“…Prisoner #0801, and lastly Prisoner #24601. Congratulations, you have been given a chance at both freedom and a full pardon for your myriad crimes. The guards will retrieve you from your cells and escort you to the exit of the Prison. Once you are there, you will have thirty seconds to grab a weapon, some armor and prepare for transit. Remember, only you can prevent Anglond’s collapse!”

The Warden’s voice echoed through the prison and was met with heavy booing from those not chosen and great cheers from those who were. The guards began to extract the inmates one by one and escort them to a series of 50 cages that had been erected inside the portal chamber. Each prisoner was placed within a separate cage, which was then shut, and the prisoner was then allowed to prepare themselves for the assault to come.

“Never saw you in here before. What are you in for?”

One of the prisoners asked #24601 a simple question, which was answered with a rather unconvincing statement.

“I stole silver from a bishop’s house to feed my starving kids.”

No one believed him.

“That can’t have been it. What else?”

The man thought for a while and then spoke in a voice that chilled the blood of almost all there.

“Well, I also worked as a butcher for the sake of my family. I remember bringing the bishop home for dinner. The ribs were cooked just right, it was as if the meat would just fall off the bone. And the rump roast was to die for. Say, once we get out of here and earn our freedom, can I invite you all to my home? I could prepare a feast to die for… So much meat….”

Only #0801 was unimpressed, but the rest of the prisoners were, despite their own evilness, quite distressed by the words that had flowed like a passing remark from a man who acted like nothing he had said was wrong or out of place.

One of the more disturbed prisoners merely laughed at the tension, while another threw up. Another was the voice for the majority and uttered in an audible murmur, “Seriously, man, that’s fucked up!”

The Warden’s voice came over the intercom and the cages quickly opened.

“You have 30 seconds to pick from the equipment here. Make your choice quickly and without delay or arrive up top without any means to defend yourself.”

The pile of crappy iron, wood, leather and cloth equipment was immediately set upon by the inmates, with each one claiming as much as they could carry. There would have been a risk of the inmates trying to run back into the prison with their weapons and armor, but The Warden had thought ahead and had shut the massive steel door that protected the room and thus locked them inside. The countdown reached zero, and the portal activated and sent the 50 ‘lucky’ souls to the surface. Cameras hidden in countless places would monitor their every movement, action and word, so even if they attempted to flee or defect there would be no way for them to survive.

As the smell of sea air filled the nostrils of the fifty inmates, they began to equip themselves and prepare for combat.

…

“It is a beautiful day outside, isn’t it sister?”

“Indeed, sister, it is quite a lovely day. I could just go out and lie about in this wonderful weather we are having.”

A third woman sipped her drink and smiled.

“I swear, these surfacers don’t understand the greatness of storms.”

The gathering of Naga all nodded in affirmation.

“You know, when the Deep Emperor tasked us with securing the final bastion of the… what were they called again?”

“Delish?”

“Angmar?”

“Can’t remember. These surfacer nations all kinda blend together.”

“I have the same problem! The only two surfacer nations I know of are Darksol and Neo Albion!”

The fourth Naga’s memory was sparked by the words ‘Neo Albion’, and she smacked her webbed fist into her webbed, open hand.

“That’s it! Anglond! The place we are occupying is the final bastion of Anglond!”

The crowd of aquatic women “ooh’d” and “ahh’d” and princess clapped at the fact that one of their sisters was worldly enough to know about the surface world to such a degree.

“So, like I was saying, sisters, I don’t know why this mission was said to be so dangerous! It is practically a Scone Skip!”

“I believe you mean ‘Donut Dance’.”

“No, the correct version of the term used by the surfacers is ‘Cake Walk’.”

“But that doesn’t even rhyme!”

The gathering of Naga was acting just like highborn women who had heard various rumors about a nation far from civilization but had none of the desire to verify the validity of such rumors. They continued to act like nothing was wrong until the surge of mana that signaled the activation of the portal reverberated through the island. Like a sonar ping they traced the echoing mana signature across the isle without ever leaving the ruined building they were in. Even as the magical shockwave bounced between the torrent of raindrops, the Naga were still able to pinpoint exactly where the signal had come from.

“What a pain.”

“Such a bothersome race.”

“Here here!”

“Wait, sisters, we must not forget that our worshippers are human too and that our Deep Emperor rules over the land and all the humans upon it.”

One of the younger Naga giggled and asked a question.

“Then why are some of the surfacers acting against his wishes? If he does rule the land, then why do they fight against him?”

Cold gazes were leveled upon the youngest one who had asked the question, but the eldest calmly answered.

“Because they are foolishly in open revolt against him. For untold ages he ruled the surface and the deep, but after ruling with justice and compassion, those who he ruled rose up due to the cries of a radical movement. Brokenhearted at the misery the surfacers were bringing, Kain left the world until there was a group who would adhere to true justice. He knew that he would have to focus on either the deep or the land first and foremost and created our point of origin and then gave the Deep Empress dominion over all beneath the waves and all the waves crashed against. That is why the world is the way it is, and why it is that we exist.”

The other Naga princess clapped and the youngest of the group nodded as she realized the tragic hero that the Deep Emperor was. The Naga loved tragic characters and the fanfiction that Zalga had constructed regarding Kain and Mortis was viewed as absolute fact by the aquatic citizens of Atlanti’lyeh. As the Naga uncoiled themselves and prepared to meet the foes who were trudging through the wonderful weather, they offered a quick prayer to their gods and sent out calls for aid. They now knew where the foe was hiding, and they were going to make sure that the foolish rebels would be brought low.

The rebel kingdom of Anglond would fall soon enough, and the glory and divine favor that would be granted to those who achieved this would be legendary. The Naga armed and armored themselves and their casters began to call forth the power of their own special type of racial magic. The tempest grew in intensity as the casters chanted their spells in a siren’s choir into the raging hurricane. The storm expanded in power and force and the winds blew faster while lightning buffeted the earth. As the winds reached speeds and strength equal to an F5 tornado, the Naga soaked in the sight as the fifty measly humans who had come to face them were thrown into the air and tossed about like toys.

Through their connection to Deep Magic, Wind Magic and Water Magic they managed to stay on the ground as if nothing was happening and their amused laughter echoed throughout the hurricane as they advanced towards the point where the magical pulse originated from.