It is always Darkest after the Dusk.

Dusk. The gentle rays of the setting Sun bathed the world in a calm sheet. Even though the still lingering warmth would eventually fade, the Sun did not seem to be in a hurry in the slightest. It laid its loving embrace upon the world below, giving everything and asking for nothing in return. The long reach of the horizon lay at peace, drawing breath slowly, lingering and relaxed, perhaps subliminally knowing it would later require the warmth and strength it was now freely given. On top the moment’s utopia, stood a single mountain. Proud and confident, it did not feel guilt or remorse for claiming the majority the Sun’s gifts.

Rather, it felt them well deserved.

At the Mountain’s shoulder two tiny figures took their place in the vast scenery, barely noticeable at the ridge, yet equally and as unquestionably loved by the peaceful shining mother of all things.

“A beautiful evening, is it not, M’lady?”

The young woman startled, having lost herself in the breathtaking scenery. Scolding herself for letting down her guard, she glanced over towards the voice. A man walked up to the edge of the cliff where she stood, taking a position at a comfortable distance, facing the play of light and earth before them.

“My intention was not to startle you. Yet, I could not bring myself to miss this display of beauty we have been blessed with tonight.”

His voice was steady and soft, his gaze resting on the gently blazing horizon. The last rays of the Sun landed on his armour, but their dance died out in an instant. The man was clad in suit of pitch-black plate that seemed to devour the Sun’s gifts like a hungry beast.

“I was just surprised anyone is up here, that’s all”, she finally replied, shrugging off the tension, but keeping the stranger under a close eye. She examined his strong posture suspiciously. He seemed at ease and relaxed, yet there was something unnerving about him. It was his visage, more precisely his expression, she concluded. His chin was slightly lifted against the sun, and a gentle smiled played on his lips. The creases of his face and the gleam of light blue eyes conveyed a sense of profound peace and harmony. The serenity of his countenance clashed with his ominous armour like forces of heaven and hell, and left the young woman groping in darkness when trying to make her mind about the man.

“I was drawn by the love the Universe is showing its children tonight”, the man said. He then turned his head to face the young woman and smiled gently at her. Meeting his gaze and smile, she was torn between whether to smile back or unsheathe her two skull adorned axes that rested on her back. She hid her indecision, and began only then to consider what the stranger had uttered. It made no sense.

“That makes no sense”, she spoke her mind.

The man’s soft smile didn’t weaver, he merely swept the landscape in front of them with his eyes.

“The grace we admire tonight is just one of many gifts the Universe provides for us”, he clarified after a moment of silence. Turning yet again to smile at the young woman, he continued:”May I ask in turn, what brought you here tonight, M’lady?”

She shrugged, finally relaxing to the extent of detaching her eyes from the stranger to glance at the sunset.

“It’s as good a place as any. Doesn’t really matter to me where I am”, she said. “Maybe I can bring down a couple of monsters here before they get me”, she added after a moment, more to herself than the black-clad stranger.

“Wandering without a purpose, my child?” the man worded softly, his gentle smile never escaping his lips.

The young woman blinked, caught off-guard yet again by the accusation. She thought for a moment in silence, peering suspiciously at the smiling knight in shinelessness armour. Eventually she answered the question hanging in the air with another.

“What else is there?”

The gleam in the stranger’s eyes sparkled to rival that of the Sun, whose light had already dimmed as it sunk inevitably beyond the horizon – chased away by the arrival of pitch black Darkness that is the Night.