Cursed Odyssey

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

—

"ATTENTION!! SOLDDDIERRRRSSS!! ATTENTION ABOVE!! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!" The Warden's scream sliced through the air, her eyes flickering with a fierce light as she unsheathed her black longsword, pulsating with a sinister purple aura.

Shock, confusion, then alertness washed through the guards faces in an instant. They followed the tip of the Warden's blade, up toward the open skyhole of the prison, where shadows danced and the night air seemed to hiss with menace.

H—huh?! Alton's heart hammered in his chest. What's going on… What about Zephyr… Zephyr… Mistress Warden said he was… down… with…with… A cold dread settled in his stomach. 'Him… with Urslan…'

Without a second thought, Alton dashed out—

"COME BACK HERE!! ALTON!!" The Warden's scream echoed, her aura flaring like a typhoon, but Alton's back remained defiantly turned.

"YOU'RE TOO LATE!! NOTHING CAN BE DONE!! FOCUS ON WHAT WE CAN PREVENT!! THAT IS AN ORDER!!" She understood exactly what happened in Alton's mind…

Alton, fueled by adrenaline, knew it too. Yet, somewhere deep within, hope flickered still.

A random guard, his face pale, stuttered, "Mistress, should I sto—"

"LEAVE HIM BE!!" She roared, "WE HAVE FAR BIGGER PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH!!"

Her eyes glimmered, locked like a keen predator…

1… 2… 3… 4… 5—

Silhouetted against the black sky, dozens of figures in hooded cloaks began to descend, falling like black raindrops.

Each one of them harboured a strange, ominous, almost crewed energy. It was bone-chilling, guards felt like bugs were crawling beneath their skin. Each one felt like an entire army stored within a single being. Like masked harbingers of death…

Yet even still, in the face of such a force, beneath her helm… The Warden was…

Smiling.

"KILL THEM ALL!!"

_____________________________________________

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"Wha— What was that!?" Gwynn stammered.

The ground shook beneath them, like the entire prison toppled.

Gwynn struggled to find his balance, clutching the wall, his eyes wide and faltering.

He couldn't understand what was happening—

His eyes darted frantically—

Arthur, stood still despite it all, though now… He was… laughing?

Samsara, not far off, looked visibly shaken, her lips parted in a silent gasp. Her hands trembled and her face looked pale as though she had seen the abyss itself— her pupils like leaves amidst a storm.

Then, finally, his eyes landed back straight ahead of him… Towards… Rayah…

Her eyes retained their cold flicker, and she continued walking slowly toward him despite the tremors, a smile on her face as if they were nothing more than a passing breeze.

Gwynn visibly gulped, and forced himself back on his two feet.

"LET'S CALL IT A TRUCE!! That sound!! We—"

"Shut up…" She mocked, and punched him in the face.

"RAYAH!! I—"

"Shut-up… When did I give you permission to speak?"

"THIS ISN'T TIME FOR—"

"Shut-up—"

"Shut-up…"

With each word, she punched, with each punch, her smile grew wider, and the wider her smile, the louder her tone became.

The blows were like a blizzard, Gwynn could barely perceive them. He raised his hands to block, but the pain seemed to come from all directions. Her fists were relentless, each strike more brutal than the last. Blood sprayed from his nose, his vision blurred, and he could feel his bones creak— his muscles screamed, skin bruised, bones on the verge of shattering. His ribs ached as if they might crack, each breath a burning gasp filled with fiery pain.

…

'Why… Why… WHY!? WHY!?'

'Why must she be so ignorant!?'

'Why must she be so stubborn!?'

'S—so… BRAINDEAD!!'

'I just have to endure… The time will come… Lord…'

"Fight back!" She taunted.

"Fight back I said! Come on, chosen emissary of the gods! Are you not above me?" She laughed.

"Kneel! Bow! Beg! Or… Just die…" Her voice was like shattering glass. "Or maybe, you'll just die anyways!"

En…dure… Salvation… is nigh… He kept thinking, yet his body barely responded. His knees buckled, his face and body battered and bloody, as he dropped down on one knee.

