The Prison

With a rough push, I'm forced into a cold prison cell with a pretty tough looking criminal. While perhaps not accurate, the justice system in here is at least quick. It only took a day to get convicted with 2 counts of murder, a life sentence here. Where is here, I can't say. I've already fallen asleep and woken up, so I'm having my doubts that it's just a dream. At the same time, it can't quite be reality, since as far as I know, reality doesn't have magic. It seems clear that I'm in some alternate world. The gravity feels less than on earth, and I can jump a bit higher than before. This implies that the planet is smaller. Or that the gravitational constant is different. Maybe all the physics are different. After all, magic exists. As the guards leave, I notice my cellmate looking at me. He seems ready to assert his dominance. I need to try to get along, and I need to figure out this world. But from my experience in this world, I'm bad at getting along. Probably, he'll be beating me up within the hour. So I may as well try to accomplish the other goal.

"What are the axioms by which physics is determined in this universe?"

His expression takes on a bit of surprise.

"We ain't chummy. Why should I tell you? EH?"

"Err, wouldn't it be better to be friends with the person that you'll be living with? I've got a life sentence, you know. So I'll be here for a while. Responding would help us be 'chummy', and that kind of relationship would be mutually beneficial, while becoming enemies would be bad for both of us. Thus, the only logical conclusion is … "

The look of growing hatred quickly brought the diplomacy to a halt. Well, that and the hard punch to the gut. Caught mid-sentence, I can't even manage an appropriate scream until the next hit. The pain is immeasurable. I'm crouched over, looking at the floor, simply praying not to be hit again. I'm really not looking forward to getting hit again. And to my delight, I'm not. My attacker switches back to verbal abuse.

"The logical choice? Think stupid me? Me no stupid. Maybe the logical choice is to beat your face in. I haven't had a cellmate for the last 2 years, which means nobody to take my frustration out on. Those last two hits were insanely cathartic. The pleasure derived from that is hard to beat."

I cough up some small amount of blood, and instantly regret interrupting his speech as it is greeted by a kick to the face. falling on my back, I can finally see the crazed face of my foe.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

He kicks me, in the ribs this time.

"HAHAHAHA!"

I feel another spasm of pain. I laugh at myself a bit for thinking that it would take a full hour to come to this. I overestimate my diplomatic skills.

"HA!"

Another one. Pain is really overwhelming. Everything disappears except for it. The entire fate of the universe doesn't matter one inkling. You are consumed with only the desire to reduce it. It would probably be great for meditating, if, you know, it didn't hurt so much.

"Ahhhh… for some reason, these kicks are quickly getting less and less interesting. Maybe I should just try killing you. But then I wouldn't be able to hurt you any more! Ah, what a dilemma. Accursed law of diminishing marginal returns! Perhaps the optimal solution is to hang you up and punch you once a day, but that somehow seems unsatisfying. Hmm. Ah! I know. What was that thing you suggested? Being friends?"

I moan in a mixed variety of emotions, attempting to convey the idea that I would prefer getting killed.

"I suppose I could try it. My name is Markus. And you are? … Oh, are you okay?"

The last thing I am is okay! Or so I would like to say, but in reality, my name is Okei. I end up stammering out a sad "gweh…"

"Here, I can help you. I know some healing magic," says Markus. He almost makes me forget that he's the one who injured me in the first place. Just kidding, there's no way I would forget. However, I can't complain too much, as the magic is incredibly refreshing. Before I can enjoy it too much, I hear another unwelcome voice, talking to… Markus?

"OI, YOU! STOP!"

"NO! DON'T TELL HIM TO STOP!" I desperately respond.

But he stops, and the pain quickly returns. I again flail on the floor, now surrounded by two people I never want to see again - Markus, of course, but also Rogue, who continues to state his purpose.

"If you think you can just go ahead and kill that guy, you're dead wrong. I need him to guide me to the Zetheros Feyline."

Ignoring the fact that I have no clue what that is, Rogue has come at the wrong time to play the hero. Had he come to save me maybe 5 minutes ago, I might be more inclined to care. Instead, I curl into a fetal position and try to ignore everything.

Markus, however, is not willing to give up his position as captain of the "Pretend to be helping Okei while actually making his life miserable" train.

"That legendary place? Sounds like a load. How'd a goblin like you even get in the tower? What human was stupid enough to let you sneak in behind them? Anyways, I'm not going to let you take my friend. I've been alone in this cell for two years, but you want to take my only company away so soon? I've crushed plenty of goblins stronger than you."

"Keh, really? So you didn't beat him up? I assumed it was you because he was fine when the guards went down to the cell with him. Well, how about this. We'll all go together. Then, you still get your friend, and I get what I want."

Without hesitation, Markus agreed, and the door was unlocked. Probably, this would be the fastest prison breakout in the history of the world. Except that Rogue walked through the door, closing it behind him. At this point, I was capable of forming words, so I had to say something.

