Knights Apocalyptica

“Garin,” Erec greeted his friend shortly before Enide pulled him into following and joining their growing band of people. Without a miss, she’d picked out everyone young in the Knight’s band—and signaled them out for this game.

Olivia, Colin, and Gwen… None of them were safe, and along with a push from Erec, they accepted the invitation towards this ‘diplomatic mission.’

But Enide didn’t target only the Initiates. She picked the young adults from the Pendragon pack and got them to tag along. Since none of them owned a car, they didn’t have any of the responsibilities that came with setting up camp for the night. From the brief chatter, as they walked, Erec discovered that getting your hands on a car for the Pendragons was like graduating from a Knight Errant to a Knight Protector.

To them, it was a mark of independence and a status symbol within the Pendragon pack.

But, from what Erec gathered, status wasn’t as important as independence. With a set of wheels under them, they were as free as one could get in this world, and the only thing binding them to their pact was honor and loyalty. Even what they saw of the Pendragons here was only a portion of their whole clan—the family split off to take different bounties or tasks as they saw fit or traveled on their own when they needed to get some fresh air.

To them, the most critical part of living was…

“Freedom,” Casey said with awe as he looked at the empty field, at least half a mile from the camp. He bounced a bleached leather ball on his shin, “At long last. So, we’re kicking some Knight ass today, right Enide?” He said, his dusty-mop-like hair getting in his eyes, causing him to frown and swipe it aside.

“Hell yeah, we are, and we’ll go all out so they can’t complain,” she nodded and smirked at the five Knights.

She’d picked out four others of her own—setting this situation up to have even numbers with the Knights. Erec didn’t understand why Casey ran off to grab the ball, but from how they talked, he started to piece together what was happening.

“Huh?” Casey gave him a weird look. “Spar? We’re playing soccer. Wait, don’t tell me that they don’t know soccer?”

“Who knows what silly things go in and out of their metal heads? He asked me for a way to kill time—this seemed like the most fun. I thought maybe they’d heard about it since it’s so popular everywhere. Guess for people roaming in high-tech, they’re a bit outdated. We can figure something else out if this is too much for them.” Enide shrugged and offered an apologetic smile.

“That won’t be necessary,” Olivia spoke up, “We’d be delighted to learn your game.”

“Keep your assertions to yourself, wench. I have no desire to waste my time engaging in childish games with wastelanders.” Colin said and tried to turn away and storm off. Ever the dramatic, Erec knew he’d go straight to his father to try to complain and likely get scolded. Instead of letting the natural course of events play out, Erec grabbed Colin by the shoulder and stopped him.

Better for Colin to stay, if only so they could manage him and keep him from embarrassing them further.

That, and when he looked at Enide’s cocky smile when she realized they didn’t know what this game was—as if she was looking at an easy victory, he couldn’t let it slide. Bad enough, she won the bet of killing the monsters. This was redemption, and he’d make use of every one of his friends he could muster to get it.

“Soccer isn’t a game.” Casey spat on the ground and practically stared death into Colin. “It has a long brutal history spanning back eons. Deaths in the professional league are common every year.”

“…Excuse me, did you say professional league?” Garin asked.

“Vega is a city of sin and entertainment. Gambling over games is as popular as a casino, and why wouldn’t it be? Especially when the players shed blood and their whole lives to find victory. Soccer is a game for warriors, and only the most dedicated make it as a professional.” Casey crossed his arms, still trying to stare down Colin, who was now doing anything but meeting the other guy’s eyes.

“Though, we’re not going to be going out of our way to hurt each other,” Enide slid in smoothly, putting herself between Casey and Colin. “Friendly game. Goal is to spend some time and get along better.”

“How brutal can a game even be?” Erec asked, realizing how the comment came off too late by Casey’s glare. No matter what, he couldn’t see this soccer coming near the intensity of a real battle. The Kingdom had games and even tournaments, including melees—but those were glorified spars. Enide and Casey were talking about a game involving a worn-out leather ball.

“How about we show you tin-cans,” Casey tried to push past Enide.

She gave a fake laugh, trying to play off the fact she was barely holding off her friend from starting a fight. “How about—uh, you all take some time to get out of that Armor; we’ll cool down a bit and set up the goals. After that, I’ll explain the rules!”

With one final uncertain glance between the Knights, they walked off and let Enide reign in her hotheaded friend.

For better or worse, they’d give this soccer a try.

— -☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

Enide didn’t do a good job of explaining. In that, her rule for most things was ‘anything goes,’ other than a couple of distinct standouts.

Casey helpfully created with glyphs. He made stone pillars on either side of the field. If the ball went in, they scored. After that, Enide told them they got to pick a single ‘goalie’ whose job was sitting near and defending that box.