There was a moment of chilling silence, he looked up to see Rayah's face, twisted…

Something grotesque…

Like the very personification of evil… The darkness to his light…

"Slow and painful… Or… fast and with no feeling?" She crouched down to meet him, her voice a cold whisper.

"You... witch..." Gwynn spat blood at her face, but she dodged with a sneer. "You'll... never get away with it..."

"Oh little chosen one… You think the prison would really do something to me? I'm way too valuable… And you? You're disposable…"

"SHUT UP—"

*Crck*

"AH— AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—"

She broke his finger.

The bone jutted out, white and jagged peaking through his skin. His screams were a mix of agony and defiant horror. The pain was blinding, a searing flash that ripped through him, leaving him gasping for breath, his vision swimming.

He gritted his teeth looking up at Rayah's twisted visage.

"9 left… Then we move on to something even better…"

"You— Can't… Stop i…"

*Crck*

Another finger broke.

"Oh yes, I can…" She giggled, "And I'll continue until a guard comes and stops me… Now… Where is that begging and barking?"

Gwynn unconsciously shrank,

And Rayah went in to take another.

But that was when—

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

_______________________

That was the second explosion that happened. The second one shook the prison somehow even more than the first.

Very few were able to stay standing during this rumble.

They closed their eyes shut. As they fell, there was an odd feeling…

It washed over them like a shower after months of swimming in dung. A tingle, and odd serenity…

They opened their eyes, those very eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Their mouths gaped open, trembling like vibrators.

The anklets…

Wrapped tight around their ankles ever since entry…

Had finally snapped broken…

The Arcane signs on their right hand, had begun to slowly repear…

"Ha… …. Ha…. Ha… Ha… HA!!" A young prisoner broke out into sudden laughter.

The once quiet prison, quieter than a dead rat, suddenly became louder than an erupting volcano. All came to the realization.

"THE DEMI GODDD!! THE DEMI GOD IS REALLLL!! HAHHAHAHAHHA!!"

"N-no way… A-am I dreaming…" Another prisoner muttered.

"This is fucking real alright!! You know, I really thought all that Demi-God talk was bullshit! But now!! Hahhaha" His laughing friend responded.

"But now? W-well… what now?" The muttering prisoner's voice raised slightly.

"What do you mean what now!? We break out of here!" His friend grinned, and looked out past the bars of his cell.

Thought it was night, they could see flashes and flickers, explosions through the darkness, hear howls and cries from the other side.

The riot, had already begun.

"But what if it doesn't work out… Riemann, The guards are still out there… We only have our core spirits… if we stay here, maybe they'll reward us? We—"

"Ohhhh shut up!!" Riemann spat, "Not another word! You either go out there and have a chance to escape, or stay in here like a pussy, and I'll personally beat your ass before I drag you with me! It's up to you!"

"F… Fine…"

"Stay behind me Oslow, don't sweat it! Not only am I with you, but so is the Demi-god! The Wheel of Fortune shines bright on us today!" His hands shined a bright purple aura, the aura extended and wrapped around the cell bars like a string, before they were yanked, and pried apart. "

"And Lord Wolf has granted us a chance for victory!!"

__________________

At the time of the first and second explosions, Skylar was still in chains. Her group, escorted by a lone guard, was the one just ahead of Joseph's.

Few minutes before finally reaching her cell, did the second explosion happen.

All at once, their anklets fell, and the mark of the Arcane found itself back upon their hands.

Slowly, Skylar began to regain her old vision.

It was disorienting, but it was as though she had regained her old self—

Sounds of snapping chains filled the air, as one by one, the prisoners to her side began.

Overwhelmed by the suddenness of it all, the guard escorting them was caught off guard, and it a mere instant, found himself a deformed corpse trampled on the ground.

The world was blurry around Skylar as she tried to make sense of it all. Silhouettes danced like ghosts, as she found herself in a sea of bodies, being pushed around.

Yells, screams, explosions filled her ears.

Yet, one sound pierced through it all—

"LORD WOLF!! ALL HAIL LORD WOLF!!"

It was then, she finally understood. Somehow, the plan had worked. Gwynn's leadership had succeeded.

