A Knight's Destiny

     The squires quieted down as the knights all stepped near the sparring ring. They all knew what it meant; the knights were to randomly pick two squires to duel in the sparring ring. The question that was on every squire's mind was, who were going to be the two to fight?

     A large blue Skeith came out from the few knights, reading from a small notepad.

     "Okay, we need... squire Ruchio and squire Cobra... to come to the sparring ring."

     The squires circled the sparring ring near the center of the courtyard. This was the best part of the week. If you weren't the best squire possible, you always got to watch two other squires duel it out and cheer for your favorite. The simple reward for winning was you got some recognition from the knights and squires, but besides that, it just broke the boring routine of simple training.

     A purple Grundo stepped to one side of the sparring ring, a smug smile as he lifted his sword over his shoulders. Few actually defeated the Grundo; those that won still ended up with some injury from facing his fierce fighting style.

     The other squire stepped into the other side of the sparring ring, training sword held in its pouch at his waist. Spreading his red wings outward, he spit a small fireball to his side.

     "You can always back out now, Ruchio..."

     "You'd like that, wouldn't you, little Scorchio?"

     The blue Skeith stepped to the side of the sparring ring, eyes still fixed onto his notepad as he read the rules of the fight out loud.

     "Okay, there will be no sore losers, no cheating; only use your sword as this is a test of your sword skills, not your ability to knock the lights out of your opponent."

     Rolling his eyes, Cobra slid his sword out of its pouch and into his hands, moving himself into position.

     The air quickly turned stale, the feeling tense as the Skeith shouted; "Fight!"

     As soon as the words left the Skeith's mouth, Cobra was in front of Ruchio, his blade held at his side quickly jabbing the training sword into Ruchio's side.

     Stumbling backwards in shock, Ruchio let his training sword fall to the ground. The large blue Skeith rolled his eyes; he had already known Cobra not only showed off too much, but had his sword fighting skills to back that up.

     With a hand raised in the air towards Cobra's side of the ring, the Skeith announced, "The winner is Cobra..."

     Tossing his training sword to the side, Cobra stepped out of the ring, making his way over to the small building that was used as the squires' mess hall.

     As the other squires charged in the mess hall after the door was open, Cobra didn't feel like showing off in the mess hall, not today anyways.

     After climbing some vines hung onto the wall and shooing some Crokabeks, he sat on the courtyard wall, looking out over the town of Meridell. He was doing what every boy in Meridell wanted to do, train to be a Knight. And yet, it wasn't enough; there was always something outside of the courtyard that called him. He had always thought of running away before, but never had the actual guts to do it.

     The thought of running away once again crossed his mind, but he simply shrugged it off.

     As he began climbing back down the vines, a high pitched scream broke the peaceful day's barrier, which suited Cobra just fine. After climbing down to grab his real sword, he hopped the Courtyard wall and ran out towards the town.

     The thought of the knights yelling at him came to mind, but he was simply too excited to let it bother him.

      ----------------

     After somehow maneuvering the streets of Meridell, he finally came to the source of the cry; a young girl at the end of an alley screaming as two large masked thugs moved towards her.

     "Typical," Cobra mumbled under his breath as he charged into the alley, sword in hand.

     Peering over their shoulders, they noticed the small Scorchio holding his sword in the air.

     One of them chuckled with a raspy whisper-like voice. "What do we have here? A little hero for the little girl?"

     The other laughed in a dimwitted voice. "Yeah! Little girl!"

     Holding his sword in front of him, his eyes dead set on the thugs as a grin slowly grew upon his face. "Have it your way."

     Spreading his wings at his sides, he quickly flew up into the air, bringing the hilt of his blade down onto the dimwitted thug's skull.

     The other pulled a small dagger from a hidden pouch, hissing his words as he stepped slowly towards Cobra. "Then have it our way, we shall!"

     He hissed as he thrust his dagger towards Cobra.

     Spinning his body barely out of the way of the dagger, Cobra spun to the side of the thug before smashing the hilt onto the back of the thug's head, making the thug fall to the ground, unconscious.

     Cobra couldn't help but smile; it was too much fun for him not to be happy after it was over.

     Taking back of Neopoints the thugs stole from the girl, he stepped over to the girl with the bag in hand.

     "Hey, it's all over now. You're safe now..."

     "Stop right there!"

     Cobra turned behind him to see two knights in large armor with shields ready and swords pointed towards him.

     "You're under arrest for robbery!"

     Choking on his words, he looked around him for any means of an escape. He had seen thieves being cornered by the knights before; he had just never considered himself in the position of the thief.

     As the knights walked towards him to arrest him, thoughts came through Cobra's head, the same thoughts of running away he had always had, but this time, they seemed much more appealing.

     A knight roughly grabbed Cobra's right arm, his tightened grip making him Cobra wince. "You're in a lot of trouble, you no good--

     Not wasting any time, he quickly struck his elbow into the knight's gut, immediately making the knight fall to his knees, holding his stomach in pain.

     Turning to the other knight not a second too soon, Cobra's sword clashed against the knight's sword.

     Rolling to the right side of the knight allowed him to avoid the knight's blade while slamming his hilt into the knight's side, making the knight groan as he fell to the ground in pain.

     Cobra smiled to himself; he was able to take on two knights all by himself. But the sound of approaching knights made him quickly lose his smile. A choice had to be made, and it had to be made quickly...

     Several more knights rounded the corner, swords raised high in the air as they entered the alley.

     But as soon as they entered, their swords were placed back into the pouches.

     As the knights arrested the two thieves, the young girl looked around to see the red Scorchio that saved her was nowhere to be seen...

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     The sun set across the Meridell plains, the cool breeze blowing bits of grass about Meridell as the townspeople closed their shops for the night, heading inside their houses, getting some rest in hopes of finding more random objects at the rubbish dump.

     Cobra sat on a hill that overlooked Meridell, his blade settled into the grass beside him. He was finally outside of the kingdom, but now all he could think about was being back inside.

     He was what every boy in Meridell wanted to be, but now he was what every boy in Meridell feared to be; an outcast.

     "I did what was right..."

     His wings blew gently in the breeze, his face looking almost emotionless in thought.

     "If one simple moment... changed my life so dramaticly... then one amazing moment will change it all back."

     With that, he snatched his sword up as he stood tall on the hill, staring out over the city as a cold wind rushed past him. His life was changed; his destiny, however, stayed forever the same; a guardian of Meridell...

The End