Jack followed slightly behind the warden, along with Lucius. The first floor of the Jail quarters were, in general, empty. Jack didn't think much of it, but just a bit of thought would have told him that the many skulls laid in a pile just outside of his palace were from this first floor.
The Jail quarters and its ghostly ambiance struck Jack with a rather interesting feel. After being an undead, and among undead for so long, he had slightly forgotten what a haunted place felt like... This Jail gave off the vibes that ghosts would walk its halls.
"I feel like We should see some ghosts here, or is that just wishful thinking?" Jack chuckled as he spoke.
"Of course, We have them locked up in the lowest chambers. Nasty little buggers have to be sealed or they get away." Warden Metalhearts spat.
[What?] Jack was slightly taken back... He was just making a comment, but ghost were real? Only for a moment did this feeling last, Jack figured anything was possible. He was after all a walking skeleton.
"So, are these the ghosts of undead, or something else?" Jack became curious.
"Not really. These ghosts are conscious undead that are unable to inhabit a body. Think of ghost as most of soul bodies, then anything else, but We do have a few that were undead at one point. They made it to Knight rank and had strong souls. This gave them the ability to remain behind as ghosts. I guess if We really wanted... We could perform a ritual to bind them back to a body." The Warden said casually.
"I guess them being in a soul form is better to save on space."
"Exactly." The Warden said with a bit of laughter in her voice.
Jack and Lucius continued to follow, as they took a flight of stairs down... Down... and Down... Unlike the first floor, the next few floors contained plenty of inmates, with each floor being walked by two guards in white uniforms. On each of their chests, were the Deagoth symbol with two chains in an X over the badge. This was the symbol of the Jail quarter guards.
The bars of each of the cells were made of Froststeel. The same metal that made the chains that bound some of the stronger Cultivator inmates. This froststeel would freeze the Cultivator's magic power, and were, for the most part, impervious to Cultivator's attacks.
"Does each floor keep certain inmates for different reasons?" Jack asked, out of curiously.
Lucius spoke up this time, "Yes. The first floor is basically the temporary Jailing section. The second floor on are inmates being held. The second floor is for petty theft, the third floor is for general punishments, the fourth floor is for grand theft, the fifth floor is for murder, etc., etc.
"Ah."
Jack estimated that they were seven floors down now and if the ghost were kept lower then... Just how many floors were there???
"Here We are. The only Official left with unlife still in them." The Warden pointed down the hall to the last cell.
"What floor is this one used for?" Jack was very interested in this place.
"This is our solitary confinement floor. Each cell keeps one inmate a piece, and is lined with Froststeel for some of the more powerful Cultivators being kept prisoner." The Warden explained.
"So, Jordan Grimnight is in solitary confinement?" Jack asked.
"Yes. The other inmates, at the time, couldn't take his preaching. Though to be honest, a lot of inmates were slightly sad he was taken out. We took him out for his own safety really... Now some of the inmates ask to get permission to visit him. I didn't see the harm, and let them visit. It was either let them have this small request or listen to endless amounts of complaining. I took the option where I can rest in peace." The Warden continued.
The group walked until they reached the last cell, and next to it was Guard Daniels, like the last guards that seen Jack, they kneeled to one knee. It was interesting that this floor only contained one guard.
"Please rise." Jack made motion. As Jack performed his motion, Warden Metalhearts spoke, "Guard Daniels, please open the cell. The Holy Witch King wishes to speak with Jordan Grimnight."
"Right away!" The Officer fumbled with his keys and was slightly unsteady as he tried to open the cell. A full five minutes, when he finally was able to open it.
Stolen novel; please report.
Jack wondered why this Guard was so... Nervous? Jack tossed it for the moment, as the door opened he walked in to be greeted with a very eccentric room.
The room was that of a mad man. All the walls were written on, saying different things. There were pictures drawn besides all the texts, at various angles. Yellow parchment papers were strung all over the floor with writing all over them. In the corner of the room, sat an undead with simple white robes, as they were hunched over a small desk writing endlessly, unaware that the door had been open.
Lucius to the side of Jack was stunned... He knew a bit about what was going on but hadn't seen for himself.
Jack wondered why Jordan Grimnight wanted to meet him so bad. Jack spoke, "Jordan Grimnight. I have come at your request. What is it that you wish to say."
The furious writing of the hunched over inmate stopped abruptly. He turned to face The Holy Witch King.
"...Your Grace?" The wretched madman spoke. The handsome face of Jordan Grimnight was withered, and hollow. His eyes were sunken and his skin had taken on a darker shade. Jack could see that each of his fingers showed a bit of bone up to the second joint of the finger. Black blood was dripping from his index finger on his left hand.
