Zolph shuffled down the hall, breaking open locked cell doors with his steam-fists. The prisoners inside needed no incentive to get the hell out of there. Every once in a while a small chunk of the ceiling would fall to the floor with a large crash, causing the ground to tremble.
All the while, Zolph kept his eyes alert, looking for his brother.
Khale stood and dusted himself off.
"Well then.. I suppose I've helped out as much as I can.. Right now I have a curiosity that needs to be fulfilled. One involving a certain blue-furred beast."
He grabbed a broken bamboo spear from under the rubble, waving a glowing hand over it. The splinters of wood reassembled into the crooked weapon.
"I'm going to the north, to Stalholme. Hopefully that shape-shifter hasn't stirred up any trouble.." He said, and then Khale jumped through the hole in the ceiling.
Dawn was cresting over the sky.
Axl had traveled for hours, until he saw lights.
He sniffed in the smell of smog and other emissions.
As he landed from the treetops, one of the guards at the gear-shaped gate shouted down at him.
"Oi! What'cha doin down there eh? Especially this late at night!"
"I just got here from.. erm.. a trading caravan from the south road!" Axl replied.
"Well, you'd best come in then, what with all the hunters and all!" The guard said, and he pulled a lever by his feet.
The sound of pipes hissing and other mechanisms whirring filled the air. The gear gate slowly creaked and slid over to the side of the wall.
Axl entered the city, and secured an inn for the night..
"Zolph!" But he had already gone down staircase. Ixion only knows what could be lurking in the depts. Azcyh chased after him.
Azcyh caught Zolph before he got to the bottom "If you have to head down this stairwell the least you could do is be silent about it." "We don't know what's at the bottom."
As Perrin opened the last lock he looked at Khale and said,
"I will be in your company for a while longer if you are going to Stalholme. I need to go to my brother's medical research building there." he says with a darkened face, as if something terrible was happening.
Zolph looked at Azych. "Right, I should have..." Zolph's words trailed off.
He was at one end of a huge cavernous dungeon, lit by sparse torchlight. All along the walls were chains, most empty. Some, however, were latched on to dead bodies in various states of decomposition. Zolph wanted to vomit. The stench was overpowering.
At the other end of the dungeon, there were no lights. Zolph heard a sharp sound, just loud enough to hear. It almost sounded like a cough - very weak and barely distinguishable, but a cough nontheless.
The hairs stood up on the back of Zolph's neck. He never particularly liked the dark. He grabbed a torch from one of the walls and walked as slowly as he could towards the other end of the cavern.
When he could finally see what was on the other side, his heart skipped a beat.
In the dark and dank dungeon, the sounds of liquid dripping, and flies buzzing filtered through the hallway.
Slugs slithered on the ground, eating any decomposing flesh they could obtain.
At the end of the hallway, lit by torchlight, was a humanoid figure. It was shackled to the wall, covered in blood. The man had a large, complex circle cut into his exposed torso, designating him to be sacrificed for some ritual..
Khale had decided to stop in the middle of the jungle, to try and get some rest, and he had already set up camp. He sat around the fire, watching the sunlight creep over the treetops.
He finally crawled over to the lean-to he built, and laid down on his bedroll.
"Zant." Zolph could hardly believe his eyes. There was his brother, hardly recognizable due to his emaciated body. A long, stringy beard covered his face, and his eyes showed a weariness that Zolph had never seen before.
Zant tried to speak, but couldn't get his mouth to shape any discernible words, and emitted only a weak groan.
Zolph started trembling. The ground shook, and small bits of ceiling fell to the floor. The prison was still collapsing. He had to act fast. Zolph switched on his steam-fists, which emitted a sharp hiss. "I'm going to get you out of there."
Zolph smashed the chains again and again with his powered gloves, but progress was slow. Every hit he made caused the entire dungeon to rumble and shake. They weren't going to make it.
With a sudden movement, Zant turned his head to Zolph's and stared at with a burning intensity. "Zolph..." he forced the words to come out. "Leave me. There is no life for me anymore... All the energy I've ever had has been drained from me. Go, and save yourself!"
Zolph shook his head in disbelief. "No! No! You can't say that!"
A large chunk of ceiling fell to the ground with a huge thud, sending a wave of dust over Zolph and his brother. Time was running out.
"Dammit, Zolph, I am a dead man!" Zant cried. "Leave, and don't make the same mistakes I did! Know when to let go! You must pass on our bloodline," he continued more steadily. "Our legacy. You damn fool, Zolph, you've got so much to live for, so go and live it. You can't save a man who is already dead."
