[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/f67wb4k.png[/img][/center]
[center][h1][color=870C0B]H[/color]ildr [color=870C0B]t[/color]he [color=870C0B]R[/color]ed[/h1][/center]
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[center][h2]A Fallen Friend[/h2][/center]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/onYvvdX.png[/img][/center]
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The main battle concluded, all that remained was either dead or dying. Parrench and Eskandr share the same mud to die on. After roaming for a while longer on this field of death, Hildr found something that made her blood boil. A skirmish between Drudgunzean knights. She could barely notice the subtle differences in armor. To think brothers and sisters have slain each other for others. Did they even know what they were fighting for or did Wulfric fill their heads with grandeur. The elite Kressian knights, felled by their own brothers. 

Among the bodies was a younger man, wearing more regal armor with an insignia all too familiar to her. It was the captain of Kressia’s Rote Blattes, Claus. The woman could feel own magic boiling up once more, trying her hardest to stay calm. [color=870C0B]“You damned fool… How dare you die before me…”[/color] Hildr, at the brink of tears, took the body of her deceased comrade and walked back to the ship. 

All the while thinking about her brother, praying he wasn’t slain in this carnage. He might be a Quentic but he’s still her brother after all. What little affection she can give she will grant. 


[center]What truly was the point of this?[/center]


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[center][h2]Victory?[/h2][/center]

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The knight’s expression grew dark upon seeing her liege celebrating with some of the Eskandr. He was quick to notice Hildr and the corpse she was carrying. “Ah, if it isn’t my favourite knight! It seems they weren’t strong enough to kill you.” The man laughed as he drank before examining her further. “But what’s this here? Did you actually get hurt? That’s a first.” Hildr laid down the body. [color=870C0B]“Claus didn’t make it..”[/color] 

Wulfric looked at the body. “A shame, now I have to look for someone who’d take the mantle of knight captain again. Perhaps this is your chance to become the captain. I am nothing if not generous after all.” 

[color=870C0B]“Wulfric, I won’t take his place, I wouldn’t be able to do it any justice.”[/color] Wulfric shrugged before patting her on the shoulder. “You survived, take pride in that… And tend to your wounds.” 

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[center][h2]Growing Doubts[/h2][/center]

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[color=870C0B]“I am powerful, but artless.”[/color] Hildr repeated to herself, remembering the dialogue she had with the laughing knight. He seemed weirdly sincere with his words. Those words burned into her mind. [color=556b2f]"not in control of your own abilities. You've relied on raw force for too long instead of learning how to actually apply it."[/color] Has that been the case? Was she too confident in her own power that she grew complacent? Then the line he told her after hit her [color=556b2f]"Truth is, I could've killed you, back at the court, and perhaps now. I mean that not as an insult, but as a truth.”[/color] It caused her body to shake from fear. Was she really that dumb that she couldn’t even notice how unmatched she was against him. 

Why would he want her to be on the side of the Parrench? What could she learn if she did? “Do not remain beholden to the people of your past” What were his end goals with these words. Were they just to confuse her or was there truth behind it? And that name, Branimir… How would he know someone that’s important to her that she wouldn’t know? 

It just didn’t make any sense. Maybe talking with Hrothgar would get some sense into her mind