CHAPTER 2 - Knight Oak

We continue the tale of Faraway Kingdom with Knight Oak (one of the 3 surviving Knights). The oldest of the 3.

Knight Oak fought more battles that he cared to remember. From those battles he accumulated skills, experience and wisdom. But with it, made him weary.

One day he was visited at his mansion by Yonda and Zenith. Both of whom wanted to be his apprentice under the Knights Initiative. They extolled their skills, passion and virtues. While Knight Oak was impressed by their enthusiasm and exuberance, he scoffed at the very notion that he had to pay 10 Faraway Coins to each of them for them to learn from him.

“Why am I paying them when they are learning from my years of experience and wisdom?”, he thought. It made no sense. Under his breath he cursed King Liness for bulldozing the Knights Initiative.

But then there was a flicker in his heart. A realisation that suddenly dawned upon him. He had no one in his life. No wife, no children, no relatives and all his friends gone. His life had always been dedicated to Faraway Kingdom. One word screamed and echoed in his mind. ALONE.

“If I were to perish right now, no one would care. No one would mourn me. No one would remember”, he softly muttered morbidly.

Yonda and Zenith were bewildered as Knight Oak continued to look forlorn. They looked at each other wondering if perhaps they should leave.  

Knight Oak, realising that he still had company, broke out from his trance. His mind was made. He will not be alone. Should he die, he leaves behind his legacy. The legacy of Knight Oak.  

With that he rushed up the stairs and into his bedroom, rummaged through his closet and extracted his box of Faraway Coins. He counted out 20 and proceeded to give Yonda and Zenith, 10 Faraway Coins each. Equivalent to about RM1,500.00 in today’s rate.

To each of them, Knight Oak said “You think that I have a lot. You and the people of Faraway Kingdom think so because I am a Knight. But that is not the case. Appearance is different from reality.”  

A mist of exhilaration rested upon Yonda and Zenith. They were going to be trained by the great Knight Oak and being given 10 Faraway Coins each for their training.

But that mist dissipated as quickly as it materialised when Knight Oak gravely told them “Training for you both will commence at the break of dawn tomorrow. Cast away and dispel anything and everything you think you know. For at dawn, you will learn the true calling of being a Knight.”

With that he slammed his door shut, leaving Yonda and Zenith looking at each other perplexed. They waited for several minutes.     

Deciding that Knight Oak was not going to open his door, they trudged back home.

Zenith could hardly contain his excitement. When he reached home, he immediately shared the great news about encounter with Knight Oak with his parents. Both mother and father could not have been prouder.

As for Yonda, she replayed the interaction with Knight Oak in her mind. “Perhaps I am reading too much into what he said”, she pondered. So much so that when she reached home, her parents and her brother were concerned seeing how her brows were furrowed. With that, she smiled and told them that all was fine. She told them about her confirmation for training with Knight Oak. And while they went about congratulating and fussing over her, she still could not shake off the niggling thought about Knight Oak’s words.  

Narrator: In Chapter 3, we plunge ourselves in the training sessions by Knight Oak with Yonda and Zenith.   

Caveat: All names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.