My first fan fic, hope you enjoy it. I don't know where did I get the idea to write this.....

Oh, and review please!

A Stranger

A young man could be seen travelling through the Zexen forest. He was supposed to meet his companion two days from now in the Brass Castle to continue their travel to Grassland. His friend wanted to visit an acquaintance there.

Guess I'll arrive there a little bit early. He thought while scratching the back of his head.

Not that it mattered, because the last time he stayed at Brass Castle, with his sister, she had been dragging him around to see all of the stores. This time, he thought, he will take a better look at the castle itself. It was renowned to be the strongest fortress of the Zexen federation and also the home of its chivalrous knights after all.

It will be good to see if the knights there were the same as the one from Matilda or not……..

The young man is 31 this year, but his face betrayed his age. Because of course, since the day he wore that rune in his right hand, he had not aged a day.

Still with the same boyish look, short black hair, cheerful brown eyes, a golden circlet on his head and the red clothes that was always been his favorite, but this time he also wore a long brown coat.

The forest was so quiet this day that the young man can hear the birds chirping and the sound of the wind, blowing through the tree. It's been a while since he walked alone without his best friend and his sister. He liked travelling with them of course, but he also needed time for himself sometimes.

While he continued his peaceful walk, suddenly a very loud sound can be heard not far from his position. Years of experience told him that it was the sound of a fight. Now, even a vague smell of blood started to linger in the air.

Without hesitation, the young man ran to the source of the commotion. What he found there is truly a rare sight to behold.

A very beautiful silver haired woman was standing in the middle of the corpse of the fallen monsters, sword in hand. A pure white horse stood beside her loyally. Her unscathed face and her full armored body showed that she had not been injured or even fatigued from the fighting. Her bloodied sword was the evidence that she was the one who has killed all of those enemies by herself.

Just by standing there quietly, the woman already showed a feeling of elegance and authority. Not to brag or anything, but the young man have seen many beautiful women in his life. Some even shown their affection at him openly. But, being a well mannered boy as he is, he always declined politely. He had a crush of course when he was younger. But that was all there is to that. A crush.

Yet now, he stood there speechless. Captivated.

"Who's there?!" she shouted while pointing her sword to the young man. However, after seeing that he is also a human, and possibly a civilian, she lowered her weapon. Before she could say anything though, the man spoke.

"Are you Captain Chris Lightfellow of the Zexen Knight?" he asked.

Chris nod and sheathed her sword, while judging the young man in front of her. From his look, she can tell that he is probably as old as Hugo. But the Fire Bringer war has taught her not to trust other based on the outer appearance alone.

"That is correct." Chris answered. "Have we met somewhere?"

The young man smiled, "No, I believe this is the first time we've seen each other. But I have heard a rumor of a silver haired maiden who became the Captain of the Knight in a young age." He said while examining the woman in front of him. "I also heard that this captain has violet eyes, riding on a white mare, and any man who stood before her will kneel down to her beauty."

Chris shook her head. She certainly doesn't want to meet whoever made that kind of story about her.

"I can see that you're not kneeling before me, so I'm sure that rumor is not true."

"Well, not all of it, it seems." Replied the young man before quickly adding, "About the violet eyes and the white mare I mean…."

Even though Chris couldn't hear what the young man said after that, she just nodded.

"I see, then well done for recognizing me on our first meeting. Who might you be, good sir?"

The young man bowed politely, "I'm just a traveler whose name is not important. I'm sure you have met a lot of people like me and I don't want to burden you with the effort of remembering my name."

Chris raised an eyebrow at this remark. "I have seen many people who give their name too willingly to the 'Silver Maiden'. To be remembered by her. And here it is another man who doesn't want his name to be known, why is that?"

The young man still has his polite smile plastered on his face, for some reason it made him looked a little bit older.

"Then those people who want their name to be remembered must be important persons. Yet I am but an insignificant traveler who just grateful to be able to see the beauty of the great Silver Maiden."

"It seems that you are gifted with words."

"And so do you, my Lady."

Chris sighed, what a strange person she has met.

"Are you going to the Brass castle?" she asked, changing the subject. "If so, we should travel together."

"If I'm not going to be a burden to you, my Lady, I will be very pleased to accept that offer." Said the young man with a very polite tone.

"Good, now let us get going. If we hurry, we can arrive there before sun sets." She said while getting on her horse.

