The prison was located at the edge of the city walls behind the Knights’ Pillar. It was under the city, an ancient ruin turned into prison cells. The knights didn’t bother creating a real prison since the ruins were said to be haunted by demons, and escaping to its dark corridors was a death sentence itself.

Harthur was brought in by the squires a few hours ago. He lies at the center of the cold square cell behind bars, still sleeping. He dreamt of a white-horned tiger walking around the dark. The tiger stopped and sniffed something. It started licking and after every lick, Harthur’s sleeping body came into view. Harthur woke. He quickly stood up and hugged the animal. “Thank you,” he said. “But I’m doomed. I promised Father that I’d become a Great Knight. Another broken promise.” The white tiger stood and brushed its soft body to him. It then walked away. It gave him another look before disappearing into a wall.

Harthur woke up. His head hurt and felt the coldness of the floor. As his sight slowly recovered, he saw bars of metal and stone walls, and some skeletons beside him.

“The Tiger Spirit again. Thank you for watching over us Father.”

Harthur sat down and looked at what he currently has. His bag and more importantly his shield blade had been taken from him.

They didn’t even let me speak. They just scanned Lordred and that’s it.”

“Hey! New guy! “What did you do?” a man in another cell said.

“Where are you?” Harthur asked.

“On your left. There’s one empty cell between us but I saw you being carried there. What did you do to get here?”

Harthur sighed, “I… talked to an oathless”

“And then?”

“Hmmm, I also punched a squire.”

“Wait? It’s wrong to talk to an oathless now?”

“A law was created two years ago. They want everyone marked with the Oath since then.

Harthur’s prison mate screamed, “What? So that makes oathless criminals now?”

Harthur thought about what to answer. Technically, they are not criminals yet but if the Oathless did not actively pursue to have the Oath and or declined to be taken to have the Oath, then yes they are criminals. “Yes”

“Things got more shittier huh? Makes me feel lucky I didn’t get to see that. This King had really gone crazy. They can trace you anywhere if you are marked or have the Oath, you know that?”

“I know. That’s how we recover the bodies of our dead comrades”

“Be careful. Someone might be listening”, Harthur said.

“Naaa, they never come down here. They don’t care. Once you’re here, the only way out is to die. They give me food and water every three days.”

“That’s it?”

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“That’s it!”

“That doesn’t sound good at all! Then let’s conserve our energy. You must be starving.” Harthur said.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve been here for a long time. What about the Vicar? Who’s the Vicar now?”

“The Vicar? It's VIII” Harthur said.

“Still him huh? I like that one. I remember he healed so many sick back then when I was a kid. I’m not fit to be a priest so I became a Knight”

“I like him as well. But you, how long have you been here? What did you do?” Harthur asked.

“I don’t how long now. It’s hard to know from down here so I never cared anymore. What did I do? I stole my weapon. Sold it to a buyer and never came back to the Knighthood.

“Weapon? You’re a squire?”

“A knight”

“But why?”

“Ten thousand silvers. So I thought I could use the money to escape the country. But they got to me just a few days outside the city. I was hiding and preparing for my sea voyage, you know.” the man said.

“But why would you leave?”

“There’s nothing for me here. Everyone’s gone.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that. But who’s even buying a knight’s weapon? It won’t be usable outside of the Knighhood?”

“I met this shady man. He looked like he was from another continent and said he could turn it but I never asked.”

“Interesting…” Harthur said.

“Someone’s coming..” the man warned.

Heavy steps echoed from above. The door opened with a loud screaking sound. A middle-aged man came in. One of the squires who was guarding the entrance above. The man stopped at Harthur’s cell and squatted in front playing with some keys.

“Someone just asked me to open your cage an hour ago. She offered me two thousand silvers so I accepted it.”

“Who was it?” Harthur asked.

The man’s face turned dim, “I don’t know! And I don’t care! So shut up!”

Harthur stepped back from the bars. The guy looked unstable. “Is this guy drunk? But wait silver? Could it be Sir Shane! It should be him.”

“But you can’t go up. We will kill you if you go up. Got that? See that wall over there, the man pointed to his left. “It’s weak. Just break it and it will lead you to the ruins. Good luck!” The man left the key in front of Harthur’s prison cell and started walking.

“The ruins? It's dangerous! You should give me a weapon! Any!”

“Are you dumb?” the man said.

“I’ll double her offer. I’ll give you four thousand silvers if you let me escape above,” Harthur said.

The man stopped walking. “You are not dumb. The point here is for you to die. I’m sorry Lad, I’m just a wheel on the cog here,” the man said.

“Wait! What about the other guy?” Harthur said.

“Other guy?” The man stopped walking.

“Can I bring him along?”

The man looked at the first cell. “Hmm, you can do whatever you want except go up where you entered.”

The door slammed.

“Okay, Mister Knight. We are getting out of here!” he said.

Harthur started reaching for the key. It took a few minutes but he got it. He opened the door and walked passed the two cells on both sides but found no person inside.

“What? Where is he?”

His heart pounded. He looked around again but all cells were empty. He then saw a sparkle of light from one of the skeletons.

“An insignia!” It was inside the skeleton. “So, it was a ghost?”

“Okay, you’re still going with me,” Harthur said taking the insignia and putting it in his pocket.

He looked around for anything he could use. He saw a torch and took it. He started kicking the wall and was surprised at how easy it was to break. A dark but huge cave showed behind the falling rocks. He walked into it.

“Good luck!” a familiar voice said sending chills all over Harthur.