Courting is a knightmare
”
“Shimmering Snow
They say that every snowflake is unique and because of this they’re so interesting. Those tiny specs of what might as well be a bleached shade of dust are different in the smallest way. Drawing from that same subject, snow is white and white things reflect sunlight. Snow hurts my eyes.
But it doesn’t today, not right now. I couldn’t care less about that at the moment.
Not with her leaning against me like this. I’m propped up against a wall of brick with her next to me; snow falling all around us: diversity falling all around us. It’s great.
“Say it again.” She says.
“Huh?” I ask, “say what?”
“What you said when we got together for the first time. I liked the way it sounded…”
S_S
Courting a knight isn’t easy. The difficulty of this task increases when that knight is female. The secret difficulty you get for completing the game is unlocked when she’s a different species.
It’s easy for a girl to get with a knight; all she has to do is smile and look pretty. Women are more high maintenance; thank God for that by the way. And the one that caught my eye isn’t even human. I want to blame God and say he’s playing a cruel joke on me, but I’m afraid I’ve brought this upon myself.
Her name is Sue. She’s part dragon. Her hair is electricity blue and her scales are blue gray with brown specks on her wings.
Courting a knight isn’t easy. Courting a dragon is dangerous to ones mental health. At least that’s what everyone tells me. Of course I believe it after brushing up on my draconian history. Facts in mind I boldly pursued, what was likely to be, my heart’s last mission with reckless abandon.
The world I live in would sound odd to normal humans, but seeing as I was born into it, it seems normal to me.
Most men are knights and most women are mages or witches. Yeah, I live in a world of magic. Not really sure how else to say that other than blatantly stating it. Knights, dragons, wizards, things of that nature; it’s all pretty within the norm for me. I’m one of those guys that are too physically weak to be knights. At least that’s what I’ll continue to tell myself and be told. Not fun being one of the weak guys by the way. Girls aren’t all that turned on by magic, seeing as it’s a thing most of them can do anyway.
The reason why knights and mages get together is because a mage needs protection when fighting. These partnerships sometimes lead to romance, other times they are caused by it. The common denominator in both of these instances being that neither of them would be happening in my future.
I decided to go for it. I figured I had nothing to lose. I'd never been in a relationship before so I had no idea what it was like. Being in one with a dragon would be even more challenging. At least that's what I thought.
Then again I had no idea what it was like in the first place so I was just wasting my time thinking about it.
Getting to know her wasn't hard, just had to blatantly ask her her name. Seemed easy enough, and her name was simple, even easier. After a few days of visiting her while on guard duty, I asked if she wanted to hang out.
"Sure," she said cooly with a knight's maturity, "but it's gonna have to be when I'm not on guard duty."
"You're assigned guard duty?" I asked, unaware that she was not only a knight but also a guardian.
"Yep. Tell you what, I'll meet you back here in a few hours, my shift'll be over by then."
"Great." I said, masking the disbelief with pure, BSed confidence.
"Take this," she instructed, reaching into a satchel, which was strung around her shoulder. Her dark, silver edged armor clanked as the parts shifted and made contact. She pulled out a small pyramid that had wisps of glittering crimson magic swirling around it.
I took the thing, without thinking, and watched as it absorbed into my palm.
Magic was nothing new to me but this was still sort of out of the norm. I'd never seen something like that up close. Silently gawking at it just made my senses more acute as I wasn't paying attention to feeling. The magic that I'd absorbed shot itself up my arm straight to my head. I could feel... the best way to describe it would be as if a seed had been planted in my brain and was taking root, the roots spreading out toward my eyes, eventually making contact. I wasn’t sure if that was what it was or if it was just supposed to feel as such.
I didn’t take a knee to the pain, I didn’t even move. I couldn’t. It was like I’d been paralyzed or frozen. The pain subsided and a chill ran over me as if to soothe a scar. I was released and free to move. I blinked and the world changed. Sue now had had a pink outline that flashed out like a wave licking the shoreline of a beach. I looked around and saw the same thing had happened to the rest of the world. Buildings were outlined in yellow; certain people were either outlined in green or red, some white. I was tripping out.
Sue must have seen the look on my face because I could hear her giggling; armor clanking in chorus along with its lead singer. I turned to face her, only to see her holding her hand in front of her mouth, set off into a gale of giggles.
“What did you-” I tried to ask what this was before she cut me off, placing her finger on my mouth to silence me.
“I’ll tell you when we meet back up,” she assured, “In the meantime get used to your new worldview.” She giggled and turned to leave.
Not wanting to make a scene I left it alone, walking off to get acquainted with my new worldview as Sue had so sagaciously put it.
I spent the next few hours learning as much as I could about this new eyesight of mine. I wouldn’t have time to go to a library and research it, first off I had no idea where to start; and second, even if I did I would probably spend too long reading up on it.
In my time figuring it out I figured out a few things: From my new view if I blinked once the outlines completely masked everything in a translucent film of its respective color. Another blink and I would be returned to my normal sight. I blinked again and it would return me to my new worldview. I blinked a few times fast and I would still have my new worldview. I tried this concept with the other vision types and the result was the same for each.
I continued looking at everything with my wave view, sometimes getting a few ripe looks for staring.
Eventually it was time to return to my meeting spot with Sue. I’d figured out how to use my new ability, now all I had to do was ask her exactly what this was.
