A thick gloom weighed heavy over every piece of man and beast that covered the blackened, bloodied, ash-laden ground. The first light cast but a beaten sliver of hope amid the muck of a mayhem that had filled its fore and now enveloped a distant horizon.

The pervasive pain of ten-thousand pins pushed into his chest as he inhaled the acrid air of a battle that had long been lost. As the breath of life filled his lungs, anguish of mind flooded his soul and below the facade of steeled skin, bent and broken, his body loll freshly bruised, his bones newly crushed.

This once benevolent land of his birth gasped in the clutches of a dark and menacing mind; pervasive doubt conquering all who survived. But among this uncertainty of being, a familiar voice had fluttered from afar and onto his bludgeoned but ever-obedient ear.

The King, still alive, had joined in the battle once more! Indescribable love had granted he and his lord with new life. Indestructible chivalry and honor bestowed upon them their final stand.