Atop the Greenguard throne, DeathKnave lounged lazily with her sword laid across her knees. She was seated with her legs splayed out carelessly, as if getting ready to grant casual audience to the Swordhaven masses. It was strange, then, that there was not a single courtier to be found in the regularly populated hall, and stranger still that DeathKnave was neither queen nor king.

The true king, as it were, lay off to the side, face-down in a quickly coagulating pool of his own violet-tinged ichor. Beside him was the dragon formerly known as Corvak. The beast was in a worse state than his master, with patches of scales shorn off his body and his wings a tattered mess of torn membrane. Where his left eye should have been instead sat a bloody, gaping pit.

It was a jarring sight to behold in the Swordhaven throne room, and perhaps a more honorable warrior would have laid the Broken King and his beast to rest in a more dignified manner, but DeathKnave paid the pair no mind. They were just corpses now, after all.

Of course, DeathKnave herself was not spared the mess of battle. Blood that had once sprayed hot from Corvak’s veins as she slashed through scales and dragonflesh was now cold and damp against her skin, soaked into her clothing through the gaps in her Tactical armor.

But it did not seem to bother DeathKnave. In fact it was as if she didn’t notice her blood-drenched state at all, staring blankly ahead and tapping idly at the arms of the throne with her fingertips. For once, DeathKnave’s mind was not on the war at hand with Cringeweaver, but rather on Wrath DragonLoser, the traitor.

Scarcely a moon had passed since she had caught Wrath DragonLoser in the training yard with a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on his back (strangely, there was also a large fish plushie strapped to his belt and a cardboard box atop his head, though she did not comment on it). There had been whispers that Wrath DragonLoser was delving into forbidden Bulwark and even Archivist magics, but she had foolishly brushed them off, trusted ally that he was.

“Tell me it isn't true,” DeathKnave had demanded, glaring at his weapon of choice. Traitor, she thought, remembering all the times they had condemned Ranger together. A crowd had begun to form—Baltael Copeweaver, Technerd, others—feeding like cowardly vultures off the altercation.

“Of course it is true.”

"No. Lie to me! Spin me a made-up fantasy that explains everything—"

"It is the truth. I used the double turns and defensive classes to further my own ambitions."

Try as she might, DeathKnave could find no deceit in his eyes. Sickened by the betrayal, she turned to leave, though not before DragonLoser could impart one final pronouncement that haunted her still.

“I’m sorry Knave, but speed isn’t everything,” he had called out, almost regretfully. “I’m a DF Enjoyer now.”

DeathKnave's fist clenched as she replayed the hated memory. Was DragonLoser right? Was it possible there was something more to life than speed?

Outside the throne room, dexterous footsteps echoed. A moment later, a head of flaming hair peeked through the doorway.

“Ready to go, Knave?”

Blinking away her turbulent thoughts, DeathKnave’s face softened as she regarded her newfound ally. Though only recently acquainted, DeathKnave took solace in Pyromid’s steadfast appearance; even out of battle the fire mage unfailingly carried his red tome in one hand and silvery, ice-tipped scythe in the other. Though he may have been unconscionably incorrect on many a subject—most notably the status of Duty and Rebellion as an A-tier Inn fight—Pyromid, she knew, would remain loyal to the greater cause.

“Yes,” DeathKnave replied, rising from the throne. Sheathing her blade, she barely spared a glance for the Broken King and his beast as she breezed past their cooling bodies. “We’re done here.”

No, DeathKnave decided, Wrath DragonLoser was wrong. Cringeweaver would fall. Doomer would fall. DeathKnave was the hero, she could not lose this war. And all in her path would burn until the world acknowledged that.

______

0:00 King Alteon
3:18 Corvak

200 END / 200 DEX / 39 CHA / 6 INT
200 Protection / 200 Fighting / 200 Magic

DeathKnight Relics + Lucky Hammer
Verraad III / Uragiri III
Exalted Blaster II (Doom)
Legion Bracer

Inn at the Edge of Time Progression Guide: tinyurl.com/3ufmhb3m