'How did he do that to me?' Solstice's inner-alarm was blaring loudly inside his mind, astonished at the fact he was commanded by mere words.
"Do what? You're in no position to be asking me questions boy." A smug smile appeared on the child like face of the young knight.
'Did he read my mind!' Just as Solstice thought this, he heard the young knight say something strange.
"I didn't read your mind, you had surprise written across your face, it was quite easy to read your expression. Let me ask you now, this is not your body is it? Tell me, how'd you manage a Drifter's body out of all things miscreant." The young knight maintained his smugness as he revealed he knew Solstice's secret.
Shocked, Solstice was absolutely shocked, to the point where he almost stumbled even though he was only standing.
"Hah, you stumbling fool!" The young knight soldier took hold of Solstice's face, and they met eye to eye. The young knights' eyes were very unique, they were not human in any way. The light blue iris, the standard rounded pupil, faded away into something inhuman. The light blue changed to amber, the pupil reshaped itself horizontally, not unlike a goat, and finally the white sclera turned deep black.
"Oh you and I have something in common! Both invaders, bodies not of our own, your situation I can tell, unintentional, mine very much so intentional, that part is where our commonality stops though." The young knight, or whatever he was, let go of Solstice's face and took a step back while continuing to study Solstice. Seemingly satisfied in instilling fear into Solstice, his eyes reverted back to the soft light blue color they were once before, making him seem human again.
"Since you're so clueless, I'll give you enough information to get by for the moment, first, you may call me Lord Rykel, however leave out the Lord part when regarding me around the others." Lord Rykel stepped aside and pointed to the last human survivor, a beautiful young woman. The woman was exuding pure nobility, and had very distinct features. Her luscious green hair stood out the most, sleek olive skin and slightly taller than your average man. This was obviously the nobility, the one he and the knights were meant to escort.
"That is the young Lady Eryn, we are here to ensure she makes it to the Castle Agar, I'm sure you've seen it." Rykel then pointed back to the direction of the pristine white castle Solstice had seen yesterday, however, Solstice was solely focused on Lady Eryn.
There was something off with her at the moment.
Solstice pointed out the obvious. "Why are her eyes milky white? She's also standing very still, is she not worried about what's going on?"
"What did I say about asking questions! Ah, anyway, she's in a temporary state currently, it's due to her being a part of a very special bloodline. She's semi-unconscious at the moment, she will be able to stabilize herself once we make it to Castle Agar. She's related to a dragon, as you know they are considered minor deities, they would sometimes assume human form and have children with them. She is the descendant of a particular dragon, one with a somewhat prophetic ability. She's most likely receiving random scenes of a potential future." Rykel promptly replied.
Solstice looked at Lady Eryn again, noticing details he had not noticed before. She was wearing something resembling a chiton with some changes, she also adorned a blue and gold cloth that wrapped around her shoulders almost like a scarf.
There was also undeniable proof that she wasn't entirely human, although not too prominent. Looking a little closer, Solstice saw two horn stubbles on top of her head, mainly hidden by her luscious green hair. She truly looked like a young goddess, which she was not too far off as she was quite literally a distant descendant to a lesser deity, a dragon.
"She must be very important then, but why in the world would she need to endure such a dangerous journey, this place is absolute hell!"
Rykel chuckled. "I myself am rendered powerless under that damned Sun's gaze. Lady Eryn must undergo a transformation for stabilization that every generation of her particular bloodline has done once they reach a certain age. It's her time now, Castle Agar is already prepared for her arrival, we just have to do the hard task of actually making it there."
A mutilated scream broke their conversation, the wooden automaton's last stand turned out to be quite fierce, it claimed another knight soldier as a victim.
Lord Rykel cleared his throat. "Don't mind that, that flea is on its last legs."
'Flea? This guy considers that horrifying automaton a flea?' Solstice realized that the person, or being….that he was speaking to was very much not simple, and genuinely terrifying. "Rykel-"
"It's Lord Rykel! Don't forget that.". Rykel quickly corrected.
"Understood…how should I prepare for when the battle is done, the knights are not fond of my being here."
"They are too tired to get rid of you, they may not like your presence but they can't afford to expend any more energy. They also really shouldn't unless they want to incur a god's wrath from your murder."
"What?" Solstice was confused why a god would take it upon themself to punish his murderer, it wasn't like he was an important figure worthy of deity's protection himself.
Rykel didn't elaborate. "Just in case, I'll help you remove this blockage." Rykel stepped up to Solstice once more, he took his forefinger and gently tapped Solstice on his forehead.
Solstice felt an immediate effect, first it came as a wave of drunkenness, although he never experienced true intoxication from alcohol, the sensation was the same. It lightened up to where he only felt a little out of it, and a new sense was made present to him, or senses.
He felt like he was feeling his body exteriorly, which was uncomfortable for Solstice. Then it began to expand outwards, and he felt his mind become overwhelmed by the new sensations, as well as a flood of information regarding his Gift. Now, Solstice could literally feel everything and everyone within a 10 meter radius of himself.
Rykel spoke. "Drifters are quite the special bloodline themselves! They are derived from a god, but not a lesser deity like dragons and their child-born, no, but a true orthodox god."
Solstice felt like he was blind, but not at the same time. His new senses were confusing his old ones, almost like he forgot how to walk, instead learning a completely new way to walk, maybe even a better one.
