A World Within The Margin

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

“Why do you need me?” Shinsou placed an empty teacup back onto the silver tray in front of him. His eyes were still throbbing, and he was internally wrestling to suppress the headaches.

“Two reasons,” Telos leant in, “Firstly, someone has stolen the crystal containing Arius’s soul and taken it to a world called Althanas. That crystal contains important information the Council needs; memories and suchlike, and we want it back in one piece. I assume you don’t remember this, but you have a unique ability to sense the life force of those you have met before. We’ll need you to find it.”

“And secondly?” Queried Shinsou, with a furrowed look on his brow.

“He’s your best friend.” Telos rose from his chair, offering his hand, which Shinsou hesitantly took. He stood, head bowed, gazing into nothingness for a moment as he tried to take it all in.

“One more thing…” Telos said, putting a comforting hand on Osiris’s shoulder. “I’ve assigned someone to you, to look after you until you go to Althanas. His name is Dxun Ra, a Colonel in the Telgradian Royal Guard. He’ll make sure you are well looked after. For now, return to your barracks, and he’ll swing by and introduce himself later.”

Shinsou nodded slowly, still a little dumbstruck. “Thank you…”

Telos nodded and ushered the Telgradian politely through the door, closing it behind him. There was a soft clicking of a latch as the door shut and a wheezing cough from the other side of the door.

I’ve really got my hands full with this.

Shinsou looked ahead of him, past a waiting gentleman on the left who had taken his seat, and began to walk towards his dormitory.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Morning sun finally shone through the steel barred window, crawling out from behind the cloud cover that had choked the Telgradian sky for the past few days.

Arius Mephisto watched the lengthening shadows of the prison bars creep slowly around the room, periodically raising his weary head back up to the sky. The weather was the only variable in his life, and he would often spend his time predicting it. Would it be rain, snow, thunder or sunshine that would accompany him through the day? Sometimes he would play a little game. If he got the weather right, he’d add a notch to the wall on his left. If wrong, one to the right. There were far more scratches on the left than right now, because he had time to practice and study the patterns. Nothing else ever changed. Same bricks, same bed, same shitty food, same ill-tempered guards.

Same soulless existence.

The grimy, cold limestone upon which he sat felt more comfortable now than it had previously. By now, after so long, he had forgotten what a real chair felt like to sit on. There was hardly ample cloth on which to rest or with which to wrap himself in on the unfortunate day he correctly predicted the coming of the frost. Yet, even with the basic lack of amenities, the passage of time had turned this cell into a home.

It wasn’t long before the worst part of Arius’s day came rumbling towards him. The grinding of his stomach almost made his cell seem like it was moving. Loose stones and dirt would seem to vibrate intensely on the floor around him. The thin, gaunt man stared at the floor through his gold rimmed spectacles as footsteps grew ever closer.

He stepped inside; the guard who had fed him all this time. How long had it been now? Months? Years? He wasn't sure just how long he had spent in here. Yet it was the first time since Arius had been locked here that he had laid eyes upon him. The guard was a heavy-set, bearded man. He was dressed in thick, plate armor with an underlay mainly sown out of cotton. Arius looked down at his own clothes; ragged cotton shirt, tired looking and well used pantaloons.

They would probably outlive him.

"Still scratching at the walls?" The man asked as he stared suspiciously at Arius, then the window, and then the two vandalized stone slabs either side. “Fucking lunatic.”

"Have you come to beat me again?” Arius wandered away from the window and offered out his hand to the guard. "Perhaps you’d like to break my arm this time. Or my back. What would make you happiest?"

The man stood silently for a moment while two more guards, suspiciously more armored than him, appeared outside the room. Still holding onto the door, he considered shutting it again but for his orders. This man had been isolated for some time, and beaten, and clearly was at the end of the threads of sanity; just a broken shell of a person, useful for nothing. Why had he been called for now?

Scratching his bearded chin with indecision, he looked back at the men behind him, and smirked.

"It’s your lucky day today, dickhead. You get to go for a little walk."

Arius looked vacantly at the floor. "What if I choose not to go?"

"I think we both know how that’ll go..." He gestured to the remaining guards. “Even a madman understands pain.”

Placing his callused hands into his pocket, Arius dusted himself off, however silly that might have seemed, and then took a deep breath. What was waiting for him outside the door? He looked out the window for what, oddly, felt like the final time. The sun was long gone, and rain clouds threatened to hammer down on the country below.

Interesting…a notch to the right.