Seig
The atmosphere was full of this dreadful feeling I had never felt before. The look on all their faces gives me the idea that they all know a fate worse than death is coming for them all. I'm seated next to a very skinny dwarf with this glass look in his green eyes. His hair looks like it has more dirt than actual hair and he has been staring at this one brick with some moss on it. Is this what having no hope looks like? Is this what will happen to all of us if we stay here? Anger fills my heart as I feel resolve enter my body. No. I can't let this happen. I turned my head to look at the nearest guards to see two. It seems the redhead has left, and we are stuck with two white Dragonborns if they work like white dragons then they must have a frost breath. I see a set of keys on one of their belts.
Maybe I can work with this. I try to grab some dirt but can only find a little bit of rocks near me. Well seems magic will need to be the solution. I try to do it slowly enough not to get any of the guard's attention. I may have two ways of using this rock. I can try and rely on my terrible arm strength or turn it into dirt. I grab another handful of rocks and use my talent in transmutation. My hands shake and I remember what Jin would say when I get nervous. Rethink the facts, Seig. There are many schools of magic that a wizard can specialize in. The one I use is most famous for turning dirt into gold. My hands stop shaking and I whisper the spell to turn the rocks into dirt. So glad this is a simple spell.
Time to see if I can act to save my life. I start trying to fake a cough while I fall over. One of the others screams and I hear the heavy armor of the guards moving. I keep coughing to keep the act up. "What's going on?" "I don't know one of them just fell over and keeps coughing." "Shite. The boss said he needs all of them alive for the ritual. Go check up on him." I hear the door open, and I never have been so happy to hear rusty metal in my life. Screams follow and I can see out of the corner of my eye his big scaly foot. Now or never. I quickly shoot up and throw the dirt into his eyes while I make my now free hand have lightning dance in it. I grab his head and use as much magic as I can to fry his brain. A scream fills the room and I think I just killed him. The other guard quickly charges me. He gets close and I throw my dirt in his eyes while he thrust his spear at my body. I grab his face as well and do the same.
Ringing fills my head again and I look down to the two dead guards near me. I feel my lungs get heavy as I see that I'm bleeding from a cut to my left side. Fuck he got me. Before I know it my body acts on its own as I grab the keys from one of the guards to set us all free. As I do this the pain becomes more intense in my side. After they all are free, I ask, "I'd hate to ask but does anyone know where the exit is."
It stays quiet for a bit before I see an elf woman raise her hand and say, "Yeah I think I do." I feel like I need to say something to them, and the words come out of my mouth before I can think about what to say "Look I am going to be honest with you guys I did not plan this far ahead. I'm sorry but I'm no fighter so I'll have to ask for some of your help in keeping us alive. I'm just an idiot who got lucky and not some secret badass that they took. The only way I can see us leaving here alive is by working together." They nod and two of the now-freed prisoners grab the guards' weapons. Let's hope this works Seig.
*****
Jin
The nose of the snow crunching under our feet fills the silence since I joined these two to save Seig. The man with the sword is following some tracks we found earlier. I may have this power back but it's still weak and not enough to save Seig, from one of those dragon's soldiers. Please if any god is listening, I know I don't deserve any of your favors, but he needs all of your help. As I keep walking the one in white robes walks to me and says "Your friend will be okay. If it gives you any comfort, I am a cleric." My eyes go wide at this information. So, a woman that serves a god is here. I have heard of them before. They are people who try to embody the aspects of their god. An example of the one I saw when I was a kid was a cleric to some god of war. He was the heavy armored man who looked more like a man of battle than one belonging to a clergy.
Wait, I should keep the origin of my powers a secret for now. I tell the faithful woman "Thank you for your kindness but I would like to stay focused on the task first." My eyes land on the other one. "My name is Glenda. My companion is Cogan." I nod and say, "I'm Jin." As I watch Cogan, I start seeing the end of the forest and a big building made of stone. Cogan stops and turns to us.
"So, it seems the tracks lead to that building. I can't see much of it here but it's safe to assume they have it well guarded here." I nod and Glenda says, "I have a spell I can cast that might help us get in quietly." Hell yes. Cogan asks, "How come you never used it when I wanted to sneak into places?" Glenda snorts and says, "I'm not going to use the power of Sylvannas to help you sneak in to meet your gentleman of the night Cogan." Ok. Glenda then starts speaking some nonsense that I have heard when Seig does magic. After she is done a bit of light washes over the three of us. I feel a lot lighter in my step and I can sneak better than I could. So, this is the power of a cleric.
