Knight Saber: The Adventures of Carter Holt #0

QB1 Publishing

Proudly Presents:

Issue Zero

"The Death and Rebirth of Carter Holt"

by

Marc Quill

The Holt Residence, Toronto - 2003

Six year-old Carter Holt always saw himself as a dreamer. His mind seemed like it was racing at a mile a minute, which kept his head in the clouds most of the time. He wasn't like his fellow grade one students at all in that he seemed a lot more animated compared to his peers in Ms. Bancroft's grade one class at Cliffside Public School.

Carter being so unique in contrast to his classmates often made him feel like the odd one out at recess at best, and a target for bullying and namecalling at worst. Still, Carter tried his best to maintain his upbeat optimism in the face of it all, even if it meant he was an island on his own most of the time.

At home, on the other hand, it was a different story. Carter was the youngest of two brothers in his family, with older sibling Connor being three years older than him. The two did roughhouse from time to time as any siblings would, but Carter could always count on Connor to be there when he needed help. Of course, that help didn't really come often as one would expect, since Carter liked to just keep to himself and make his own fun, so to speak. That was something Connor came to respect, with regards to his little brother.

It was shaping up to be another weekend filled with fun, largely because Carter had already done most of his homework before bedtime on this Friday night. He seemed to enjoy putting his brain to work early, if only to make more time to have fun on Saturday and Sunday. That was just the kind of kid Carter Holt was.

Carter’s bedroom was an unusual mix of his hyperfixations at the time: hockey and mathematics. The walls were lined with posters of players like Mario Lemieux and Jarome Iginla, as well as random math equations, which seemed like an unusual thing for a kid in grade one to be enjoying. A small city made of LEGO sat right next to Carter's desk, something he really took pride in after spending an entire week just getting it put together (with his dad's help, of course).

With his homework all complete as a result of this Friday night session, Carter was quite tired and was ready to relax by playing with some of his action figures, at least until it was time for him to go to sleep.

Carter grabbed a random batch of action figures that were made up of superheroes and old medieval knights and placed them in the LEGO city he had made. After spreading these figures all across the city made of plastic bricks, Carter began making some sort of grand story with his toys.

The story that Carter had created with his action figures involved a strange battle royal between the medieval knights and the superheroes battling to see who would be the greatest of all the warriors. 

Carter played with his toys for a good fifteen minutes or so before getting a visitor to his bed room in the form of his dad, Tristan Holt. Carter looked up at the clock and saw it was 10:30pm already and felt disappointed that it was just about time for bed.

"Alright, kiddo, time to scoot yourself to bed," Tristan told his son.

"Awww, can y'tell a story first, daaaad?" Carter pleaded with his dad. "I wanna hear about Grandad again!”

"Oh, okay, okay." Tristan relented. "But after this, y'gotta promise me to get your butt to sleep, son. You got hockey practice in the morning."

"Promise." Carter smiled from ear to ear as he made himself comfortable in his small bed.

Tristan sat on Carter's bed and got out a familiar-looking brown book. Its cover bore an eight-point star insignia on it and nothing else. 

This book was something of a familiar sight for Carter as he quite liked hearing stories about his grandfather's many adventures. It was never clear to Carter if these stories were actually true, but it didn't take away his enjoyment of them at all.

What Carter did take away from these stories, however, was the legend of the Knight Saber, a hero that the six year-old tot had a quite a fascination with.

Mixed in with the hockey posters were drawings of the Saber that Carter drew himself, often after finishing his work at school or when he just felt bored. He even painted one of his action figures to resemble the drawings of the Saber. Inspired by his limitless sense of imagination and the stories that were told to him, it was clear that Carter always had the Knight Saber on his mind.

"Okay, okay.... where were we? Ah, yes..." Tristan started off his story. "Your grandpa Thomas had just found the greatest treasure of all."

"That treasure was being guarded by an old wizard named 'Pendragon', who told Granddad that the only way he'd get to this treasure was if he proved himself worthy of it."

"What did Granpa Thom do?" Carter asked with inquisitiveness. He was completely engaged by this latest chapter in his grandfather's adventures.

"Well, he had to undergo the Quest of Pendragon to see if he was truly worthy of the treasure," Tristan read some more of Thomas Holt's story. "Pendragon wanted to see if Grandpa had what it takes to retrieve this treasure."

"In order to attain the treasure, Grandpa Thomas had to undergo a journey of sacrifice, courage, and selflessness. Oh, and he also fought a three-headed dragon."

"Woooooowwww!" Carter was completely invested in his dad's story now. "Did Granpa Thom win?"

"....." Tristan curiously paused for a brief second, as if he forgot his place in the story. "....indeed he did. And once he Pendragon saw that Grandpa Thomas was worthy, he gave him a special gift."

To further illustrate the gift from the story, Tristan went over to the whiteboard next to Carter's desk and drew a rounded sphere with three "eyes" in the middle. 

"Now that Thomas got the treasure from Pendragon, he kept and began his life's work in finding out just what exactly this thing was... but that's a story for another day, kiddo."

Tristan closed his story book and saw that Carter was fast asleep. The patriarch of the Holt family tucked in his son's hockey-themed blanket for him before he got off the bed.

As Tristan stepped out of Carter’s bedroom, his loving wife Elizabeth met him at the open door. The couple watched as their son was sound asleep.

“Our little dreamer, he’s got a bright future ahead of him," Tristan looked on with Elizabeth at their son sleeping peacefully, no doubt keeping his head in the clouds with more dreams than ever.

---

Convocation 2020, Toronto Metro University

With the lights of the Mattamy Athletic Center shining down upon him and the rest of his fellow graduates on this special Convocation at Toronto Metro University, twenty three year-old Carter Holt felt like he was on top of the world.

This quaint June afternoon was met with a downpour of rain outside, but the mood inside "The MAC" could not be any different. The graduates of Toronto Metro U's Department Computer Science were gathered on this day to receive their diplomas, a mark of excellence for their years of studies.

It was shaping up to be a momentous day. Carter's hard work into his bachelor's degree in computer science was finally paying off. All those late nights studying complex equations and algorithms and last-minute cram sessions felt like a distant memory. There were good days and there were the bad days, but above all else, Carter felt a sense of relief for what the day represented for him. It was proof that he was ready to take on whatever the next step of his life would throw at him. It was the ultimate proof that being a dreamer was something that finally paid dividends.

"Madam Chancellor, I have the honour to present our graduates for the following undergraduate degrees," the emcee on the podium began.

As he stood in a line with his fellow graduates near the podium, Carter couldn't hold his excitement harder even if he tried. His best friend Shal Coleman was directly behind him and seemed like the model for relative tranquility, especially in contrast to Carter's excitability.

Shal had an eye for cybersecurity and advanced statistics, and while he wasn't at the level of genius that Carter appeared to be, he still somewhat kept pace with high 80s in his grades. Really, what made Shal and Carter a best match for one another as friends was the way the two seemed to enjoy sharing good-natured jabs at one another. 

The two had been best friends since grade three. In fact, Shal was the one that would often helped Carter out against bullies, something that the recently-graduated twenty-three year-old would return the favor many times over.

"God, Shal... how can you remain so calm on a day like this?" Carter remained incredibly bubbly. "I'm finally free from having to break my brain trying to decode some advance algorithm, dude. Can't you just let me have this moment?"

Although his knee was still hurting, Carter didn't seem to care at all. The joy he felt at this exact moment seemed to supercede the injured knee he sustained over a year ago playing hockey for Toronto Metro U's varsity team, which prematurely ended Carter's hockey aspirations and left him with a permanent limp in his walk, as well as having to use a cane just to stay upright.

"Carter, my guy, you remain the corniest, silliest person I've ever called a friend," Shal had a chuckle over his good buddy's happiness.

"Can y'blame me, Shal? Everything's turning out great for 'The Holtmeister'," Carter laughed at his rather weird nickname for himself.

