"Do you, or do you not admit to your participation within the rebellion group?" A shadow loomed over Artus, creeping towards him and then smacking him on the side of the head with end of a blunt stick. Hissing in pain, coughing out specks of blood, Artus didn't respond to the soldier's question. Degenerate beings they were. Wise thing would be to avoid conflict with them, but in Artus' case, it was entirely their fault. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it was better off saying nothing, than to say he did something that he didn't do. Artus looked down and frowned. This wasn't going the way it was supposed to, not at all. One minute he's fleeing a raided village, and then next he's being framed for criminal activity. He sniffled a little bit, and rubbed his handcuffed hands on his knees. He sat there, kneeling, feeling worthless. "This guy's not answering, what do we do with him?" A soldier asked another, who bent down to get eye level with Artus.

"Just put him on the route to Galvez Prison. Attacking a soldier is still considered an offense, and indirectly showing his disloyalty to the Emperor. Sure things may be different if he was on the western side of the country, but he's in Emperor Diaz's territory right now." The soldier gave Artus a few dirty looks, before standing up again.

"Sir…Galvez Prison…it's quite a ways away. It's much farther west, almost near Kale's region. It'll take forever to get there." The soldier pointed at Artus. "And we are not allowed to kill him without permission."

"We'll take him back to the post, and put him in the carriage with the rest of those deviants on the way to the prison. Regular jail just won't cut it for these kind of people." Artus slowly looked up as his eyes widened. Prison? He couldn't go to prison. Not Galvez especially.

"W-Wait! P-Please, I'm telling you! I wasn't doing anything – " His voice was cut short with another quick swing at his head with the end of a spear, smacking him right to the ground, blacking him out.​

Oh god…what a dream… Artus moaned, rubbing his head. He lay on the rocky, yet dirty ground staring up at what seemed to be the ceiling hidden in darkness. His eyes were unusually crusty, and with the added darkness, made it really hard to adjust. Massaging his eyes open, he was finally able to see and observe his surroundings. What…is this place? He sat upright, looking around. He was in a dark, cave like room with several torches mounted on the wall. Each one had writing engraved on the handle, which must have let it burn for extended periods of time. "What the – " He muttered to himself, as he tried to stand up, nearly stumbling. He looked straight ahead, and simply saw that the cavern narrowed slightly into an extremely dark corridor, which Artus thought likely led around the caverns he was currently in. He looked upwards, and only saw darkness. No cave structures dangling down or anything of the sort. Just pure black.

Taking a few deep breaths, Artus began to panic a little, heartbeat racing. He had no clue where he was, and the last thing he remembered was meeting a bunch of soldiers from – Wait. Those guys said they were taking me to..Galvez Prison? Artus stood in fear as a pain in his stomach made him want to vomit. He gulped, and erratically looked around the cave room for nothing in particular. Maybe a clue, maybe some markings. Anything to get him out. He then stopped as he saw a figure, lying down in the corner of the room, nearly covered in darkness with only the bare minimum of light from the torches illuminating a soft silhouette around the figure. "H-Hey, wake up!" Artus jogged over to the person lying down, gently but effectively shaking them out of their slumber.

"I swear I will find you. You who cursed my right eye with Dark magic. No one does that to a Paladin and gets away with it. Especially if said Paladin is the son of Lord von Luce. No matter where you run, no matter where you hide, you will be found. All Dark magic should be and made illegal. My father will hear about this atrocity. So swears I, Paladin Langdon von Luce!"


---
Langdon woke up and scratched his head and felt that his eyepatch was still covering his blind right eye. He then thought to himself, I had that dream again. It is either that dream or the dream about getting charged with treason for killing those Dark magic using prisoners. He then took a minute to survey his cell. He noticed that it was dark, damp, and smelled quite funny. He then said, "I would be sent to this part of Galvez Prison. After all, this is where they send those to await being executed. How many days has it been since I was sent here? Makes sense there would be no burning torches here. They want those that are charged with treason to be quite uncomfortable. The smell and the dampness I can deal with. The darkness sure is annoying."

