Phoenix Flight

"You've got to have some sort of spell or something," Davi muttered. "This is the second time you've appeared the moment I woke up."

Gray stood on the other side of the cell and had a smirk on his face. He was fully healed and dressed in fine robes, with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He also looked even more like a rich douchebag in Davi's opinion because he now had a bluetooth ear piece connected, and was messing with some sort of touchscreen watch, seemingly checking something.

It all just screamed money and was the kind of impractical tech that only people who didn't have to worry about money could afford. 

"Yeah, I do have a spell." The Knight admitted, still messing with his watch. "I placed a spell in the area to detect tremors so I could know when you were moving around, and it sends me alerts and shows me your vitals. I had one placed in my house too, which was how I showed up when you woke up then as well." Gray explained. "The spell also keeps me updated on the state your body was in. If you began to get too weak, I would have rushed over here with my personal healer and gotten you fixed up. Luckily, though, Miss Olivia over there was able to heal." Gray finally looked up from his watch.

"I think I would have taken the other healing." Davi spat out and glared up at Gray. He was usually better at keeping his emotions in check, but he was cranky and pissed off with everything that had happened "I was out for a week."

"Exactly." Gray chuckled. "If my healer had treated you, then you would have been fine and fully healed. Miss Olivia's healing, though, has kept you in a weaker state. This way, we don't have to worry about you trying to run off on us. You're too weak to break the bars now. I would have healed you if you were about to die, but you pulled through all on your own. You really should thank Miss Olivia for that." Davi didn't look amused, and Gray awkwardly rubbed his head. "Look, you can trust me, okay? I'm not here to hurt you anymore."

"I kind of have a hard time trusting someone that nearly got me killed," Davi said bluntly.

Gray winced. "To be fair, you were the one who started it. I gave you a ton of chances to stop. Besides, if we really wanted you dead, you'd be dead. At the very least, if we truly had no care for you, we could have cut out your tongue." Gray poked his tongue out and pointed at it. "Normally, when a mage commits enough crimes and is caught, their tongue is removed to stop them from casting any more spells, but as you can see, you're 'mostly' fine now. That's because we're still deciding what to do with you, or if you're useful, so now's a good time to play nice."

Davi glanced back at Olivia. "Why is she in this cell?" He demanded. "I get why I am. You guys don't like me running around claiming to be a Knight, but she didn't do anything wrong."

Gray plopped down and casually created a chair of dirt to catch him. He folded his legs and shrugged. "She insisted on staying."

"What?" Davi stared at Olivia, who looked a little sheepish now.

"It's true," Olivia admitted. "I was offered the chance to leave this cell a week ago, but I stayed to ensure you were treated. I didn't know they were just going to heal you on their own and thought they were going to leave you for dead…"

"We're good guys." Gray chuckled. "We'd never let him just die. He might have done some bad stuff, but he isn't a monster."

Davi glanced around at the dirty cell. "This place is pretty awful, you know. A good guy wouldn't throw someone like Olivia in here."

"It wasn't meant for her," Gray said, his look growing serious. "As I said, I offered her several chances to leave, but she refused. This cell is where you belong, though."

"He didn't know, though," Olivia said, shaking her head. "I get he shouldn't have run around calling himself a knight, but that's hardly worth all this treatment or almost killing him!" She was shocked by how cruelly Davi was being mistreated. She always looked up to the Knights. They were symbols of light. Heroes. Yet here one was claiming Davi deserved to die. "This is insane. He nearly died at the hands of the Lance of Victory! That was punishment enough."

"Lady Tori went too far," Gray admitted. "I can hardly blame her, though. After all, you were basically taunting her, running around in your armor."

"How was I doing that?" Davi questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I've never even met her. Also… I don't think I ever want to meet her again."

"It's probably because of your armor," Olivia said quietly, getting Davi's attention.

Davi's eye twitched again. "My armor? Seriously? This again." It always came back to the damn armor.

