“Who's there?”

There was no response. All Rinaldo heard was a playful laugh. Rinaldo slowly turned around to face the direction from which the laughter came from. The shape was standing directly behind him, in the darkness. Rinaldo had no choice but to move closer. He slowly made his way to where he could see the shape.

As he got closer, he realised he was only about three feet from the shape. He stopped in front of it. He waited for the shape to make a move. When it didn't, he moved closer, only to stare at thin air. He couldn't tell if it was something or someone.

Standing in front of Rinaldo was an empty space. The black shape was nowhere to be seen. Rinaldo couldn't tell if the shape was real or not. He frowned, and went back to sleep.

“This has to be a joke.”

He walked towards his bed. As he lay down, he suddenly heard giggling. The laughter sounded like it was coming from far away. It didn't sound like it was real. Rinaldo turned to look in the direction of the giggling. Nothing was there. There was no form, no shape, no shape to laugh at him.

As he tried to go back to sleep, he heard the giggling get closer. Rinaldo rolled to his side. It was so frustrating. It was like someone was messing with him. Rinaldo couldn't figure out who it was, or why. After a while, he fell asleep again.

When morning came, Rinaldo opened his eyes. His room was quiet. He looked around. Nothing happened last night. Everything seemed to be in its normal place. He stood up, and tried to shake the feeling that someone was watching him. But as far as he could tell, nothing differed from before.

“This doesn't make sense. No one is here.”

It was strange that something like this happened. Rinaldo felt that someone was messing with him, but he wasn't sure if it was real or not. He couldn't figure out what to do next. Rinaldo knew he was in a safe place. Who was behind the prank was something he had to figure out.

It wasn't like he was a stranger to pranks. His brother was one of the best pranksters at the academy. Rinaldo could take a joke just as well as his brother could. He just preferred not to become the victim of the prank himself.

“Who would prank me in the middle of the night? The person must be insane. I would never fall for such a joke.”

Rinaldo looked in the mirror. His face looked tired, and there were dark bags under his eyes. A thought entered his mind. Did the Black Sun use some sort of drug on him that caused him to hallucinate? He didn't think that was possible, but stranger things had happened.

He got ready for the day. After he had finished, he noticed something in the room's corner. On the floor was a shiny object. Rinaldo bent down to look at it. “Who put that here?”

It was an empty scabbard. Rinaldo thought it was strange that someone had left it lying on the ground inside his room. He opened the scabbard, and looked inside, holding it up to the mirror. Something caught his eye. There was a small symbol on the back of the scabbard.

Rinaldo's face scrunched up. There was something odd about this. “It looks familiar.”

He picked the scabbard up, and studied the symbol. The symbol meant something. It was something he was familiar with. Rinaldo wasn't sure how he knew the symbol, but he felt like he had seen it before. The symbol looked like a triangle, with a circle in the middle of it.

Rinaldo would think more about it later. He hoped he could remember more about the symbol. As Rinaldo was about to leave the room, he heard a knock at the door. The person knocked three times. Rinaldo opened the door. “Come in!”

Olivia walked into the room. She looked a little anxious. “Rinaldo, I'm glad you're awake. The emperor is looking for you. He wants you to head over to the war room immediately.”

Rinaldo's eyes widened. He had so many questions. “What's going on?”

“I have no idea. I wish I knew too.”

He nodded. There was no point in asking any further questions. “I'm going to meet him there.”

Rinaldo left his room, and walked down the hall. It was still morning, but the palace was already filling up with people. Rinaldo stopped at the war room entrance and pulled on the bell handle. The door opened immediately.

He stood by the entrance, and looked around. The war room was a circular room with high ceilings and large windows. Sitting in the centre of the room was a large wooden table. On the table, there were many maps spread out. It was quite a place.

The table was large enough to hold at least ten people. Several men and women sat at the table, studying the maps. There were so many people here. Rinaldo thought it was strange that the room was already so crowded.

“Come in, Rinaldo.”

The voice that called out for him belonged to the Emperor. Rinaldo walked over to the table. He wondered what was going on. Rinaldo tried to get the information. “Is there something going on that I need to know about?”

The room's atmosphere was tense. It looked like something serious was about to happen. There were so many faces, he couldn't tell who was there. Most of them were wearing grim expressions. The Emperor was the only person who looked calm. He was sitting in the middle of the table.

“Please have a seat, Rinaldo.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rinaldo sat down on the chair in front of him and waited, hoping that he would tell him what was happening. He wondered if he was in trouble. Rinaldo looked down at the map in front of him. It showed a lot of things.

As Rinaldo studied the map, he thought of another question. He couldn't understand how one could contain so many important things on a single map. There were cities, villages, mountains, and other things.

“Why is this place marked?”

The place Rinaldo was referring to was a little dot on the map. It was right next to what looked like a mountain. Rinaldo didn't know why this place was important. He wondered if he should have paid more attention during lessons.

“Castle Bluelight?” The Emperor turned to look at Rinaldo. “We have received intelligence that the Black Sun used this place as their hideout. We know that is where they are hiding.”

