Galvez Prison
Underground Chambers
Langdon, Wymond & Biff​

"You guys go ahead. I'll stay back and plow straight through," The boy spoke. Biff couldn't understand. This guy was literally walking into a trap. "I'm not sure where I'am but I don't like the idea of heading backward instead of forwards. It makes me feel weird." The boy started to trek forwards into the darkness, as Biff watched his figure slowly disappear.

"We must keep moving so the beast will not catch us. We will lose it in the tunnels. At least you are still with me. I am not sure what the other guy was thinking by splitting off from the two of us." Langdon suddenly spoke from behind Biff. "I bet the other guy who was with us decided to give up his own life so we can escape. I admit that was very brave of him. We better find the other voices that we heard." Biff glanced at Langdon and saw that he had started to hastily walk in the direction opposite of the beast. This is messed up...this is not about going forwards or backwards, it's about getting away from death!

"Right, let's go Langdon." With that, Biff took a one last glance in the darkness in front of him and then quickly whipped his body around to run in the direction Langdon was going. Holding up the torch, Biff saw the another path near them that split off into another direction instead of the one they had just come from earlier. "Hey, let's go this way!" Biff pointed as they quickly changed direction and started to run. Everything seemed like a blur to Biff in the darkness, as the torch wavered back and forth from the running. "Those voices you heard...I think I can hear them too." Although faint from the wind rushing past Biff's ears, some sort of ruckus could be heard further down echoing. "I think it's just a little bit further, Langdon." Hopefully it's someone who's in the same boat. As the duo ran faster and faster, they eventually came to the end of the path, Biff quickly noticed a skirmish around the corner. There were a bunch of others, one of which being an old man being suffocated by a much larger man. "Langdon, hold on!" Biff grabbed Langdon by the shirt. "We can't just rush in, we have no clue -" Just then, another prisoner turned around from facing the group and looked at Biff and Langdon.

"Hey, we got two more here." Biff gulped as he saw the prisoner approach them. He was rather large, and seemed to have been balding, and he walked rather intimidatingly, almost like gorilla. "Langdon, what do we do?" Biff asked. He had no proper combat experience, so him getting butt kicked was definitely out of the question.



Artus saw one of the hostile prisoners turn around behind him as he walked towards two figures a tiny bit aways. While that guy is dealing with those two fools, it makes things easier for us. Artus nodded at Tim. "Keep that flame going." Artus looked at the old man who was fighting for his life, trying to free himself from the grip of his attacker, and right in front of them was another prisoner. Artus walked steadily towards him, with his fists raised, until he nearly stumbled when the opposer lunged forward at Artus.

"What the -!" Artus stepped backwards, bumping into Tim. "Hey, move out of the way!" The prisoner threw a few punches at Artus, however he was able to avoid most of them save for one, grazing him by the cheek. As soon as the prisoner got close enough, Artus threw his own punch, cleanly hitting the prisoner square in the face, knocking him down for the hit. He squirmed on the ground in pain, with Artus keeping a calm expression, until he realized he actually managed to get a hit. "Alright, who's ne-" He was cut off by a sucker punch from another prisoner, knocking Artus to the wall, grabbing his cheek in pain. He closed his eyes, but upon opening them, things were starting to get a bit woozy and he could tell he was beginning to bleed a bit from the mouth. He saw the prisoner look at him, and then looked at Tim as he began to approach the short boy.

Galvez Prison
Underground Chambers
Artus, Lucifer, Tim, Shrek, Ace & Ye Old Man​

Artus shook his head, trying to regain his sense after the shock of being hit on the side of his face. He looked at the old man, who had just bitten his aggressor on the hand, leaving him in pain on the ground. "Boy, get it together!" The old man yelled, and gave a little cough, as he got up to pick up the torch, and ran to Artus. He's right...I need to pull it together! Almost tripping, Artus tried to position his feet properly to get some good footing. He picked up a small rock, and looked at the prisoner that was heading for Tim. "Throw the rock! I'll try my best to help you!" The old man shouted to Artus. He grunted, whipping the rock towards the prisoner, hitting him cleanly in the back, with a loud smack.

"Ow!" He clutched his back in pain and hissed, turning around to Artus and the old man. Putting up his hands, Artus readied himself for another bout. The prisoner wasted no time, sprinting towards the two, pushing the old man to the ground with a shove, and then trying to grapple with Artus. The prisoner grabbed Artus by the shirt, who in return, held him by the wrists to prevent him from punching or flailing his arms. This guy's insane!

"Old man, get up!" Artus shouted, as he held onto the prisoner. The old man groaned, rubbing his head, but managed to get up once again. He quickly jumped behind the prisoner, weakly grabbing him by the throat with one hand. The prisoner was caught off guard, and Artus used this opening to get a good hold of the prisoner, and gave him a rather hard punch to the face, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. Artus looked at him, satisfied with the result of the little quarrel, until he heard a bellowing growl echo through the caves. It's the beast the old man was talking about... Artus stood still, trying to settle down from all the adrenaline the situation was giving him, but it just got worse as he saw the first prisoner he punched, getting up, recuperating from the hit Artus had given him. That, along with the growl he just heard, things were certainly getting a bit more...deadly. Ooh, this isn't good...

