The capital of the Empire, Drose, was a beautiful, bright, bustling city, but with a horrible dark side.
The justice system was anything but just, and worse of all, among the prisons, one was not like the others. The dungeon had a terrible reputation and a na that brought goosebumps to those who heard it. Howling Abyss is what they called it. Or just Abyss for short, as those that went in, never ca back out.
A slight exaggeration, of course, but the legends weren't far from the truth. However, the Howling Abyss wasn't for the common criminals, thieves, pickpockets, and such. No, the dungeon was for political enemies and those found conspiring against the Emperor.
Rebels, deserters, and similar folk also made their ho inside, never to see the light of day again. Only their screams could sotis be heard during a quiet night as they were used for hard labor, perverted pleasures of the guards, sickening alchemical experints, or straight-up torture.
The building itself didn't look like much on the surface. The yard around the entrance was covered with a layer of gravel and surrounded by a three-ter tall circular wall with guards constantly patrolling on and below it. The guardhouse was a galithic stone structure that stored only the most important of docunts as well as the record of every prisoner currently inside.
And those papers had to be updated weekly, despite rarely anyone entering, and nobody leaving.
The guardhouse served just as an entrance into the underground, which is where the holding cells and the rest of the dungeon actually laid. With a single point of entry through the guardhouse and guard quarters, escape was practically impossible.
For added safety, a straight shaft went from the guard's chambers many ters underground, all the way up to the surface from where all the provisions were lowered.
The well-like structure was three less than one ter wide and had a completely smooth surface, making any attempts at climbing out quite difficult if not impossible to pull off. A tal grate was also added on top for a good asure, and, of course, it could be only opened from the outside, and required two people coordinating to do so.
Not to ntion that the first layer of the dungeon was devoid of any convicts and served more as a storage, research, and torture area. The various rooms branched off the main path, however that one long corridor was the only way in and out of the bottom layers, aning that anyone escaping would basically have to kill many dozens of guards before even having a chance at tasting freedom.
Many heavy steel doors separated sections of the corridor and had arrow slits through which the inmates could be shot if they tried anything funny.
And even if sohow, soone managed to go through all that, there were a hundred or so guards waiting for them on the surface, with the reinforcents of thousands of city soldiers ready to help squash the rebellion.
There was an attempt at breaching the dungeon walls. It happened decades ago before the current Emperor even took the throne. Sohow the entire population of the prisoners escaped their restraints at the sa ti and forced their way through to the surface by sheer force of will.
What waited for them there was a rain of arrows and magic, turning the desperate n into a puddle of blood and guts. The leader and the mastermind behind the attack, as well as his helpers trying to liberate the inmates, were later publicly flayed to serve as a warning to others.
Since then, no attempts of attack or escape involving the Howling Abyss were ever made, and it beca widely accepted that, once you entered past those heavy tal doors, and unless otherwise specified by the Emperor himself, you would et your end there, in the darkness.
***
The second and third floors of the Howling Abyss were much different. There, prison cells and torture chambers were carved into the solid black rock, with tal doors and steel prison bars keeping the guests there nice and cozy.
And rather than one straight line like the floor above, the dungeon here branched out like a web, spreading out in all directions and forming a maze to befuddle and confuse any unwanted guests. Not that there were any.
Everybody was welco to enter the Howling Abyss, but few had the privilege to exit.
***
Murik Woods was one of those people that were more than welco in this place.
Since his childhood, he dread of joining the army and serving the Empire. And when he reached the youthful age of 16, his dreams ca true. His father, a small-ti soldier in the army, put in a good word with his superiors, which helped Murik get accepted as a recruit.
The following five years were spent away from ho, training to be a soldier. Despite the grueling, back-breaking exercise, he was happy. His strength increased, his body developed, he found himself a girl among the dical staff which he often had to visit, and made friends among his comrades.
Life was good! Extrely hard and painful, but good! Everything was so simple back then. Even if he got injured, broke his bones, dislocated a jaw, or lacerated his flesh, they would put him back together and he would be as good as new! Well, almost. The scars still remained, but they were a reminder of good tis.
Murik Woods sighed. The scars he was seeing now were a painful reminder of what could have been if he had chosen a different path. Now he was in shackles, chained to a wall of cracked black stone sowhere deep, deep underground.
Traitor of the Empire they called him. A deserter, others said. He didn't even say goodbye to his family before they locked him into this shithole and tossed away the key. taphorically speaking, of course.
It would be nice if they really tossed away the key, at least then he wouldn't get tortured anymore. That was the worst part of this place. Mindless torture, inflicting pain for its own sake. They didn't even do it to prove a point or to extract information! These sick bastards did it just because they were bored.
Or so, he preferred not to think about them, had disgustingly twisted fantasies that involved torture, screaming, and blood. Lots and lots of it.
Fucking perverts! Murik wished for nothing else but to have the opportunity to rip out their throat. If he just had soone to help him fight, they could surely overpower one of the guards at least! However, those wishes were nothing but re fantasy.
People locked in here had long lost any will to fight, so even their will to live. Like his cellmate, for example. The man ca in beaten and was roughly chained to a wall, but back then he still had that spark in his eyes, that burning fla of hatred and anger.
And as Murik Woods watched it diminish day by day until it was eventually snuffed out, he felt a different type of pain in his heart. A pain that ca with acceptance.
So people would scream, cuss, and shout for hours, so would last longer, even days There was one that kept going on, screaming, thrashing around, and cursing for weeks, but eventually, they all turned quiet.
It would always start the sa. Loud at first, be it sobbing or screaming, but eventually, they all ended the sa, mute voices, empty eyes, and absolutely no will to live. Living corpses, just waiting to die.
And imagine his surprise when there ca one that broke all norms of the dungeon.
The first thing he noticed was that, instead of the prisoners' tattered clothes, this guy was practically naked. He was also missing a hand, possibly an old wound, but not necessarily since he was bleeding all over, and he had three Void Cuffs! Yes, three instead of just one like every other prisoner!
Just one would drain all your Mana in less than a minute, now imagine having three!
Murik had to rub his eyes to confirm they weren't playing tricks on him in the dim light of an Earthen Blood lamp. They were not, he saw it all correctly. And while he had more than a ter long chains, allowing him to sit, the man was basically locked onto the wall. With even a tal ring around his neck!
He would have felt pity for him if it wasn't for the way the newcor reacted.
As soon as the guards bringing him down here left, he gave a sigh of relief, mumbled sothing, leaned his head to one side, and died!
Oh, wait, no He just fell asleep. In that uncomfortable position Must have been really tired, especially since the entire ti, he didn't say a peep.
So imagine Murik's surprise when he saw what happened the following day...
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