Prison of the Damned

Nick woke up for the hundredth time, his wounds visible on his face. He suffered for so long, time doesn't even affect him. How long has he been in there? Days? Months? Years? He doesn't even know. He tried to move off of his knees, but it had no effect, he couldn't move. He tried to move his hands to take the collar off of his neck, but they were frozen in a crucifix form, his blades encased in stone. He tried to pull his blades out but to no avail, he was stuck like a fly in a spider web.

"Hello, Nick," A voice said and he turned his head to the noise, seeing nothing on the roof. He looked straight to see two black worms crawl up the side of the platform, crawling towards him. Suddenly, someone landed in front of the worms and Lacrimae looked at Nick, anger hidden behind his eyes.

"What's wrong? You seem confused, Nick. Having trouble remembering our special time together?" He asked, flexing his hand as Nick rolled his eyes. Lacrimae slashed him across the face, then backhanded him, blood spilling out of Nick's mouth.

"But then again, we were rudely interrupted by my sister. Sudore was never one for manners," Lacrimae continued, delivering an uppercut to Nick, knocking the collar off of his neck.

"Not to worry, I am quite skilled at teaching respect!" He yelled, slashing at him with his spider limbs but Nick ducked. Lacrimae growled and swung again, Nick ducking again as it flew over his head.

"Why won't you die?!" He yelled, swinging down as Nick wrapped his chain around the spider limbs, pulling as hard as he could, the blade breaking out of the stone. He looked at Lacrimae's shocked face as he spoke.

"Because I am the Spirit of Arogia," He said, slashing Lacrimae across the face. He then grabbed the other chain and pulled, the blade breaking out of the stone, slicing Lacrimae across the stomach, making him fall to a knee as Nick tackled him, knocking him off the platform and into the belly of the prison, hitting beams on the way down until they landed on the bottom, Lacrimae hitting head first. Nick looked at him as he started to run, Nick chasing him down a corridor, lined with prison cells.

"I will not be ruined by a mortal!" Lacrimae yelled, knocking a pillar down, it falling across the path of Nick, who just jumped over.

"You think you are special because Bellum chose you, but you are nothing!" He continued, running up steps as Nick followed.

"You are a worthless mortal!" He yelled, summoning three Arogian warriors as Lacrimae ran. Nick threw his blade at the first warrior, it impaling itself in his head. Nick then swung the warrior around and they hit the other guards, knocking them to the ground. Nick looked at Lacrimae who had fear in his eyes and he kept running, Nick following close behind.

"Lord Bellum is a fool to want you back!" He taunted when Nick threw his Kusari, stabbing Lacrimae in the back. He screamed as Nick pulled him close, pulling out his other blade when Lacrimae slammed the ground with his spider limbs, collapsing the floor as Nick fell into a room full of cells. He watched as Lacrimae crawled away from the hole and three worms crawled out of his hand, falling onto the floor and crawled into the cells. He heard screaming on the other side as it transformed into a roar and the cell door broke, a prisoner crawling out, a worm on his neck. It charged Nick and he grabbed it by its head, slamming it on the floor, and throwing it through the cell, releasing more of the prisoners, each one having a worm on their neck. He shrugged his shoulders and spun his blades as they charged.

"Come on!" He yelled and ran at them, slicing the three of them in the face. One tried to swing a sword at him and he grabbed it, slicing it across its gut with the sword. He then heard a door break down and there, in all of his glory, was Mahdi, who was strangling a prisoner with a chain shackle. He bashed its head into the stone floor a couple times before he smashed it across the face with the chain. Then, he grabbed a brick and smashed it in the head, crushing its skull. Mahdi stood up and nodded at Nick, who tossed the sword at him. He caught it and looked around, seeing Lacrimae looking at them with fear in his eyes.

"Let me guess, that's the guy you're after?" Mahdi asked sarcastically.

"Yep," Nick said.

"Then let's get him," He said, looking at the broken part of the floor. Nick threw his blades, hooking into the stone and pulled, knocking the floor to the ground, making a clear path to the top. They followed Lacrimae as he ran out into the sunlight. They followed behind him as they were blinded by the sun. They covered their eyes as the sunlight faded until they were looking at the arm of a giant, leading to the head of Proceritas, a platform in his mouth. Nick looked behind him to see that his prison cell was its hand holding a block of stone. He turned back around as a chunk of stone was flying at him. They ducked as it hit the side of the prison and they looked back to see Lacrimae, standing on a statue of Proceritas, frozen in its mock stance.

"Let's see how you fare against the giant himself!" He yelled as worms crawled out of his hands, crawling inside of the statue. Then, they watched as black lines traveled up the statue as its joints moved, its hands transforming into blades of bone, and mandibles popping out of its mouth. It roared and jumped off its pedistal, looking at Nick and Mahdi.

"That's a problem," Nick said as it charged them, swinging its blades. They dodged it and Mahdi stabbed it in the side, the sword driving deep into the stone as blood spilled out of its wound. It swung around, Mahdi losing his grip as it swung at him, rolling out of the way as it slammed the stone, chunks of it flying everywhere. Nick charged the statue and threw his blade, hooking around its arm. It pulled him close and he jumped, landing on its head. He stabbed it in the forehead and it roared, thrashing around. Nick then jumped and slammed its head onto the ground, cracking its stone face. Mahdi then ran up and pulled out the sword, slicing the back of its neck. It roared and jabbed at Mahdi, but he parried it, cutting its arm off. It roared and stumbled back as Nick threw his blades around its arm, dragging it close to its neck. Then, with a quick flick of his wrist, he sliced the statue's neck open, killing it. He pulled his Kusari back as he saw Lacrimae, looking at them with fear in his eyes.

"Try as you might, you will never beat us!" He yelled, running away as Nick and Mahdi followed him, leading to the belly of the beast.