Rhyan noted Ibela’s focus towards the door, and not them, using this moment he reached out, barely reaching and grabbing the back of Ibela’s shirt. It wasn’t a solid grasp but enough to pull him closer, letting him get hold of the man properly.
Grabbing one of his flailing arms in through the railing, bending it around in a quite painful angle had the man sing with pain, as strange as it sounded this was almost music in Gilliam’s ringing ears. It got even better when a cracking pop came from the same arm, which increased his screams. Rhyan’s eyes weren’t full of panic, but they weren’t as collected as Gilliam expected them to be, there was a slight unhinged feeling behind them.
“I assume I have your attention?” Rhyan asked rhetorically as he now had the broken arm bent around a bar, grabbed Ibela’s neck through another opening and squeezed a bit. Rhyan’s hands were large so they could easily hold around an office worker’s neck.
Ibela rapidly nodded through whimpers.
“Do you still have the key?” He asked in an incredibly threatening and slightly rushed tone.
Ibela started by shaking his head but changed it to a nodding motion as Rhyan’s grasp on his neck tightened.
“Then fucking open it.” Rhyan didn’t let go of anything but commanded him as he were, as Ibela was well in range of unlocking.
Ibela nodded again and reached into his pocket with his working arm, it took some struggling as it was the right-hand pocket and his right arm was somewhat occupied at the moment. Eventually getting it out, he fumbled for several seconds before putting it into the lock and finally turning the key around. A satisfying click later, and a strong push by Rhyan’s leg, the door swung open.
Rhyan let completely go of Ibela as he stepped through the now open door, Ibela shouted out in pain the pressure holding his arm in place loosened, letting it spring back into a more comfortable angle, which in turn pained him considerably. Requesting to know the fuck he thought he was doing as he turned towards the angry tan-skinned man, the only reply he got was a fist in his face which knocked him out instantly and sent him rolling on the floor.
Rhyan took the key from the lock and proceeded to unlock Cera’s first and as soon as the door was open they both made it to Gilliam’s. A few seconds later the door was open, and Rhyan stepped in before crouching next to Gilliam.
“I... How are we doing this...” He tried to grab Gilliam and lift him but saw that this was not the way to go.
“Just get me out of here.” Gilliam barked through the pain, he didn’t care if he got a little more pain from someone trying to help him, as soon as he was out of this fucking place he could at least fix himself.
Gilliam looked towards Cera before Rhyan picked him up. “Cera, get the ring on his hand. I need it back.” It hurt to speak this much but they finally had a break for freedom.
Cera nodded and went for Ibela’s unconscious body, and through several moments of lifting, grunts of severe pain and some trial and error later Gilliam found himself supported by a taller and stronger man. He couldn’t walk properly, between the height differences and his messed up legs, but with Rhyan’s aid, he could at least somewhat move.
Cera returned after getting the ring and stepped in as well, trying her best by grabbing Gilliam by his waist and trying to keep lifting him a little bit. Her slender physique didn’t have much muscle, but it helped a tiny bit if nothing else.
Being helped into the path between the cells and leaving his cell felt incredibly pleasant. Though they were still in... wherever this was, so they needed to find a way out.
Gilliam wanted to kill Ibela, but the first thing on his mind was to get out. But before they could do much there was a knock on the door before it slowly opened.
“Sir, there appears to be a commotion he-” Looking into the room as he was speaking to Ibela, he saw what was going on and instantly drew his weapon.
“ALARM! The prisoners are escaping!” He shouted into the hallway, attempting to block them in the door. There was the sound of several sets of feet coming closer.
It didn’t take more than a few seconds for the backup to arrive. Rhyan used a moment to let go of Gilliam, having him lean himself onto the tiny Cera who struggled with all her might to try to keep him up. Rhyan was easily the strongest and most trained of the group, though naked he readied himself for a fight. His opponents had daggers and short-swords, meaning this was not going to be an easy fight as there was nothing in here for him to use, nothing at all.
“Fuck... Gilliam... this isn’t good.” Rhyan commented towards his opponents but meant the words for his ally.
There were some weird-sounding footsteps in the hallway, followed by some screams of terror and pain. A streak of blood spread across the wall, floor and ceiling behind the guards. A voice called out that a demon was coming and that they had no chance.
This caused some change in focus of the people blocking the door, and as soon as the closest person looked into the hallway, Rhyan took advantage of his lack of focus.
