Jayne’s eyes rolled backward as images from another’s eyes forced themselves into her mind.
A bloodied and starved prisoner tried to scream but his voice failed him as he was dragged through the countless halls of The Third Tower. But he wasn’t alone. The person’s gaze found dozens of other prisoners being dragged from other cells, some limp, some fighting with everything they had but all were helpless to the brutes dragging them to their doom.
Tears ran down Jayne’s cheeks as she tried to avert her gaze, but she knew it was hopeless. It wouldn’t only end when it had shown her everything thing.
The halls opened to a large circular chamber with strange rune work and arrays Jayne didn’t recognize nor did she want to. All around the chamber were six evenly spaced arrays all linked together by both array runes and decorative black and silver chains. The struggling prisoner was thrown to the ground hard, and the crack of snapping bone echoed through the chamber. The prisoner groaned but the owner of the eyes didn’t care as he bent down to arrange and shackle the prisoner's arms to the ground inside one of the array circles.
Nearby five more guards dragged in prisoners to fill the rest of the array circles, each of them binding their prisoners in much the same way as the first.
“Go get the next lot,” Spat the owner of the eyes, Jenkins.
One of the other guards straightened his back, “We are coming to the end of our stock sir. Should we acquire some of the rabble outside before the inquisitor begins?”
Jenkins chuckled and Jayne felt the man’s face twist into a smile, “Yes, and then after we are done with them bring that Lesta whelp,” Before he finished speaking Jenkins waved his hand toward the center of the chamber and dark green orb flashed into existence and he knelt down over the first prisoner.
I knife Jayne knew was coming appeared in Jenkins's hand and hacked into the prisoner’s throat. Jayne gagged as she was forced to watch Jenkins pull the blade away before cutting in slow and precise motions over the prisoner’s entire body. It wasn’t a quick death. Each slash of the blade made the prisoner scream despite his broken vocal cords until Jenkins was finished and Jayne was left rocking back and forth.
Then moved to the next prisoner. And the next. Only after the sixth and final prisoner’s light left their eyes did Jayne’s vision clear, “Oh gods! Oh, gods… No,no,no,no,no,no,nononononon.”
They were going to come for her soon. She had to get away. Jayne staggered from her place in the corner, grasped at the vent of her door and shook. The door barely moved but the sound of its metal frame on stone echoed throughout her cellblock evoking no response from the other occupants. If there were any left.
For three days Jayne had been forced to watch the other prisoners butchered by Jenkins and the other guards and Uton followers. She couldn’t help but watch it all. Jayne was sure that it was the prophet who had damned her to watch them all die. Why would they do that to her? For fun? Another tear fell down her cheek. Why was she even here?
What little hope she had been given from the daily rune messages had long left her. Since that last message, “Problem, Delayed,” Jayne had received no new messages.
Now she felt truly alone. Not only was she alone, but she was also alone in The Third Tower and below something even worse than what she had already seen slumbered. She had heard it scream, whatever it was, and, in that moment, she knew she would die in this place. Perhaps it was a prisoner like her, and it would show mercy, but Jayne didn’t truly believe that. She knew now that to hope for escape was pointless.
The door to the cellblock slammed into the wall making Jayne stagger backward in shock while several voices echoed into the hall.
“Shut up! Just get the bloody girl and take her to the Jailer. Just say that the fucking inquisitor wouldn’t let us take’m.”
“You can do the talking cause I’m fucking not. You’re just too much of a pussy to request them from the inquisitor.”
“Oh?! And you would be so keen to talk to the man while he is in the middle of making heads roll? Fuck off! Just get the fucking girl.”
Jayne immediately fell into a panic but all she could do was go back her way into the corner and watch as the voices drew closer. Her cell door swung open and two large swordsmen stood outside with an opal lamp swinging between them.
[Harrod Anla | Swordsman 56 | Human]
[Tristan Feg | Swordsmen 67 | Human]
Harrod scoffed, “Gods why leave this one for last? Her level is barely worth condensing for the jailer.”
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“Who fucking cares. Just grab her already so we can get the fuck out of here,” Tristan spat.
Harrod stepped in and Jayne choked down a sob as he reached down to drag her by the hair but before he could a voice echoed down the hall, “Get out of the way would you! You! Anla, Feg! Lord Prophet Hemdal has requested this one's presence in his laboratory.”
The speaker walked down the hall with a quick but uneven step like he had a limp. Harrod moved away from Jayne and turned back to the entrance of the cell with confusion written on his face, but Tristan spoke first with a clumsy salute, “Of course, binder. Do you wish for us to take her ourselves?”
The new speaker moved into view, “No. That is quite alright. I will escort her myself.
Jayne looked up and met the man’s eyes through her tears. His face was red like he had just run all the way here.
“Come along girl! We mustn’t keep the lord prophet waiting,” He reached a hand out toward her and by reflex, Jayne flinched away from it and squeezed into a tighter ball.
Harrod scoffed again, “This whelp has been difficult binder, I will help- binder? Your bleeding…”
Jayne looked back up to the binder but couldn’t see the blood in the gloom, so she Identified the man instead.
