Diamondlot

The Paladin of Light

Jiyah and Nadya were in shock after the sudden revelation. They had a ton of questions to ask Reina but before they could, the ground shook and a loud sound was heard outside. The sound was similar to a big creature being brought down to a momentous fall. They all quickly went out to see what had happened.

They were in dismay as Jasmine the giant was lying on the ground severely hurt. A large horde of dread knights had overwhelmed her and was now headed for the village. Seeing their insurmountable numbers, Jawad told them that they need to escape now. However, Reina disagreed with Jawad’s decision. She decided that they needed to go help Jasmine and evacuate the village.

Jawad was not thrilled with Reina’s plan, but Nadya and Jiyah stood by Reina’s decision. Outnumbered, he gave in and agreed to follow Reina’s plan. Reina told Sediya to warn the villagers about the oncoming invasion, while the rest of them worked on saving Jasmine. With the swarm of dread knights approaching, Jawad casted a mango explosion spell, knocking away a vast amount of enemies. That allowed Jiyah and Nadya to engage and take on the remaining dread knights, creating a path for Reina to reach Jasmine.

Jiyah was knocking out enemies left and right with her fists and tossing them aside with ease while Nadya used her dual-wielding swords to slash away her opponents. With urgency, Reina was able to make it to Jasmine who was lying down in stillness. Reina encouraged the giant to open her eyes and speak. Jasmine opened her eyes but could only speak slowly. She was filled with joy, “Thank you Reina, I didn’t think anyone would come to save a monster like me.” Reina shook her head, “You are not a monster! And we are going to get you out of here!”

Jasmine’s eyes closed again and Reina could sense that she was fading away. Behind her was a couple of dread knights that snuck through and about to strike her. Thankfully, Jawad was able to quickly appear near Reina and cast aside the two enemies. Reina thanked Jawad for his effort but that last attack used up more energy than he intended and he was beginning to feel fatigue. Reina looked to Nadya and Jiyah, they too were feeling the effects of fighting the endless numbers of dread knights.

Jiyah and Nadya were pressed back and were now together with Reina and Jawad. They all stood protecting Jasmine behind them but they were completely surrounded. They braced themselves for what could have been their last stand.

The dread knights slowly advanced towards their prey, but they halted their steps as they heard a noise coming from the distance. The monsters turned their attention to where the noise was coming from and they saw a white stallion charging at them carrying a woman holding a falchion and a round silver shield.

As her steed ran through the horde, the woman sliced through a group of knights. The horse then turned around and she threw her shield, ricocheting off five dread knights and taking them out for good. She grabbed her shield off the remains of one of the dread knights and made her way to Nadya, Jiyah, Reina, and Jawad.

“Are you all okay?” She asked all of them. All four of them were still in awe by her fighting prowess that they could only nod their head in response. “We can’t stay here any longer. This place is infested with dread knights. We have to leave now! I’ll clear a path and you all better start running.” She instructed them.

As she was about to turn around and engage in battle, Nadya stopped her before she could leave. “Excuse me, but is your name Leyyah by chance?” Nadya asked nervously. She looked back at Nadya, “This is no time for introductions, but yes I am.” And her horse dashes off with her for another skirmish.

Nadya stood star struck while Jiyah walked up to her to shake her out of her day-dreaming.

Jiyah: Hello? Earth to Nadya!

Nadya: Oh sorry. I got lost in thought there. But do you know who that just was?!

Jiyah: Um… Some really cool sword woman?

Nadya: Not just any sword woman! That is Leyyah the Paladin of Light!

Jiyah: Come again?

Nadya: Leyyah! She is a legend amongst all knights and highly respected around the kingdom! She has fought off countless dark forces and monsters with just her sword, shield and stallion.

Jiyah: She sounds pretty tough.

Nadya: She is!

Reina finally jumps in to interrupt their conversation, “Nadya, Jiyah! We have bigger problems right now!” They immediately apologized for being sidetrack as they still had to figure out how they were going to leave with Jasmine. They tried to come up with ideas but there was no way around it. Jasmine managed to open up her eyes and speak once more, “It's okay, go without me.” But Reina refused to leave without her.

Finally, Jawad stood up and approached Reina. “You really won’t leave without saving her.” He asked as Reina stood firm. “Alright, I will give this a try. No promises this will work.” He replied and began casting some sort of magic with his hands. With immense focus, he conjured up a potion in his hands, which he gave to Jasmine to drink.

Jasmine sipped the entire potion and after a few moments, her entire body began to shrink. She kept getting smaller until the once colossal fighter was now a tiny girl. Jiyah, Nadya, and Reina looked on in amazement. Reina then thanked Jawad but he added, “I managed to shrink her but her wounds are still not healed.”

As all this was happening, Leyyah came back to yell at them, “What are you all doing! We don’t have all day, we have to go now!” Jiyah and Nadya picked up Jasmine together and Reina began to ask, “Could you do us a favour and allow her to ride on your horse?” Leyyah’s anger dissipated as she agreed to take Jasmine with her and they all charged through the village towards the sea.

They arrived at the shore, where they found Sediya and a few of the villagers still stranded. Sediya told them that there were not enough boats and the rest of them were stuck on the island. Everyone looked around to see if there were other boats but none could be found and the horde of dread knights had swarmed through the village, closing in on them.

Everyone began to slowly back away with Leyyah, Nadya, and Jiyah standing in front to protect everyone. The countless minions raised their weapons, ready to charge. However, their advance was stalled as a volley of cannon fire appeared and took out a fraction of the dread army. The fighters turned around to see that Maggie’s ship was coming to shore.

As Maggie docked her ship, she lowered the bridge and the remaining villagers began to scurry up on board. Leyyah, Nadya and Jiyah remained in the thick of the fight to allow everyone to get on safely. Once all the villagers got onto the ship, Reina and Jawad both carried Jasmine onboard. That left Leyyah, Nadya and Jiyah who slowly made their way up the boat while fending off the remaining dread knights.

The three of them were fighting on the bridge, making sure none of the enemies could get on the ship. Maggie was prepared to steer the ship away from the dock while Leyyah, Jiyah and Nadya ran onto the boat. Leyyah and Nadya made it onto the ship but there was one dread knight that hung on to the bridge and grabbed Jiyah by the leg.

Nadya tried to turn back and reach her hand out to grab Jiyah but it was too late, the monster had dragged her with it, back down onto the shore. Luckily she landed on the dread knight, which broke her fall. But she was about to be swarmed by the rest of the horde.

“No! We can’t leave without Jiyah!” Nadya shouted. In contrast, Leyyah told Maggie to continue steering the ship away from shore. Nadya was in shock but Leyyah grabbed a rope that she found and tied one end to the ship and the other end around her waist. She told Nadya to make sure the rope didn’t break and Leyyah jumped down onto the shore and fought her way to Jiyah. She then put her shield behind her back and carried Jiyah on one arm.

“Now!” Leyyah declared, signaling Nadya to pull them back in and for Maggie to kick her ship into full speed. The dread knights made one last push to grab Leyyah and Jiyah. Thankfully, Reina, Sediya, and Riya the monkey jumped in to help Nadya pull on the rope, raising them away from harm’s way. With their combined effort, everyone made it back onto the boat and they managed to escape from Northern Highlands.