2 months ago

Ander watched as water slowly dripped in through a leak in his cell. The only light around was held by the guard outside the gate on account of the overcast outside.

That was likely the last bit of light that Ander would see until his execution tomorrow. He had been captive for a while, but Ralthus wanted Ander to suffer before he died, so he was spared for a short while.

"The Dark Circle has it all," Ander's cellmate grumbled. He wasn't necessarily wrong. 'They may have power, fame, and wealth, but if I get out, they'll also have shallow graves.'

Ander looked up as his cellmate, Flyte, seemed to decide on something.

Ander could see in the youth's countenance what he was planning to do, but before he could warn him, Flyte shouted: "Forslo."

Instead of releasing a gout of flames, like the accursed word was meant to, the boy only yawned and collapsed. It appeared that the boy really wasn't a strong mage at all, otherwise he might have sent out some amount of fire.

The guards entered the cell seeking to snuff out Flyte's life, but they seemed to have forgotten about Ander.

Ander deftly threw a stone at the leading guard's torch, rendering the two guards blind as he grabbed the two stone swords that he had painstakingly pounded into shape and sharpened.

'And that is why you always make sure to have the same light as your captives. If you lose your light, you lose your life unless they're blinded too.'

Ander stabbed one guard in the gut as the other tripped over nothing. Ander only knocked that man out. There was no point in ending a defenseless person's life.

Ander grabbed a guard's keys but before he could grab their swords, he heard reinforcements on their way.

'Flyte or the swords?' Ander thought. He decided to save the boy. Flyte had, after all, given him a means to escape and Ander wasn't about to stoop down to his hated king's level either.

Ander ran into the cell, grabbed Flyte, and ran out, barely avoiding the sweeping blades of the prison's guards.

Ander kept running. He outran the guards despite carrying a person on his back. Armor wasn't too good for moving around in, it seemed.

As Ander lost the guards, he found out that he too was lost.

Rambling prisons held behind cell doors surrounded Ander, desperately searching for some release from their pains.

By seeing and hearing them, Ander was able to recall where he was with a shudder.

The breaking grounds. When Ander first became a prisoner in this tower, the pyromancers worked mercilessly to torture the memories of his endangerment of the king out of his mind, burning his body slowly then healing it. They had succeeded, to an extent. Ander no longer recalled just how he had made his way to the king that day, but he did remember that he had.

After butchering Ander's memories, they tried to enlist him. When he refused, the day of his execution was set.

Yet here he was, standing on the other side of these bars.

I'm here to get you all out," Ander said. The pragmatic part of him reasoned that chaos in the prison would help him escape, and the human in him wanted to help his fellows.

Ander opened the doors to six cells and met six emaciated prisoners who could barely walk. Ander had only avoided that fate because the pyromancers acknowledged that more flesh meant more to burn.

'Still, these six don't seem ready for chaos.'

Can any of you use magic to lower us down by one story?" Ander asked the prisoners. He mentally cringed at the idea of needing to use magic, a tool used to torment him, but whatever got him out of this prison was welcome.

Some of the prisoners shuffled about, not saying anything, until one man began to clear his throat sorely.

I should be strong enough to do that," a particularly feeble man said weakly, though gratefully. Too weakly to be much help otherwise.

Alright," Ander said. "Then go ahead."

The man breathed in, looking almost like an old bag being filled with water. When he was ready, he spoke, his voice shaking the natural world around him.

Erdkar," was the magic word he spoke. In the ancient language that the Retun language was derived from, the word meant "the lands around."

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Yet it impacted structures too. The stone flooring of the level of the tower where Ander stood slowly lowered, sinking down until Ander could see even more cells.

Reasoning that the king's enemies were made up of some generally good people, Ander unlocked these cells as well.

The prisoners who walked out of these cells weren't starved and seemed relatively happy, if that word could be applied to prisoners. these would be the people who held enough power to leave Chraith's monarch paranoid but hadn't committed anything resembling a crime. The king would have had them thrown in jail and then treated them well, that way when he did eventually release them, they wouldn't be able to say that he treated them poorly.

They weren't happy about it though.

Because of that, they gladly listened to Ander as he asked one to unlock every prisoner's door they could find, another to follow alongside him, and two more to set a small, distracting fire.

Fires made for very good chaos, and in such a stone dominated building he wasn't really creating a real danger.

