:: Kai ::

“Fuck…its like I became the demon king.”

I spoke the words softly, but a hint of irritation could be heard in my tone of voice. I was forced to kill a bunch of town guards because of some misguided reverse misogynistic empire and now I get bombarded with infamy and thrown into…wait where am I?

‘Welcome to Tartarus.’ I hear a melancholic voice beaming straight into my skull.

‘What the hell!’ I thought back.

I had just recently received the [Telepathy] skill and wasn’t used to the invasive nature.

‘What is Tartarus?’ I projected my thoughts toward were I thought the voice came from.

I sat in silence for a few moments and realized just how uncomfortable it was within this cell. The room itself only spanned maybe four feet in width and five feet in length. I had rusted chain shackles attached to my wrists and long chains that hung off of them. Those chains spanned about half the length of the cell and were bolted to the wall.

I looked around and noticed no bed or toilet in sight, just a small metal bucket in the corner of the room and a round bowl filled with some sort of foul smelling liquid that I assumed they wanted to me to eat.

‘Hahahahaha…sent into the pits of hell without even knowing what it is. Tartarus is the name of the most disgusting and horrifying dungeon in all of Valkyria. I don’t mean the happy go lucky fun leveling dungeons either. This my friend is a prison for the worst of the worst.’

I was really starting to hate the sound of this mans voice in my head. Did he have to be a damper on my already horrendous mood? I was about to reply back to him with something sarcastic and witty…something that really expressed my disappointment when I heard the sound of metal steps on the cold stone floor.

The sound grew closer and closer to my cell, but at the same time it still seemed like it was so far away. How big is this place?

“Update me on this newest criminal, Vice-Commander?” I could hear a stern but even voice accompanying the sound of metal steps

“Yes, High Warden.” The other voice that spoke seemed familiar…almost irritatingly so.

“We received intelligence about a homeless vagabond travelling with one of the three Valkyries just a few days ago outside of our northern trading post, Lachlan.” She stopped speaking for a second to rifle through some paper. I could hear the sound as they drew closer to my cell.

“WHAT!” The voice of the High Warden sounded flabbergasted.

“I cannot believe you allowed some male vagabond near one of the three treasures of Valkyria.” High Warden Serine angrily spoke.

“I apologize, High Warden, but their was nothing that we could do…he used some type of mind magic to manipulate one of them into protecting him. We could not deal with the criminal without hurting one of the Valkyries. We had to wait until he was alone.” Vice-Commander Jikaan retorted in a scared voice.

“That is…reasonable.” The High Wardens anger seemed to be placated for the moment.

“Though what’s this I hear about a massacre in Lachlan. You cannot tell me one man took the lives of over two hundred guards. Even if they were second tier and not members of the actual Valkyran army…this is disgraceful.” The High Wardens voice projected the sound of annoyance now more than the sound of anger.

“We underestimated his abilities, because of his mind magic we believed him to be some sort of nefarious sorcerer or necromancer. We did not take into account his physical abilities and so we chose wrongly when we swarmed him with guards. He had a fairly sturdy body for a man and some interesting skills. He would have made for a good breeding or manual labor slave.” Vice-Commander Jikaans voice was so close I could almost see her in front of my cell, but they had stopped one step short.

“Interesting. If they don’t execute him or sentence him to life imprisonment we might be able to make a useful tool out of him. Though enslavement magic seems to not to work as well when the victim is skilled with magic of the mind.”

The conversation seemed to stop short as they finally looked upon my cell. I was sitting with my back against the uneven stonewall. The shackles chaffing my already bruised wrists and the worn prisoner rags barely covering my whole body.

“So this is the infamous vagabond. Tell me, what’s your name slave?” Serine cackled in a superior tone.

I looked up at the woman that the Vice-Commander referred to as the High Warden. Given her title I could assume that she held some kind of superior status within the Valkyria and it was most likely related to this prison, Tartarus.

“Its not polite to ask someone’s name without first giving your own.” I sarcastically retorted.

“What did you say you fuckin-“ Vice-Commander Jikaan was about to start screaming at me for my offenses, but the High Warden held up her hand to stop her.

“Hohoho, an interesting one indeed. For daring to chat with one of the three Valkyries as an equal. For entering town with a proper female escort. For using mind magic on one of the Valkyries and lastly for killing over two hundred guards of the Valkyran kingdom. This much alone would easily put you in the top ten worst criminals in Valkyran history alongside the Butcher of Blood Harbor and the Slave King of the North. Talking back to someone who holds the rank of High Warden…well I could execute on the spot.”