"Ugh... how'd I ever end up being associated with you two airheads anyway?" a young woman with dirty blonde hair and glasses behind both Carter and Shal muttered.

"When y'decided dating the so-called brilliant mathematician Carter Holt was a good idea," Shal playfully jabbed at his friend.

"So-called?” Carter remarked. “That 94 in Algorithms says otherwise, bro."

"I earned calling myself 'the brilliant mathematician Carter Holt' and you know it."

Deb Zacchiareli could only muster a sigh at the bickering that Carter and Shal were

engaged in as she tried to pay attention to the actual Convocation ceremony. She didn't really have time for the antics of "The Holtmeister" and his silly sidekick, as much as she saw them as her friends.

Deb's area of expertise was software engineering, and she was hoping to parlay that into a career working at one of the top tech giants in Canada. She and Carter had known each other since high school, and were close friends for a while... at least until the two started dating after graduation. Even then, Deb saw herself as someone independent and capable of taking care of her own needs, something that Carter respected to a great degree.

While the ceremony's emcee continued to read the names of graduates, Carter took the time to spot his family in the bleachers. He saw that his mom and dad, brother Connor, as well as grandma Kateryna were there to support him. Carter gave them a small, meek wave before he looked towards the stage.

"Carter Tristan Holt, with distinction," the emcee said, but the man himself didn't come up when prompted.

"Uh... Carter Tristan Holt?"

Carter's thoughts were off in space once again, so he didn't hear his name being called out by the Convocation emcee. Perhaps his mind was once again lingering on inescapable thoughts of the Knight Saber that seemed to roll around every so often.

"Hey, he means you, lardbutt..." Shal prodded Carter back to reality with a single finger to the back, which finally caught the young man's attention.

"Oh, right..." Carter awkwardly adjusted his blue graduation gown as he shuffled up onto the podium with his cane in hand. He shook the hands of the emcee, the Faculty of Science's chair, as well as the Chancellor of Toronto Metropolitan University. Upon receiving his diploma, Carter saw his family in the crowd and waved vigorously before walking off, but not before mimicking a hockey player's celebration with his cane.

As he got off the stage, Carter immediately walked to where his family was sitting in the bleachers, obviously overjoyed about having graduated from university.

"So sorry about being awkward up there, guys." Carter apologized profusely to his family. "I just got lost in the moment and oh my god, I can't believe I'm done classes!"

"I'm so, so proud of you." Elizabeth Holt, Carter's mother, beamed with joy as she hugged her son. "You set out to finish your story and you did it so well. Graduation with honors. Our little dreamer all grown up before our very eyes."

"Aw...." Carter blushed and tried to remain modest even after his mom's praise of his efforts. 

"You rocked that celly on stage, little bro," Connor Holt gave his personal critique on his little brother's fancy hockey-style celebration. "Obviously not as great as when I hit the pose, but still, not bad."

"My hockey career might be done and dusted, but I think I still got a few moves in me," Carter took time to admire his "celly", as Connor called it.

Kateryna Holt saw her grandson's happiness and couldn't help but smile alongside him. Grandma Kateryna always enjoyed spending time with Carter, particularly on weekends when the young man visited her humble abode.

"My precious, precious baby," Kateryna gave Carter a pat on his forehead. "You grew into such a wonderful, loving young man. It just makes me so happy to see you all grown up."

"Oh and I almost forgot... your granddad, God rest his soul, wanted you to have this after your graduation." 

Kateryna shuffled around her jacket's pockets before she produced a familiar item in her hands. It didn't take long for Carter to recognize just what exactly Grandma Kateryna was holding, especially due to the significance it held to the stories he had been regaled with in the past.

The object in Grandma Kateryna's hand resembled a sphere with three glass "eyes" in the middle. It was blue and silver, but bore no other significant details.

"The thingamajig from Grandpa Thom's stories?" Carter was surprised the object that he thought was only a part of his dad's bedtime stories to him as a kid actually existed.

"Yup." Kateryna responded. "My husband asked me to keep this thing when he went off into his adventures to god-knows-where. It meant so much to him, but he knew that it'd be more important with you, seeing as his stories resonated with such a bright and compassionate young man such as yourself, dear."

Upon seeing Thomas's "thingamajig" trinket, Carter couldn't hold back his tears as he gave his grandmother a hug for the gift being given to him.

"I know you'll keep it safe with you for the rest of your life, Carter, my dear." Grandma Kateryna returned the favour and hugged her grandson right back.

"I'll try my best, Gramma." Carter promised sincerely, smiling through the tears being shed right now.

--- 

Two Weeks Later - The Roadtrip

With the rest of their lives to look forward to now that studies were over, Carter and his friends Shal and Deb decided the best way to ring in the occasion was a nice weekend up north in Ontario’s Cottage Country.

It took a particularly intense series of Rock, Paper, Scissors between Carter and Shal to see who got to decide where to go for this trip, but Shal ultimately won the series — a fact that he would not let Carter live down — and decided a nice little roadtrip to the Bruce Peninsula National Park was the best destination.

As an additional condition of losing to Shal, Carter was also ultimately responsible for bringing the snacks and beer for the planned weekend of celebration up north.

The drive up to Bruce Peninsula was largely made up of Deb using her parent's old sedan and trying her best to ignore Carter and Shal's antics and banter for the three hour or so ride up north.

By the time the three friends made it to Bruce Peninsula, it was 4pm. As soon as Carter, Deb, and Shal got all the supplies from the sedan and onto the campsite, and began to set up camp. In the meantime, there was certainly a conversation or two to be had.

"Hey, Shal... I don't mean to be a big damper on the fun," Carter seemed like he had something serious on his mind, "But do you ever wonder what's in store for all of us after university?"

"We've spent four years busting our asses just to get these diplomas and I still dunno what I want out of my life."

"I've no idea what's brought this introspecting on, but you caught me at a good time, bro. Because I've got some advice on me," Shal replied as best he could while stretching the tarp over a picnic table.

"That's kind of the beauty of living life everyday. You don't know what it'll bring you and you might not ever have it completely figured out, but that's something that'll come to you eventually."

"Wow, that's kinda insightful coming from you," Deb overheard Shal's comments while she finished putting up the tent. "Didn't know you were capable of being so wise."

"Heh," Shal smirked. "I can be really motivational when I want to be, donchaknow?"

Carter tried to get the cooler filled with drinks and frozen food from the trunk of Deb's car, but he was just struggling with it, largely because of how he really couldn't do anything truly physical ever since his knee injury.

Seeing that Carter couldn't get the rather heavy cooler out, Shal walked over and helped his friend pull the large red-and-white cooler.

"Man, what would I ever do without you?" Carter sighed in relief. 

"Break every bone in your body, obviously," Shal joked as he pulled the cooler next to the picnic table at the campsite.

-

Later That Evening...

With the sky turning dark at about 9:30pm on this breezy Saturday night, the three friends were just about getting ready to enjoy the stars lining the night with some baby back ribs that Shal prepared and the beer that Carter was asked to bring to this road trip.

While Shal was busy getting the table set up, Deb carefully prepared the baby back ribs using an old family recipe that she had carefully studied. Carter, on the other hand, was enthralled by Grandpa Thom's "thingamajig" trinket and just spent the time looking and studying it with great intent.

"Hey, Holtmeister... you gonna join in for beers and ribs?" Shal asked impatiently. "Or are y'too busy playing around with your new fidget toy?"

"It's not a fidget, Shal!" Carter protested while he continued to study the thingamajig that Grandpa Thom left for him. "It's my granddad's prized heirloom. And it's... just so fascinating."

"Whatever, man. Means more baby back ribs for me..." Shal chuckled to himself while grabbing a big plate of ribs. 

"Ugh, Shal.... don't be greedy." Deb scoffed at Shal eating all the ribs. "Save some for Carter. I'm sure he'll want some after he's done playing with his fancy toy."

"It's not a toy!" Carter scoffed. "My goodness! Haven't you guys gotten heirlooms from your relatives before?"

