Chapter 2

Wait. Where did he go? He didn’t leave me did he? That bastard.

The guards fall atop of me, shackling my feet in the process. The female guard pulls out a stone inscribed in runes.

“Find that Summoned now!” she shouts into the stone.

I look up and the searchlights begin to frantically search the area, scanning every passerby. They eventually lock on to something.

Damnit David, you had one job! And where did Thomas go?

Sirens blare and troops begin to flood the streets. The two guards lift me up, and begin dragging me towards a watch tower.

The male guard says, “You and your buddy are gonna pay for this. I’m gonna have fun playing with you,” he sneers.

The Cathedral doors swing open.

“Where do you think you’re taking him?” a surly voice bellows.

The guards drop me and immediately salute. I worm my way around to face the voice. A man stands tall, pale, and fabulous. He wears an attire that is both militaristic and majestic. His suit is black, adorned with scarlet cuffs that contrast the purple sparkles created by his ashen rain. Oh god please don’t be Varys.

“It is I, Varys, The Draconic General” the burly man says. Draconic General makes sense as his skin is pale, his hair silver, and his frame large and imposing. This is a warrior that has fought generations of conflict. “You seem to be causing quite the predicament, but you are a guest in my country.” He scowls at the guards. “Release him. He won’t run now, will he?”

The guards hurriedly uncuff me. I consider running away as David did, but the look in Varys’ eyes is as frightening as a predator looking at its prey. He looks me up and down, and smirks.

“So, not only are you an experienced fighter, but a trainee under the Battlemaster arts as well?” Varys asks.

“How did you know that?” I ask, definitely not trembling in fear.

“When Battlemasters such as us attain so much experience, you gain the ability to read your opponents. Who they are, their strength, even their specialties…”

“Opponents, nah, I’m not an opponent, just a humble human that wants to leave this situation.”

“What is your name?”

I should know better than to reveal my identity this time, so I’ll keep my mouth shut.

“I am nobody, I mean nothing to you. Let me go pretty please.”

“His name is Cryo, sir!” the male guard shouts. What the hell man?!

“SILENCE!” Varys shouts, causing the guard to shiver, and fall to his knees. He approaches me and grasps me by my neck, lifting me several feet off the ground.

Choking, I say, “Wow, pretty strong huh? How about we forget about all of this, and cough, you just let me go…”

Varys smirks. “No,” he whispers as he brings me closer to his face. “I think I’ll have my fun with you.”

He proceeds to slam my head into the ground, disorienting me. He drags me by the collar, through the Cathedral doors as I fall unconscious. David, you idiot…

“Where am I?” I croak as I awaken. I look around and see nothing but dark brick walls and a floor covered in blood and limbs. Prisoners in cells line a long hallway before me. I notice I am strapped to a machine, a torture machine, a torture machine in which I will forego describing as the sight of it alone terrifies and disgusts me. Varys walks down the long corridor, and begins to circle me, along with a minion wearing a white crow mask. “Sooo,” I begin, “this is your torture dungeon, and you plan on torturing me. How original!”

“Who are you, what are you associated with, and who was your associate that ran off,” Varys asks, wasting no time. What happened to having fun with me?

I spit in his face and cooly say, “I’m not telling you anything.”

“Okay,” he says casually. He eyes a button and shares a malicious grin. He presses it, and mechanical tendrils rips through my skin and organs, flaying my chest, throwing me into an agonizing, bloodcurdling attempt at a wail. As soon as the scream leaves my mouth, I feel nothing, and I find myself in nothingness. Fog begins to roll in. This is the Void Between Worlds. I’m dead. Huh. A moment passes, and I feel myself falling through the void, the fog, and my eyes open.

I find myself back on the device. Golden glitter dissipates around me. I notice the glitter originates from a bag of gold that the crow-masked minion holds.

“The magic of Revivify is that as long as you have enough money, you can kill as much as you want!,” Varys monologues. “Although your pain and suffering amuses me, I can’t keep wasting time, where is your cohort heading?”

Holy shit I’m alive! “That was exhilarating!” I say, as I feign confidence. I can’t allow him to think he has power over me. “You know people should pay to experience these kinds of things, although I guess you just did.”