The young man bowed again.

Chris, even though she is the Captain of the Zexen Knight, was getting tired of that attitude.

"Before that, can we please drop the formalities? I have been wearing that façade all morning and I'm getting tired of it."

The young man laughed and nodded, "Actually, I was waiting for you to say that, Lady Chris! My mouth is all stiff for saying all those words."

Quite surprised with the young man's quick change of attitude, Chris also gave out an unrestrained laugh. It's strange really, that this young man can get close to her that quickly, she felt like he had something that just draws people into him.

"Then, let us go." She said, still half smiling.

"Where did you come from?" asked Chris, now walking beside the young man. It didn't feel right if she is the only one who rode on a horse.

The young man didn't say anything for a while, as if he was considering whether to give a respond or not.

After a few seconds, he finally answered. "My hometown is Kyaro. A small city on the border of the former Kingdom of Highland and the former City State of Jowston. Or what you might recognize as a country with the name of Dunan right now."

Chris nodded, once again surprised that a man as young as he is can travel this far from his hometown.

"It's a nice city really. You should go there sometimes if you have the time, Lady Chris." He said with an honest smile.

Chris shook her head. "It will be quite hard to do that, don't you think? With the border skirmishes between Tinto and Zexen, I mean. I don't think that they would welcome their enemy's captain in her vacation with an opened arm there."

She could hear the young man muttered something under his breath before he replied.

"Then you'll just have to wait until they have reached a peace agreement."

Chris smiled, "If I could still live to see that day that is."

Even though his voice is small, she still can hear him say,

"Don't worry about it. We have all the time in the world after all."

Their walk after that can be considered as a peaceful one. There were only a few monsters that they have to fight.

Chris realized then that the young man, despite his age and his rather small build, was very strong and skillful in using his tonfa. He had a weird and powerful rune covered with a glove on his right hand. She knew that because sometimes a weak green glow can be seen there. Not that the man himself noticed this, it seems. But her True Water Rune can feel its presence and start beating slowly.

"Say," said Chris curiously. "What kind of rune do you attach to your right hand there?"

The young man seemed surprised to hear this, but didn't ask any question on how Chris was able to know that.

He didn't look at her when he answered. "It's… a very powerful rune. I only have half of it once, but a few years ago I completed it with the half that belongs to my friend."

Chris nodded, encouraging him to carry on.

"This rune has seen many broken bonds, many deaths, many unfulfilled hopes and many conflicts, before it was finally returned as one. There have been many sacrifices along the way but I guess if you're an optimist, you could say that we also gain a lot other." He said with an unreadable expression.

Then, Chris realized that the young man didn't really like talking about this. She knew the feeling, because she also share a similar story.

"I'm sorry if I make you remember all that." She said apologetically.

The young man shook his head, "No, it's okay. I don't really want to forget about it anyway."

Chris smiled, "You know, when I'm talking to you, it feels like I'm talking to someone older."

As he quickened his pace, he answered.

"Well, just a little bit…."

Not long after that, they arrived at the gate of the Brass Castle. The knights guarding the gate saluted their captain and gave a polite bow when they saw the young man. They thought that he must be a great man to be able to befriend their captain.

"Here we are at last." Said Chris while giving her horse to one of her knight. "Are you going to meet someone here?"

The young man nodded, "Yes. My sister and my friend, but it seems that I arrived here two days early."

"Do you have any plan then?" asked Chris while they walked through the shops.

The young man seemed to be thinking about it for a while and then shook his head. "Well, not really. But, it has been a long time since I'm here so I guess I'll just look around some more."

"I see. Then, I trust you know where to find me if you ever needed my help?"

The young man let out a chuckle. "Well, I'm most grateful for the offer, Lady Chris. But I'm afraid that your knight will challenged me for a duel to the death if I were to be seen walking with you like this."

Chris smiled, "Then I'll make sure that they have to get through me first if they want to duel with my friend."

"I'm honored to be called a friend."

"You're honored but you still don't want to give me your name?"

The young man stopped from his tracks, "Unfortunately, that is for the next time when we meet again, Lady Chris." He offered out his hand to Chris, "Perhaps we will see each other again. And who knows? Maybe our meeting place then will be my hometown."

Chris grabbed his hand and shook it gently. "Perhaps it is."

Then, with one last smile the young man turned around and soon after become one with the crowds.