He then noticed that it looked like he was not alone like he originally had thought. He looked in the direction of the lumpy shape he had not noticed before now. He then thought to himself, If that is another person, I don't know if they are alive or dead. If it is a Dark magic user, I prefer them dead instead of alive. Only one way for me to find out. He then grabbed an oddly shaped and damp bone that was nearby and said to the lumpy shape, "If you are alive, please let me know before I decide to prod you with a bone. If you are a Dark magic user, don't move a muscle. That way, you can be finished off." He then slowly walked over to the lumpy shape while holding the bone.

"Hiya buddy what's your name, my name is Lucifer, why are you in this fun prison, did you do something, you probably did didn't you, oh well it's expected I mean I let myself get taken this place looks fun." Artus stopped nudging him with his arm, as soon as the man started to spew out a bunch of questions, all which happened to give Artus a rather confused look, before finally processing what he had just said. Getting up, Artus rubbed his forehead. Oh god, this cannot be happening...

"Yeah, hi, I'm Artus." Looking at the young man, Artus answered in a tone as if he was in a hurry. "It's not important how I got in here, obviously I did something wrong." He looked around the cavern room trying to see if he could find anything, whilst talking to his newly met prison inmate known as Lucifer. "What's important is how we get out of here." If there is a way out... Artus bit his lip nervously, thinking about his current situation, but quickly snapped back to reality. He looked at Lucifer, slightly creeped out by his crimson eyes. "And why the hell would you think this would be fun?" It was obviously a rhetorical question, as Artus honestly couldn't give 2 sh*ts about why the creep was in here in the first place. Artus walked towards a nearby torch, observing it, until he finally grabbed it by the mount and pulled it off the cave wall. He held it in his hand, looking down the dark corridor in front of the duo. As much as Artus wanted to venture out and find an escape, admittedly, he was scared. And although Lucifer wouldn't have been his first choice as a companion, it would be better than nobody. He pointed the torch at Lucifer.

"T-Tell me though...you're not going...to hurt me, are you? I mean, w-we're mutual, right?" Normally Artus was fine with strangers, but in this case, as much as wanted to give the benefit of the doubt, it was incredibly hard. He was fairly certain that he could take Lucifer on easily if it came down to it, but what worried Artus the most was if he possessed any magical abilities. He stood there, looking at Lucifer, in an emotionless expression, and at the same time ready in case he did something underhanded.


((OOC: Artus doesn't know yet that magic has been rendered unusable in the underground chambers.))

This is an interesting cave. I wonder how many crystals there are. It's quite beautiful down here. Is that a bat I see in the corner? Shrek sat casually in the corner, taking in the surroundings of the cell. They say you should enjoy the little things. He looked around and noticed the small man lying on the floor. But I believe sometimes that the small things should enjoy some things. He pondered waking the tiny man up. He had been sleeping for a long time, and it's quite possible to get too much sleep. Shrek had to learn that the hard way. I wonder how long I've been down here? It's certainly been at least an hour...Or maybe not. Who knows how long? I might have to ask the guards when I leave...I wonder when they'll let me leave. Dozens of questions began to flow through Shrek's curious mind. I wonder who that little man is...I bet he's uncomfortable. We better leave. He might not like it down here as much as I do.

He sighed and stood up slowly. Lots of people would be uncomfortable after being on a rocky floor for a few hours, but Shrek was unbothered. He had slept in many a cave without his handy dandy backpack, and this one was no different. He approached the small man and stared down at him. He looks quite peaceful...I wonder what he did to make the king mad. He must've done something pretty dumb, if I got in trouble for camping in MY forest. Shrek reached his hand down and poked the man on the shoulder lightly, taking care not to hurt the man's shoulder, for he was tiny. "Excuse me? Sir? Sir? Are you awake?" Without pausing, he went on to introduce himself. "I'm Shrek. We need to leave here. I don't like it. There aren't any trees or animals, and I've lost my backpack. I need it back so I can go home and guard the forest." He began to walk towards a small exit in the room that was lit by torches. "I bet we go this way when we leave. We could probably leave when we want to, right?" Unsure if the man was up yet, Shrek just kept talking. "There couldn't be a long punishment for camping!'

Nel Aden - Galvez Prison​

Langdon put down the bone he was holding. He then decided to reply to the man. He said, "I am Langdon von Luce, ex-Paladin of the Grandora Army. I am from the city of Licht. My father is Lord von Luce. I am able to use greatswords and Light magic."