As Carter continued to literally poke the "thingamajig" trinket, the orb lifted itself off the ground as its eyes started to glow a shade of cold electric blue. It then streaked towards an unknown destination, seemingly ignoring Carter's presence.

"What the..." Carter remained speechless upon seeing Grandpa Thom's trinket taking off so suddenly.

"Yo, Carter, what's up?" Shal spoke as he was enjoying the ribs. 

"Um... ever had some sort of prized possession suddenly come to life and fly away?" Carter asked in a sorta-hypothetical manner while darting his eyes back in forth to see where his graduation gift disappeared to.

"And then you don't know just where the heck it went?"

"Can't relate, bro." Shal responded, speaking through a mouthful of ribs. 

Carter tried to think of where his Grandpa's trinket flew off to as he closed his eyes and tuned out all the noise around him. His concentration was broken when a streak of light shot across the night sky, just above the campsite that Carter and his friends were staying at.

"Ugh... that's not the thingamajig, but that can't be good, whatever that was." Carter quietly thought to himself. He didn't know if there was any correlation between Grandpa Thom's trinket flying off and the streak of light that just appeared, but that was something Carter was determined to figure out himself.

"Shal... you and Deb stay here at the campsite," Carter instructed his friends. "I dunno what the hell’s going on with my grandpa’s grad gift, but I aim on finding out.”

"What about you?" Deb asked with great concern. "You're really going to maybe risk your life just for some stupid graduation gift?"

"Pretty much.” Carter said bluntly. “That thingamajig means so much to me and my family. Not just ‘cause it’s my grad gift, but’s the only thing left from my grandpa.”

"I promised my gramma that I'd keep it safe and I'm not about to let her down."

Carter limped off with cane in hand, in search of his Grandpa Thom's treasured gift. Deb and Shal were left back at the campsite to enjoy the rest of dinner and beer that their friend had left.

-

Carter wasn't sure if his hare-brained idea to look for Grandpa Thom's trinket all by himself in the dead heat of night was a good idea, but that didn't deter him from searching.

With only his cellphone illuminating the way through the dense forests of Bruce Peninsula National Park, Carter tried his best to navigate his way in near complete darkness. He took a small glance at the night sky above him and saw that it was filled with millions upon millions of stars. Carter lamented that he couldn't join his friends in just watching the stars.

Carter didn't have a clear path to where his grandfather's trinket flew off too, so he simply decided to go in the direction of the light in the sky that he had seen earlier. Carter seemed rather unsure if this was even in his best interest, but still, he pressed forward and followed the streak that the light had left behind. 

Following the path of the Georgian Bay Trail as close as possible, Carter noticed that the streak of light in the sky had stopped just by the Boulder Beach. Using some of the trees as cover, Carter proceeded to the rock-covered beach and discovered something very unusual.

On Boulder Beach, Carter saw that it was being used as some sort of makeshift staging

ground for what seemed to be an advanced starship. The twenty-three year-old could hardly believe his eyes when he laid them on the ship and its cold gunmetal black and red exterior. Carter didn't have even one beer tonight, so he couldn't pass off what he was seeing as some sort of drunken hallucination.

"Shit!" Carter quietly cursed to himself as he got wind of an assembled group of three people standing in formation just a few meters away from where he was. Thinking quickly, he got himself out of dodge by hiding behind a large redwood tree, but making sure to keep his eyes on the group standing on Boulder Beach.

Carter focused his attention on one particular member of the group. As if he were taking notes in his mind, Carter studied that individual's appearance. He saw that this person was decked out in some sort of futuristic combat suit that was colored mostly in black and dark brown colors.

His eyes now focusing away from the group's leader, Carter scoped out the other two people that was with him. He noticed one looked gigantic and had six arms on each side -- something that put a bit of fear into Carter for a brief moment. 

"The Knight Saber's beacon has been spotted in the vicinity of this area," the group's heavily-armoured leader spoke. "I want it rooted out immediately."

"Right away, commander." The two soldiers with the armoured leader saluted him.

Upon hearing the words "Knight Saber" being invoked, Carter's thoughts seem to go into overdrive. He had heard the name many times when his dad was telling him about Grandpa Thom's adventures, so that seemed to clue Carter in that these guys he was keeping an eye on may have something to do with his graduation trinket suddenly flying off.

Two other heavily-armoured soldiers that wore uniforms similar to the initial trio Carter was spying on soon appeared on the scene, and marched towards the task force's armoured commander with a sense of urgency.

"Sire, we found these two skulking around in the forest," one of the heavy-armour soldiers reported to their commander. "They seem to be in search for one of their peers."

On cue, the two soldiers brought out two familiar-looking individuals to Carter, which made his heart sink when he saw who they were.

It was Shal and Deb, both of whom were cuffed with what seemed to be bulky, futuristic-looking handcuffs. Carter told them to stay behind at the campsite, so he was understandably afraid of what would happen to them now.

"Hands off, scumbag." Deb somehow found enough courage to threaten her captor, as she tried to go after them, but to little success.

"These two have nothing to do with our search for the Knight Saber's beacon," the task force leader had evil intentions on his mind, "but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun while we're at it."

"No witnesses. Shoot to kill."

Carter's fight or flight response went out the window the moment he heard the words "shoot to kill" uttered by the task force leader. He was barely in any sort of physical shape, nursing a permanently-injured knee, and was far from a fighter at all. That didn't deter Carter one bit, however. Shal and Deb were about to be in serious danger, and Carter wasn't about to let them be killed by these mystery men.

Without any hesitation on his end, Carter took his cane and swung it as hard as he could to strike one of the mystery individuals in the back. Almost as quickly, he tried to roll away, but managed to aggravate his injured right knee in the process.

"Who dares?" the leader of the mysterious men saw the one man who attacked his forces so recklessly.

On pure adrenaline coursing through his veins, Carter dragged himself to his feet and looked like he wanted to fight even with the rather lopsided odds against him. He picked up the strange weapon from the mystery man he had taken out and moved to stand in front of Shal and Deb, ready to defend his friends. 

Carter used his new stolen weapon to break open the heavy cuffs that Shal and Deb were locked under. He threw aside the weapon and turned towards his friends, as he managed to find some small relief in the two being fine.

"....Carter?" Deb instantly recognized the person that had saved them. "Wh-- what's going on? What do these guys want with us?"

"Oh god... thank goodness you and Shal are okay," Carter gave his two friends a hug. "I've no idea who these guys are, but like hell am I going to let them hurt you."

"Yeah, that's good and all, but I want a piece of these dirtbags for tryin' to ruin our big celebration..." Shal looked like he was ready for a fight. 

"That's a negative, bud." Carter said firmly. "I need you and Deb to get as far away from here as possible."

"These creeps are bad news. They'll kill you if they got the chance."

"And they won't do the same to you?" Deb asked in exasperation, clearly not on board with what she saw as Carter recklessly risking his own life.

"They probably will," Carter admitted. "but I'll make damn sure that it won't be easy. I'd do anything and everything... just as long as you and Shal are safe."

"Always trying to be the hero, huh?" Deb put a hand on Carter's shoulder. "Just don't die on me now, Holt. You still owe me a movie date on Tuesday."

Carter had nothing to say other than to give Deb a hug -- perhaps his last one -- as a way to show his own appreciation.

As Deb and Shal finally got themselves to safety, Carter turned his attention to the mysterious group of assailants that had tried to hunt him and his friends down.

“Hey, assholes…” Carter’s anger was palpable as he hissed at the mysterious men. “Y'really think I'm gonna let you go after my friends and get away with it?"

The task force's leader looked towards Carter with utter contempt for his rescue of his team's two captives. He ordered for his men to surround Carter, with their futuristic, out of this world weaponry locked and loaded on the twenty-three year old.

"Your bravado means nothing to me, human." The task force's leader ridiculed Carter's attempt at being the hero. "And now, I shall ensure that your death will render your bravery a useless and futile exercise."

