Chapter Nineteen: Indefinite Imprisonment

(Hershel's POV)

As per Omofrisit's instruction, I was stationed next to King Gangrel's throne, just in case he got bored during the battle. In short, I was now a jester.

Omofrisit and Validar stood across from each other a few feet from the king's throne. They probably should have been farther away, but hey, this was Plegia, no one cared.

The two combatants gave each other withering glares before facing the king and giving a bow. Gangrel acknowledged their bows with a nod and waved to the referee.

"Let the battle….BEGIN!" The referee yelled.

At once, Validar sent a bolt of dark energy at Omofrisit. Being unprepared, he was sent flying across the room, through a beautiful tapestry, and into the wall.

Validar wore a smug grin on his face as he watched Omofrisit stumble out of the wall. Omofrisit did not look happy. His whole expression practically screamed malice and murder. Whatever Omofrisit was about to do, I don't think Validar was going to appreciate it.

Omofrisit slowly put his hand into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a single piece of chalk. Validar looked confused for a moment, before a look of understanding made its way to his face and he immediately began setting up some magical shields and other wards.

Omofrisit began drawing a circle and some symbols on the ground while Validar continued his spells.

Before long, Omofrisit stood back up and returned the chalk to his pocket. I studied the symbol, trying to figure out what it meant. It seemed to be the sun starting to be eclipsed by the moon, and inside the moon was a pentagram.

I suddenly felt like this battle was not going to end well for anyone.

Validar had finished with his wards and now began casting spell after spell at Omofrisit, who merely took the punishment being sent his way and began to chant in a language that sounded far different from the language typically used for spells and summoning. It sounded…old, and slightly malicious. Validar seemed to not recognize the language either, as he stopped casting spells to listen to the incantation.

Validar was so mesmerized by the incantation that he didn't even notice that Omofrisit had finished. The chalk drawing began to glow and….things…started to rise from the ground. Some were skeletons, some were rotting corpses, but the third variety was far stranger than either of those, they were human sized eyes with tentacles protruding from their backs. It was by far the most horrifying thing I had seen in my entire life.

"Ooohh. Things are getting good now. Ahahaha!" Gangrel exclaimed with glee.

Validar looked on with shock and horror, not believing his eyes.

"H-how..? Where? I-I don't understand. Those are the demons of old…the ones that roamed this continent even before the first Exalt slayed the fell dragon Grima." Validar said, panic rising in his voice.

"Indeed they are. They've been confined to the Lagdou ruins for far too long. It's about time they got some fresh air." Omofrisit said.

At this point, I could tell that Omofrisit was no longer himself. Something had snapped. He didn't have his usual calm and collected attitude, instead, he had an air of pure evil around him.

Despite his usual look of glee and excitement, Gangrel looked like he sensed the same thing about Omofrisit that I did.

This battle definitely wasn't going to end well.

(Omofrisit's POV)

In the back of my mind, I knew that this was a bad idea that would likely get everyone else killed. But I just couldn't resist showing these demons to Validar, I mean come on, Validar is a complete scumbag. Not only did he hit me when I wasn't ready, but he broke the wall and he destroyed that beautiful tapestry, and that is completely unacceptable.

I could see the horror on his face, and all I could do was smile.

I extended my hand towards Validar and all at once, the demons charged him.

Hah, demons. I can't believe that's what they're called these days, they used to be nothing more than common monsters that you could see any day of the week if you went into the woods. But now that they've been gone for a few thousand years, they're referred to as demons. Unbelievable.

The monsters were doing their best to try and attack Validar, but he appeared to be too much for them, despite their advantage in numbers. As the monster's numbers began to dwindle, I joined the fight with all the ferocity I had.

I could see that Validar was having a hard time keeping up with what was left of the monsters as well as me. He was slowing down, and before long, he wouldn't be able to keep going at all. And that's when I would strike.

(Hershel's POV)

As I continued to watch the battle, I got the distinct feeling that things were tipped in Omofrisit's favor. But I also didn't know if Validar had something up his sleeve.

The battle raged on for hours. Omofrisit would be winning one moment, and Validar would be winning the next. The battle went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. They had both slowed down considerably, but neither would quit.

After so long, it became apparent that we would be waiting a while longer still. And eventually, the king became bored.

"Gaaaaahhhhhh….I'm practically melting from boredom." Gangrel said while sliding down in his seat.

"I'm pretty bored too." I commented.

Suddenly, Gangrel got an excited look on his face.

"Then let's do something about it! C'mon, I want show you something." He said.

Gangrel stood up from his throne and started to walk through a side door before turning around and beckoning me to follow him.

I followed him through the door and down a flight of stairs to what seemed to be a dungeon. We passed many cells that had both live and dead prisoners. Water dripped from certain parts of the ceiling and the prisoners flocked to those areas as if the water was their salvation. The farther we went into the dungeon, the darker and darker it got until it was almost pitch black. But farther and farther down we went.

We reached the back wall of the dungeon, I expected whatever it was that Gangrel wanted to show me to be here, but he merely stared at the wall contemplatively before pushing on one of the stone bricks. The brick pushed into the wall and activated some kind of mechanism. The mechanism was loud to say the least, but it did cause the wall to open up just enough for a person to fit through.

Gangrel motioned for me to enter the secret room. I went through the opening into a mostly empty room, containing nothing but a bed, a table, a couple of chairs, and a few bookshelves. The only light source came from a candle on the table

As I continued to observe the room, wondering what Gangrel had wanted to show me, I heard the mechanism activate once again, causing the wall to close behind me.

"Your highness? What's going on?" I asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, I couldn't let you go completely unpunished for stealing my chance to kill Emmeryn. I had thought of so many ways to kill her too, but now she's gone, and I have no purpose left in life. So you're going to stay in that cell until I find a new purpose. GAH HA HA!"

"WHAT? B-b-but….I-I-I….no…" I said, my hope suddenly draining.

"Don't worry about your friends though, they'll still get what they requested. Heck, I'll even take care of your wyvern. And if you get bored, there are plenty of books to choose from. Bye-bye, Hershel. I'll come visit you later, and by later, I mean next year. GAH HA HA!"

As I sat on the floor contemplating my bleak future, I could hear the echo of footsteps walking away from the room I was in.

For a moment, I entertained the thought that Omofrisit and Frey would come to save me, but that hope was quickly dashed when I realized that they didn't know where I was, and they likely wouldn't find me even if they looked for me.

I could only imagine what my future held.

A/N:WOW, this is not how I originally intended for this chapter to happen. Originally, this chapter would have ended with Hershel trying to be a standup comedian to entertain the king, and Omofrisit would win the battle with Validar. But despite that, I am extremely pleased with this chapter.

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