The Knight

The Knight

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The Knight Who Sank

Once, there was a knight
who wore his armor as though it were a second skin.

He had carried steel through countless winters,
stood beneath banners torn by the wind,
and answered every summons
as though courage were something that could never be exhausted.

Yet no one noticed
when the armor grew heavy.

No one saw
that there was less of him beneath it.

Something had gone missing.

He could not name it.

Perhaps it had been stolen
by the years.
Perhaps it had slipped quietly from his hands
while he was too occupied with surviving to notice.

So he continued onward.

He walked until the earth beneath his feet
became water.

He did not turn back.

The tide climbed slowly,
first to his boots,
then to his knees,
then higher still.

His sword dragged behind him.

His armor filled with water.

And still, he searched the horizon
for something he could no longer remember.

A name.

A face.

A reason.

Anything.

But the sea offered him nothing
except his own reflection—
a knight staring back from beneath the surface,
still wearing the armor,
still holding the sword,

and looking strangely hollow.

He wondered, then,

if he was truly sinking,

or if there had simply been
less of him left to keep afloat.

And when the water finally covered the crest upon his chest,

he did not feel defeated.

He felt empty.

As though the sea had not taken him at all—

only what remained.

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-아Gㅍ/ Ariana P.