At that precise moment, Grandpa Thom's thingamajig trinket ambled its way into the prospective battlefield, interrupting the all-too-real tension unfolding between Carter and his mysterious adversaries. The trinket could only communicate in a series of beeping sounds as it just hovered in place.

Carter recognized the trinket from its very distinctive spherical appearance and somehow found time to breathe a sigh of relief that the "thingamajig" he was searching for was finally found in a rather inexplicable manner.

"This is Echo Zero to all Enigma forces," the mystery leader sounded to an unknown dispatch, "we've found the Knight Saber's beacon. Red Aegis proceeding with extraction."

"Oh no, you don't..." Carter decided to throw his cellphone at the leader of "Red Aegis" to stop their advance towards the thingamajig. It wasn't exactly the wisest choice for someone who prided themselves on being a "brilliant genius" to be making, but Carter was essentially acting on instinct right now against an enemy that posed a dangerous threat to him and his Grandpa Thom's trinket.

Echo Zero looked irritated at the by continued defiance that Carter was showing towards him. He had never encountered someone so impudent and resistant in the eons and eons he had been at the head of Enigma's mercenary unit. 

On the orders of Echo Zero, the six-armed bounty hunter under the employ of Red Aegis took his large serrated blade and raised it in the hopes of destroying the drone, but he was met with a fierce shoulder check by Carter, which managed to stagger the giant.

Before Carter could continue his attack, he was felled by a blast from behind by one of the Enigma bounty hunters. The young man tried to get himself back up, but he was struck in his injured knee by another bounty hunter.

Carter screamed as the pain of his bum knee being bludgeoned seemed too much for him to bear. Even so, he wasn’t about to let these mysterious assailants hurt his friends or steal his grandfather’s thingamajig trinket.

Through sheer willpower and self-preservation, Carter struggled mightily to get himself up back to his feet, even with blood coming out of his mouth and every bone within his body feeling especially weak.

Carter could barely even stand on his own two feet and he looked hopelessly outmatched against Red Aegis. But, he wasn’t about to let that stop him from making sure Shal and especially Deb were safe from harm.

This desire to protect those he cared from bullies was something that was at the core of who Carter was as a person, even after all these years. Even if he wasn’t going to win against the bullies he stood against, Carter knew that protecting others was its own victory because it was a dream worth fighting for.

"Your bravery was very foolish, human." Echo Zero mocked Carter's efforts. "It's too bad I will have to see to it that your death will be a most painful one."

Carter charged at Echo Zero and tried to strike him with a punch, but he instead got met with a fierce forearm attack by his foe, sending Carter crashing down hard on the rocks of Boulder Beach.

With a swing of his own blade, the Red Aegis leader chopped off Carter’s left hand, causing him to cry out loudly. Seeing his own hand being chopped clean seemed to terrify Carter, but he was doing his best to hide that fear.

Carter was helpless to do anything against the brutal salvo he was being subjected to at the hands of these unearthly enemies that had him at their mercy. Despite the hopeless situation he found himself in, Carter still wasn't about to let his grandfather's trinket fall into the hands of his tormentors.

Grandpa Thom's trinket tried to hover towards Carter, but found itself shot down by one of the Red Aegis mercenaries' weapons.

On instinct, Carter crawled towards his grandfather's trinket and shielded it from the attacks of the Red Aegis mercenaries with his body, taking even more punishment as a result. The energy weapons' fire were burning through the back of Carter's varsity jacket and painfully piercing his skin.

Echo Zero walked over to where Carter was protecting Thomas Holt's trinket and lifted the young man by the neck before forcibly pushing him aside.

Carter writhed in tremendous pain after being shoved to the ground. Still, he refused to show any fear despite being all the worse for wear. Carter wasn’t about to give his attackers the satisfaction of being afraid of whatever was going to come next. A foolish, but brave sentiment, yes, but that was just the kind of man Carter Holt was.

“Keep the target pacified,” Echo Zero instructed his subordinates. “I will deal the finishing blow.”

The two other Red Aegis grabbed Carter by both his arms and held him in place, rendering him unable to escape this apparent final fate Echo Zero had in store for him.

"I will make sure you die forgotten, forever a fool." Echo Zero gibed cruelly, taking some sort of twisted pleasure in what he was about to do to Carter.

Remaining ever-defiant to the end, Carter spat his own blood at Echo Zero, directly onto the mercenary leader's jet black gas mask-like helmet. In disgust, Echo Zero wiped away the blood from his helmet before he summoned a staff with three pointed blades at the top of it.

Echo Zero raised his staff and proceeded to impale Carter with it, staking the staff right through his heart. As quickly as Echo Zero pulled his staff away from its target, Carter's body crumpled in a heap onto the rock-filled ground beneath him.

"Target has been terminated," Echo Zero took pleasure in his handiwork, looking down upon Carter lying lifelessly in a pool of his own blood. "The floating sentry is our next target. Deal with it accordingly, men."

Echo Zero's subordinates saluted their superior and turned their weapons towards Grandpa Thom's trinket-turned-drone.

Sensing desperate times coming closer, the drone hovered over the seemingly-dead Carter and activated its defensive countermeasures. The drone began emitting a series of rapid energy pulses directed towards Echo Zero's task force.

The energy pulses grew stronger and stronger and managed to freeze the Enigma in place, which gave the drone time to observe the situation it found itself in.

The drone caught wind of the sight of Carter's dying body, causing it to panic slightly. It began to warble repeatedly as it shot a beam of light that surrounded Carter's corpse. 

"Scanning process initiated," the drone finally spoke in a digitized, distorted male voice.

"Sir Carter Tristan Holt. Age: 23 / Born: March 25th, 1997 / Son of Tristan and Elizabeth Holt / Grandson of Kateryna and Thomas Holt... aka Knight Saber... / Marked for Rebirth Process..."

Within an instant, the drone disappeared from the forest, with Carter's body in tow. As the drone's presence was no longer there, the Red Aegis were not left frozen any longer.

Echo Zero expressed his frustration in letting his targets slip through his fingers, punctuated by a wild swing of his staff that his subordinates avoided.

"Shall we inform the Baron, sire?" one of Echo Zero's lieutenants asked their leader.

"Negative." Echo Zero responded. "I will not let the Knight Saber's beacon slip from my grasp once again."

---

Someplace...

REBIRTH PROCESS 

COMPLETE

"WHUUHHHH!!!!!!" Carter Holt abruptly yelped out as he shook himself awake. "Wh-huh... what the hell is this place?"

Carter saw that he was lying in some sort of peculiar-looking bed with a cylindrical glass "door" covering it, which opened up the moment he awakened.

The last sensation that Carter felt before everything went white was an unceasing pain from getting impaled through the heart... which had suddenly disappeared the moment he woke up in this strange environment he found himself in. Sure, his body was still aching slightly, but Carter didn't feel like complete shit, for lack of a better term.

Carter attempted to get his bearings in hopes to figure out just what the heck happened to him. The young man lifted himself off the bed he was laid on and noticed that the knee he had long ago injured playing varsity hockey curiously no longer felt like it hurt as he could walk normally now without a limp.

What seemed to get Carter’s attention even more was the sight of his formerly-amputated left hand now replaced with what appeared to be a robotic appendage coated in metallic blue paint. Carter was still trying to get used to the feeling of having a prosthetic limb, as he tried to stretch and twist that new hand of his around to get a feel for it. In any case, Carter didn't seem fazed by having a prosthetic hand at all. In fact, Carter kind of thought it was cool for him to essentially have a robot hand now.

It was hard for Carter to square the mix of emotions he was feeling at this precise moment. Yes, he was grateful to be alive after his apparent death, but there was an air of confusion that permeated throughout this whole situation. 

Deciding to check around his surroundings, Carter put his torn yellow shirt on as he slowly exited the Rebirth Chamber.

"Weird futuristic sci-fi hallway, I vibe with it, gotta admit." Carter thought to himself while traversing the rather cold and industrial-looking hallways of this strange environment he found himself in.

