A Knight's Tale: Omen

Omen Pleasant, it was the name he had taken when he was a boy and it was the name that would stick with him till his dying day. There was nothing wrong with it, or that he particularly disliked about it. It’s why he chose it. It was what he was known as up at the Kiln and it’s what he’s known as down here, it’s a way of addressing him… which showed that it worked very well. He had been in London for nearly nine years now and hadn’t regretted the move away. He had been in the Kiln since he was born, and the change of scene let alone temperature was a good thing for him. It was probably the change in temperature that drew him to the green house in the palace, a beautiful garden filled with rare plants from around the world, and his favourite part, butterflies.

Omen was around 29 years old, and was still looking good as ever, he had a handsome face, hair that was nice shade of black that just suited him perfectly, and a single golden coloured eye, the other was covered by a patch, just staying out of sight... no one wanted to see that. He had taken his jacket off, as it got warm in the garden, yet he blinked as a blue pair of wings landed on his nose snapping him out of his trance. “Hmm…” he sat up causing the butterfly to fly off his nose and take perch on a nearby lotus flower.

Omen sighed, at peace, happy to just have a few moments to himself… well almost to himself, Hamish had rushed off without explanation and it was coming to a late hour, but the hour of the day didn’t bother Artoria.

The young girl who was aged around six waddled around the room fascinated by the plants and animals that were in here, causing a smile to form on her cute little face. She let out a giggle and jumped up to try and catch one of the butterflies and with a quiet clap she landed down, her dress settling back down as huddled away to a corner, her green wellies tapping on the ground as she walked and examined what was inside her hands. “Aww got away again!” She complained out loud and moved her little arms up above her head before dropping down onto her back in a sulk.

“Well if you continue to try and catch them like that you won’t get there.” Omen said to her with a slight smile before he stood up and crossed over to where she was and sat down, crossing his legs, the grass was nicely soft. Softer than the stone bench he was sitting on. “I’ve told you, you’ve got to be gentler than that, they won’t come to you if you scare them away.” He held out his hand and remained still, after a few moments another butterfly landed in his hand its purple wings fluttering a little before relaxing. “See?”

Artoria widened her eyes as he did that and scrambled to get onto her knees, placing her hands onto Omen’s to lower it further so she could see the beautiful creature. Her sapphire blue eyes widened and sparkled in awe as she looked at it. “It’s so pretty!” She said in a loud excited whisper.

It warmed Omen’s heart to see her happy like this, it was something that he knew would always cheer him up, she was strong for her age though… he had made sure she knew that the world can be a hard place. But never, would he dream of robbing her of her childhood.

“Dad?” She asked looking up at Omen and prodding his cheek with her finger.

Omen blinked and looked down at her with his soft golden eye. “Yes sweetheart?”

“What are you thinking about? You had that look on your face it was all!” She pulled and over the top face of someone skulking and thinking.

“I sure hope I didn’t look like that, it looks like I was planning on doing something awful.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at her and moved one of his gloved hands forward to brush a few strands of her pale blonde hair behind her ear.

The pair of them couldn’t look more like an odder pair, her blonde hair to his black and her blue to his golden. The truth was, she was adopted, and she knew it but refused to call him anything else but dad… and when he sent her to bed early meanie.

She was just a baby when he found her, they were out in the Wasteland and came across a desolated village, a Kishin attack that wasn’t uncommon, and there she was. Omen made his way over to her mother who was protecting this baby with her life, and had taken serious harm from the attack, there was nothing they could have done. He had talked to the mother trying to comfort her, and she made him swear to take care of her daughter. That was what he had done, it took a lot of papers to sign but he managed to get her to stay with him and roam around the palace outside the barracks. She was by no means royalty, but she was a child and she didn’t deserve to be cooped up. He was thankful to Euphy for allowing this rather odd situation.

“Dad!” She let out another excited whisper, and saw as Omen turned his head to look at her.

She had her arms out and several butterflies of various colours had landed on her arms and she was giggling quietly to herself. “I did it they arrived.”
 “Careful or they will take you away.”

“They’ll what?” She asked her eyes widening before she flailed in a panic to get them off her, the fear of being taken away by them bubbling up inside of her, but when she heard him laughing she scowled at him and stood up placing her hands on her hips. “That’s a mean thing to do!” She pouted and looked to the side.

“Oh, I’m sorry I just…” He wiped his eye and saw her sulking. He sighed before standing up and walked around her as if thinking of something to do before he picked her up and rested her on his shoulders, hearing a slight. “Eep.” Coming from her as she was brought up high. He could feel her hands playing with his hair.

“This doesn’t make up for it.” She mumbled before resting her head on top of his and looked around seeing much more than she could before. She refused to show any enjoyment from this and closed her eyes for a moment yawning.

“Oh, is that time for bed?” He asked her and could feel her moving to stay awake.

“No, I’m not sleeping I’m awake! I want to see Uncle Hamish get back!” She was determined to stay awake.

“Sure… you know it could be hours until he is back right?” He said in an over the top dramatic voice.

Artoria shuffled a little on the spot contemplating her decisions, “No I can stay awake.” She nodded, though he couldn’t see it.

“Well then perhaps out of the warmer environ-” he stopped speaking as he could feel the ground rumbling beneath him. In a swift movement, he was holding Artoria in her arms in case things started to fall. He looked around the place and felt the ground settle. “Go to your room Artoria, quickly now.” He said to her and pecked her forehead kneeling. He could see her panicking a little.

“No, no I want to stay with you.” She gripped his shirt trying to stay with him.

“I know but I’ll be back before you know it.” He told her hugging her gently, and he could feel her hugging him back and sniffed a little.

“You better!” She muttered into his chest before she let go.

Omen moved away from her and pulled on his jacket, telling Hamish he would be there now. He began to head away before something tugged his coat. He turned around and saw Artoria moving her hands up to her hair and pulling out the red silk that kept it neatly tied up. He knelt and she tied it around his right arm tightly. “Now you have to come back okay!”

“I will.” He said to her and pecked her forehead again. “Now off you go…” It was something she always did when he had to go, he smiled and saw her rushing away to her room where she would be safe, before Omen turned to head away, thinking why on earth a dragon would be here and then broke into a sprint.