Reborn: Insanity Isle

[Lyzan]

"Pot don't see much of Redbeard too.. Mostly gone to the holding cells across from here.. He always stares at the walls of his room if Pot see him though.. In serious.. erm.. thinking.. He told me.. umm.." Pot paused before turning his head around to check his surroundings and then leaned over the table towards Jaymz, a hand cupping one side of his mouth;"..that he got plans.." said the boy. "He said he needed to prepare his men.. What for, Pot not sure.."

Just then, Eygar entered the chamber, scowling as he headed straight to retrieve his meal. His bowl was a mount of nutrition when he finally sat near the two friends. A grin was then formed across his face before he gobbled the food up literally single-handed. The cripple ate heartily, as if he was truly enjoying the dish and was grateful to the cook for it. Then again, the man had been as such since after his recovery, fully healed thanks to Areena although due to her age, she was unable to restore what was lost.

He'd been questioned before -Eygar- as to why did he keep fighting given that he'd only an arm to face his foe. And the man's reply was;

As long as my heart within this chest beats, I'll keep fighting for my life... For it is mine and I'll let no animal nor that of another steal that away from me... They can try as much as they want.. but as long as I breath, I'll give them hell or at least bring them down with me!

"Silence, you arrogant fool!" hissed a man right behind Asad. "..If you're so eager to die, do it when there's nobody around you.. Unlike you.." you freak, the man thought as he whispered while measuring Asad from head to toe, "..the rest of us here bleed and bruised.. On top of that.. we're dead exhausted from enduring the voyage alone.." he then paused before checking his blind spot. "So I suggest you tag along and wait for the an opportunity to strike.. The RIGHT moment at least.. Not like back then in the ship.. Tch!"

It would've come to those listening then that the Varooglas have not chose blindly. The captives may be weak but they'd the potential to grow stronger. It was the fire within them which these vile creatures were after and the bold remarks made by the man behind Asad was certainly prove enough.

Soon, the line would've reached the main gate where the new stocks were shown to their fate should they refuse to fight. A caged tunnel whereby all scrawny and poorly treated captives were left to rot and kept. Their arms reaching for the newcomers through the grills as they walked through. The group was then divided. Those with the planks -Onix included- were brought to another passage leading around to the other side, through a hallway with dark holding cells on either sides towards another door. They would then notice all the captives in these cells were collared with intricate runes carvings, a bind of some sort to as if lock the magics they possessed.

The blow-horn suddenly sounded, marking the arrival of fresh meats. Redbeard's men paused their training and turned to look skywards in the main gate's direction, as if to see a glimpse of their new Brothers and Sisters in arms. Some were made briefly while others lingered to pray. A handful had to sustain the urge to head towards the chamber where they could view the fights. Blood would be spilled soon.

"Pot got to go.." said the boy to Jaymz as the probability of having Redbeard welcoming the newcomers seemed too slim within Pot's skull.

[Fallenreaper]

Onix’s eyes had avoided the man, the one reprimanding Asad as he sized him up, at mention of the ship. Her jawline tightened with anxiety and depression for the harm she caused, the pain she wrecked with her carelessness to the suffering of them. Weak or strong, there was no one that was useless in the world she was raised in. Even the sick and old were cared for since they would need their strength to combat the fox in the afterlife, training with what strength they could when chanced. The other she aided found footing while she raised up as high as the plank would allow her to begin to march. The sounds of chain only farther pounded her blood rushing it into a slow painful frenzy, pure angry and adrenaline driven was what that kept her upright mostly.

How long they marched was Onix’s guess. It seemed like eternity with her limbs feeling like weight dragging her down, her head jerked against the rough hole where her neck was to view the source of a Varoogla barking orders at a towering wooden gate. It was like it was common thing. The loud sounds of rolling boulders and shifting metal roared to life bring the unsettled thing upward as if hell itself was opening up. A much smaller gate, decorated with long poles pointed with spear tips while it too lifted out to swallow them up.