"She's right." Gray nodded. "You, in particular, look very similar to the Ebony Knight."

"There's that name again." Davi sighed. "Does someone want to fill me in? Who the hell is the Ebony Knight?"

"The Ebony Knight is the traitor of the Estiria kingdom," Olivia said after an awkward moment of silence stretched on. "Most kids are told stories about him to scare us growing up. How do you not know about him?"

Davi shrugged. "I grew up in Mordheim, not Estiria."

"Oh…" That explained a lot of Davi's old tech. Mordheim wasn't as advanced as Estiria and instead walked down a different path. A path that made them enemies to the rest of the world.

The four major kingdoms of the world were Estiria, Mordheim, Gallenth, and Rossum. Each kingdom had its own rules and leaders, but Estiria was led by the King of Estiria, a man said to be the descendant of Haru Estiria, the first Arcane Knight and the creator of the Estiria Kingdom. 

A person could only be knighted by the king's hand, and so the Arcane Knights themselves worked closely with the kingdom of Estiria due to the connection both parties had with Haru. A Knight's job above all else was protecting the kingdom and stopping any criminal who could threaten its rule. Besides the king, there were many other noble families in Estiria. None of the other nations had Arcane Knights and instead had their own elite group of warriors that made them special.

"Haru is the creator of our kingdom and the first Knight." Gray commented. "She served as our nation's great leader less than a thousand years ago, and the people who followed her are all famous noble families today. All but one. The Ebony Knight was a soldier of Haru who betrayed her. I won't bore you with the full story, but Lady Tori comes from a very powerful noble family, and so when a criminal starts running around, breaking the laws of her kingdom, and happens to look like the Ebony Knight… Well, it's no wonder she would become so focused on stopping you, since the traitor is known for nearly destroying the kingdom."

"I've never even heard about this guy; how the hell was I supposed to know I looked like him?" Davi demanded.

Gray awkwardly shrugged. "We actually don't know what the Ebony Knight looks like since there are no statues or paintings of him that have survived to today. All we do have are accounts from journals that were passed down through generations. These books describe him as a Knight in armor forged from shadow. His mana was cold and ominous and had the appearance of blue fire, which would crackle out of his helm, and he stood imposingly in plate mail. Sources claim he was a shadow magic user, and he fought with a claymore."

'You've got to be shitting me.' Davi didn't say that out loud, but inside he was low-key seething. He had created his armor the way he did because it was practical and made to take hits. He even ditched his helmet because people were scared of him.

"You must admit, it's a weird coincidence." Gray let out a small snort. "A shadow mage who fights with a claymore and armor made out of his shadows. That in and of itself wouldn't mean anything, but said mage also happens to have mana that feels cold and looks like blue fire. Everyone has their own unique mana, and so even someone with shadow magic likely wouldn't have the same color, look, or feel of your mana, yet everything about you is almost a one-for-one. The only way it could be worse for you was if you were an elf, since history claims the Ebony Knight was a descendant of the king of elves. Not only did he help Haru slaughter his own kind, bringing the elven race to extinction, but he also later betrayed the very same people he worked with, all in an effort to chase power for his own gain. People aren't too fond of him, if you couldn't tell."

An awkward silence filled the cell, and Olivia stared down at the ground. Most people would approach Davi once he saved the day and had his helmet off, but even she had hesitated when he wore his helm. The way it hid his face and blazed with those fiery eyes. She couldn't feel his mana, but he did look ominous and scary.

He wasn't, though. He was a good person. At least from what she had seen.

Gray looked at Davi, who stayed silent. "Most of the Arcane Knights know about the Knight in black armor who's been claiming to be part of our group. Many took notice because of the tale of Du'Lac, the Ebony Knight, and how close to his armor yours looked. Some of the people in the guild have even started calling you the second Ebony Knight. Most people aren't keen on having a Knight like that run around. None of us did anything, though, because of Lady Tori."

