Chapter 10 Unfallen Knight's Oath
I woke up on a soft, comfortable bed whilst a teenage girl around my age in human years tended to me, wetting a towel and placing it on my head.
"Ugh, where am I?" I struggled to get up.
"You're on the border of Enderton," Noobie answered me.
I turned and saw him sitting on a chair beside me. "What happened?"
He gestured for me to stop, then for me to follow, "Come."
I followed him to the living room; the teenage girl followed us as she dumped the water outside and tended to the queen, who sat in a comfortable rocking chair.
The queen didn't look too old, she aged like fine wine… I think that is the saying... She was super beautiful, and she looked wise as well. She didn't seem to be the type of person who'd be fit to be here.
I began to bow as the queen returned the bow as well.
The queen smiled, "Noobie told me about you; from meeting you to who you are now." Her smile was genuine, not forced or fake. I could hear the weight of each word. The tone was like… my mother… when she knew the day my father did not return. It was careful and well-thought-out. Precise and wise.
I couldn't find any response; she was too majestic as it was. I was in awe of her grace as she carried it into her manners. Not a day has gone by that she has neglected her elegant nature as the queen she was. No, she is still the great queen she is today.
"Please, let us speak as commoners, you and me." She waved her hand, trying to dispel the spell I was under, noticing my nervousness. Her tone was like my mother's, soothing to the soul, as if each word spoke to it, "Pay no heed to my old title as they were of the past, and let us talk about the present. I wish to know why you tailed Noobie here, unannounced and undetected," the queen demanded in the gentlest tone. My mother once used that tone on me when she found out that my father had sneakily given me fruit from his hunts.
"I-I wasn't trying to," I lowered my head in shame, "I was-"
The queen eyed me with rising suspicion. I knew that look, a mother's look. One that makes it hard to lie, one that requests the truth, though not a request, more of a command or demands nothing but the truth. I fiddled like a trouble child. My fingers are behind my back like a child caught red-handed.
I countered by yelling at the top of my voice, "I was trying to buy something for Noobie before he risked himself to fight an Abysmal dragon with his Clan!!"
I bit my lower lip. I didn't want to confess it… was I in trouble? Or am I in trouble? The feeling felt so… foreign… like a long-forgotten memory.
The queen smiled. She had admired my courage and nodded in approval, "Did you find anything for Noobie?"
I gasp slightly and quietly, "N-no… I didn't… I'm sorry…" I bowed my head in disappointment.
The queen chuckled softly, the sound warm enough to melt snow.
"There is no shame in wanting to protect someone who protects others," she said. "Your intention alone speaks volumes."
My ears twitched. I stared at the floor.
Noobie shifted beside me, awkward in a way I'd never seen before — like he didn't know where to put his hands or where to look with his eyes.
The queen continued, "Noobie has carried burdens heavier than mountains. To know someone worries for him… that is a gift."
My heart thumped painfully. I knew it, and she knew it. But Noobie, he did not, or maybe he chooses not to see, being blinded by… Grief? Remorse? Guilt? Like life graced him when he felt he didn't deserve it.
Noobie looked away.
The queen's smile deepened. "But if you still wish to give him something… perhaps we can help you choose."
I blinked up at her. "We?" I echoed.
She nodded toward the teenage girl, who grinned mischievously.
And then toward Noobie, who immediately stiffened like someone had stabbed him with a memory. He looked like a criminal at the stand of the guillotine, next in line to be on the chopping block.
"Yes," the queen said gently. "All of us."
"My queen, please. I don't deserve any of this." Noobie fell onto his knees and then bowed on all fours, just like… my elder in my village had done.
The queen sighs, "Noobie, we both know that you've carried deeds that are too tremendous for anyone to bear. Why not allow this girl," she paused and points to me, "to help us gift you something on this occasion, perhaps one you may never return?" Her tone shifted like a mother scolding a child, "Or have you forgotten your oath to my husband?"
I winced. Noobie shrank. Without further ado, Noobie didn't interfere with the queen's command.
"What oath?" I asked, unknowingly, curiously, and invested in new knowledge, like a child given candy for the first time.
The queen gave a heavy sigh, "My dearly beloved had chosen two of his most loyal knights. They would defend our kingdom to their last breath. Per their sworn oath of knight into Paladins who'd uphold our kingdom, our beliefs, and the legacy that my love had graced the kingdom he held dear, second to his family. Who would've known that our champion would have blindly resorted to violence and greed? While Noobie reasoned with him through logic, law, and Mercy? The true way my dear had intended his right hand to carry on the sword of our kingdom."
The queen's eyes softened, though sorrow lingered behind them like a shadow.
I felt as if I was brought back to the damnation of my village with her words.
What was this feeling?Sadness?
"My husband believed a kingdom is not held by fear, but by justice," she continued. "He entrusted two knights with that vision." She waved her right hand in the air, "One strayed, beyond a path he could not come back to." She waved to Noobie with her left, "One remained, faithful and honored, my dear, his last words before his last breath."
Her gaze drifted to Noobie — still bowed, trembling with the weight of her words like it was an echo of his soul crying. He refused to lift his head, out of shame? Anger? No, it seemed like he was just drained. Drained from everything, as if lifting the sky so it would not fall onto the very people he swore to protect. Yet, it took the breath out of him. Sucked the essence of his very being.
