Sages, Chapter 5: What Balance is Broken
"What Balance is Broken"
POV Aiko
Ugh...where am I?
My eyes filtered open to a rather dull amount of light. I was clearly not anywhere in reach of the sunlight. Still, it pained me to do the simple act of opening my eyes, but this was rather because my face was covered in bruises and cuts. From what, I was struggling to remember.
I left home, and I put Maren in charge...I remember that much. And then I was on the road for a few days. Then I was in Tempest, where I left to go cross the border. So why am I now here? Where is here?
My vision started to clear itself up a bit from the blurriness of before. The walls on each side of my were old stone brick walls; with moss covering them, indicating a likely very old age. There were torches on the walls, and in front of me there were iron bars with a lock hooked onto what appeared to be the only entrance and exit to my cell.
That's right! That asshole with the ice magic! And now I've been captured...wait, why am I still alive?
I tried to get up, but almost immediately gave up from a pure lack of strength. Every muscle in my body ached with pain. After deciding that I'd rather not move my body, I settled for just moving my eyes to take a gander of my surroundings.
To my unappealing discovery, there was really nothing else to see. It was a barren cell, with several other cells lined up right next to it. What lied at the end of the hallway was beyond my vision, but I figured that it must be the exit; most likely a stairway to somewhere above ground.
Do to an overwhelming urge to just not move at all, I decided that my curiosity was to lay rest for the time being. And so I drifted off to sleep.
What could have been the next few hours or the next few days went by with the same consistent patterns. I would drift into a strange kind of hazy sleep, only to wake up an unknown amount of time later and sit on my butt and completely refuse to move as I used my limited amount of energy to power my brain and think about what my options of escape were. When I realised that there were none, I drifted back to my unconscious state, and hence the process repeated itself over and over again. Time had reached a point where it completely eluded me, and I had no idea where or when my reality was taking place. My ears buzzed with sound, even through the cold silence that swept the air, and my eyes only saw the same grim, lifeless walls that surrounded me.
It was several hours later that reality finally came back to me. From what had felt like a surprisingly deep and pleasant sleep came the wake-up call that alerted me that unfortunately, I wasn't dead yet. It came in the form of a door opening. Soon after, footsteps, and then through my still slightly blurred vision came the view of a figure, standing in front of me from the other side of the cell. There was a jingling noise as the lock was fiddled with, and soon after came the sound of the door to my hellish box of imprisonment opening. The figure bent down and placed something on the floor in front of me; which I figured and suddenly hoped was some food and water. Then, just as soon as he came, he closed the door with a small clink and walked away, back through the set of stairs and the large iron door at the entrance that preceded it.
After he left, I decided that it would be an ideal time to finally get moving. Forcing myself to find the strength to move was difficult. My entire body still ached with pain, but I was able to push myself up to my knees. I tried to stand; but my efforts resulted in futility as I only managed to stumble forward. I caught myself with the palms of my paws. From there, I took a deep breath and noticed the guard's "gifts". For a moment, I was thrilled to see it; my mind instantly plunged into a deep, overwhelming lust for a meal to consume.
Yes! Oh, my stomach needed this so badly! Haha, it's time to feast!
My burst of enthusiasm was cut short at a further examination of the cuisine, which turned out to be a very pathetic-looking piece of bread and a small gourd of water. After a moment of staring at the depressing display of room-service, I picked the bread up and took a bite.
It was crunchy.
Crunchy. It was crunchy. Crunchy as in a texture that a piece of bread definitely should not be.
That's just depressing, honestly.
Maybe some water will make me feel better...
I gently tipped the gourd into my mouth, making sure not to spill any. Such a precious thing couldn't afford to be wasted at a time like this. A moment later, I gagged.
Or, y'know, maybe it could afford to be wasted. Because this water kinda tastes like crap.
"Seriously?!" I shouted at the ceiling. "You're gonna kick my ass, lock me up down here, and when I find myself starving for food and water, this is the best you can do!? I thought for a moment that you guys might have some hospitality! But no! You're a bunch of fucking barbarians!"
I fell onto my back, gasping for breath. I was angry, and I was exhausted, and my food and water situation was just left completely unsatisfied. Then, from somewhere deep inside of me, the most unexpected thing came out of my mouth: laughter. I just started cackling uncontrollable; and I continued to do so for the next minute, until I finally ran out of breath and started choking.
Why the hell am I laughing? This isn't funny at all. I'm probably gonna die down here. Slowly and painfully; and for absolutely no purpose.
Once again, I started drifting into another deep sleep. My eyes closed and my consciousness faded away, almost as quickly as the small fragments of hope drained right out of my soul.
This is making me insane...
POV X
"His name is Bodey Aráshvahr, my lord. He is a knight and strategist from the kingdom of Uthalia; apparently a very highly praised one. He says that Queen Marvhalien sent him here to provide us with his skills and knowledge."
"Why yes, of course" King Bauxtaurus spoke in his calm, deep voice as he addressed the servant in front of him. "I was informed by her that we would be receiving him as a predecessor to the additional troops that are on the way. Thank you, squire."
He then turned his gaze to the tiger that stood opposite to him. "And you have my thanks as well, Sir Bodey Aráshvahr. Our forces could very much make use of your expertise in our offencive with the Northern powers, as well as lending a helping hand to Aey'Áris. I will be sure to equip you to wherever my heads of military and myself believe is most fitting."
