The Fate Of Freedan

Freedan narrowed his sapphire eyes in confusion when the soldiers entered his lavish house and he demanded to know what was going on.

"You Freedan, high knight of His Majesty, have been charged with high treason on behalf of witchcraft," the lead soldier proclaimed, his silver armor and brown eves gleaming maliciously in the light from the setting sun coming in from the window.

"On what basis?" Freedan asked coolly, getting to his feet and turning to face the soldier. His red cape, and his blonde hair, blew out softly behind him from the force of the movement, and his silver-edged black armor gleamed in the light from the window he now had his back too.

"During your last fight for the crown, you were witnessed using a strange power," The leader sneered, motioning the other four soldiers, wearing dull silver armor, to flank Freedan.

"It was merely an ability bestowed upon me by the goddess Gaia," Freedan snarled, his patience wearing out. Devotion to his beloved goddess shining in his blue eyes.

"So you admit to worshipping a heathen god as well! Clap him in irons men, and we'll see what the King says about this!" The leader laughed, motioning for three of the soldiers to hold him down, and the fourth one to chain him.

Freedan growled with barely-suppressed rage, then turned and kicked the soldier behind him in the legs, forcing him to crumple. Not giving the others time to react, he aimed another kick at the downed soldier's head, knocking him unconscious. He then turned and blocked a punch from one of the other guards, and flung the guard into a wall, knocking him out as well. He aimed a roundhouse kick at the third guard, and took him out with no problem at all.

Making a break for the door, the fourth guard stopped him, and he could hear the leader coming up behind him. Using his momentum, he ran straight through the guard, and ran through the door, arriving on the street, and ran as fast as he could southward down the winding streets, his cape and hair billowing out behind him. He looked back only once, and smirked at seeing no one following him.

A few miles later, he could hear the sounds of hoof beats behind him, and knew the soldiers were catching up. He quickened his slowing pace and turned into a back ally, and then knew no more.

While he was unconscious and being moved to the castle dungeons, he received a vision from Gaia of a young boy, no older than 13 on an expedition to a place with a team of archeologists with his father to a place he somehow knew was called the Tower of Babel. Just as he was to ask Gaia the significance of this vision, being dropped onto a hard, cold surface awoke Freedan. Upon opening his eyes, he discovered it to be the floor of a cell.

Glancing at the door confirmed that he had a guard on each side on the outside of his cell. Looking around revealed the front wall to contain only the iron barred door, and the iron grate. The left wall was partially concealed by what Freedan believed must be his new bed. The right wall was bare, and the back wall had only a small barred window at the top. All four walls were made of moldy stone, and Freedan shivered in sympathy for any others falsely accused, as he was.

After another, more thorough check of his surroundings, which revealed he was truly trapped; Freedan twitched his nose in disgust at the smell he was now aware of. Hearing someone approaching, Freedan looked out from his cell at the man, a former colleague of his, named Edward.

"Do you renounce this heathen Deity of yours? Because that's about your only hope, witch." Edward sneered, pale blue eyes narrowing in hate.

"I do not Edward. What has happened to you, my comrade? You have become a power-hungry fool." Freedan questioned, knowing it was this man who turned him in, as he now wore the black armor of the imperial force.

"Shut up, witch! Your execution is at sundown!" Edward yelled, storming outside as the door slammed shut behind him.

Freedan glanced out the window of his cell at the graying dawn, then sighed, and went to sleep upon his bed. He was granted a new vision, of the same boy, only now he was 14 years old. He was in much the same situation Freedan found himself in now, though in a different dungeon. As he watched, the boy walked around aimlessly, examining everything from the ball and chain to the moldy walls.

After what seemed like hours, a pig with a note and key attached to its back escaped with the boy now known as Will.

The vision faded to reveal the dark space. Freedan looked around from his place on the silver tiles and watched the stars dance around for a time. After a shimmer of power and light appeared, Freedan turned and bowed to the deity known as Gaia, the spirit of the Earth.

"Arise Freedan. Doest thou wish to know why ye have been given such a fate when ye have served so loyally?" Gaia's wise voice questioned.

"I would appreciate it very much Gaia." Freedan acknowledged humbly as he stood.

"Then know this. Ye have an important role yet to fulfill Freedan. However, I'm afraid that ye are of no help alive at this time. Ye once pledged that your life was mine to take as I saw fit. I hold ye to that now, my dark knight. Accept the death they sentence ye too, and you will forever be a hero. For if you refuse, when the chaos comet cometh in 300 years, the Earth shalt be doomed without thy aid." Gaia said softly, regret shining in her eyes and audible within her voice as she told the dark one of his fate.

"Then I shall Gaia." Freedan said calmly, for if he must die, as all mortals do, he was proud to do so to protect the Earth.

"Then so be it." Gaia said sadly, and with that, Freedan awoke to the dusk of his last moments alive.

Hearing footsteps, Freedan calmly got to his feet and turned to face the priest with an escort of three guards.

"Freedan, former general of His Majesty's Imperial Forces, you have been charged to receive death by hanging. Come peacefully, and you may keep your weapons and armor even after death." The old priest said softly, looking upon the lad he knew as a boy sadly.

Freedan calmly stated that he would go peacefully, and followed the old priest as the guards flanked him.

As they made it out of the dank dungeons and led him across the courtyard into the town square, Freedan looked upon the dying sun, and the beautiful sunset one last time. He then turned his sapphire gaze upon the palace behind him that he had sworn to protect with his life. He turned his gaze back to the path ahead of himself as he heard one of the guards growl warningly, and took a deep breath of air.

Hearing a commotion, Freedan realized that a large crowd had gathered to witness his execution. The audience for the most part looked excited, but Freedan noticed there were a few, like the old priest leading the way, who seemed rather upset.

After being told he was allowed to say a few words from the old priest, Freedan calmly said, "People of Freejia, I, General Freedan, would like to commend you all for the lives you lead now, and the lives you and your kindred shall leave. If my passing truly would make you feel safer, or happier, even if only for a moment, then I am glad to be able to do such a favor for you. Know that even in death, I will watch over you all."

Silence had descended as Freedan began to speak, and by the end of his speech, many of the women in the audience were in tears, and some of the men looked rather uncomfortable.

The noose was wrapped around Freedan's neck, and Freedan whispered only one sentence. "May this world be safe Gaia." And then the floor was dropped, killing the dark knight instantly.

Many people in the audience broke down into tears over the death of the brave general, and the old priest pitched in a prayer as Freedan was taken from the noose and lowered into a casket. "May your goddess Gaia protect you Freedan." The old priest whispered, letting a single tear fall.

End