Her eyelids opened slowly to find herself in imprisoned in a cell. Black bars held her captive in an unknown place. From what she could tell she was in an underground prison, the walls around her were made of rock. A rope around her wrists bound them behind her back. Kar'lei's thoughts rushed through her head. "How did I get here? Where am I?" She took a quick survey around the cell, from what she could tell she was alone. Nobody could answer that question for her. It was then when she tried to move herself up against the wall that a sharp pain in her ankle stopped her. It was then that she noticed her battle gear was gone; she was only left in her tabard of the newly formed Order. Looking at her ankle she saw that it was severely swollen, the color of it almost matched the royal purple tabard.
Though she knew who she was, the memories of the event that led her to this cell were unknown to her. The air only carried silence, it offered no to clues to where she was, or who she was being held by. The last thing she remembered was leaving Silvermoon to head back to Shattrah. She wondered if anyone else from the Order was there, Alkaiser, Alestrio, the others, where they there? Were they on a mission with her?
"HELLO! I demand to know who is keeping me!" She yelled out and waited for an answer. A minute went by … nothing… two minutes went by… nothing… five minutes went by… nothing still.
She grit her teeth and inched her back up the wall. She wanted to make it to the bars of the door, to look down to see if she could see anything. Placing all her weight on one leg, she stood against the wall. The front of the cell was only about 10 feet away. Her arms and hands being tied behind her back was not going to make it easy for her to balance if she were to nurse her one ankle. She had only one choice. Moving quickly she hobbled over to the bars in the front of the cell. By the time she got there, the pain was almost unbearable. She leaned against the bars taking the weight off her injury.
Looking down the cell didn't give her any more answers. All she saw was a faint flicker of fire. "Hello! I demand to know! You will regret this!" She knew they were empty threats that cold possibly place her in more danger. But she thought if she could get someone's attention that she could get at least one question answered, who was keeping her here.
A minute went by … nothing… two minutes went by… nothing… five minutes went by… nothing still. She fell to the ground and sat in silence, tears for the first time fell from her eyes.
Her eyelids opened again to find her in the same place where she fell asleep. "This wasn't a dream... it is all real... " Kar'lei said quietly to herself. She had no idea what time it was. There were a few more fires against the wall, which told her that someone had to be down there. Her hands were still tied around her back, her ankle throbbing in pain.
"My brand!" She concentrated hard to get a message to someone, letting them know that she was being held captive. She had no idea where to send them to rescue here, but she wanted to let her brother or Alestrio know that she was still alive. Again she waited for an answer, nothing. "Why won't it work?"
Tears started to fall again. "Help.. " She softly cried out. She laid on the ground "Someone please help me..." It was then that she remembered what Alestrio said to her "You need to believe in yourself, what happens when your brother isn't around. When you can't depend on him."
It wasn't that she depended on him, she vowed to protect him. She never thought she would get into something like this. A test of her own will. I need to get out of here, she thought, you have been through worse, you can do this. If I can get through this on my own, there is nothing I can't do.
She needed to get her hands in front of her, see if the brand was still intact. She tried to bring her arms infront of her by going over her head. That seemed to not work. Slowly she moved her hands down her back, while moving her body up the wall again. She arched her back outwards and moved her restrained hands underneath her rear end. Falling down she had her hands just above her thighs, she bent her good foot all the way she could. Working the bound wrists past her foot and over her toes.
One arm in front of her she laid twisted on the ground. The second one was much easier, now with her hands and arms in front of her she could work on getting the bindings off.
A puddle of blood glistened in the fading light of the fires. The blood dripped down from her wrists as she twisted her hands trying to free herself. Kar'lei did not even seem to notice as she worked diligently. She had been working for hours, the act of moving her hands mixed with the blood from her wrists was creating enough lubrication and loosing the rope for her to almost free her wrists. Her head was starting to spin, her hands stopped moving, and her body fell hard against the ground as her eyes closed.
The fires started to flicker out as her cell became dark. But at that moment a small light descended into her cell.
"Lei… Lei… wake up Lei…" A young female voice cried out. Kar'lei's eyes flickered for a moment.
"Lei, do not give up, your work has just begun."
"Ky… Kytara?"
"Yes… it is me Lei… you need to free yourself, you can not let it end like this. You are stronger then this. You are not alone anymore, you have your brother, and you have Alestrio." A small laugh came from the light "You have changed so much, I wouldn't have even recognized you."
"How.. I'm.. I'm sorry I couldn't save you…" She quietly said to the light.
"Lei… remember this… not everything can be stopped… In the fight for good, lives are lost. But yours Lei, it is too early for yours to be lost. "The soft light flickered out and Kar'lei fell back unconscious.
Hours later she work up again, her hands were now unbound and the bleeding had stopped. "KYTARA!" She screamed out into the darkness. She brought her hands to her heart, "I must… I must get out of here"
Her head spinning again, this time it was because of memories of how she arrived in this prison. A Sin'dorei dressed in black had approached her, "Kar'lei Ciryatan, formally of Silverguard?" When she acknowledged who she was, he gagged her and blindfolded her. From what she could remember she was moved by various portals, she recognized the feeling from traveling with Alestrio. But those portals had a different feeling. Then she remembered more, her brand being damaged by someone before being thrown into the cell.
Her one hand moved over the brand on the wrist, the symbol almost all gone. No way to contact anyone.
She felt a sharp pain in her ankle, she moved her hand to her ankle and a soft glow of light emerged. She let this process continue for awhile, and then moved her foot about, it was still sore but most of the pain was taken away. She applied the same technique to her wrists. The scars would take awhile to heal.
It was time for her to get out of cell, and back to freedom.
Kar'lei slammed her body against the cell door; it budged a little as it had done each time before over the past couple of hours. In the darkness she could not see the bruising that had occurred.
She knew that it had been a couple of days since she been in the cell, nobody had come, the people who had brought her here had only visited once, that she knew from the extra fires before. But the days past nobody had come. No food, no water, no contact to the outside world. They left her for dead. How did she end up here? Who brought her here? Illiadan? Kael'this? The leaders of Silvermoon? Those questions would be answered, after she got out of this prison.
Her body fell hard against the door; the chain that was connecting it began to break. Her ears picked up the sound of the metal breaking. It motivated her to continue if not throw her body harder against the door, which is what she did. Each movement against the door was swifter and more forceful. The final move against the door broke it open. The force she hit the door with threw her through the door against the wall. The first moments of her freedom she was not able to enjoy. Her eyes closed as she hit the floor.
"Lei, get up, your free, get back to Alestrio" A new light descended upon her and she opened her eyes.
"A..Armas?" she half said still out of it, she recognized the voice, a voice she hadn't heard in awhile.
"Lei! Get up! Your fight is not over, it has just begun"
"You .. you were innocent, and I… my hands"
"Lei, in the fight between good and evil, there is no such thing as innocent. Blood will be on everyone's hands. Just know which side you are on, and you will do what is right."
His light faded away. Her eyes closed again.
When she woke up, the darkness was still there. Placing her hands on her body she pushed her self up off the ground. Limping she started walking, her one hand following the wall. Her foot felt found a stair and she continued up the stairs. When she reached the top of the stairs, the purple landscape of Netherstorm made itself known to her. She looked on the ground and saw her armor and her bag.
"No one will be safe from the justice that they deserve!" She yelled out before heading back to Shattrah.