Awake

Lucas opened his eyes and winced at the throbbing pain at the back of his head.

He felt the stinging pain on his head from where the Knight had kicked his face with an armored boot.

'Wait...' Lucas Realized his situation. 'Where am I?'

Lucas got up, immediately feeling the intense pain from his abdomen as he did. Ignoring the pain, Lucas looked around his surroundings.

He sat in a cot made of a slab of wood padded with a dirty rag covered with all kinds of fungal growth. The room was six feet wide and eight feet long.The stone brick walls were covered in moldy cracks and thick, rusted iron bars blocked one of the only two openings of the cell, with the other opening being a stinky cesshole the size of a fist.

Lucas fought the urge to barf at the disgusting state of his cell and immediately stood up, nearly slipping on the wet, mossy, stone floor.

Lucas grabbed a hold of himself and checked his belongings.

He only had his old tunic and wool pants, all the rest of his items, including his shoes, had been missing from his posession.

"Dammit." Lucas cursed.

He shifted his gaze at the man next to his cell that had been staring at him in an amused manner, the flickering torchlight from the hall separating them clearly defined the man's numerous bruises and chapped lips.

"Which village did you 'Volunteer' from?" The man asked in a parched voice.

Lucas stared at the man, weighing the reasons to answer him or not and decided to go along with him for the mean time.

"Underground village." Lucas sighed. "Southeastern District Border."

"Oh, you guys are lucky." The man bitterly laughed. "I'm from Redwyn town, 15 minutes west of Dwenson. I was among the first ones to 'Volunteer' and had been here for three days now."

"Just how do they plan on making you fight a war when they beat you up like that?" There was a hint of resentment in Lucas' voice.

"Don't know, kid." The man coughed. "You're lucky since you're the last batch of 'Volunteers'. You won't get whipped just because the guards are bored."

"Volunteers my ass." Lucas spat. "All their Sun God bullcrap pisses me off."

"You may see it as bull but the fanatics of the church increase as you get closer to the capital." The man paused to cough again. "Bunch of damn lunatics."

Lucas eyed the man's eyes that flickered with resentment as he spoke of the church.

"Did you notice someone that was dragged in here with me?" Lucas asked.

"Nope." The man sighed. "I was being given 'encouragement' by the guards that time, when they got bored of whipping me they threw me back here and you were already there on your cell."

"Damn." Lucas grit his teeth, thinking about Rowan.

"I saw him though." A voice spoke to him beside his cell. "Six guards dragged him on long chains."

Lucas peered at the side of his cell to see a pair of arms resting on the rusted iron bars at the cell next to him.

"What did he look like?" Lucas asked.

"Black hair, pale skin. A pair of pitch black eyes that seemed to carry the grudges of humanity." The guy next to his cell seemed to shrug. "Guards were havin' a hard time with him, he kicked them in the face whenever he had the chance, I'd say he broke a couple of noses. He was a pretty interesting fellow. They probably locked him in an iron box or something."

"Thanks." Lucas sighed. "At least I know he is alive and kicking... literally."

"No problem." The man sighed. "We're all in the same boat now after all."

"How's the situation at the border?" The man on the opposite of Lucas' cell asked.

"Bad." Lucas closed his eyes as flashbacks of how the spear pierced through Jack and how adults and children alike were beheaded.

"It was just... a slaughter..." Lucas gnashed his teeth.

"There were only two of you that were captured though." The man beside his cell said. "Did you fight back?"

Lucas remembered how Rowan shot the soldiers and how he tried to spear the Knight.

"Yeah." Lucas breathed. "We killed one of the guards."

"Damn, that's nice to hear."

"Good job."

"Thanks for that."

"Hahaha they deserved it."

Cheers came from the other cells down the hall, apparently, the other prisoners had been listening to the conversation.

They had a good laugh until they heard the sound of metal striking against the iron bars.

"QUIET!" A guard said as he stormed down the hall, smacking the iron bars on every cell he passed by.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU LITTLE PEASANTS STARTED IT?!" The guard bellowed before stopping by Lucas' cell. "It must be the new guy huh... YOU FILTHY WORM! YOU DARE TO-"

The guard was about to lash out at Lucas but was cut off by the man opposite to his cell.

The man had scooped up his filth and moss and threw it to the guard.

"Who's filthy now?" The man sneered.

"YOU!" The guard touched the filth that stained the white cloth over his armor and smelled it, vomiting as soon as he sniffed it and proceeded to lash out insults.

"YOU INGRATE SPAWN OF A WHORE! YOU UNCULTURED, FILTHY SON OF A--- YOU WAIT THERE IN YOUR CELL AND YOU BETTER HOPE THAT I FORGOT WHERE I PUT THE KEYS YOU BASTARD!"

The guard had stormed off to the exit and the screeching sound of a heavy iron gate closing told them he was gone.

"He's going to kill you when he gets back." Lucas eyed the man. "Why did you take the blame for me?"

"It's better if the old ones are first to go, kid." The man bitterly laughed. "It's only natural."

Lucas stared at the old man with a complicated look. They had only been aquainted for a short while but the man had covered for him when he was in danger.

"I'm Lucas." Lucas asked. "What's your name?"

The man stared at him for a while and laughed. "I forgot to introduce myself huh. Damn, I'm getting old."

"My name is Leonin. Leonin of Redwyn. I used to be a k-"

"I'M BACK FILTHY PEASANTS!" The iron gate opened with a screeching echo as the heavy footsteps of the guard resounded through the hall. "DID YOU MISS ME?!"

The guard laughed like a maniac as he walked down the hall carrying a branding iron and a bucket of red hot coals.

Lucas shivered at the thought of where the guard would shove that white hot branding iron.

"Come on, this old man is getting bored." Leonin said with an arrogant air.

"You filthy -"

The guard was about to open Leonin's cell when a faint voice could be heard from farther down the line of cells.

"That guard is really stupid!"

"I know right! He's really fat too!"

"His belly is thicker than his armor!"

"He looks like someone born from an ogre and a swamp hag."

A series of loud, mocking laughter then resounded through the otherwise silent hall, causing the Guard's ears to perk up and he started to seethe.

"WHY YOU!" The guard did not open Leonin's cell and headed further down the cells, completely forgetting about Leonin while cursing all kinds of things.

"STUPID! INGRATE! SONS OF A..."

"What are those guys doing-" Lucas wondered until he got an answer.

"NITWIT IMBECILE OF A BASTARD'S CESSHOLE IN A FU-"

The guard suddenly went silent from his tantrum and a series of dull thudding against Iron could be heard. Muffled noises occasionally were faintly heard from where Lucas was.

A few more dull thudding later and the Guard could be heard screaming for a second before going silent again and continuing the dull thudding noises.

"What in the world..." The prisoners were sure to have heard the guard scream, making them curious.

This pattern lasted a few brief minutes of confusion.

Suddenly, a sound of a screeching iron gate sounded from the other end of the hall, followed by many others and the prisoners down the hall had started to stir.

A few moments later Rowan suddenly appeared in front of Lucas' cell.

'Wait, how did he--!' Lucas furrowed his brows in confusion before Rowan spoke.

"You finally awake?" Rowan asked.