Abigail hated her cell. The goblins intentionally put her in a dirty cell. It was full of grim and mud; it smelt awful. She hated being dirty. She also hated being trapped in a prison. However, she hadn't felt too different now than she felt trapped. She felt like she was still being forced to be that small, proper little girl elf her mom had always envisioned. Her dad had always wanted Abigail to be the next heir to the throne. That is not something she wanted either. Both her parents, although loving and extremely caring, were at times overbearing. The king and queen of their kingdom, after all. Abigail's thoughts were interrupted when another maroon goblin walked in and offered her food. She went to take it and received a hard kick to her guts; she spit out more blood. And glared at the vile creature.
She ate her food, found the driest spot in the prison cell, and began to sleep.
She dreamed a dream she had remembered from when she was a teen, the time when she finally accepted her feelings for him. She was with Vincent. They were walking around the castle walls. They were talking about what they wanted to do with their lives. "I'm not sure Abs. I think that perhaps I don't want to stay with my family. I love my folks I really do but there has to be more. I want to be an explorer!" Vincent was telling Abigail as he watched her balance on the stone wall.
"Would your parents be supportive of that Vin?" She asked.
"I think so, my dad has been training me my whole life. The moment I could walk he was having me stalk prey. My mom on the other hand. She might not like it at first, but maybe my dad could help convince her to let me go." Vincent had said, stopping in his tracks. Abigail stopped and looked at him. She liked his look; his face was so gentle, and his voice was so smooth. She enjoyed how he could walk so silently. He had always been a solid friend, but every time, as of late, she looked at him, she felt leaves turning in her stomach.
When she first noticed these feelings, she had told her grandmother. Her grandmother said that it was a natural thing to feel, as Vincent was a handsome young man. Vincent wanted to leave, and Abigail didn't want to stay. She stared at him for a bit, then kept walking.
Abigail shared how she felt about leaving and wanting to explore the world. After some time, she finally decided to test something.
She paused, looked at him, and grabbed his hands. She felt a tiny spark from his fingertips and went straight to her heart. It fluttered. His hazel eyes stared back at him with an interested look. She felt like she was going to just lunge and kiss him right then and there, but she heard her grandma say patience. She didn't even know if he felt the same way as him. The way he looked back at her confirmed everything inside of her; she was totally in love with this hunter.
"You and I, Vincent, you and I will travel the world and form our own crusader party." she let go of his hands and leaned against the stone wall she was just walking on. "The world is full of beauty and wonder, Vin." After she said this, she turned around to look at him. His tribal tattoos were really cool and added a certain flare to his look. She noticed that he wasn't overly muscular, and she appreciated that. Elves were slender beings; not a lot of them were very big. She loved his look. She loved how caring and calm he was all the time. Abigail hadn't realized she had stopped dreaming and now was just listing things she loved about her boyfriend. When she suddenly heard her name, she turned around to see nothing, but she knew one thing was certain. That was Vincent.
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"What do you mean you found her?" Ob asked, staring back at Vincent.
"I know where they are keeping her, well at least a vague idea," he replied a little sheepishly.
"A vague idea is much better than where we started, so I'll take it; whatchu got?" Ob stated.
"She was in a cell that was muddy, looked like there was water that was leaking into the cell. So I am thinking she is further underground near the moat."
"The moat, okay so she is on the other side of the castle. I remember them taking us to these cells, after we reappeared from the portal."
"Okay so how do we get out of here. I don't have a weapon and I cannot cast spells without my bow."
"You can use my scythe," Ob said nonchalantly.
"You have it?! When did you get it?" Vincent asked.
"When I leveled up my soul level, I got the ability to conjure it, so it returned to my inventory as soon as that happened. You can use it, just won't be able to use any magic," Ob said as he pulled out Hades and handed it to Vincent.
"Oh, I know how to use this bad boy," He said, grinning while giving a few good slashes and twirls. "How do we get out of this cell?"
"I got that," Ob stated. He concentrated on the magical potential that he saw in the bars. He began to pull the potential from it, syphing the magic into his own manna pool. This was something that he could do with his aura manipulation; it allowed him to take the aura or magical potential from things and use it on his own. The things have to be lower level than he was, but a bar had no level, so he could take it for himself.