"This one," she said gently, like a proud mother when looking at Noobie, "chose Mercy when others chose blood. He chose law when others chose power. He chose to protect even those who spat upon him. He stays true and loyal to his oath that binds him to this day."
My breath caught. I couldn't breathe. This information was as heavy as holding the sky when you had no one to hold it with you. I looked at Noobie, not with pity, not sympathy… whatever that means. But… with understanding. As I choose what no one would have wanted. A path no one walked on. I had a taste of it. And now… I learned what Mercy is, the legacy and weight it carries when given.
Noobie didn't move. He couldn't. Hearing the very essence of his existence exposed how vulnerable he was… No, he, too, as a player, was human… right? Is being human… wrong?
The queen's voice lowered, almost a whisper. "And so my husband gave him a final command. A command that binds him still."
I swallowed. "What command?" Here it comes, the weight he carries.
She looked at me — truly looked — as if weighing whether I was worthy of hearing it.
Then she spoke. "To remain unfallen."
Noobie flinched. My eyes widen with tears. It was an oath, so loyal, yet a lonely one. Just. Like. Me.
Monster. Echoed far as if begging for me to go back to the dark days.
The queen continued, "To carry the last light of our kingdom. To protect what remains. To never break, even when the world breaks around him." Her voice remained strong yet cracked—just a tiny bit. I could tell she loved him dearly, like a mother loving her child unconditionally.
My heart thudded painfully. With each breath I took, I tried to ground myself. Root myself to the wooden floor, as if begging to keep the tears from falling. I will not break, I cannot break. Not in front of him. I need to be strong. Not for myself, but… with him. For him.
The queen smiled sadly. "That is the oath he bears. And that is why your concern for him… means more than you know." She clears her throat. I, too, can tell she had not spoken this to anyone. She didn't know who around Noobie to trust, whether they would become like that right hand, or be the support like Exile and Kit, to stand with him, not behind, nor in front.
The queen continued as she looked at the window, "Though the darkness from this world will lead it corrupted and astray, he must never abandon those in times of need, as such is the way my late husband has taught him." She turned to look at me.
My throat tightened.
Noobie lowered his head until it touched the wooden floorboards as if he could merge with it and disappear. His shoulders trembled — not from fear, but from the weight of everything the queen had spoken aloud.
The teenage girl placed a gentle hand on his back, as if reminding him he wasn't alone.
The queen looked at me again. "Now do you understand," she said softly, "why he walks the path he does?"
I nodded slowly. Of course I know. I knew because I, too, walked that path. One I could not see. Through the darkness… I walked, ran, if not crawled, to find salvation.
"I… I didn't know," I whispered.
"No one does," she replied. "He carries his oath in silence. As the Left Hand must."
My eyes drifted to Noobie.
The Unfallen Knight. The last shield of a dead king. And for the first time, I understood why he always looked so tired. I took a deep, long breath. I did the only thing I could think of, granting him… Mercy.
I got up and drew my copper sword at last; I knew what gift I wanted to give Noobie.
The queen startled at first, then relaxed her posture as the teenage girl seemed surprised as well, but was reassured by the queen's hand as they both held each other like the world only knew how to calm them.
I stood upright right next to Noobie as I was breathing uneasily.
I grant you, Mercy, Noobie.
I aimed, and the copper sword's tip grazed his helmet to the visor area as it made impact with it, and forced the visor down this time, never able to open.
The metal rang softly as the visor snapped into place — a clean, final sound that echoed through the small house like a bell.
Noobie jerked in surprise, his breath catching behind the newly sealed helm.
The queen's eyes widened… then softened with something like awe.
The teenage girl covered her mouth.
I lowered my sword, chest rising and falling, my hands trembling from more than just nerves.
"There," I whispered. "Now you can face the dragon properly."
May you come back… and face me again. Turtle.
Noobie lifted a hand to his visor — slowly, reverently — as if touching a memory, he thought he'd lost forever. "My… visor…" he breathed.
The queen smiled, ancient and knowing. "It seems," she said gently, "that someone has given you back a piece of yourself."
Noobie didn't speak. He couldn't. How could he, when given such Mercy when he didn't believe he deserved it? He simply bowed his head — not to the queen, not to duty, but to me.
And for the first time… I didn't die. I stood my ground.
Then I demanded while I sheathed my copper sword, "Don't give up just yet, Unfallen, the—" I stopped and took a deep breath, knowing my word would bind him to another oath, but one meant for him to hear. One he needed to hear, "OUR world still needs you!"
I stormed outside and began making my way back to the guild tavern.
Noobie is still inside the house with the queen and the teenage girl, still grasping the visor of his helmet, feeling if it was truly in place.
As I walked, tears kept streaming down my cheeks as I increased my pace. It fell, finally, like a waterfall when the dam broke. At least… He couldn't see it. At least, it gave me enough grace to leave with my head held high. Just high enough to leave before I crumbled.
Though I gave him a gift, it was sad knowing that I MAY never see his face again… my soul cried that day… to the damn turtle, I had lost to.