"What are you saying?" Olivia frowned. "You didn't try to capture Davi because of the Lance of Victory?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Gray nodded. "Davi didn't get as far as he did through luck or skill. I'm sure that was all part of it, but what really helped him out was Lady Tori. See, she wanted to be the one to bring him in. More than any other Knight, she made it her mission and would constantly set out anytime news of a Knight in shadowy armor reached her. She's one of the strongest Knights in the kingdom, and because of that, she gets swamped dealing with powerful monsters and dungeons, so she kept getting sidetracked by other stuff, which stopped her pursuit of Mr. Davi. Despite that, though, she still refused to let anyone else try to capture him. She insisted it had to be her. I think she wanted to be the one to defeat the Ebony Knight if Mr. Davi really did turn out to be a new one in the making. For the most part, we Knights were all going to leave Mr. Davi be and let Lady Tori deal with him. That changed, however, when I learned he was near my area. I decided to personally get involved and try to defeat him myself. Of course, then Lady Tori happened to show up in the middle of our battle. She used some of her connections to hijack the manaweb that is generated by the king. Anytime someone tried searching up Mr. Davi's name or uploading a picture of him somewhere, it would be taken down and scrubbed clean, and only she would get the alert. She was pretty desperate to stop him herself. Alas, sadly for her, Mr. Davi didn't live up to the rumors."

Davi rubbed his wounds and winced. His chest still had dozens of scabs across it from where Tori's lasers pierced through him. "So, what happens now?" Davi asked after some time. "Do I rot in this cell, or am I waiting to be executed? What's the deal?"

"I hope we're not about to be executed!" Olivia squeaked out. "I like living!"

Gray stood up, and the rock chair he had formed crumbled and shattered, sinking back into the ground. The Knight grabbed the bars of the cell and peered down at Davi, who was seemingly unbothered by whatever news Gray would reveal. 

"We're in a bit of a tricky situation," Gray explained slowly. The man's eyes went from Davi and then down to Olivia. "See, Lady Tori technically never filed any charges even after you were captured."

"So?" Davi raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Is that good for us?" Olivia asked, managing to sound a bit hopeful. "Please, tell me that's good for us!"

Gray stayed silent for several more seconds, seemingly debating something. "Besides the Knights and a few villages, the rest of the kingdom doesn't know about you, and even the people that did complain about you all said you helped them out in one way or another."

"That is good!" Olivia let out a breath of relief. Her joy faded, though, as Gray continued.

"That said, you still committed a ton of crimes, Mr. Davi." Gray took a deep breath and then began to rattle them off. "You're wanted for destruction of public property, trespassing, tax evasion, unlawfully entering a dungeon, impersonating an Arcane Knight, hoarding dungeon wealth for yourself, unlawfully selling monsters, littering, failing to tally your monster kills, and the kidnapping of Ms. Mary Olivia Lot."

"I don't press charges for that!" Olivia said quickly. "So that one can go!"

"Unfortunately, your legal guardian, Rosco Moore, does press charges for you being taken."

"He's not my dad, though!"

"You have lived under his roof, and you're still not considered an adult yet," Gray said, shutting her argument down. "As such, he's the closest thing to a legal guardian the guild was able to find, and he is very, very unhappy with the fact that Mr. Davi kidnapped you. He even personally sent in a quest to have you defeated, Mr. Davi, which is one of the reasons I acted, despite Lady Tori ordering us not to. When I learned you had kidnapped Ms. Olivia, I couldn't stand by and do nothing."

"I didn't get kidnapped, though; I asked for him to take me!" Olivia shook her head. "So it's fine!"

"Even if that crime does get taken off, Mr. Davi here is still dealing with loads of other issues," Gray said casually. "You know, the Arcane Knights entrance exams are starting soon; you can still leave, Ms. Olivia, and not have to worry about any of this coming back to you."