Bars. Metal rustic looking bars lined the tunnel that formed the shape of the entrance curving over head as they marched deeper, Onix’s spine pricked and panicked inwardly to see them. Hands weak and slowly starving reached out though the gaps to touch her, eyes widened as her eyes darted side to side taking the creepy sight before flinching at the moment she felt them graze along her surface. Filth stained their cloths, what remained, seeking aid to a hopeless situation. Instinct drew Onix to draw away not out of disgust but fear, terror to become like one of them and the animal desire to chase the image away. It wasn’t the captives themselves that drive the stake of terror though her mind but idea of becoming likes them, ghosts. In her mind, being behind those bars was as good as dead. It wasn’t a way dead, not for a Delilah, to slowly waste away and never given the chance.

Desperate they tailed up, climbing to reach out for strength she couldn’t give them breaking any part of her heart. Eyes spied one of her captors deeply inhale as if smelling a hot meal or roses, his yellow crooked teeth pulled up in a grin against the black skin. The sharp sound of slapping hands as the Varoogla pushed on through, their pleasure clear on their expression farther. It drew a low silent growl from Onix only to be casted away, the chains pulled harder bring them to forward only to be divided. Her fists tighten in frustration and head flickered at the chain holding her, the blood was warm along her side and though her body seemed to be weaken there was still plenty of fight left. The more she saw the less Onix liked it. Darkness seemed to swell and devour the fighter, eating her away like a monster, sets of eyes she passed seemed hollow and haunted by the atmosphere of decay and gloom. The stone melded with the iron bars creating a look of a prison captives bearing black metal collars dancing with red glowing runes that seemed to enslave their bodies, a despiteful fore brooding with each time the line moved after sounds of little struggle or the ting of beaten metal. Closer, closer she came feeling the pressure though the sight was slightly hard to see clear from a far through the low orange glow of fire lite the scene.

Blood heated even as she felt the stung, it screamed to fight back only to be stalled by her common sense. Teeth gritted preventing the step back into the remaining ones behind. She fought then they would pay. It was her turn as the previous man was roughly shoved aside to make room for her to move into the next room. Her instincts tugged to get away, her body slightly fighting the chain pulling her long to keep a different pace then wanted.

It didn’t matter while every muscle was pushed into a room with the rest standing before two men, one a creature that looked alike to the rest yet to earn her scorn and another having a long red beard. It was the latter that held Onix’s focus. His back seemed hunched, bent over but it didn’t demeanor his size in the least and judging from the arms he seemed to have been fighting for some time. The white hair blended with his skin so well, it was hard to spot the slight difference and even more difficult to see the pointed ears beneath the shoulder length. The discomfort came from those emerald green eyes though. It didn’t seem to reflect back what his strong appearance did. It lacked something important, the coloring might have seemed bright on first glance yet when she lost herself into them there was dullness sort of like time aging did to the colors of bed sheet. No sense of will left.

A stake of dislike drove through her heart at the sight of it. I won’t be like that…Onix thought.

[tirgesfu]

Jaymz hung his head as slightly as Pot spoke of Redbeard. He missed the old man. As Jaymz did often he let Pot go on and began to pay less attention to the boy’s words. Until he mentioned that Redbread said something about preparing his men. Plans? His men? For some reason it did not sound the same as training them for the arena. Was there something else?

Pot left the idea before Jaymz could question him. But right as the boy ran to the sound of the horns, Jaymz gently held his arm. “Pot, listen,” He stopped the boy from his run, “Am I one of Redbread’s men? Tell him I am.” Jaymz squeezed his fingers into Pot’s arm “I want to be.” He let the boy go with a nod of his head as if now giving him permission to run off and do what he needed.