Rinaldo had heard the name before because it had some important story behind it. But Rinaldo couldn't remember the story, so it must not be that important. He knew Castle Bluelight was an abandoned castle on top of the highest mountain in the area, though.

“Are they preparing for a war?” Rinaldo didn't like how close their hideout was to the Empire. “Are they planning on attacking the empire?”

“No, Rinaldo. They aren't here to start a war. Our intelligence so far leads us to believe they're here for something worse.”

The room turned quiet. There was an eerie silence in the air. A shiver ran through Rinaldo. He looked at the other people in the room. All of them were very grim. Rinaldo wished he knew more about this place. He would have liked to ask some questions.

Rinaldo could tell everyone was a little afraid to talk. The emperor was the only one who didn't seem to fear what would happen. He leaned closer to the emperor. “Worse? What could be worse than war?”

The emperor was silent for a long time. Then he spoke, his voice calm and steady. “Rinaldo, the Black Sun planned to wipe away human individuality, turning everyone into their thrall.”

Rinaldo frowned. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. “What? How would they be able to do that? I don't understand.”

“The Black Sun is preparing for a ritual that can do just that. That's why they have to be stopped.” The Emperor didn't look like he was joking. Rinaldo got the feeling that what he was saying was true.

Rinaldo looked around at the people in the room. He saw so many reactions in their eyes. He felt sick. This entire conversation was making him feel uneasy. Rinaldo was getting a bad feeling. He looked at the emperor, wondering what they would do next.

“What will happen if the Black Sun succeeds? Do you have any idea?”

The Emperor's eyes turned cold. “They will have the means to control every person in this continent, then the world.”

Rinaldo swallowed hard. He didn't want to believe what he was hearing. “You're telling me that everyone in this world would become mindless slaves?”

“The world won't know what hit it until it's too late. It would be the end of the world as we know it.”

Images of horrible things filled Rinaldo's mind. His brain went numb as he tried to picture himself becoming a mindless slave and forced to do some horrible things. It was a terrifying thought. He couldn't understand why someone would want to do such a thing.

Rinaldo realised how foolish it was to think the Black Sun couldn't do that. They would make any sort of horror happen if they had the chance. Rinaldo had to keep reminding himself that someone had stopped the Black Sun in the past. There should be a way out of this.

“What are we going to do about it?”

The Emperor's face turned grim. He turned to look at Rinaldo, a look of determination on his face.

“This is a difficult situation, Rinaldo. I don't know how you feel about it, but you're one of the few people who can help us. You must stop this from happening. If the ritual goes as planned, everyone in the world will lose their individuality.”

Rinaldo nodded. He was understanding the gravity of the situation. “Do you have any more details about this ritual?”

“We believe the ritual is about to begin. The eclipse is almost here. If the Black Sun succeeds in their ritual, we can never reverse it. We need to stop them now.”

The room grew quiet again. Most of the people were thinking about the situation. The men and women began exchanging nervous glances, and the atmosphere was getting tense. Rinaldo looked around the room, and noticed that many people were watching him.

“How did you find out all this? How did you know about this place? How did you know about the ritual?”

The Emperor told Rinaldo how the Count's tracking and listening device worked wonders. The device in question was a metal device placed in the replicas of artefacts that the Black Sun was searching for. Each replica looked like the original artefacts, but with the addition of a tracking device hidden inside.

It was a little reassuring to know many people were trying to prevent something so terrible from happening, but Rinaldo still felt worried. Rinaldo turned to look at the emperor again. “How do we stop the ritual?”

The emperor's eyes seemed to become brighter. Rinaldo sensed his passion for this cause.

“We must reach the Black Sun's fortress before the eclipse starts. The ritual will begin shortly after the eclipse. We have to destroy the Black Sun before it's too late. Its true form is a fungal root. We must kill the root.”

Rinaldo stared at the emperor. “The root?”

“Yes.” The Emperor nodded. “If we kill the root, then the ritual will be aborted. That's the only way we can stop the ritual. Normal weapons won't harm it, but holy weapons can.”

Rinaldo couldn't help but wonder. He wasn't the only person in the Luminous Knights to wield a holy sword. Orlando, his captain, wielded one too. Out of all holy sword wielders, why him? Why did the emperor single him out?

A thought came to his mind. Rinaldo hoped he was wrong about it. “There are multiple fungal roots?”

“There's more than one. Orlando already knows where the other one is. The Central Church's Valkyries will be there to help him.” The Emperor confirmed his thought. “Rinaldo, will you help us?”

“I will do anything to protect the Empire.” Rinaldo nodded, his eyes fixed on the Emperor. He couldn't believe there were so many. One was already one too many.

“Excellent. We have an airship ready to depart. The airship will fly us towards the Black Sun's fortress.” The emperor turned to look at the people in the room. “We're leaving in an hour. We don't have time to waste.”

The Emperor was right. There was no time to waste. If the Black Sun succeeded, everything would be lost. Rinaldo just hoped he wouldn't fail. Rinaldo got up and headed to the door, eager to get out of the room.

“I need to prepare. See you later.”