Gobehyz
Logan awoke inside a dark cell. His eyes had adjusted to
the darkness enough to know that he was surrounded by rock walls, with a thick
metal door as the only entry and exit. He was unchained, but an anti-magic lamp
hung well above reach. The violet light rained down on him, nullifying any
attempts of his earth magic from working. He sat on his heels in the center of
the cell and waited. Not a single Siren had bothered him in a few days. They
just wanted to know what he did with the book. Inside, Logan smiled. If he was
right, that Ryan would defend its pages from all. On the outside, he had
feigned a look of fear.
He heard rushed footsteps to his cell. The heavy boots
indicated to him that Harbinger himself was coming this time. Sure enough, the
door burst open. Harbinger had a scowl on his face, a burn on his chest, and a
recently sealed cut. “Hello, Harbinger. I see you are in a pleasant mood
today.” Harbinger punched him in the jaw. “What is in that book?! Tell me.
Now.” Logan picked himself up off the floor and resumed his position. “I
couldn’t even begin to tell you. The book you look for has been split into
thirds.” Harbinger lost his composure and proceeded to hit Logan again. “One
was given to me…the other to a merchant…and the last one is in the Leneel
Sect’s base.” Harbinger yelled in rage. He reached out and grabbed the throat
of the Siren behind him.
“I want him to talk. Maim him, torture him, I don’t care.
Sever a limb or break a bone. Preferably both.” His puppet nodded slightly and
Harbinger released it. The Siren bowed, revealing to Logan the red top of the
helmet. The soldier turned as soon as the door closed. She stood and lit a
small torch and lay it in the center of the room. Then, she knelt before Logan.
“What? Why do you hesitate?” There was a sound of sobbing as the soldier
fumbled to remove the headgear. As the mask fell off, Logan’s eyes went wide.
The crying Siren fell into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and began
crying as well. The door opened again. The other Siren threw down her mask as
well and fell into his arms. More continued to arrive until four of the Siren
generals sat weeping at his feet.
Logan sat holding the weeping forms, lost in his own
tears as well. “We came as soon as we heard.” Logan put his hand on the largest
one. “You’ve gotten bigger, Pan.” The large man let out a great sob. “Have you
been taking care of each other?” The four nodded. “Come now. Come now. If this
keeps up, someone will notice. Up with you.” They didn’t move. “Alright, I’m
here now. It’s alright.” The sobbing eventually died out. They all sat around
Logan and dried their eyes. Pan spoke up first. “We came as soon as we could.
Are you hurt?” Logan smiled gently. “I’m fine.” He looked around at the others.
“I’m so happy to see you all again. I wish I had known. I
would have come…I would have joined you all here.” The other’s nodded. “Now
then, you must leave me. If Harbinger returns, you will all be in trouble.” Pan
nodded and lifted his mask. “I shall go now. Be safe, Logan.” As the man left
the room, the others gathered their masks and left. One of them stopped in the
door way. Donald turned and spoke to Logan. “Go. In the cell next to us, there
is a young woman. She is different from us. Take her with you when you escape.”
“I will.” Donald turned to leave. “Hold.” Logan said.
“Who else is here?” Donald was quiet for a long while. “Just the four of us. We
are the only ones left, Logan.” Logan paused for a moment before choking out a
reply. “That’s wonderful…take care of each other, alright? Never lose that
compassion, Donald.” The man gave Logan a ‘thumbs up’ and left. Logan exited,
but turned the other way.
The cell next to his was much stronger. A magic seal
coated the door. Logan frowned and thought for a moment. “And how am I to get
through here?” His answer came with a shout from down the hall. “We have a
breach! A prisoner has escaped.” Suddenly, a dozen or so Siren grunts came
running at him. Logan sighed and rubbed his temples.
*****
Moonlight filtered down from the window above. “Ah…the
light looks so warm tonight.” Eryn said to no one in particular. Only a rat
frequented her cell, and even then it wasn’t much company. She tried to touch
the light, but the chains confining her prevented that. Once again, she spent
the night in chains, away from the light. It was getting to be the new year, so
she should be allowed to roam her cell soon. As long as the Siren Doom watched
her. He would allow her a bit of freedom once in a while. She huddled against
the wall of her cell for warmth. But she was a slight woman, so she didn’t get
much warmer.
There was some commotion in the next cell over. She
couldn’t get a good idea of what it was, but she knew that the prisoner next to
her was very important. In a few minutes all was silent. Eryn was left to her
thoughts. She pulled on the chains. The only thing she succeeded in doing was
rattle them. She had to do something. Eryn finally decided that she would
stretch out her wings. After a bit of pain, the tarnished black wings were in
full spread. Her feathers were falling out and they hurt a lot. She winced at
the pain. At least she could still use them though. Being confined for as long
as she had should have killed her.