She managed a smile out the corner of her lips, then a thought crossed her mind…

"Zephyr…!!!"

He was merely a dreg. Surely, if he did not die by the hands of a guard, he would die by a stray attack, or even trampled to death by the crowds.

'I MUST FIND HIM!!"

Her eyes narrowed, then she disappeared from place…

Now floating in the center of the prison, hovering above the deep hole, it was like she almost teleported.

Her eyes scan, looking for any signs of him.

____________________

Within the cell:

The marks returned, and the anklets fell.

A sudden feeling overwhelmed Gywnn's chest…

Despite his condition, unconsciously, tears began streaming down his face…

"Lord Wolf… It has been done… We did it…" He suddenly began laughing, louder than he ever had before—

"What's so funny?" Rayah scoffed, with a look of almost pitty.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHY!?!? Can't you see we're free!? Enough of this shenanigans!! IT'S TIME TO—"

With yet another punch to the gut, she interrupted him. He spat out blood from his mouth, and he looked up to her with teeth clenched.

"ARE YOU RETARDED!?!? HOW COULD A HUMAN BE THIS STUPID!?!?"

Smiling, she simply ignored him, and went in for another punch.

"I SAID ENOUGH!!"

Suddenly, around Gwynn's body, wind sprung forth from all directions, like a tornado had spawned in from the center of their cell.

Rayah, pushed back, slammed against the cell bars—

Her shoulders slumped, and her head slid down.

Wind, sharp as a honed blade, an invisible killer whirled around Gwynn's fingertips.

"IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, I'LL JUST HAVE TO KILL YOU!!"

*Crack*

He aimed for neck.

However…

"Our Arcane energy is back? Oh how amusing…"

In front of her, a wall of ice suddenly erected, as though summoned from thin air.

"YES!! IT'S BACK!! NOW LET'S ESACPE!! STOP WASTING MY TIME OR I'LL KILL Y—"

But before he could finish his sentence, spikes of ice erupted from beneath him. So sharp, they pierced through his abdomen, and left him dangling near the ceiling.

"Kill who?"

Slowly, the world all around him began growing dark…

'Impossible… How!??"

Magic, or rather, arcane energy still followed the laws of physics. With few exceptions in this world, nothing could truly be created or destroyed.

For one to generate Arcane Energy, they required a fuel source, such as food. Through a mechanism in the body, that food ends up as arcane energy within the core.

For one to use their arcane arts, they must expel the arcane energy, then transform it with their own unique properties.

The Ice that Rayah used did not spawn out of nowhere, nor was it instantaneous. No, she had expelled invisible arcane pulses from her core, which she then transformed into ice.

However, this all had limits.

One's Arcane energy was strongest the closer it was to them. If one were to send their arcane energy too far out, it would make controlling it much harder. And, if that energy was close to someone else, it would be corrupted by the arcane energy of the opponent.

That was why Rayah could not simply freeze Gwynn's heart, or erupt an icicle within his lungs. Too much interference for that to be possible.

But somehow, she had created icicles so close to Gwynn, directly beneath him, something he could have never expected.

"Your energy is so pitiful… I could not even feel it…" Rayah chuckled.

He had no energy to fight back.

Gwynn's eyes darted all around, he needed something, someone, a way out, anything…

Samsara? Arthur? They were long gone. The lock to the cell had been snapped, and they escaped along the sea of escapees…

Arthur… he… left… did he truly not care about me?

"Do… you not care about escaping!? You're wasting your… time…" Gwynn coughed.

"I promised to kill you, and that is what I shall do. Why would I let anything ruin this moment? Escape? I can escape anytime… Unlike you. You shall die here…"

Die… am I truely going to… die… … … … … … Why?

For what sin?

"LORD WOLFFFFF!!! SAVE ME!!!"

With his remaining energy, Gwynn screamed. It reverberated, his feeling emanating with every syllable. The light in his eyes slowly began to fade, but the light in his heart remained, though but a flicker.

And in his darkest times, he received an answer…

"Rayah Vandymion… That is enough…" The voice of the Demi-God, was heard…

Lord Wolf, has spoken.