Once he felt all the aura leave the bar, he kicked it hard, and the bars went flying. Vincent smiled at his mighty friend. It feels like day after day, his level scales exponentially. How does he do it? How does he get so strong so quickly? Ob has been in this world for nearly 3 weeks now and has managed a lot.
"You can sneak right?" Ob asked Vincent.
"Yes, you can sneak into the shadows right?" He responded.
"Yep, but I don't want to use too much manna in case there are manna readers."
"Smart, I'll follow your lead."
"Bet," the pair started out of the prison cell. They noticed that they were not the only prisoners; elves, orcs, a unicorn, and several other creatures that Ob had never seen before. The cells were small, about 200/250 sq ft. Barely any room to move. They all looked miserable. Ob felt some pang of guilt. Then anger shot through his eyes. What kind of sick monsters do that?
"I know this is hard to bear. We can take them out later. Right now we have to focus on our objective." Ob didn't respond; he simply stared with a hot intensity at the prisoners. He kept walking, following Vincent.
The two followed along the long corridor of the prison; it was dark, with one flickering magically infused candlelight for every 10 prison cells. They passed by what seemed like a hundred cells. As they approached the end, there was a large brass door in front of them. Vincent heard voices; he signaled Ob to halt and prepare for a quiet attack, "do your thing.. Count to 5, then jump out and attack," he instructed Ob. Vincent hid using his hunting skills. Vincent lowered his heart rate and steadied his breathing; he became so still that he blended in with the shadows of the prison cells. Ob jumped into the shadows to hide from the goblin guards. The door swung open, and two small maroon goblins with spears walked through, banging on the prison cells. "Food is coming through you pests!" one of them shouted.
Ob looked at the guard; there was a key ring; he had hoped Vincent had also seen this. "One.. two.. Three... Four.. five!" He jumped out of the shadows right behind the guard on the left, grabbed the goblin's neck, and twisted hard, snapping its neck. The goblin dropped to the floor without a sound. Ob looked up to see the other guard slide off the blades of Hades. The prisoners looking on started to cheer; finally, something, someone was avenging them; there was a chance that they would not be tortured thoroughly. Vincent grabbed the keys from the fallen guard, and they continued on their journey.
"We need to find where they keep all female prisoners," Ob told Vincent, "They have to kept in a different area, probably feeding them different things."
"We should also consider if there are elves held separately," he responded.
"Good call, any idea where we would find that? Or even where out is?" Ob looked back and looked ahead; they were running in the same corridor for what seemed like forever. He noticed that there were no stairs, no tunnels, no exits or entrances; it just seemed like a brass door in every 100 prison cells or so. Something is wrong, Ob thought to himself, this doesn't make sense. There is no pattern to this. He stopped running and came to a halt.
Vincent, no longer hearing the footsteps of his friend, stopped and looked back, "What are you doing Ob?"
"You notice how we are just running with no change in direction or elevation?"
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I have yes, it must be really long." Vincent responded.
"We have passed three brass doors," Ob began to explain, "each brass door is following about 100 prison cells; each prison cell is about 12ish feet. That is a very long corridor. Too long. I think they teleport in and out. The other guards said food was coming, we should wait on the other side before they walked in to see if the food transport uses a portal." Vincent considered the idea and thought that it was more probable than just running for hours on end.
"Okay, I will follow your lead."
"How fast can you run?"
"Very." He stated simply that determination was written all over his face.
"Good, let's head back two corridors and see if we can catch them." Ob responded, preparing to sprint. The two of them bolt off, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. The two of them were running about 100 meters every 9 seconds. Shortly after they began, they arrived at their original corridor, and they both returned to their hiding positions. Ob went into the shadow realm, and Vincent went into his dark hiding spot. They sat and waited. What seemed like an hour passed by when, finally, Ob felt the magic in the area begin to shift. He appeared out of the shadows and looked at Vincent. It was time to go.
A maroon wormhole void appeared, and out walked two more maroon goblins, wearing chefs' hats and aprons, with a cart of food. Just before the wormhole closed, the two men stepped into it with caution, unaware of what was on the other side.
