What Used to be Worthy

Big Fishes' Carnival at The Lake - What Used to be Worthy

He regained his senses. 

Shortly after, his little heart wished he hadn't. What was before him was the whole town in chaos, as if they were creating the end of their own world. The people are either panicking or dead. Flames painted in blue scoured the land and devoured the building like a beautiful little flame that eats away the candle with nobody noticing. Roads? No more. Mostly cracks of fissures, with a little spice of cars split into half or blown into pieces. Then he asked: who did this?

Wrong question.

He knew perfectly who did this: what he was like, how he did it, when the chaos started. He knew perfectly, for what he saw in the reflection was a knight in a shining armor, although stained with dirt and blood. He knew exactly just what that knight could do, but he truly wished he wouldn't remember. It gave him the creeps.

Not that he could ignore it then, anyway.

The only thing that he sincerely asked himself was why. The knight was supposed to protect the people; he was given honor for that very reason, he was honing his skills and strength all these years for that very reason, he sacrificed much in his life for that very reason. The knight never wished for evil to come from the outside. He should have wished for more.

He never considered himself as a prefect knight that he needed to be. However hard he trained, he always felt that it was not enough. Even when the whole world has recognized him as the strongest of knights, he always had this fear of an even more powerful being coming to attack earth. Now that he thought he was close enough to the ideal knight he wished to be, everything was destroyed.

Since he became a knight, the earth had not faced severe destruction by extraterrestrial attacks. No more alien portals, no more invading spaceships, even when he waited for one. He had warded off everything that could do harm to his land, and he still found that what he did wasn't good enough. 

He still brainstormed day and night, trying to find innovative ways to improve his armor; an armor for all to behold, for it opposed the law of earth and shot lightning that can pierce through steel. It was already so brilliant it was a shame that only he could comprehend it. 

A mere armor only protects from outside.

His obsession began to become suspicious. Decades after Ragnaroque, articles  began flying around and poisoning people's mind by telling them that he was the earth's greatest fear. Controversy  began as to whether society wants him to continue protecting the earth from harm that seemed to cease from existence. Some wanted him to stop and rest, patting him on the back saying that he had done enough. Some feared that a force too great could even destroy what was meant to be protected. He was slowly repulsed away from people's good impression, and with that he began questioning himself.

A wave of ear-piercing sound disrupted him from his unnatural flashback. His reflex told him to jump to the right and send a blue fireball back to the attacker. The possibility of him avoiding the projectile and launching a successful counterattack to whoever was attacking him was almost 100%, but that was if he didn't think about who he was going to engage.

No sign of Peustagjhos. The Eucrailm circle that often painted the blue sky with its red, blinding light wasn't shining. There are no aliens, no aphocrypi, no mutants whatsoever. He believed that there was no extraterrestrial force that was threatening his land. There should only be humans walking on earth. If the attacks was from the people he wanted to protect, he shouldn't bite back.

'Why is this happening?' he thought to himself.

He took the full blow. His armor could protect him from any weapons crafted in earth, or even, in the universe. So he didn't move, and the explosion didn't do any harm on him. He felt pain, although he didn't move an inch, although he still stood strong. In an armor nobody saw you crying.

Then he saw her, and remembered everything.

Among all controversy and contradiction of people's perception and opinion of him, he could  barely remained in his sanity. That was really thanks to a young girl who always  believed in him. She was there when he was down. She showed care when he needed it. She supported him, emotionally, and that was why he kept going. Even when the whole world had been planning on his retirement, she was still with him.

She was there when the authorities 'peacefully' tried to persuade him to take a rest. He persisted that unless the whole world agrees that the earth was no longer in danger, he would stop. He believed that he have yet to step down from his position as the guardian of his land, he believed that another person still needed him. There was only her.

That was why, when he found her lying on the ground, soulless and molested, he exploded. For the sake of him retiring, one life was to be played between conspiracy and corrupted plan, sacrificed. He had always believed that earth is worth fighting for, but seeing how had his efforts corrupted it instead, alluring evil from within to destroy civilization even without anyone noticing, he knew he failed.

However, he knew that he failed when he himself let the devil within him control the armor; he shouldn't let his emotions affects him and abuse his power. So when he found that the land was razed and stripped from any fragment of harmony, he knew he had sinned against himself. He was no longer worthy as a knight.

She, no longer in the world, a world which had no longer the need of a guardian. Maybe, just maybe, that was actually the right time to give up. So he fell to his knees, his vision was no longer comprehensible, his auditory senses began slipping away from him, much like his sanity, and a deafening scream followed as he gave up on himself.

And thus he broke.