Timothy "Tim" Wolfe
Galvez Prison

After walking for what felt like more than an hour, there was no sign of this rune they were looking for. What they did end up finding was more prisoners, hostile ones at that. Tim basically stood there cowering as everyone else ran in and fought the prisoners. Tim didn't care much for violence, and was useless without his magic. All he could do was stand there and carrying the torch, and hope for the best. He tried his best to stay out of everyones way, and avoided getting hurt himself. Still one of the prisoners tried to attack him anyway.

"Throw the rock! I'll try my best to help you!" He heard Artus shout. He watched him throw a rock at the prisoner that was charging in his direction. Hitting him on the back of the head, which only served to anger the guy. He ran towards Artus, and started attacking him. Tim cringed at the sight. Fortunately, Artus and the old man managed to handle themselves, and knocked the prisoner unconscious.

The boy looked to the side. He saw the rock Artus had just thrown, and picked it up with his free hand. "Alright... here goes..." He sighed, took a deep breath, and then threw the rock at a different prisoner. The young mage managed to hit the bigger man in the back of the head once again. "Yay! I hit him!" The boy squealed, feeling glad he had been able to accomplish something. After that, he realized what he had done, and his expression changed to something serious. "Oh no... what have I done..."

As one would expect, the prisoner was not happy about this. "WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!" He turned around, and ran towards Tim.

The boy's eyes widened in fear, and he turned an around to run away from the angry man as fast as possible. "GAH! I'M SORRY SIR! PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEEEEEEE!" He ran around in circles looking for some place to hide.

Galvez Prison
Underground Chambers
Artus, Lucifer, Tim, Nel, Langdon, Shrek, Ace & Ye Old Man + Biff​

Artus was ready for another scrap, until another one of the prisoners easily handled the recovered hostile, smashing his face into a rock and leaving him slumped on the ground. Artus put down his hands, looking at the figure lying on the ground, and then at the 'ally' that did the deed. This guy looks tough... "No one left?" He saw him smirk on the man's face as he looked around the cave, trying to weed out any more enemies.

"Looks like there's one more." Artus said to him calmly. One of the other hostile prisoners had walked off to deal with seemingly other deviants further down the cave, leaving just the last hostile prisoner by his lonesome self heading towards Tim. Artus turned just in time to see Tim throw a rock at the last prisoner near them, causing him to hiss out in pain.

"Yay! I hit him!" Tim yelled, in a rather higher pitched tone. It was obvious he was proud of this, but Artus didn't see why, as it merely made the man angry if anything. "Oh no...what have I done..." He saw Tim's expression, and then saw the prisoner scold him, charging right at poor Tim. "GAH! I'M SORRY SIR! PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEEEEEEE!" Tim started to run around frantically, seemingly looking for somewhere to hide for cover. As the prisoner picked up speed, he was soon intercepted by a skillful blow to the abdomen, by none other than Artus' 'pal', Lucifer. Following the kick to the stomach, he finished it off with an uppercut, knocking the prisoner to the ground in pain, still conscious however. Artus watched, until the old man finally spoke up once again.

"Quick! We need to get out of here, now!" He yelled. Artus looked confusingly, but was quickly shaken to reality by a sudden growl that echoed once again through the caves, followed up by a rush of hot, rancid air. Holding in his breath, Artus looked around, finding a nearby corridor that they had not gone into yet it. "Hurry, go that way!" The old man held the torch out in his hand, and signaled everyone to follow him down the corridor.

"Hey, they're going!" Biff yelled, grabbing Langdon by the arm. The prisoner coming after them, turned around, only to find the other hostiles he was with, to be defeated and lying on the ground. Biff looked worriedly, and then grabbed Langdon by the arm once again, pulling him in the direction of the other prisoners, running past the hostile that stood in the duo's way. As Biff and Langdon ran past him, Biff could see the prisoner was suddenly grabbed by the legs, and dragged into the darkness of the caves. He screamed, but his voice was drowned out by the vicious growling of the so-called 'Beast'. "Quickly Langdon, they went down here." Biff pointed to the corridor off to the side, and could see the other group of prisoners running into it. Catching up with them, Biff yelled to the other group. "It's right behind us, we need to lose it!" Artus looked back while still running, an saw two different prisoners, however, it looked like they were trying to get away from the beast as well.

"You don't have to tell us twice!" Artus exclaimed, turning his head back to the front. "Old man, where are we going?!" He yelled once again. Artus' heart was pounding. If they ran into a dead end, then that was it. They would be turned into lunch, and then come out the beast's rear end as a sloppy mess. He yelled out once again to the old man, but he didn't respond, until Artus noticed the group stopped moving. Standing in front of them was an incredibly large rectangular door, or a gate of sorts. It had random engravings of flowers, animals and creatures, and looked almost like it was a gate to another world. Artus gulped as he admired it, and then saw a few other new prisoners knocking on it weakly, as if they were trying to open it. "Old man, what do we do? It's a dead end!" Artus panicked. The beast was going to be here any minute, and there they were. A whole buffet line of prisoners, just waiting for easy picking.

