"Rise, Grand Master Isaac."
Ethan gave the order as he walked across the stone courtyard, his footsteps echoing in the silence until he came to a stop right in front of the kneeling knight.
Isaac rose in a single, heavy movement, the plates of his armor creaking softly against one another, his boots settling on the flagstones with a dull thud.
In an instant, his tall, imposing figure towered over Ethan, casting a broad shadow over him.
He weighed as much as a full-grown lion in its prime, and with his entire body wrapped in the dark green steel of his heavy armor, Isaac was a hard figure to ignore.
His shoulders were nearly as wide as two ordinary men standing side by side, and his gauntlets were almost the size of an adult's head.
Ethan looked up to meet that hard, mature face—yet handsome in its own virility—and held the knight's steady gaze for a moment before speaking.