She returned her wings to the rest position and tried to
get comfortable again. She began to doze off. As she let sleep take her, Eryn
heard a mysterious sound. It sounded like a sigh from outside her cell. No
Siren she knew sighed that loudly. “H-hello?” She called out. Her voice was too
weak and didn’t carry. No one probably heard her through the stone. Then she
heard yelling. Things about prisoner’s escaping. After a moment of commotion
outside, there was silence. From time to time, she heard scrapping metal or odd
bumps. Eryn assumed these were other prisoners or her own chains.
She let the silence take her thoughts again. She dreamed
of the clear skies she so missed. The white clouds. The blue sky. The warm sun
and cool moon. The gentle breeze. Even the wild storms. All of it. To feel the
wind on her wings was her one wish. If only. The chains clattered and brought
her back to reality. But that confused Eryn. Though she heard the chains, it
was not her that caused the sound. And the clatter had sounded loud but
distant. Eryn strained her ears and listened for it again. Sure enough it came.
This time, she heard it clearly. Her thoughts drifted towards what kind of
beast they had confined that could cause so much noise.
The last thing she expect was for it to come crashing
through the wall to her cell. An explosion rocked her entire world as the front
wall of her cell came crashing in on itself. A pile of rubble formed off to her
left. Eryn tried to crawl away from it as best she could. Siren grunts stood on
the other side of the wall with their magic claws out. “Make sure he’s dead.
And don’t hurt the demon.” Through her fingers, Eryn could see that several of
them had already been killed. Only three of the Sirens remained. One climbed on
top of the pile and looked down. “He’s dead as a -” A chain poked out from behind
a chunk of rubble. It seemed to move on its own. An otherworldly glow
encompassed it as it poised behind the Siren for a moment and then shot forward
like an arrow and pierced the Sirens heart. The chain then tossed him towards
his fellows, who were under attack by the same ghostly chains.
Eryn yelped as the guards were cut down. The chains
dropped with a clatter. Through the dimming lights, she made out the figure of
a man rising from the rubble. He wore a simple suit with a scholarly coat. It
had become dusty and torn from his time in this dungeon. He held onto his hand
as he stepped down and spotted her. She tried to get as close to the wall as
possible; appear as small as possible. He approached and knelt. “Hello. I’m
here to help you. Not much time to explain, so I need you to trust me.” His
eyes turned a piercing amber color and a chain sprang to life behind him. The
light from both lit up the dark cell. “Hold still now.” She flinched as the
magic chain destroyed her bindings.
“All free. Can you move?” She shook her head. He offered
a hand. She reached out and took it. With little effort on his part, Eryn rose
to a stand. For about two seconds. He offered his hand again. As she took it,
he winced. “Are you hurt?”
“No…just my arthritis kicking again. I have medicine for
it, just not here.” He said. She was firmly on her feet, but felt as though
walking would take more time. “Who are you?” The man walked out of the hole and
looked down the hall. He came back to her. “If I told you I was a Gobehyz,
would you know what I meant?” Eryn nodded a bit fearfully. “Good. I’m sorry,
but that is all you get for now. Go down the hallway. At the end is a large
rock wall, a dead end. That wall is fake. It is only a few inches thick. Even a
twig like you could break it down with enough effort.” Eryn only slightly heard
him. The man held up his bad hand and chains began appearing around him. They
hovered around him like ethereal serpents. More and more came as they were
ripped out of other cells. They all waited until he pointed down the hall. They
seemed to grow in length as they shot forward.
Given the situation, Eryn had only one choice. She
decided to trust him and run. More Sirens ran to their death as Gobehyz let
them come at him. She ran as fast as she could, but that was barely a walking
pace. She kept moving though. She leaned against the wall less and less with
each step. The sky beckoned her; it called her name and drew her closer to
freedom. She reached the wall that Gobehyz was talking about. She hit it. Her
only success was a hurt hand. “You will need to try harder than that.” Siren
Guile appeared behind a corner. Eryn backed away from him. He took one step and
pushed her over. She landed in soft arms, not the hard ground. Gobehyz had ran
up to her and caught her in a fraction of a second.
“I can oblige you, Guile.” A strange power radiated from
Gobehyz. She looked up and saw a glowing mark on the side of his face. And
eight pointed star, each one symbolizing a pillar. Only four of them were lit,
but it still filled the room with light. “How did you-? When did you-? How-?”
“Learn to finish your sentences, Siren.” Chains shot from
the other end of the hall. At least twenty, probably more. Guile had to dodge
or die. He dove into a surrounding path as the wall to the outside burst open.
Guile tried to reach him, but the magic surrounding the chains repelled any
attempt. “Good bye, Siren.” Gobehyz said in passing. Then he lifted Eryn up and
jumped through the opening.
No comments:
Post a Comment