Opening: Paper Moon by Tommy Heavenly6 (ROMIX Cover)
"WAKE UP!" The marine was slapped awake by one of the Night Sentinel Guards, he blinked several times as he tried to adjust to his new setting and process the pain. He was forced onto his knees by two guards who were holding him down in an attempt to prostrate him before the angelic, white creature from before. He was without his armor, he could feel it, he was in some ordinary clothing people on the streets wear. He felt so naked and unprotected even though he was still wearing clothes. It was a disgusting feeling for him. The marine began to look around as he realized he was in a dark room and couldn't discern many details aside from a few pillars. Surrounding the angelic creature were the two priests from earlier along with another robed man of similar appearance. This one wears an actual crown with a pale-green attire. The Marine didn't take kindly to being forced into a prostrated position and tried to free himself as he angrily muttered, "Release me…!" The guards who were on top tried their best to force the man back onto his knees but his tenacity surprised the experienced guards. One of them informed the creature:
"My grace, he's resisting! He won't stay still!"
"Release him. If we want our guest to cooperate, it's best we let him feel comfortable." The two guards didn't dare question the angelic creature and backed off as Flynn quickly rose to his feet and got a better look at his surroundings. There were more people in the room than he had realized. It was like he was in a throne room, that was as much as he could discern. With the adrenaline flushed out from his body, the marine was able to process and understand everything around him, he hesitantly asked:
"Where.. Am I?"
"You are currently in the capital city of Argent D'nur, Taras Nabad, very far away from where you were found which raises the question: Who are you and where did you come from?"
"I.. am just a simple marine. Where I come from doesn't matter anymore because there's nothing left." All the guards in the room looked at each other as they listened to the marine speak, intrigued by what he had to say.
"You mentioned something when you were in the gladiatorial arena of Sentinel Prime. Tell me, what is it you were speaking about?"
There it was, the anger came back to him with the force of a thunderstorm. Flynn curled his fists angrily which the angelic creature took notice of as the Marine spoke with a slight growl in his voice, "The demons! They.. are terrible TERRIBLE creatures! I hate them all! They took my family from me! They took away everything I cared about! Bodies, there were so many bodies, all dead! They're mindless brutes I tell you! They won't stop until they have reduced everything to ash! It's only a matter of time before they come here too!"
Flynn's words silenced the room, everyone talked amongst themselves as they tried to understand what the man was saying. However, Deag Grav scoffed at the man's statements as he mocked, "Do you actually believe that a group of.. Brutes.. Will bring ruin to our great cities? We have faced much worse, stranger."
"Not a group, there are millions of them! It's endless I tell you!"
Deag Grav still didn't seem interested as he turned to the angelic creature before stating, "My grace, I believe these are just the deranged ramblings of a broken man. There is nothing to worry about."
The creature responded to the priest's dismissive statement, "Maybe so, but we must be wary. If what he says is true, then we must be prepared. Take him away, we have much to consider." The guards that stood next to the Marine forcefully wrapped their arms around his and began dragging him away. It was so sudden that the marine was swept off his feet and left with no footing to resist being dragged away. The guards badmouthed the warrior as they complained:
"Show the Khan Maykr some respect, you scum!" It felt like ages for the marine as he was dragged across the many streets of Taras Nabad. This city was much bigger than Sentinel Prime in every way. The buildings were larger and fancier. Obviously, the rich lived here, not surprising considering this is the capital city. For how different their culture was to him , initially, he was beginning to draw many parallels with the way he used to live (before the demons showed up). Some things never change in society, rich people are either arrogant, snotty-nosed fools or compassionate and generous. It was usually the former.
It wasn't until he was taken to the outskirts of Taras Nabad which still looked better than anything he would ever see back on Earth. There, the quality of life was lower but it was also better than he had expected. There were groups of children playing outside with a single ball, creating their own fun out of their limited resources. Despite having seen many streets of Argent D'nur, no one seemed upset at all. Sure, there were rich people but no one was starving and no one was angry. It was peaceful and that was very unusual for the marine who had spent most of his life fighting.
"You'll be staying here with the other prisoners. Better get comfortable." The guards shoved Flynn through the doors of a building, leaving him in the hands of another pair of guards who escorted him through the structure. The building was in tip-top shape with no spec of dust. It was the most clean he had ever seen a structure before. As he was escorted through the building, he could see several other men like him who were being escorted by more Night Sentinel Guards. They wore rather standard clothing (although rugged), it wasn't something you'd expect a prisoner to wear, they looked more like civilians. He was taken to a prison cell where he was tossed inside, the room had a small bed along with other basic necessities for the prisoners. The guards began speaking to Flynn, "Just because you survived Sentinel Prime doesn't mean we'll let you off the hook. You're still our prisoner and we expect you to serve and die for Argent D'nur. If there's ever a problem, prisoners like you are sent out as our first line of defense. An honorable death is the only thing we can grant you as you die to protect our kingdom. You lot are disposable so don't think you have any special privilege just because you got to speak with the Khan Maykr."
The doors to his cell were closed and the Marine was left by himself. He was now without his armor or his weapons and trapped in a cell. He had to get out, the demons needed to be stopped. He looked to see if there were any openings he could exploit but the best he could find was miniature vents sprawled throughout his cell for air circulation. He would barely be able to fit his hand inside if he was able to get it in there. That left only one way out. He tried to squeeze between the bars but they were coated in electricity which coursed through him upon making contact with the bars and he was blasted back. It looks like he'll have to wait, the minute those doors open, he's making a break for the exit and getting out of this place.
