Rin and Canin sat in the depths of the castle prison, both chained. They appeared weary and tired having been given little food and water to drink. The castle prisons were damp and frigid, and the hard stone floor felt unforgiving. It was no place to be sitting for hours on end. The straw beds were not much comfort either, but a bed was better than none.
Rin huddled in a corner with his knees close to his chest. The shackles he wore proved heavy on his wrists and ankles. He clawed at them with his fingers wishing to be free of his restraints but lacked the energy to attempt to escape. His head turned toward the window high above him where he could see the night sky through iron bars. He couldn't see much of anything else besides the waning moon smiling a taunting grin as a crescent in the night sky. Light clouds smothered the stars, giving only windows to view them twinkling in the heavens.
The sound of other moving chains startled him and his gaze dropped to the cell next to him where Canin turned over in his sleep. Rin watched him for a moment, the content expression on the lycan's face only faltering for a second as he snarled in his dream. Rin wondered what he might be dreaming about. Rin had gotten no sleep for a week and wondered if it might be due to being turned into a vampire. He was told by Nimer the undead do not rest, if at all. Still coming to grips with being undead in the first place, he had time to think now about what he wanted to do about his new transformation.
Canin had already told him that the moment he fed on human blood, the change would be permanent and he could never go back. But to his knowledge, there was no real cure for vampirism, especially being turned by a pure blood's blood. A heavy rock sat in his stomach. No matter what he ate or how much, nothing satisfied the hunger he felt. Even the smallest scrape would make his mouth water and he'd drool in hopes to feed. He knew this was due to being changed into an undead monster.
Rin placed a slender hand on the bars of his hold, feeling their cool, rough surface. He slowly hoisted himself up and onto his feet. His chains slid across the floor, being just long enough to allow him to move freely throughout the cell. From his spot, he could see guards sitting at their posts near the front of the prison. With their heads bowed and arms crossed across their chests, they seemed to be sleeping, or so Rin thought.
"If they aren't going to take this job seriously, I much rather try and get out of here," Rin thought to himself. Rin shifted closer, reaching a hand through the bars, shaking the wolf's shoulder.
With a harsh snort, the wolf opened his amber eyes and rolled toward Rin, his chains clinking together like small bells as he did. He squinted and a frown hung heavy on his lips and jutted jaw.
"What do you want, Rin?" he muttered sleepily.
"I want to get out of here," Rin whispered harshly.
"Don't we all?" Canin said with a wide yawn. His long dog-like tongue curled in his mouth and he sat up.
"The guards are asleep," Rin said lowly, pointing at the lazy, sleeping men down the hall.
Canin lightly sniffed the air, his nose wiggling. "I can smell their tired breath from here. Unfortunately, I don't think that we are going anywhere for the time being."
"And why is that?" Rin spat, irritated with that answer.
"We are in these chains because of the Ravathor cult. They want to awaken you, and the moment you are let out, that's exactly what they will do. I'm not going to let that happen to you, Rin," Canin answered. He brought his knees upward and rested his arms on them. "I have noticed this, though. An escape is highly possible. These chains are not made to mute our magical powers. I'm a lycan and you have vampire blood running through your veins. We could do it easily."
Rin squeezed his face between the bars, sticking his nose into Canin's side of the cells. "Then we should get out of here before they come looking for us or worse, awaken me," Rin bantered. "You just said that's what you're trying to prevent!"
Suddenly, the door at the end of the hall opened with a long loud creak and men filed into the prison cells. When Rin and Canin turned their heads to see who it might be, they recognized the man leading the brigade instantly as Zinlar. The elf's long purple cloak flared behind him. Shadows cast across his angled features and large nose and his eyes were a glowing deep purple. He eyed Rin and Canin, stopping in front of their cells. Zinlar raised his gloved hand toward the prison doors. They unlocked with a loud click.
"Oh good, both of you are awake at this hour," Zinlar said, his smile unusually cruel.
"What could you possibly want with us this early in the morning?" Canin grumbled, uninterested in any games while he was trying to sleep.
"The king and I have reached agreements regarding my vision for the kingdom," the elf returned. He waved his men into the cells. "You will be coming with us," he said, turning to Rin specifically. "You will go through the ritual tonight."
Rin spat bitterly, "I'd rather die in this cell. I never asked to awaken into your god."
Zinlar placed his hands behind his back. "If you don't cooperate and you try to escape, my men would simply hunt you down and kill you by driving a stake through your heart and burning your severed head. You will agree to become Ravathor's host because you were chosen as the Darkwell heir."
"I don't want any part in your games, Zinlar," Rin growled.
"You don't have a choice," Zinlar said cruelly. "Bring them both up to the throne room." he ordered. Chains were untethered from the wall and Rin and Canin were ushered from their holds, Zinlar's men yanking and pulling on their chains. They walked both of them down the hall and past the guards. Rin watched them, a hint of fear in his eyes. The guards sat lifeless with mortal wounds, something he did not see before.
They were dead.
The men jabbed them in the back and arms with long spears and daggers to get them to cooperate with them. Rin and Canin were led through the halls, only able to sneak glances out the large windows that lined them. Every guard they passed was slumped over, unconscious or dying from being stabbed. Soon, they burst through the dark doors into the vast hall they had been brought to before their imprisonment.
The king stood at the front, his gaze distant. Rin noticed an immediate difference in him. Where his round features and small tufts of curled blonde hair had stayed the same, his eyes now glowed a deep purple instead of blue. He held a much more solemn expression, one less naive than before.
Rin pulled harshly on the chains that bound him. "What is the meaning of this? Have you possessed the king??"
Zinlar strode up the stairs to the throne mounted the top of an elevated surface. He placed a hand on the king's shoulder. "His majesty has realized where the true power lies in this world, and that is with Ravathor himself." He leaned in close to the king's ear. "Shall we continue with the awakening?" he asked.
"Do as you wish, Zinlar. I would like to see what ability this Prana has," the king answered like an obedient puppet.
Zinlar mockingly bowed to the king. "As you wish, sire." His gaze turned to pure venom as his eyes pried right into Rin's. He withdrew the cross he had confiscated from him and held it up in his right hand. It swayed, the shards embedded in it glittering as he walked closer to Rin. Zinlar muttered words Rin did not recognize, each syllable straining and ringing through his ears like a thousand whispers.
"T'ak zaw mu ngi hab jek sdu silzwab okri, T'ak zaw mu ngi hab jek sdu silzwab okri," Zinlar began to repeat over and over again.
Rin could feel his heart thunder in his chest, sweat peeling from his pores and he fell to his knees hitting the rough red carpets of the floor screaming in agony. "What are you doing?!" he yelled.
Canin instantly tried pulling away from Zinlar's men. "Fight it, Rin!" he yelled. He pulled and pulled trying to get to his Rin till his hands turned red and purple from lack of circulation from the chains. It took several of the men to hold back the lycan, for his strength out weighed that of any human man alone.
Rin quaked, heaving hard breaths of air. His brown eyes bled over with an amethyst shade and the veins on his pale skin darkened to a deep shade of dark gray. He started to yell savagely, his body burning with a feverish glaze. Black raven wings suddenly sprouted from his shoulder blades and feathers exploded into the room.
"T'ak zaw mu ngi hab jek sdu silzwab okri, T'ak zaw mu ngi hab jek sdu silzwab okri!" Zinlar yowled.
"Rin!" Canin cried.
It was the last thing Rin heard before falling face first onto the floor with his last breath.