The years begin in at Z.E. (Zarek Area). The time before that is known as B.Z.E. (Before Zarek Era).
A Prison in the Mist (Z.E. 3683)
Entering The Prison
The knights stood up at the looming silhouette of a huge building in front of them. Each and every one of them where both horrified and yet curious of what might wait inside. Where there more of the things? Or maybe another horrible beast to fight.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” William began. “Let’s go in.” At this the knights began to walk towards the prison. The doorway was massive and allowed for all of the knights to enter without any trouble. One door was cracked open, and it looked as if it had been like that for a long time. However, the knights noticed that even with a cracked door, barely any light made it into prison. Maybe this was because of the amount of red mist inside of the prison, which was much worse in there than outside.
Because the knights could see nothing, they stopped where they were and lit torches. Once everyone was equipped with one, they began their search. The walls went high in all directions, and inside of them there were hundreds of cells that once held some of the worst criminals in Eshia. They contained nothing now.
In the middle of the prison, a larger cell could be seen. Its bars were broken. This was Eclipsus’ cell. They went to it; however, the broken bars were sharp, and it was too dangerous to get into.
“So, this prison once held General Eclipsus?” One young knight, known as Kais Eraden (@Kaisofly2014’) asked.
A fellow knight of his answered. His name was Maximus Joo (@joo22gol2021). He was an older knight who had been in the order for quite some time. “That is what is said. Only a few months ago this prison was a fully operational facility, but when Eclipsus broke out he totally wrecked the place, killing most of the guard population. This forest has always had superstition around it, but now with the red mist and other crazy things happening… well I’m sure people will be avoiding this place for a long while afterwards.”
They continued to search prison, seeing many disturbing things, such as one skeleton from a guard who had been on station when the escape happened. He looked to have died in some painful way, probably killed by Eclipsus himself. Finally, after searching for a few more minutes they found a hidden passageway behind a tattered banner. Following this, it led them into the cell that had been too dangerous for them to enter previously.
The cell was a large room with many hay piles around it. There was also a large stone door that seemed unmovable.
“This is Eclipsus’ cell. Be careful, there may be something dangerous in here.” They searched the cell for a few minutes until finally a knight called out from behind a pile of hay: “Sir! I have something here! A lever. Am I to pull it?”
Will thought for a moment. “…yes, go ahead, but be careful.” The knight pulled the lever, and they all waited in suspense, but thankfully the lever was not trapped, and it opened the stone door. “Very good. Let us proceed.”
The door led into a tunnel that the knights followed for a few minutes, until they reached an area where the tunnel began to open up. At first, they thought they would arrive outside but as they stepped out of the tunnel, they realized they were very wrong. Above them there was no sky, but stone. They were in a huge cave. Far in the distance torches could be seen, and even farther, a large, black silhouette loomed above everything else.
“This looks promising.” William joked. “Stay quiet everybody but let’s move forwards,” so slowly, but surly they crept further into the cave. When they had gotten about a hundred meters in, they noticed something. A cage… a cage full of people. As they got closer, they could make out who the people were. Knights! Knights of the sun! Will began to pick up his speed. Finally, he reached the cage.
“My knights! You must be the ones Julius Hex sent to investigate the mist! Your captain… hmm was it captain Remui? No… Resuli! Captain Resuli! Are you in there?” When the prisoners saw William, they began to whisper (as to not alert others in the cave) to him asking for help.
A voice from the back of the cage began to speak over the rest of them. “Indeed I am. Sun Lord William, please you must help us! We have been in here for so long.”
“I will. What is happening in here? Who is in charge here?” William asked.
“I- I don’t know sir. P- please just get me out of here!” Resuli stammered.
“Alright, then. Knights help me-” William began, but before he could finish, he heard another voice from inside the cave.
“What was that?” The voice called. William looked at the imprisoned knights and mouthed the words: we will come back to them. Then he pointed towards the entrance of the cave and he and his knights’ rans off to cover.
After a few more moments the owner of the voice appeared. It was one of the things. “What was that noise? Did you knights see anything?” He got no reply. “Hmph! of course not, stupid knights! I would stay around longer to ridicule you, but Lord Hemolyth is giving his speech soon. Farewell, prisoners.” And the thing walked away.
William turned to his knights. “Lord Hemolyth? Speech? If there is a speech happening, then we’ve got to see it! But we have to get further into the cave. This way is too dangerous, so let’s look for another way in.” The knights spread out and searched their general area for a better way to view the speech. This is when some knights found scaffolding that led up to the roof of the cave. They chose to use this and began to climb.
