Way of the Knights

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"What did you say!?" Queen Elizabeth exclaimed in a shocked manner. She wasn\'t expecting this revelation at all.

"Does Your Majesty have no idea of what\'s going on outside?" Raven asked.

"I do." Elizabeth answered, "However barely. I can only see specific scenes from the moment I arrived here."

Elizabeth beckoned Raven to be at ease. She sat on the seat near the altar and gestured Raven to do the same. She then asked him: "Can you elaborate more on what actually happened?"

"I would like to tell you about it but we\'re in a bit of a hurry." Raven replied, "I\'ll just give you my memories of what happened. Please do not resist me, Your Majesty."

Raven then sent a beam of energy towards Elizabeth\'s head. This beam contains the memories of Raven for her to see and it\'s not meant to harm her.

The Queen was silent for a bit as she reviewed the memories she for from Raven. At some point, tears flowed down her face, greatly alarming Raven and making him flustered since he didn\'t know what to do.

"Heavens…this is all my fault." She said weakly in her seat, sobbing as she covered her mouth. 

"One mistake and I missed out on a lot. I can\'t believe that it has been that long. My dear husband had suffered greatly and my children grew up so fast. My youngest had not only been cured, but she even have a lover by her side. Even our home is showing signs of prosperity."

Raven could feel the sadness and longing in her voice. He felt pity for the Queen\'s situation at very depths of his heart. She has been away from her family for far too long. Of course, any mother would long to see the faces of her children. 

"Thank you, Child." The Queen said to him, smiling for the first time in a while. "Thank you for looking after them, specially my daughter."

"I only did what I could." Raven answered humbly, "I want to help you reunite with your family. I would also like to know how did Your Majesty ended up in this state."

"You may call me Aunt, Child. We\'ll be in-laws in the future, for now this should do." The Queen said, making Raven flustered yet again.

She was silent for a bit before finally telling everything from her perspective. 

"Everything happened due to my selfishness." She stated, "You\'re right. I am part Druid. According to what my father said, my mother was one of the remaining Druids in this world. Unfortunately, she died after giving birth to me."

"My father and I lived inside the forest." She continued, "He used to tell me stories about the outside world, from then on, I developed a desire to go there and meet people. The Druid\'s blood is evident on me, but it didn\'t do anything to my appearance. So even if I mingle with full blood humans, no one would know."

"Father didn\'t want me to venture out of the forest. He was afraid that I\'ll be taken advantage of but the humans in there. Shortly, he decided to send me in the Kingdom since we caught news that a very powerful enemy will attack our tribe. The chances of survival were very low, so in order to save me he sent me away. When I arrived at the Kingdom, I already knew that our tribe didn\'t survive the fight."

"Before sending me away, father told me to live my life to the fullest. He forbid me to live for revenge and pleaded me to forget about this enmity. But how could I possibly do that? On the other hand, I also know that I am too weak to do anything, so I set aside my plans for revenge in order to focus on getting stronger."

"I am aware that I couldn\'t do this alone. I needed people behind me, I needed aid." She said, "But who would\'ve thought that the enemy will trace me all the way here?"

"I made friends, and everything in my life was going smoothly. I met and fell in love with Alex, and at some point, I even totally forgot about revenge altogether. I even feared that my past will haunt me, however I also thought that it\'s been a long time since all of that happened and I sincerely hoped that whoever the culprit was, will never appear before me ever again. But it seems that fate has other plans for me."

"It was when Alex introduced me to his parents. My nightmares came back, specially when I saw Alastair." She said with venom in her voice. "After my meeting with Alex\'s family, he showed up and revealed the past that I hid from everyone."

"He threatened me." The Queen said hatefully, "Telling me that he will do everything in his power to make the citizens of the Kingdom loath me and exile me from the Kingdom. At that point, I can\'t do anything. Alastair was so powerful that his sway over the people is too massive. I have no doubts that he will do what he said. But I also couldn\'t agree to his condition. He wanted me to tell him the location of the - "

"Fountain of Youth…" Raven continued. Rubbing his face in an irritated manner. He inwardly said: \'Of course, why wouldn\'t he search for that thing? Damn it!\'

"Exactly. And since you know about it, then I assume you also know what I could do."

"Yes." Raven sighed, "It grants not only perpetual youth to those who drank it, but it also contains the concentrated energy of the Nature. It\'s power is so immense that one has a high change of gaining Enlightenment to a Law or a second one after drinking it."

"Precisely." The Queen nodded, "It is the very reason why the Druids exists. Our duty is to protect the fountain and test the worth of anyone who desires to consume it. We erase the memories of those who already drank form it so that they will never appear twice. That being said, there are some people who wanted to take it by force. I assumed that the remaining guardians fell from the hands of those people."

"I planned to carry the secrets of the fountain to my grave. But Alastair was pressuring me to reveal it. He even told me that he will kill Alex if I didn\'t tell me it\'s location. Aside from that, he\'s also forcing me to marry him."

"I can\'t allow any people to know the secrets of the fountain, but I also couldn\'t hide my true identity towards Alex any longer. I know that I\'ll be putting him in grave danger but I also couldn\'t allow Alastair to know the fountain\'s location."

"Alex helped me, saying that he will fight his brother to protect me and the fountain. At that point, Alastair was too strong for any of us. Fortunately, my people have ways to tap on a person\'s deepest potential. I used this knowledge to hasten our growth and cultivation until one day, we achieved our first victory against him."

"We managed to deal heavy damage to Alastair but he escaped and went missing. We thought that, that was the end of it but no. Alastair came back, more powerful than ever. Not only he threated to kill Alex, but he also threatened to kill our children and wipe out the whole kingdom from existence."

"Faced with this enormous threat, I know that I only delayed the inevitable." The Queen smiled sadly, "In the end, I am powerless to defend anything. I already accepted my demise, I begged Alastair to let my family and the kingdom go, in exchange I\'ll come with him."

"He agreed, but I wasn\'t satisfied. I made him swear a Heavenly Oath. Only after he did so, did I came with him. But before I left, I erased everyone\'s memories about me. It\'s a gradual spell, their memories about me will fade, starting from the oldest up until they could no longer recognize who I am. Well, those I never met are exceptions since I have nothing to erase."

"As promised, I came with Alastair. But he didn\'t expect me to attack him and flee." The Queen said, making Raven frown. "Don\'t get me wrong. I made him swear an Oath, I didn\'t make one."

Raven finally understood, the Queen then continued: "I injured him pretty badly since he wasn\'t expecting that from me. I knew that I couldn\'t hide forever so I planned to reach the fountain first and seal myself inside. Once I do that, he will never be able to open it so long as I\'m inside."

"Unfortunately, he intercepted me as I was close to the fountain. I know that he will do everything in his power to force me so I intended to ignite my cultivation base and bring him down with me. Unfortunately, he managed to stop me from exploding and planned to extract my soul to read my memories."

"I could still remember the feeling of my soul being stripped away from my body.. I didn\'t know what happened after that, all I know was that there was a brilliant flash of light and somehow, I arrived here."