God of War: The Descendant, 10th Chapter

God of War: The Descendant


10th Chapter: Kátoikos tou Skótous

Lahar walked down the dark, foreboding corridor and towards the barely-lit chamber located at the far end of the hallway. The sound of his heels hitting the cobblestone floor and the pounding of his heart against his chest were the only noise in the air, each mirroring the other. As he walked, his throat felt like it might close. Every step closer to the chamber brought with it anxiety.

       While walking, he thought carefully about how he would act and what he would say after his arrival. Multiple scenarios ran through his head ranging from the expression that must be painted across his face and to the little conversation he would have as soon as he enters the room. He wasn’t usually one to get neurotic over a prisoner that easily, but in his situation right now, he wanted to go as far away from the girl as possible. Was he scared? He can’t be, right? He was trained, he was a professional, he had been taught to deal with prisoners and not feel intimated. Yet here he was, shaking and nervous to even move closer to the door.

       When he was only a few feet away from the wooden entrance, he stopped and fished a golden key out of his pocket with a shaky hand. The key was about a foot long with a rounded handle and a shank with saw-like ridges on it and grooves on the side. He felt a solid heft of it as he fitted its pointed end into the matching crest just below the doorknob. The key grated as it turned, there was a clicking sound, and one of the heavy doors swung open.

       Opening both doors, Lahar was immediately buffeted by a light gust of wind which made him shudder involuntarily. He felt uneasy as he slowly entered the dark chasm; the sight of the familiar, tortured girl hanging by chains slowly coming into view.

       The girl’s condition was the same as he had left her. Her arms were spread and tied up in shackles which were suspended from the ceiling, her body hanging limply with her feet barely touching the floor. Her head was hung low, her long black hair floating across her face which blocked all from seeing her expression.

       He took a detailed glance at the metal cuffs holding her up and scanned her over, checking to see if any wounds had worsened. Because if it did, there would be a possibility that she might have attempted to escape, like any other prisoner under similar circumstances. But to his utter surprise, there were no additional marks of struggle. The only change that had happened was that the blood from her wounds dried and hardened from being exposed to open air. Well, even if she did try to break the handcuffs, her efforts in doing so would be in vain. No normal person could ever break free from the steel straps since they weigh four or five times more than what humans are capable of breaking. And the only way possible for anyone to break the chains was through the use of magic. But unfortunately,  the cuffs held nullifying properties. Meaning, all attacks that are Magical in nature would be canceled out.

       A small measure of relief washed over him once he knew the girl wasn’t able to escape. There was no immediate danger waiting.

       He walked over to where the girl’s body was suspended and stopped a few inches away. He waited for a reaction, but there was none. He called out her name, thinking she was just plainly ignoring him, but she didn’t respond. Moving closer to her body, he shook her. But she didn’t budge from her catatonic state. Her flesh felt cold. Too cold. His stomach knotted with fear as he feared for the worst.

       “Adrestia Polemos?” He yelled her name, the sound echoing throughout the prison cell as he raised a hand to her throat to feel for a pulse. Even though he felt that she deserved a death punishment, he didn’t want her to die before trial. If ever that happened, the blame would fall on him.

       He reached for her, but before he could even check whether she was alive or dead, someone grabbed hold of his wrist and held it fast. He turned his head to get a look at whoever it was who had grabbed him, and saw the face of his colleague looking at him with giant frightened eyes.

       “D-Don’t touch her..” Drawled a voice from the shadows, “She’s.. she’s a monster.. A monster I tell you!”

       The owner of the voice stepped forth out of the darkness and the lighter shadows revealed a short, frog-like creature dressed in a uniform like those who were working under the Council. He had purple scaly skin and a thin neck. He had dark, elongated spots on the upper part and the back of his head, as well as on his cheeks.

       What?, Lahar thought as he quickly shifted his gaze from the frog’s face to the girl and then back to him. What’s going on?

       The frog’s eyes were wide open, fear registered on his face. Drops of perspiration were running down his forehead and his hands were visibly quivering. “Why.. Why did you bring a monster here in the Council? Why!” The reptilian yelled as he gripped Lahar’s shoulders and shook him hard.

       Lahar’s brows raised dubiously, his actions catching him by surprise. This wasn’t the cruel, and sadistic guard that he used to know. The man right in front of him was humane, afraid of something of which he should not be afraid, this was a coward.

       “Lahar, this monster is out to get us!—” the frog shook him even more and he instinctively took a step back.

       “What are you saying, Nadal?”

       “T-The girl, she.. she’s—” Nadal’s eyes widened even more than thought possible and he started to hyperventilate, taking deep breaths as fast as he possibly could. Bile rose in his throat and he was suddenly unable to speak.

       “Take a deep breath,” Lahar whispered. “What are you trying to say?”

       But before Nadal could mutter a response, he fainted in fright.

       The Division Leader looked at the body lying frail on the floor and immediately knelt down. He positioned the frog on his back and picked up his wrist to check his pulse. A little more rapid than normal, but nothing too bad. Lahar stood up and let him lay on the ground to provide time for his blood to return to his brain. He then directed his gaze at the girl.