"What are you doing!?" A robotic voice spoke suddenly as a familiar drone hovered closely right behind Carter.

Carter recoiled in fear at getting startled so suddenly before he turned to see the source of the voice in the form of the post-grad trinket that he had just literally died to protect from some rather nasty foes.

"Oh my god! I've been trying to find you all night!" Carter sputtered, annoyed at the sudden interruption from the inexplicably-sentient thingamajig. "Did you have to scare me like that, little guy?"

"Fret not, sir." the weird silver-and-blue drone spoke again. "I see you've awakened after your time in the Rebirth Chamber."

"I hope you appreciate the new prosthetic hand built specifically and calibrated just for you, Sir Carter Tristan Holt."

"Okay, little robot guy... mind explaining just what's going on right now? And just where the heck am I anyway?" Carter poked at the drone with his prosthetic left hand while asking. 

"Sir Carter Tristan Holt, my name is Kay," the drone finally identified itself. "I am the dutiful and brave squire to the Knight Saber. Welcome aboard Skycarrier Valor, the flying fortress formerly used by the Saber in his role as protector of all realities."

"After your death at the hands of the Enigma-employed mercenaries, I took it upon myself to bring you back onto Skycarrier Valor and place you in the Rebirth Chamber in order to allow for the process to fully complete, Sir Carter Tristan Holt."

"What process?" Carter demanded answers from Kay.

Kay began to elaborate. "Upon your selfless act of protecting your friends Shal Joseph Coleman and Deborah 'Deb' Zacchiarelli from Enigma's mercenaries, it activated the dormant Knight Saber powers within your physiology." 

Carter's heart raced upon hearing Kay mention the very suggestion that he himself had the Knight Saber's powers within his body. He had always believed that the tales of his granddad as the Knight Saber were simply just fantastical stories meant to spark his wild imagination as a child. But now, after everything he had been through just in the past few hours alone, Carter wasn't so sure what to believe.

"As the duly-appointed squire of your grandfather," Kay explained himself as the holographic projector in the command deck lit up. "he tasked me with ensuring the powers of the Knight Saber would never fall into the wrong hands if he were unable to continue his crusade."

"And he believed the only hands that could wield such power and use it for noble purposes were yours, Sir Carter Tristan Holt."

"....me?" Carter questioned his apparent place in the legacy his granddad left behind.

"Precisely." Kay confirmed. "Sir Thomas Holt always spoke highly of you in his many adventures with myself over the years. He knew that there would come a time that he could no longer fulfill his duties as the Knight Saber."

"That's why he made certain that the powers of the Saber would be with you when you were born, and to be only awakened in extraordinary measures, Sir Carter Tristan Holt."

Carter honestly didn't know what to make of the revelations that Kay was telling him. Sure, he saw himself as a pie-in-the-sky believer of ceaseless hopes and dreams, but someone to be trusted with the powers of the Knight Saber? That was a prospect that honestly scared Carter more than anything else. The idea of wielding such incredible power was a far cry from staying up late to solve complex math algorithms, that much was certain for Carter.

Kay, on the other hand, believed in Carter's worthiness for the Knight Saber mantle. There was a lot about Carter that reminded Kay so much about his old liege, Thomas Holt, especially when it came to how he handled himself in life-or-death situations like with the Enigma bounty hunters earlier. That alone spoke volumes to Kay about Carter's bravery in the face of dangers that might've made others run in fear.

"Now, if you will, we will complete the final aspect of the Knight Saber initiation sequence," Kay instructed. "This will involve a neural transfer of all the relevant information necessary stored in my databanks that will prove useful when the time is right."

"N-neural transfer?" Carter's first instinct upon hearing the words "neural transfer" was to be a bit terrified, and understandably so.

"Do not be afraid, Sir Carter Tristan Holt," Kay reassured. "The neural transfer sequence is a (mostly) painless experience that will be over before you know it. Now.... remain perfectly still. The process will begin momentarily."

Carter did as instructed and remained seated while Kay slowly hovered right in front of him, so that the drone was "eye level" in facing him.

Kay’s three “eyes” flashed for a quick second right in front of Carter’s own eyes, which did cause the young man some brief discomfort as warned. After that, Carter seemed to feel nothing at all and just blinked his eyes rapidly as his mind tried to process all the information that was being given to him at a rapid pace.

-

Inside the Mind of One Carter Holt...

Carter could hear a cacophony of voices speaking inside his mind while the neural transfer was taking place. At the same time, he was being bombarded with images and clips being played at a rapid pace that seemed all too overwhelming for the young man. These all had an armoured figure in blue and gold at the center of it all, who Carter immediatelly recognized as the Knight Saber.

The Knight Saber was a hero Carter was all too familiar with through the stories his dad told him of his grandfather, as well as the drawings he drew as a kid. In these stories, the Saber was said to have been Grandpa Thom's heroic alter ego in his many, many adventures and battles in the past. Carter knew that the Knight Saber was a powerful force for good who fought courageously to protect all worlds from evil.

Over the years, Carter seemed to believe in the Knight Saber -- his grandfather Thomas's -- legend and took after him as best as he could. Saber's strong sense of justice helped inform the way that Carter wanted to live his own life, which guided him throughout his childhood and early adulthood.

As the volume of information slowed down inside Carter's mind, he stood as an ethereal version of himself, with Kay soon joining him inside this abstract representation of his own mind.

This mindscape within Carter's head was a strange, yet wondrous amalgamation of everything that made him who he was. Advanced math equations floated aimlessly amidst a void of light blue, while monolithic representations of the many hockey trophies Carter won over the years burst from the "ground" of the mindscape. A large blue and gold banner that bore the Number 96 that Carter wore as part of the TMU Bold hockey team unfurled itself as the twenty-three year old took it all in.

Not long after, the void soon became filled with a multitude of images relating to the Knight Saber, which included schematics of the armour and the Saber himself in action against a wide variety of monstrous threats. Mixed within these images were drawings of Knight Saber that Carter drew when he was just a kid, which seemed to tickle his fancy a whole lot.

At the same time, a gigantic statue of the Saber rose from the ground and loomed large over Carter and Kay. The statue depicted Saber in a heroic pose with a sword raised over his head in triumph.

"This, Sir Carter Tristan Holt, is all that I have stored in my databanks regarding the powers of the Knight Saber." Kay explained as best as he could. "As you can see, this information is beginning to embed itself within your mind, which will prove useful when the time comes to use the Saber powers for your own."

Carter stepped towards the Knight Saber statue and stared at it silently, with the magnitude of the situation finally starting to dawn upon him. Carter was still not sure if he was up to living up to the apparent legacy his Grandpa Thom left behind as the first Saber, but he sure as hell was going to try anyway.

As more and more Knight Saber images filled up his mindscape -- acting as a literal representation of Kay's neural transfer taking hold -- Carter walked past the Saber statue and found himself drawn to a particular photo that managed to get his attention amidst everything else.

The photo was of Grandpa Thom present for Carter's own birth on March 25th, 1997. He was dressed in what could be considered as "normal" clothes, and he had an infant Carter held in his arms. 

Despite all the information and history of the Knight Saber that was being fed to his mind, Carter seemed to find solace in this one photo of Grandpa Thom more than anything else, walking forward to take a closer look at this picture. He barely got to know Grandpa Thom aside from the many stories that were told about him as a kid, so this one picture meant so much to Carter.

"Granpa was there to see me born?" Carter wistfully reminisced. He had always been told that Grandpa Thom had long disappeared and was never around to see Carter through his growth, so this one picture was something he wanted to cherish.

Almost as instantly as it appeared, the image of Grandpa Thom began to disappear in literal flames, with the Knight Saber images starting to change in nature, going from the rather triumphant to being more darker in tone.

"Kay, what the hell's happening?" Carter looked frightened at what was happening inside his mind.

"I... have no idea, Sir Carter Tristan Hol--" Kay began to talk before being cut off unexpectedly.