"Now that that's taken care of," Ander started saying to the seven conscious people around him. "Let's get out of here."

Ander hopped up, securing a better hold on Flyte before moving forward on a path he knew.

A right, then a left, then stairs. Ander marched with his goals in mind, and more, healthier people following.

There would be a chase, of course. Words could travel much faster than Ander, and the king wouldn't just let him walk away.

Ander had a plan for that though.

"Stop right there," the warden said in front of Ander's exit. "I know who you are, Ander Palenus, and you're not getting out of here."

The aged guard had a half dozen soldiers supporting him. More than enough to stop any man.

Ander, however, was a monster.

Holding out a hand to signal his comrades to not follow, Ander stepped forward.

And raised a sword, his hold on Flyte keeping him from extending two.

Seven foes walked toward him.

Ander put one down quickly. That guard was bad at gauging Ander's reach. Another attempted an overhead strike, but their attack was deflected by Ander's cursed arm before they were skewered.

The two fell one after and the five remaining seemed to get enraged.

'Perfect, I can exploit that.'

The warden swung widely with his halberd, and Ander was only able to avoid it enough to not have his head chopped off. The cut on his forehead wasn't great, but the halberd had hit another guard for him. He punished the flagrant attack with a quick jab to the jugular as he barely supported Flyte's weight with his sword arm's elbow.

Ander hadn't had the room to do that with his sword, but his stone fist was still enough to leave the man gasping.

With a well-placed high-kick, Ander knocked out a guard before they could strike Flyte.

The ground vibrated suddenly, just a little, and a soldier tripped over it.

'That's odd, but I'll take it.'

Ander raised his sword to block another's, deeply chipping the stone edge before pushing his foes into them.

The shallow cut was enough for the guard to clutch their chest, which was, in turn, enough for Ander to punch out their light.

He walked over to the rising warden and kicked him in the gut, pushing the man backward a few feet.

"Come on," Ander said to his fellows. They followed him, if only to avoid the incoming guards. They didn't seem too eager to see him fighting any more. Any fight was risk.

"You," Ander started, pointing to the healthy prisoner. "Send a message to Lion's Watch. Tell them that Ander Palenus is on his way, and that he just needs to do something first."

"Yes sir."

"Good," Ander smiled gratefully. "I'm going to draw the king's hunters away. It wouldn't do any good for me to go straight to Lion's Watch."

He turned to the six tortured prisoners. "You should go to Palantriss. It's only a few miles from here, and the people there will take care of you. I've been there a few times and they're a little more free-spirited than most other people, so they'd likely take your side over the king's."

"Thank you," one said weakly, tears forming in his eyes.

Ander ran from the tower and hid just in time to see several prisoners run out as well.

'Good,' Ander thought. 'Now, I really need to find a cave.'

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Will stared into the person-shaped chasm. Oftentimes people felt immense fear when looking into the putatively bottomless expanse, but Will only felt the call of freedom and release.

"That's right, Will," it said. "I offer you freedom and an escape from your woes. Join with me."

That voice had spoken with Will often. At first it seemed like his own, but slowly, he began to realize.

It was god's.

I will join together with you, my lord," Will said. "Tell me how to."

The abyss in the chasm smiled. "Follow my lead."

Will began to carve the intricate glyph printed on his mind into the ground around him.

Then, it began to carve into him.

Will held back his screams. It wouldn't be fitting to show his lord his weakness.

Soon though, he was reduced to kneeling and panting, but the deed was done.

My herald," god said. "For following me so earnestly, I present to you a gift."

A huge eye with thousands of onyx rose from the scar. It's pupil held an unknowable symbol in a greenish hue.

This is a scion of my vassal, Rave," god continued. "It shall aid you as you ascend."

Thank you, my lord," Will said. "I will find a good use for it."

Good," the voice in Will's head drew in more power. "I will now raise your potency further, and after that, you must slay the one keeping watch here."

As soon as Will agreed, screams poured out of his mutating body.

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Caedric ran.

Ander didn't know about the dangers waiting for him, but Caedric did. Finally had told him.

Darkness would cover the sun, blood would fill Atula's Scar, and Riftgard would be devoured. Rush was coming.

But not if they could stop it.

So Caedric ran. As fast as a paladin could, at least.

That was so fast that the surface tension of water held long enough for him to step off of it.

Still, he worried that he wouldn't make it in time.

And if he even did, could he really stop Armageddon?