PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 5: The Knights of Cygnus

• As her first act as Empress, Cygnus formed the Cygnus Knights - an order of knights sworn to defend Maple World. As their ranks grew, Neinheart suggested that they find the legendary jewel, Shinsoo’s Teardrop, which had once protected Ereve with its power, believing that it would strengthen Cygnus’ legitimacy.

• Though the Knight of Light had protected Shinsoo’s Teardrop inside their Soul Shield for generations, the Soul Shield had gone missing after the mysterious death of the last Knight of Light, Chromile, for which Cygnus and Neinheart began searching for it.

• In a remote corner of Maple World, a boy named Mihile trained to become the Knight of Light and awaken the Soul Shield, having been told by his father, Atan, that the Soul Shield contained a magical jewel that could grant any wish. In order to revive his older brother, who had died before his birth, Mihile hoped to claim the jewel and make his father’s dream come true.

• While Atan was away, Mihile discovered Cygnus being attacked by wild dogs. After saving her, he found that the Soul Shield lit up in her presence. Cygnus and Neinheart realized that Mihile had the qualifications to be the Knight of Light and brought him to Ereve in order to be trained.

• In Ereve, Mihile learned that the former Knight of Light, Chromile, had died alongside his wife and son, though the elders of Ereve believed that Mihile looked quite similar to Chromile. During his time training, Mihile learned that the Knight of Light was meant to be the Empress’ guardian, which his father had never told him.

• Meanwhile, Atan returned home and found that Mihile had left behind a letter, in which he had written that he had gone to Ereve. Furious, Atan decided to storm the island in order to get Mihile back.

• While Mihile was away on a mission, Atan attacked Ereve and defeated all its forces. Mihile returned to find Atan attacking Cygnus and rushed to defend her. As he blocked Atan’s attack, the Soul Shield broke into two and fell to the ground.

• Atan attempted to convince Mihile that the people of Ereve were lying to him, reminding him of his ties to family. Though he was deeply conflicted, Mihile hesitantly used his power as the Knight of Light to extract Shinsoo’s Teardrop from the broken Soul Shield and gave it to Atan.

• Declaring that he would revive his one and only son, Atan prayed desperately for Shinsoo’s Teardrop to grant his wish. However, as Shinsoo’s Teardrop was actually the Seal Stone of Ereve, it remained inert to Atan’s thoughts, as the Seal Stones could only grant the wish of a population, rather than any one individual.

• Unable to make his wish come true, a furious Atan revealed that Mihile was not his biological son. He explained that long ago, his own son had been killed at a young age, for which Atan had hoped to train under Chromile and be selected as the next Knight of Light, believing that he could extract Shinsoo’s Teardrop and make his wish come true.

• After attempting to steal the Soul Shield, Atan had been exiled by Chromile. Furious, Atan had attempted to take the Soul Shield one night at Chromile’s home, killing his wife after being caught. While fighting Chromile, Atan had learned that an infant Mihile had reacted to the Soul Shield. After killing Chromile, Atan had kidnapped Mihile and raised him as his son, hoping to manipulate the boy into extracting Shinsoo’s Teardrop by making him believe that his biological son was Mihile’s older brother.

• Having failed to bring his son back, Atan attempted to kill Cygnus in his hatred. Mihile fought Atan off in a fierce battle, which resulted in Atan falling off a cliff. Despite Atan’s betrayal, Mihile chose to save his adoptive father, who was filled with remorse and let go of Mihile’s hand, plummeting to his death.

• Mihile then chose to give Shinsoo’s Teardrop back to the Empress as its rightful custodian and swore to serve her as the next Knight of Light, receiving a new Soul Shield from Shinsoo.

• Over time, the Cygnus Knights continued to grow, with several new Knights - Oz, Irena, Eckhart, and Hawkeye - being recruited. Along with Mihile, the five of them investigated unusual behavior of Drakes in Sleepywood, which had gone berserk.

• The five discovered a strange chemical that had been making the Drakes go berserk, which - unbeknownst to them - had been a hallucinogen created by Admiral Martini of the Black Wings as part of an experiment.

• Soon after, Martini used the hallucinogen on several Cygnus Knights of Ereve, which had begun attacking the other Knights on the island. After Mihile and the others helped quell the rampage, they were promoted to Chief Knights and were bonded with elemental spirits.

• As Chief Knights, Mihile and the others began growing closer and learned more about each other:

  • Irena had been a forester in Leafre who had joined the Cygnus Knights after meeting several refugees of Ariant and learning about their harrowing life under the selfish Queen Areda.

  • Oz was a prodigy in a long line of magicians, having joined the Knights in order to use her talents to protect the world.

  • Hawkeye had been the heir to a wealthy company in Lith Harbor, having run away from home in order to escape his sterile and superficial life amongst the upper class. After traveling the world, he had become a Knight in order to give people the freedom that he loved.

  • Eckhart was an orphan and a thief from El Nath who had been taken in by a woman who led a band of thieves that stole from the rich and gave to the poor. After the bandits had been wiped out by the angry nobles, Eckhart had been the last survivor and took his mentor’s mask before joining the Knights in order to carry out the will of his fallen comrades to bring justice to the world.