"N-No…it's no dead end…it's the node we are looking for." The old man tried to speak calmly. Artus looked at the old man, and then looked at the gate. He had never been so happy in his life. This was the way out, the node they were looking for. Running up to it, Artus started to push it, trying to make it budge, but it was no use. It was just too big and thick. "It's not going to open that way, boy. We need to be smart about this." Artus sighed, looking at the old man for an answer. The group stood quiet, until it was broken by the familiar growl of the beast. There was no foul odor yet, so Artus hoped it was still far away. "Like I said. We need to be smart…but quick. Normally destroying a node would work, but it doesn't look like that is an option."

"Then what options do we have? C'mon gramps, you must know something about this type of stuff!" Artus frantically spoke. The old man put his hand on his chin and began to think. The group stood quiet once again awaiting an answer.

"Sometimes there's a sort of key needed." Biff spoke. Artus looked at the prisoner and arched an eyebrow. A key? Surely he was being an idiot. There was no keyhole anywhere on the massive gate. "I don't mean an actual key…a key as in something that triggers the door to open." The old man looked at Biff expressionlessly, until his eyes started to widen.

"That's it! A key! A trigger!" The old man looked at torch in Biff's hand, and then at the torch in his own hand. "The writing on this torch here…is similar to the one on the door!" The old man held out the torch and brought it near the gate. Artus watched in amazement. He couldn't believe it. He was right, the writing went was similar, however, even when the old man held the torch against the door, nothing happened. "You, quick, bring your torch here." He pointed at Biff, who walked up to the door, and also brought forth his torch. They both held it near the door, and after a few seconds, the writing on the torch, and the engravings on the door lit up in a vibrant blue glow, illuminating the corner of the cave they were in. "We did it!" Biff and the old man stepped back, and watched with the rest of the group, as the engravings started to move around almost like they were cogs in a machine. However, the group's short moment of relief was cut short, when the dreaded growl returned, followed up with a screech. It had found them. No…this can't be happening. Dumb door, hurry up! Artus kept his focus on the door. Slowly, but surely, the gate started to create a small opening at the bottom, about the size of a regular door. Artus watched as a yellow light leaked through the newly created door, now big enough for people to fit through one at a time. Looking behind him, Artus saw one of the prisoners getting dragged into the darkness of corridor behind them, with the sounds of growls and crunches coming drowning out the screams to merely whimpers. Wasting no time, he saw the old man run through the door to the other side, and Artus quickly followed.

"Hurry, get in before the entrance shuts!" The old man yelled at the remaining prisoners, urging them to follow through.

Langdon thought to himself, No way am I going to be eaten by the vicious beast. I don't plan on dying at this time. That will happen later, but when? I will go through the door. He then ran through the open door to the storage room.

After he ran through the door, he started examing various items in the room. As he was doing so, he thought, I wonder if I can find a greatsword in here. After all, I need to replace the one that was taken from me when I was sent to prison. He then decided to walk over to one of the weapon racks. When he examined it more closely, he noticed a greatsword that was covered in rust hanging from it. He then said to himself, "Even though it is rusted, it will have to do for now." He then grabbed the greatsword from the rack and holstered it on his back.

He then noticed the person that ran in before him. So he walked over and said, "I take that you were one of the other ones that planned to escape. I am Langdon, whom are you?"

Galvez Prison
Main Floor
Artus, Lucifer, Tim, Langdon, Ace & Ye Old Man​

"Quick get back!" The old man shouted, as the remaining group of prisoners that managed to escape, watched as the door slowly began to close, drowning out the sounds of bones crunching, and the low growls of the beast on the other side of the now enclosed wall. Artus rested his hand against the large door, frowning down. He didn't exactly mourn the prisoners deaths, but still, it was a rather unpleasant thing to do through. The old man put his hand on Artus' shoulder, trying to gesture him to get it together. Artus stood there for a few more moments before finally regaining his composure and looked around the room. There was Tim, a tall fellow wearing an eyepatch, his pal Luci, a short man with blonde hair, and of course there was the old man. "I take that you were one of the other ones that planned to escape. I am Langdon, whom are you?" The tall man with the eyepatch approached.

"Yeah, it seems so...nobody deserves to go out like that." Artus frowned once again, before realizing the man had introduced himself. "My name is Artus..." He spoke with a somewhat sad tone, following it up with an awkward silence.

"Okay, okay, we don't really have time for this. We're not out yet." The old man spoke. "Be smart like this boy, and get a weapon." The old man pointed at Langdon who was carrying a rather beat-up crappy sword. Artus continued to frown, but limply looked around, and saw on a nearby shelf a steel sword. It looked to be in 'okay' condition, although it wasn't anything spectacular that a knight or someone with authority would use. Grabbing it by the hilt, Artus gave a small swing to the side.

"Just a head's up, I've never used weapons before. Not even a sword." Artus said to the group of prisoners. He wasn't really ashamed of it, but for some reason people often get surprised when he spills the beans.