The guard looked back into the room, only to see Rhyan’s fist doing its best to crack his face into his skull. He went down immediately. In the same fluid motion, he took his sword and lodged it in the chest of the next man, taking his dagger instead of pulling the sword back out.
One of the three other guards attacked Rhyan, but a swift move let him block the attack with the dagger he was holding. Rhyan, using his free hand grabbed the hand around the handle of the bandit’s sword and twisted his hand enough to make the man yell out, the next movement used that sword to cut towards his last guard-ally. Though the ally managed to block a proper blow from landing, it gave Rhyan the opening he needed to punch the man in the face using his dagger hand. The man fell backwards which left only the man whose sword hand Rhyan was currently holding, a powerful headbutt to the brow of the nose knocked him out as well.
Gilliam was amazed, in a way he wasn’t surprised at, Rhyan was an adventurer for a while and had been fighting with defence in mind, but it was still an amazing sight. Taking out for men, through a doorframe, in only a few seconds, bare-handed.
Though as he was looking at his ally with slight awe, he saw that Rhyan looked down the hallway with fear in his eyes, there was something more than just fear of danger, it was like a young man looking at a walking nightmare. He quickly grabbed some of the weapons from the fallen bandits and returned to the prison area, slamming the door shut behind him. He tried to lock but there was no key on this side. Using a brief moment he stopped over to Gilliam’s cell, took that key and gave that a test. The door locked successfully which made him look a little bit relieved.
“There’s a demon out there. I think it’s one of those Fracturian fucks.” Rhyan commented, looking both angry, annoyed, confused and a little bit scared.
“I thought that problem was solved. Is this one of the ones stranded in Lisica?” He seemed to wonder a bit as he took a few steps away from the door, force-handing Gilliam a short sword as he branded a sword and dagger in his hands.
Gilliam wondered, if it was a Fracturian, he should be able to handle this. The Lord’s compulsion should let him just command them easily if it turns out bad. However... since their whole species was so magically focused, it might not even work within the anti-magic zone. If this was one of the individuals stranded in Lisica when the gate network was closed down, they might not even know about Gilliam or recognise him in time.
Before Gilliam could properly consider more details, the door handle was moved and the door attempted to open. As the door was locked it didn’t budge. A few stronger pounds on the door, seemed like they tried to force the door open. Then a few seconds of silence before a powerful thud as the door swung open with great speed and force, slamming into the wall on its strong hinges as mental pieces of the lock bounced off the stone floor.
Outside stood a female Fracturian looking into the room. She was somewhat short, almost a head shorter than Gilliam and had pale purple skin. Her horns extended from the top of her head near the temples, they extended backwards and were curved in the same shape as her head. The horns seemed to be cut or filed down to not go further back than the back of her head, leaving only a slightly bent part. She had long ears, not far from what Gilliam would define as elf-ears from modern media. Her hooved feet had some slightly clawed toes making a ‘clawed toe hoof shape’ The lowest ‘leg’ of her digitigrade legs was covered in white hair-like fur. Her tail was absurdly long for her body, easily twice as long as Gilliam was, the end of the tail had what looked like a three-finger bone-like hand with black claws. Her long white hair reached her hips and framed her plain face and glowing blue eyes surprisingly well, her forehead had a barely present but vaguely glowing magic symbol of a uniquely drawn magic circle without runes. She wore a kind of robe with the lower part split into four, leaving a loin-cloth-like part hanging between her legs but having plenty of room for her legs to stick out.
Gilliam inhaled to shout but the sudden inhaling was followed by some fluids, both of which sent a spike of pain through his body causing coughs, which only made the situation worse.
Rhyan took a few fast breaths, almost as if readying himself for a massive ordeal before he let out a grunt as he pushed off towards the demon, weapons in hand.
Her long tail came whipping into the room, the bone-hand-like claw on the end heading for Rhyan. Gilliam pushed through his pain and inhaled fluids to groan out. “Stop. Petal. Friend!” He sounded horrible, barely legible, but due to the otherwise silence in the room it seemed to be enough.
The incoming attack from the demon stopped, barely, which confused Rhyan. However, it wasn’t enough for him to call off his attack and he stepped in to do his best to deliver a stab at the female demon easily two heads shorter than him.
However, before he could reach her he felt something swiftly curl around his waist and lift him off the floor. In the matter of a single step towards her she had picked him up with her tail, though small and slender, not counting the extremely long tail being even more slender, she didn’t seem affected by his weight at all.
