Realms of Fantasy Chapter 7: Flipping Tiger, Hidden Corruption
Katt continues the story of her prison break...
The latest Realms of Fantasy update is here. As always, all constructive criticism is welcome. Enjoy!
"So you had your first experience with a Corrupted, huh?" I grimaced a little as Katt paused her story. "Nasty stuff, watching them transform."
"No argument here. It was kind of hard to remember that this is all just a game when that... thing... started coming for me." Katt shivered a little before continuing her story.
The cell wasn't exactly spacious, so it didn't take long for the mutating monster that used to be a human guard a few seconds ago to pin me back against the wall of the cell. I scrambled atop the bed, or the piece of wood chained to the wall that passed for one. A sickening cracking sound filled the area as his snout continued to push out, the skin there starting to turn the same purple-black color as the massive spikes protruding out his back. The Collar of Silence around my neck kept me from yelling for help or out of terror or anything. Isn't it a bad idea to kill the player this early in the game?!
^New Ability: Vault and Strike^
Those words appeared again, the same way as when I got that quest. What was Vault and Strike?
I found out a moment later as soon as the thought entered my head. Moving of its own accord, my legs bounced on the bed like a diving board before launching me into the air in a dive toward the four-legged creature. My hands landed on its shoulders (or what was left of them as they were turning into haunches) with the full weight of my body and slammed the creature into the ground. With the speed and grace of a professional gymnast my hands switched places, rotating my body as well and putting my face right in front of the spikes on the creature's back. While I wondered how close I had come to impaling myself on them, my arms pushed and launched me again in another arching leap so I landed on my feet behind the stunned creature.
...Huh; so that's what Vault and Strike was. That must have been an ability similar to how Aerilla has her magic spells. I ended up picking the Striker class because it seemed the simplest of all of them; strike at your enemies while using your agility to slip through their fingers. Maybe it wasn't as flashy as magic, but having incredible gymnastic speed and skill wasn't something I was going to be complaining about.
There wasn't much time to enjoy my newfound talent as the creature started picking itself up off the floor. Luckily the guard hadn't closed the door to the cell behind him when he came in, leaving me a clear exit that I ran for. I slammed the door behind me as soon as I was out, quickly finding the heavy bolt and slamming it into place just before the hound-like creature threw itself against the door. The shock send me stumbling back against the cell across from mine as it thrashed and growled, but the bars held firm.
My moment's peace lasted just that, a moment as something slammed into the same bars I'd been leaning against. My cry of surprise was startled as I looked at the creature that occupied the cell across from me, almost a perfect clone of the one that was in my former cell. I hadn't paid much attention to the other people in the cells before, but I was certain a nightmare dog hadn't been in there earlier. I slowly moved down the hall of cells and saw more such creatures all occupying the cells.
I knew this was a fantasy world, but I'm pretty sure that this wasn't supposed to be happening. The hallway ended in a wall at one end and another cell like door at the other end that led out into a larger hallway. With little else in terms of options, I ran toward that door and started pulling and banging against it as hard as I could. Call my lawyer; this was cruel and unusual punishment!
"Hey! What in Nine Hells is going on in there?!" Great, someone heard me! Get me out of... oh, NO! Not this bastard! If I could have, I would have growled seeing the guard who responded to me. I instantly recognized the same red bandana and scarred cheek of the guy who sold me into slavery. "Prison break! There's a prison break!"
What?! You moron; what kind of prisoner who's trying to make an escape immediately runs to the guards after getting out of her cell?!
"Fool!" Another guard, an older man, stepped into view a moment later. From his tone and the way the other guard recoiled as he approached, I imagined he was the superior officer. "Who makes as much noise as possible after breaking out of her cell if she's trying to escape?!"
That's what I said!... Sort of. The two guards opened the door and entered into the hall, the scarred cheeked one keeping an eye on me as the captain walked down the length of the hallway, examining what had happened to the prisoners.
"By the Goddesses... they've all been Corrupted!" Something about the way he said that put a capital, "C" on that word as the creatures within lashed out at him.
"It must have been her!" The scarred guard started to reach for the sword at his side as he accused me. If the collar around my neck hadn't already silenced me, the nerve of this man to accuse me of wrong doing considering his own actions would've done just a good of job of quieting me. "She's the only one not Corrupted!"
"Use your head, Gerias! Corruption magic on this scale would require powerful instruments and rituals that only a man with neither sight or hearing could miss. Even if she'd somehow smuggled in what she needed, you would have found some trace of it when you searched her cell earlier." Gerias' sword only made it partway out of his scabbard before the captain's commanding voice made him pause. "You DID search her cell as instructed, did you not?..."
"Er..." I didn't bother to hide the smirk on my face as Gerias glanced angrily toward me. He clearly wasn't about to admit what he'd really been doing, but he would have to at minimum admit gross negligence for missing whatever I would've supposedly needed to make all this happen if he wanted to pin this on me. His sword slowly slid back into his scabbard as he nodded. "Of course I did, Captain Jhan. I found nothing of the sort..."
"As I suspected. This woman is as much a victim as the other prisoners, only one who managed to escape her fate." Jhan sighed as he looked over the Corrupted creatures. "Those who've been Corrupted are forever lost. There's nothing more that can be done for them."
Wait, really? I looked at the nearest creature chewing on the bars as a mix of pity and relief washed over me. If I had drank that stuff, I would've ended up like some mutant dog thing with spikes on my back? Who would do such a thing?
