Chapter 2

The third cellmate

Olga Discordia was in a bad mood to put it mildly.

She had been chained to the wall and the fact that it was in the dungeon of her own fortress made it even more unpleasant. She wasn't very optimistic about her situation. Her loyal soldiers had been caught off-guard and killed. She couldn't cast any magic due to it being suppressed by the damned collar that had been placed around her neck whilst she was sleeping. Her scepter was currently in Vult's hands and thus not an option either. Nor did her thousand—year life experience as the queen of the dark elves offer any solutions. Even Chloe had been caught along sides her.

Chloe — her most loyal and devoted supporter. She had found the little girl in a broken state some 30 years ago. Chloe had been despondent and didn't react to the world around her, staring with a hollow gaze into nothing. Olga had taken the girl under her care and eventually managed to heal her broken mind helping her grow into a strong warrior and reliable friend. Though the girl had fallen head over heels in love with her savior, which Olga was well aware of but could not bring herself to reciprocate.

She had considered it her duty to ensure the safety and wellbeing of her people and prioritized them above all else. Yet now she can't... she won't be able to protect them anymore. It is not difficult to guess what awaits the two beautiful women whom had been captured by a group of mercenaries with no morality to speak of. Not to mention the monsters.

The lecherous looks of the three guards, consisting of two humans and one ogre, all but confirmed her disappointing conclusions. No matter how Olga tried, she could not come up with a way out of this dire situation. Not being able to find a solution, she could only dread her terrible unknown fate.

As she started to hear voices coming from the depths of the corridor, she thought; 'Is this it? Have they come for us?' Vult had told them that he intended to give Chloe to the ogres… 'Poor girl, she will end up back in the situation before I found her from those many years ago'.

"Found him on the stairs." — Said the mercenary who appeared from around the corner, whom together with one of his comrade, were dragging an unconscious person under their arms. This prompted the guards to give them an interrogative glance. — "The boss said to throw him in with the elves."

"He doesn't look familiar." — the warden drawled, rubbing his chin with his hand. — "His clothes are strange too..."

Olga took a closer look at the unconscious young man. Indeed, he was not at all dressed like the mercenaries. To be honest, she had never seen such a clothing design before. Wide trousers made of obviously strong material with knee pads of dark gray color, high boots without laces and a tight shirt without buttons that seemed to consist of many small hexagons. Its sleeves were tucked into gloves with a seal on the back of the glove. The face was young and quite beautiful for a human. He really did not appear to be one of them, otherwise he would not have been dragged into the cell.

"Why don't we just cut off his head?" — The second warden asked.

"He had a lot of strange and interesting things with him. And it is unclear what most of them are. The only identifiable things were his knife and armor, very good stuff by the way. So Boss ordered to lock him up in here for now. He seemed interested." — the porter replied.

"Yeah, you should have seen it." — his colleague chimed in as he grinned crookedly at the girls — "Boss even decided to wait with these two."

Soon, a new prisoner was added to the cell. The people who brought him in had left with the guards whom got carried away by the conversation. An amazingly irresponsible act, but nevertheless quite understandable. Even if they were able to get out of the cell, what could they do next? The whole citadel was crawling with these nobodies.

"Mistress..." — Chloe called out to the former Queen. — "Do you have any idea who this person is?"

"I haven't the faintest idea." — Olga answered honestly. A sad smile appearing on her face by itself. — "But is it really that important? By his appearance, he has already given us a short reprieve."

"Really..." — the girl drooped as she was reminded that she would soon have to repeat that nightmare she had already experienced all those years ago.

The hours dragged on. The guards had not yet returned and the third prisoner in their cell had not yet recovered. The two dark elves were left to themselves, immersed in their own dark thoughts.

Then they suddenly heard their involuntary neighbor stirring. The two elves simultaneously turned their face in his direction, only to witness the man convulsing on the floor.

A second passed, then another and then his body bent up in an arc, a long hoarse exhalation leaving his mouth.

"— Ha-a-a-a-a-a-a…"

His eyes shot wide open, pupils dilating their size at high speed, increasing then decreasing. Within their depths, the elves could notice something incomprehensible, small detailed objects similar to mechanical mechanisms seemed to be moving within.

Then the man stopped shuddering and fell to the floor, his eyes stopping their furious movement. His gaze became a meaningful one and his breathing became normal. Abruptly assuming a sitting position, he began to examine and feel up his body.

"Alive..." — he softly said in a pleasant voice.

Having finished examining his body — "And not even wounded…"

He then noticed the shackles on his hands, as well as the chain fastened to the ring on the wall and to the collar around his neck.

"Wow... interesting." — The man's eyes began to explore the room. They lingered on the lock of the jail bar door, then on the bars, next the ceiling and walls and finally settling on the girls.

"Ummm..." — The young man was obviously surprised. — "Good evening?"