'Elliot.' That voice was the same one he had heard in his dream and before they left the kingdom. Moving wasn't possible, just like the last time he was here and darkness ade seeing were useless to him. Yet the hands slithering around him, embracing him in a calming, warmth that he moaned.
"A-am I dead?" Elliot asked, hoping he wasn't and ready to hear that she was the reaper, taking him to the Eather since the All-Father wouldn't want him for defying him.
'No, not yet.' The whisper in his ear lifted his spirit for the time being and yet, the clear image of the beating he had gotten from Bradly reared up and the voice seem to have read his mind, 'As for your fate, this is the crossroad that will decide if you simply die a tractor in the eyes of the world and become its ruiner.'
"Ruiner?" Elliot repeated the last word, rolling it over in his tongue and wondering what it could mean by that. "What do you mean, ruined?"
'And answer you get only if you accept that fate.' The voice whispered yet again, 'Just say my name and I will know you excepted it, and then show you the truth of this world.'
"Truth?" Elliot repeated the last word, but another question was gaining power in his mind, "What's your name?"
"Shut Up You!" A new voice shouted and a splash of water shocked Elliot awake, every bit of main from his beating rushed back to him and a groan escaped him. His one good was still swollen, but he could see the guard standing by the dungeon door looking at him with an empty pot. Figuring what it was, the odor of rotten piss filled his nostrils and seeped into his clothes, "You don't need to know my name, the executioner has arrived and he' was asked to make his axe as dull as possible."
"Executioner?" Elliot mumbled the words, the fact he was in this dungeon and is slated for execution meant the party most likely had already left to go where ever they need to go next.
"Yeah, do you think The Baren was going to let you live after being a Goblin lover who tried to sneak attack the party in an ambush?" Guard barked and Elliot mulled over what he had heard from him, thinking over that was the lie they were spreading and Baran Keive taking it was clear that all he wanted was to have a reason to blame someone else. Elliot should be upset, healing he was going to be executed for no reason, but only laughed at the whole thing.
"D-damn, I should have seen that coming," Elliot said, struggling to speak with many of his teeth missing from the beating and the guard slamming his fist made Elliot's laugh cut out.
"Shut your mouth or else." The guard said glaring.
"Or what, any more beating you give me will most likely kill me, and the baren wouldn't be too happy about that." The guard growl told Elliot he was right, but the smirk appearing after said he had another thought.
"What if I tell you about your friend you were friendly with, what was her name?" The guard's lecherous stare made Elliot sink at the thought of what could have happened after he was out.
"L-Levi." Elliot's one good eye meets the guard's, the same sickening grin that Baren has made Elliot's blood boil.
"Oh, after we find out she was your girl and as a sorry, Bradly let each of us take a turn at her." Elliot's one good eye burned like a fire and the clanging of his chains made him unable to do anything other than glare at the grinning guard, "Yeah, but they took he with them after with a collar around her neck, saying they needed her to listen for the mission or something like that."
"Vlex...." Elliot mumbled thinking over what the collar did to him and the thought of Levi, one forced to watch his assault, and what they will make her do after siding for him.
"Yeah, that elf was preaching she needed to pay for her sins." The guard's grin sickened Elliot more the longer he looked at him and the memory of what her face on the wall said she wasn't onboard for what the others did, "I honestly wish they would have let us keep her, she was great and knowing it would hurt a traitor made it feel even better."
"Shut up." Elliot said his eye looking at the guard, "A single word on and I will make you pay." His words flew from, like when he stood to bradly, and yet spite was filled with them. The guard looked and laughed, why wouldn't he with Elliot stuck in chains, beaten, near death, and unarmed?
"You really think you're big and bad huh?" The guard reached for his keys and placed it in the lock, "I'll show you place traitor."
"Haul." A voice cut through and the guard turned to look at the one who had just walked. He was wearing the same armor, but the firm crest on his breastplate showed he was the captain.
"Captain, Grant, I was just about to check the prisoner's wounds," The guard lied, "wouldn't want him to die before the execution tomorrow."
"Right, but you don't have any healing supplies or a healer with you." Grant said coldly to the guard who gulped, "I want to talk to him, so head on and get a healer to make sure you can keep him alive for the Baren." The guard saluted and left the two be, yet the side glance he gave Elliot said he wasn't left off the hook. Elliot finally got a glance at Captain Grant. A middle-aged man with steaks of grey shooting through his black hair and beard placed firmly on his olive skin. He was built just like Bradly and Grant's great eyes stared at the beaten man before him.