"Please, My Lady." Jhan knelt before me. Wow, he was really tall; even on one knee he was eye to eye with me. "I know not what crime you stand accused of to bring you here, but it is our duty as guards to protect those within these walls as much as it is to protect those outside of them. Please, accompany us to the barracks while we attempt to figure out what's happening."
Certainly, Captain. I trust you; maybe not your subordinate over here who's still giving me a death glare behind your back, but you seem genuinely nice. And you seem very strong, n-not that I'm thinking about that! I mean, you seem like you can protect me... n-not that I need protecting, either! Sigh; maybe it's a good thing I couldn't speak right now. I'd sound like a nervous wreck on her first date with the guy she likes.
After I finally responded with a nod, Jhan and Gerias led me down through the hallway toward the barracks. Jhan led the way, so he couldn't see the throat slitting motion Gerias was making to me. The message was clear; keep quiet about what he was really doing when he was supposed to be searching my cell. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was the one responsible for getting everyone Corrupted...
...No; on second thought, that theory didn't hold much water. If the man who bought an anthropomorphic tiger woman got a Corrupted creature instead, I doubt he'd be happy. It made no sense for Gerias to deliver a damaged product(in so much a living being was a product). Besides, any idiot could see that he'd become a potential suspect if this happened where he worked, and any investigation into that might bring up his illegal slave trade as well. As much as I wanted it to be him, I heavily doubted this was his doing.
Still, it did not help that I was a stranger in a strange land. I knew nothing of how magic worked, the world, the laws, really anything. Maybe I should ask Xavier... Aerilla, I mean. Aerilla. Still got to get used to that.
"We're here." My plan to contact Aerilla got sidetracked as Gerias gave me a rough shove into the barracks. The room looked like a merger of a dining room and a bunk house, with several beds off to one side and a table with various food and drinks scattered about. A few more guards seemed to be in the middle of their meal as we entered, looking confused by the prisoner in their midst.
"Captain?" One of the guards glanced back and forth between me and Jhan, clearly puzzled. "Why did you bring one of the prisoners here?"
"Something has happened. Are the rest of the men attending to their rounds?" The captain and his guard spoke for a while. They mentioned some of the guards hadn't returned from their rounds yet, which seemed odd. I had a bad feeling some of them wouldn't be coming back at all.
I focused on being as non-threating as possible; I was a prisoner in a room full of guards, after all. It seemed to be working; when another guard entered the barracks with a tray. He said the cook had made an extra, and there was no point in letting good food go to waste. We'd have to agree to disagree on the part about the food being good. He bypassed the fruit and bread, opting instead to bring the bowl of wa-NO!
SMACK!
"Hey!" The guard yelped as I slammed the tainted water out of his hands. I barely had time to see it hit the floor before I felt a set of hands on each of my arms, two of the other guards pinning me to the wall.
"I told you, Captain!" Gerias snarled. I struggled to get free, but with a full grown man pinning each arm I couldn't break free. "She's nothing but trouble!"
It's the water, you idiots! It's the water that's doing this! Damn this stupid Collar of Silence! You stay away from me, Gerias!
"I should take care of you right now!" Get your hand off my neck! Is he trying to choke me?!
"Hold, Gerias!" Damn, his grip is really tight! Is this supposed to happen?...
"You saw her, Captain!" I'm feeling kind of lightheaded...feels hard to breathe...
"I said HOLD!"
WHAM!
The pressure on my neck disappeared as Jhan socked Gerias, sending him sprawling to the floor. I panted and gasped for air as Jhan knelt before me, his brow furrowed with concern.
"Are you alright?" Not really, no, but I nodded anyway. "You were trying to warn us, weren't you?"
"Warn us?!" Gerias glared angrly at Jhan as he knelt near the spilled puddle of black liquid, which continued to have that strange white glow as it sat on the floor.
"Water does not behave like this. It should be sinking into the floor or spreading out, not staying so neatly pooled like this..." Jhan held a hand above the puddle and muttered something; it sounded vaguely like some of the things Aerilla said when she was using magic before. After a few seconds, the glow around the puddle disappeared, followed by a chorus of gasps and shocked looks.
"Just as I thought; liquefied Corruption." Jhan grabbed one of the candles sitting on the nearby table and touched it to the puddle, which began to hiss and bubble. While it may have looked like cruddy water, it went up like gasoline and soon left nothing more than a blackened outline on the floor.
"The Touched can see the Corruption through any kind of illusion magic that we can not. And this water came from the main well, did it not?" The guard who bought in the tray nodded as Jhan frowned. "Then the whole prison is contaminated. We must find any un-Corrupted prisoners and guards and evacuate, then inform the Sultan what has happened here immediately."
Jhan started barking orders to check various wings of the prison for survivors and to secure the carriages for escape. The men all acknowledged their orders and quickly left to preform them, Gerias included. He didn't look thrilled to have me and Jhan alone, but quickly backed out when Jhan started to raise his hand toward him. Jhan sighed heavily as he looked at me.
"I apologize for how my men treated you. These are trying and extraordinary circumstances, but that does not forgive your treatment. Most of them I trust..." He left unsaid who he didn't, not that it was a hard guess, "...but still, what happened was inexcusable."
"Do you know how to fight?" I shook my head at the question. "Then perhaps I can give you a few quick lessons. I fear we'll not be leaving without some bloodshed, and I would feel more comfortable knowing you have some means of defending yourself..."
Jhan glanced toward the door Gerias had just left out of before he finished.
"Whether it be from the Corrupted or otherwise..."