S
Sir Valerius was the perfect guardian. He never ate, he never drank, and most importantly, he never slept. The sorceress who bound him to the tomb of the princess had removed his need for rest.
"Watch her until she wakes," the sorceress had commanded. "Even if it takes an eternity."
The first hundred years were easy. Valerius polished his armor. He counted the bricks in the wall (4,562). He practiced his swordsmanship against imaginary foes.
The second hundred years were harder. The silence began to have a texture. It felt like wool stuffed in his ears. He started talking to the spiders.
"Do you think she dreams?" he asked a particularly fat arachnid spinning a web on the princess's sarcophagus. The spider didn't answer.
By the fifth century, the tomb had been breached by roots. Valerius cut them back. He was tired. Not in his body—magic sustained that—but in his mind. He longed for the blank oblivion of sleep. He missed dreams.
One day, a thief broke in. He was a young man, quick and foolish. Valerius disarmed him easily, holding his blade to the boy's throat.
"Please!" the thief cried. "I only wanted the ruby!"
Valerius looked at the boy. "Tell me," the knight rasped, his voice like grinding stones. "What is it like to sleep?"
The thief blinked. "Uh... it's nice? You close your eyes, and the world goes away."
"The world goes away," Valerius repeated. "It sounds like paradise."
He looked at the princess. She was still beautiful, still dead to the world. She would never wake. The sorceress had lied. It was a prison for both of them.
Valerius sheathed his sword. "Take the ruby," he said.
"What?"
"Take it. And take this sword. And this armor." Valerius began to strip off his plating. "I resign."
"But... the curse?"
"The curse bound the Knight," Valerius said, stepping out of his greaves. "I am just a man now."
He lay down on the cold stone floor next to the thief. He closed his eyes. The magic wavered, confused by his rejection of his title. And then, for the first time in a thousand years, the darkness took him. It was warm. It was quiet. And the world went away.