Captured

Nathan awakes moaning in pain. His entire body throbs and he feels an itching sensation across his skin. Opening his eyes, he finds himself in a dark room. The only light is from a small 2' x 3' rectangular window that has thick black iron bars running vertically, allowing maybe an arm's width of space between the bars.

He currently is sprawled out on a stone floor. Located in a corner adjacent to the window is a rickety-looking cot, directly across from the window is a thick door that is reinforced by iron plates running down the door.

'Last thing I remember is that fireball explosion and piercing pain. My health almost dropped to zero and my stamina did hit zero. I guess you pass out when your stamina depletes.'

Nathan pulls up his status. He is currently level 3, his MP is 36/36, and has 25/76 Life. Doing some napkin math in his head, he realizes he was unconscious for a couple of hours.

Sitting up, he feels his head rush and becomes dizzy, he catches himself as he almost falls to the floor. He casts [Flash Heal] on himself four times healing for 41 HP and his MP drops to 8. With his health now at 66, the pain subsides, and Nathan lets out a moan of ecstasy.

Looking over himself, he realizes his magical armor is no longer equipped and he has on his basic leather gear. Checking his inventory, he lets out a sigh of relief. He still has his Banesblade and all his magical equipment.

"I equipped you with your normal gear after the blast while you were unconscious, I saw a group of Aarogs gathering up survivors and did not want them stripping you of your belongings." The melodic voice of Scion is heard whispering in his ear.

A small smile of gratitude appears on Nathan's face.

"Thank you, it would have been unfortunate had I lost all my good gear. Do you know where we are?" Nathan whispers while attempting to talk without moving his lips. He worries there may be some type of surveillance since Scion hasn't shown herself, he errs on the side of caution.

"Currently, you're locked in the dungeons in Hammers Rise. It looks like the Legion has taken over the city and has been capturing people and bringing them here." Scion answers.

Happy to have Scion act as his eyes and ears, Nathan stands up and stretches. His joints pop and crack as he turns to check out the rest of his cell.

He walks over to the window and attempts to bend or break the bars from their position. They don't budge at all.

"Even with my strength, I can do nothing to these bars." Nathan curses the people who built the cells so sturdy.

Sitting on the cot, Nathan starts to contemplate what exactly he can do to get out of this predicament. He still has his sword and armor, but can he fight his way out of the dungeons and escape from the city?

Even with Scion acting as his eyes and ears, he does not feel he has enough information to plan an escape or the capability to fight his way to freedom.

While pondering his thoughts, Nathan's head jerks up. "Scion what happened to Victoria?" he asks.

"She was taken captive when you were. She must be somewhere in these cells. I didn't follow her or anyone else taken, I only care about you." Scion answers Nathan's inquiry.

Hearing her response, Nathan feels a moment of relief for Victoria and is touched by Scion caring for him. Feelings of gratitude fill him as he thinks about the steps and risks, she took by changing his gear and staying with him instead of leaving.

Sitting in silence, Nathan decides to do a better examination of the skill tree to figure out what he should spend his next point on. He knows he wants to have an offensive move considering how his last fight with the Undead played out.

'I should go for some type of attack that has either an area of effect or helps with my movement.' Nathan sits and ponders and as he thinks about different ideas, the skill tree rotates and shows what is available to him.

It seems like no matter what Nathan imagines; he can find a corresponding skill to go with it. The amount of customization leaves him in awe.

"Scion, I can become whatever type of warrior I can dream about through this skill tree," Nathan says as his voice trails off as he is lost in thought.

"The gift of my Lord is truly a magnificent opportunity. Many in the Legion would kill their entire clan for the gift you all were given. Magic and knowledge across the multiplanes are available for you to choose from," the smugness in Scion's voice can be heard as she talks to Nathan.

In his mind, Nathan continues to envision exactly how he would like to carry out combat. He enjoys the feeling of brutal strength while wielding a two-handed sword and wants to supplement that combat style with his next skill point.

Analyzing his fight with the Undead, Nathan plays out in his mind how amazing it would have been if he would have been able to teleport behind them with a thought finishing them off in one quick blow. It also would have avoided him getting surrounded.

The more he thinks about it, the more his eyes light up and his resolve to get this type of movement attack is cemented in his brain.

The skill tree rotates in his vision and zooms into his [Basic Footwork Mastery], a branch grows out of it and turns into a leaf. The leaf shows the skill [Void Step]. Reading the description of [Void Step] Nathan almost shouts out in glee as a blooming smile breaks out on his face.

'This is the move; with this, I can become ghostlike in combat!'

[Void Step], at the cost of 35% of total mana, step through the void and blink behind an enemy unleashing an attack with +75% weapon damage. As mastery increases in this skill, mana consumption will decrease, and the weapon damage bonus will increase.

As Nathan is reveling in his newfound skill, Scion's words interrupt him and bring him back down to reality.

"Mr. Emblem, the guards are on their way, it would be best if you pretend you are still severely hurt so they do not know you can heal yourself so quickly." Scion's warning tone brings a solemn look to Nathan's face.

As Nathan quickly sprawls out onto the ground, he closes his eyes and hears footsteps outside the door. Suddenly a loud "BANG!" is heard as the door is thrown open and slams against the wall.

Some steps are heard, and Nathan opens his eyes in a flash as he starts to splutter and cough. The Aarog dumped a bucket of water over his face. "Oh, the little maggot is now awake." A burly purple Aarog says in a disdainful sarcastic tone.

Not forgetting Scion's words even though fury flows through his veins, Nathan fakes moans of pain and rolls out of the puddle that is underneath him. He takes in the guard's appearance as he leans on his elbow looking up at him.

The Aarog is a dark purple and is well over six feet in height. His head almost reaches the ceiling of the cell. His face is twisted in a mocking grin, half of his appendages on the chin are missing. Through the leather battle vest, he is wearing, Nathan spots a massive scar going across his chest horizontally and biceps as if someone in the past attempted to cut this Aarog in half.

On his waste are two massive tomahawk axes that a normal human adult would use as a regular ax. In his hand is the bucket still dripping water. "I don't care if you're still in pain, it's time to get up and meet the Commander left in charge of this shithole. He'll be assigning you your task slave." The Aarog looks Nathan up and down as he frowns and snorts in disgust.

"You better hope you even get assigned a task or you'll be fed to the Razorspine's." He says with malicious intent.

The Aarog takes a step toward Nathan. Nathan gets up as quickly as he feels he should with his "injuries". "Cough – I can get up, I am ready to follow you," Nathan says with a raspy voice while holding his ribs.

The Aarog gives Nathan a twisted grin, "Looks like this little maggot has some brains. Hurry up and let's go, if you try anything I'll cut you down where you stand." He rubs his thumb over one of his ax blades while looking like he secretly wants Nathan to make a move to give him an excuse to use it.

The Aarog turns around and heads out the door beckoning Nathan to follow.

Nathan limps after him holding his ribs with his head down. On his face is a cold furious look.

'This allows me to get a lay of the dungeons to help plan my escape.' Nathan looks all over taking in every detail as he follows the Aarog to find out what his fate entails.