It made tactical sense to defend their weak point.

But like all things with the Pendragons, that’s where common sense broke down. They weren’t allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Feet, heads, magic—all of that was fine.

That, and how to start the game, was it.

They could punch, shove, tackle—anything to fight their opponents, short of causing serious damage, where the term ‘serious’ appeared to be ill-defined and rather uncared about. In Enide’s words, “this is a friendly game, but it’s not really fun if nobody catches a bruise, yeah?”

Given what little rules there were, the more Erec thought about it, the more this appeared to be a straight-up melee with that annoying caveat of juggling a ball past some rocks.

Enide grinned at him from the opposite side of the field; she huddled up with her friends and no doubt talked about how they would slaughter the Knights. Whatever tactics and planning they had in knowing this game was an advantage she intended to keep to her chest. Annoying.

“Whatd’ya think?” Gwen asked him, scratching the back of her head and frowning. “Can ya take out the big guy?” She gestured towards the tallest boy on the Pendragon side. His dark hair went down to the middle of his back, and he was at least six-five and had a heavy muscular build. Out of everyone they had, he was probably the strongest.

So, pitting Erec against him, as their strongest, had a certain logic.

“He’s not the best on their team,” Erec said, following his gut, watching Enide’s team dispersing over the field as they broke their huddle. “Look at how they have him back near their goal, and the way he moves looks slow. While we don’t know their Virtues, I’d think of him more like a wall than a hammer to smash through us, so I don’t know if he’s our biggest threat.”

She shrugged. “Who knows, could be throwing out some crazy magic from the back lines. Doesn’t just have to only be high Strength Virtue muscle-head like you.”

[…How you insane people have bastardized this sport, I’ll never understand.] VAL complained in Erec’s head, only to be tuned out. This entire scenario was a rare level of too out-there from his world that the machine couldn’t quite cope with and seemed not to stop complaining about. Not to mention he kept screaming about something called football. Not that it mattered. They were doing this… Game. And staring down Casey—Enide and the rest of their team, Erec wanted to win.

“Done yapping?” Enide called out, striding up to the center of the field, right where the ball was. “Pick your kicker, so we can start.”

This was the second part of the game she’d been clear about. They had to pick someone to start the game at the center of the field. That person would engage in a fight over control of the ball. Erec looked around his team—only for them all to stare back at him.

“Go get’er,” Garin chuckled. “Think she’s waiting for you.”

So nobody wanted to be the first one to fuck up. Go figure. Erec straightened his back and met her head-on.

She couldn’t stop smiling as he walked up, her eyes giving him a once-over. “Can’t say I’m too shocked. Knew it’d be you. Hey, let's say we make another bet?”

“You have a thing for gambling, don’t you?” Erec asked.

“What? No-no—seems fun to mess around, trust me. Well, what’d you say? Pick out what you wanna win. Could be anything reasonable.” Enide waved off his assessment, her eyes tracking him. It reminded him almost of a predator stalking her prey, waiting for it to slip up.

“If I win, I want to know how you tracked me without me seeing you.”

“Sheesh, still hung up on that? I mean, I could, but that seems a lil’ boring for a victory like this. Shooting a gun is one thing, but this’ll take more effort to win. ‘Side, you might puzzle it out while we play. My suggestion? Aim higher, slinger.”

Erec scratched the back of his head. She didn’t seem to be playing it off to distract him, which meant she didn’t consider it too big of a secret. With that in mind, there were about a dozen different things he could win—this last day spent with her and her clan in the car left him with a dozen questions, but seeing her looking up at him now with that mocking smirk… It was hard to decide. Her dark eyes caught him in a trap, and she smiled wider, sensing his hesitation.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“I—give me a minute to think.”

“Oh, and waste everybody’s time? How about you come out with it and ask for a kiss if you win.” She puckered her lips.

“Wha—“ Erec’s composure broke as he leaned back, utterly shocked. “Where did that come from—“

“Calm down, take a joke. Jeez, you’re too easy to mess with. Though it’s fun.” Enide withdrew, which settled his heart; she began to pace away from the ball. “I got tons of things I wanna ask, about you, your Kingdom, so let's call it this; for each point the winner scores above the loser, they get a no-holds-bar question. Since you lot are bound to suck, I’m gonna guess I’ll get about ten. Fair?”

Erec found it hard to reply and muttered something he wasn’t even sure of. It certainly wasn’t an agreement, with how confused he felt. But Enide nodded and acted as if it was.

“It’s a deal then. I expect you to honor the bet when I win. Get ready, Sir Erec, since we’ll kick your asses so hard, you’ll run back to your Kingdom.”

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