Abigail was growing tired of being a prisoner. She was sick of being stuck in this filthy water. She couldn't see, but she had felt that the prison bars had been magically infused to suppress magic. She couldn't use her powers to clean herself. She was surprised that no goblins came in to take advantage of their new pretty prisoner. It had been some time since she had even seen a guard.
As if thinking it brought on the curse, in walked lord Grinly. "Hello, there, pretty." His grin was that of a predator falling on wounded, juicy prey. "I am sorry it took me so long to get here, love. I had important business to attend to." He said as he slowly approached her.
She growled internally. This was her worst nightmare, being filthy and trapped in a cage with a goblin. She wanted to puke. She was not afraid. She was pissed off. What this stupid goblin didn't know was that she was a crown princess, and that meant she knew how to fight. She knows how to kill without weapons. She was not some weak little helpless pretty face. She was a badass who could kill you in 15 different ways without a weapon. She was well-rested and well-fed. Abigail knew one thing that was absolutely certain, she had to kill this goblin.
It was decided then. He had to die. Being a healer, killing something was against her nature, but she would gladly do it so nothing awful happened to her. The lord was bigger than her and presumably stronger. She had to be smart.
Lord Grinly was eager at this prospect; he had caught the most beautiful elf he had ever seen. She would be excellent; he had to have her. Letting his lust cloud his judgment and logic, he walked inside with his weapons and guards outside. Once he entered that cell, his magic would be turned off as well; he had forgotten about that. He walked in and reached out to grab his next victim; she ducked. He smiled wider; he didn't mind a little playing.
Abigail ducked under his outstretched arms and kicked him into the private area. He yelped in pain and bent over, grabbing them, trying to catch his breath. Abigail then sent an uppercut right into his diaphragm, causing him to lose what little breath he was holding. The prince was now on the ground wheezing, unable to catch his breath. He looked up incredulously; how dare this pest attack him like that! He gathered his breath right before she landed another blow. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her against the cell bars. "Fiesty, but that kick is going to cost you." He straightened himself up. Lord Grinly was level 27, silver tier. He could recover much quicker.
He used this to his advantage. Before Abigail could even register what had happened as she hit the wall, she felt her hair being grabbed again. "You stupid little pest," the goblin breathed his foul breath on her neck. "You're going to pay for that. It's a good thing you are a healer, so you can heal me right up."
Abigail, squirming in pain, managed, "Rot in hell." She put her feet against the wall and started to run up it. She flipped over on top of the prince, who still had her hair in hand. She started throwing elbows at the prince's head. Elbow after elbow connected with her enemy, and her hair started to get released. Once she felt it was enough, she jumped off him and went to the other side. Blood was pouring down his face. She tied her hair up in an active bun. The prince looked awful, face covered in blood and painted with rage.
"I may be a pest." She said, staring at her opponent, "but even a minor wasp can kill a griffin."
Lord Grinly had found the hidden switch to turn off the cells' magic-blocking spells. He was sick of this elf, thinking she could get the better of him. His powerset was not extensive, but he wanted to make her heal him. He didn't see the battle fully. He was too busy watching the draconian. He didn't know she could poison.
Abigail felt her magic be restored; as if she had magical shackles released, she could feel the magic in her body. She smiled. She was going to enjoy this now. She lunged at the prince, dodging his punch. She grabbed his leg and released some of the toxins into his body from that contact point. He hadn't noticed. She jumped onto his back, grabbed his head, and started inflicting him with toxins. She poured half of her manna into that attack; she was going to poison him one way or another. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her across the room. She slammed into the wall, blood trickling out her mouth now. She wiped her mouth clear of the blood. She noticed the prince was starting to get wobbly. The poison was going into effect. He went to turn on the magic blockers again, hoping this would stop the poison. It did not. Enraged, he roared, "Now, you must die!" His eyes were that of a monster. Ready to slaughter his prey.
The area Vincent and Ob had entered looked like a busy train station, but instead of trains, there were portals. Each portal was labeled, and each portal led to different parts of the prison. There were no guards around. Vincent found this peculiar. Vincent noticed that there was an abnormal amount of recent footprints heading into one portal. He couldn't read it, but he gestured to Ob to see if he could translate it. Ob's UI translated the label to read, "Special Prisoners, Female."
