Whoosh…
A draft drifts through the dark, maze-like, crypt as it picks up dry sand and carrie's it across and into a particular cell.
Actually, this part of the crypt was filled with blackened cells that are separated from the world by viciously spiked bars…
MOST of them were vacant.
ACHOO!
"Ugh." Ran felt really bad at the moment after sand infiltrated his nostrils; after the sneeze, it was like his eyes were going to pop out of his skull and his brain was being squeezed through the holes.
After being awoken by those wretched sand particles, his eyes remained unfocused and his vision was obscured by blood, giving everything a red tint.
Yes, weirdly enough, even though the lackeys had indeed healed him, his eyes remained bloodshot and the f**king migraine still plagued his head. He didn't know why it didn't heal it, but something else was healed.
His peripheral vision caught that his torn fingers had regained their fingernails and he was ecstatic that he could still get a full manicure from Ann once he got back.
Well, it took two whole minutes for that thought to fully realize in his head, though he failed to realize more underlying issues.
Like, why does he have such a bad migraine? Well you readers probably already guessed it; his soul heart was gone and somehow, he was still alive, I'll give you that one for free.
But how is he still alive? That is the real question.
However, while he was ruminating what color and style he wanted his nails done in, a low growl suddenly echoed from nearby and shook the sandstone, causing parts of it to crumble.
"Hey you, you're finally awake. Walked right into their ambush, same as us, right?"
After the growl ended, a surprisingly deep voice spoke directly towards Ran. It seemed to have been awoken by Rans sneeze.
Everytime he uttered a single word, a growl-like guttural sound resonated with his words.
"N-not… exactly."
Oh my god! Did he just respond!? He can do that now? Wait, let me check my notes. Hmm, okay, it says that apparently after a whole day of losing his heart, he's slowly adapting to it as his concentration increases in intensity because of over stimulation.
Well… that sounds like a bunch of bulls**t to me, but let's just roll with it. Plus, I need the answer for another chapter.
Anyways, after hearing this voice, and it being a young man, the person that was presumably nearby was surprised.
"A young man," he thought. "He doesn't seem to be one of us, so why would they capture this-" he paused his own thoughts as he came to a startling conclusion.
"Is this fella human? Why would they capture a human? Wait, then that leaves us with… f**k!"
His mind went absolutely bonkers at his current train of thoughts.
He cleared his throat harshly before speaking:
"Are you perhaps… Torians son?"
Buzz!
That was the sound his head made when he heard such words spilling from the other parties' mouth.
Just the mere thought of that person's name had brought such a huge shock that his mind became clear momentarily.
"Who-" he was just about to ask who was speaking, because of course you would when someone mentions your father's name, when that person cut him off.
"Sigh, so it's true. The GREAT Holy City State has indeed fallen!"
"BY THE WILL, PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOULS FOR A TERRIBLE CURSE WILL RAIN UPON US: DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ONCE AGAIN!!!"
The man spoke almost incoherently as the words spouted and spouted out of his mouth like a waterfall, his spit flying all over the place. Mixed in were what was seemingly sobs, though they were drowned out by the gatling gun-like flabber of the lips.
What's even more saddening was the peculiar guttural sounds that he made when he talked, so it appeared that he was balling his eyes out until his throat went raw.
Yet, the more the man spoke, the stranger the feeling Ran got from him.
It was like he had heard this (not the words, but the sounds) before, it was on the tip of his tongue, yet he could only wait for it to roll off.
And while he waited, the not so quiet sobs became clear as the man had stopped speaking.
However, the words that came out of Rans mouth the next moment surprised him even more than the words that the man had screamed all the way to high heaven.
"A… lion?"
The man had heard Rans question and smiled sadly.
"Ah, yes, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself: my name is Pridicus Prestigious XCI (the ninety-first)."
As he spoke, from Rans vision, what appeared to be thick, anthropomorphized, lion hands grabbed a hold of the spikey bars from the cell in the next room.
While Ran was at the end of this cell, the lion arm was big enough to catch it gesturing for Ran to come closer.
While Ran was still slowly reeling in from the fact that the man beside him was a lion, he still decided to entertain this Pridicus.
More than that, there was this bitter-sweet taste in his mouth ever since he heard this lion speak, like the words he spoke had permeated into his being and imbued him with an unnatural sense of burden.
Pridicus, as well, was patient as he heard Ran scoot his metal chair for a full half-hour, the sound of scraping of the chair against the sand grating against his ears.
After Ran reached the bars of the cell, he panted like crazy for a minute to catch his breath; the chair and chains had sapped all of his strength.
On the other side, Pridicus took the stopping of scraping as cue and razor-sharp claws protruded from his paws.
Then, with a toothy grin, he grabbed the birdcage trapping his head, and that luscious mane, with his hands and ripped it apart like a piece of paper!
The runes on the metal flashed briefly before the spell broke and the runes disappeared.
He grabbed the mangled pieces before he forced everything together again, and pressured the metal into appearing what appears to be a ball.
The strength of his bulky arms completely overwhelmed the metal and soon, it was squished into a perfect sphere with no seams or crevices.
Hmm, but something's missing. Ah right.