When I saw her she was still wearing armor on from the waist down, but it was lighter and made less sound when she moved. In addition to this she was wearing an orange sleeveless shirt that showed off her toned, grey-scaled structure.
“Have you figured anything out about your new worldview yet?” She asked, a sly smile on her face.
“Yeah,” I said, “I think I have it just about figured out. Now what is this?” I asked, cocking my head to one side and shrugging.
“I’m glad you asked!” she said exuberantly, leaning closer on the tips of her toes, “it’s Draconian FOH.” After not speaking up for a while in understanding she made it clearer, “the colors will tell you the base intentions of those around you. Whether they be friend or hater, hence the nifty lil’ name.”
“Ah.” I said, hinting at my final understanding.
“Just a lil’ draconian magic for ya, wizard boy.” She said teasingly.
She grabbed my arm tight around the elbow and pulled me off. “C’mon, Nathan, let’s get going.” It was a nice day.
S_S
We got to know one another over the next few months. We’d become so close that I had completely forgotten about my ultimate goal of courting my dragon companion. Every so often I helped out with guard duty, it was like being a secret agent I guess. I met a few of the other knights during my time serving with her; made some new friends as well. She always wore the light armor leggings when off duty.
We spent a lot of time together, just hanging out, shooting the breeze, killing time because the time we spent together was, well, cool. Even so, I never knew if she enjoyed our time together like I did.
One day we were at a restaurant together, joking around, talking about our respective days as usual. It was night; the moon was borrowing its usual amount of light from the sun and then some.
“So do you like your gift?” she asked while sipping soda through a straw.
“What gift?” I asked tactlessly, immediately cursing myself after.
“Your draconian vision.” She stated blatantly. “It was my gift to you.”
“Oh!” I said a bit loudly, “this-this was a gift. Oh. Um but why would you give it to me then?”
She laughed softly a bit before answering, “Why? Well, for starters, you’re a good friend. I think being able to see that would be nice good for our friendship. You know, so you don’t question whether or not we’re really friends or not.”
A bit of me broke on the inside when she said that. I suddenly remembered that I ultimately wanted to be with her. The friend zone is a cold unforgiving hell; and my heart would freeze in it because of some stupid infatuation with a knight.
“Hold up, I take that back.” dear God there was more. “You’re not a friend.” Oh buck my life. “You’re much more to me than that.” Having said that she leaned over the table and gave me something I would never have seen coming. Not when I had first decided to begin courting her and certainly not then.
Amazing how love can make a peck on the cheek seem like the most outrageous and daring love confession that can be expressed.
S_S
That was the night we began dating. It’s a good feeling; knowing that you have someone worth protecting; whom you love and you know loves you back. It’s just comforting and makes you feel like you’re on top of the world. It’s a good feeling to have. On our first date I confessed to her something that would never change; no matter what happened.
One thing I forgot to mention about the draconian vision: it leads me to where Sue is if I’m trying to find her. Talk about an unfair advantage in hide and seek. Good thing too, otherwise today would have ended differently. While looking for her one day my face felt tight. The feeling followed all the way to the base of my skull, the pink highlight on my vision began flashing violently. I quickened my pace and was eventually sprinting down the street to my destination.
I finally reached where my worldview was pointing me and saw something really messed up.
A slope in-between buildings that led down to a large closed storage house door was where this was taking place. A mix of ponies, dragons, and diamond dogs surrounded Sue; my vision outlined them in red. At my feet was Sue’s satchel. I know it could have been anyone’s, but I know what hers looks like. Going out with someone for months tends to earn you inside information and identifiers. She had once told me that the bag was filled with supplies for guard duty. I instinctively picked up the pack and chucked it over the crowd at her. She caught it and the most wicked smile stretched out upon her face.
Meanwhile I was busy using magic to propel me through the crowd into its center. At this point I grabbed one of the assailants by the back of their head and slammed their face into the back of another one’s knees. This one, being forced down, was greeted with a knee to the back of their neck. They both fell to the ground face down. I turned to face another and a fist landed itself square in my face. I staggered back as blood rushed in between my eyes. I quickly regained my footing, seeing red and dodged another swing, returning it twice as hard to their chest. They were forced to their knees and I took the opportunity to lift them into the air and gain power with a spin before launching them into their buddies with a kick. Sue had already joined the fray by this time and was fighting along with me with brass knuckles.
By the time it was over the last of the assailants grabbed their injured teammates and fled.
Sue was standing right in front of me, still tense and panting, as was I. At least our first fight wasn’t with one another.
She finally relaxed and began to slump down. I grabbed her and pulled her close, did I mention that pegasi are heavy? She only dragged me down with her and we ended up sitting slumped against the industrial sized storage warehouse door.
S_S
“I knew you’d save me.” She said, smiling.
“I told you I’d never be far away.” I said cooly.
“No it’s not that. Equestrian vision,” she began, pausing to take in deep breaths, “leads a lover to their mate when they’re in danger.” She finally explained. It was then something finally clicked in my mind. It should have been obvious when Sue was the only person outlined in pink.
Around now it begins to snow. Snow reflects the sun. Bright colors hurt my eyes. But right now I really couldn’t care less.
“Say it again.” She says in between erratic breaths.
“Huh?” I ask, “say what?”
“What you said when we got together for the first time. I liked the way it sounded…”
I cleared my throat before saying anything.
“No matter what happens in our life together, until the day I die, so long as we’re together,” I pulled her closer, embracing her in a hug, “I promise that whenever you’re in trouble I’ll never be far away.”