The stone corridor leading up to the throne room had never felt so cold, armoured knights stood to attention in alcoves leading to the large wooden doors. The regal banners of the crown adorned the walls, giving the hallway colour that contrasted against the grey stone floor. These were banners I had spent years fighting under, that I had sworn my loyalty to protecting. I could hear my footsteps filling the silence as they echoed through the corridor, each step acting as a gnawing reminder that I was walking to my inevitable doom.
As I approached the doors to the throne room, I watched the faces of the guards. I had grown up with these men in my parent's castle, they had once knelt before me calling me their highness. But now their faces were cold, set in stern resolve. They were soldiers following their orders.
The crest for our kingdom, the kingdom of Draegoth, was vast and imposing as it sat emblazoned on the wooden doors. A symbol I had once felt proud to serve, now marking me for death. We are the most powerful kingdom on the continent, renown for our impenetrable cities and our unstoppable armies.
Legends tell of our founding monarch, King Valthar Draegoth who discovered an ancient artifact called the Eclipse Stone. A vessel containing the power of the old Gods, that gave him the power to manipulate shadows and to control the power of life and death itself.
If the stories were to be believed, he had awoken something within himself that day and left traces of it within his bloodline for generations to come, a connection to the old Gods that meant we were born with unnatural amounts of mana.
Using that power, we have maintained rule over the continent for centuries.
My wrists chafed against the iron cuffs, bringing me back to reality. Anger over the situation was boiling beneath my surface, so much so that my palms had been indented by my fingers over how tightly my fists had been clenched. I couldn't help but grit my teeth as we stepped into the throne room, into the room that would have one day been mine.
The room was filled with the noble lords and ladies of the realm, gathered in their finest silks and velvets, their faces half-hidden behind masks of duty. Amongst them were friends and allies, who appeared to be wrestling with their anger and frustration over the situation.
At the head of the room, upon a gilded throne elevated above the nobles, sat my father, King Vyreth. He looked every inch the monarch - tall, with grey streaks through his once dark hair, he was a muscular man who was able to command the presence of the room without saying a word. But gone was the familiar warmth I had known as a child. His gaze was ice cold as he met mine.
"Prince Valian," announced Lord Barek, the slippery attendant beside my father, his tone dull yet authoritative. "You stand before the court, accused of the gravest betrayal - treason."
A dozen responses leapt to my tongue, each one bitter and spiteful. But instead I spat, "all lies, and you know it. You all know it." My gaze swept over the court, looking at the menagerie of nobles, a mixture of support and opposition.
Lord Barek's mouth had curled into a sneer, his eyes struggling to contain his malice. "The evidence is irrefutable. Documents… testimony… all paint a picture of a desperate young prince overcome by ambition. A sorry state of affairs, isn't it?"
I barely managed to contain my hysterics. Ambition? I was the crown prince and a decorated commander of Draegoth's armies. "Ambition?" I hissed, my voice cold. "The only ambition here lies with those who stand to gain from my demise. My only crime is not acting to remove the rot that fills this court."
Murmurs and whispers rose among the nobles, it was no secret that Barek and the nobles favoured my younger brothers. They were much easier to control and they didn't have the backing of the army or some of the older noble families.
A flicker of regret crossed King Vyreth's face, or perhaps it was my own desperation making me see things. I knew his hands were tied, this had been planned meticulously for years. They waited for when I had returned from the war on the frontlines, tired and without the majority of my allies.
"Enough," the King finally spoke, his voice boomed. "Valian, my son, the evidence against you is too great to ignore. You have left me with no choice, but to pass judgement."
"Father…" I said, feeling as if the ground was opening up beneath me.
"Silence," he said, closing his eyes as if to block out my words. "For your conspiracy to commit treason, and for conspiring with Queen Thalessa of Morvagor. I hereby condemn you to the Abyssal Pit."
The King's words hung in the air, stealing away my breath. The Abyssal Pit wasn't merely a dungeon, it was a death sentence. An exile that guaranteed I would never be seen again, an S rank dungeon reserved for the worst criminals. Rumours said that it was filled with monsters beyond our comprehension, creatures empowered by the Eclipse Stone.
The majority of the court seemed pleased, although I wasn't to be killed outright. It was pretty much guaranteed that I would never be heard from again. I scanned the gathering of nobles, burning those who supported Barek and my brothers into my memory.
"I won't forget this," I said, my voice low and bitter. "When I find my way back, I swear there will be vengeance."
The threat lingered in silence, but no one responded. My father averted his gaze, dismissing me with a wave of his hand. The guards took hold of me, forcing me out of the throne room and down to the bottom of the castle where the entrance to the dungeon was sealed away.
The entrance to the dungeon was sealed by the court mages, restricting access which was controlled by the King. However the entrance stood before me now unsealed, a dark void filled a stone arch that was covered in runes of an ancient civilisation that had been long forgotten by all but a few scholars.
I was still bound in chains, stripped of my armour and anything that might aid my survival. Wearing nothing but a thin shirt and trousers, the cold iron cuffs dug tightly into my wrists.
