Way of the Knights

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Elyion's whole body shook.

He was hiding in a cave that he found in the wilderness, waiting for the whole chaos to be over. From the moment that he left Thorn City, he felt his heart pounding for some reasons unknown. While he had guessed that there will a fierce battle inside the city, he had no idea of what would be the ending and what will come out of it.

Hours passed and his nervousness peaked. It was at this moment that his body shook fiercely and he returned to human form without him wanting to.

Elyion was surprised, just as when he was about to think about his situation a sudden pain rushed on his brain and his thoughts went extremely chaotic.

First he saw very chaotic scene. He saw the last moments, from the time Raven revealed it's true nature up until the point where Raven personally crushed Raul's brain where the Phantasm was rooted.

Next, he felt that some of the events on his life were rewritten. He started recalling past events like some things that he said, some decisions he made, and even his unwavering faith towards humans for no particular reason. All of these were due to the 'urging' of the parasite that's planted in it's brain. He almost couldn't believe that he was manipulated.

Originally, Elyion was an orphan of Thorn City. His parents went out to gather raw materials but never came back, leaving him alone. He was then admitted to an orphanage where his loneliness was slightly alleviated due to being surrounded with friends. Unfortunately, no one knew that one of the personnel in the orphanage was a carrier of the Phantasm and nobody noticed that every single kid in the orphanage was infected.

The Phantasm constantly gave subtle suggestions to Elyion, telling him to sneak out of the walls and search for the remains of his parents. At first, he was still strong enough to resists these suggestions but it bugged him for countless of nights, making it hard for him to fall asleep. One night, Elyion became unable to resist it and decided to answer the call, thinking that he was following his heart.

As soon as he got outside of the walls, his feet took him inside an empty cave and that's when the parasite attacked, it transformed his physique into a Silver Moonwolf and modified his body so that it could assume it's previous appearance. Elyion lost his former memories because of the transformation, the suggestions of the Phantasm became his 'instinct' which told him that he had been a Shape Shifter all along in his life, and he believed it.

He lived a peaceful life, away from confrontations and humans for a while. He was truly convinced that he was a beast that transform into a human, and he lived like this for at least a year until he experienced his first Red Moon Month. He went inside the Thorn City and learned much about humans. The Phantasm in his head told him that he'll never be able to become human, but his true instincts and feelings yearn for their acceptance, making him suffer each time he realized that he's a beast not a human.

And then everything changed when he met Raven…

Elyion felt sick to his stomach. He was mad, furious in fact! He was so mad at the fact that a simple parasite made, not only him but countless of humans in the Thorn City, suffer from it's grasp. He wanted to point fingers, he wanted to blame someone but who does he blame? Does he blame it all on the Phantasm? Does he blame it all on the carrier? Does he blamed it for the people of the orphanage? Does he blame himself for being careless? Does he blame other people because of their ignorance? He doesn't know anymore.

Raven told him that once he remembered many things about his life, then that means that the battle is over. It happened, he remembered everything and everything that Raven said before became clear to him. But Raven also said that once he remembered everything, he should have an idea on what to do. Unfortunately, he doesn't.

But if there's one thing that he could do right now, he could return to Thorn City and search for Raven, maybe he'll tell him the answers he's looking for.

***

"Elyion! My boy!" An old voice called out to him after he passed by a public place. Elyion turned around and saw an old man being supported by a cane looking at him with a kind and longing expression.

It didn't take long before the gears in Elyion's brain kicked in and made him recall who this was.

"Grandpa Max!" Elyion yelled as he quickly ran forwards and hugged the old man. Memories came rushing back to him. This old man was one of the people who really took care of him even back in orphanage. Max constantly wanted to adopt Elyion but his applications were always denied because they weren't convinced that Max could afford raising Elyion. But that didn't stop him from taking care of Elyion.

"Oh boy! You've grown up! You've faced many hardships because of that hateful parasite!"

Elyion was surprised when he heard this, he looked up and asked: "H-how did you know?"

"It's not just me boy. Every single human in this city was infected by that thing! When it died, our memories recovered and I remembered us meeting multiple times. I always thought that you look awfully familiar but that pest will always make me forget about you. It turns out that you were transformed into a Shape Shifter! But no matter, Shape Shifter or not I'll protect you this time!" Max tussled his hair and showed a kind smile.

Elyion felt a lump on his throat, he fought the urge to cry. He couldn't believed that he allowed himself to forget about this old man. That pest had greatly affected the lives of every human here, many have suffered and died but now that the pest is gone, everyone could move forward now.

This only made Elyion's desire to meet Raven even stronger. He broke free from the hug which caused Max to be confused, he then explained:

"Grandpa Max, I'll have to leave for a bit. Don't worry, I'm just off to find someone, I'll be back I promise!"

Max was surprised, a few ideas surfaced in his brain which made a lot sense for him. Therefore, he smiled and nodded. Without wasting anytime, Elyion waved goodbye and rushed towards the inn where both of them stayed for a while.

He didn't even bother opening his room, he stopped by Raven's room and opened door. Only to find out that he wasn't there.

Elyion felt his heart sank, a great sense of loss drowned his entire being as he realized that Raven wasn't here anymore. He already had an idea that he will leave as soon but he didn't expect it to be this soon. What does he do now?

"Hmm?" Elyion hummed, his eyes landed on the table inside the room. He closed the door behind him and approached the table and sat down on the chair.

There was neatly folded letter as well as a storage pouch on top of the table. Elyion picked up the letter and started reading it's contents.

'If you're reading this, then there is a huge chance that I already left. I plan on leaving this letter after I dealt with the Phantasm's corruption.'

'Don't bother to find me, you won't be able to. I was sent here for a mission and now that it's done, I have to leave, my people needs me as well. I am rather curious though. Now that you're free from the corruption of the Phantasm, what are you going to do? Cause I can't really tell you anything since that's your life, not mine.'

'Now that your unwavering faith towards human is gone and now that you realized that you are a human all along, I wonder. What will you do now?'

Reading up until here, Elyion felt empty. Raven's word made him realize what he was lacking right now. Back when he was being manipulated by the Phantasm, all he ever wanted was to become a human. But now that he found out that he is a human all along, he doesn't know what step to take next.

'Whatever your decision is, remember this. Only you can walk the road that you chose, not someone else. You are young Elyion, don't think too much. You've missed a lot during the times that you weren't in the city, think about that and start from there. You have a lot of time Elyion, don't waste it.' Elyion couldn't help but to smile when he read this.

'If fate wills it, then we shall meet again. Farewell, Elyion. Thanks for being my guide during my stay at the Thorn City.'

'P.s. I emptied Raul's treasury, everything's in the storage pouch.. Take it as payment for your service.'

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