The images became more unsettling, with mysterious shadowy figures in front of a royal throne surrounding Knight Saber, as well as what appeared to be a grave marked "HOLT" with a lone person standing in front of it. Carter then saw his own death being replayed endlessly, as the words of Echo Zero rang repeatedly in his head:

"I will make sure you die forgotten, forever a fool."

These images or visions inside Carter's mind were causing the young man great distress, seeming like they were a representation of his mind being at an unease due to the recent events that had happened to him in the past few hours or so.

"Get me out now!" Carter cried out desperately to Kay with tears in his eyes, clearly not wanting to be subjected to this unpleasantness any further.

"NEURAL TRANSFER INTERRUPTED." Complying with Carter's desperate pleas, Kay pulled him out of the mindscape as quickly as he could.

-

Back in reality, Carter opened his eyes and found himself back inside the command deck of Skycarrier Valor. He still felt somewhat uneasy about what he had just experienced, but Carter now was mostly up to speed with the Knight Saber.

"What... just happened back there?" Carter's confusion about the neural transfer's last unpleasant moments was quite clear.

“Neural transfer incomplete.” Kay sounded. “95% of the information I have pertaining to your grandfather and the Knight Saber are now stored inside your mind, Sir Carter Tristan Holt.”

"Look, that's cool and all," Carter quickly answered. "But, could you just call me 'Carter' and not 'Sir Holt' or whatever? That's what most everyone calls me, and that goes for weird robot drones-slash-graduation gifts too."

"Of course, Sir Carter Tristan Holt." Kay had himself a sense of humor.

"Alright, whatever..." Carter sighed in mild frustration. "Now that this neural transfer thing or whatever's done, care to explain what exactly those guys that killed me want with you so badly?"

Kay hovered over the holographic projector situated in the middle of the command deck and interacted with it to activate the deck.

"The hostiles you encountered, Sir Carter Tristan Holt, are not of this planet." Kay started off. "They're elite mercenaries under the employ of Enigma XenoTech, a multiversal corporation with its hands in just about everything you can think of in this or any other universe."

"Boneyard, Sledgehammer, Coldblood, Voltage. They make up 'Red Aegis', Enigma's elite mercenary force tasked with hunting down targets with extreme prejudice."

Carter definitely knew all too well about Red Aegis's effectiveness, and he was slightly satisfied that he managed to save Deb and Shal from the mercenary group's wrath.

"The task force's leader is known only as 'Echo Zero'," Kay elaborated further while the command deck's screen showed the armoured head of Red Aegis. "He's highly dangerous, but I'm certain you're already familiar with the threat level possessed by Echo Zero, given your encounter with him, Sir Carter Tristan Holt."

Carter's attention remained completely focused on Echo Zero's visage on the command deck screen. He had died at the hands of the Enigma task force's ruthless leader as a way to protect his friends Shal and Deb, and it was something that was still nagging at the back of Carter's mind.

"They were alerted of my presence when I became functional," Kay continued his explanations. "Your so-called 'fidgeting' earlier allowed me to reawaken after a prolonged state of hibernation, Sir Carter Tristan Holt." 

"These Aegis guys are probably still lurking about," Carter pointed out. "And as long as they're still on their hunt, nobody's safe."

"I can't let Shal and Deb get attacked by these thugs again. We gotta get back down there."

"That is not optimal," Kay sternly warned. "The Knight Saber initiation sequence has not been completed. I am unsure if the Saber armour is ready to be deployed, Sir Carter Tristan Hol--"

"I know." Carter retorted as he cut Kay off unexpectedly. "That's not gonna stop me from fighting to protect my friends."

"When there's a dream for me to fight for, I'll never stop fighting. I'll never give up. Not until I make that dream come true. Making sure my friends and family are safe? That's my dream."

Kay wanted to provide a rebuttal, but he knew deep down in his circuitry that Carter's courage was too strong to be denied. There was a heroic spirit lying dormant within Carter that Kay was all too familiar with, especially with his time as Thomas Holt's squire. That, in Kay's eyes, is what made him believe Carter was worthy to be the new Knight Saber.

"I will make the appropriate preparations for our mission, then, Sir Carter Tristan Holt." Kay conceded. "If you are certain that we can fend off the highly-dangerous interstellar mercenaries who killed you, then that is your call."

Carter didn't waste any time putting on a light blue shirt and a plain vest over it, obviously ready to put himself back into the fray even after his near-death experience.

---

Indian Head Cove - Bruce Peninsula National Park

Carter and Kay beamed themselves back down to Bruce Peninsula National Park's Indian Head Cove, an inlet situated right next to Georgian Bay. The two had tracked down Red Aegis to this precise location and wanted to get a tactical advantage over the elite mercenary force by hoping to cut off them off at the pass. Carter and Kay observed their enemies' actions from behind a well-placed rock.

"Kay, d'you think you can get a closer look on these Red Aegis jerks?" Carter requested.

"On it, Sir Carter Tristan Holt." Kay complied as he activated his cloaking field in order to survey the scene. 

Kay slowly began to drift towards where the Red Aegis mercenaries were staging their next plan of attack. With a direct line of sorts to Carter being created as a way to listen in, Kay started his surveillance mission.

"Do you really think the Baron will continue to let your rogue operations continue, sire?" one of the Red Aegis mercs, Boneyard, questioned Echo Zero's tactics. "He might grow tired of your arrogance."

"I won't leave this hellhole of a planet without the Saber's beacon in my hands," Echo Zero declared. "It escaped me once, and I will not let it happen again."

"With that irritable Earth scum who tried to prevent me from attaining the Saber's beacon out of our way for good, nothing shall stand in my way."

"Sir Holt," Kay communicated in a low whisper to Carter, "What is your recommended course of action?"

"Screw it, I'm going in." Carter realized that hiding in the shadows forever wasn't going to get anyone anywhere. He was ready to take the fight to Red Aegis, especially with his renewed energy and a possible ace up his sleeve.

Whether it was bravery or stupidity on Carter's part didn't matter. The young man emerged from the rock he was hiding from and faced Echo Zero and the rest of Red Aegis with Kay at his side.

"Echo Zero... y'think I'd just let you kill me and get away with it?" Carter spoke with an unusual calmness to his voice. "Not on your life."

"The forgotten fool returns from the dead. I will make sure your death is a more permanent one," Echo Zero threatened. "Then the Baron can do what he pleases with your robot friend over there."

“I don’t think so, bud.” Carter strided towards his foes with insane overconfidence. He was fully aware that the last time he fought against Echo Zero and the rest of Red Aegis, it wasn't much of a fight. But that was before the powers of the Knight Saber were awakened within Carter.

Without even saying a word, Echo Zero directed his subordinates to shoot at Carter, who simply tried to dodge the oncoming hail of energy blasts emanating from the Enigma mercenaries' advanced weaponry.

Whatever confidence Carter had a moment ago seemed to evaporate as he desperately tried to take cover amidst the Red Aegis forces' attacks. 

"Sir... Holt, I believe it's time." Kay remained by Carter's side as the young man was doing his best to avoid the Enigma operatives' energy blaster fire. "I am directly transferring the remaining information to your brain of how to activate the powers of the Knight Saber."

Just as Kay pointed out, the info Carter needed to transform into Knight Saber flashed across his mind in an instant while the world around him seemed to move in slow motion. Carter blinked rapidly as images and information showing schematics of the Saber armour and even small clips of Saber transforming were beamed directly to his mind by way of Kay's neural transfer. Once that was complete, Carter seemed to know what to do now.

Those feelings of peril and fear for his life seemed to disappear within Carter as he slid under Echo Zero and kicked him from behind before he got himself into a combat stance of his own. 

While to his friends and family, Carter seemed nothing more but an overexcitable and socially-awkward young man, that facade disappeared the moment he found something to set his mind into. Whenever he was faced with a goal or a challenge in mind, Carter seemed to become a different person altogether... someone who was driven and focused to achieve his dreams no matter what... and these Red Aegis thugs were in the way of that dream of making sure nobody else would be hurt by his new foes.