He followed Pot with his eyes and then slowly turned to Eygar. He nodded to him as well and slid the rest of his food toward him. “You enjoy it too much, friend.” Jaymz had enough, enough food, enough time to sit and wait, enough time to worry about Saidah and enough time to think of Redbread. He stood.

Jaymz didn’t want to stand still. So he picked up his training wooden sword and moved around the circle toward the gate. He remembered when he first walked through. He remembered asking Saidah to keep his name, to remind him and who he was. As he eyed the gate he remembered how she spoke it when he first finished his fight. He preformed for them all. They cheered his name. But she whispered it.

Slowly he stopped by her door not sure if she was even in her room. As he watched the entrance waiting for those who survived the trip he leaned upon Saidah’s door and whispered, “Saidah, Saidah, I remember your name.”

[Lillian Thorne]

She was running her fingers over the darker green of the plant’s true leaves when movement caught the corner of her eyes. She looked up from her treasure and saw a shadow moving along the slight opening under her door. Her heart hammered as she watched it grow and shift. It was followed by the creak of someone leaning against the humidity swollen door. She sat frozen, her hands trembling around the clay vessel, the infant plant picking up the tremors in her hands and transmitting them through its delicate form, shaking out her fear.

A voice then, so soft she couldn't make out the words but the deep bass rumble, even muted was unmistakable: Jaymz. Why was he there? Why now? She ached in body and soul, afraid to see the monster she was reflected in his eyes. But he’d not come to her like this in so long and she wasn’t certain she could risk him never trying again. She felt cold and alone for all that she had her treasure.

She looked down at it, trembling in her grasp. Monsters did not tend seeds, watering them with tears, bathing them in the moonlight they craved. Monsters did not dream of seeds. She bit her lip, her teeth making divots into the ripe flesh as her inky eyes regarded the door. He had her name, it wasn’t enough. If he had her secret, would that be? She wanted this to be her own, but she also didn’t want to ache so much.

She stood, her motions ungainly and pained but her concern wasn’t grace so much as keeping her plant safe. She moved to the door and placed the plant down on the shelf that ran the length of that wall. Putting her hand on the knob she considered again if this was something she wanted to do. But she’d thought too much, dark thoughts that left her wracked with pain.

She pulled open the door and peered out at Jaymz, her dark eyes filled with hope, fear and no small amount of unshed tears. She kept her body in the dark of the room, shielding the plant from the light that would be too much for its tiny leaves.

“Jaymz.” She said her voice rolling across the word with a richness that spoke of it’s place inside her. He gave her his name, she held it and kept it safe. “Come in please.”

[tirgesfu]

Come in? Not only had she opened the door to his great surprise, she invited him inside. But that was not the sound or the words that twisted his guts and spread a feel he could not understand let alone explain. She had said his name. From her mouth it sounded different. It was as if she was the only one who knew anything about the name that was slapped on another piece of meat here in the butchery. She said it different. She knew. And although he had tried to erase the fact that she was the one he wanted to give it to, she remembered. When she said his name it was more. He was more. He remembered too.

He was the one who pushed so far she became someone else. But as he had watched her all this time and now in her doorway he saw Saidah again. Without moving he watched her, remembering the face she gave him when he was battered with a victorious defeat, remembering the gentle fear she showed as their hands were bound for the first time, and remembering the hesitant curiosity in the practice dances. He would not ever purposely recall the terrorized snarls and bites her face became when he forced her. Jaymz had thought she was just another attempt to catch him in all this madness. But as he looked at her now he was sure she was the only thing that could keep him from it.

He stepped inside with a small shuffle at first then realizing he would appear as if he had made a mistake he took a much longer stride and moved to the center of her room. He filled it with his tension and his size. As he kept looking at her with a questioned softness in his eyes he stumbled with nothing to say.

“A new boat has arrived.” He finally managed to say something although it was nothing that mattered. He lowered his eyes at last and shook his head. “I am concerned about you. Do not wither away. I do not know if I could stand at all if you were not here.” His words tumbled out in more of an apology than a question of her well being. And as soon as they were released he looked up at her surprised he had said any of it.