"Don't worry, anything is better than nothing." The old man replied. He looked around, and in front of the group a little ways away was a wooden door. "I think this is the way out. Stay quiet guys." The old man approached the door and stood there for a few seconds, before putting his hand on the knob. He turned it slowly, and followed by a creak, he opened the door and peered his head through. Artus just watched, and after a few moments, the old man looked at the group. "It's clear! I don't see any wardens around, so I think we can try and leave this room." The old man.

"Sounds good to me, let's go." Artus looked at the group and nodded, before approaching the old man at the door. Artus opened the door further, and low and behold, stood in front of them were 4 prison wardens. "I thought you said there was nobody there?!" Artus shouted to the old man. One of the wardens ran off blowing a whistle in his hands, leaving just the three.

"Stay in there, and don't come out!" One of them shouted. They were holding spears, and pointing them at the door, as they came closer. "Get these maggots."

My heart was racing, I had no idea how to get out, and I had already almost been killed by another prisoner. It wasn't different than sharks enjoying a nice and savage treat of fish. Unfortunately, I didn't have the sharpest teeth. I navigated the tunnels by scurrying on the roof, avoiding prisoners and searching for guards to steal weapons from. I noticed a group of them blocking a door. I took a deep breath and blew directly down upon them, causing dust and dirt to blur their vision. Immediately I dropped down on the one guard with a sword, covering his mouth and chocking him until he passed out. Dodging their spear thrusts with a nimble and careful series of movements, I took his shield and used it as a fan to amplify my wind magic, knocking the other two guards against the wall. I dashed forward and slammed the shield against both of their heads, knocking them unconscious as well.

I took the man's sword and strapped it to my waist. I also took their money in case I made it out. I wondered what was behind the door they were blocking, so I opened it to discover a group of other prisoners. I motioned to draw my sword, but I knew there was no way I could fight them on even grounds. I had no sword experience either, so it was as useless as being unarmed. I held my hands up, hoping to seem innocent, "I am friendly, don't attack me." I said, looking at the three guards who seemed to be dead.

Timothy "Tim" Wolfe
Galvez Prison - Main Floor

What happened next was something Tim didn't expect. That guy that Tim met earlier who he found creepy had saved his life from the hostile prisoner who he had pissed off. He cringed at the sight at the sight of the beating, but he thought it was better to be a little unnerved than dead. After Tim took a few minutes to catch his breath from all the running he had done, he politely thanked the guy who saved him. "Oh wow, thank you so much sir..." The guy still gave Tim the creeps, but it was good to know there was at least some good in him.

After all the hostile prisoners were down for the count, the old man had called them into a dark corridor. In the distance, Tim could hear the sound of something growling. It was most likely that beast that was supposedly down here. Tim couldn't help feeling a little bad for it. Even if it was a big scary monster, the poor thing didn't deserve to be imprisoned down here like the rest of the prisoners. Regardless, he took off running with the others. He wasn't willing to become that things next meal. As they kept running, they eventually came across a door that had a bunch of engravings of flowers, animals and creatures. Tim thought it was beautifully designed, but would they be able get through it? After explaining that this door was the node they were looking for, other members of the group started to push the thing, but it wouldn't budge. After the old man held a torch up to the door, the engravings started magically glowing blue. Then it slowly opened wide enough to allow everyone in. Tim was one of the last people to go through the opening before the door shut behind him.

After everyone was in, Tim heard the sounds of bones crunching, and the growls of the beast on the other side of the wall. Tim was disgusted hearing this, and tried to ignore those noises before he got nauseous. He turned around, and saw that he was in a storeroom of some sort. After the old man advised that everyone choose a weapon, Tim found a white magic rod on one of the shelves. It was nothing too fancy, but it would get the job done. Now that they had found the node, they should be able to use magic now. He took off one of his gloves, picked up the rod, and concentrated his mana. After a few seconds, the rod in his bare hand slowly started coating himself in a thin layer of ice. The young mage beamed happily, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's so good to have magic again!" He unfroze the rod, and put his glove back on. Now he was glad he could actually do something helpful, besides throwing rocks at angry prisoners.

"You're not alone..." Tim replied when he heard Artus had never used a weapon before. "Neither have I. That's why I prefer magic..." Once everyone had chosen a weapon, they all approached the door, and found four prisoners waiting for them. Before anyone in the group could come up with some sort of plan to deal witn these guys, they were suddenly rescued by a new girl. This girl practiced Wind magic from what he had seen, and used it to subdue the guards. She then came in, and saw their ragtag group, and claimed to be friendly, and asked not to attacked. The younger boy nervously shuffled his weight from one foot to the other, and looked from side to side. This new girl didn't seem all that bad, and after what she had done to the wardens, it was probably best not to get her angry. Still, Tim wasn't entirely sure what to do from here. "Um... so are we..." He muttered, and hoped one of the others would know how to handle this.

A man walked quickly through the alley of the dungeon. This was one of the few chances he could get for survival down here. It was a strange move for the Galvez authorities to secure him above ground, but an even stranger event was that the wardens that patrolled the area yesterday was seemingly lying on the ground unmovingly today. This was an opportunity, he thought, so he ran off, much like the other prisoners. Though, the chains dangling on his hands made much noise, so in order to avoid detection from any other warden, he decided to just walk, but in a more hurried manner.