On the way up they noticed a large statue. William was the only one to recognize it. “Everybody! This statue… do you know who it is of?” The knights look around blankly. William shook his head. “Its Eclipsus… General Eclipsus!”
On the next platform they saw yet another concerning thing. Held up by chains far above their heads were the remains of their old enemy… Seerigos.
They continued.
Finally, the knights reached the highest platform and from there they could see the whole cave. “Well knights, lets rest here while we wait for the speech. However, stay on guard!”
Lord Hemolyth
Half an hour passed as the knights sat up at the top of the cave. They waited silently for the speech. Finally, they heard a commotion and looking below them saw a crowd of minions forming. William looked over at his knight, who then looked at him. Then they saw a large man step out of the shadows on the large platform in front of them. The crowd below them silenced almost immediately. Once the man saw this, began to speak.
“It seems… so long ago now, that I was a weak and dying thing shriveled upon the ground. It seems so long ago that the great Lord of the Sun came to my grave and dragged me straight from the freezing flames of Tarnis. If not for my Lord… Eclipsus, I, and you… would not be here.”
“I now honor Lord Eclipsus by fulfilling his will. I travelled here to search for an end to his enemies, the Knights of The Sun. While searching I discovered a great power hidden in this very forest! A river of life-giving water; colored red, as if it was the very blood of the land. The water seemed not only to bring things to life, but to in power them with great strength. After this discovery, I began to gather the ancient bodies of the Ovum soldiers who once fought beside me in battle against the knights long ago in a war of legend. Finally, I began to build an army of undead creatures to serve my master. Now at last, with this reservoir completed,” Hemolyth gestured behind him to the large structure he stood on, “we can produce many more of us, and then we can finally defeat the Knights of the Sun! Now bring me the captured captain!”
The hidden knights all watched as Captain Resuli was dragged up the scaffolding to where Hemolyth stood.
“W- what do you want with me?” Resuli screamed.
“Well, I want nothing with you… or your body that is. No, I wish for your soul.” The undead lord said. Resuli’s eyes widened.
“Don’t kill me! Th- there is no need!”
“There is no need… for your life that is. Submerge him.” And with that the captain was dragged to the edge of the structure screaming.
“No! NO! NO!” The captain desperately thought of something that could save his life, and then out of the corner of his eye he spotted something: William and the other knights. “Aha! Look up there!” And he pointed towards the hiding viewers. The knights of his patrol had seen this and all begged Resuli not to alert Hemolyth of the Sun Lord’s position, for they were all good knights. Sadly, Resuli was not. “Knights!”
The knights were shocked to hear that their fellow soldier had told their enemy so eagerly of their position. Ace Sevantir was so filled with anger that she screamed: “You rat! YOU HORRIBLE RAT! RAT!”
Hemolyth looked up to were Resuli pointed. “Isn’t this interesting? I am not surprised; however.” Hemolyth turned away looking at captain. “Thank you for this information. My followers! Send a supersoldier upon them! And as for you… I hate traitors.” Then Hemolyth took Resuli by his armor straps and threw him into the reservoir. The knight was screaming as he went down. Then the screams became bubbles.
The knights did not have time to continue watching though, for in a matter of seconds afterwards a huge beast like the one they fought before jumped up onto the platform they all stood on.
“We can’t fight it here! Not with all of its friends!” William looked around for any possible escape route. Then he saw one, more scaffolding that led into the shadows of the cave. “This way! Follow me, and don’t let it catch you!” And he and the knights were off with the beast following swiftly behind.
Old Scaffolding
The knights began to run as fast as they could along the scaffolding, being careful that they did not fall, for they knew if they did, no one was coming to save them. They hurried along the old scaffolding that was used in the days when the mine was being used for its true purposes. The chase was quick, with the beast following quickly behind. The knights ran, their legs feeling like they were going to collapse. But through the pain they finally made it to a place where they could hold out. It was a rock. Below them there was a pit of darkness, the probably descended down to Tarnis itself!
The knights breathed heavy now, trying to rest. Had they lost the beast? “Have we lost it? Did anyone see it? Let’s take roll-” but before William could finish the beast jumped down onto the rock they were on. Their eyes widened, knowing that they were trapped. Then the ground shook. The knights stumbled and fell. The rock was coming loose! William looked around to give orders, but it was too late. The rock shifted and fell into the darkness, the knights along with it.
To Be Continued!
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