Prison Break

I lay across the floor, pushing against the ground with one arm. On my back I had a quite heavy rock for added weight. Azar walked up next to me and crossed her arms. "One-armed push-ups with a 50lbs rock on your back. How cliché." She remarked.

"Well, usually it would be one finger push-ups." I said. "But in my current weakened state, one-armed is all I can manage." I shoved myself up and switched arms, starting my 100 push-ups with my left arm. "Does everyone here understand the plan?" I asked.

"They're more than eager. At this point, they will take any chance they can for escape. Do you think it will work?" Azar asked.

"Sure, it's actually rather simple." I replied, still doing push ups.

"Master Azar! Master Slade!" One of the prisoners shouted. "The Scath ship has arrived!" We had him stationed by the door to keep watch for the ship.

I gave a great shove against the ground and used merely the momentum to stand up, letting the rock fall away. "Okay. Time to commence operation, 'Prison Break.'"

Azar nodded. "Alright all you maggots! Get in your positions! Move it! The ship has docked!" As she shouted, the prisoners all began moving. Crouching and hiding behind various rocks and in crevices in the walls. On ledges, down narrow tunnels, anywhere they could. In a matter of one minute, the entire cave prison became empty. Leaving just Azar and me standing in the center.

I heard the creaking of iron hinges as the front gate opened and the patter of feet over rock. "You should probably find a hiding place, too." I said.

Azar grabbed her cloth mask and wrapped it around her head, letting her long braided hair hang out the back. "I'm not going anywhere." She remarked.

"Suit yourself." I raised my hands up and got myself into a fighting stance. In the darkness, I heard the sound of footsteps get closer and closer until I saw the Scath begin to appear out of the dark. The first to emerge was none other than Vain. I saw the characteristic black and purple vain marks on the side of his face. In his hand he carried my katana.

Behind him, creeping out of the dark like demons from hell came the other Scath, each one carrying a different weapon. Spears, axes, scythes, daggers, broadswords, ball and chains, anything. "We are here to capture you and deliver you to our lord and master, Ragirok." Vain said.

"Good for you." I remarked. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"You can either come quietly as a whole, or we can take you to him in pieces." Vain said.

"Are those the only choices? I was opting for, killing all of you and then stealing your ship and sailing back to Ragirok to stick his head on a spear." I replied.

"Enough has been said. You've chosen being taken back in pieces. Scath forces, attack." Vain said without emotion. The Scath behind him charged forward, swinging their weapons ready to draw blood. As the Scath drew closer, Azar glanced up to the prisoners up on the ledges and nodded.

As soon as she nodded, a barrage of rocks came falling from above. The rocks, ranging in size from the size of a baseball to huge 20lbs slabs, bombarded down on the Scath. The rocks smashed into them, disabling a few and killing more. Through the screams of pain the crunching of bones could be heard. Even the smashing of a skull for the unlucky guy hit by the 20lbs slab.

Once the rocks stopped falling, the other prisoners emerged from their hiding places and raced into the battlefield. They took the weapons from the dead and dying Scath and attack those still charging. A clash of steel and metal along with the stabbing and slashing of flesh. The Scath were more disciplined and seasoned fighters, but they had just been caught off guard and had their numbers cut in half. The fierce battle continued, while the prisoners began to cause considerable damage, they were still on the losing end.

"Shall we join in?" I said, glancing over to Azar.

"Sure, why not?" She sprinted forward with her incredible speed. Once she got in the fight, she smashed her fist in the jaw of a Scath and yanked the scythe from his hands. She proceeded to slash the sickle blade across the Scath's stomach before turning to the fight once more.

"Hm." I also ran into the fight, jumping in the air and bringing my foot down on the head of a Scath. As he went down, I struck another in the back with my fist. Right and left, I kicked, punched and basically brought down any Scath that approached me. A blast of fire shot past my head and crashed into the wall. The Fire Scath. He jumped at me and swung his flaming fist at my head. I leaned back and let the fire go past. He spun in the air and kicked his foot at my head. Again, he missed. This time, I grabbed him by the ankle and spun around, throwing him against the wall.

As I turned around, I caught sight of Vain charging at me, katana drawn. He slashed with the sword, luckily I managed to block with the armor on my arm. "I believe that sword is mine." I said. He did not reply. Instead, in one movement he pulled the sword away and kicked at my head again. Like with the Fire Scath, I grabbed his ankle and swung him towards the wall.