He reacted as most men would and tried to attack her tail. The sword and dagger landed true but didn’t do more than surface damage, her skin was tough as armour to get through, but he seemed determined to deepen the cut with repeated attacks. She reacted to it as one would when lightly cut and let out a pained reaction.
“No, Rhyan, stop!” Gilliam called out between coughs. This did cause Rhyan a moment of pause which had the demon move him to the side of the room and let him go.
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Before he could react he was standing at the side of the room as the demon rushed in towards Gilliam. He wanted to do something but before he could take a single step she had covered the distance and grabbed Gilliam in a deep hug as she was wrapping him up with his tail as she closed her eyes like one would hugging a loved one.
This caused Cera to let out a shriek of terror as she was knocked aside, Rhyan’s confusion only grew more. As Gilliam was wrapped up in what looked like a loving embrace he couldn’t do anything but groan in pain as his everything was already hurting, being compressed and wrapped up like this didn’t help at all.
“Stop... Petal... please... stop...” Gilliam tried to get words through, but it seemed to take several seconds for the demon to react.
Rhyan reacted slightly by grabbing his weapons tighter and half-stepping closer, but the previous request to stand down seemed to have him in a bind. The way she was hugging him was anything but aggressive, if anything it was incredibly loving and longing.
Opening her eyes slightly she seemed to process what was going on, which had her eyes shoot up, and her tail whip around as she unwrapped him and let him go at the same time. This suddenly put weight on his legs, which didn’t work well. A groan in pain and failure to stand had him fall over, which caused even more pain once he landed on the stone floor.
Rhyan’s confusion reached his max and he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to attack, taking another half-step in, but Gilliam told him to stop and the demon looked like she was fond of him. “Gilliam... explain... please...”
Gilliam was still groaning in pain, the demon looked like she was about to cry as Cera ran to Gilliam’s side. The three claws of the demon’s tail whipped down and lodged themselves in the stone between Cera and Gilliam, showing not only a threat but also that the surface wound from Rhyan was completely healed. The demon’s eyes narrowed as the little fur-covered creature stopped in her steps, doing her best to hold back tears.
“No... stop... Let me explain..” Gilliam coughed until he was done, but he remained on the floor.
The demon stepped in and crouched down next to Gilliam. “My... My Lord. What... what happened...?” She looked distraught as she looked around the room, meeting eyes with Rhyan.
“Was it you?!” Instantly blaming him, as the only armed man in the room, she half turned around to face him with deep anger in her pupil and iris-lacking eyes.
“No, stop. Calm down!” Gilliam ordered before he coughed again. This seemed to instantly change the demon’s whole aura, as she stood down like a well-trained puppy, pulling her tail claws out of the stone floor like it was nothing she looked back at Gilliam confused.
Gilliam used a moment to just get himself seated upright, getting support and aid from the demon’s tail. This time it was much slower and careful, like caring for a wounded friend.
“First of all...” Gilliam started. “This will be short, we need to get out of here but...”
He referred to his two friends by pointing at them before pointing at the demon. “This is Cera, she’s the slave that I liberated. That is Rhyan, an ally, we’re working together. And this is Petal, she’s... My Fracturian girlfriend.”
He didn’t feel any shame in referring to her like that, after all, it was true. But the reason for hesitation was that Rhyan mentioned having fought in the Fracturian invasion...
“... Excuse me but... what?!” Rhyan’s loud question echoed between the cold stone walls.
“I’ll explain everything when we get out, for now, I hope you can accept she’s on our side, or rather she’s on my side specifically... She is incredibly strong and she’s our ticket out of here.” Gilliam tried to bottomline it but there were so many unanswered details.
Shaking his head as much as he dared to with his pain, he looked back to Petal.
“Where is Savia?” There were a lot of things on the table, but he needed to know that everything was fine with her.
“She’s waiting in the forest outside.” She seemed happy to just talk to Gilliam again, or perhaps she reacted to the passive compliment when he spoke with Rhyan just now.
Turning back to Petal he continued. “Petal. I need you to do something. There is a crystal somewhere that’s blocking out my mana.”
“This place is... cold...” Her tone of voice hinted that this was not a temperature answer. “Is that why?”
“Yes, I need you to get rid of that gem, it should look like the long crystals we found in the Hand. It was in a fancy box, and that box turned it off.” Gilliam wasn’t sure if shattering it would fix anything, after all, if you break a crystal there are now just more smaller crystals.