Zolph could not ignore these words. "Who - who did this to you, Zant? I will have revenge, I swear!"
"You idiot, don't avenge me. Get out there - have adventures, have your name heard in every land known to man - that is how you will make me proud. Good-bye, Zolph."
A large stone crashed down only a few inches from where Zolph stood. Reluctantly, he turned off his steam-fists. "G-good Bye." Zolph could not help but cry for his brother. Then he ran as hard and as fast as he had ever done.
As he flew up the stairs leading to the dungeon, he could hear a terrible thundering sound below him, and knew that the dungeon was no more. And his brother...
Zolph sprang out of the prison and ran for what seemed like ages until finally his legs failed him and he fell in the dirt, scraping his knee across the ground and drawing blood.
He grew furious at the sight of it, and slammed the ground with his fists in his anger. He hated that he was so clusmy.
And he wept uncontrollably.
I'm going to be gone on vacation for a whopping three weeks, so don't expect any updates. You could have someone control my character, or you could just leave it.
Perrin had been walking down a beaten, hard traveled pathway leading to Stalholme for about 8 hours. He had found an old carved out hut next to a tree and figured he would stay there for the night. Before he went to bed he set a trap in hopes of catching food.
"Damn that Khale, I told him I wanted to travel with him and he just left, asshole." He thought to himself as he was cooking a rabbit that had fallen into his trap. When he was done eating he got up and continued down the beaten road.
He walked out onto the main road leading to Stalholme a couple hours later and ran into a party of people.
"Halt!" one of them said. He turned to a man with a poster, "Is that him?"
"Hmm, he fits the description, but why would he come back?" the man with the poster said.
"Does it matter? As long as it looks like him we get paid." another man says.
Perrin says with a confused look, "What are you talking about? I haven't been to Stalholme in four years."
"Save your breath thief." The man with the poster says. "We need money, and you look like the guys we are looking for. Get him!"
Perrin didn't stand a chance against the three mercenaries, and he gets knocked out.
"Well I guess everybodys gone." Azcyh said as he left the city. "To Thunderflint I suppose."
He took a few steps forward and stoped "uh-oh" he said "which direction is Thunderflint again?"
He sighed "I wish I would of paid attention when Khale showed us the map."
"Might as well guess, maybe I'll see some one who can tell me where it is." And he started walking.
Khale woke up to daylight shining through his leaf-thatched roof. He sat up straight, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
The fire sat in the small pit it had burned for itself, and simply smoldered.
Khale heard a loud crunching noise nearby, and picked up his bamboo spear. He peered around his lean-to, and saw a large, black, one-footed bird rummaging through his backpack.
Khale hissed at the Crestbeak to startle it away.
"Psssst! Hey! Bug off!" He shouted.
The large bird drew it's glittering beak from the bag, and tilted it's head at Khale.
"You heard me! Go! Shoo!" Khale said to the bird.
The Crestbeak still did not move..
Khale walked over to the bird, and pushed on it. The large creature tried to bite at Khale, but eventually fell over.
Khale grabbed his bag, and walked away from it, and got back on the worn, stone path.
Axl awoke as well. He paid the innkeeper, and went into the center of town.
He entered a bazaar, full of mechanical items that hissed and clanked. Several bronze Clockwerks went about their business.
Axl went to a butcher, and bought a bag of smoked Sagrissagon jerky. He sat on a stone bench near a fountain, and ate.
Azcyh had been walking for awhile. The continuation of the forest he had been walking through had given him the feeling he was walking in circles. "I need to find some distinguishing mark." he thought "just so I know I'm not walking in circles."
He looked all around him. Far into the distence he could see what appeared to be a stone building. He started walking to the structure.
When he arrived, he tried to look into one of the windows but it were to dirty to see through. "Maybe someone inside can tell me where I am." He said. Azcyh opened the door and steped inside.
Perrin was sitting in his cell quietly for hours waiting for the guard to come with his meal of the day. He had been thinking to himself 'What the hell did I do?'
When the guard came around he asked. The guard glared at him and said "You have been placed under arrest for thievery and murder." he said. "Your hearing for these crimes will be held tomorrow at mid-day."
Perrin couldn't believe something this bad could happen to him. He hadn't stolen anything from that town in four years... which is the reason he had skipped towns.
The next day was the same as the last. Waking up on a cold, hard stone floor next to a chunk of cold, hard bread and a small glass of water. At mid-day the same guard as the day before came to get Perrin to take him to the courthouse.
They arrived at the courthouse and the town judge was waiting there. "Garet, you have been accused of thievery of the Brustlewood household and murder of their butler. How may you plead?"
