My life as a knight.

What would you do if you had everything you ever wanted, and it was ripped away? To be on the front step of happiness, only to have the door slam in your face? For one man, this was no brutal nightmare from which to snap awake, it was reality.

Beset on all sides by those harboring malcontent, waging an epic war of emotions and survival, the Paladin struggles ever forward. Where others would fall, he has stood, where others would leave, he has stayed. He has been the boulder that parts the river's flow, and his steadfast will and determination have seen him through the toughest of times. He now faces his strongest opponent...

Solitude.

Ababndoned by his closest ally, the Paladin finds himself backed into a corner, wedged between the aching want to accept defeat, and the indominable will to strive on for a better tomorrow. With his allies confronting enemies on their own battlefeilds, could it be that the Paladin now finds himself alone? So it would appear...

From their own demanding battles, two of the Paladin's closest allies have sent the reinforcements he so desperately sought. The old friend, the comrade, these two together have swayed the war heavily in the Paladin's favor once again, but will he be able to carry it through himself?

Will the arrival of the two allies route the ranks of the Paladin's enemies, as he has done for them in the past? Or will the two simply serve as witnesses to their dear friends destruction? Only time will tell...

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The Paladin falters slightly in his war, nearly coming to a dramatic end, when the arrival of yet another ally from long ago bolsters his resolve. The battlefields carry on, as they always have, and there is yet no sunrise in sight.

However, with the arrival of new friends, there come new enemies as well...

A cruel and manipulative strategist, a neutral yet abusive third party warlord recently risen to power. These two arrive at the doorstep of the Paladin's homeland. Without knowledge of the Paladin's actions, they send their forces to pray on his weakened armies. But these newcomers know not who they face, they know not that they face, perhaps, their toughest enemy of all time.

The newly arrived ally brings just enough, for a comrade from before falters and abandons there fight, called back to the battle on their own homefront. Reinforcements continue to pour in for both sides, could the Allies be looking at a stalemate? Only time will tell...

For now, to the one who will never go down without a fight, the battle is all that matters. Keeping a steadfast eye on the potentially bright future, and a firm grip on his sword, the Paladin gains a foothold in the dramatic war for his life.

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Battered and bruised, the Paladin strives for the tomorrow he knows is out there... Somewhere.

An ally sends out a request for aid, and, despite the problems on his own fronts, the Paladin rides to answer the call. The war which began as a fight for his own life has escalated, now encompassing those he cares about, and the Paladin wonders, in the back of his mind, if it was his own decisions that lead to the events now threatening his friends.

An old ally returns as a cunning adversary, remembered by the Paladin as the one who ruined his plans before he even realized they were against him. Forced to face this part of him he had hoped to leave far behind, can the Paladin hold out against this, the enemy that cannot be fought?

They say you cannot change your past, and burying it only hides it for a time, but facing it requires strength, both of mind and body. As he rides to the aid of his ally, the flames of war at his back, the Paladin secretly doubts his own abilities, his own willingness to give his all yet again.

With scars fresh on his tattered soul, he rides to his ally, exposing himself to attacks and malevolence from all sides. Will the Paladin's luck finally change? Or will this be yet another futile attempt to make amends and reclaim some of the joy from his past? The sun is setting, passing from a darkened day... To darkest knight.

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The road before the Paladin darkens with the coming of night, dying his armor black with the vast, open sky above him. The stars light his path as he arrives at the doorstep of his ally in need. The ally informs the Paladin of their plans for the future, plans that just might lead to mending old wounds. The Paladin is wary to put his heart into the information, to trust the ally from long ago, but he cannot resist.

His brothers make their appearance, after years of silence and watching from the sidelines, to assist the Paladin in his struggles, only to find him gone, away from home. The brothers, the Warrior and the Unseen, now ride to their comrade's aid, following the clues the Paladin left behind to point others down his path.

Meanwhile, the Paladin departs for home. As he turns from the ally of old, he is met with yet another battle, this time on territory as yet unfamiliar to him. Ambushed away from home, the Paladin must now fight for his life, but the enemy is on unfamiliar territory as well, and fatigued from their pursuit. Perhaps the Paladin can use this to his advantage?