Further from him, he could see a room and a pathway that led away from it. There were wardens surrounding the room. He thought for a moment whether he should take another path, or try to sneak past the wardens who were seemingly busy at their work of harrassing others. Fortunately, no deliberation was necessary. Not soon after, a girl swiftly caused the wardens to be on their knees. She then proceeded to walk inside, obviously not dressed as one of the wardens, so he decided to walk past the room, wondering if he should stay or take the pathway across.

He saw other people in the room, but more importantly, they were using magic. One person even created frost on his hand. He then promptly tried to use his magic, Corrosion Projectile. Sharp blades emerged from high ceilings of the prison, then slashed its way downwards to the chains between his hands. The chains became rusty, then eventually became corroded enough to be disintegrated into bits and pieces. He was no longer tied, he waved his arms, Rayzen was free, alive and ready for action.

Just like the others, he rummaged through the boxes in the storage room. Most of the items in the room were junk, but there were some weapons, most likely pilfered or confiscated from the prisoners. Who knows where these things would have ended up, presumably to be destroyed, or to be sold? Slotting and clicking sounds were heard as Rayzen found a clockwork gun. "Looks antique and old-fashioned, but this will do, especially with you," he also picked up a kind of gem stashed inside one of the boxes. The gem was grey in colour and had a certain luster, but it was neither too shiny nor completely dull, "I know exactly what to do with you."

He had been in this cell for years. Living on rotten bread and other small gifts that had happened to come by, but it had been too long. He hadn't seen the sun in years, but that was all about to change.

At first one person scrambling around was no big deal. But then he felt more join, then more, and then his mana started to return. No more waiting, it was time to go. He focused hard, and the familiar feel of tendrils of darkness started to crawl up his arms. He directed the tendrils to his rusted cell door and with a fluid motion, he ripped it from the wall.

He could of gone through that door years ago, but there was no reason to. Now there was. The large party he had felt had passed, but there were still others wandering. He had felt someone close, just down the hall, so that was his best hope. As he followed he tried to get a feel for his fellow escapee, they were smaller, and trying to stay hidden.

He had followed the small one for what felt like hours until, it finally took off running. Out of shape and malnourished, he could only walk down the same path, and lucky for him there was only one long hallway. Again, after walking for what felt like hours he saw a light in the distance, and after getting closer he could hear voices. They were talking of magic, meaning they were not guards. They could still be hostile the large man thought.

"Better to scare them off." he said quietly, his voice raspy from years of rotting in a cell. He walked towards the light, his tendrils of darkness forming around him. He made them creep towards the exit, slowly going through the doorway. And after enough of them had manifested at the doorway, he let loose a roar as he charged towards the light "I am Azram Berus, and this is my domain."

Artus kept his hand on the door, trying to make sure none of the wardens could burst in. After a few moments though, he had heard sounds of combat right outside. Stepping back out of caution, the door suddenly opened, revealing a blonde-haired girl. Artus looked, and saw she was ready to grab her sword, but immediately threw up her hands. "I am friendly, don't attack me." She said. Artus arched an eyebrow, looking confusingly, but Tim seemed to understand.

"Ummm….so are we…" Tim muttered. Artus nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we just managed to escape…we figured it would be better if we banded together." He said to the girl. He wasn't exactly sure if he could trust the random girl that just took out the wardens, but she didn't seem hostile towards them. He looked at the wardens on the ground, and they weren't moving the slightest, so it was obvious they weren't going to be a problem anymore. The old man casually strolled his way out of the room, past the new girl and looked around.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone else coming this way. Maybe we should hurry and get out." The old man said, coughing a bit, while examining the wardens on the ground to assure they were truly immobile. Artus looked at the group and nodded, and then looked at the girl.

"Right, let's go, we're busting out of here." Artus walked through the door first, passing the blonde-haired girl, looking around in all directions. The hallway was pretty much only going left or right, and down the left path was a light that seemingly led to a larger corridor or room. "Quick guys, wardens are probably on their way!" Artus began to run with the group following, getting closer and closer to the light around the corner, until they finally reached end of the hall.


Reaching the end of large hall, the group had ended up in what seemed to be the biggest room probably anywhere in the prison. It was circular and domed shaped, and there were various corridors and hallways connecting to it, just like the one they came out of. "That's the exit I think!" The old man shouted and pointed all the way across the room, at a rather large barred, metal gate. Artus could see that beyond the gate was the outside. They were so close. Or so he thought. "I am Azram Berus, and this is my domain." A voice boomed behind the group. Artus looked, and saw a giant of a man, probably 7ft, standing behind them. No…not another hostile prisoner… Although their chances of winning were pretty high with the odds in their favor, they were also so close to escaping.

