[Retro]

"EXCALIBUR!!!!!!!!!!!"

Looking back on it, I used to say that a lot, didn't I? I remember the times when my friends and I picked up sticks and fought each other, thinking we were great knights defending Esshar like the heroes of the past. Pretending to be Lightbringer Soleis, and every other knight we heard about.

Despite the fact these heroes were more recent to our time, we always looked to the past where we heard about the "strongest knights in history." The Paladins of Valmasia, The Knights of The Round Table. Lead by King Arthur Pendragon himself, they were unstoppable, or so we were told. 

One of the many games we played involved one unlucky person becoming "Mordred the Perfect Yokai." Which almost always resulted in a beating till they were black and blue. For the rest of us? We would pick a knight to be at that moment, I always chose Arthur Pendragon, never giving my friends a chance to be "The King." Everyone else would pick various knights, from Sir Lancelot to Sir Gawain, others used their real names and sought glory for themselves.

 

Even so, there was a knight nobody wanted to be, Sir Tristan, the Traitor.

As a child, the reasons were more than obvious. He betrayed his friends and left behind a mess in his wake. Even we fought over who was who in these games, and the arguments more often than not turned into a brawl, but we knew one thing above all else. You stay loyal to your friends, and you always watch out for them no matter what. As a child, we never understood why he betrayed his friends and threw everything he had away.

 But like with most, as we age we gain a better understanding of the world we live in, and I came to understand his reasons to which he left. Or so I believe at least. His tale most definitely changing considering over a thousand years have passed.

Going back to the game we played, we would all charge Mordred with sticks and boxes we cut out to act as shields. Screaming and yelling as we beat up the demon, defending the world just like they did in the legends we heard. I would always swing my sword, yelling out its name, Excalibur, hitting the poor kid as hard I could until they gave up.

 

More often than not I miss those days, the days where I had no responsibility and could do whatever I want whenever I wanted to. But even then times weren't perfect, but that's something I'll write about later if I feel like it.

So, here I am now, sitting in the barracks when I should be sleeping, writing in a journal I picked up so I could record my thoughts and look at them in the future. With less than a year left until my cadetship ends, I'm worried, nervous that three years of hard work will go to waste, and I'll never see my dream come to fruition, my dream of becoming a knight. But not just an ordinary knight, I want to go beyond that. I want to create my legend.

A legend that children will recreate in the games they play, like how my friends and I did in our childhood.

But that's all I have time to write down today, I'm pretty sure I can hear Radiant August outside, and if he catches me then well, I'm sure during our morning rollcall I'll be made an example of again. That's something I'd like to avoid, I have to better myself. I have to show I am worthy of such a title. I have to prove I deserve to be called,

Siegfried lei Lohengramm