He then decided to look around the dark, damp, and funny smelling cavern once more to see if he could find a way out. As he was doing so, he thought to himself, I wonder if that guy can be trusted. I don't know anything about him except that he was imprisoned here. I should probably ask who he is. That would be the right thing to do. He then asked the man, "Who are you and are you friend or foe?"

Tim lay on the floor sleeping peacefully. Or as peacefully as one could when you were lying on the cold hard ground. Then he was suddenly awoken by someone shaking and yelling at him. The sudden gesture startled the young mage so much, his eyes bolted open, and he let out a high pitched scream. "AHHH!" He really hated being rudely awoken, and he isn't in a good mood when that happens. He hadn't slept well at all, and his head was hurting a lot. The last thing he needed was someone shaking him so roughly. Alright! Alright! Jeez, I'm up already! He thought to himself

Once the shaking had stopped, he sat up, stretched his arms, and yawned loudly. Now that things had calmed down, he finally got a chance to look at his surroundings, and his grumpiness at being woken up so suddenly was replaced with confusion. He was in a dark, and dusty place that looked like some sort of prison. It was decorated with skeletons, chains, and other creepy things that made the boy cringe. "How the heck did I get here?" He tried to think what happened, but the last thing he rembered was a bunch of soldiers invading his island home, and one of them taking him hostage, and throwing him on the back of a cart. Everything else after that was a blur, and it made Tim's head hurt even more trying to think about it. What was worse, was that he was missing his staff, and all the contents of his bag were missing. Whoever put him in this awful place must have taken it so he wouldn't get out. Who the heck would want to keep me here? I didn't do anything wrong... Did I upset somebody important and not know it? I hope not...

As his eyes got more adjusted to the darkness, he was finally able to get a better look at the person shaking him, and Tim felt his face flush when he saw her. The girl looked like she was close to his age, was obviously taller than him, and had on a rather revealing outfit. The boy wasn't used to seeing another female wear something like that. "Um... uh... I-I-I'm Tim... eh..." He stammered nervously. Keeping gaze his down, as he rose to his feet.

Galvez Prison
Underground Chambers
Artus & Lucifer​

"Oh I don't know...maybe I will maybe I won't." Artus arched an eyebrow as Lucifer twirled about while speaking. It was obvious that he was a nutcase, although that just made Artus a little more weary of him. "But I guess we're fine for now at least as long as nothing comes up later, my new friend Artus." He twirled about, stopping in front of Artus and then proceeding to point his finger at him. His yes were even more noticeable against the glow of the torch. "So now that is cleared up what to do now hmmm.." He pondered for a few moments, until smacking his fist into his palm once an idea popped into his head. "Oh yes I would presume Arty that you would want to escape this place am I right, I mean people like you just can't understand the funniness in the world." He stopped for a brief moment, to what seemed to be thinking to himself. Artus gave himself a mental facepalm. No longer was he concerned that Lucifer would hurt him, but he still wasn't happy with his 'friend' being an absolute nutjob. "So where was I again oh yeah, so what do you want to do now Arty?" He asked, looking at Artus for a Response.

"Well, Lucifer, I say we head down there." He pointed the torch at the dark corridor ahead. "I want to try and see if I can find anything that may aid in my escape." Artus spoke, while looking at ahead in the darkness. Walking towards it, he continued to talk. "Alright, It's gonna get dark, make sure you stay alert." As Artus stepped into the darkness of the corridor, he felt a chill go down his spine. No longer was this regular darkness. Any simpleton could tell something was not right in the air. "Luci, make sure you stay near me. Wouldn't want you to get scared of the dark, would we?" Artus chuckled to himself a little bit, hoping to add his own little joke to compete with Lucifer's 'abnormal' personality. As he started to walk through the corridor, the only light came from the fiery glow in Artus' hand. Barely illuminating the cave within a small radius, Artus figured it was better than nothing. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on Lucifer though...this guy looks unpredictable.

Nel Aden - Galvez Prison​

"Mark, huh?" Nel replied, after a long awkward silence, "Well, I'm Nel.. Nel Aden. And it's your lucky day, because you and me are gonna bust out of this joint!"