"And that's where you're wrong." Another voice echoed through the large room. It was a deep and manly voice, like something you would expect an actor in a play to have. Artus looked frantically, but couldn't see where the voice was coming from, until he looked near the gate, where there was now a figure standing in front of it. What? He wasn't there before! "You think this is your domain? Idiot, it's mine. This whole prison is in my hands!" His voice boomed, and there was a tone of hatred and anger in the man's voice. The man himself only seemed to stand at 5'10, but he looked like he had a solid build, and his armor only strengthened that, with large gold-plated shoulder gauntlets, and a red cape. His dark brown hair was short, and he had a slight beard. Artus recognized him after a few moments, it was Commander Ghan, the one who was in charge of taking over his town. Ghan took a few steps towards the group's direction, and was then accompanied by seven prison wardens who came running out of one the halls leading outside the room they were in. "One of you, go get Lazarus and Gazelle. And put this place on lockdown. Nobody leaves this prison." Ghan said to the warden, while looking at the group.

"B-but sir! Lazarus and Gazelle will rip these prisoners to shreds! And if the place is on lockdown, how will we be able to help you?!" One of the wardens shouted.

"Don't worry, six of you stay with me and fight these fools, while one of you goes and does what I asked for. I plan on killing these prisoners, so there's no need to re-capture troublesome people like these. Now go!" Ghan commanded, as one of the wardens nodded and ran off to a nearby hallway.

"Old man…what do we do?" Artus asked worriedly, taking his attention off of the tall newcomer. However, before the old man could say anything, Ghan chimed in once again.

"Tell me. For the first time ever, you've managed to somehow get out of the underground hell of Galvez, and you guys put together this half-baked 'team', thinking you can escape? Don't make me laugh." Ghan wasn't laughing however. It was the complete opposite. He had a look across his face, that was both serious and angry, and it certainly looked like he had been hoping something like this would happen so he could flaunt his power around. The room was silent for a bit and Artus looked at the group behind him. We got Tim…Luci…This other short guy with blonde hair, tall guy with blonde hair, girl with blonde hair, and the giant? Lots of people with blonde hair, but I don't think this looks too good. And old man is probably going to opt out on this. Damn, we are so screwed. Artus took a deep breath, until echoes of a rather odd noise surrounded the area. "And it looks like you're locked in. Nobody can get in, and nobody is going to get out." Ghan spoke as he started to approach the group, with the wardens closely behind him, pointing their spears at the group.

"I-s this all?!" Artus tried to act tough. If it was going to be the six of those prison wardens plus Ghan, then this would be easier than he thought. Until an ear splitting screech accompanied by a growl boomed through the room.

"No definitely not. You still haven't met Lazarus and Gazelle. It's been a while since they have ate some nourished looking prisoners." Ghan smiled for the first time, and in that instant, a large, grey colored bird emerged from one of the hallways, along with another large and what seemed to be rabid-looking mammal. Artus nearly fell backwards out of shock and fear.

"Lazarus and Gazelle…are animals?!" he shouted, as the beasts ran straight for the group, claws and talons ready. Artus quickly regained composure and readied for combat. "G-guys! Get ready!" Artus shouted to the group. He focused in on the animals coming at them, and something Artus noticed was that they were much bigger up close, and were definetly ready to kill.

"Everyone, split up into groups and take them on separately! Quickly!" The old man quickly shouted out a battle strategy, and Artus admittedly, thought it was a pretty good idea. If they split up, then they couldn't focus the group as a whole, and could take them down one at a time. Artus readied himself as the bird known as Lazarus and the beast known as Gazelle sprinted towards the group with the wardens following behind. Artus started to run out of the path of the two beasts in attempt to confuse them.

"Luci, short guy with blonde hair, come with me!" Artus shouted to his comrades to come with him, to confront Ghan on the other side of the room where he was standing. The battle was now on. Lazarus screeched at Tim, the blonde girl and Langdon preparing for an attack, while Gazelle gave his own growl and readying itself for a deadly chomp at the giant of a man they had met prior to the battle.

After putting the grey gem into his pocket, Rayzen noticed something else situated among the junk in the boxes. It was a faint ticking sound made a small circular trinket. He recognised the item. Though he did not know its name, he knew what it does. It was a device that shows the way out. "Some of the prisoners might have smuggled it in here before they were caught," he thought. The device was known to require a hefty amount of mana supply to function continuously, so presumably this was why it only made small ticking noises.

Rayzen placed the device next to a bulky mana generator that powered the storage room. Soon after the arrow on the device started flickering, a glimmering ray of light shone towards a path - the path taken by the group of strangers earlier. It was not wise to doubt a delicate piece of device such as this, so he followed the direction of the arrow. The device was left turned on, in case it would prove useful to other prisoners who would need to find their way out. It was not known if there was anyone else who escaped because of that device on that day.

Walking along the path, Rayzen entered the Grand Room. It was circular and made the room look like a big roundabout. The outside of the prison could be seen, though guarded by a metal gate. A battle had already ensued, though he had trouble at first deciding who his allies were, or if he had to even take part in the battle at all. It was quite a while that he hid behind the entrance of the Grand Room, but he then realised that wardens were indeed attacking the group of prisoners earlier. He walked towards the lone big guy named Azram but soon noticed that Azram was also facing off against a beast called Gazelle.