[Alistair Belen | Binder 70 | Human]
Suddenly while Jayne read the man’s identity her head started to hurt.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just some Earae whores' blood from outside,” Alistair said, placing a hand against his stomach.
Tristan’s face twisted in confusion, “Wait, I thought you were level seventy-six, Binder.”
Alistair didn’t reply, instead, his shoulders slumped and Jayne’s identification reading began to twist and warp.
[Alistair Belen | Binder 70 | Human]
[Alistdal Bhnarn | Binderator 70 | Half-Human]
While his identity changed his entire face began to twist along with it. His nose bent awkwardly to one side and his hairline shifted backward in some spots and forward in others. His eyes flickered between dozens of different colors and his skin darkened and lightened all over at the same time.
“What in the Pitts! We have an intruder-” Tristan shouted as he staggered backward in surprise, but he never finished his sentence as the strange man moved. A dagger appeared in his left hand, and he drove it into Tristan’s throat. The swordsman’s eyes widened as blood sprayed from his neck, but his vitality must have been higher than most as he wordlessly reached for his sword.
The strange man never let him draw it as his dagger pulled away before darting back into and down Tristan’s chest. Tristan fell lifelessly to the ground in Jayne’s cell guided by a swift kick from the false binder who didn’t stop moving and at the same time ducked his head down and to the left as Harrod managed to draw and swing while the other man was busy.
Harrod’s blade hit nothing, but air and the other man spun low sweeping Harrod’s legs out from under him. Harrod tried to yell as he fell but the false binder waved his wounded arm and a black cloud darted from it to cover Harrod’s mouth. Nothing but the sound of the false binder’s blade piercing Harrod’s neck over and over again came of the attempt.
Up the hall at the cellblock entrance, someone shouted, “Tristan! What was that noise? Tristan?!”
[Rendal Tahnarl | Infiltrator 70 | Half-Elf]
Jayne didn’t know what to think, her eyes darting to the strange man and the now open cell door.
The strange man or Rendal apparently was breathing hard, and he put his back against the cell wall nearest the door, “Damn… It was worth a shot. This job’s never easy,” He looked over at Jayne, and to her surprise, he winked at her.
Jayne gasped in realization, “It's you-”
Rendal’s still strange and twisting face bent to the side and he raised a finger, “One sec…” He turned back to the cell door and cracked his neck, “Aaagggh! Gods this little shit is a pain! Come give us a hand, will ya?!”
“For fuck's sake!” The guard grumbled but Jayne could hear him and another coming anyway.
Before they got close enough to see the blood in the hall Rendal’s face twisted again and solidified as a nearly perfect copy of Harrod’s before he spun around the corner and stomped out the opal lamp.
“She can’t be that fucking muc-” Blood splatted the walls outside of Jayne’s cell but no cries of pain or shouting for help ever reached her. A moment later Rendal stepped back into Jayne’s cell, stumbling slightly as he held his abdomen with both hands.
The gloom of the now-dark cell hid most of his features, but she could see his face change before slowing to a halt. He moved his hand and Jayne flinched again by reflex, but her eyes widened when she saw what he was doing.
Rendal Tahnarl has used Shadow Eye.
Shadow Eye [Uncommon]
Those who work by night must learn to live in the deepest shadows of the world. This skill allows the user to see through both natural and mana-attuned darkness as if it were mid-day. Additionally, the user can share this sight with another of their choosing for a short duration.
Do you accept? Yes/No
Jayne accepted it immediately as a slither of hope began to burn in her chest. In an instant, the gloom was gone and Rendal’s features were clear to her. Dull brown eyes shined in the false light of her granted vision. His hair was short and blonde, tied back in a small knot. His clothes had also changed from the robe he had arrived in, and he was now wearing loose black dyed linen pants that were tied tightly around each ankle. Soaked in blood he also wore a dark leather jerkin that normally might have hidden the blood but now with so much of it, it was plain to see.
Rendal sighed and leaned against the wall, his face pained, “Sorry kid. Things got… Difficult. I got delayed.”
Jayne could barely summon the words to speak but she managed to choke out, “It was you? The runes?”
Rendal groaned slightly and pushed himself off the wall, “Yeah. I would have come sooner but the world’s gone to shit and getting into this place suddenly got much harder.” Rendal stepped forward and grabbed hold of Jayne’s Cuffs of Binding.
Jayne wanted to pull her arms away, but she resisted the urge, “Control yourself, Jayne!”
An instant later the cuffs flashed and fell to the ground. Jayne gasped as a brilliant warmth washed over her as she felt her skills return to her. A single tear fell down her cheek and she flung herself forward and hugged the man she had only just met, “Thank you! I… I had given up!”
Rendal groaned, “Oooof, enough. Enough!”
Jayne threw herself backward once she realized what she was doing and immediately felt guilty, “I’m sorry! Are you going to be alright?”
Rendal smirked, “Eh, probably,” He reached down and picked up Harrod’s sword, “I know you’re a mage but it's always worth having a sword on you. Now, enough talk. We need to leave.”
Something about his tone made Jayne pause, “Is something wrong?”
Rendal shrugged, “Maybe. But I don’t want to be here to find out,” He stood and limped toward the door before pointing at the ground, and as if the gods had planned everything, the cell floor suddenly shook.
“He is about to break free.”