I listened to her mad tirade about my so-called ‘crimes’. I knew she was trying to get me angry so she could either kill me in retaliation or somehow humiliate me, but when I heard her compare me to the Slave King of the North my mind went blank. I pulled against the chains on the wall and dashed madly towards the bars that kept me caged within my cell.

Swinging my hands like a demon I could barely manage to reach the metal bars. I could hear the sounds of the chains creaking under my strength. I knew I could break out of the chains if I empowered my body, but for some reason the metal chains that were keeping me pinned to the wall inhibited my skill activation.

“You FUCKING whore, fight me fair and square. I will not be compared to that trash king in the north.” I yelled.

I could the sound of her laughter as she watched me struggle against my fetters. The laugh was as beautiful as she was, but in my eyes it only served to mock my futile efforts and thus was the most evil sound I had ever heard.

“Yes, yes. A little cherub you are. I forgot about the northern kings personal fetish of collecting your little gems. Maybe we’ll send your head to him as a gift…no maybe not. I don’t think that man deserves anything that he desires. Hmm…well I have several weeks to figure this out. Valkyran law dictates that a trial must be held after one month of imprisonment for any criminal that commits a tier four or higher crime.” The High Warden let out a devious smile.

“Though that doesn’t stop us from some good old-fashioned torture.”

For being tortured for an extended period of time. +2 End and Vit

I groaned as the all too familiar blue window popped up in front of me. The rags that I had previously been wearing were torn to shreads along with my back. The lack of being able to activate my skill properly dampened my [Iron Skin] ability and thus I felt the full brunt of the pain that came from the Higher Wardens lashings.

“Motherfucker.” I yelled, but not too loudly. I didn’t want the High Warden to come back and restart the fun.

‘Its just the start lad.’ A friendly voice seemed to chime in at the most inopportune time.

‘And where have you been this whole time.’ I projected my thoughts telepathically. I didn’t know if they were fully getting through as my skill level was low and the chains were fucking with everything.

‘My skills in telepathy far exceed your own, little cherub. If I remained in your consciousness I would have felt the pain of your torture and I am not too fond of torture.’

‘Ugh…whatever. How long have you been stuck down in this shit hole.’ I decided to strike up a proper conversation, because it didn’t seem like I was going anywhere soon.

I could hear the sound of the man laughing in my head. It wasn’t a happy laugh like before…more deadpan or lackluster.

‘Almost thirty years now. I’ve had time to explore my telepathic abilities to their utmost. There is not much else you can do down here in these small cells. Nothing to kill nothing to level with.’ The man spoke solemnly.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around what the man who was talking into my head just said. He had spent almost thirty years in this daft dark dungeon at the whim of the horrifying bitch warden and eating that disgusting food.

‘The foods not all bad once you get used to it. Though I do not have to eat as much as I used to. Once you cross the border of mortality into the realm of the immortals your hunger seems to fade.’ The old man projected his thoughts calmly, but they set a bomb off in my head.

‘Wait wait wait…your above the 9th Order? You’re a Saint? What the hell are you doing down in this dingy ass dungeon?’ So many questions filled my mind and they all seemed to spill out at the same time.

That was impossible. In my mind Saint level existences existed in the realm of the gods. They served as guardians who ranked up players and NPC’s. They were not an existence that could be corralled by a mortal realm country.

‘That is both correct and incorrect at the same time. Yes, someone who reaches the Saint Order cannot be contained or jailed by any mortal country but that only applies to Saints that are not a part of Etrea’s Guardians.’ The thoughts reverberated in my head. All of the new information was hard to understand.

‘Etrea’s Guardians? So I can assume that you were some part of this mysterious order and were somehow locked away down here in Tartarus for thirty years.’ I projected my assumptions back to him.

‘It’s a bit hard to explain, kid. To get into the subject about the Order of Etrea or Etrea’s Guardians we need to talk about Etrea herself. Etrea is the goddess of new beginnings as well as the goddess of evolution and growth, which made her a perfect fit when it came to the Order system. You do know about the gods and goddesses and the realm above the immortals?’ He asked in a strange way like he could peak into my past memories.

‘I know a little bit from what Ethaessa told me.’ I blurted out in my mind without thinking of the repercussions.

