"...I must get out of here.

Why? Why is it so hard?", Gorak mumbled under his breath.

He had tried everything possible to escape this prison. But nothing worked. This prison was just impossible.

'I'm not getting dumber... Chalding!

Damn him! He must have had help from other Keepers to build such a frustratingly difficult place to hold me!'

...

He was right. Chalding, Keeper of Retribution and Punishment, who had been charged by the Keepers' Council with punishing Gorak for his misdeeds, had sought and obtained the help of various Keepers in building The Hold.

The Keepers had willingly contributed their unique abilities into making The Hold into the hell hole it was:

The little planet was designed to change location once every 4 or 5 days, making it impossible to trace; a special contribution of the Keeper of Space. That alone would ensure that no one breaks in from the outside. So Gorak's minions could not find his location, speak little of aiding in his escape.

On the inside, the Hold was suspended in the air above an impassable terrain consisting of a mountainous range filled with jagged metallic mountain peaks, spikes and rough edges, sharp as a battle-ready two-edged sword.

Between the mountains were steep valleys filled with spikes randomly sticking out of a sea of steaming, poisonous volcanic larva. Contributions by the Keeper of War, Keeper of Land and Vegetation, Keeper of Poison and Keeper of Fire.

And as if that were not enough, the entire region is covered in a fog thick as clouds that makes it impossible to see and a terrible atmospheric pressure that would force down a feather at 10,000km/hr upon the spikes below, to make movement on the outside of the Hold virtually impossible for the prisoners.

The unusual foggy climate, intense atmospheric pressure and the deathly temperature of below -80,000°c; cold even for gods, are contributions made by Empyrean, Keeper of Atmospheres.

The cold temperature was specially requested by Chalding, as just a small additional factor meant to increase the prisoner's discomfort as everyone but the prisoner wore insulation chips to keep out of the terrible effects of the atmospheric pressure and the biting cold.

The Hold is fiercely guarded to the teeth, and supervised by the best; Chalding himself, god of Imprisonment, and his Guardians.

What's worse, the entire planet is surrounded by an impenetrable purple shield, also designed by Chalding as an extra imprisonment measure, so that if by any means the prisoner escaped the Hold, he would be unable to escape the planet.

Chalding, brutal and thorough as he was, had obtained the help of several gods to create this masterpiece, to ensure that no prisoner could escape it.

If anyone ever managed to locate and enter into the planet, they'd be dead before they'd have come halfway near the dungeon. And if any was locked in and attempted to escape, they'd be dead before they could make their escape.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

____

It was no wonder that Gorak's countless escape attempts over the years had failed terribly, afterall, he was imprisoned by the god of Punishment himself, and his punishment was supervised daily by this same god.

His chains, bounds and cage were all power-limiters, and though he retained his immortality, he was as weak as a mortal man. Chalding engineered these bounds and kept Gorak in a similarly engineered power-limiting Cage because he knew that for powerful beings, the most frustrating thing was to lose their powers.

To become weak, helpless and hopeless. And to be bullied even in their weakness, adding insult to injury. It wasn't just physical torture, it was more psychological torture.

Now, these bounds especially made Gorak's escape impossible as only Chalding could unlock them.

Even if he could get out of his bounds and cell, he could not get past the impassable mountain range lying in wait just outside the prison gates.

This had proven to be true as on his most recent and closest attempt at escaping, he had successfully got out of his cell, and although he was still wearing the power limiters, he managed to sneakily manoeuvre his way past all the guards; taking out those that spot him silently by attacking at their acupoints, before they could raise an alarm.

He had overheard that Chalding was away on a summons from "The Head Keeper" and thought, this was his best chance.

Having arrived at the gates yet unnoticed, he could taste his freedom already, but the moment he stepped a foot out the main gates, making for a clean get-away, he was plastered to the floor by the intense atmospheric pressure.

His skull would have been crushed too, had he not yelped to alert the wardens to his position so they could save him!

______

"That blasted atmospheric pressure! The only being known to possess that annoying ability is him... Empyrean. Keeper of Atmospheres... my sworn enemy and an unforgivable prick!

How he manages to be an absolute torn in my flesh even in his absence is beyond me. What a nasty trick!

Only he could have done it. To humiliate me!"

He remembered being under the influence of this same pressure when he battled Empyrean for a higher rank.

"You better watch your back, Empyrean. I won't forget to pay back an unimaginable dose of recompense!", he muttered under his breath.

"Shut up!

... even your muttering is so noisy!"

That was Chalding. The warden. He was just approaching the prisoner's dungeon when he heard the prisoner muttering and cursing under his breath.

*crunch, crunch*

Chalding bit into an apple as he leaned his frail bodice against the wall, crossing one leg over the other. All his movements were graceful and elegant.

Chalding, god of Imprisonment looked nothing like his description. He was frail and incredibly beautiful. A pretty boy on all accounts.

He had long hair and piercing eyes. His face was slender and beautiful, with a long nose. He knew he was good-looking.

He dressed like a count; a dark, rich noble, but his clothes were always purple-themed, with gold studs, cufflinks and accessories. Deep purple and dark, they suited his darker side and fearsome methods.

He takes his time to elegantly chew up the crisp red apple in his mouth before continuing to speak, like it matters; like there were people carefully watching him to see if he was observing his manners, and like he didn't just curse at the prisoner.

On the surface, he seems effeminate and very sociable, and he also looks approachable and friendly as he always wore a small smile or a look of amusement, but all that is just a cover for his true cruel nature.

Deep down, he is unbelievably devious.

He smirks, entertaining himself with the annoyance written all over Gorak's face.

"Pleased to see me, I see... hah.

I'm pleased to see you too, my darling!"

He stoops, reaching down to caress Gorak's face and neck gently and sweetly, smirking in amusement at Gorak's utter disgust.

"Are you hurt?", his voice was sweet and the look in his eyes, gentle, portraying genuine feelings of care and concern.

"I worry for you.

Your delusional imaginations that you would escape me... *sigh*"

He shook his head as he sighed deeply like he was trying to get through to a child who just couldn't understand why things had to be the way they were.

"If you go on like this, you would be forcing my hand, and..."

He stops when he gets a hold of the collar around Gorak's neck.

"You could get seriously hurt!"