"I was told them to wake you up and get you ready to talk." Grant spoke with a calming, yet firm tone that reminded Elliot of his teacher.
"What's there to talk about?" Elliot said, the struggle to speak slowly receding, "I'm to meet the executioners' axe on the marrow and that will be the end to the goblin helper." Elliot sounded bitter to his tone and the Captain simply smiled at him.
"I get that, but your words are needed for the archives."Captain Grant said unlocking the cell and stepping towards Elliot with a look of wonder painted on his face, "And say it's the old fool I have become but I want to hear your side of the story."
"My side?" Elliot said looking up at him and a slight chuckle escaped his busted lips, "My side is that of a heretic, traitor, and a dead man. History will not know me as anything more, even if you learn the truth they will snuff you out before your words can reach anyone who would listen." Captain Grant stares back at him, his eyes looking at Elliot defeated and slowly he walked to him.
"I see, she was wrong to show you." Captain Grant stared down at Elliot, "She should have thought better than picking one who would give in so easily."
"Y-you mean the old lady?" Elliot asked looking at him and he shook his head.
"You should know her name, since you are needed to keep the Great Raising from happening." 'He knew' Elliot thought looking up at the captain and seeing him leave the cell while turning back to look at him, "Decide what you want to do." Grant turned to see the guard was back with the healer, "I got his side for the archive, lock up after you're done, and then we can tell the Baren that he's good for execution." The guard saluted with him as the healer walked into the room, kneeling before Elliot, and slowly got to work on patching him up with the guard staring down with disgust. But to Elliot, he could have had hundreds in the cell with him and he wouldn't have paid them any mind for Grant's words were clearer than the water the healer was muddying with the removing of the blood he was covered in. Soon, all his injuries were checked and the healer said he was fine for the axe tomorrow.
"You hear that, your date won't be postponed," The guard mocked locking the door and leaving Elliot to his thoughts, hoping it will break him that his life was nearing its end before long. Time dragged on with each and every moment as Elliot thought over everything he knew about the party, this Great Raising that he was meant to stop, and what name did the voice want him to speak. Soon, it wall washed away to rest and the voice didn't come to him, seemingly having told him what he needed to know about what to do. The clanging of his cell stirred him and he looked up with his only eye to see the guard from before with another guard shackles in hand.
"Stand." The guard with the shackles clang them and Elliot used his arms to stand with the original guard unlocking him.
"Try anything and you'll regret it." The original guard with his normal spite and Elliot just stared at him while the new shackles were attached to his wrists. Once that was done, the two guards lead Elliot out of the cell, his body weak with each step having had little to no food for however long he had been there and the clanging of the chain around his feet gave Elliot a better feel of how the treated him for moving his feet was not something he had done. The guards pushed him along the hall and up a flight of stairs, each step shooting pain throughout his body since he wasn't really healed the other day. His good eye shut when the sun came into view and he was pushed along with the sound of a large crowd, their jeers by the citizens of Keisham. He was hit by bottles, fruit, and other things as other guards kept them from rushing him in his walk to the center stage. Elliot didn't even notice them or anything other than the brightness of the morning sun, all his energy other than walking was focused on one thing, that name.
'What name could they want me to say?' Elliot thought so deep in thinking that he didn't notice the steps and his fact met them.
"Hey, get up you." The guard said pulling him to his feet and pushing him up the small set of steps to see Baren Keive once again since the diner before the raid on the Goblin Village.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome!" Baren Keive spoke to the crowd, paying Elliot no mind, the young ladies in chains still in hand and yet he was the monster they wanted dead, what a joke was Elliot thoughts, "I give you the execution of the man who orchestrated all of the Goblin attacks that had been making us all suffer so much." They rowed over the clear lie and Elliot was hit again with all manner of things while their Baren showed off his slaves like it was normal.
"Move." The guard said pushing Elliot forward and a kick to his knee made him place it head the chopping block, the executioner standing their hood over their face and axe clearly as dull as possible. They wanted Elliot to suffer and the healer from the other day stood next to the Baren, preaching the All-Father praises as was normal for executions. Elliot couldn't really hear his words over the crowd, but lightning struck in his mind with something Vlex told him and he looked up to the clouds starting to cover the sky. The healer finished his words and the Baren turned to look at Elliot, his sickening grin still on his face and it sparked Elliot to try it, what could he lose by saying it?
"Any last words traitor?" Baren Keive said with the execution lifting up his axe over his head. Elliot stared him in the eye and said a single word.
"Nymix!"