Runeologic - Angel Legacy

[Runeologic]

Standing in the courtyard of his lord, Damien McCabe. Zander looked up at the barrack that he had just been thrown off; he looked back down at his hands, clothed in strange armour. “Now what?” he asked himself, he had just survived an impossible fall, saw the man he served turn into some sort of demon and had nowhere else to go…he lived here. He could warn the others about there lord, but…he didn’t care about them, besides who would believe him, would they even recognise him in such strange clothes?

He walked back into the building, he felt stupid for even doing it. Pushing open the large wooden door, the hinges did not squeak but the wood scraped across the stone floor creating a loud noise. However, this was normal so he didn’t seem to put anyone on alert. He walked down the cold hall, his strange armour, colliding together creating a metal clang as he walked, hardily very stealthy. As he thought this, he felt a tingle around his body, like when he had gained this strange armour, He ignored it continuing on but as he walked the metal jangle disappeared, the metal on his body had turned to simple cloth, after all that had happened in the last 5 minutes, it didn’t surprise him.

He moved through the corridors, dashing past any doorways to avoid being seen by anyone. He didn’t want to make noise and attract attention; the last thing he wanted was to meet up with his lord again. Quickly up the wooden stairs Zander was getting closer to his room, all he needed was his backpack, a few things, a bit of money, anything to help him get away from this place. He easily opened the door, as always the other knight he shared a room with was nowhere to be found, probably down in the mess hall as always. He shut the door and picked up anything of value he could use, some left over bread, a sack of water and a small pouch of money he had saved. He looked towards his room mate’s bed, maybe he had some…The door opened. In it came a maid. “Zander….sir?” She questioned, his appearance had changed but those who had seen him a lot could still recognise him.

He turned to face her and without thinking his body quickly moved towards her, grabbing her by the throat creating a blade atop his other hand, moving her away from the door and shutting it before slamming the girl against the stone wall beside it. “I’m sorry but I have no choice but too…” Zander began before his voice was cut off by the sound of a bell. “Damn it!” he cursed, trying to think of a way through this. That was the alert bell, so Damien probably noticed his body wasn’t where it should be, and know the knights were searching for him. Without thinking his grip tightened. “Tell me, is there another route out of here that isn’t the main gate... some sort of service entrance?” he asked, violently. When there was no response from the girl he loosened his grip, noticing her gasping for air in his hand.

“Not…that I know of.” She said frightfully, scared that being of no use would mean she wasn’t worth keeping alive. “There…may be a way… through the cellar; his lordship forbids us from going down there.” With this information Zander released her neck, opening the door and pushing her into the hallway.

“Show me!” he demanded. The girl squealed softly as she led the way down the hall, Zander was on constant guard, he didn’t understand what was going on, and all he had to defend himself was a short black blade sticking out from the top of his wrist…and he didn’t know how reliable that was. Down the corridor there was no conflict, but there was definite movement around the castle, they were looking for something and even if it wasn’t him, he was still an intruder. They both walked down the spiral wooden staircase as the door at the bottom opened as they had only a few steps to go.

Zander jumped over the banister of the stairs and moved towards the door, as the un-armoured but still armed knight stepped through Zander got behind the door and pushed it shut, striking the knight clean on the head making him stagger backwards. Zander opened the door once more and pulled the disorientated knight in, as he passed him Zander knelt down low and swiped with his blade at the back of the knight’s kneecap, ripping through the muscle stopping him from walking. Zander was not in control of his own body, it was him thinking to do it and him physically doing it, but they weren’t his ideas, something else was driving him, something was protecting him.

He went back to the stairs, grabbing the girl’s wrist and pulling her towards the door and thought it “what way is it!?” He demanded, unwilling to get into another conflict.

“S..Streight on then left.” The girl stuttered, scared as her arm was pulled by someone much faster than she was. They hurried down the corridor, the sound of rushing footsteps all around them. He turned left as the girl had said, finding himself in a corridor full of doors and corridors. “S..Second right, there should me some stairs, leading down.” She continued as Zander continued to pull on her arm. They passed the first right…reaching the second, he turned down, almost falling on the badly madly made stairs, colliding with the door.

“It’s locked.” He snapped, stating the obvious. He pulled back his hand and struck the lock, as he did it became covered in a metal gauntlet, appearing in a wave of black lighting, smashing the lock to pieces but creating a huge crash. He pushed into the room with his shoulder allowing light to fill the pitch black room revealing nothing but an ordinary cellar.

