THE PURPOSE

[Gaja 1311]

 

Spoiler       ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱   A ꜱᴛʀɪɴɢᴇɴᴛ ᴄᴏᴅᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴄᴏɴᴅᴜᴄᴛ ɢᴏᴠᴇʀɴꜱ ᴡᴀʀʀɪᴏʀꜱ. The deep mutual respect is born not of words or sacred writings, but from the universal language of battle itself. Steel does not discriminate, only the arm which wields.    The concepts of good and evil are inventions of skalds eager to paint into life's majesty. Those who add vibrant strokes to disguise or embellish the otherwise gray tapestries of reality. There is the victor and there is the vanquished. That is all.   So it was by chance that Norn observed a duel, a brief encounter which left him with more questions than answers. A crimson knight, awash in mystery, loomed in the back of his mind for months. He had to see for himself.   ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱     ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱   Lᴇᴛᴛᴇʀꜱ ʀᴀʀᴇʟʏ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɴɪɢʜᴛ. Bitter winds carried his name, hushed whispers of evil which spoke of a murderer. For lesser men to seek him is folly, and so they did not. Yet that same winter gale carried a single note into his hands.   An invitation to duel. He recalled the day, how disappointed he had been by the brief encounter he was afforded. A true test of his skills, it was not. Yet the thought crossed his mind, that this could simply be a trap. Or worse yet, a waste of his time.   The promise of a challenge was too sweet however, and Walach could scarcely resist the opportunity. So he traveled south from frozen forests, until he reached that familiar ruin.   ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱ ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱ Sᴏ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴍᴇᴛ. The sun had just set, and the moon began to rise. Each came with a wager, and the promise of combat. No false pretenses, no dramatic speeches. Their blades would speak for them.   The Norn bore his shield and blade low, defensive and cautious. His caution was only matched by the Knight, who wielded his longsword with patience.   Unlike his past duels, this one felt charged with a strange, unsettling energy, the air thick with anticipation. A common soldier, Dragomir was not. But it was not concern nor fear that gripped at the Knight’s heart, but hope. Finally, a worthy challenge.   He stepped in, his black blade screeching horribly as it clashed against the Norn’s sword. Prodding strikes from either were met with parries, deflections, and narrow dodges. Many hours they spent, with neither landing a clean strike.   Eventually, the relentless toll of training and discipline culminated in utter exhaustion, a bone-deep weariness. Both men stripped to their barest selves, some primal mixture of bloodlust and self-preservation overtaking them.   The ruins echoed with the clashing of steel. A lone rider observed in silence, as Dragomir’s shield bashed Walach’s side over and over again. The Knight had learned that he was faster than the Norn, if only by the slimmest of margins.   A gambit, then. A thrust caught, his sword removed from his grip–Dragomir drew his vicious dagger and stabbed it ruthlessly into Walach’s arm. ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱   ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱   But the Knight’s strike came first, and with the rising of the sun the Norn’s blood had been spilled.   Vɪᴄᴛᴏʀʏ.   ⊰━━━━⊱༒︎ •𒋝• ༒︎⊰━━━━⊱

 

Spoiler

Painting 1: https://x.com/saitoukazu
Painting 2: Alexandre Calame, 1851 - "Winter"
Painting 3: https://x.com/InkenArt

Painting 4: https://x.com/HarusakiKanta 

Thank you to @M1919for the duel and helping with writing the post,
Thank you to @Pallodiumfor helping make it look nice and saving me.

 

 

[Jihnyny 5233]

Spoiler

i love gaja posts

btw, how did u centre the table(s)