The Promise

The little knight rushed up the steep mountain. He ran as fast as his little legs could take him. Undergrowth and weeds covered rock and stone, and his progress was everything but easy. He suddenly stumbled and fell on his knees. He rolled down quite a bit, and ended up on his belly. His knees and elbows burned intensely. He suppressed a tear and a cry, stood up and kept running. He knew his time was short and he couldn't waste any in unnecessary whining.

And so he kept on, running up the slope until the grassy mountain gave way to a dark forest, home to his darkest nightmares.

He stopped cold on his track. He had always feared the dark forest. However, this was not the time for being afraid, and he knew it. He gulped and without giving it more head, he rushed in with his eyes closed.

In his blind urgency he crashed head on with a big trunk. He rubbed his newly-obtained hump and realized it was foolish to move that way. Thus, he decided to drop the hurry and the blindness altogether and move more carefully through the shadowy dungeon.

He walked fast but with care, looking fearfully around him. Behind each of the large shadows cast by the trees he saw danger; behind every sound a monster. He remained brave, nonetheless, regardless of his growing impulse to run away from that hellish place. For the sake of his mission, he could not falter. He had to remain strong. And so he kept on, despite the fear on his heart and the pain on his body.

The true extend of his bravery would soon be put to test.

The abrupt sight of a monstrous figure stopped the little knight. A large, black creature stood defiant in front of him. Its red eyes stared at him intently and its head moved threateningly back and forth.

The little knight shivered in fear as he stepped back. The impulse to flee grew ever stronger and he tried to give a second step back. However, his body would not answer to him. Both the terror and his drive to complete his mission paralysed him. Yes, he was terrified. But there was also someone who was waiting for him. Someone he didn't care entering the dark forest for. Someone who was well worth the pain he was enduring. Someone he could fight a monster for. A monster like the one that was blocking his path.

He knelt down, grabbed a sharp rock and threw it with all the might his little arms could provide. As heroic as his act was, he missed. That heroic action was all he needed, though.

The monster opened his yellow beak and let out a piercing shriek before vanishing in a cloud of black feathers and flapping sounds.

The little knight, who had fallen on his back as the monster shrieked, got back on his feet and smiled with so much joy. He had defeated a monster! And all by himself! He jumped once or twice in celebration before remembering the urgency of his mission.

Armed with his strengthened valour, the little knight went on his way, deeper into the forest. He looked around and suddenly found it to be less threatening than just a moment ago. He smiled once again and picked up his pace.

It was not long before he reached at last his destination: a clearing in the middle of the forest. In the centre of it and bathed in the warmest morning light, there was a garden of the most beautiful blue flowers the little knight had ever seen. Just in the centre of the florid garden, a single rock rose sharply from the ground. Twice the height of the little knight, the rock proved to be a new challenge for him. 

Having defeated a monster already, and having climbed the large structure back at the school’s playground, the little knight felt no fear. He approached the large stone and looked up. He caught glimpse of his target and smiled. The little knight grabbed a small rock from the ground, put it away on his pocked and began climbing the solitary mountain. At first, he had no problem whatsoever. This changed rapidly as soon as he reached half its height. The sharp sides of the rock prevented his advance.

He would not give up, though. He tried once and once again from different sides. In the end, he managed to climb it, ripping his shirt in the process. Like a real action hero, he thought.

On the top of the rock there was a little blue gem, which was shining lively under the morning light. With the small rock he had grabbed earlier, the little knight pounded the gem fiercely and repeatedly until a large chunk of it fell off. He grabbed it; it was indeed beautiful.

He yelled victoriously and began his descent. In his joy, he was careless and slipped. The world spun around him and the ground grew closer dangerously fast. Just when his adventure seemed to be over for him, or so he was thinking, his fall was luckily stopped by his shorts tangling in a pointy salient of the great rock. He hung head down for a few seconds before his shorts gave in and he continued his fall. As he was just inches away from the floor, he didn't hurt himself any further.

His heart was racing as he lay panting on the floor. He recovered after a short moment, looked back at the impressive mountain that had both endangered and saved his life in a split of a moment, and kept on his way.

He realized he was running late and sped up through the dark forest. It, however, didn’t seem so dark or perilous as before. He crossed it in a matter of minutes and began descending the grassy mountain. As he descended, he noticed it didn't seem so much like a mountain but a hill. A short hill covered in green grass. The mild slope wasn't as terrifying as he remembered, or nearly as challenging. His descent was easy.

Ten minutes later the little knight was on solid ground and fast on his way back home.

He knew he was late, and he hoped with all of his heart for there to be still some time left. He rushed through the streets, dodging persons, dogs and cars alike. Though he was exhausted, he did not stop even once to catch breath.

Finally he reached home. The little knight was so exhausted that he had to take a deep breath or two before finding out that he had made it on time. But just barely.

A large truck with a running engine was parked in front of the house next to his. A man, a woman and a little princess were standing next to it, as if waiting for something. The man was looking at his watch and the woman was trying to talk sense into the little princess, who was crying inconsolably.

The princess turned around and saw her knight. As if by magic, her cries stopped and she darted off to meet him.

The little knight made one last effort and ran to meet her too. As they met the little girl hugged him strongly and began crying once again.

“I thought you wouldn't arrive on time,” she managed to say in her sobbing.

The little knight was still catching his breath and couldn't reply. Instead, he smiled warmly at her and petted her gently on the head. He produced the chunk of blue gem from his pocked and handed it over to her. She received it as she cleaned her tears with her long dress: a big smile had replaced the tears.

“I promise you I will find you,” said the boy at last. “It doesn't matter how long it takes, I will find you, my princess!”

“I promise you that too, my knight!” replied the little princess. She then hugged him once again, kissed him on the cheek and ran back to her parents, who were calling for her. She got in a car, which promptly left, leaving the little knight behind.

“I will find you,” muttered the knight, a boy no older than six, to himself as he saw the car with the girl of his dreams disappearing in the distance.

Twenty years later, that little knight, now an accomplished man, was suddenly overflowed by the memories of the day he made that promise. Vivid as if they had happened yesterday, the man could not help but to shed a single tear of joy.

For twenty long years he had searched for her. For twenty long years he had dreamt about her. For twenty long years he had kept close to his heart the promise he made her. And now that she stood right before him he just couldn't believe it.

Though her face had changed, he still recognized the little girl of his dreams in the beautiful woman that was standing in front of him, dazzled just as he was. The man also recognized in the pendant the woman wore the blue gem he had gifted her.

A strong feeling of accomplishment entered his body, and he felt once again as that little boy that conquered on that day twenty years ago so many challenges. He felt like the triumphant little knight that defeated the black monster of the dark forest and climbed the tall peak where the magic blue stone was. He felt like the little knight that once promised to his little princess that he would find her, no matter what.

He approached the beautiful woman, smiled wide with exuberant joy, and said “ I've found you.”

The beautiful woman, the princess of his imaginary adventures as a kid, returned the smile. “You found me, my knight. You found me.”

The two laughed childishly and took off talking about the precious memories and unsung adventures they had lived together;

The knight and the princess were finally reunited, and the promise that served as the invisible yet unbreakable bond between the two of them in the long years of separation was finally fulfilled.