Pridicus then took his razor-sharp claw and sliced the sphere in half. Afterwards, he gave both sides a nice buffer with his fur and now he has two mirror-like objects that reflect objects perfectly.
He took one mirror and extended it beyond the bars, intending to get a good look at the young man just next to him in the other room.
And once he got a look, he was completely hooked.
"Ah… truly beautiful. You're even more beautiful than I had anticipated!"
As he spoke, his voice became slightly high-pitched like he was excited. And what he said wasn't said weirdly; it was said in its purest sense… adoration.
"As expected of our young Guardian - Torian, that ba***rd never told me what wonderful kid you are."
When speaking, we would directly look into Rans eyes, as if he was peering straight into his soul, which (sort of, but not really) explains the weirdly off-putting things he's saying.
But after this point was when things really got weird.
After passing the other half of the sphere to Ran via "bouncing" it off the wall, Pridicus got on his knees…
And prostrated to Ran. His previously clear eyes were caught off guard by the sudden influx of tears covering his vision while his nose started leaking non-stop.
"By the Will, please forgive this bad kitty for his sins… my forefathers have abandoned this world and left behind a travesty and now… now-"
"Sir!" Ran tried to cut him off, he saw how much pain this cat was in and it hurt him too to witness something like this happen to a newly gained friend. Unfortunately, it seemed Pridicus had already planned to do this for a long time already.
He ended up reciting what was basically a manifesto/confession (of epic proportions) for a whole hour! A lot of it was mumbling or straight sobbing, but the horrific story in between painted a picture of a multi-millenia tragedy of sacrifice and shame.
By the end of it, not only Pridicus, but even Ran was crying. He was just too emotional! Seeing this, Pridicus smiled with a tinge of grief mixed in.
"As expected of our Guardian, the prophecy will be completed and dark days are upon us."
"Sir, a p-prophecy? Dark days?"
Currently, three question marks floated above Rans head - okay not really, but he was perplexed nonetheless.
"Sir? How old do you think I am!?"
Pridicus stumbled backwards a little as he grasped his chest with his beefy hand.
How dare you call me sir!? I'm only forty-six this year!
"Call me Brother Pride, hmph." He held his head up high as his nostrils blew steam with a snort. He was filled with pride indeed.
"But seriously, that Torian sure is stubborn. Does he plan to handle everything himself? Speaking of which, where is that ba***rd?"
"He… I-I don't know. When we got invaded, I escaped with my friend, but he was in the vicinity at the time."
Ran spilled him some tea and Pridicus was silent. At the end he just smiled and explained his thoughts.
"Haha, I knew it! That tiny man must've slipped away. This is great, fate has not looked down upon us just yet."
He spoke with much excitement in his voice, but once he was done, his tone became serious again.
"Young Guardian, you must listen to me very (very) carefully."
Ran: "..."
He nodded. While he doesnt know the relationship between Brother Pride and his father, he seems trustworthy enough.
"NEVER, ever, go looking for your father. Don't go looking for anyone! The farther you stay away from all this, the better the chance you have to return it all in the future."
He gave Ran a second to take it all in before continuing, "Torian must be on the run right now, he must be being chased by whoever made him run."
"Made him run?" Ran was confused. The image of his father appeared in his head.
He was an unstable and stubborn man who was both loving and indifferent. He treated Ran much better than his mother ever did (like a lot better), even though he was so… weird.
In fact, slowly looking back at it, his father sort of reminded him of himself, at least his own perception of himself.
It was like whenever he saw Ran, an internal battle would wage in his head, leading to two outcomes.
One. He would act normally, a loving father who viewed his offspring as the most precious treasure in the world.
Or two. This one was a lot like his mother; he would be aloof, indifferent and cold towards Ran.
And unfortunately, Ran was quite unstable himself as a child, much more erratic than his current (more stable) self. Such strange and unnatural behaviors would seemingly set a fire in Torians eyes and he would often leave Ran by himself in his room, not wanting to even look at him.
His mother, too, often acted in such a way, but much more openly. Rather than rage and frustration that would consume his father, disgust was the primary emotion his mother displayed to him.
It really wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she doesn't view him as her son, but rather a monster.
And as for his father's strength, he actually never thought too deeply into that. From what he had seen, his father would be similar in power to Aaron. Though what Brother Pride just said made Ran rethink all of that.
Ran continued towards this spiral of ever-consuming thoughts until Brother Pride cut him off.
"Oi! Pay attention. Your father isn't as weak as he might seem, and the people after him must be even stronger. Heck, I guess, now, I know that more than anyone."
He couldn't help but cast his gaze upwards, seemingly past all the sandy walls and towards whatever laid above.
They continued their conversation, but crazily enough, Pridicus did not reveal much more. He said something about not knowing anything is going to increase his chance of leaving here alive.
He gestured with one finger to his ear; Ran interpreted that as "there are listeners hearing us", which was pretty obvious. Well, he pretty much hit the nail on the head, of course people were listening. They wouldn't just leave two seemingly connected people together… would they?
So their talks did not contain anything about the curse, prophecy, dark days… guardians or anything else. Actually, much of the time they were complimenting each other's lusciously exquisite hair.
They continued for a while until several guards marched into his cell and carried him off for the next session.