Knight and the Beast

The Knights Past

AN: This chapter is sad, but the ending is mildly uplifting.

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Clay looked up at the tall building in front of him. This was going to be his first day at the Knights Academy. He thought he should be all pumped up and excited, but he just felt cold and nervous. The young boy looked back to see Merlok at the gate. The wizard watched and waited for Clay to take his first steps into the school, but he knew the child was afraid. Clay just turned around and ran back to the wizard.

"Merlok, I can't do it." Little Clay whimpered as he looked up at Merlok.

"Clay; what's the matter?" The wizard asked in concern.

Clay looked down at the ground as he held his arms.

"I... What if they don't want me here?" Clay asked nervously. "What if I'm not good enough to be a knight?"

Merlok blinked in confusion at the boy before kneeling down to his height.

"Clay, I know this is a big step and it's okay to be nervous." The wizard put a hand on the nervous child's shoulder. "But I definitely know that you have the right qualities to be a knight."

Before Merlok could reassure Clay anymore, a small crashing sound with a childish squeak came from the street. Clay and Merlok looked that way to see a child lying on the street; fallen over with some groceries dropped on the ground.

"Oh, dear." Merlok muttered as Clay quickly went over.

Clay looked in concern as the child got back up. Clay noticed that his clothes were brightly coloured with light purple and blue. He had a hood, but it was down; showing his short and messy light brown hair. The child sat up and looked at all the groceries he dropped on the ground.

"Oh, no." He squeaked; sounding like he was about to panic.

"Are you okay?" Clay asked.

The boy almost jumped and turned to see Clay. He just froze and stared at him.

"Would you like me to help you?" Clay asked.

The boy looked back and forth between Clay and the dropped items. He stayed silent, but he nodded. Merlok observed as Clay helped the boy pick up his groceries and put them back in the two bags he had. Clay filled one bag up while the boy filled up the other. Clay stood up with the bag as the boy quickly got up. Clay was about to give him his bag back.

"Here you go." He smiled as he held out the bag.

The boy took the bag and held them both in his arms. He looked down at the ground as his pale cheeks turned bright red.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

Clay gave the boy a friendly smile before speaking again.

"I'm Clay." He introduced himself. "What's your name?"

The boy looked up at Clay; cheeks still red. He was about to say something.

"Sweetheart! Where are you?"

A female voice called out. The boy looked in the direction of the voice.

"Coming, Whippy!" He called back.

The boy looked at Clay briefly before running off with his bags of groceries. Clay blinked in confusion before walking back to Merlok. The wizard came up to the boy and kneeled down at his level again.