I was bestowed with the honour of Knighthood in the Paladins at a very young age. Under the guidance of my brother Kurama, my mentor Raikogen and the ever-watchful Lady Kelly, I was trained in the ways of the blade, becoming good enough to actually be able to defeat a few people in sparring sessions. As is bound to happen to young, impressionable people, I became a bit of a showman, challenging any and all comers to a friendly arena spar. This tale is the one time I truly wish I had kept my big mouth shut. "Celest, would any of you be willing to spar? I offer my city favour and ten credits to the first person not of Earl or Earless rank that manages to defeat me," I threw out an open challenge onto the Celest city aether when I awoke one day. I had been trained well, I remembered thinking. Give someone a chance to prove themselves to their fellow citizens! I was sure I would win, I was sure of it. "Why Naralis, I believe I qualify in accordance with your stipulations. I accept your challenge," came the answer from a voice I never expected to respond. The Lady Even-Bladed. She was also right. Though She be a Goddess and wields power too great for mortalkind to ever fathom, She indeed was not an Earless. That was my only request and it came back to haunt me with a vengeful fury. Standing beside me at the time was my older brother and fellow Paladin Knight Kurama, Dwarven-Fury of New Celest. Correction. He WAS standing. As this was occurring, Kurama was on the floor, laughing and pointing at me with literal tears streaming down his face. I glared at him as he struggled to catch his breath. "Lady Even-Blade--" I tried. By now, any citizens who were awake had now come to the Pool of Stars in droves. I could hear most of them snickering to themselves and whispering my name to each other. "Naralis… are you really going to deny Me the right to challenge by your rules?" Lady Terentia teased in Her normal, stern tone. I could feel every eye now fixated on me as I silently willed myself to melt into a puddle and disappear. Alas, the Fates were not on my side as I remained a solid, tangible form. "Of course not, Lady Even-Blade. I would be honoured--" "Very good. Meet Me upon the Upper Deck and we shall begin," She commanded. I sputtered in disbelief as the snickering around me escalated into outright laughter. "Lady Even-Blade, I was thinking it would be better inside the arena--" my protest cut off yet again. "You mortals and that blasted arena," Lady Terentia scoffed. I suddenly felt myself pulled away by an unseen force, finding myself face to face with this warrior-goddess of the Second Circle a moment later. I felt the colour drain completely from my face, mentally chiding myself for somehow being front and center in this current blunder of my own doing. The goddess smirked at me. "No, I think here will suit us just fine," She finished. "Twenty thousand coins says Sir Naralis gets flung into the Void," I heard someone call out. People not even citizens of Celest came wandering in, curious to see why so many people were gathered together. Upon learning what was currently taking place, they too began placing bets against me. One even bet that Lady Terentia would turn me into a maggot and walk away. Such faith! Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Kurama had made his way to us as well, still laughing at me. I wanted to smack him. "Let us begin,"Lady Terentia declared, drawing Her celestial blades. Gripping my rapiers tightly, I swung with ever ounce of fortitude I could channel forward. The Lady Even-Blade didn't even bat an eye. My attempts to mark Her as a heretic were for naught as She possessed the Sacraments skills and was thusly immune. So I went for what usually worked for me: hacking away at Her head and sticking both of my rapiers into one of Her feet. Aside from chopping off Her instantaneously-regenerating ears at least a half a dozen times, nothing worked. Meanwhile, Kurama was back on the floor again (along with over half of the spectators gathered), howling with unrestrained mirth. I glared at them as I continued to attack, fully realizing that I was completely out of my mind for even trying. "Boo," Lady Terentia suddenly whispered in my direction and I found myself unable to move, held in place by sheer Divine Will. She locked eyes with mine, a hint of amusement in Her gaze. I felt my body regain its ability to move, yet I stood, frozen. The laughter ceased almost immediately as the Wielder of the Even-Blade seemed to be studying me. She turned to those gathered. "Who's next?" She asked simply. I had never seen a crowd of more than thirty people disperse that quickly in my life. People nearly trampled one another, trying to leave. I couldn't help but chuckle. "A very valiant attempt, Sir Naralis!" I heard Lady Malicia comment over the guild aether. A few others murmured in agreement. "Honestly, I have no idea why anyone laughed. You didn't run like most of them undoubtedly would have," Sir Raflein interjected. I heard Kurama bellow in disapproval, offended. "I was laughing because I was standing right next to him as the challenge was made. You lot would have been laughing too if you saw him!" Kurama clarified loudly. In hindsight, I would have been laughing at how I reacted too!