Early Prison Release

Connor resisted the urge to run around Almoria Island and take in the familiar sights from his new first-person perspective. He loved the magical, flight-centered Victorian-style setting. It was the winning factor that led him to buy the game in the first place.

The guard depot near the prison, a building where prison and city guards met to exchange information, had surprisingly little security. Connor approached a prison guard captain named Milo as he leaned against the building and drowned his frustration in booze.

“Captain Milo? Devon sent me,” Connor introduced himself.

Captain Milo barely paid him a glance before drinking. “Yeah? That’s fascinating.”

“He told me that your love for the princess, the deep wage cuts, and the new inhumane orders have left you upset. I’m here to relieve you of your problems.” He handed Milo a pouch of dark silver rhode coins, one coin of which was worth a thousand gold coins. “We’re here to save the princess. Please give me your captain’s key, your uniform, and a spare uniform for my friend here.”

Milo spat out his booze and looked over the coins. He quickly handed over his key and stripped himself down to his boxers. Connor uncomfortably handed him spare clothes before he could run away. “Okay, that went better than I thought it would,” he commented. “Morrigan, we’re gonna disguise ourselves as guards to infiltrate the prison.”

“Don’t bother trying to explain subterfuge to a battle-type Sentinel,” Xarae warned him as they walked into the depot. “You would need an infiltration-type, and I have no idea where you might find one.”

Connor briefly watched Morrigan change into the guard uniform and noticed that the buttons on her new top were fighting for their lives. “Do you understand the plan, Morrigan? You have to pretend to be a guard so we can rescue the princess.”

“I understand, Connor,” she calmly affirmed.

“See? She gets it,” Connor said. He saw Xarae’s skepticism and pressed on. “We’ll keep an eye on her,” he bargained.

Xarae sighed in defeat. “I’ll just trust that Kymis was right about you.”

The Prison of the End was an imposing facility reserved for the kingdom’s worst criminals. The conditions were overly harsh, and death was commonplace even for inmates who had not been sentenced to death. The king used to see it as a dark mark on the kingdom and promised to overhaul the prison system, but he ceased those reform plans over a year ago.

They managed to get into the prison without much effort. The air was heavy with anger and despair, and chilled him to the bone. The mentally detached guards never bothered Connor as he walked the halls or questioned why he had a Laphnes with him. His key worked; that’s all that mattered.

Connor reached out to the nearest guard for guidance. “Hey buddy, I’m on princess duty. Do you know where she is?” Connor asked in a dull and defeated voice.

“Forsaken Cage,” the guard mournfully replied. “I hope she gets a quick and painless death, sir.”

Connor felt a tinge of sympathy and tossed him a rhode coin. “Take the rest of the day off. Drinks are on me, man.”

The guard’s eyes brightened. “Thank you…” He ran off like a prisoner who was given a pardon.

“What’s the Forsaken Cage?” Xarae asked.

“A complication,” Connor warned as he called an elevator. “It’s a large cage that hangs over a chute at the bottom of the island. The cage drops on command, falls into the Void, and when it eventually lands on an island, the prisoner is impaled on spikes. They usually reserve it for the worst criminals.”

“The king might be more lost than I realized if he sentenced her to such a fate,” Xarae mused.

“I heard he was kind, once. I can’t imagine what the princess must be going through,” Connor said.

The elevator reached the bottom level, miles below the surface. The air was even colder at the bottom. A gentle whistle sounded through the large circular room as the wind circulated through the chute. They were greeted by a sight that made Connor reach for his Nocturna on instinct.

“I’m offering you a chance to live a good life, despite your father condemning you to hell,” the warden reminded his prisoner. He stood on a platform near the cage and gently tapped an ornate staff against the bars. “I need a good pet, a prized girl to serve my every need, and you need freedom,” he continued, propositioning his captive audience. “Don’t you worry, I already have your new uniform picked out.”

“Is this Nezera’s work?” Connor wondered.

Xarae refuted the claim. “No, this man is simply rotten to the core.”

“Leave me be, Warden Calloway,” the princess calmly demanded. She retained her regal demeanor and flowing pale blue dress even in the worst prison in the kingdom. “My father is unwell. Something has spellbound him. If you have any loyalty to him, you must discover what has caused this affliction.”

Connor interrupted what was likely to be another slimy remark from the corrupt warden. “Sir, you’ve a summons from His Highness. We’re here to keep an eye on the prisoner,” Connor announced.

The warden turned to face them and immediately smirked. “No, I don’t think you are,” he said. “Intruders! Kill the man and the cat, but leave the girl for me.”

Connor activated his light shield just as the guards opened fire.

“This was your plan?!” Xarae demanded.

“Not entirely. It would have been easy if they had bought it, but we’re not done yet. We just have to wait for the big guy to use his ultimate move,” Connor explained.

“A pirate’s light shield? I must be lacking as a warden if I’ve allowed some worthless sky rat to invade my sublime prison,” the warden mocked him. He slowly aimed the top of his staff at Connor and unleashed a blast of lightning.

The blast pushed Connor backward and began to create cracks in his shield. Morrigan slipped from behind the shield and dashed toward the warden, moving faster than the eye could follow. She delivered a crippling punch to his stomach and sent him flying into the far wall.

Connor picked off the remaining guards with his Nocturna as they scrambled to target Morrigan. “I was waiting for the warden to use his Lightning Staff. The guards would hold fire, and he’d be too focused on me to see Morrigan take him down,” he explained.

The pirate scooped up his opponent’s dropped item and hung it on his back. “I always wanted one of these,” he remarked.