The captain of the guard, Thoran Vane was an old friend, in fact it was Thoran who first taught me how to hold a sword. He stood beside me as a personal escort, wearing a grim expression. "If there was any other way, I would take it…"
I forced a hollow laugh. "No need to feel sorry for the monsters in there, we've faced worse than this, right?" Trying to convince myself that this was something I could overcome.
Thoran's eyes fell, leading me to the opening of the dungeon. He gave me the once over, before he clasped my hand around the hilt of a longsword and gave me a subtle wink before pushing me back into the portal.
"Good luck, kid."
The world spun as I was overcome with the sensation of falling. Wind whipping past me, the dark void of a chasm stretching out below. Time began to lose meaning as seconds stretched into an eternity.
Without any reference, I plummeted endlessly into the void.
Finally, with a bone crunching crash, I landed on a stone floor. Pain flaring through every inch of my body. Something had slowed my descent, but it all happened so quickly I didn't have time to cushion my fall.
Slowly I pushed myself to my feet, groaning as I took in the surroundings. True to its name, the dungeon was even darker than I had imagined. A cavernous pit, illuminated by faintly glowing crystals embedded into the rock walls. The air was thick and heavy, stale without so much as a draft and carrying the faint undercurrent of rot.
I checked the blade that Thoran had handed me, it was decent enough. Better than what was given to an average soldier I surmised as I waved it in the air and checked its balance. However I was interrupted as a deep, guttural rumbling echoed from deeper within the dungeon.
My eyes were slowly adjusting to the dim light, just in time too. As a hulking figure began approaching, the silhouette of massive horns looming ahead. As it got closer it's eyes burned with fury, its muscles were ripped and it snorted in hunger or rage. Perhaps both.
I froze. Minotaurs were frightful bosses that rarely appeared at the end of dungeons, they were filled with bloodlust. I scrambled backwards in the dark, feeling the cold surface of the wall against my hands as the monstrosity lumbered closer. With a roar that shook the ground, it started its charge. Hooves pounding against the ground as it hunkered down, pointing its horns forward.
I watched helplessly, like a lamb to the slaughter. The shadow of the beast quickly approached, my body felt stiff and unresponsive.
Unable to gather the courage in face of certain death, my body reacted on instinct instead, throwing itself to the side as the Minotaur went crashing through the wall where I had just been. Shattered rock and dust exploded around us as it gored through a stone pillar, it had been momentarily stunned by its own momentum.
I felt relief that I was still in one piece, but now wasn't the time to celebrate.
I took the opportunity and ran along the wall, finding a narrow crevice just tight enough for me to squeeze through. The minotaur bellowed behind me, walking past the crevice as it searched along the wall for me. I took a moment, breathing heavily as adrenaline coursed through my body.
I needed a plan, something that could ensure not just my survival but also my escape. I stood there, scenarios racing through my head. When I noticed a faint and eerie glow emanating from deeper within the passage. Curiosity getting the better of me, or perhaps it was sheer desperation. I followed the glow, my footsteps barely making a sound in the narrow passage.
The glow led to a small opening where a small pool of water lay, black and still. Its surface speckled with silver light that danced like stars. I knelt beside it, I hadn't noticed how thirsty I was until now. But there was something else, an insistent tug, a pull that seemed to reach inside me, urging me forward. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand was dipped into the black liquid.
Pain shot through me, a burning that searched through my arm, spreading through my muscles, lighting every nerve on fire. I tried to pull back, but it was as if the water itself was clinging to me, refusing to let go. I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the oppressive silence of the dungeon.
Shadows swirled before my eyes, flashes of fractured memories mixed with visions from another perspective. Creatures shifted in the dark, as I watched over them like prey. A hunger that wasn't mine occupying my thoughts. When the pain finally subsided, I felt different, like my arms and legs were completely numb.
I stood over the water, looking at my hands. Tendrils of ink and shadow formed to make arms, weaving together to recreate my hands and fingers. Pulsing faintly, the shape was unstable and twisted like living smoke. I tried to shout and scream, but found myself without a voice. Swallowed by the darkness, I had become something else. Something more.
Footsteps echoed nearby, a soft padding sound that grew louder. I turned to see a gnarled wolf slinking towards me. It's eyes a steel blue that glistened in the low light as it bared its fangs. The urge to run gripped me, but another instinct took over - something darker, a primary force guiding my hand.
With a thought, I felt my entire body slip forward engulfing the wolf. I seeped in through its skin, into its bones. I became the beast. Feeling its muscles move, it's heartbeat pulsing beneath my skin. I was still myself, and yet I was now the wolf as well. It moved as I willed it, breathing as I breathed. I became the wolf, together we had become a single being and I was in control.
I stepped back, slipping out of its form as I felt the connection breaking. The wolf and I were now separate entities again. Yet a part of the wolf stilled coursed through my veins, its instincts had left an imprint that I had adapted to as my own. I coiled my body, mirroring the wolf in a shadowy form built from tendrils and smoke.
We stood watching each other, the wolf now cautious as it had just been overwhelmed by me. I struggled to make sense of what was happening. I now felt a primal connection with the wolf, like we were kindred spirits, members of the same pack. After observing each other, the wolf turned tail and returned to the shadows, not wishing to retaliate further, fearing it may be consumed in its entirety next time.