It was hours before the doors to his cell finally opened and one of the guards unlocked his cell. He wasn't even given a chance to speak as the cell doors opened up and the Marine bolted towards the prison door, shoving the Night Sentinel out of the way and racing down the prison hall. The Night Sentinel was heavy but the man had dropped his guard and wasn't prepared to be shoved aside like that. Other guards in the hallway tried to grab Flynn but he weaved his way around their attempts to grab him. Unfortunately, they were faster than he thought as they wrapped their arms around his body and constricted his movement. He tried to fight back but having several soldiers holding you back was tougher to break than he realized.
He heard the metallic clank of armored footsteps approaching him which compelled the Marine to look up and see Lieutenant Xernex stop in front of him, arms crossed as he asked, "What's the situation?"
The guards informed, "This one tried to get away, sir. What should we do with him?"
Xernex thought for a brief moment before answering, "Nothing. Take him back to his cell, we can follow through with our proceedings later." Xernex crouched down to the man's level, Flynn looked at Xernex ferociously but the lieutenant was unbothered by his gaze and injected a strange device into Flynn's neck. In mere seconds, the marine was out cold and dragged back to his cell. He woke up some time later and was released from his cell so he and all the other prisoners could go to the cafeteria to grab dinner. Flynn made no effort in escaping at the moment as he realized he had underestimated the guards around him and his lack of familiarity with Argent D'nur will cost him. It's best for him to lay low for the time being and gather as much information as he can.
As the marine followed the other prisoners and grabbed a tray full of food, he went about searching for a seat. As he watched the countless tables be filled with prisoners and a few night sentinels, he found an empty table in the back corner of the cafeteria. He didn't want to waste time with any of the prisoners nor did he want to socialize with anyone so he began taking his food to the isolated table. As he sat down and slowly dug into the strange meal in front of him, he saw a large shadow loom over him and a scruffy voice called out to him, "Hey! You're in our seat." Flynn ignored the man and shoved a spoonful of a strange, green, jelly-like substance into his mouth. It tasted decent but he's definitely eaten better. "Are you deaf?! I said you're in our seat!" The man grabbed Flynn by the shoulder and forced the marine to look at him.
He is a man of humongous stature, his hands alone could cover his shoulders completely and that's an impressive feat, he wore similar green armor to Xernex except modified to fit the man's large body. He was without any hair on his head but it looked like every part of the man's face had muscles. Flynn was still disinterested in the large man's frustration, blinking several times without making a single response.
"Tux! Calm down, it's alright, he can sit with us." Flynn recognized Xernex's voice from behind him as he looked to see the approaching Night Sentinel gesture for the larger man to let go of the Marine. Without hesitation, the larger night sentinel let go and begrudgingly took a seat across from Flynn. Soon, the table was occupied with strange-looking people as Xernex took a seat next to the marine. Flynn tried his best to ignore them all as he redirected his focus back to his food. Xernex patted the marine on the back before apologizing, "Sorry about knocking you out earlier, I was just following orders. What's your name, friend?"
Flynn threatened under his breath, "Go away." that's when Tux launched from his seat and exploded with movement as he shoved his finger in front of the marine before barking:
"YOU CAN'T TALK TO THE LIEUTENANT LIKE THAT!" The entire cafeteria looked to see what the commotion was about. Xernex gently moved the sentinel's arm down as he calmly explained:
"Tux, it's alright, no need to get riled up. Our friend is still new here so he's obviously a bit uncomfortable." Tux grumbled while sitting back down, digging into his food. Xernex turned back towards the marine and apologized for his friend's actions, explaining, "Sorry about Tux, he's very loyal. You see, his family mistreated him for most of his life due to his physique, leaving him insecure about his body and when he had enough, he killed all of them. It didn't take long for the authorities to catch him and submit him to Sentinel Prime. He survived, ofcourse, and now he's here. Normally, they wouldn't allow prisoners to become Night Sentinels but I was barely able to convince the higher-ups to give Tux this honor. It's not an easy thing for us Night Sentinels to break tradition like that but I just saw a lot of potential in Tux and didn't think it was worth wasting his life as cannon fodder."
Tux continued, "I owe the Lieutenant my life which is why I've sworn my allegiance to him."
"I just don't like to see great potential get squandered by our tradition. I like to reach out to people and bring them into my little circle. We're kind of like one, ragtag family in a sense."
Flynn was growing annoyed with these people, it seems like this Xernex individual could talk for hours. The marine cut straight to the point as he asked, "What do you want?" It was the night sentinel's turn to get annoyed with the marine except for Xernex. The lieutenant was very patient with the stubborn marine as he answered:
"Well, I just wanted to get to know you is all. I saw the way you fought back in Sentinel Prime, you were using some pretty unorthodox methods. It looked like you were ready to fall over from exhaustion but you somehow managed to take out the competition! That's impressive." There was silence, the marine didn't respond to Xernex's comment which compelled the lieutenant to continue the conversation, "I don't think I've formally introduced myself. I'm Lieutenant Xernex, but you can just call me Xernex. I'm the one in charge of watching over you lot and making sure you guys don't step out of line. Like I said earlier, it's nothing personal, I'm just doing my job."
Still nothing, Tux argued with Xernex, "Boss, this guy's hopeless, don't waste your time with this scum."
"Easy there, Tux. Don't forget, it wasn't too long ago when you were treating me like this as well. Everyone deserves a chance, even this stranger. We're not brutes, we value strength above everything else and this man has proved his." Flynn listened while nonchalantly eating his food, it seems this lieutenant was a man of honor, something the marine could respect.
The marine said, "It's Flynn." Xernex turned his head towards the marine in surprise but smiled upon seeing the man untense himself and appeared more relaxed than before.
"It's good to meet you, Flynn, consider yourself a part of our group now."
