1 Chapter 1 | The Aegis

"You have to train harder than that Robyn if you are aspiring to become a knight," Sir Davos laughed.

Robyn knelt, planting his sword into the ground as he rested. He had been training with his Knight instructor on proper form. As a squire, his dream was to become a full-fledged Knight in service of the King. He had been training for more than six years now at the age of 13 to one day be eligible for Knighthood, but the only holding him back was his overactive imagination. He believed that the stories once told to as a child were more than mere fantasy, but the real tales of courageous Knights protecting the realm from creatures that hid within the darkness.

Robyn rose, lifting his sword and twirling the blade with the flick of his wrist, "Davos, how is this going to help me at all fight off werewolves, vampires, or other cryptids? All you ever tell me is that my form is off, but you never teach me how to fight."

His instructor laughed, placing his hand on his shoulder, "Robyn, you're a squire son. There is no such thing as werewolves, not even vampires. You worry too much about playing hero; the duty of a knight is not as grand as the old tales lead you to believe."

Robyn rubbed the sweat off his forehead, sheathing his sword. If there was no such thing as these creatures, why did stories exist with them, he thought. There had to be a smidge of truth to them, knights battling dark forces threatening the kingdom. Davos began walking with him back to the barracks, explaining why form mattered when it came to an actual sword fight. Robyn was lost in his head over what encountering a werewolf would be like, then facing the reality in which he is nowhere near ready to deal with such an encounter.

"-so when it comes to the footing, if you find yourself with uneven distribution, an opponent can easily knock you off balance," Davos continued to prattle on, halting in front of the training hall doors.

"Sir, is it alright if I head back to my quarters?" Robyn asked, pulling himself from his imagination finally.

He nodded and walked into the hall alone, Robyn staying behind, giving an exhausted sigh. His hands still stung from the countless swings against the practice dummy earlier, and he took off his gloves to examine them. The calluses on his hands were white and sore as he flexed his hand.

"All this training is so rough, but Davos won't ever take it seriously, it's always 'Your form is wrong!'" he said to himself, mocking his instructor, "Of course it's wrong, who has time to remember form in the middle of actual combat."

He continued down the hall, heading to his room to relax. Placing his gloves in his belt and adjusting his sword, resting his forearm on it as he walked, he changed his posture slightly. He began waving his hand in front of him like he was greeting fans. Robyn's imagination was indeed extremely active, continually imagining things that were not there as he dreamed of a more luxurious and fantastic life. A life of chasing down monsters and being a great knight that protected everyone from evil.

He tripped little as he continued his boisterous stride, catching his balance and feeling slightly embarrassed as he came back to reality. Stopping in front of his door, he heard something inside knock over books within his room. He paused for a second, having to focus as he was unsure if it was his imagination or reality, slowly drawing his sword and gripping it despite the pain rushing throughout his palms. Pressing his ear to the door and trying to remain silent, he heard whispering inside, then some scurrying across the floor.

He swallowed hard, placing his hand on the latch to his door, turning it slowly until it pulled back entirely. His heart was racing, and he did his best to remain focused, readying himself to barge into the room and confront whatever was inside. Not wasting any more time, he threw the door open and pointed his sword in front of him.

"Don't move!" he shouted as the door slammed open, but there was nothing.

The sound of more scurrying leads its way across the floor and to his window, which was open. He leaped forward to shut the window, the sound moving towards the door now.

"Stop!" Robyn demanded, the sound halting, "What are you doing in here?"

He fixed his sight around where he believed the sound had stopped and waited for a response. There was a snap, and a small creature revealed itself, next to where Robyn had been staring. It turned around to look at him, its eyes were enormous, but its mouth even larger. It had a small, wiry frame and a rat-like tail that flicked behind him nervously.

"Please don't hurt me," it said, raising its hands slowly.

"What are you?" he asked, lowering his weapon.

The creature lowered its hands as well, walking toward Robyn, "I am what your kind call a Nyx."

He snapped his fingers, causing a little spark to flicker in the air. Robyn's eyes grew wide, seeing magic for the first time. Magic wasn't real; magic was fairy tales, said to children when they're going to bed. It was real, live magic, coming from a creature that was also out of fairy tales. Nyx's are creatures most would call messengers of fate.

Robyn let his guard down as the creature snapped his fingers again, a small flame igniting at the tip of his finger, "What is a Nyx doing in my room?" he asked.

"I am not entirely sure myself when I woke I was here in this place," it replied, shaking the flame out, "I could feel an immense of power coming from this box though, hidden in the back of this storage behind some books. Color me surprised to find out the bloody Aegis was sitting here, out in the open."

The creature pointed to the corner of the room where he kept his chest, urging him to look inside. There was a small black cube with runes engraved into its surface, tucked in the corner of the chest. He knelt and picked it up, inspecting it and trying to make sense of the runes. The Nyx made his way toward him and hopped to press his finger against the cube, springing it to life.

"Ah," the creature said, "So this is no coincidence. You are compatible with the Aegis, child."

The cube began to rise from his palm and gather energy within it, glowing in a pulsing effect. Robyn fell back, the cube still floating in the air, the pulsing happening faster now. The Nyx jumped up and grabbed the Aegis, holding it out to Robyn again.

"Do you even understand what this object is capable of once activated by a compatible soul?" it said, handing it over to him, "I guess you're just a pup, well, the easiest way to think of the Aegis is like a workshop. It is capable of producing any weapon, shield, armor imaginable. As long as you have the willpower to continue fighting, the Aegis will not fail."

The Nyx looked around, crouching low as a gust of wind swept through the barracks building. Running to Robyn's side, it kept its gaze on the open door on the other side of the room.

"Oh no, it is too late," it said, hiding behind his arm, "They're here."

A whistle came from the hallway outside, nearing closer, and the Nyx coward in fear. Robyn stood up, clutching the Aegis in his palm, the light no longer pulsing, but it was glowing bright white, and it was beginning to burn to hold. He endured the pain as the whistling was right outside his room and went silent.

"Pup, if you're going to use that thing, now would be the time," the Nyx whimpered, crawling on to his shoulder.

"My name is Robyn," he said quietly, doing his best to keep from shouting in pain as he continued to grip the object in his hand.

"Bit of an odd time for formal introductions, doncha think?"

Before either could say another word, a boney hand slowly grasped the door frame pulling the rest of its ghastly body into the room with them. A tall, hauntingly creature stepped through the door, straightening itself and loomed over the two. Robyn was in disbelief of what he was looking at, blinking twice to ensure it was not his mind playing games with him. The room became eerily silent, not even the sound of the wind was audible. A lump in his chest was growing as he continued to stand under this dreadful thing.

"Wxat xre yxo doixg wxth thxt," it said slowly, pointing at his hand.

Robyn couldn't understand what it was saying, but the Nyx was trembling on his shoulder. He brought his hand away from the creature, becoming defensive. The creature moved slowly, walking around the edge of the room, Robyn maintained his distance from it, slowly copying the clockward movement.

"Stop," the Nyx whispered, "There is more outside."

Another creature lowered itself and stepped through the door, preventing Robyn from leaving. It looked toward the other, then back at Robyn and the Aegis. His mind was trying to process everything going on. Not one but three non-human creatures were in his room, two of which were unlike anything he'd ever seen. The lump in his chest continued to grow to the point of him hardly able to get his body to move. The first creature slowly rose its arm, pointing at Robyn's chest, a magic circle forming in front of its hand, and it fired.

"No!" the Nyx shouted and jumped off his shoulder, intercepting the attack.