       The girl seemed to be in the exact same state she was in when he arrived. Her eyes were still closed, and she remained pale and insensible.

       Lahar’s eyes fled back to the reptilian’s body lying outstretched upon the ground, wondering why he was acting so unusual. Could it be that he got attacked by the girl? The male youth shook his head. The likelihood of it ever having happened was vanishingly small. The girl was bound with chains and shackles, thus restricting all possible movements. Furthermore, he showed no signs of being attacked. There were not any visible bruises or wounds.

       His eyes narrowed as he came to a conclusion; the girl must have played with his colleague’s mind.

       He walked back over to the girl then reached out to her. When his fingers reached the bare skin of her neck, he felt for her pulse.

       Lub-dub.

       A single heartbeat from her alleviated his worry. She was alive. The blame for her death wouldn’t fall on him.

       Lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub…

       “Did you really think I was dead?”

       A gasp escaped his surprised throat and his hand immediately flew away from her neck.

       “The mind is an easy thing to break, don’t you agree?” A flicker of a smile flits across her lips, as she feigned amusement at the words that had come out of her own mouth. “Mental illness was already playing it’s game within that frog’s mind, and the words that I imparted to him wasn’t helping him recover.” She lifted her head and looked at him like a child who just did something wrong and said, “I think I just broke him.”

       Lahar began perspiring and swallowed hard, almost stuttering his next line, but he somehow managed to keep his nerves in check. “What? … What did you do to Nadal?”

       A shivery feeling went through him and his hands shook involuntarily. He didn't have a clue about what was going on with his body, but he felt in himself that all was definitely not well. He felt lightheaded, nauseous, and it all started when she got captured and made her presence known. Since then, he felt a funny tickling of apprehension inside that went from his lungs to his lower abdomen.

       The girl paused for a second then spoke, “Oh that frog who woke me from my sleep? He was annoying so I gave him a small lecture.”

       Yeah, the ‘small lecture’ that drove him crazy. Lahar was about to delve further into the topic when a sudden bang and the groaning sound of hinges brought his attention to the large wooden door. He quirked his eyebrow questioningly and he watched as a man clad in a garish uniform hurried over to him, nearly tripping in the process.

       “What is it that you need, soldier?”

       The Rune Knight bowed his head and saluted before speaking. "Sir! The Wizard Saints have demanded yours and the prisoner’s presence! They said they needed to start with the trial as soon as possible!”

       The Division Leader swallowed a lump in his throat before he spoke. “Tell them... I’m bringing her over.”

       The Rune Knight saluted again before turning on his heel. After his footsteps were out of earshot, Lahar turned his attention back to the girl and saw that she was gazing at the floor profoundly. It was hard to see her expression through the hair curtain hanging in her face, but he thought one corner of her mouth turned down in a sad smile.

       He lowered her down and started removing the chain that connected her to the ceiling. She stood there, her feet and wrists still enclosed in the metal cuffs as he pulled out a long metal chain which glowed a pallid blue then looped it into the handcuffs and wound it around his own wrist. To ensure that she couldn’t escape, he held onto the magic chains firmly and began reciting some magic words. A translucent barrier of purple and black suddenly started to surround them, trapping the two inside.

       The girl looked around, inspecting the new barrier that had formed. “Nice barrier, but it seems easy to break.”

       “This is my Jutsu Shiki. Once inside, you are forced to obey the rules that I will set.” Lahar replied, looking at her slyly from the corner of his eye. “This barrier is suited for trapping prisoners like you, so it is capable of withstanding strong physical or Magical attacks.”

       She scanned her surroundings again, and a smirk played at her lips. “As far as I know, Letter Magic takes a significant amount of time to cast. And you were able to cast this—” She pointed at the barrier. “—In just a minute. So it must mean that it won’t have the same holding strength as intended unlike if it was casted with its correct timing.”

       “So basically, in hopes of creating this barrier as quickly as you could, you completely disregarded its strength properties.” She finished.

       Lahar gazed at her in some amazement but quickly ceased when he suddenly remembered something.

       This girl was the one who unassistedly destroyed the army of Alcippe.

       He felt the deep sorrow of loss once again, as tears threatened to come after so long ago to sting his eyes; but he controlled it. His head throbbed and his heart pounded with a mixture of apprehension and rage.

       She was a killer,

       She was a murderer,

       And she deserved to be punished.

       He can’t think of the punishment that the Saints would give her, but he felt a bit euphoric since it was assured that a penalty will be inflicted upon her.

       Turning round, Lahar looked at her with hard eyes. Her face was void of any emotion as she stared steadfastly forward, blissfully unaware of his virulence. Or… at least that’s what he thought.

       He coughed to get her attention and she turned.

       “Let’s go meet the Tribunal, shall we?”

       The girl clicked her tongue in response and just followed through the dark hallways leading to the room where she was to be trialed.