Varys scowls, pulls out a serrated blade, and slowly slits my throat as I helplessly scream in terror, and then gargle in my own blood. As he revives me, I see that he is rummaging my pockets.

“Okay,” I say raspily, still in pain from my previous deaths, “that wasn’t as fun.”

He digs into my bag and notices my Core Drill.

“Don’t Summoned carry these?” he questions. “What are you hiding?”

“Nothing!” I shout totally unsuspiciously.

He rummages further into the bag, and pulls out my chain of Loyalty Bands.

“Hmm… We found self proclaimed members of the DarkHold wielding these rings…” Varys ponders, and slowly strokes his chin. He investigates my hands and says, “You yourself aren’t wearing a ring. Why do you have these?”

“It’s part of my duty, I swore to myself tha–”

“Duty you say!?” he shouts, almost too excitedly. “I see! You are here to infiltrate my city, and infect it with your kind!”

“Wait, no no no, That's not what I meant!”

He presses the button.

The next time I come to, he has written a letter, and sends off his crow-masked minion.

“What are you doing?” I ask hazily.

“I was just like you once. A man with a passion for change. People looked to me to bring that change, they declared it my ‘duty,’ as you say.

“I’m getting the sense that you lost your way at some point.”

“Perhaps… I freed the people of this country from slavery, yet their daily lives aren’t much better. For 15 years, I’ve prepared for a war with the world. A war to fight for Stoneveil’s very right to exist.”

“But you won that war 15 years ago. Your smog, your fear, is killing everything around you! You are this country’s leader. You have to serve your people!”

“But that's the thing isn’t it Cryo?! What do they know? What do they know about the sacrifices we make every day?! I do what is best for them, and clearly, you are just selfish.”

“We the Summoned exist to bring this world to prosperity! It doesn’t get more selfless than that.”

“The DarkHold has truly pervaded your mind… No matter, you and your kind will pay for your betrayal.”

“What, no?! I am a Summoned! The DarkHold has declared us their enemies! Why would I align with them.”

“Because you, and your entire kind, are in on it. So is your country of origin, Sunspire! It is simply a ploy that you all have devised…”

“No! You’re wrong, you're jumping to conclusions, you're not listening to me!”

“I don’t need to! I have all the proof I need for my declaration.”

“Declaration of what…”

“War! ‘The Summoned and Sunspire are colluding with the DarkHold.’ This will be enough to get the Five Great Kingdoms to act. This is enough for Stoneveil to enact its true cause! And it all starts with you!”

“I have nothing to do with your mad ramblings. Let me go, we can talk about this!”

Varys approaches me, laying a strong grip on my chin, and slams my mouth closed. He whispers, “Stoneveil will carve its existence into the very core of Vespera. I will execute you tomorrow, in front of everyone. Stoneveil will declare Sunspire as the enemy of the world. The Summoned, as well as all of my enemies, will be eradicated. Then and only then will my duty be fulfilled.” He aggressively drops my jaw and knocks me unconscious, and I awaken later in a cell, cuffed to the wall, unarmed.

Across from me lies a man, beaten, bloodied, gasping. “Are you okay?” I ask.

“You have… no room to question… my condition,” he slowly gasps.

“Why?”

“Why? Cough cough… You are dying tomorrow, and ending the lives of all of your friends. All because you didn’t want to talk.”

“The guards threatened to sell me to slavery! I didn’t want to incur Varys’ wrath!”

“Why were you carrying those rings?”

“It’s my burden, my duty! To remember those who have fallen, those whose lives were sacrificed to the DarkHold.”

“It seems like your ‘duty’ to your enemies… will cause the death of everyone… you care about.”

Anger takes a hold of me as I lash out from within this stupid, cramped, disgusting cell. “Damnit, I shouldn’t have kept my mouth shut! I shouldn’t have taken these damn rings! I shouldn’t have tried to save David, especially since he abandoned me!!! All of this will be for naught, because of my stupidity…”

I exhaust myself, and plop to the ground. The prisoner looks at me in pensive silence and whispers, “Choices are choices…”

I sigh and ask, “What does that mean?”

“You made your choices, and you can't change them… But life is all about choices. You will continue to make choices you are both proud of… and regret. All you can do… is continue to make more.”

“Oh really?” Cryo says sarcastically. “What choices led to you being in your predicament?”

“Far too many wrong ones…”