Dreamless Sleep

Arthur watched with one eye closed, irritated by the blood that ran in it, as Lee-fu beheaded a man, cleaved another two in twain.

Crow or the Uld were no less merciful, slashing and cutting the Britons to pieces, they did better than what He taught them.

Arthur met with the dark sand and mud of the beach. Slowly as the Britons fell, Arthur felt the rain ease as He touched the shore and fell to his knees dropping the heart, dropping the heavy head.

He sat back and at that moment where Lee and Crow paused to Look... all paused to look, as the Storm subsided and Arthur smiled.

The clouds parted as if by divine intervention and hidden behind the black clouds, were a slithering gathering of dancing lights, of Violet and Magenta. He looked up with his good eye and beheld the fantasia.

He had never felt more alive.

The Uld beheld the sight, The Once outsider knelt beside a dragons head under the Aurora Borealis, he seemed more than a man... He seemed like a King.

"Aetri?" Kara sprinted towards him, covered in blood and manically waving something large in her hand. The Red-haired woman held the severed head of Erick, his face pale and wrought with terror.

Despite his injuries, Arthur sprang up and marched towards Kara, his mind clear as the pain rattled across his body.

"You bare the blood of the Dragon, it is within our connection to the saints that we draw greater power than lesser men. You were wise to choose that path of Dragon Lore, not many can boast to possess such knowledge, but use it wisely, be what You were born to be, A ruler in all things."

Kara walked up, covered in blood, dropping erics head and smiling with Joy, "It's over, isn't it? Did you manage to slay it? I thought that was impossible, the stories! You told me yourself, nobody but the Old Dragonslayers were fit to kill dragons-"

Arthur held out a stopping hand, his eyes dark and full of a curious animosity; that was not there before. "I'll get to you later." He whispered lowly, his face wrought with caution "Do not think that I am not diligent of your change in behaviour."

A frown like winter formed on her face but Arthur did not stick around to gawk, He marched along the beach, Ignoring the buzzing pain that rippled through his body. The Uld kicked and beat Hjal and Bjorn, tossing the two back and forth like dice on a board.

Arthur sneered and marched towards them. The Uld that were watching him and the Aurora of colour above tried to warn their brothers and sisters, but the Mousey haired man crashed into the men, pulling them apart with his good arm and thumping those who kicked at the two "Enough!" He commanded.

They all staggered, many flooding in as Arthur pulled Bjorn to his feet, the dizzy and shaking boy shaking fiercely. Scared as He was, He looked afraid, He had spared him many times during their past... encounters, mostly because of his youth, and for whatever gave him all of those scars.

"Aetri, My Boy!" Out from the crowd, stepped Red-Knot Lock.

Arthur frowned, but kept his wit and lent down, offering Hjal a hand. Beaten and bruised the broad thug of a man spat and batted Arthur's hand without even looking.

"He killed a Dragon, lopped off its head like the trunk of a tree, picked out its heart like a ripe juniper berry!" Tyrg spoke in wonder, pacing as He beheld Arthur. Discomfort was the last thing that needed to be added to the pot.

Lee-fu and Crow came striding in, their swords blooded; side by side, Darkness mixed with Iron.

Lee had the biggest smile on her face "You did it." She whispered, "All of those years were not in vain."

Crow nodded "The time has come to return, Master."

He would pass out from the pain soon if He did not push... and this battle was unfinished. Arthur stood and pointed his finger at the Uld like a spear "Hjal raped 12 women last spring, Killed another 3 during Summer, hung our scouts at the beginning of wintertime: Kill him." Arthur spoke in a tone that could not be denied and the Uld rushed to grab him.

Hjal's eye's opened wide as He contorted, struggling in vain "Wait, Wait! Aetri, Wait I'm sorry, c-come on, You already took my horse, ain't that payment enough? please, PLEASE, BY THE TRICKSTER SHOW MERCY!"

Arthur smiled grimly as His eyes met with Hjals. "I offered you my hand... You wouldn't take it, You spit in my face, but after I speak your charges allowed, You recall them clear as day? You are everything that is wrong with this place, do you intend to wallow in squalor and poverty, as you trade yourself into oblivion funding a war that never ends? Roaming with no rules, no law? like animals?"

The Dirty blonde Raider, relaxed, a look of resolution on his face "You would not understand, You wouldn't hear me either way, all of it is just one big joke. Freezing our asses off in the dead of the cold country further north, while the Uld live like Earls and Ladys in the Warmth of the south. You may kill me, but You're a man just like me, You will fall just like me, and one day, close if the gods are willing, YOU WILL DIE. JUST. LIKE. ME!"

The Prince lent in, his golden eyes, filled with malice "Shadows, never die."

He did not feel it, the blade was exceptionally sharp, so much so that it diced so cleanly that only the warmth of gushing blood could be felt, as Hjal clutched at his throat.

Arthur slid Kara's dagger back into his belt and watched as Hjal paled and fell face-first into the mud: dead.

Next was Bjorn, who after seeing the fate of his compatriot, struggled and begged to be let go "We shall kill this one also." Tyrg snarled and his brothers yowled in agreement.

The Young Warrior sneered again, grasping the hilt of his blade and making the Uld jump back. "Hey, Aetri, Easy now." Lock insisted.

"That name means nothing now, it is meaningless, nameless. I am none of those things." Arthur's eyes turned to the shore, where the waves lapped over Erick's headless body, seemingly sawed off. He did not like that He did not witness the death with his own eyes, maybe that was just intuition.