Olivia hesitated for a moment. She glanced down at Davi, who still hadn't moved, then back to Gray, who was smiling softly. "N-no." She finally said. "I'm staying with Davi."

The Knight shrugged, "Sorry, but we simply don't have any reason to keep you. Can't afford to waste good prison food on innocent people."

It was obvious what Gray was trying to do. Olivia saw through his act in an instant. He was throwing her a bone. Willing to look the other way and let her walk away from the situation, because Gray thought she was a good person.

That meant it was easy to manipulate him since he had such a black-and-white view of the world. All she would have to do was make him hate her.

The girl went silent, her eyes dropping to the floor. "But, you do. I… I did something bad." She whispered. Gray's eyes narrowed slightly, and his smile faded. Olivia continued, "His name was Garon. I—"

"Don't be an idiot." Davi cut her off before she could speak of her crime, and he flicked her on the head. "Being a Knight was your dream, wasn't it? There's no reason for you to stay here. Don't be stupid and throw that away. And stop blaming yourself for Garon. The guy went out on his own terms, so get him out of your head."

Olivia clenched her hand into a fist and shook her head. "I know. I know that Garon was in the wrong and it didn't matter, but that doesn't mean I have to like it either." That guilt still clung to her no matter how foolish it was. Garon was evil. He had tried to kill her. He would have died no matter what. And it wasn't like Knights didn't kill. Plenty did. Her idol Tori had nearly killed Davi for such a small crime. "I want to be a Knight." She said after a few moments. "A really strong one that can help people. Maybe if a Knight like that existed, Garon wouldn't have done what he did. He would have asked for help." The image of the silver-haired woman came to her mind once more.

"That's all the more reason you can't stay here then," Davi responded sternly. "You want to be a Knight, yet you're willing to give that up and stay in this cell with me? What gives? You're not making any sense. Don't be dumb."

"I know!" Olivia rapidly shook her head and growled. Her look softened after a moment, and she sighed. "I've been having fun." She admitted. "I grew up in Fri, and I was so bored for most of my life that I thought I was going insane. I did have friends there; well, at least I had Bruno, but that was it. I felt alone for most of my time in Fri, and I just wanted to leave it. I still want to be a Knight; that's not going to change any time soon, just like how you're looking for a Dragon, but I also want to keep going on this adventure with you. I'm not happy you lied, and I'm still mad at you, but… It was a lot of fun. Maybe I'm just insane or something, but even the short amount of things we've seen has gotten my blood pumping. I've been happier these last few weeks than I have my entire life. Even the bad stuff has taught me something. I want to walk down this path because it's the choice I'm making, so please stop trying to change my mind!"

Davi looked slightly stunned by her outburst, and Olivia felt her cheeks flush a little. Eventually, he snorted. "Alright. Yeah, sorry, Olivia, my bad. I shouldn't have tried to pick what path you walk for you. I'll try not to do that again."

"G-good!"

Gray cleared his throat, reminding them both that he was still outside the cell. "So, I guess it's settled then, Ms. Olivia, you're going to stay here with Mr. Davi?"

Olivia glared back at him and nodded. "Yep. That's right. Got an issue with that?"

Gray shook his head. "None." He held up two fingers. "In that case, since things are settled, let me explain what's going to happen. Mr. Davi, you have two options right now."

"Yeah?" Davi raised an eyebrow. He debated trying to break out, but his body and mana still hadn't recovered. He'd need a few more days before he could use his magic again. "What have you got for me?"

"Option one, you can rot in this cell until your trial. You'll be found guilty, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. After that, you'll be sent to Nightshade, the prison we throw all criminal mages into, though there's also a chance you might get the death penalty, at which point your head will come off." Gray said it a little too cheerfully as he lowered one of his fingers. "That's option one."

"And option two?" Davi asked, hoping it was slightly better than the possible death penalty.

"You become an Arcane Knight."