"Err, it's great that we're all sticking together, but maybe we should go OUT of the cell instead of staying in it?"

"Oh," began Rogue. "You didn't say that they Feyline was outside of the prison cell."

"OF COUR-*cough* of course it is. Don't tell me you *cough* broke in here without a plan to get us out!" I replied with a much less intense tone than I felt, because screaming had caused me to lose a bit of my voice, and because I was physically and emotionally exhausted.

"Well, I'm sure we can come up with one. I have the key, anyways." Rogue wove the shiny thing in my face as footsteps from the chamber leading to the cell began echoing. Guards. Two of them, from the sound of it.

"Quick!" said Markus, turning to the wall with a thoughtful look on his face. "Look inconspicuous!"

Rogue quickly followed suit, trying to twist his fearsome goblin features into the face of a philosopher deep in thought. As for myself, I stayed in the fetal position, and listened.

*step..step...step…step...step...*

The footsteps came to a stop in front of our cell. For a long moment, all was silent. Then,

"Wait… why are there three of them?"

Markus and Rogue exchanged a glance, and smashed through the door, knocking the guards back with a fury. Sighing, I got up and went out behind them. Soon, we were running through the halls, the alarm singing furiously as we went through our path. Rogue yelled over to me.

"Which way is it? The feyline?"

Oh, right. That. I don't recall ever saying I knew where it was… waiiiiit. Is that what he thought I meant when I said "that" ? In which case, once he finds out I don't know, I'll probably be killed.

"Err… not here! It's … uh… on the 3rd floor of the tower! Let's just focus on escaping for now, okay?" We come to a crossroads, and seeing a huge group of guards coming from the right, turn to the left.

"You're spewing nonsense! If you're lying to me, I'll kill you!"

Following along the new path, we twist and turn. I follow Rogue, hoping he will know the way out. Sprinting like this for a while, we soon come to a large hallway filled with inmates, and a wall. It looks like we'll have to fight. It's the 3 of us to about 100 guards, and… wait. Where'd Markus go? Ok, it's 2 to 100. Either way, I don't like the odds.

"Rogue! Unlock the doors with your key! If we let everyone out, we might be able to escape in the chaos!"

Rogue refrained. "I don't like opening doors. It's really hard to get the key to fit in! Just keep running to the end of the hall!"

The guards approached, as we gasped for breath. Rogue turns to me.

"Actually, that might not have been such a bad idea. Now we're stuck."

"Fantastic. I was hoping you had a better idea, but it turns out you're just an idiot. It's hopeless. At least you'll go down with me."

"Well, maybe we'll get lucky. Like, somehow they escape and help us anyways."

Before I could tell him how idiotic he was, an enraged muscular man in a nearby cell ripped his bars apart and joined our group. Several other inmates performed similar feats, getting past their bars with teleportation, strength, and all manner of magics.

So, apparently we are very lucky. The whole area became something of a deathtrap, with spells being flung everywhere. The wall behind us broke from a few blasts of energy. I ran out, ready to escape, before realizing that we were on the 5th floor. This was incredibly unlucky, considering that the prison was one of very few buildings in the city with more than 2 floors. There was a nice view, but besides that, not much else.

Rogue dashed out, and quickly started climbing up. Knowing him, I was pretty certain that this was not because he had a plan, but rather, because he was stupid.

"You're going in the wrong direction, you idiot! If we want to escape, we have to climb down!"

"No, they'll be all over the ground looking for us! If we want to escape, we need to go to the next floor."

I wasn't sure how much trust I put in that, but I followed him. We were already on the top floor, and the building was shaped to make it pretty easy, even for someone as bruised as me. When my head peaked over the top, I noticed Markus, holding a bent pipe as he stood over some recently broken magical apparatus. He nodded in my general direction.

"Good, you're here. Let's go."

I followed him to a set of stairs that lead to nowhere. It was just a short staircase that went up about 6 feet, followed by... a drop off of the building. Down to the ground. He ran up the stairs and jumped off. Contrary to my expectations, he did not fall to his death, but rather, continued in a line with his momentum, as if gravity did not exist. Rogue pushed me. "You first. I don't trust you not to ditch us."

"Err, I can't fly."

"Move it." There was now a knife pressed into my skin.

"I really can't," I said, as I was pushed up the staircase. "It's not- " I stopped, as I suddenly felt very lightheaded. Another step, and I felt a bit lighthearted. It seemed that gravity completely stopped after a certain height. Another poke of the knife and I took a risk, turned around, and jumped after Markus. To my delight, I did not fall to my death. It was like I was flying, minus to ability to control where I was going. The view from here was even better. I watched the prison catch fire as the screams faded into the background. Now, we were going to the next floor. I had no idea what it would be like, but as I thought past my experience, I imagined that it could not be any crazier than the first.