The Lost Knight

Chapter 4

While some might think Kaba to be a mindless mountain of muscle, it is quite far from the truth.

The young man is a true gentleman and does not hesitate to help people in their daily activities.

He is also the only one who knows to write and read apart from Akan, the chief, and even if nothing obliges him to do so, he likes to teach the children about it.

Right now, he is sitting with Akan and Ragna in the townhall, which while quite small, is enough for all of them to sit comfortably.

The shadow is sitting on a lonely chair in a corner, looking around as Akim's soul floats around it, revealing its finger playing with the fabric of its clothes.

It sometimes stares back at the literate man until he looks away before resuming its activities.

"What I am sure about is that once a soul is separated from the body, it cannot be used as a vessel anymore." Akan says, squinting at the dusty grimoire before him. "We will need a puppeteer."

Ragna frowns. "Where can we find one?"

The chiefs hums as he thinks.

"You can wait for the sentinels and ask them." Kaba uncrosses his arms as he puts himself in a more comfortable position. "They always travel around the world, if someone knows it's them."

The sentinels of light are warriors who fight the mist of the Shadow Isles during the Harrowings to protect Runeterra. They have a close relationship with the village as Kaba's father was one of them.

He, unfortunately, died when the young man was only 3.

"You called for them?" Akan raises an eyebrow as he glances at the champion.

The latter nods. "We still need to know what this is." He gestures for the entity.

"Niyah." Akan calls the girl sternly, hiding his panic when he sees what is going on with the shadow.

She has climbed on its lap to tie seashells decorations in its hair, and as a sign of peace, it is bowing its head down to help the child.

The little girl winces at her grandfather's voice before slowly coming down from the entity's knees.

"What is this?" Her father figure delicately takes one of her braids in his hand, a small rope has been tied to it in the form of a flower with three pellets.

Niyah looks at the ground, knowing that she is going to be scolded. "She did it." She mumbles.

"And what have I asked of you earlier?" He lets go of her hair, the excess rope from the knot tickling her shoulder.

"To stay in my room?" She stares at the table's edge.

No one answers as they are all studying the shadow's movements. It has followed the girl without anyone noticing and is now taking hold of the knot.

They stiffen up as it wields scissors close to the orphan's face.

It cuts the excess rope, still letting it slightly longer than the other end as it finds it prettier.

Not making a sound, it goes back to its chair, the cord disappearing and reappearing as it intertwines the scrap between its fingers, its eyes glancing at the hall's frame.

With a sigh, the chief shoos his grandchild away, the child rushing back to her room.

"I don't think it means harm." Ragna nods. "It would have killed us all if it wanted."

Kaba closes his eyes. "If what you said earlier ends up being true, it is certain."

Ragna frowns. "I saw it with my own eyes, there was the harvester and the ruined king." She gestures for the shadow to get closer. "Come."

Akim's soul floats from its shoulder to the mother, his protector following suit.

The woman stands up and rearranges the seashells. "It should look better like that." She smiles softly.

They now form some kind of crown around its head, a thin thread linking all of them together. The entity makes a mirror appear in its hand and looks back at its reflection before nodding thankfully at Ragna.

"No worry." She takes a chair back and the entity tentatively sits down with Akim's soul on its shoulder.

"First, we need to know its gender, for privacy arrangements." Akan looks at its golden orbs. "Are you a man or a woman?"

It turns toward Ragna in confusion.

"Alright." She gestures for her chest and raises an eyebrow as she points at the shadow. "Woman?"

It nods while miming a bump over its chest plate.

"Well, this answers two questions as once." Kaba crosses his arms in slight annoyance as he knows that her lack of vocal communication will make things more difficult.

Akan gestures for him to calm down. "Maybe she is unable to hear us talk and solely relies on gestures?" He slides a pen and a piece of paper toward the black figure.

She carefully takes both, the whiteness of the paper revealing the claw-like finger of her armor.

She starts writing something with an unknown alphabet.

They shake their heads when she presents it to them.

The shadow starts writing with a second alphabet but the result is the same, even the third one is foreign to them.

She abandons and starts to draw as the villager tries to guess who and what she is.

"One thing is sure, she is not an ally of the isles." Akan scratches his short beard.

Kaba nods. "You talk about the fact that the sun does not affect her?"

The chief glances at Ragna. "Is there something bothering you Ragna?"

The woman, who has been staring at the pen gliding on the petite shadow's paper, shakes her head. "I am trying to guess what she is trying to draw."

After scribbling the contour of the creature, she adds the forms of the eyes and the snout.

Kaba has read about such creatures, yordles are being whose main reason to exist is to bring joy to people.

But this one does not look happy in the slightest.

Annoyance is easily perceivable on the shadow's sketch, the fluffy creature looking away in fake indifference.

The petite artist stops, not wanting to continue as she has noticed their stares.

"With this, I think it is time to conclude our reunion." Akan claps his hands. "You can keep those if you want." He pushes the pen and the paper toward their guest.

She lifts her hand and stops to look at Ragna, waiting for confirmation as she might have misunderstood. "You can take those." The mother nods with a small smile.

After picking them up, she follows the taller woman as they exit the town hall.

Ragna glances at the shadow as they cross the village.

In one hand, there is her drawing material, in the other, the mirror she is currently using to check how her decoration is doing as Akim's soul floats over her shoulder.

'I should rest.' Ragna sighs as they reach her house.