Rayzen fired a corrosion projectile at Gazelle, lightly grazing it with damage and possibly weakening its claw for a second. Knowing that he had not been spotted by Gazelle or the wardens yet, he took advantage of this situation by casting shatter shard on Azram. He moved a little closer to Azram, away from the other group of prisoners, but then stood closer the warden approaching Azram. Rayzen then launched another corrosion projectile, this time at the warden, hurting him and causing his wielded weapon to be dull.

"Wait, I can't kill a bird!" I cried as people began to split up. Lazarus screeched and charged toward me. "Damn it, You two handle the bird, I'll get those guards." I ran toward the nearest wall, and climbed fast, just so I could jump onto the bird. I plucked three feathers for a souvenir and quickly dismounted as it let out a loud screech. I sprinted toward the man with the eyepatch and the black haired guy and planted a feather in both of their hair. "Gifts!" I said, running away and hiding my own feather. Just as I had expected, the bird chose to go after those two over me.

Three wardens stood in front of me now, the same ones who had accompanied the bird. "Go help Lazarus." One said to the other, "We can handle this girl."

"Yes sir!" He said, charging past me.

I sighed, and took a deep breath. I took out my sword and shield and took a stance. They both lunged their spears at me, forcing me to sidestep and block them.They were quick on recovery though, and came up with a new plan. They got on opposite sides of me and readied for a charge. I took my shield as a fan and quickly propel myself a short distance vertically. I came down on one of the wardens and bashed his head with my shield hard enough for him to collapse. His friend began to get angry. "Relax, the idiot is still alive, he will just be out cold for a few hours." I laughed. The other warden was not amused and began to cast spells at me. I quickly filled my lungs with air and snuffed out his fireball. I took his friend's spear and wielded it. It was much more comfortable than the sword for sure.

I used the sword to cut off the spear tip. I had gotten this far without killing, no need to start now. I charged at him, dodged his own spear thrust and slammed the pole into the side of his head. "Next time you should wear helmets." I said. I went through their pockets for more money.

Two minutes ago I was scaring a group of prisoners, and now i'm facing off against a monster Azram thought as he looked the beast in the eye. This escape got much more exciting than he thought it would. He didn't need to worry about anything else other then this creature called Gazelle, some other prisoner was watching his back. Azram smiled as the beast roared again at him, spraying saliva everywhere. It stung a bit but nothing he couldn't handle. "My turn." he said spreading his arms.

He let loose a battle cry and with it came numerous tendrils of darkness appearing from his shadow. And with that, the fight could really start. He charged at the beast, and with it still in a slight shock that something would dare challenge it, the large man was able to land a few blows. "Come on ya dumb beast." he shouted. He couldn't kill it without a weapon and wasn't strong enough in this light, he needed somewhere dark. Azram sent some of his tendrils out towards, trying to goad it into following him. "That all ya got ya fakin' brute?" he taunted. It seemed to work for a bit since it began to follow him. He would lead it into the dark path it came from, and there it would meet its bloody end. Azram smiled again Not a bad escape at all.

Everything so far had been dreadfully boring, so utterly and completely droll it made him wish to do something very interesting. He was certainly very happy when things began to pick up. "Hihihihihihi.." He giggled as his eyes shone with an intense lunacy that could only be from someone who was insane. "Aye sir!" He spoke in response to his dear friend Arty with a somewhat dark enthusiasm as he looked towards the soon to be victim, ah yes he would take pleasure in showing the man true despair. The shear enjoyment he felt currently made him break out into another fit of giggles. "Hihihihihihi...." He almost let himself fall into a deranged laughter but he kept it in, he would let it out later.

On the outside he had a full-blown grin on his face and along with the lunacy in his eyes it was clear that he was very mentally unstable. "Come on Arty what's the plan, I want to paint the floors red with blood so come on let's go already!" He was nearly on the edge of rushing forward with intent to try and kill the enemy, it would help his friends he told himself rationalizing his sociopath tendencies. Even though he was very jittery in anticipation for the fight with the Commander his eyes gazed taking in every little detail about the room and the enemies that would have to be defeated/killed in the most gruesome way he could do.

The Commander was wearing armor of sorts so he would have a slightly tougher time using the abnormal strength he was gifted with so he would have to rely on what he had which mainly included his fighting skills and the now sharpened bones that he was carrying. Scanning his eyes over the Commander he looked at the armor and decided he would use the general tactic to break past armor, attack the joints. The man most definitely had combat experience so this would be quite hard indeed. A large grin stretched across his face as he began giggling then broke out into chuckles then into full blown manic laughter.

His face broke into a psychotic leer as his laughing eventually stopped and his eyes seemed to glow with murderous intent. This was going to be so very fun! Now if only Arty would tell him the plan so he could get on with his fun. "Arty the plan now if you please, I want to have some.....fun." The murderous intent radiating off of him was enough to faze most, this was his true nature as a killer revealed.