"And which god is that?" Solstice asked a simple question, almost yelling due to his head throbbing in pain.
"The Drifters are all descendants of the Solstice God, one of our creators!!" Rykel promptly answered his question.
"....." Solstice looked directly into Rykel's eyes, and silence befell them both.
"Ughh!." Solstice groaned as the pain in his head worsened. He didn't have the luxury of giving any more thought into what Rykel just said.
Solstice rubbed his face, and swayed a little bit, his new senses and his roughed up, tired, emaciated body were beginning to win over his ability to stay awake and alert. 'I want to take a nap and wake up from this sick joke.'
Solstice nodded in acknowledgment but grabbed his head again in silent agony, gritting his teeth. "Do you know a lot about Drifters?."
The corner of Rykel's mouth twitched ever so slightly, a reaction that Solstice was barely able to notice but nonetheless noted. Rykel looked at Solstice, shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I've had my few instances with Drifters, they are not exactly the sociable kind, they're almost enforcer like, why did you think you were rewarded strange looks when you were attempting to be friendly with the knights."
"I thought that was because of my height…are all Drifters that unsociable?"
"No, not all of them, but those who aren't, are quite the rare few, at least the ones I've come across."
Rykel opened his mouth to say something but then closed it, only to open his mouth to speak a second later, this time with his attention back to the ending battle. "It seems like they've finished the fight finally."
Solstice turned back around to view the aftermath.
There were 2 standard knights left standing, bloodied and battered, and then there was their superhuman ally, the flail wielder. The flail wielder was gravely injured, his helm had been rendered unusable so it was discarded at some point, revealing the hardened battle veteran underneath.
Short black hair, scarlet eyes, a stubble, a height almost comparable to Solstice's Drifter body, lean muscles where they could be seen from under his garments, a picture perfect knight leader.
Now adding many cuts across his face, small holes poked throughout his arms and abdomen blended in with shallow to deep cuts here and there, mixed with dirt in the wounds, the flail wielder had a far from happy expression, especially since their forces were now down two from this exchange. He was most likely thinking of the near future, he was easily the equivalent to twenty regular knights, maybe more, he understood that with such a limited force, now made worse, that he was going to have to do all the heavy lifting, more than ever.
The superior endurance and vitality wasn't limitless, superhuman or not, he was still very much a mortal man, the urgency couldn't be needed any more than right now. The flail wielder looked at one of his remaining comrades. "Sir Bethel, may I ask for your assistance to remove this burdensome armor?"
"Of course!" The ordinary knight by the name of Sir Bethel, quickly began assisting in removing the heavily damaged plate armour, discarding the parts of it to the side.
After his damaged plate armour was removed, the flail wielder took a deep breath before making his way towards Solstice, stopping just a couple steps before him, he held out his hand.
"I think I should properly introduce myself, my name is Sir Rodrick Bloodworth."
Solstice took his hand and accepted the vigorous handshake, however, he was not sure what to say to him.
"Usually, it would be common courtesy for you to reciprocate, but alas, it seems you're having trouble with that." Before Solstice could find something to say to save face, Rodrick took a knee, lowering his head as well.
"As you can see, our current situation is not too great. I request your aid from this point forward, for the rest of the journey. I hope that you can put aside any previous and current trepidation when accompanying us from now on, and I humbly request that you fight alongside those of us who remain shall we need it."
"....I will aid you the rest of the way to Castle Agar." He didn't hold a grudge against the flail wielder, at least he seemed truly sincere in his request. Although Solstice said he would be of aid, he was still not all too confident. He could guess the reason Sir Rodrick went so far as to lower his head to Solstice, as currently, as a Drifter, Solstice was supposed to be a capable person.
"I have hope that you will be of great help to us." Sir Rodrick stood up, before calling over Sir Bethel once more, retrieving a longsword from one of the fallen knights, which he then offered to Solstice.
Solstice reached for the sword and took a hold of it. The weight and feel was vastly different when compared to his previous weapon, a much thicker blade, not designed to pierce like a rapier. It's reliability to deflect more powerful attacks directly, and with that added benefit of now being able to slash at his opponents, Solstice was honestly a lot more confident utilizing this compared to his sleek elegant rapier.
Still, a problem was still present to him even when he had his old weapon, he never had combat training.
The veteran flail knight sized Solstice up and down, they were nearly the same height, with Solstice only barely being a little taller. Solstice couldn't tell what the battle scarred knight in front of him was thinking, but then he turned around.
"We will depart shortly." Sir Rodrick reached his injured comrades and began assessing their overall injuries although it was clear as day that he himself was in a much worse condition.
Solstice didn't exactly have a proper sheath for the longsword he had been granted, so he simply let its blade rest on his shoulder lazily which was probably seen as arrogant, luckily his cloak was thick enough to have the sword not cut himself.
"See! I told you that they could care less at this point." Rykel's eerily soft footsteps caught Solstice's attention as he was approached by the seemingly innocent young knight. Of course, Solstice knew that Rykel was not a young person, and most likely was not innocent either, so he would at least be friendly towards him for now. He could at least continue to gain knowledge from their conversations.
Rykel threw Solstice a smile. "Care to entertain a chat the rest of the way?"