In a sense of shame and confusion he moved back toward the door. He did not leave. But he was not sure he was welcomed.

[Lillian Thorne]

He stepped in, it was more than she’d hoped for after the weeks of avoidance. She stood still for a moment and basked in the way he filled up her little space, with his body and his presence. In that moment her doubt about sharing evaporated. He had her name, he could have her secret too. She bustled past him as fast as her still sore limbs would permit and in her small hands cupped her secret, her hope. She looked down at it as it again transmitted her trembling, but this time they were not in fear, they were from excitement. She turned as he spoke, her fingers still shielding the precious thing in her hands.

His words floored her though they shouldn’t have. He didn’t want her to wither away. Her eyes dropped down and too the side, a sly glance. He’d noticed. How had he noticed? She possessed no mirror and her clothing here was simple enough that it had been easy to deceive herself about the state of her being. She was leaner now but without food to build her body muscle was being lost at the same rate as fat and she was beginning to look sunken in. She shrugged and told herself he’d simply been talking to Pot and moved the rest of the way towards him. Not eating had begun as a physical reaction to the trauma of where she had found herself. But now, now it was more. Now it was control in a world that was very much out of her control. She didn’t eat because she didn’t want too. They couldn’t make her. She was in control of that. This too was hers, her secret and she hadn’t planned on sharing it. So she said nothing, neither confirming or denying his words. Instead she held up her treasure.

“I want to show you something, something secret so you cannot tell. I look at this and I remember what it was to be free. It reminds me of who I was before.”

Slowly with no little showmanship she pulled back her fingers revealing the infant plant, no more than a few days from the seed, it’s first true leaves just beginning to unfurl.

“It is an Elgess, a lilly that was planted around the shrine of the Crone back in the temple. I loved them though I didn’t often get to see them because I was,” she paused, her chin rising in the first sign of pride she’d shown since being taken. “I am a maiden and it wasn’t my place to tend to that shrine unless there was no one else.” Her face was lit from within almost as she spoke about the flower whose infant she held.

“They bloom only at night, drinking in the darkness and the light from the moon. They must have shade during the day or they will wither. I used to sneak out of my bed to watch the dances on the new moon, to see the high priestess lead the circle as they danced around the Elgess and the crone goddess.” Saidah sighed for the life that was now lost to her and with reverent care slipped the purloined vessel into his large hands.

“This is my secret. Will you share it with me? Will you keep it safe?”

[May]

Asad near growled at the man who thought it was his right to talk to him so boldly. No one talked to him like that. He wasn't used to men not looking on him in fear. He wasn't used to being the one chained either. And whatever patience he had left was quickly leaving him. If he could hurt the man behind him without costing him some later chance at getting out of this mess that he was in. He would make sure the fool payed for his wagging tongue. Likely with the loss of that offending thing.

But he held his own tongue, grumbling under his breath as they were lead along to their destination. He watched all the faces that came up, seeing their desprate look in their eyes. Now that was something he knew well. And he could imagine for just a moment that he wasn't in chains and that they were looking to him to plead for their lives. But they're nooooot. a voice hissed in his head. But they will. Theyy willll.

He walked along, still in silence, looking over the place they were brought. Noting that the only other one who had fought back was taken somewhere else with others bound like her. What were they to do?

[tirgesfu]

Jaymz followed the sound of her voice as it trickled like clear sparkling water over smooth river stone. There was life in that sound and music in the way she moved her fingers. His whole body warmed. It was because of a tiny little plant. Her thrilled excitement in her secret was contagious. But even more so was her sharing something with him.

He looked at the miniature leaves not really understanding all about the shrine and dancing but he didn’t have to. Trying hard to find why a few bits of green excited her until the fact that it was her past finally broke through his clouded thoughts. It was like his name. This was her reminder of who she once was.

