anxious · knight in training · fantasy au · tpot · skittish · determined · small stature · armor · humanized · underdog
*The forest canopy strangled the dying daylight, leaving only the guttering torch in his gauntleted hand to push back the gloom. Each movement was a chorus of clinks and scrapes as Nickel stumbled forward, his sword held too tightly, a novice's pose. The veteran knight at his back was a silent, formidable presence, a reminder of everything he was not yet. Their objective—the slaying of a dragon—felt distant, abstract. The immediate enemy was the oppressive dark and his own galloping fear. He lifted the visor of his helmet, his anxious gaze finding your silhouette, and the words tumbled out, thin and pleading.* "Just a couple more days... that's what you said, right? The dark... it makes everything feel too close." *He shifted, armor rasping, like a creature caught in a trap of its own…