"Come on Arty what's the plan, I want to paint the floors red with blood so come on let's go already!" Lucifer exclaimed. Artus looked over to see him iggling like an idiot. A few moments later he started chuckle and giggle. What hell is wrong with him? ""Arty the plan now if you please, I want to have some.....fun." He said, laughing once again, this time in a maniacal tone, which was certainly unsettling to Artus.

"Calm down…I'm thinking, Lucifer." Artus had no clue how to go about this. This was the first time he was ever put in a life or death situation, and it certainly wan't looking too good for him. So he thought it may as well be all or nothing. He raised his sword at the Commander ahead.

"You're not even holding that thing right." Ghan taunted, pointing at Artus' rather amateur sword wielding skills. He remained silent, not trying to get angry at Ghan's remarks. He looked back and saw that Gazelle had seemingly run off somewhere chasing another prisoner, while Lazarus kept Tim and the others occupied. Ace was busy tussling with the other wardens, so it just left Artus and Lucifer against Ghan. "Don't worry about Gazelle. He's bred to kill." Ghan said, raising his sword at the young man in front of him.

"I'm not worried about anyone other than myself." Artus scoffed back at him. There was no turning back now. He looked behind Ghan and saw the metal gate that blocked the prison from the outside world. There was no switch however, so how were they going to get through? Artus shook his head. There was no time for that now, it was Ghan they were worried about. "Luci…here's the plan. Completely destroy this guy." Artus tried to speak calmly, as started to charge at Ghan with his sword. "And whatever you do...don't get killed!" With a charge and a roar, Artus gave a mighty swing of his blade at Ghan, who in turn blocked with his own sword, letting sparks fly once the two blades made contact.

"Hmmm! Even with the two of you, you can't kill me!" Ghan grunted as he bashed Artus to the side with his sword, knocking him off his balance, and then proceeding to swing his sword. Stumbling backwards, Artus managed to dodge, albeit using a rather amateur approach. Damn! He's quick! Even with that armor! Artus quickly regained his ground, readying himself form another attack. I don't think he knows magic... Artus spoke too soon. Ghan quickly pounded his fist to the ground creating a small circle with a design through it, onto the ground, lighting up. "Giant's Back!" He shouted. Artus wondered what he was doing, but in an instant, a wave of giant cone-shaped earthly spears arose in a line coming towards Artus.

"What the-!" Artus was too slow to react, as he tried to step to the side, but the spears were too fast and wide, and one of them managed to cut Artus on the forearm, causing him to bleed. "No!" He cried, as he used his free hand to grasp the wound. It didn't look too serious, but the fact that it stung his arm was rather annoying and stressful. The spears suddenly retracted back into the ground, and Ghan started to charge at Artus, readying to swing his sword, hoping to give him much more than a paper cut.

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"Completely destroy him....oh Artus you don't know how happy that makes me to hear." Lucifer muttered to himself as his crimson eyes became shadowed as he hunched over, his hair covered his eyes. This was such a wonderful opportunity, he hadn't shed any blood in quite some time and now his friend gave him permission to completely destroy someone, this was going to be oh so fun. Looking up from his hunched state revealed his eyes that shone with a chaotic lunacy and a dark malevolence. "Alright now it's time to have some real fun..." His body suddenly tensed up as he began to wait for the right moment.

His eyes easily tracked the skirmish between Artus and Ghan in which he noted that his friend wasn't very good with the blade that he was currently wielding. They fought back and forth but it was quite obvious who had the advantage in the fight as Artus suffered first blood due to being caught off guard by the sudden magic usage Ghan had shone he was capable of. 'Here's my chance..!' He thought as he watched the Commander dash forward intent on doing much more damage to Artus. This was what he was waiting for, his body zoomed forward very fast as he jumped and managed to catch the man off guard and nail him in the face with both his feet knocking him away.

Landing on his feet he gazed towards Artus for a second before shooting him a thumbs up and dashing back to the Commander intent on keeping the momentum up. A manic grin stretched across his face as the Commander had quickly recovered and had decided to do the same spell that he had used earlier. As the rocky spears rose up from the earth he quickly dashed away and jumped towards the wall. As his feet touched the wall he pushed off even faster and struck as quick as a snake with a fist that rocked the Commander and sent him backwards.

"Oh yes you're resilient that's good~ It means I get to have lots and lots of fun!" His body ached somewhat as the acrobatic feats he performed weren't exactly easy but he ignored it he was having too much fun. He narrowly dodged a sword strike that managed to nick him in the chest cutting straight through his long sleeved kimono top. "Ooh that stung quite a bit, I guess I'll need some form of a weapon to do some real damage." He muttered to himself as he began dodging the slashes that were sent his way by moving his body in ridiculous feats of flexibility.

Bending backwards till his back was nearly parallel with the ground he looked towards Artus with his manic grin still in place and spoke. "Hey Artus would you be a pal and lend me that sword of yours for a moment it would be much obliged." He spoke cheerily as he dodged the hits narrowly with his agility and flexibility. He could keep this up for quite a bit, but now that the Commander was ready he wouldn't be able to solidly damage him without a decent weapon in hand. While his main weapons were daggers he was proficient with a sword and a few other weapons so this could help him out and he wanted to keep his little surprise in store till it was needed.