“Agass?” He asked her. Jaymz missed the name as he basked in the cool relief seeping from her words and tone. Standing beside her he could feel the exhilaration this small plant gave her. She had asked him to keep it safe. He looked at the frail thing and heard the soft stream of water turn into a rush of crashing waves. How could he promise to keep anything safe here? He was nothing. He was just another slab of flesh to entertain in some death scene. He would pledge his life if he thought it was at all possible. But his life was not worth the empty words. She knows this. And still she asked. He did not let the crushing feel show through his face. Slowly he lifted his head from the small bits of green and looked to her. Her eyes were soft with a plea he knew he should not encourage. She should not believe in him. Yet he was inside her door, in her room, standing here with her secret.

“I pledge to keep your secret safe, Saidah.” He could at least say that knowing it to be true.”Together we will protect it and watch it grow.” And more than anything if the plant gave her any peace he would do anything and everything he could to do keep that. “I ask one small favor in return.” He took his hand and touched her chin to make sure she saw his eyes. “Do not become so weak you cannot mind this part of your real life. You must care for your own body if you are to care for this.”

Jaymz let his fingers fall and he looked at the plant now willing the little thing to grow.

[Lillian Thorne]

She looked up into his eyes when he touched her chin, the first real eye-contact they’d had since things had gone so wrong. Her black eyes were like mirrors, reflecting back upon him what he wanted to see on the surface. Below the surface though, things got murky. Behind her eyes was something old, wise, vicious and not entirely Saidah. It was sleeping, but it was there and she did not seem aware of it. Also in those black, black eyes was the quiet joy in the plant she’d placed in his hands, joy in having shared it with someone.

She dropped her eyes as soon as she could. She’d shared the secret with him, meaning for it to be a gift. She had wanted to connect with him again because she felt so lost and adrift in her aches and pains. But the gift had come with a cost and he had just named the cost. It was a cost she wasn’t certain she could pay. She ate when to pressed her, and then only the minimal she needed too before he was distracted. More often than not she was sick later, her mind rejecting the nutrition more than her starving body craved it.

She stepped away from him, looking so frail and lost as she wrapped her once luscious arms around herself.

“I can’t…” she trailed off, her eyes flicking up to him and then back down. “I just can’t.”

She had no reason too. It was a way out, slow and painful, but a way out. She knew she was being watched and skirted being put into the cages where the screaming masses were, but she knew that the creatures had seen her in her state and that granted her some leniency as they waited to pit her against something. Her body wasn’t even in her control. Between the berserk rage she’d gone into when facing Jaymz and the painful seizures when she thought of killing herself she didn’t feel like she had any control but for what she put in her body. She was trapped, hemmed in by terrible fates at all sides and it was all she had, all she had besides the plant he now cradled. Ransoming the one against the other.

She tried not to think of it as a mistake to tell him, she didn’t want it to be but it sure felt like one. She lifted her chin, in an approximation of a proud dedicated priestess but the gesture was made a lie by the despair on her face and the tears welling in her eyes.

“I have nothing else.”

[Lyzan]

"This is not what we agreed upon!" barked Redbeard, at least as loud as his hoarse voice could allow. "I wasn't informed that my men will have to deal with witchcraft! Even when you've requested for two of them, it's still an unfair match without proper equipment and preparation. You should have told me!" said the aged man.

"We need something new, something fresh for our customers!" snarled the man... or creature-in-charge rather. "But now you know.. There'll be matches where your men have to face one from this House, aside from dealing with those from another. We do need to warm them up otherwise, they'll rot in those cells.. You know I speak true, Redbeard!" exclaimed the Varoogla, surprisingly with a tongue and charisma of a merchant.

