This is the first side story, which will tell the events leading up to Valgrim and Brutus teaming up. This is also my wizard contest entry, yay. Right, holds the most words of any of my chapters. I hope to increase my overall chapter size as I gain experience. Hope you enjoy, and leave ratings plz :).
"Is this the end result of my life? Has this all been for nothing?" he gazed around the room, "Utter foolishness, this has been." The dark room stank of dirt and humidity, leaving little of it's occupant but his mind and broken body. 'How did this happen?' he wondered, 'When did it go wrong?" The door to his prison opened with a bang, flooding the room with unexpected light. He didn't have the ability to raise his arm to block the intrusion of light. He let it wash over him.
"It's time." he thought.
{Flashback}
[ A certain's Priestess's Dwelling]
Two slaves walked down stairs to a dungeon. They dragged with them a small body, who might have been mistaken for a child, if one did not notice the thick beard and shaggy hair on his head. The stair case was dark, lit only by the occasional torch as it wound down into the darkness. Reaching the bottom, the two slaves met another slave, who was sitting at a desk snoozing. One of the slaves banged on the table, waking the sleeping slave up. He looked around wildly, but calmed down when he saw the two other slaves. Glancing at their prisoner, he handed them a key and gestured toward a locked door. Nodding, the two slaves unlocked the door, and threw the small body in. Locking the door behind them, they returned the key and returned up the stairs.
The former sleeping slave watched and listened til their footsteps had disappeared from his ears and eyes. When he was sure they were gone, he sighed and looked toward the jail cell. He called out, "Sh@t Valgrim, didn't you learn your lesson the first time you tried to escape? What is it now, 9 escape attempts? What happened this time?"
A moment of silence from the cell door, then a voice returned, "How was I supposed to know she would be bathing at that time? It was suppose to be empty." The voice was annoyed, but the jailer could hear the under current in his voice.
He snorted, "You can't fool me Valgrim. You timed your escape attempt so you would be able to get a full glimpse of her naked glory before you escaped, so you'd be able to keep the image for later when you fixed yourself."
Silence emanated from the cell, confirming the jailer's suspicions. The jailer laughed, but fell into a coughing fit. He pulled out his handkerchief, covered in dirt and dust, and coughed into it, flecks of blood landing in it. The voice spoke up from the cell, "You really need a healer, take my word as a cleric, you won't last long down here without healing."
The jailer snorted, and kicked the air, pulling the chain that connected him to the wall. "She put me down here to live the rest of my life as her watcher. I've served her my entire life, and I will continue my duty until I die."
The voice from the cell sighed, "Mindless devotion never saved anyone you know? She put you down here because your old, she abandoned you so why do you continue this foolish endeavor."
The old jailer smiled, "Young one, as a cleric, you should know the feeling of being saved. I owe her my life, and it is her's to do as she wishes."
No comment from the voice in the cell. The jailer chuckled to himself. "So, how did she punish you this time? When she caught you the first time, she took your most important thing. Now, your a source of amusement with your perverted escape attempts. Not to much more a person can do to a man after losing that." He shuddered. The voice from the cell responded, "She was feeling generous today, just some old-fashioned whipping down to the bone. Then their messed up definition of healing. My skin any be healed, but the pain will be with me for a long time."
"Really, just whipping? Not even a few broken bones?"
"Nope."
The jailer was surprised, that was unusual. He quickly ran through a few scenarios in his head. "She must be having guest later today." he finally reached, "Too much violence would ruin her appearance and mood. Would also explain why she took a bath during an atypical time."
"Must be important than." the voice from the cell said carefully. The jailer shook his head, "Don't even think about it Valgrim, security will be tight and there would be consequences worse than death."
A muttering of grudging agreement came from the cell. The jailer snorted. Valgrim had really perked up his lonely life since he had been caught and enslaved by the priestess. She had a proper name of course, but he was not worthy to use it. She was the perfect mix of savior and sadist, a trait unusual in dark elf culture. Ironically, she practiced the same type of magic as the unfortunate gnome, divine.
He wondered what she had planned for the gnome. Normally, he would have been killed for peeking at the priestess. Instead, he was "adjusted" and enslaved. To further the weirdness of the situation, he hadn't been kill for any of his nine escape attempts, all of which had failed due to unforeseen pervert factors. It was almost as if she was playing with him, using his weaknesses against him to trap him in her web.
He shook his head, there was no way she was that interested in him. But still, it was a puzzle wasn't it?
Deep in his thoughts, a load groan made him jump. The door to the cell opened, and the small figure strolled out. Not only did he unlock the enchanted lock, his hair was cut and his beard was gone. His trademark hat was back on his head, and his walk held no indication that he was in serious pain. The jailer rolled his eyes, "Showoff". Valgrim grinned, "You going to stop me old man."
The jailer snorted, indicating the chain that locked him to the wall. "I can only watch little one. You know as well as I that these chains don't let me near the stairs or the cell."
They shared a laugh. Valgrim looked sadly at the jailer. "I can release you too you know? You could be free to live the rest of your days." The jailer shook his head.
"I told you already, my life is hers. Beside, I know you used basically all your daily power to make yourself pretty again. Don't waste your last bit on an old man."
