Nightshield

I Raymond Perigrin Nightshield am the youngest son of the Nightshield family, a noble family known as the shield of the kingdom. From the day of my birth, I was destined to devote my life to the safety of the royal family and its kingdom. Besides my duty, I also had to compete against my two siblings for the position of the family head, as in my family, this is not decided by age but by strength. Being born the youngest of three my sister is 5 years older with incredible talent, and my brother is 3 years older, lazy but intelligent. I had a lot of catching up to do. In my younger years, I was taught how to act as a member of nobility. Later, I got a personal tutors for education, and later for combat training. After trying out a variety of weapons, we found that the sword is the best fit for me. I spent most of my free time playing with the king's daughter, Tiana, who is only one year younger than me and who became my best friend during my childhood. She is the perfect young lady and acts like a member of royalty, except when we are alone, when she shifts into this wild girl who picks up a sword and orders me to spar with her. Besides fooling around with my childhood friend, I spent a lot of time in the family library in the basement. I was studying the history of my family when one day Tiana found a trapdoor under a broken part of the floor in the older section of the library. We opened it and found a small room with a bunch of weird-looking books, and one was placed on an altar in the middle of the room. Tiana jumped in and went straight to the displayed tomb, but I was mysteriously drawn to a specific book. I had a strange feeling looking at it and wanted to tell my father what I found, but she just took it and told me to stop worrying and to conceil the hidden room. When she looked at me, she gave me a wink and said, "royal order." Telling myself that I am just imagining the strange energy lingering from the book, we started reading it. The book was about a god who controls the shadows and hides in the darkness to protect the people. It also said to obtain his power, you must follow these orders: Your strength is more than just a weapon; it is a shield. Interpose yourself between those bent on violence and those who cannot defend themselves. You put yourself in harm's way to spare another the pain that violence brings. You must deal with the consequences of your actions, and you are responsible for fulfilling your duties and obligations. Regardless of the threats you face or challenges you must overcome, you must always be a beacon of hope for those in your charge. If you are not able to prevent the outbreak of violence, it is your sacred duty to tend to those who are its victims. You have been gifted with the ability to heal wounds, cure poisons, and lift diseases; such a gift is wasted if it is not used. Tend to the wounded, the weak, and the ill and put them before yourself. We hid the books where we found them and came back whenever we had time to read further into them. I told Tiana that I think this power has something to do with magic and we should stop reading, or otherwise I will get into great trouble if my father finds out. She told me that I shouldn't be such a pussy and if I didn't want the power, I should just leave it to her when she took her book to her room. A week passed in which we left the book in the library, and I didn't see Tiana. One day after i finished a training session, she came into the room, took up a sword, and started attacking me. Normally, I didn't have to fight her very seriously, but that day she overpowered me with ease. I fell to the ground, and she told me to stop being as stubborn as my father when it comes to magic, and then asked me how I imagined to protect her if she is stronger than me. After that, I went to get the book and hid it in my room. The next days, I had dreams about the power and saw a silhouette controlling the shadows. Still worried about what my father would think, I started to ask myself if it would really matter if I had a shot at becoming the next family head if I couldn't even protect improtant to me. Things between me and Tiana normalized, but we weren't really talking about what happened in the training room. We went around the city when we suddenly were ambushed by a group of bandits. We tried to fend them off, but they outnumbered us. I went down, and they took Tiana hostage when suddenly I had a vision of a Knight wearing my family crest, standing in the middle of a battlefield, dominating his enemies with the shadow energy I was dreaming about. He reached out his hand and told me to accept the power. Eager to save my childhood friend, I took his hand when suddenly energy burst through my body. I got up and took out the bandits to save Tiana. When we got back home, I went straight to the hidden room of the library. I just used magic, but I know I saw a man wearing my family's crest. I just had to find evidence that that is the way we used to fight. I spent day and night reading until I found a book with the title "The Way of the Shadow Knight." It described exactly what I was looking for, how the members of my family fought using shadow magic and what techniques they used.I gathered my courage, put on my full armor, ready to get beaten up, and on my way to tell my Father that I think our family used to use magic. On my way, the atmosphere in the castle was felt like something was wrong when I suddenly saw my father surrounded by guards and the dead king in front of him. Not yet processing what I just witnessed, Tiana suddenly took me by the hand and told me to run. She said that my father killed the King and that I had to leave the country. Stubborn like I am, I didn't believe her. I didn't want to believe. I know my father he would never do anything to harm the King. As I wanted to turn around, Tiana hugged me, and with tears in her eyes, she told me, "I believe you, but please trust me and flee. I don't want to lose you too." Slowly realizing the seriousness of the situation, I agreed. She gave me her horse, and not looking back, I rode out of the city. After I reached a town, I cut my hair, sold my gear, and bought something less fancy so I wouldn't be recognized. I checked the news and found out that the King really died, and my father killed him. I didn't get any information about what happened to the rest of my family, but my father is going to be executed. Wanting to help him but knowing that I am not nearly strong enough, I decided to leave the country until I have what it takes to clear my father's name.