“Find the crystal, put it in the fancy box and close it. The cold should disappear then?” She seemed to want to double-check before doing anything.
“I... really hope so... And if you find a man with a fucked up face and dried blood on his clothes, he could smell like me, he did this to me, I want him back or dead.” Gilliam explained the best he could about his torturer, though besides having a weird face he didn’t have many other features that could be used to identify him. But he was the only one he had seen with dried blood on his clothes, and if his blood was on the clothes then Petal might be able to sniff him out.
She nodded and darted off at record speed, her tail whipping after her, embedding itself in the wall outside which let her round the corner supported without losing speed. As the tail pulled itself out of the wall, pulling a brick with it, she disappeared down the hallway.
Rhyan closed the door, it took some effort but the hinges still somewhat worked. The lock was busted so Rhyan opted to lean against it as he sat down, using his bodyweight as a doorstopper instead.
“So... as we’re waiting... Explain.” The words from Rhyan didn’t sound like a request, and it was the first time Gilliam had heard him so angry. He was containing it well but his words were direct and extremely commanding.
“Well... I suppose that’s only fair.” Gilliam stated as he mentally prepared for a lot of disbelief.
“So... Everything I’m about to tell you is going to sound... like lies, but please bear with me.”
After his little disclaimer, he started explaining everything, though in brief detail. The fact that he was from another world and ended up in Lisica, his time at the academy before the Gate event happened, and how he met Petal as a prisoner of war who entered his service on her wish. He pointed to his forehead as he did so, hinting at the magic symbol that was there on her as he explained that she was a soul-bound slave, but it was her own choice and he never used it, giving her total freedom as far as he can. He explained the standing order that she’s to protect him and only hurt if she’s certain that she’s attacked, self-defense is fine but she’s not allowed to attack anyone else without his specific order. As the Gate event happened and the demon invasion happened, he ended up closing the first few gates as he learned how to master his magic more. The first time he went to the Fractured Lands he was sent there by an agent of the demons among the students, his first time there was not fun but he made his way back through an artefact after killing a lot of them.
The second time he went there was through a counter-invasion, he had grown powerful by that time and necessity forced him to go in as unprepared as he was. The short story of it was that his small team made its way to the lord of the Demons, and upon discovering a few things he barely managed to win. Now, the Fracturians could gain power and abilities through eating the hearts of others, in the moment Gilliam took a bite of the Lord’s heart before it disintegrated, gaining the signature of the Demon Lord. The short was that all Fracturians, at least in theory, recognized him as their leader and became submissive to him if he flared this connection.
After spending some time in the Fractured Lands, stabilizing them and introducing agriculture, they finally came to the point where they didn’t need to invade for resources. Some changes to how they did things within the culture made it relatively stable. But eventually, it stabilised a lot and Gilliam grew a bit bored, wanting a vacation from the deserts, so he came back to Lisica and ended up as a guildmember on a whim.
This short story of explanations was done as they ignored the shouts and yells from the other side of the door. Gilliam was naturally worried, but given how strong he knew Petal was, she should be fine.
Rhyan and Cera sat there listening to his explanation. Though Cera seemed to not consider it too much, even offering Gilliam his ring through the explanation as they were now calm. Rhyan grew more and more uncertain and burdened.
“So... You’re the lord of all Fracturians...” He muttered, seeming to be saying that to himself more than anything.
Gilliam nodded, not intending to lie, no matter how farfetched it sounded. “Yes, but I only became that after I took that, with the intent of stopping the invasion of Lisica, and other worlds.”
“The Fracturians killed and ate my family and that is one of the main reasons I turned to the Guild. I... I need time to process this.” He didn’t look at Gilliam, but rather at the floor between them as he said this.
Gilliam couldn’t blame him, though the Fracturians were just soldiers in a war that never needed to exist, they are still to blame for their actions as any other soldier. At the same time, Gilliam felt something. It was like there was a weird cold air covering him for the longest time, but it faded like stepping into the sun. Mentally accessing his Boundary he found that both the metaphorical plug and wall were gone, Petal must have found the crystal!
Without losing a moment, Gilliam started blasting his body with healing, just covering himself in healing energy, focusing on the worst areas like his leg, hand and toes.
This startled Cera but seemed to soften Rhyan’s expression a little. Though far from done, this would take a while, he was feeling slightly ‘less bad’ by the second.
Only a moment after Gilliam started healing himself, Ibela made a low groaning sound.