"Of course, King of the great and powerful Bælan. It is my pleasure" Aráshvahr responded, making a small bow of courtesy. At this, the king took a moment to observe this fascinating new visitor to his kingdom. He had unusually bright shades of orange that coated his fur, as well as some light shades of brown, and white with such a texture that it almost reminded him of whipped cream. The golden tiger wore a brown tunic, which fit surprisingly nicely with his fur. His stature was regal and his back was as straight as it could be in his presence. The king knew immediately that he was a warrior of great honor, just like his father was before him.
His father...
Some memories began to fade into his mind as the king remembered the vivid image of Malcolm Aráshvahr. It had been decades ago during the previous war with the Suribian nations that they had fought side by side as young soldiers. They actually knew each other quite well during that time; and Bauxtaurus often wondered where he was in modern days.
For a moment, the king thought of mentioning to Bodey that he had known Malcolm. His mouth opened to speak, but as several darker memories passed through his thoughts, he closed it and decided that it was best if he stayed quiet.
"That will be all, Aráshvahr. Please feel free to take a look around the castle whilst I inform our forces of your arrival. Squire!" he shouted, redirecting his attention to the servant. "Show him around, if you'd please."
"Yes, my lord, at once!" he responded promptly, then began to walk off towards the west wing of the castle and directed Bodey to follow him. As the striped feline tottered out of his view, his tail swept across the glossy, silver and golden floors of the castle. The king sat back in his chair, as a wave of deep thoughts suddenly perplexed his mind.
POV Aiko
My eyes once again opened to the sound of the heavy steel door opening. I got up to my feet, grasping the iron bars on the door to keep my weak body up as an all too familiar face rode into my view.
"Well, aren't you looking lovely this evening?" the General said, a sinister tone sneaking through his thick Agu Morran accent; one that he had done an excellent job of masking when we first met at the Inn.
"You..." I said, gasping for the breath to speak. My voice was still weak from my fit of screeching from the previous night/period of consciousness.
"Who the hell are you?"
"My name is General August Rodlan. You may call me whatever you'd like." he said, looking at me harshly. "It honestly doesn't matter to me. All that matters to me is getting the information that I need about the artifact. After that, you're little more than cannon fodder to me."
"Alright then. If I'm as good as dead to you, then why should I be interested helping you with the artifact?" I asked him, trying to sound as sinister as I could. I tried to stand up straight to face him, but a sudden burst of pain in my shoulder caused my to topple back towards the door.
"Oh, it's not your own life that you would be saving, Aiko." he said. "It's someone else's."
...someone else?
I was struck with a combination of confusion and worry. "Who?"
"Who? Hahaha!" the bear chortled at my dismay. "Someone you may know by the name of Emily Burningham?"
Mother?! No!
"You, y-you're lying!" I stuttered out in disbelief.
"She was just one of our more interesting captures, to be certain. I was originally gonna kill her for her sins, but then after several long sessions of ineffective torture, I discovered that she could serve a much more effective use" he said, a smirk on his face.
"You're insane. No, not even that. You're evil! You can't seriously do this!"
He quietly chortled to himself once again.
I swear, I'm gonna kill this bastard the first chance I get!
I stood up, finally finding purpose in balancing on my own two feet.
"Rodlan, listen to me" I pleaded. "Whatever you want from me, I can't give it to you. You found the book in my bag; surely you must have read it! I know nothing more than what that book says. You have to believe me. Do whatever you like with me, just don't hurt her!"
"Perhaps." Rodlan responded. "But you see, I beg to differ. Partly because I just don't believe you" he said.
"The other reason..." he began, as he opened the door and entered the cell, closing in behind him. He then looked at me with the most malevolent and corrupt expression that I had ever seen.
"...is because this way is always so much more fun!"
Then, he pummeled me will the power of nothing but his mere fist and a single punch that sent me sprawling to the floor in pain. I cried out in pain; all the helplessness and pure agony that I had finally recovered from had instantly shifted back into my body, and was once again ignited each time that he kicked me as I layed on the cold, lifeless floor.
After several minutes of physical abuse, he grabbed me tightly by the throat and heaved me upwards.
"Tell me where the fucking artifact is!" he spat in my bruised, concave face. I could already taste an abundance of my blood on my lips.
"I don't know!" I choked out as loudly as I could.
What do I say? Do I tell him that...no, I can't! But I also can't let him hurt her...then again, that psycho probably already killed her in cold blood. Oh, what the hell do I do?!
"Boy, listen to me! I'm gonna ask you only once more, and I'm gonna start shredding your mother apart piece by piece, and it'll be as slow and painful as possible! And I'm gonna enjoy every second of it, and then when I'm done with her I'm gonna do the same thing to you, and you'll die knowing that you did it for absolutely nothing!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs; his eyes burning with pure hatred and anger as they gazed at me from less than a foot away.
No...no, no, no, no, no...this isn't happening, this isn't happening!
"BOY!"
"Alright!" I let out, gasping for air. I could hear Rodlan breathing heavily in front of me, but his chaotic shouting had temporarily ceased at the sound of my most recent interjection.
"I'll talk..."