Chapter 11: Knight

Klaus's drive home with his parents was filled with him telling them all about his time at Hogwarts. He didn't see a point in hiding anything from them, so he told them everything, including the incident with the troll.

When he started retelling that part, he didn't notice his father's eyes narrow or the twitch of his hand. He was too busy assuring his mum that he was fine.

"Then I fired a fireball at his head, and he fell unconscious." After that, his mum hugged him again and made him promise not to be reckless.

As they came inside the small forest that encircled their estate, their car stopped. The driver opened the window that separated the passenger seats from him and spoke, "Sir, there is a log across the street blocking our way, and a man in a knight's armor holding a sword is standing in front of it."

This time, Klaus and his mother noticed how his father stiffened. But then he relaxed again, he sighed and slowly opened the door of the car, "Dad, where are you going?"

His father gave him a sad smile, "To confront my past, son, to confront my past."

When he exited, he walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. From it, he pulled out a case that he opened, revealing a sword.

As he passed next to the window that Klaus was looking through, he spoke, "Klaus, get your mother and take her away from here." Then he turned towards the driver, "You help him, don't go too far, there might be more around here." Klaus nodded with a determined look in his eyes; he didn't know what was going on, but he trusted his father.

But there was more to it. Klaus could feel a weird energy emanating from his father and the other man. It wasn't mana, but his every instinct was screaming to run; it felt like the two titans were about to clash.

Then there were the swords. They were clearly magical weapons; he could feel it. His father's sword felt like light and justice (this was the best way he could describe the feeling). Its hilt and crossguard were intricately adorned with intricate Celtic motifs, while its blade looked like it was made of pure light. The other sword, on the other hand, felt like despair. Klaus couldn't see how it looked like, but he knew he wanted to be away from it.

While the driver reversed the car and drove away from the two men just enough to still be able to see them, Klaus's father had walked close enough that he could talk with the other man without yelling.

"It's been a while, Archie. What brings you to my home? Well, in front of it at least," he spoke.

The man in front of him, Archie, brought his sword into a fighting stance. "Aurelius, you have gone too far. Knights didn't care when you left us, but working with the magi won't be tolerated."

"I am not working with the magi, Archibald. I am working for the queen and country."

Archie scoffed, "The queen and country? Seriously, Aurelius? I don't remember you being particularly patriotic when you fought for the Knights."

"I have changed, and I don't want to work for an organization that can experiment on children, turning them into monsters and saying it is acceptable as long as it helps accomplish our goals."

"Whatever. I am not here to debate with you. Did you think we wouldn't notice your son going to that cursed school of theirs?"

"He was born a magi; I had to send him to learn." Aurelius answered.

"Did you also have to send him to the one with a known member of that order that gets in our way at every turn as a Headmaster?" This time, he didn't allow Aurelius to answer. "It doesn't matter; I am here to kill you and retrieve Claiomh Solais."

After saying that, he launched himself at Aurelius. Faster than the human eye could follow, their swords were clashing. They became blurs of movement, their swords clashing as they exchanged kicks and punches at the same time.

Sword slashes that weren't blocked somehow cut through the trees growing around the road, which was itself destroyed.

As the battle continued, Klaus, who had exited the car to watch with a far eye buff applied to himself, started noticing his father getting pushed back. He could even see a few cuts that were bleeding seriously.

He was scared; he wasn't sure what was going on or who that man was, but he knew one thing: if his father lost, his mother and he would be next. He hated himself for being weak right now; he knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything before that man killed him. Those sword slashes that cut the trees looked more powerful than even his most potent spell.

But still, he had to do something to at least distract the man. 'Wait, distract, I don't have to hurt him.' He slowly started concentrating, preparing the spell that took him so long to get to work—his own creation.

Aurelius was hurt, worse; he was losing his confidence. That show Archibald was using was Blade of Despair; it did just what its name said, caused despair to anyone near it. 'It is one of the evil swords for a reason,' he thought.

Just when Aurelius was about to be overwhelmed, a bird made of fire crashed at Archibald. It didn't hurt him; a layer of energy around his body protected him, but it did distract him enough for Aurelius to launch himself forward and stab Archibald through the stomach with Claiomh Solais. The moment Aurelius's sword went through Archibald, a blinding light seemed to break through him, and in seconds, Archibald was gone, only ash left in front of Aurelius.

...

When they noticed it was over, Klaus and his mum came closer. As they were approaching Aurelius, Klaus's mum spoke, "Dear, are you alright?"