"Um...it's Tim... Tim Wolfe" The young mage muttered when Nel got his name wrong. He didn't actually say it loud enough for her to hear. Where did she even get Mark from? Tim had an uncomfortable feeling about this girl. He knew better than to judge people by the way they looked, but he still felt anxious being around her. Great, I get stuck in prison with a bully. This just keeps getting better and better... Tim shut his eyes, and took several deep breaths before opening his eyes again. He tried to put on a brave face, which wasn't that different from his normal face.

As Nel turned around, Tim looked around, and studied his surroundings. He was in a dark, cave like room with several torches mounted on the wall. Each one had writing engraved on the handle, which must have let it burn for extended periods of time. He looked straight ahead, and up above, and the only thing he could see was more darkness. No Stalactites dangling down from the cieling, no light from outside filtering into the cave, or anything. Just pitch darkness as far as the eye could see. Nel said she was going to help him bust out, but he had to wonder just how she was going to do that, when there didn't seem to be any kind of opening or anything. The only place they could possibly go, was the extremely dark corridor up ahead. Which Tim thought likely led into even darker caverns.

He wasn't sure what it was, but something felt wrong about this place. He took one of his gloves off, put his hand on the wall, and focused on channelling his mana to freeze that part of the wall. Not that it would aid in their escape or anything, but it was worth a shot. Maybe he could find some shortcut out of here. Unfortunately for Tim, nothing was happening no matter how much he tried to focus on his mana. No way! It's not working... I've never had this problem before. There must be something here that prevents magic from working. Whoever put us here has thought of everything to keep us in!

As Tim put his glove back on, his thoughts were suddenly interupted when Nel suddenly snapped. "Are you coming or not?!"

Tim jumped up and squealed. "GAH!" Then ran over to where she was after he calmed down a bit. "Oh...um... coming!"

Galvez Prison
Underground Chambers
Artus & Lucifer​

"Oh no, I don't fear the dark, very much the opposite I love the abyss and all such things." Artus glanced over his shoulder to see Lucifer following close behind. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that the young man felt welcomed by the darkness. "You should be careful though Arty, stare too long into the abyss and its gaze might bore into you as well." These words sunk into Artus' head. Usually random words of advice would have gone by ignored, but something...just something about those words that Artus couldn't pinpoint made them stick into his head. He shook it off, not wanting to make anymore conversation with his nut of a 'friend'. The duo continued to walk down the bleak tunnels of the prison, with small fungi sprouting alongside the walls and ground, giving off a soft glow, barely adding to the illumination already created by the torch in Artus' hand. They continued to walk a while longer, Artus giving glances behind his shoulder every so often to make sure Lucifer was still there, and to keep caution.

"Hey Luci," Artus finally said. There was a question that lingered in the back of his mind, and as much as Artus didn't want to know the answer, a part of him wanted to know what really turned those gears inside of him. "There's been something I've been wanting to ask. Let me know if it's too personal though, I don't want - " Artus suddenly stopped talking, as he bumped into a shorter figure right in front of him. Obviously walking and talking at the same time was not one Artus' strong suits. "Hey, what the heck?!" Artus shouted as he stepped back and held out the torch to see what he bumped into. The torch illuminated and revealed an older man, about the same height as Lucifer, dressed in tattered brown robes. He had short brown hair and his face was covered in dirt. He had a look of horror on his face, but it quickly turned to a sort of expression of relief. As if he was happy to see Artus and Lucifer. Artus looked at the man, and immediately felt a pain in his stomach. They had found another prisoner.

"Please, help me! There's some guy chasing after me!" The old man plead for help, looking frantically at both Lucifer and Artus. He ran behind Artus, and pointed straight ahead into the darkness. Waiting a few seconds, Artus didn't see anything beyond the ordinary.

"There's nothing there -" Speaking too soon, his sentence was cut-off, this time by the grunt of an stocky bald man. He jumped out of the darkness, and swung at both Artus and the old man hiding behind him, with a sharp rock in his hand. Startled, Artus swung the torch to keep the hostile prisoner at bay, while stepping back. Passing the torch off to the old man, Artus put up his fists and looked at the prisoner, who begun another charge at him. What's going on?! Artus gave a confused expression as he dodged a swing, and then using his exactly zero knowledge of combat, threw a random punch at the prisoner. Artus shut his eyes, until he felt a hard surface connect with his fist. Opening his eyes, he saw the prisoner step back while clutching the side of his head, bleeding from the nose. "Luci, help me out here!" Artus was no murderer, and he was hoping Lucifer was the same. The least they could do was knock him out...hopefully.