Swaths of foes fall before the might of the Paladin's sword as he cuts his path through the sea of malcontent, careful to keep his ally from harm's way. Though he fights, he can't help but feel empty, almost as if there is something he is missing, something so easy to see that he overlooked it within the maelstrom of battle...

As the Paladin strives on against insurmountable odds, new enemies and those as yet undecided look on, amazed at the ability of this knight to keep his feet in such dire times.

Dark silhouettes of old allies turned malicious and unknown daemons lurk atop the hill overlooking the battle. Will these enemies quail in fear at the Paladin's might? Or will they band together to bring him down?

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The Paladin finds himself staggering in the midst of the raging battle as an ally unknowingly cries for aid. Turning to heed the call, the Paladin stood open to be struck down by a lucky foe. Suddenly, a weapon cleaves the foe in two, the weapon belonging to a dark silhouette from the hilltop, a man the Paladin did not know. The man pushes past the Paladin to ride to the aid of the, apparently mutual, ally.

The ally decides to leave the frontlines of the battle behind, knowing the Paladin will be distracted by their presence, and turns to withdraw as the silhouette prepares to stand beside him in the fight to come. Enemies close all around the pair, but the Paladin knows he can hold his own. Glancing over his shoulder at the shadowy figure, the Paladin looked into his eyes for but a moment, and without a further motion, the Silhouette darted off to see the ally safely from the battlefield.

Cleaving a foolish enemy who would try to pursue the pair caused the army before the Paladin to falter. This, he saw, was his opportune moment to strike. Running forward in a blaze of clashing steel and pounding heatrbeats, the Paladin made his way through the masses, cutting a swathe of blood straight to the heart of the enemies.

Will he finally be done with war, able to rest once again? Or will he regret sending the newfound ally off to assist another? The sun falls once more, and the Paladin faces his foes as their own Darkest Nightmare.

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Struggling to free himself of his own bonds, the Paladin seeks allies, but finds that he is all but alone. An old ally falls from the light, spiraling into a pit of self loathing and despair, while supposed newfound friends and forces from distant lands turn deaf ears to the Paladin's own pleas for assistance. It seems the only comrade left to our knightly hero is his oldest brother, proving that bonds of family run the deepest of all.

Just when the Paladin thinks himself alone in his struggles, a simple message arrives from those long past. Renewed with vigor, the Paladin now rises to face his trials with a determination he hasn't possessed in quite awhile. How odd that a simple message can do so much...

So now, making tactical plans for the future war that is inevitable, the Paladin gathers his strength and prepares for one of the longest battles of his life. Though his list of allies grows ever shorter, the one that came back just might be the most valued of all. Could it be that our hero is finally piercing the fog of war? Only time will tell for sure, but things are looking better every day.

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A lightning flash pierces the darkness of midnight, followed by a thunderclap that nearly shatters the walls of the small castle looming on the nearby hilltop. An army of evil and malcontent marches up the road, and the Paladin stands resolute, waiting to meet them in battle.

   As the rain drips from his already battered and beaten armor, another lightning flash reveals a mix of blood, pouring from the fresh wound of a knife in his back. The Paladin's vision blurs, his view wavers, and in the back of his mind he wonders, when will Fate be on his side?

   With troubling news from old friends in distant lands, and members of his own family now at risk, tha Paladin has no choice but to fight a losing battle. Every day drudges on like the crawl of a bloated maggot, writhing and twisting, seeming to last for years at a time. Though the Paladin would wish to see an old ally, he doubts he has the ability, and even as he stands, awaiting the army before him, forces in other lands prepare to ride against him.

   Tired of waiting, and feeling the deep pain from his new wound, the Paladin charges down the hill towards the onslaught of troops, ready to die before giving up. Alone, stranded, no longer does the Paladin have the strength granted to him by love. In it's place, a growing hatred that threatens to consume him to his very core. Our hero could become what he hates most, but for now, others rely on him.

   He will not die yet.

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To be continued...