Something didn't taste right and it wasn't the irony blood lingering in his mouth, He could taste the air, feel the arms of the breeze which stretched for miles, it comforted him and tempted him to allow the weight of this night to crush him... But he wasn't done, not yet.

His Revenge was a cup half empty, and he would have it completed before it could taint another day.

Arthur moved out towards the shore, where the Full moon was present far beyond the sloping horizon, the skies glittered beautifully and the Lost Prince cast his eyes over the dark waves, scouting the sandy shore... only to find just what He was looking for.

Crawling out of the Lake, spitting out water and gasping, wailing in the mud like a worm, was Baldwin. His back was scorched where he had doubtlessly failed to escape from, his own mounts flame. The materials of his cotton shirt under his armour had burned into his skin, bubbling as He screamed and lurched like a leech.

Arthur smiled, and swift as the wind made his march towards his enemy; The Uld, Lee, Crow and Kara following strictly in tow.

The waves lapped the shore so gently, all was calm where the sky had roared with wrath prior, the flames of battle had been put out in the monsoon, and Arthur stepped over, fiddling with the pommel of his sword as Baldwin flipped himself over so that he could soothe his back in the cold mud.

His eyes met with the Dragon-Rider, a most pitiful foe, and saw the sigh of exasperation on his face "Bloody saints... what the bloody hell are you, people, why won't you fall! why won't you die!?"

"What are we indeed, I was getting curious of that myself, Sir Baldwin." Arthur knelt a little ways from Baldwin, paralyzed from the pain, laying on his back to see the lights above. "All my life I was told that our blood was special, that we possessed the blessings of the saints--but that's all wrong, it's a lie, I fear the worst, Sir Baldwin. After I beheaded your serpent, I have felt reborn, a new man with new goals..." Arthur frowned monstrously, making Baldwin's eyes open wide. "...But I fear that we were never men, I fear that we were Monsters, all along."

"S-Spare my life... Make parlay, on my Knights honour, I will take news back to Your sister, I-I'll tell her that we found nothing, Lost the men and Ignix to the beast--only let me go, let me have my life-I-I'll do whatever must be done, wipe my memory, I don't even know who you are, see?" The Man pleaded like a dying dog, it made butterflies flutter in Arthur's stomach, as His left hand carefully drew on Grimstorms handle.

The Uld had gathered a ways off, and all Watched in trance. Lee stood with a dark look, she knew what he was doing, but she feared that it was no longer her place to make any demand of him. Crow watched as Her master stirred, his movements were different, swift, smooth like a wolf or a Bird of prey, she... almost felt... Something upon staring at the sight.

Kara wanted to march forward, to stop him, but the man who now held his sword was not one to be disturbed.

"...A whole new man, a whole new Beast." Arthur muttered, his voice growing louder as He preached to the sky "You come to this land and bait its people against each other, exploiting an already fragile system, You curse this ground, this scaled feet, this Village will take Months to return."

Baldwin flinched, shielding himself as Arthur sneered, pointing the sharp edge of his sword at the man's throat "Very well, Knight. You want chivalry, You want mercy, why don't you remind me one more time who I am? come on, You've been taunting me with it all day, Tell me" Arthur's voice turned to a booming growl.

Baldwin looked to the Uld who stood with curiosity, and his Mentors who had death in their eyes. "I-I... I already said I-I don't know you!"

"You do know me, just like you proclaimed, we both know the truth so why hide? Huh?! for what reason should we keep this enigma moving--Is it because you know that as long as You remain silent that your life span will continue!?"

"Y-Yes... Y-Yes..." Baldwin was a fearful ball of sludge, his pride and power made into nothing.

Arthur gritted his teeth, He had never felt this angry before, it was like his instincts ruled him. "I beckon thee: understand now that I will never run from my enemy again, I will take false names, Aye, I will wield the shadows for my purpose, but never again after today will I be any man, but myself. So I beseech thee once more and only once more..." Arthur towered over, Baldwin, his golden eyes blazing, the Euphoria of the Aurora above casting the Prince in a blanket of ethereal light. "WHAT AM I CALLED, WHAT'S MY FUCKING NAME!!!!?" Arthur Roared.

The Ruined Knight jolted as if struck by lightning and began to cry out as He wrapped into a ball, the fear of death and pain overcoming his senses "YOU ARE ARTHUR STORMKIN OF THE ROYAL HOUSE OF REGIS!"

The world stood still, and all that listened froze.

"SON OF UTHER THE GOLD AND GUIN THE GRIFFYN, THE EMBERED HEIR, CROWN PRINCE OF ALL BRITANNIA AND THE YOUNG DRAGON OF CAMELOT... THERE-NOW PLEASE, JUST-"

The Ruined knight could not speak, the jolt had seen to that, the jolt that had blackened his left eye and penetrated his mind with steel, he felt how it have breached through the back of his skull and slowly as he looked above to the colours in the sky... He faded into sudden and abyssal death.

All above looked with face painted in Shock as they beheld none other than the Lost prince himself, who all had whispered, had vanished 8 years after the Fall of Camelot, and just over 7 years ago, _Aetri _Had appeared, a Briton boy under the wing of Aunt Lee.

But none had the time to question, for Arthur fell then, his body unable to continue as his wounds continued to bleed and his broken bones enraptured his form in pain. He fell face-first into the mud, and straight into darkness, where He would finally have a dreamless sleep.