The vast prison of Jomuran lay deep beneath the city, carved into layers of stone that descended far below the surface.
From above, it looked like a part of the administrative center. But below... it was sothing else entirely.
Level after level stretched downward, each one more secure than the last. Thick walls reinforced with abjuration spells, iron doors etched with rune magic, and corridors watched at all tis, with guards overlapping to leave no gaps.
This was one of the four strongholds where the Haynam Empire kept its enemies.
Of course, it went without saying that all the prisoners were Magi. They were either captured from the Sovereign Union, operatives of the Twilight Brotherhood, and even rebels from within the Empire itself - people who opposed the regi, openly or in secret.
They weren't treated as prisoners. They were re resources.
So were interrogated endlessly, subjected to controlled tornt ant to extract every little piece of information they carried. Others were simply locked away and left to rot, their existence forgotten the mont their usefulness ran out.
The primary reason these prisoners were kept alive was so that they could serve as experintal test subjects for the Necromancers of the Cult. These n were isolated and preserved, ant to one day turn into undead servants and do their captor's bidding.
The deeper one went, the quieter it beca. Not because it was empty, but because whatever remained down there had long since stopped making noise... On this day, the prison complex was alive in a way it had never been before. Loud noise spread through every level.
One could hear the strong rattle of chains, the vigorous shaking of iron doors, and the rise of voices. These prisoners didn't scream in fear. No, it was sothing sharper, sothing... restless.
The prisoners knew better than to hope. They knew no one escaped Jomuran. Not from the depths of this prison complex. Years of confinent had stripped that belief from them. Torture, isolation, and ti had worn it down until nothing was left.
And yet... sothing was happening above.
They could feel it.
Never once in their lives had they witnessed such disruption, such panic, such a shift in control. Soone had infiltrated Jomuran. Soone had shaken the
system that held them for so long.
Of course, they didn't think it would free them. They didn't expect anyone to rescue them. But that didn't matter.
For the first ti in years, their captors were struggling!
And for these prisoners, that was enough.
"Hahaha! Feel the terror! Feel the despair!"
"They're coming! They're coming!"
"This city is going to burn to the ground!"
"We will feast on your corpses, Haynam cunt!"
The prisoners crowded the bars, faces pressed close against the tal, their eyes wild with madness. They laughed loudly, broken and unrestrained.
Insults flew one after another, sharper than any blade. So prisoners even spat through the gaps. Others rattled their chains, slamming them against the tal just to add to the noise.
Outside the cells, the guards held their positions, their grips around the weapons tightening. They knew well that the prisoners weren't trying to escape.
No, they were trying to get into their heads!
The guards were sweating profusely, apprehension clearly clouding in their eyes. This was the first ti sothing like this was happening, after all. The entire prison complex had co alive. It was as if these prisoners had suddenly tapped into a kind of strength they didn't even have.
"What... what the fuck is going on?!" A guard couldn't help but blurt out.
Beside him, another guard stood with his back against the wall. "I-I don't know," he said.
"Soone's managed to sneak in! B-But... how?"
The first guard gulped. He turned to his partner and was about to reply when suddenly, his eyes widened.
"Watch out!"
"What-" The other guard, completely clueless, turned toward him.
However, the next mont, sothing cold and leathery slithered up his back and sank its fangs into his neck.
The guard jerked. A strangled sound escaped his throat as his body locked up and his limbs went rigid. His eyes widened as ominous, purple veins beca visible around his neck.
In the next mont, his body went still, and he collapsed to the ground.
A yellow serpent coiled around his body, then turned its attention to the other guard, who watched everything unfold with wide, disbelieving eyes.
HIIISSS!!!
Before the other guard could even react, another serpent dropped from the ceiling, coiled around his torso with rapid speed, and dug its poisonous fangs
into his neck.
The sa thing repeated - the guard's body twitched, his eyes went wide, and he fell to the ground.
A red serpent erged. It tilted its head and blinked at its yellow-skinned
brethren.
"Eat now?" It hissed.
The yellow snake shook its head.
"The sssumoner sssaid to eat later!" it replied.
"Sssumoner ssstupid!" The red serpent argued. "Ssso much food! Why eat later? Eat now! We feassst!"
The yellow snake shook its head again.
"Mussst follow ordersss," it said. "Sssumoner is ssstrange..."
The red serpent sighed in exasperation. It shook his head in helplessness, then slithered away into the dark depths of the corridor along with the yellow snake. anwhile, the group of prisoners behind bars watched everything unfold with dumbfounded faces.
One of them rubbed his eyes and murmured. "What... what the hell?"
"Am I... tripping?" Another one asked.
Yet the purple veins spreading through their guards' skins, and their unmoving bodies, clearly told the prisoners of the surprising reality.
Further down the corridor, more and more guards fell to their deaths, poisoned
by the snakes from the Coil.
Prisoners glanced between cells and saw the shock plastered across each
other's faces. Their earlier taunts gradually grew quiet, replaced by an
inexplicable feeling.
There was a shift in the air, and all the prisoners could feel it.
Chains started to rattle again, but this ti it wasn't out of mockery.
It was in anticipation.
So prisoners pressed closer to the bars, their eyes sharp as they tracked every movent outside. anwhile, others stood still, as if afraid that even breathing too loudly might affect this unprecedented mont.
And for the first ti since being captured, the prisoners felt sothing they
had long buried...
Hope.
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