Valgrim nodded, then smiled sadly, "Take care of yourself, Old Man"
The jailer nodded, and Valgrim left up the stairs.
The old jailer listened til Valgrim disappeared, then grinned. The chains connecting him to the wall disappeared, and a soft glow flowed over him. Standing up, he walked over to the cell and closed the door, growing younger with each step. When he reached the door and closed it, a handsome young man was left, glowing with a golden light. He chuckled to himself. Messing with the memories of the other slaves was easy. While they "remembered" him, they didn't talk about him outside the dungeon. The priestess didn't know he was down here, she thought there was a guard dog that Valgrim managed to out smart to escape each time.
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The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The priestess was indeed how he described, savior and sadist. She obviously held the gnome in some emotional capacity, otherwise he'd of been dead long ago. Whether it was for revenge or something else, even his godly power did not know. His domain managed the under gnomes after all, no the dark elves. He looked up the stairs, grinning. Valgrim sure was interesting. Even under the incredible mental and physical torture, he didn't break. And though his faith was a little perverted, he was a good cleric, trying to help those in need even if it endangered his own life. He had allowed himself to be caught in order to allow a fleeing slave to escape with her child.
The man thought to himself, and nodded, fading away into the light, leaving nothing behind but a sense of otherworldlyness. If Valgrim ever prayed for something interesting and major, the being swore to grant his wish to the best of his ability. So sayeth the god of the undergnomes, lord under the earth.
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Valgrim hurried up the stairs, not wasting a moment. He may have failed his ninth attempt, but now her defenses were down, expecting him to need time to recover before he tried again. "Oh, silly priestess, this time I'll make it." he muttered gleefully under his breath. Even better, she was probably distracted by an important guest, making it a better time than ever to escape. "I have to thank him later for the information......who is he again?" Pausing only a moment before continuing, he realized he couldn't remember who had told him the information, though he it was sure it was accurate.
Blaming his memory loss on the earlier torture, he made headway up the spiral staircase to a large wooden door. He closed his eyes and directed a cone of magic out in front of him, searching for signs of magic. The door was clean, and he couldn't sense the magic slave collars beyond it either. He opened the door slowly, looking around before running out. He quickly made his way down the corridor, diving into a side door as he heard someone coming. The room he was in was a pantry, where he quickly helped himself to some well deserved, in his mind, meal. He looked around the room, then grinned when he found what he was looking for. In the upper corner of the room, a small square indention was hidden.
When he had been scouting the house, he had made sure to create various escape tunnels in the thickest walls. It was pretty easy, the entire building was made into the rock face. They were underground after all. He was only happy his hosts hadn't caught on to his tunnels, they thought he was merely very sneaky. He climbed up to the corner, and sent his magic into the wall. It responded to his magic, opening up a tunnel small enough for a gnome to crawl through. When he made it inside, the wall closed behind him.
He crawled quickly down the tunnel, stopping every once and awhile to let some fresh air into the tunnel. He soon reached a fork in the tunnel, one led to outside and the other led to the main room. Valgrim considered, and figured his curiosity hadn't killed him yet. He crawled down the right tunnel, eager to see who was meeting with the priestess. After finding the right patch of tunnel, he opened a small hole and listened in.
In the main room, the priestess was sitting on her obsidian chair, listening to a male dark elf in front of her. The dark elf was accompanied by two guards, who were prostrated in front of her. From what Valgrim understood, the dark elf was talking about the gladiatorial arena in the city. He was asking her to oversee the games. Valgrim also picked up that this particular tournament was different, for it was for the priestess's hand. Each worthy dark elf would pick a champion from their slaves, servants, or mercenary and have them fight to the death. The winning proxy would then be the most worthy to ask her hand. The priestess had a bored expression on her face, but was not refuting anything he said. She sighed, and reluctantly agreed to oversee the event. They left the room, and Valgrim was left to his thoughts.
"So the winner is most worthy huh? Ku ku ku ku."
He decided on his plan, and closed the hearing hole. He made his way to the priestess's room, careful not to actually enter it. He had done that during his third escape attempt, and found that her room was filled with wards that sounded alarms as soon as he set his foot in. In his tunnel, he wrote on a sheet of paper, and sent if fluttering down onto the priestess's bed. He then made his escape, coming out into the free tunnels, and running away into the darkness, leaving nothing behind him.
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Later, the priestess made her way angrily into her room. The gnome had finally escaped, leaving her a mix of conflicting emotion. She really wanted to break his bones, but he was no where to be found. He had covered his tracks well, sending out false trails and loops all over the city. Regretting taking his slave collar off after his beating, she plopped onto her bed. Feeling something under her, she jumped up, expecting an assassination device or poison. Instead, she found a folded sheet of paper, radiating magic that could only belong to the gnome. Picking it up carefully, she unfolded it and read it. She had to reread it a couple of times to make sure she understood what she was reading.
A huge smile grew on her face, both malicious and warm at the same time. She dropped the letter on her dresser and left the room, eager to begin her preparations.
The note rested on the dresser opened. It read, "Dear Shinla, I've escaped, don't try to find me, you won't be able too. Instead, go to the tournament. I'll be sure to win and humiliate you in front of everybody by rejecting your hand. Enjoy your power for as long as you have it. Valgrim. P.S. wear the purple undergarments."