The Dread Knight's Rage

The first thing Dakota noticed was how cold she felt. The second was how uncomfortable she was.

Her body never usually felt heavy, not even after she ate a big meal. For a second, she believed that she might open her eyes and find Bansha sleeping on her stomach again, but the fact that she was cold immediately shot down that theory.

Dakota opened her eyelids to find that her body was worse off than she thought. In fact, she didn’t have one.

She sat alone in a black, misty plane. The only thing sharing the space with her was a crystal mirror, through which she could see her reflection.

Staring back at her was a concentrated cloud of violet colored mist. The only reason Dakota could tell that it was her was because of her scarlet eyes that she’d had since birth.

Strangely, even though Dakota couldn’t see her body, she could still feel it. She could wiggle her toes, fingers, and even jump up and down.

Curious, she sauntered toward the mirror while looking around.

She placed her ’palm’ against the mirror’s cool surface.

Intrigue rose within her when she saw the beginnings of her fingerprints. Dakota then tried to recall what Giselle had told them about this ritual beforehand. Specifically, the questions it asked.

What did they want for themselves?

Were their actions and desires their own?

What did they want their futures to look like...?

Dakota knew those questions should have stumped her. They certainly would have before.

She had never really lived for herself in any capacity. She had done what she could to live without attracting anyone’s eyes, to make sure no one had a reason to strike or curse her.

She had mauled and mutilated herself out of resentment for her gender. She had submitted to all of the traditions of her house, acting as a servant, losing her ability to bear children, and going without speaking for years at a time.

Dakota had really never been given the opportunity to think about herself, her future, or what she wanted to do with her time.

Even when she ran away to the academy, that had been more of an act of rebellion rather than anything else. Her very first in her entire life.

Now that she was free of her family, and she had more lived experience... Dakota began to see things that she thought she might want for herself. And ironically, all of it came from the siblings that she never knew she had.

She wanted to be someone who could make others smile like Nila, whether on purpose or by accident.

If she could only emulate just a bit of Solomon’s charisma and composure, she was certain that she would be able to find the same amount of confidence in herself that he did.

Even Everett... she wanted to have as easy of a time dealing with people as he did. To so effortlessly navigate conversations for even hours on end without allowing anyone he conversed with to feel bored.

Granted, Dakota didn’t think that she could stomach talking to people she didn’t know for that long... but her desire remained the same.

It was not that Dakota necessarily saw her siblings as better than herself, and thus wished to tear herself down and rebuild herself in their individual images.

Rather, it was that she had come to love them even before she had known what exactly the emotion was. And with that love, she found individual things about their personalities that she wanted to carry within herself while still retaining her individuality.

Perhaps it wasn’t who she currently was. But it was who she wanted to become. No, it was who she would become.

Her brothers and sister had given her vision. So much so that she couldn’t believe that she’d been stumbling around in the dark all this time.

-

Yari and Giselle stepped back when Dakota began to float under her own power.

The painting across her back burned into her skin until it was indistinguishable from a real tattoo. But that was hardly the most mystifying thing about what the elven princesses were seeing.

Short, 5’3 Dakota, was growing right before their eyes.

The bones in her legs and arms creaked as they lengthened to settled into new places within her body. Her skin became that of a pale jade beauty, with a complexion not much darker than milk.

She went from looking like a late-stage pre-teen to an actual twenty-year-old all in just a few moments. Each of the scars on her body healed as if they were never there, softening the texture of her skin.

Her hair developed streaks of bright violet, as hypnotic black lines appeared underneath both of her eyes. She was a young woman of an ethereal beauty, the likes of which few could ever hope to obtain.

But this vision of her only lasted for a few seconds before she became something more.

Dakota’s horsemen’s armor appeared on her body as her scythe hovered around her like a sentient protector.

However, the fabric of her armor seemed to be coming undone as fast as it appeared.

It spun and unwraveled itself, fashioning itself into something new, powerful, and dangerous.

Simple heels covered her bare feet, becoming black boots that stopped at her knees before a pair of fitting leather pants appeared around her hips.

A chain sprouted from the loop of her belt, producing no more than six segments. At the end of it, a silver lantern appeared from out of the blue.

Behind the lattice-like pattern, a violet light glowed from within the strange contraption, mesmerizing and terrifying onlookers in the same breath.

Her chest armor resembled more of a duelist’s vest with long sleeves and inky black gloves. trace lights of a violet light lined up with each of her ribs as well as the outline of her bust, matching not only the lantern, but the glowing stone that appeared around her neck like a choker.

A cape rested upon her shoulders. It was thick and as black as the night, seemingly made from the feathers of numerous nightmarish crows.

Despite how heavy the cloak seemed, it was not only soundless but nearly as light as a spare coin.

Dakota’s mask was the last thing to alter itself. It split into several shards of metal and shifted their place into her hair, where they formed a crown of sharp thorns.

Just above the crown, a violet halo appeared and circled over her head. At the moment the last piece of her attire was formed, she awoke and inhaled deeply.

But before Dakota could even think much about her changes, her body ceased to float.

She fell out of the air and fell precisely on the back of her head, filling her with a level of embarrassment that she considered criminal.