‘Haha…I knew it. I sensed an aura of divinity hanging on your shoulders. It seemed so unnatural. I knew you had to come into contact with some god or goddess at some point. But gods be damned…I cannot believe you actually met the All-Mother. That means you must be on the road to Racial Ascension…but nonetheless we can talk about that later. That brings us back full circle. Ethaessa, also known as the All-Mother and first of her kind, created the Order system in order to help the people of the planet she created grow. She entrusted the protection and advancement of the system to her younger sister Etrea. Anything that’s stumping you so far?’

‘No no…keep going. Its getting interesting.’ I thought back.

‘Ehem. Okay. So Etrea was entrusted with protecting, maintaining, and advancing the system. So that’s means she had to stop other gods from messing with it, while at the same time helping the people of the planet to grow. Eventually she grew frantic in her role, because of how extraordinary and tiring it was. So she tasked two Demi-gods with recruiting a few of the Saint Order beings to serve as guardians and helps promote others and protect the system. The Demi-god of Talent, Embrius, sought out potential candidates to fill the ranks to serve as Etrea’s Guardians. The Demi-god of Stone, Kronius, on the other hand sought out protectors to guard the Monuments of Order that are scattered around the continents.’

‘The monuments of order?’ I cringed from the pain on my back and unintentionally let my thought interrupt the story.

‘Ah yes…the Monuments of the Order or the Order stones serve as storage devices for all the information and rank ups and as a source of power for each of the guardians who protect them. Anyway, Etrea’s Guardians soon became a formidable force among the realm of the mortals and immortals and many of the other gods did not exactly take king to that. But I will not go into the Guardian Wars or the Fracturing at this time. Too much history and I do not show up in most of it until the end. I ascended to Sainthood towards the end of the Fracturing, which was after the fifth great Guardian War. When a person reaches Sainthood and break the chains of the mortal realm they are given a choice to join Etrea’s Guardians or to join another faction under the gods or go solo. I chose to become a guardian and was assigned to an area known as Salt Harbor…though I suppose they call it Blood Harbor now…’

‘Blood Habor?!’

Status: Chapter 27

Status WindowName:KaiAlignment:NeutralLevel:32Class:BardRace:CherubGender:MaleTitlesSongscryer – The One True Thak - Dungeon Master – Like A Boss – 10-Man Slayer – 100-Man Slayer – Notorious - InfamousFame:120Infamy:21,350-Health:650 / 650Health Regen:6.0 / SecMana:750 / 750Mana Regen:6.0 / SecStamina:900 / 900Stamina Regen:6.0 / Sec-Strength:70 (+63)Agility:70Vitality:75Intelligence:75 (+5)Wisdom:80 (+5)Endurance:95Luck:44 (+63)-Attack:0 (+?)Defense:0 (+90)Physical ResistancesSlashing:37 (+54)Piercing:37 (+54)Crushing:42 (+54)Elemental ResistancesFire:10%Water:10%Wind:10%Earth:10%Light:10%Darkness:10%

Skills/Abilities:

Spoiler : Iron Skin: Intermediate Lvl 8 (21%)

Willpower III: Intermediate Lvl 7 (34%)

Seven Pathways Meditation: Intermediate Lvl 2 (3%)

Mana Manipulation: Intermediate Lvl 4 (15%)

Telepathy: Novice Lvl 3 (16%)

Voice Manipulation: Novice Lvl 9 (26%)

-Empower: Novice Lvl 3 (25%)

Music Mastery: Novice Lvl 8 (52%)

-Song of Renewal: Intermediate Lvl 2 (54%)

-Song of the Slumbering: Novice Lvl 7 (5%)

-Song of Sorrow: Novice Lvl 3 (26%)

-Song of the Berserker: Novice Lvl 3 (43%)

Bare-Handed Mastery: Intermediate Lvl 2 (1%)

Sword Mastery: Novice Lvl 7 (50%)

-Rapier Mastery: Intermediate Lvl 3 (82%)

+Rapid Thrust: Novice Lvl 7 (21%)

Illusion Magic Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (85%)

-Disguise: Novice Lvl 7 (11%)

-Glamour: Novice Lvl 2 (27%)

-Clone: Novice Lvl 1 (0%)

Summon (Dungeon Beast): Novice Lvl 3 (33%)

Equipment:

Spoiler : Prisoner Rags (+10%) Foul Stench – (1/5) Durability