[Runeologic]

Those attracted by the sound flowed in like water, searching every possible hiding spot, in the end they found nothing but an empty cellar. A meter below them Zander lay in wake with his hand over the kidnapped girl’s mouth. He listened for the footsteps above to slowly walk away. He looked around in the darkness, unable to see anything. There were no torches down here but Zander had the feeling that there was definitely something alive down here. That feeling that you’re not alone. When everything above them had calmed down and quietened down, Zander finally removed his hand from the girl’s mouth. He carefully took her hand in the low light and continued down some more steps into a deeper section of the castle.

“I can’t see.” The girl complained as they went deeper down the stairs, It was a long way down, it must have been deep underground. The whole corridor was made of stone, and there was no light to speak of. They had finally reached the bottom; Zander had been dragging his hand along the wall to try and find where he was walking but the wall suddenly ended and lead onto metal bars. A…noise was getting louder, there was an atmosphere of noise but there was no sound but there footsteps. Zander stopped and placed his hand on the bar. He could feel breath on the back of his fingers, warming them up, he let go of the girls and raised it hoping for the blade to appear again. Forming his hand into a fist the room flooded with light as a sword appeared in his hand with a glowing gem in the hand guard. The light from the core illuminated the room, bouncing off the walls so make everything at lest visible. Zander didn’t question this, he didn’t see the point, there would be no one around to know and at the time it was useful… he had noticed that when he needed something and thought about it, his armour changed for the situation, but once it did he felt a rush through his body and then drained afterwords. Shining the brightest point of light into the cage, the soundless noise disappeared, there was nothing there.

He let go of the bar and immediately found his hand being grasped, by the girl he dragged down here. He kind of felt sorry for her, she had done nothing wrong and then she was forced into a dark place at blade point…by a knight of all people. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.” He said honestly, looking towards the hallways beyond.

“You could always let me go back?” she said hopefully loosening her grip on his hand. She saw Zander look down at the ground hesitating to talk.

“I…Can’t allow that, you could tell them where I am…Sorry” He said, with a low steady beat. He wasn’t used to talking to people, never mind apologising. She girl said nothing more, she had expected as much, but she had to take the chance. Once again she tightened her grip on Zander’s hand, causing him to lift his head, determined to get out of this place, as a way of saying sorry for his actions, he would protect her.

Using the light from his blade, together they traversed the long dim corridor. There was a slither, and the sound of running water not too far ahead, Zander took this as a promising sign, he figured that if there is running water, there must be somewhere its being drained too, it must get back down to the sea somehow. However, he advanced with caution, turning a corner to his left and soon one to his right. The grip on his hand loosened, the corridors, the cells that lined the walls were more visible…another source of light, a way out.

Walking with a faster pace Zander found himself ill at ease, He knew his lord well… he was not this stupid to let him escape so easy, there was probably a good reason he banned anyone for entering the cellar there was obviously something down here he wanted to keep a secret. Another corner and Zander saw the light across a pool of water that had a gentle flow of water falling into it. Just as the girls face lit up at the sight of the exit, she felt a sharp tug on her wrist bulling her forward and throwing her against a short square pillar that easily covered there height, it was almost nothing but rubble as many of the other pillars. This rooms ceiling was high unlike the small corridors, Zander ran towards the girl and pinned her against the pillar with his body pressed against hers as he saw why.

A huge black serpent had bust from the water, its body black with only a hint of glowing blue veins showing, it was dressed in armour that seemed attached to its body by thin air in segments, it contained red runes similar to the circle he saw beneath his lords feet. Its huge dragon like maw opened and sparks of electricity gathered unleashing a ferocious blast against the pillar the two were pressed against. They watched as the light from bolts wide of the pillar shot past there eyes and into the surrounding area.

Zander’s eyes scanned the area; to the right was nothing but a few more pillars and a wall, and to his left was the only way across but covered in smashed pieces of pillars piled high. His eyes continued to scan around, to notice that the electricity had stopped and there was no sign of movement, his eyes travelled back to the scared girl right in front of him, they were so close and he realised he didn’t even know her name. It didn’t really matter right now, if they lived through this then he would ask. “Let’s run, ok?” He whispered in her ear as to not provoke the beast.