnitude must be witnessed by all of course.

            “Sir Aiden! May you kneel before me and your City” Iscariot said as he walked back into view. “May Sir Aiden be dressed in the Robe of White.”

            A woman swayed into the clearing carrying a red article. Still kneeling, she placed it over his armor, concealing it, making it seem as if he was defenseless.

            On the back of said robe lay a pure white symbol; a vertical line with two horizontal lines passing through, one almost to the top and one almost at the bottom. Very intricate and meaningful even through simplicity to the people of City.

            The crowd now gathered en masse, and gasped and murmured at the sight of the warriors now before them. The sight was so powerful that when the King unsheathed his massive sword, everything was thrust into silence. A clang and scrape, then it were on Aidens shoulder, opposite of the one patted.

            The crowd now in awe, was frozen as the King spoke. “I dub thee Sir Knight Aiden”

            Rolling thunder was heard in the distance over the silence