As he neared the wall, he spun in the air and braced with his feet, pushing himself back through the air. He swished the sword through the air at me again. His speed was incredible, at least on the same level as Azar herself, if not greater. I could barely block the sword with my forearm armor. This guy, I could tell, clearly had some Masked training. He landed easily and lightly on his feet, taking the Katana and sheathing it.

After sheathing the blade, he charged at me with amazing speed and threw a fist at my head. I managed to grabbed his fist before he could hit me. Then he swung his other fist ant my face and again I grabbed it. A small smirk came across his face and suddenly he kicked both his legs up and caught me under the chin. I lost my grip and staggered back. While I was dazed, he smashed both his fists repeatedly into my face over and over again. Finally, with one last kick, he slammed me against the ground where I blacked out.

/

I woke up much later with a major head ache. Mask in place or not, those punches still hurt. I sat up, rubbing my head and looked around. I was outside the cave lying in the beach and their was a small rowboat in the sand nearby. In the distance, the Scath ship was sailing away.

"Good. You're awake." A voice said. I turned around and saw Vain. His hood was pushed back and he hand his hands behind his back. He walked over to me. "I've been waiting for you to wake up. You don't have time to be lying around. We have things to do-"

I jumped to my feet and grabbed him by the throat. "Why would I listen to you. Where is Azar?" I growled.

Vain gasped as he brought one hand up to the top of his robe. He grabbed the cloth and pulled down, revealing a black circle with a capital letter V tattooed on his chest. The rest of the empty space in the circle was filled in orange. The same mark that was on Azar's back. The mark of a Masked Master.

I let go of his throat and he gasped for breath. "You're a Masked Master?"

"I'm a traitor." He replied. "My name was Master Vaan."

"Vaan?" That name rung a bell. "A while ago, I meet a young Masked Warrior who told me to look for you if I was ever captured. A Warrior named Mitsui."

"Mitsui?" Vain asked. He chuckled lightly and looked down at the ground. "Only Mitsui would still have faith in me."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be Mitsui's Master. I trained him, and proposed his promotion from Apprentice to Warrior. It wasn't long after his promotion that I was given a new mission. I was to be a spy in the Scath society and report back to the Masked. Unfortunately, I was quickly discovered by Ragirok. They tortured me, torture you could not imagine." He rolled up his sleeve and revealed huge grizzly scars that reached from his wrist all they way to his elbow. Just from the look of it, I could tell it was made by a serrated and rather dull blade. "The torture, I can't even tell you how long it lasted. Felt like an eternity. But finally, I told them what they wanted to know. I told them about the attack plan and what Master Azar looked like. Ragirok made me contact the Masked and tell them a lie about the Scath's whereabouts. The Masked then made an attack plan, and fell into a trap. Almost all of our Masters were killed, Azar was captured, and the Masked was left in ruin. As payment for my loyalty to the Scath, I was made a high priest and one of Ragirok's favored few. And now, they've captures Azar again. Almost everything that Ragirok fears has been removed. That is why it's so important for you to go back and stop him."

"Why me specifically?" I asked.

"Because you are the only thing Ragirok fears. He visit's the Oracle often. During one such session, he was told a foretelling about his death and the death of his father, Trigon. The Oracle told him that his death would come when a Masked no one knew about appeared, and that this Masked would bring with him two Titans of Birds" Vain explained.

"Two Titans of Birds. Robin and Raven!" I exclaimed.

Vain nodded. He grabbed his robe by the collar and pulled it up over his head. He then handed the robe, along with the katana to me. "Take these and the rowboat back to the mainland. I ordered the other Scath to go back and leave me here, so I could kill you myself. And right now my Scath self is telling me to do so. But my Masked self is telling him to drop dead."

Vain unsheathed the katana and slashed the sword across his arm before handing the sword back to me. "I only hope that God can forgive my sins." And with that, Vain stepped forward into the surf. He walked down into the ocean letting the water wash up and over his whole body, the blood from his arm turning the water red around him.

Out in deeper water, several triangular gray fins sliced trough the sea, moving swiftly towards Vain. Vain took one last breath and pulled his entire body underwater, just as the sharks reached him. The fins all converged on his and shook back and forth, splashing the red water around.

I turned away from the carnage and looked down at the Scath Robe in my hand. The only thing left of Master Vaan. He was right, I needed to go back and kill Ragirok. If I didn't do something to save this past, then my future would never exist. I took off my battered mask and slipped the robe over my head. Once dressed in the Scath uniform, I stepped into the rowboat and shoved of back for the mainland.