He turned around, holding his sword as well as the sword that belonged to his opponent. "I am alright, love. I just need to find something to hold this."

"Dad, what is going on? Who was that guy? Since when can you fight like that?" Klaus started firing questions one after another.

"Slow down, son. I will explain after we get home." After saying that, he looked at the destroyed road, "Which we will probably have to do by walking. We will have to have the road repaired."

Satisfied that he would get answers, Klaus looked at the road. After looking at it for a while, he started concentrating.

Wizards have a spell called the Mending Charm. This spell uses a mixture of divination magic to find out what something looked like, and then transformation to put it back together.

Klaus was only capable of the divination part of this; his transfiguration was not yet good enough. But he had a workaround. While the Mending Charm would put something together seamlessly, he can use levitation enchantment to put everything together like a puzzle. While cracks may stay, it should be usable. This probably won't work on many things, but on the road, it should.

Slowly, Klaus's magic started working, and his parents looked at their son with pride as he performed magic.

...

When they got home, the first thing Klaus's dad did was to retrieve a metal case with runes inscribed on it and put the sword he got from the guy he defeated into it.

As soon as he did, Klaus could feel the atmosphere around him become more cheerful, for a lack of a better explanation.

After he was done with the sword, Aurelius pulled out a cell phone and called someone.

When someone seemed to answer, he spoke, "Agent 004 here." He waited for a response while Klaus stared in disbelief at his father.

Klaus, the man continued to talk, "I was just attacked by a Knight.

Yes, he is dead, and I have his sword. Can you send someone to pick it up?

Yes, we need to do something about them knowing where I live.

You are right, we will move. But can you do something to stop them from attacking?"

Klaus and his mother continued to listen to just one side of the conversation, but even this told Klaus a lot. It seems his father's mysterious job is that of a secret agent.

When his father was finally done, he sat on the opposite side from Klaus.

"Ok, I guess I best start from the beginning." But before he could continue, Klaus had to ask.

"Are you a secret agent or something?" His father laughed a little at that but continued.

"We will come to that, son. Now, as I was saying, let's start from the beginning, more precisely, my family.

You see, my family has been members of the wandering Knights since they came into existence."

At that, Klaus interrupted, "What are wandering Knights?"

"I was just about to explain. Wandering Knights are an organization created a long time ago with the purpose of finding Atlantis and all its secrets. It was formed by users of life force, which is the energy my opponent and I channeled while fighting." Klaus nodded in understanding and asked his father to continue. He was really curious now.

"Now you need to understand a bit of what is known about Atlantis to grasp the goal of the Knights.

You know all those legends about elves, and I mean real ones, not those failed experiments."

"Failed experiments, what do you mean?"

"I will come to that. As I was saying, Elves, Naga, Kitsune, and all the other immortal races that don't exist now came from Atlantis. It is believed that Atlantis ruled the entire Earth when it existed. All these legends came from people who survived the disappearance of Atlantis.

Now, the Knights have been searching for it since their creation, as it is believed that it holds the secret of how the people of Atlantis turned themselves into those immortal beings, as well as all their weapons and discoveries."

"Wait, wait! Humans of Atlantis turned themselves into those beings, they weren't natural?"

"That is what we know. This is also the reason I left the Knights. I found out some of their secrets. The Knights have been trying to discover how the Atlanteans did it, not just by searching for Atlantis; they have been kidnapping magi and making them conduct experiments for them.

This is how werewolves, Vampires, and even House Elves came to be. When I found this out, I was disgusted. So I left.

Luckily for me, with my family history, I was left alone. I probably have to thank my brother for that as well."

Klaus was overwhelmed; he looked at his mother, and she appeared to know all this. He wasn't sure what to say, so he asked what was easiest, "You have a brother?"

"Yes, an older one; he is part of the Knights' leadership."

"But if he is protecting you, why did they attack you?"

"Knights aren't completely united, son. Anyway, you understand that you can't tell anyone about this!?"

Klaus nodded in understanding, but then he said what was bothering him. "I am sorry. They attacked you because of me."

"No! This is not your fault. Sometimes I forget you are still a child.

When your mother and I made that deal, we knew what we were getting into. We knew you would be a magi, and we don't care. We don't care that you have memories of some other life." Klaus looked a little shocked at that; he guessed that they knew, but he was still surprised.

"Don't be surprised, son. We knew, and even with those memories, you are still a child, more mature than most, but a child, and we love you, son." After saying that, his parents hugged Klaus.

To be Continued...