The arrival of the new shipment managed to make the old man turn around, his eyes widened at the sight of Onix. A disapproving look masked him then. Another human, in their ranks, Redbeard told himself. He then dropped his gaze to as if search the floor. Hoping to retrieve a fallen solution, a way out. Something to return the hope of his men, as well as to himself. Two of his finest warriors had fell. One instantly robbed of life while the other became a vegetable, lying in the personal healing chambers of the crone with a healing touch.

"Hand this one over to me..." said Redbeard finally.

"You realized she is only here because of that craft!"

"I know.. And having one who's capable of wielding it in the team should be of help to my men.. Besides..." he almost hesitated, fearing that he couldn't live to the promise he's about to make. "..they might provide a spectacular match against your men.. A good warm up training, I'd say.."

A long moment of silence before the Varoogla nodded to those holding on to Onix's chains, keeping her in between them and in control. "Very well, but she'll be walking around in your yard wearing the collar of seal.

Those in front of the line were utterly dumb-founded then, stunned for a moment before looks were exchanged between themselves. Whispers soon reached to the ears of Asad near the end. A child seemed to be in charge. To be more accurate, a crippled child. But they sensed no hostility from the boy. In fact, his stuttering words were mingled with a tone of sadness, croaking with sympathy along with a hint of nervousness.

"This your sword.. and this your shield.." he finally handed a weapon -with trembling hands- to Asad before handing a rounded shield to the very man who'd exchanged words with the man of olive skin.

With the eyes of the vile warden burning onto his every actions, Pot was lost for words to give as he unshackled them. An advice, he thought of sharing. But he hesitated. Realizing how unworthy he was to say the exact same words he'd heard Redbeard uttered for countless of times. The what might be a spirit rising statements, a morale booster; might just start tickling these men's sides, probably killing them outright as they laughed. At least that's a sight worth watching compared to the death he'd grown immune to within the belly of the arena behind him. So in the end, he remained silent. His concentration mainly on the bolt he'd got to knock in order to chain the pair together, limiting the movements of a fighter to that of another. Asad's left wrist to the other man's right.

Fight and live so you can die in a better place...

The boy inwardly said. Eyes holding briefly on each of their faces, hoping to see that familiar glow. Wishing to see another Jaymz, another Saidah. But Pot feared his own inner voice when the reply came negative. He eyed Asad's back as the man headed for the gate with the man beside him.

The collar dangled at the end of a long pole, appearing to look like a noose from afar. To be in Onix's position, it might as well be at the end of a noose. Hung for as long as she's here on the island until death finally freed it off her. Taut were the chains as they were being pulled, securing the planks in it's place, holding Onix in place as well before they lowered it down over her head and then pulling it to secure the collar around her neck. The pole still attached, pressing uncomfortably over the spine, threatening to snap them with a single thrust or choke her to death in a sharp tug. Once the collar got on, the others approached her from the back and released the planks.

"Take her away.." waved the slave master to Redbeard. "..but I want her to undergo the requirement stage like the rest!"

"There's another thing.."

"What?"

"Allow my men to pay those in the cells a visit.. Give them a chance to learn something else aside from this one.." said Redbeard calmly, controlling his voice as best as he could so that his motives could escape from being noticed.

"No! Things might went out of hand with the lot.."

"What are the chances of the captives you possess teaching the humans?"

A moment to think, the Varoogla took, knowing that it would be unlikely. "Alright, but just one at mid-afternoon everyday... Anyone else found sneaking in aside from the time, I'll hold you responsible.."

"Thank you!" said Redbeard before he bowed slightly and then turned around to face Onix.

He'd kept a straight face at the way she'd protested, delighted that his instincts to get her on his team was right. From the corner of his eyes though, he can't help but noticed another interesting captive. One of their own kind, he asked. But why? And he'd hoped that what he'd planned will provide him with answers. Redbeard recalled another human-like figure -Zorteus- during his way here as well. So if the window he'd been granted with, to have his men mingle around with those caged, he might gain favors from the inside. More troops for him. Higher chance of achieving what he'd yearned for.