Hollow Awakening

[Xaldius]

The sun hung low in the eternal evening sky Arcadia.  It was near the end of the workday for the citizens, and many were returning home from their daily routines.  Two guard among the many people made their evening rounds near the palace grounds, keeping rail guns close at hand.  The terrace on which they walked had a clear view of the palace grounds as well as the towering palace  Though the palace was sealed, a recent incident had left quite a few heartless running about the city.

[Xaldius]

"I don't know, Al. Seem's pretty quiet to me." One of the guards said.
The other shook his head. "There were reports of someone, or something, running about here. If it's a heartless, we don't want it running about."
"I suppose, but this district was deserted after the incident." The first said back.
They turned a street corner and spotted something lying in the middle of the street.
"Louie, check it out." Al said, pointing at it.
"Looks like a man." Louie replied.

[Xaldius]

Al was the first to walk towards it.  It did, indeed, appear to be a man, but it was wearing what appeared to be a rusted suit of armor. Aside from the many small inch-long spikes sticking out of every surface.  A sword and a shield were even lying on the ground a short distance to either side of it.
"Looks like one of them olden-day knights."  Louie remarked.  He kept his rifle trained on the man, but pried at the man's hand a bit with his boot.  "Sir?"
No response.

[Xaldius]

"He ain't breathin, Al." Louie called. Al pulled out his communicator.
"This is Unit 4, we have a possible murder victim." He explained calmly. "A dead man lying in the road of district 2.... uh... wearing a rusted metal suit of armor... with a lot of spikes on it."
"Copy, Unit 4, we are dispatching a medical team now." A female voice replied on the other end of the comm.
"Hey, Al, look at this."

[Xaldius]

Louie lifted the shield up gingerly, making sure that the inch-long spikes didn't rip into his gloves. Though it was heavily corroded and the spikes made it hard to discern anything, there was an obvious emblem engraved into the face of the round shield.
"Looks like some kind of cross." Louie stated as he looked it over. Al bent down and looked at it.
"Yeah, but I've never seen it before." Al replied. "Probably just on of them, uh costumes. You know, the kids like to make costumes for those conventions. 'Cosplay' I think they called it?"
Louie nodded. "Yeah, maybe he just got drunk."
Al pursed his lips. "But how did he get in here? This whole district is quarantined."

[Xaldius]

Louie looked up and pondered over the inquiry Al had presented him.  "That's... a good question."
Al turned and raised his rifle, looking down one end of the street and then the other.
"Leave everything where it's at."  He said. Louie set the shield back down where he had found it with a slightly disappointed expression.
"Think maybe after the investigation they'd let me keep the armor?"  Louie joked.
Al chuckled a bit.  "Hey, I saw it first!"  He joked back.

[Xaldius]

As the two guards went on joking, the suit of armor on the ground stirred.  The metal hand twitched and the head turned slightly one way and then the other.  A pair of disembodied eyes came to life behind the mantle.  They gazed up at the vermillion-colored skies.  Suddenly, the being became aware of the two voices nearby.

[Xaldius]

"Well it's just a damn shame we didn't know about him sooner."  Al said with only minor disappointment in his voice.
"Yeah, but I guess we can't save 'em all."

The metal form moved slowly to sit up on the pavement, it battled an unnatural stiffness in its body.  It held its hands up in front of itself and stared at them briefly, then slowly turned to look over its spiny pauldron.

[Xaldius]

The armored figure stood slightly hunched over now with its back to the voices it had awoken to.  Its arms hung at its sides dangling slightly.  It looked to its sides, spotting the sword and shield on the ground which were as spiky as its own body. It knelt down slowly on one knee and picked up the sword in its right hand, then the shield in its left. Then it turned to face the voices.

[Xaldius]

It took a step toward them and paused for a moment, still fighting the stiffness of waking up for an unknown duration of apparent sleep. Though it pondered silently to itself why it had fallen asleep out here in the first place. Where was it even?

[Xaldius]

Al and Louie turned in unison as they heard a light clank of metal against pavement and the muffled rattling like a handful of nails shifting inside a forgotten wooden crate.
"Sir, are you alright? Al inquired, taking a few steps. toward it.
The metal figure locked gazes with the man that spoke, to it.

[Xaldius]

"Uh, Al..." Louie said, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the figure.
"Sir?" Al repeated. "Are you alright?"
The figure took another step forward and paused again. This time the pause was much shorter than before. It took another step.
Al raised his rifle to bear. "Sir, stay where you are." He said in a calm, but firm tone.

[Xaldius]

Louie raised his own rifle now. "Put the weapons down, sir!" He called.
The figure continued its advance, its footsteps becoming quicker now. Al took a few steps back and tightened his finger on the trigger slightly.
"Sir! Stop where you are! Put your weapons on the ground!" He barked.
The figure's grip on its sword and shield intensified and it now began running at them.

[Xaldius]

Al shouted angrily now. "I will shoot you if you don't stop where you are!"
The figure raised its sword as it was almost within striking distance. Al and Louie open fired on him. The knight quickly moved its sword to the side and raised its shield. The impacts of the high-velocity rails slowed his advance, but did not stop it. It now was within reach. Al raised the rifle's barrel to the knight's head. But as he went to pull the trigger, the knight brought his shield to bear and smacked the gun aside as it fired into one of the buildings, then brought the sword down on him. It ripped through the shoulder more like a saw with crooked teeth than a sharpened sword due to the barbs.

[Xaldius]

"AL!"  Louie shouted, he took aim with his rifle and fired.  The rail ripped through the chain mail in the metal man's midsection.  It staggered back, nearly tripping over the curb, and let of its sword and letting Al fall to the ground with the blade still in him.  The figure looked down at himself and carefully put its fingers into the hole.
Louie's jaw dropped open as the rifle lowered slightly.  He could see through the figure's vacant body where he'd shot it to the other side.

[Xaldius]

The knight looked up at Louie, stared for a moment, and titled its head slightly.  It walked forward and ripped the sword from Al's body, the barbs tore a few scraps of flesh off with it as he did so.
Louie quickly reached for his communicator and looked for the button frantically.
"Officer down!  Shots fired!  We need backup!"  He shouted into the mic.  He quickly dropped it and went for his rifle and shouted for his partner.
"AL!"  He raised his rifle to the advancing knight, but too late.  The knight grabbed the barrel of the rifle with its shield hand and ripped it from Louie's hands.  It cast the firearm aside, bashed him in the face with the spiked shield, then rammed the blade through his midsection.  The blade tore its way through the armor and the man wearing it, then sank into the concrete wall behind him.  Louie screamed in agony.

[Xaldius]

"My name..." Said a cold, deep voice. It was toneless, and yet somehow commanded a certain authority.
"Who am I?" It said as emotionless as it had the first time.
Louie met the faceless gaze of the knight and mouthed frantically, trying to speak. Between the pain and the fear, it was impossible. In moments, the man's gaze became vacant and he ceased to move.
"Who am I?..." Echoed once more to the corpse.

[Xaldius]

"Who am I?..."  The knight asked one more time.  After the third time with no response, it gave up.  It ripped the blade from the body and the wall, causing a few fragments of the concrete to break out of it.
It stood over the body and stared down at it silently like a wild animal contemplating something strange to its world.  The knight began walking down the road as distant sirens began to close in.  Its body now speckled with blood and small bits of flesh hanging from the barbs on its sword, it left the scene in casual stride.

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