Darksand was the last village in The Desert of Deception. Darksand was a strong village, their knights were legendary in battle and thus above the odds they stood strong. But upon the horizon an old curse would come for the village. Only slightly visible on the horizon from the western Gate of the village stood an abandon castle. None in the village knew of the origin of the castle, but all knew the rumors of it’s curse. Those who in other villages would receive the death penalty in other villages for crimes such as murder were banished from the village by tying them up and setting them out the western gate on donkey back, none ever returned.

The king’s jester had once been a great knight of the land he himself had many stories and songs of his ruthlessness and power. But the jester could not take the stresses of the war and left the knights to be the king’s jester. On the night of a full moon the madness of many battles arose in the jester and he slaughtered the prince in his sleep.

Thus the jester was given the penalty of all who murdered in the village of Darksand. He was cast out. But unlike the others before him he was able to untie himself once he was out of sight from the village. He headed for the castle which he knew would be his only chance at survival.

Half way to the castle the donkey fell to the heat of the dessert and left the jester to go to the castle on his own. As he trudged on through the dessert the castle seemed to grow in front of him. At the door of the castle he looked up at the giant before him.

Gargoyles stood looking down on him from the towers. The black behemoth that from the village he looked upon as some small castle on the horizon. He opened the large steel doors and entered, the inside of the castle was eerie. Spiders in their webs hung from the ceiling, skulls and bones lay on the ground with snakes slithering between the cracks, and the lighting was dark for it only entered through the stain glass windows. To either side of him where doorways leading to places unknown. Before him where two staircases leading up into the dark towers. But nor the spiders nor the bones or anything about this eerie place bothered him for his eyes where fixed on the armor between the staircases. The armor was blacker than the moonless night, but the ruby in the chest of the armor set of a small red glow. Beside the armor on the right was a battle axe and shield just as dark as the armor.

As the jester got within arms reach of the armor a voice came from inside the walls of the castle.

“Be warned fair jester for the armor you seek to take is cursed,” as the voice said this a clock struck 12 noon, “you shall live until you are slain but a cursed life you shall live the choice is up to you…”

“Ten thy curse I shall take!” proclaimed the jester as he touched the armor at the last stroke of the clock.

The dark armor grabbed the jester as he touched it. For four hours the armor slowly molded to his body, ripping itself through his skin and forging to his bones. After the armor had formed to his body he went through three hours of torture as the armor set to his bones. For the next three hours he felt as if his skin was burned from his skin. The next hour the shield formed to his arm. And the final hour he felt as if all the evil in the world was being sucked into his soul, as he bled out on the floor. Finally the clock struck midnight and the new black knight fell into a long sleep for ten years.

Meanwhile back in the village wile the knight was forming to the armor a child was born. For the ten years wile the knight slept the child grew strong and trained with the knights of the land. Using the sword of his father (who he never knew) he got stronger day to day.

After the ten years in slumber the black knight rose from the dark castle, his rage had grown strong toward the people of the village who had banished him, and he would seek his revenge. The knight took the bones from the floor of the castle and created a mighty horse from hell and suited it with armor like his.

“From this day forth this lands shall bow down to me, The Black Knight!” Exclaimed the knight as he rode his steed from Hell toward the village.

As he came upon the village he drew his axe and it set a blaze. The village burned and the fabled knights where powerless against the black knight’s fury. As he left the burning village he took the woman who turned him in for killing the prince, his wife.

“MOM!” the ten year old yelled running after his captured mother, “I will avenge you mother,” the child proclaimed as he turned to the village.

The Black Knight chained the captured woman to a chair back at the castle and asked her, “So, why did you do it Marie?”

“What are you talking about?” Marie asked with a weak voice.

“What! I mean why did you betray me! I know you are the one who turned me in to the king!”

“John! Is that you?” Marie said in a scared but exited voice.

“No, I am no longer the fool who trusted you now I am rage, I am vengeance, I am The Black Knight! Now I am going to finish what I started and destroy the village.” As he said that he turned and left the castle heading for the village.

As he came to the western gate of the village a child stood alone holding a sword and shield. The knight stopped merely three feet from the child.

“This is your defense against me! I am insulted!” the knight exclaimed as he saw the child.

He raised his axe to finish the child and looked at the sword and shield the child had, “You child how did you come across the sword you carry!”

“This sword belonged to my father of whom I never knew.” The child said proudly.

The knight withdrew his axe and asked the child, “Are you the son of, Marie?”

“Yes, and I will avenge her by killing you!” the child said as he swung the sword at the knight. The sword came in contact with the gem in the knight’s chest and the Black knight writhed in agony as it struck.

With this done the knight fled. The child took a horse and followed the knight back to the castle. There the knight brought out the child’s mother for him to see.

The child ran into the castle and faced the knight, “Welcome, son to my home of despair. We must end this now” as he finished saying that he took the axe to the boy’s mother’s head.

“You will die for what you have just done, you monster!” the child yelled as he locked into combat with the Black Knight. With blades clashing and hate rising between the two an eerie glow came from both the knight and his son. In a dead lock of blades and shields the knight and his son came face to face.
“You are no longer my father! I swear I will kill you here.”
The Black Knight laughed and said, “Then let this battle be to the death,” with this said he flung the child against the wall and charged the boy. As he swung the axe wide to finish the boy, the child ducked under the knight’s arm and forced the sword into his chest. Waves of endless darkness exploded from the knight and he fell.
“Son, thank you, you have temporarily broken the curse, take me back to the village and have me executed before the darkness takes over me again. When I fall take thy armor and destroy it.” Then the knight blacked out.

When the knight awoke he faced the guillotine. They had tried to remove his helmet to face his execution but the helmet would not be removed. They set the leather part covering his neck in the guillotine and let the blade fall. The child took the helmet to remove the head but all that left the helm was a skull in the armor was only a skull in the armor was just the skeleton. He was right this armor was evil. For it had turned him into a corpse in black armor.