Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

with a coal-black mane. Her coat was immaculately groomed. Adam made sure to take excellent care of all the animals or creations under his care. The only spot of color on her was the whites of her eyes.

She perked up immediately at my approach; I ran my hands along her snout as she nuzzled into me. I unlatched the gate and guided her gently out of the pen and outside, stopping to grab all the gear I would need and quickly saddled her. My saddle was the exact shade of her coat, and I thought it suited her well.

Eris was waiting outside on a bench. She was leaning on the side of the wall and looked like she was about to fall asleep.

After I had finished, I walked Lacuna over to meet Eris and to make sure Lacuna wouldn’t react poorly to having a new person riding her. Eris lit up at the sight of the large horse and shook the sleep from her face in an instant as she hopped over to greet the horse.

Eris was comically tiny compared to Lacuna, who would put even a Clydesdale to shame with her size. Eris gently reached out to pet the flank of the horse. Lacuna huffed for a moment at Eris’s touch, but she grew accustomed to it quickly as she walked over and ran her fingers through Lacuna’s mane.

Satisfied that both the girls would get along, I climbed up, only to realize there was an issue. Eris wouldn’t have a chance in hell of climbing up by herself, as she was coming to realize as she looked at the stirrups with a contemplative expression.

I reached down and offered her my hand, telling her where to place her feet and guided her on how to mount a horse properly. We had some small difficulties, but I managed to get her there.

Once we had settled on the large horse, we set off out of the keep as the gate thumped to the dirt. Dawn broke over the hills but hadn’t yet fully decided if it wanted to keep going. The fog was still rolling in, and the grass was slick with dew.

Eris stared in awe and took big heaping gulps of the fresh air that the breeze brought in. I’d never been a morning person, but even I had to admit the pure calm that came with the very early mornings was worth the trouble.

“It’s been so very long since I have felt the fresh air and sunshine on my skin,” Eris said in wonderment. “I’d forgotten what this feeling was like.”

Her head darted back and forth to catch a glimpse of every single speck of landscape she could. We rode that way for a long time, a couple of hours spent in silence, letting Eris enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. Past the green grassy plains surrounding our territory to the Rolling Hills immediately beyond Castle Gloom-Harbor.

There were no towns within a day of us, and we were just over five hundred miles from the outskirts of the East Kingdom. It would take us around a week to reach the East Kingdom of the Compass Kingdom and another ten to twelve hours once we were in the East Kingdom to enter the Central Kingdom.

A few hours later, after we’d traveled about fifteen miles, Eris had absorbed enough of the scenery. She stretched herself out, arms extending and arching her back. Which was a pretty impressive feat considering we were on horseback. She sighed as she fully stretched herself out, and more dark green smoke came trailing down her hands and through her fingers.

Sharp scents of wood and fauna flooded my senses, and Lacuna spooked slightly at the new smells that appeared without a source.

“Much better,” Eris said as the smoke slowly dissipated.

“What’d you do?” I asked her.

I had seen her magic twice now, and neither time was what I would consider a pleasant experience.

“I’m working on building up my magic again. I’m useless right now with how weak I’ve become. I’m trying to reconnect to my little ones.” She smiled and leaned back into my chest. “It’s going to take time, but we’ve got nothing but time, right?”

Her tone was light, but there was unease in it like she was afraid she could blink, and I’d disappear. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Right. I’m not going anywhere.”

We rode for hours, simply enjoying the journey and each other’s company. We had a lot to talk about; there was so much that I wanted to know about her and her about me. Even with her seeing fragments of my life, there were still plenty of gaps, including my first life here.

Eris was surprised to hear that this wasn’t my first life in this world, turning and looking at me strangely. “You’ve died before?”

I nodded. “Twice, actually, but yes. This is my second life here.”

“What happened?”

Flashes of memories flooded through my mind, things I didn’t want to remember. The four of us, me, Sophia, Mika, and Lonny. So many good memories, ruined now. Because of me.

The man who’d been like a brother to me raised his sword, the one just yesterday he’d been bragging about, its ruby-inlaid golden hilt branched out at the crossguard. The quillons formed a stalwart golden cross as the silver blade whipped toward my head.

“Lonny, stop!” I yelled as I stepped back.

I was too slow as Lonny flicked his wrist and sent the blade across my chest. Scarlet danced on the tip of his sword, and my blood splattered across the earth.

Before I could register the wound, Lonny charged me, his steel heater shield glowing with a soft yellow light. Four different swords crossed together over a rising sun, the emblem I’d once found so much pride in, grew in brightness as his ability took