"Not guilty, sir. I haven't been in Stalholme for four years." Perrin replied. "My name isn't Garet either."
Sorry about the really generic thief name from Thief, not good at making up names.
Khale arrived at the golden, gear-shaped gate. It glistened and glared, and he had to cover his eyes to look up at the guard who was shouting at him from above.
"Good mornin' sire! How are you today?"
"I'm doing fine. Could you please open the gate for me, sir?" Khale said.
"Sorry sire, no animals allowed within Stalholme's walls." The guard said, pointing behind Khale, "We had some bad incidents involving a horse and a Clockwork."
Khale looked behind himself, and saw the Crestbeak from earlier.
"Damn it.. The stupid thing followed me." He muttered to himself. "Sorry, the bird isn't with me. It seems to have followed me for some reason." Khale said to the guard.
"Oh, all right. Come on in." The guard shouted, and he pulled the gate mechanism.
Khale entered, and went to the bazaar.
"Well, you don't look like any traveler I've ever seen, and you are in clothes made with Stalholme crest's, which means your from here." The judge replied.
"Yes, I am from here but I--" Perrin started
"SILENCE!" the judge snapped, "Enough of this crap! You are to be held under house arrest until we either prove it was you or you are found innocent."
Perrin was taken to an inn were those without homes go when under house arrest. The room he was taken to was small and had a bad smell, as if it was infested with rats. Perrin gagged at the thought and started to look around the rest of the room. There was nothing special, a bed, lamp, and a dresser to put some things in.
"This is where you will live for the time being. There will be at least one guard in front of this door at all times, so don't think about leaving." One guard said to Perrin. "Three meals will be delivered every day to this room. Heh, make yourself comfortable, you might be here awhile."
Azcyh steped in only to stair down the barrel of a shotgun "Who the hell are you?" the man said "I'm a travler." said Azcyh.
"Well Mr.travaler, do you alwase barge into peoples houses without knocking?" Said the man
"Sorry, I thought this place was abandoned." The man walked toword Azcyh and took a look at his face. "Whats your name?" The man asked asked. "Azcyh." He replyed
He muttered Azcyh's name under his breath, and took a look around his house. Azcyh took a look as well, The walls were plastered with wanted posters.
"Huh I guess not." the man said under his breath. He put down the gun "Might as well have a seat." "Thank you." Said Azcyh, "Just a guess, but your a bounty hunter." Azcyh said as he sat down "Best in the buisness." said the man "whats your name?" Azcyh asked. "Cygon, So What are you doing out here in the middle of the woods?"
"Well, actully I'm tring to find my way to..." Azcyh cut his setence short, a wanted poster had cought his eye. "To where?" Cygon said. "Who is this man?" Azcyh asked as he pointed to a poster on the wall "Oh thats Garet, He was caught yesterday. His trial should take place soon." Cygon said, It looked just like Perrin, but how. A diffrent identaty maybe?
"Where is this trial taking place?" Azcyh said. "Stalholme, I beleave." "which direction is that?" "it's not to far north of here" Said cygon "Right, thanks." Said Azcyh. Cygon stoped him "Wait Azcyh, What do you plan on doing?" "I don't know yet." Said Azcyh as he left the house and headed north.
He was laying on his side in the mud, having lost consciousness after exhausting himself with his running. Slowly, he managed to stand upright on his feet, which were still unsteady. Looking around him, he saw that he was fairly deep in the woods and quite a distance away from Khorikan.
Memories of what happened in that prison flooded back into his head. Zolph tried to shake them out of his mind, but they lingered in his consciousness. Zant was dead - he would have to accept that. There was nothing he could have done - or was there? A strange feeling of guilt came over Zolph.
"I need to avenge him," Zolph said aloud, as if to instill confidence in himself. But how, when, where? I don't know where to start. To start off, I'll head to Stahlhome - that seems like a good place to get a hold of myself and maybe earn a little money to gear up.
His mind made up, Zolph revved up his steam-boots and started heading north.
Azcyh had been traviling down the path to Stahlhome for awhile. He looked in the distence and saw the walls of the town. He arived at the town gates "Good evening sire." Said a guard standing at the gate.
"Hello, tell me, is there man named Garet inside this town?"
"Uhhhh, yes, brought in on murder and thievery charges, if I remeber correctly, he's under house arrest."
"Ahhh really, could you let me in to the city?"
"Sure, just let me tell the guard on top of the gate." The guard walked to the bottem of the gate. "OPEN THE GATE!" He shouted, and the gate opened, and Azcyh walked into the town.
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