Before Jack could ask anything, Jordan fell from his seat as he prostrated before him.
"I am unworthy! I AM UNWORTHY! Such a sight! MY GOD-KING HAS COME!"
Jack mentally furrowed his brows, "God-King?"
"Yes... YES, MY LORD! The God-King has come! Forgive your servant for he was blind. He failed to see his lord when he was so close for so long!" Jordan sobbed with joy and fear in his voice.
"....." Jack maintained his silence, speechless.
"I dare not to look upon my Lord! Again, I am unworthy! But... But... I must show you. Please let me show you my gifts!" Jordan quivered on the floor, his face planted down.
"Ah... Go ahead," Jack spoke, he wanted to know just what gifts this mad man had. Lucius to the side remained silent, as he watched Jordan. The Warden shook her head while watching.
Jordan scrambled up from his position and went back to his desk. He shuffled around his work and came back. He laid on the floor three large tomes, as he resumed his kneeling face plant.
"Are these... Are these bound in skin?" Jack looked over these tombs and found that they had the pattern of dried skin.
"Yes! From my back... I know that I am unclean, but I had no other means at the time." Jordan said with slight fear. "If given the proper materials, I'll rewrite them again!"
Jack looked over to the Warden.
"By the time I had got the materials, he had already stripped the skin from his back... He tore it off himself. How he cut it into shape? I don't know. I had to get a bone doc in here to heal his back so he didn't get a flesh-eating disease." The Warden explained while shaking her head. "I don't know how he stood the pain."
Jordan spoke again, "Anything for my God-King."
"Why do you call me God-King?" Jack turned back and asked.
"I've written! I've written it all down here. The God-King of the undead! Our Holy God-King! You are the lord of light that has descended from the Light. In my prior days, I cultivated the darkness. I, now, may not be able to cultivate the Light, but the Light speaks to me. It tells me that you are him. You are the God-King of the undead. The one that will lead us to the Light!"
"...What are in these Tomes?"
"These are all my writings that I gathered from the Light! The Light calls them 'The Tomes of Lexos Divinus.'"
[That sounds a lot like Latin?! Lex Divina... Divine Law... The Tomes of Divine Law? How does he know Latin?] Jack had uttered a phrase once before in Latin, instead of Voidic, the language of the undead. That phrase was Ego Te Absolvo. He used this when he absolved the ladies of Jade. Jack had put on a nice light show and uttered what the thought sounded good. He had once heard in one of his shows that phrase, and so he said it... In all the tomes he had read in his Library, he had not come across any other language but Voidic... Was Latin a thing here?
"This is Latin. Do you know the language of Latin?" Jack asked out of curiosity.
"No, my lord! I am only your tool of the Light, through which I write." Jordan spoke with Joy.
Lucius spoke up, "What's Latin?"
"Its... It's a dead language. No one uses it anymore. I've never seen anything in this world about it." Jack said without looking back.
[If you haven't seen it... How do you know it?] Was the first thought that Lucius had come to mind.
"...Divine being..." Lucius muttered in what only he thought he could hear. Jack heard and looked over to Lucius speechlessly. Fortunately, unfortunately, Lucius couldn't read Jack's bone face.
"What does this Lexos Divinus say?" Jack turned back again and questioned.
"They are a guide for all undead... NO! For all sentient creatures to live their life and worship you! To Cultivate the Light, with you as its god! We will draw power from you! Our Faith will be Out Cultivation!" Jordan said with zeal.
"...Jordan... I'm no god. I am a King, I am an Undead, I am a Husband, I am a Male... But I am not a god." Jack said slowly so that not just Jordan can understand, but even Lucius.
"My Lord is too humble! I know! I know that you are the Undead god of Light! I wish... I wish you could grant this servant his wish. I know I shouldn't, but to better serve you, I must ask! I must!"
"...What is it that you want...?"
"I wish... I wish to be absolved of my past sin! I know if you do this, I can cultivate the Light. It will no longer just talk to me, but I will be able to connect to it!"
[I don't think that's exactly how it works... but... Let's find out.] Jack thought. He knew that the Light was a selfish power. If you cultivated any other, it would not form a connection to that person. [Let's just call this... for science!] Jack mentally laughed to himself, using science to figure out magic.
"Alright. I will do this for you, but you must kneel before me. Do not lay on the floor." Jack said with his heroic voice echoing through the halls.
Lucius put his hand out to both the Warden and Guard, and moved back, pushing them all back with him.
Jack didn't beat around the bush, with any fancy words this time. He simply made a circle in the air with his index finger, and spoke, "We are all, as children of Deagoth, and I absolve you as one of these children." Jack then brought his index finger through the middle of the circle, "All is one. Now go and sin no more. Ego... Te Absolvo."