Shrek was made aware that the short man was awake. "Camping? What the hell man! Do you even know where you are right now?" To be honest, Shrek didn't. One minute he was beating the face of a soldier in the next he was being carted off to Forest knows where. Perhaps he had been taken to a special underground camping trip! Yes! The king must've rewarded him for defeating his strongest warriors. "I dunno for you but I'm gonna get out of here. If you wanna tag along then fine, but no more of this talking. It's annoying."

Shrek frowned at the man's grumpiness. Must he be so rude? I was only wanting to know if he wanted to leave or not. "I'm sorry for the talking, but I must be frank, you're quite grumpy." He crossed his muscular arms and began to walk towards the one exit in the room. "I cannot help it that I like to know things, and I cannot help it that you do NOT like to learn things." He grabbed a torch from a nearby sconce and shone it around the room. It seemed like the corridor ahead lead into a straight, black hallway. "Well, if you want to leave, I suggest we go this way." With that, the stocky man began to make his way down the hallway. His callused, leathery feet padded softly on the rocky ground, the patters echoing slightly throughout the hall."

The short man seemed to be crankier than the average bear, and Shrek had seen a few bears in his time. In order to avoid angering the man even further, Shrek just continued walking, hoping not to step on any bones or spiders or something yucky.

Nel Aden - Galvez Prison​

Galvez Prison
Underground Chambers
Artus & Lucifer​

As the foe stepped back, it became painfully obvious to Artus, and most likely to Lucifer as well, that the only reason Artus' punch did any damage was due to the fact that Artus himself was a big guy. Otherwise there was no technique in anything he was doing. "Hihihihihihihihi okay!" Luci chuckled to himself, as he sped forwards and gave the prisoner a swift kick to the ribs, causing the him to clutch the side of body and nearly fall to the ground. Wow! Did he break his ribs?! Artus watched admirably, as Lucier proceeded to attack him with his fists, and then ending the fight by attacking his sternum, knocking the foe to the ground. Artus looked at the prisoner. He's...unconscious. I can't believe we actually won. Artus put down his fists as he looked at Lucifer. "So can we be on our way Arty? I wanna have some real fun." He smiled at Artus.

"Uhhh...yeah, sure. I can't believe we actually won though...you're gonna have to teach me some of those moves, when we get out." Artus said, in a somewhat joking tone. However, he was still a bit shaken up by the whole. The only fighting Artus ever did was with his cousin or other kids when he was little, so it wasn't like he was an expert at hand to hand combat. He then turned to the other old man that was watching behind the scenes, and took the torch from his hands. As far as Artus was concerned, they had helped the old man, and that was the end of it. "Yeah, let's kick." Artus nodded to Lucifer, and then gestured the old man goodbye.

"W-wait, don't l-leave me! I'm just an old man, but if you two are planning on getting out, then I can be of some a-assistance." Just as Artus was about to walk, he turned around to hear the old man out. "I've been down here for two months, I'm sure I'd be able to help. After all, I want to get out as well." Artus arched an eyebrow. Two months? Really? Surviving on what, insects and rats?

"I don't know, you sure you can actually help, and not just hide like you did back there?" Artus looked at Lucifer and then at the old man. Artus didn't want anyone that would just slow them down, especially an old man. "C'mon old man, we can't just let anyone stick with us. Sure this guy is good at fighting," He said pointing at Lucifer. "But how do I know someone else won't be coming after you?" Artus was getting slightly hostile now. He had respect for elders, but this was a different scenario. This was life or death.

"L-like I said. I've been down here 2 months. I've been able to mentally map out some areas of this underground hell." The old man's voice started to stabilize. "Trust me, it's hard to get people down here who are trustworthy, but it is possible to get out. Only if we work together." Artus sighed, and rubbed his forehead.

"I guess you can come, if you can actually help. Right Luci?" Artus nodded to his companion, asking for his opinion. "I mean, doesn't that mean more fun..or whatever it is you like?" If the old man actually was telling the truth, then it would be definitely helpful to have someone who knew a little around the undergrounds.

((OOC: If anyone wants to, feel free to run into Artus and Luci now.))