It was an aspect of Carter’s personality that set him apart from most everyone else and one that made Carter proud of who he was as a person.

The cocky, confident smirk on Carter's face gradually turned to a look of determination, as if he knew what he was doing despite the strange situation he was thrust into. With both his hands balled up into fists, Carter sized up his foes and knew what he had to do in order to win this battle.

"Knight Saber! Transform!" Carter yelled at the top of his lungs while Kay shifted from his drone form into a set of high-tech gauntlets that latched onto the young man's wrists. Using the knowledge given to him through Kay's mind transfer, Carter crossed his Saber Bracers before gesturing his arms to either side of his body.

KNIGHT SABER ARMOUR: 

DEPLOYMENT INITIATED

At that precise moment, a beam of blue energy descended from Skycarrier Valor in the star-filled skies above and encased Carter within a glow of seemingly-heavenly energy made of the stars themselves. Within the blue energy, Carter's body was slowly being enveloped in a royal blue undersuit with an intricate hexagonal patterning. The inner walls of the energy pillar were lined with the armoured parts of the Knight Saber outfit circling Carter as if they were on some sort of conveyor belt.

The Red Aegis agents attempted to shoot at the pillar of light that Carter was inside of, but he was safely protected by the light pillar while his Knight Saber transformation continued uninterrupted.

"By Pendragon's grail, let Justice prevail!" Carter boldly invoked.

One by one, the various components of the Knight Saber armour snapped onto the undersuit that Carter wore. Metallic white and gold gauntlets and boots were soon followed by blue armour plating that formed onto Carter's chest. 

The chestplate was topped off with a white-and-gold starburst insignia in the middle, which Carter instantly recognized as the same one that was on his dad’s storybook about Grandpa Thom.

Completing this transformation was a distinctive blue-and-gold helmet with a slotted visor that appeared as two halves which closed onto Carter's head. A white scarf materialized and wrapped itself around the neck of the Saber armour to add a dramatic flair to the overall aesthetic.

And with that, the legend of the Knight Saber was reborn anew, as it was now Carter Holt's turn to take up the sword that his grandfather had apparently left for him.

DEPLOYMENT COMPLETE: 

KNIGHT SABER: SHINING DREAMER

Now completely armoured up as Knight Saber, Carter stood firm... at least for a few seconds. His natural Holtian excitement seemed to overtake him not long after.

"H-holy crap! This is amazing, Kay!" Carter marvelled at his new heroic digs, still unbelieving of what had just happened to him. "Shal and Deb are gonna freak out when they find out that I'm some kinda superhero now!"

"Sir Holt, might I suggest keeping your undivided attention on the battle?" Kay chimed in matter-of-factly, speaking through Carter's Knight Saber helmet.

"Right, right... gotcha." Carter managed to steel himself back into focus as the Red Aegis mercs remained as big a threat as any for him.

"So the legends were true," Echo Zero growled. "the Knight Saber lives again. No matter, your death will make the Baron very happy when we hand them your helmet on a platter."

"Come and get me, then..." Carter - now fully immersing himself as the newest Knight Saber - challenged his monstrous enemies. He spoke with confidence in his newfound abilities, even though he hadn't fought yet as Saber. 

Red Aegis' agents tried to fire their energy weapons towards Knight Saber, but they couldn't hit their target, who dodged with such great speed at his disposal. Carter never really moved as fast as he did with the Saber powers enhancing his movements, so this felt quite exhilirating for him.

Coldblood, a robotic Red Aegis operative who specialized in cryokinetic warfare, attempted to zap Carter with his arm-mounted freeze blaster, but simply could not get a bead on the Knight Saber.

"Hi, there," Carter taunted Coldblood as he tapped him on the shoulder from behind before forcefully knocking them into a tree with a powerful punch that ripped the tree in two. The strength of Carter's Saber-enhanced punch was seemingly enough to also destroy Coldbood's android body in the process.

Voltage and Boneyard tried to run at Carter with their trademark weapons -- an electric rail gun and a mace made of bones, respectively -- but he hit a spinning roundhouse kick on one and then blitzed the other with an agile front-footed diving kick.

"Goddamn, I make this Saber stuff look great..." Carter looked suitably impressed with his newfound powers, reflected in how he seemed to do a little shuffle after having taken down the two Enigma-hired mercenaries.

"Focus, Sir Holt." Kay once again tried to get Carter's attention by speaking in his ear through the Knight Saber armour itself. "...one titanic foe is headed your way."

"Don't worry, Kay. I got him." Carter refocused himself towards the giant Red Aegis merc that was coming right at him. He put his elbows up and looked ready for his next fight.

"Sledgehammer", the gargantuan six-armed Red Aegis merc -- who ironically wielded a large greatsword -- had Knight Saber in his sights and began to swing away with his massive blade.

There seemed to be a part of Carter that was actually having fun with avoiding Sledgehammer's attacks, which kind of came part and parcel with having the Knight Saber powers at his side.

Carter avoided the greatsword's final swing by mere inches and reared back before he barreled right into Sledgehammer with a shoulder-led bodycheck, which sent his foe flying into Georgian Bay.

"Tch... useless fools," Echo Zero lamented his strike force's failure to defeat Knight Saber. "I'll deal with the problem myself."

Carter quickly turned to see Echo Zero coming at him and just avoided getting tackled by his persistent foe with an agile sidestep to get out of the way. He countered with an attempted punch to Echo Zero's face, but the Enigma mercenary leader caught Carter's fist to block the attack.

Echo Zero managed to strike Carter in the chest with a slash from his massive blade that knocked him back several meters and causing Carter to fall to the ground amidst a series of sparking explosions.

"It doesn't matter if you've got your new powers, boy," Echo Zero circled Carter with his weapon in hand. "I shall ensure you die a final death by my hands. And then those two pathetic humans you care about? Perhaps I shall pay them a visit... tell them how their gallant hero fell by my hand."

As Carter winced in pain on the ground from Echo Zero's slashing attack, that unyielding resolve and desire to fight for his dreams manifested again within the twenty-three year-old. Echo Zero's interminable taunts only served to give Carter further motivation to rise back up once more.

"Sir Holt?" Kay opened up again. "I believe it's time for the swords to be drawn."

While visual instructions on the "V-Sabers" played in his helmet, Carter didn't utter a word. His focus remained solely directed towards Echo Zero and his continuous attempts to get under Carter's skin. 

Just as Echo Zero was about to attack, Carter hit him with a strong one-footed kick to the gut to send his foe careening into a large boulder and down to a rock formation near Georgian Bay itself.

"V-Sabers! Synchronized!" Carter shouted to summon twin sets of swords with blue hilts that appeared in his hands in an instant. The swords' crossguards had two halves of the Knight Saber symbol to complete this look.

THE TWIN BLADES OF VICTORY RISING - V-SABERS SYNCHRONIZE!

"You made the biggest mistake of your life when you decided to go after me and my friends, bud..." Carter kept his rage towards Echo Zero tranquil, but just barely. "Now you're gonna find out what this 'forgotten fool' is capable of."

Echo Zero stormed towards Knight Saber with vicious intent, but was met with twin slashes from the V-Sabers' blades instead, which cut through the reinforced chest armour that Echo Zero wore.

"How can this be!?" Echo Zero fumed at his advanced armour being torn apart by Knight Saber's efforts. Before Echo Zero could even react, Carter hit him with a rising knee to the face, which caused the Red Aegis leader's battle helmet to shatter on impact.

With the spiteful words of disgust from Echo Zero from earlier still stinging in his mind, Carter wanted nothing more to make his otherworldly enemy pay for everything he had put him and his friends through on this night.

Carter aggressively continued his attack on Echo Zero by leaping over his foe to deliver dual overhead slashes to the back of the Red Aegis leader. After connecting with his attacks, Carter made sure to land with style, nailing a sort-of modified three-point landing.