Cogan says "Alright I'll go ahead to try and find some less guarded entrance. You two stay here." I really don't like that guy. I watch him sneak off and I don't know what to do now. After a minute I start pacing back and forth in the snow. Glenda says while I do this "If it will help get your mind off of what is happening you can tell me about your friend" Sigh. I am causing a massive line in the snow. I turn to Glenda and say "His name is Seig. I've known him for about a year now." I sit down in the snow as my mind starts to worry about what Seig is going through. When all this chromatic and metallic dragon hate started, I heard some rumors about what happens to those that they take.
"How did the two of you meet?" My thoughts are but to a halt as I hear her say this. Crap I must have shown my worry on my face. "Well I'm not ashamed to admit I was once a thief. About more than a year ago I was living in Yuale." "Oh you're from Balduin's Throat. Should have guessed since you have a hint of an accent not native to Bin." I nod and continue "Yeah. Well I wanted to stop being a thief and had enough money to make a life somewhere else. I ended up here. When I got here it was shortly after the Metals destroyed the city of Ferroneous there were a lot of people scattered. Well the place I ended up in got Seig. He was just this guy that wandered into the village looking like he was on death's door. They found him shortly before I got there. No one had enough medical supplies to help with all his wounds. I thankfully am an over-packer and had some on me."
That was so long now. It's odd thinking back before I meet that idiot. "It took a few days but he woke up and couldn't remember anything about himself." "He has amnesia?" "Yeah even to this day he has no idea who he was before coming to the village. Heck we don't even know if Seig is his name or not. After all of that I decided to take him in. Don't know why I decided to care for him. Maybe I did it out of pity or a way for me to have a proper second start at life."
I take a breath of the cold air. Seems she calmed my mind a bit. Glenda asks "Did you ever try and see if a cleric could see if they could bring back his memories?" I shake my head as I say "No dice. A few days after I got here the Kings knights got here searching for any survivors. They had a few Paladins. They tried to use their healing magic on Seig but it didn't work. They told me his mind was forced to protect itself from some trauma. The issue was that if forced to remember his past it may shatter beyond repair."
I look back at the Fortress and spot Cogan walking to us. I walk towards him and he says "I found a less guarded entrance but you're both not going to like it." Glenda says while she walks to Cogan "I already don't like this. Alright don't beat around the bush. What is this entrance?" Cogan gives a sheepish look as he says "It's the big pipe leading to the frozen lake. Before you ask, yeah it's the pipes to their waste." Fuck.
☆☆☆☆
Seig
I shock the head of the last guard leading to the sewer exit and turn to the prisoners. "Alright you all get out of here. I'm going to wait till the last one of us gets out of here." They nod and slowly start entering the long pipe getting out of here. As the last one gets in a thought enters my head. How do I make sure they don't follow them and just take them again? The only way is by giving them something else to focus on. I can't ask any one of them to do that. I will not force someone to sacrifice their own chance of freedom. I go back to the door leading to the pipe. I grab one of the spears on the ground with a magical hand I summon with magic. I close the door and order the hand to use the spear to block the door.
I'm sorry Jin but it seems I can't take the easy route when the possibility of good people getting hurt is an outcome. Alright there has to be something flammable here. I just need to find something and light it on fire. After that I can just use the last pit of my magic to turn invincible and get out of here. Yeah it's that easy.
As I turn a corner I spot the redhead for earlier. Her eyes land on me and she throws an axe. Oh-. I drop to the ground. Before I can fully get up she grabs me by my throat. She slams me into the wall and yeah I'm bleeding from my side again. I start feeling like I'm about to black out. The world starts to go dark.
'So it seems you're losing out there' I start hearing Jin's voice in my head. 'Why aren't you using your spells or magic?' With what Spells. I'm a transmutation wizard. I can turn wood into silver. 'Why not do that but to yourself.' I can't do that! It goes against the foundation of transmutation. 'Oh come on, magic is cheating. Who cares that no one is brave enough to try and turn their skin into some metal. If all you have to lose is your life I'll say it's a good time to try it.' Well let's go one more time.
My eyes open up and I'm back getting strangled. Turn your skin into metal. Let it move like your normal skin but let it be hard as steel. I start feeling my skin change and with new strength slam my arms into hers. Her arms buckle to the new force. I see my hand and it's metal! I did it! Yes!
"Fuck!" I feel like something slapped me on the head. I turn to see the redhead is holding her now hurt hand. Okay time to fight. Wait, I don't know how to fight. As I go to punch her I get slammed into the ground. My eyes adjust to see a giant black wolf trying to bite into my throat. Sorry puppy. I punch the wolf and feel light headed. Crap I must be losing my hold on this metal skin form. I struggle to get up and see my hand go back to normal. My eyes go to see a fist aimed for my head. Crap.