"That is where we need to go, I assume," Ob said.
"There are likely to be a lot of guards, I think you should go alone with stalker skill?" Vincent said, "bring her back safely, I'll figure out which portal leads to where." He tossed the keys to Ob and told him to move.
Ob listened to his friend. He didn't like the plan, but he knew it was a wise decision. Ob entered the portal and dove into the shadows right away. In the shadows, he spoke to Eclipse,
"Can you enter the shadows with me?"
"Not at bronze tier, I believe at silver you can bring other beings with you." She responded.
"Okay, are you ready to attack as soon as I leave the shadow realm? I sense a lot of auras in front of us. They are standing still. Two dragon's breaths from the both of us should eliminate the lot."
"Be precise, Ob; how many do you sense?"
Ob focused his senses to detect that 7 guards were watching from outside a particular prison cell. Inside the cell, he could not sense anything; the cell's magic must have been turned on. "Seven".
"Understood, I am ready," Eclipse said.
Ob, in the shadows, began to let the spark of manna begin internally in his belly. He was starting to let it rise as soon as he jumped out of the shadows. He jumped out and saw all 7 goblins turn around in surprise as two beings appeared out of nowhere, and one of them was a dragon. Before they could even react, two massive fireballs of blue and white flames erupted towards the group. After the blinding light, there was nothing but ashes.
Abigail saw two flames appear next to her cell. She knew those colors anywhere, Eclipse and Ob! She yelled, "Over here!" as she did, she stepped to the side to avoid a pathetic punch attempt made by lord Grinly, who was looking a lot worse for wear. He was pale, and the black liquid was oozing out of his mouth and ears. His breath was labored and painful; he was going to die if he didn't get any healing.
Ob walked over to the cell with keys in his hands. He looked down to see a bag; he grabbed it and put it in his inventory, "That will be useful later, hey Abigail, that guy looks terrible." He said, opening the cell door. "But aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" He gave his friend a huge hug, "Good to see ya alive, girly pop." She pulled him close; she never thought she would miss a draconian quite this much, but here she was in the warm embrace of a friend. "Vincent is outside that portal down there waiting for us; he is looking to see what is a good portal to escape from," he continued, letting her be happy and speechless, "what did this guy do to you?"
"Nothing that I couldn't manage," she said with a smirk, "what should we do with him?"
"Kill him, of course," Ob said with flint in his voice. Without another word, Ob fired another fireball. Lord Grinly's body lay there burnt to a crisp, motionless, lifeless. Eclipse came in and turned the body into ashes with the dragon's breath. Abigail looked at the two in grateful surprise.
"Well, I half expected you to say let him live." She said to the two.
"No," Ob said, his usual calm voice returning. "You hurt his pride. You hurt this kingdom's pride. An elf. Anyone who knows that he brought in an elf is dead. Had he lived, he is an enemy we do not want following us."
Abigail blinked in surprise. Ob had such a reaction to the succubus but for this crown prince, nothing. She didn’t question him further, she was grateful to be saved, he was going to die one way or another."That is true; why did you do that to his dead body, Eclipse?"
"We don't want him to be revived with necromancy. So doing this kingdom a favor and preventing that." Eclipse responded.
Eclipse went back into her soul home so they could travel back without a dragon scaring everyone. As they re-entered the portal station, they found Vincent sitting and waiting nervously. He looked up to see his girlfriend and someone he was considering to be his best friend. Running up to Abigail, he gave her a huge embrace and kissed her passionately, "Abs" is all he said.
Ob cleared his throat, "Not to ruin this perfect moment, but we definitely should get the hell out of here. Now"
The couple agreed and let go of each other, "The gateway outside close to where we were taking is this one, the purple one," Vincent said. "It took me some time, but I figured it out."
The trio once again reunited, stepping through the portal. Just like that, they were hit with a blast of cool fresh air and forest trees. Eclipse came out of her home and walked beside the group. They were very near the battlefield. As they walked back to the field, they found where their weapons had been thrown and tossed on the ground. Thankfully, no bandits had come this way. They looked over the field and saw hundreds of dead goblins, and they continued to walk away, not looking back.