"Our foe is at its weakest, Sir Holt." Kay once again spoke in Carter's ear. "Celestial Finish recommended."

On the heads-up display within Carter's Knight Saber helmet, a short video of his Grandpa Thom as the last Saber performing the Celestial Finish was playing on a loop, which acted as a way to give Carter guidance on how to pull off this maneuver himself.

Carter didn't say a word as he looked at the twin blades held in both hands and simply combined them into a single sword, with the crossguard now forming the eight-point Knight Saber symbol in its combined form. 

The V-Saber started to glow in blue energy as Carter began to concentrate all the energy he had in his body to give his finishing strike all the power it needed to end this battle.

BURNING JUDGEMENT: 

CELESTIAL FINISH

“I think it’s time I decided how this story ended…” Carter looked at his unified V-Saber increasing in power and confided in himself and his abilities. 

More and more, the V-Saber remained bathed in an illuminating light as the Knight Saber held up his signature weapon high above his head. The flow of energy from his sword was starting to strain on Carter's body, but he managed to hold on to the V-Saber as tightly as he could.

"CELESTIAL FINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!!!!!!!!" Carter's voice boomed in echoes that rang through the night, thrusting forward in a blue-and-gold streak to deliver his final strike to critically stun Echo Zero and cause his armour to shut down.

With his war armour completely left in shambles as a result of Knight Saber's Celestial Finish, Echo Zero couldn't even mount any sort of fightback.

"Another time, Saber..." Echo Zero threatened with malice as he vanished, along with his fallen Red Aegis comrades strewn all about the forest.

As his foes finally retreated, Carter collapsed to his knees, feeling the aftereffects of having expended his body to use the Celestial Finish to win the day against Echo Zero. His Knight Saber armour dissipated, leaving only the clothing he had worn before transforming.

Kay separated himself from Carter's wrists and reverted back to his drone form and kept a close eye on his new liege's well-being. 

“Oh man, that was just so awe….” Carter managed to say before fainting from exhaustion. 

---

The Throne of Albion's Royal Citadel - Someplace, Sometime, Somewhere

The spaceborne colony of Albion sat as a perpetual nexus point between all realities, meaning it was an entire colony that somehow existed across multiple realities at the same time.

On an iron throne with a lion-themed design sat King Urian, the current head of the "Throne of Albion", who ruled over the realm for what seemed like an eternity. Urian was the descendant of Uryan, who sat at the head as the first King in charge of the Throne of Albion centuries ago.

King Urian was surrounded by a phalanx of consorts and magistrates, all of whom helped him make the decisions necessary to uphold the rule of law in Albion.

"It appears that the Knight Saber has risen once more, my King." one of the consorts, Seneschal Adriel, stood up to address King Urian. "Our sentries on Earth have gotten wind of the Saber engaging operatives working for Enigma XenoTech."

"So the traitorous Thomas Holt has decided to crawl out of the woodwork..." King Urian demurred. 

"My King, this Saber is not the man who hath doomed Albion once," Adriel advised. "It seems that another has taken up the sword that Thomas the Damned has wielded in the past."

King Urian took a good look at the one image of the newest Knight Saber and felt an enmity bubbling to the surface. This new Saber might've not been Thomas Holt, but King Urian knew a threat to his Throne when he saw one.

"Have the Vanguard on standby, Seneschal. Our opportunity to reclaim the Knight Saber in the name of Albion has arrived, and I will not pass it up." King Urian ordered.

"Right away, my King." Seneschal Adriel nodded, leading his fellow consorts and magistrates out of King Urian's throne room in unison.

The King, in the meantime, sat on his throne and brooded about what was to be done with the return of the Knight Saber in order to best protect the interests of Albion. And if it meant summoning the Vanguard to fight the Saber, then so be it.

---

Skycarrier Valor

Long after the battle with Red Aegis had wrapped, Carter was once again brought back aboard Skycarrier Valor to recuperate. His body wasn’t quite used to the Knight Saber powers just yet, so it made the recovery time take a bit longer than usual.

Dressed in his blue and white Toronto Metro U varsity jacket and trackpants, Carter felt a surge of confidence swelling after wielding the Knight Saber powers for the first time. He was always happy to hear about Grandpa Thom’s many adventures as Knight Saber, but getting to live them out himself as the newest Saber was something that naturally thrilled the always-energetic Carter.

"Did you see how cool I looked all armoured up, Kay?" Carter boasted about his first-ever fight as Knight Saber in his usual manner. "I had those Enigma guys on the run and I slashed up their leader with my magical sword! God, that was exhilirating!"

Carter further punctuated his excitement by mimicking the fighting style he utilized as Knight Saber in a more informal manner. If Kay wasn't a small robotic drone incapable of showing much emotion, he'd probably be enjoying Carter's joyful celebration of sorts along with him.

“You did well,” Kay praised his new liege’s efforts. “Your grandfather would’ve been proud that the Knight Saber powers are being used by someone as courageous and wise such as yourself, Sir Carter Tristan Holt.”

"Aw, you're too kind," Carter wasn't really used to being praised by a little flying robot drone, but this night was just a night of many firsts for the twenty-three year old.

Carter certainly didn't expect to actually die and come back to life as some sort of cosmic superhero all on the same night, which gave him a bit of a chuckle. His thoughts circled back to Shal telling him earlier about the beauty of living life everyday, which only made Carter miss his best friend's presence even more.

"Sir Carter Tristan Holt, I truly hate to be the bringer of bad news," Kay intoned. "but the nature of your current predicament has unfortunately left us with some tough decisions to make.”

“Alright, hit me.” Carter responded to his drone companion while taking a seat on one of the command deck's chairs,

“When I awakened, a beacon turned itself on and alerted my original creators of our location.” Kay stated bluntly. “You’re fully aware that you grandfather intended for these powers to be used to defend, but my creators had other ideas for the Knight Saber. Namely, to use the powers of the Saber as a force of destruction."

"Needless to say, they weren't happy with your Grandfather’s actions to keep the Knight Saber powers from their grasp. They saw it as high treason against the Throne of Albion.”

“That doesn’t sound like any good news at all,” Carter was understandably feeling some dread.

“The Throne has made it clear that the Knight Saber is an enemy force to be dealt with and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal, Sir Holt." Kay spelled out the dire situation as best as he could.

Carter thought long and hard about the implications of having the Knight Saber powers at his disposal and what it meant if the Throne of Albion that Kay warned him about was indeed coming after him. He didn’t want to jeopardize the safety of his friends or family just because of the abilities he now possessed and the forces that would do anything and everything to attain them for their own uses.

There was already a bit of a close call with Echo Zero and his goons nearly endangering Shal and Deb, and Carter wasn't about to let those he cared about be collateral in what seemed to be something far bigger than even he himself.

"What's my option, then?" Carter asked with curiosity.

"Sir Holt, I believe that we only have one course of action to take," Kay began. "To clear your Grandfather's name and restore honor to both your family's name and the legacy of the Knight Saber."

"Sounds like a plan, Kay." Carter looked like he was at peace at such a big, life-changing decision being made. "Where to?"

"Next stop: Avalon." Kay announced the new coordinates for Skycarrier Valor.

"Wa-wait... Avalon?" Carter questioned while the Valor began to take off and launch itself into orbit.

The thrusters of Skycarrier Valor started to prime itself for interstellar travel while Kay set the specific coordinates for Avalon. In mere seconds, the Valor soared into the stars and shot into hyperspace, leaving behind Earth and forcing Carter Holt to embrace his new destiny beyond the stars as the Knight Saber.

---

NEXT: The Sword is Drawn

(c)2011-2025 Marc Quill, QB1 Publications, et al. “KNIGHT SABER: THE ADVENTURES OF CARTER HOLT”, plus all related characters, concepts, & stories mentioned are property of the author and may not be reproduced without prior approval. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons, and/or institutions in “KNIGHT SABER: THE ADVENTURES OF CARTER HOLT” with those of any living or dead or fictional person or institution is intended, and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.

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