The captive soldier
“...” It’s so dark in here. “H-H-He..Hey.” And what’s with this heavy atmosphere? My vision is blurry and I can’t move. What happened? “Hey!” Is someone calling for me? I can’t recognize this voice, yet it sounds so familiar. “Oh looks like you’ve finally come to. Welcome back, how did it go?” No idea what he’s talking about at all. “Oh, you must not remember. After all, it’s the fate of all us captive prisoners.” Prisoners? Wait, I think I vaguely remember this. Oh right, I died. Again and again, the pain is still tangible. “By the looks of your face, it seems you’ve returned to your usual self. Welcome back to the land of the dead son. Also known as the blasted Sikuku Prison.” “Heh, good to be back.” Looks like my vision is slowly restoring, I can almost see where exactly they dragged me off to after butchering me. “Why bloody hell, they chained me to the wall this time. This’ll be a bother to escape from.” “You... You’re going to try again?” He seemed worried about me, yet he should be more worried about himself. He’s been here so long only bones are left. After so many deaths, his body just stopped regenerating. “Well, what else do you expect me to do? I’m not going to just hang here for the rest of my life.” “You’re just going to die again, you know. If you’re not careful you might end up like them.” He pointed, as far as he could point at all with his chained up skeleton hands, towards a group of monstrous humanoid things, carrying a large steel ball at their foot. “Those things..” “I know. Remnants of what was once the Raknu army, but now they’re just a bunch of lunatic prisoners. Doomed to wander this prison, and protect it forever. Not to worry my friend, the visitors will help us through this.” I’m sure Arua will, why would she abandon us all? “You seem to have a lot of faith in the goddess. I doubt she even notices the atrocities that are happening here, or we’d have long been freed. But whatever, go ahead. Die again, you’ll end up back here. Or worse..” He laughed. He laughed loudly. After that a sigh of desperation as he stopped moving altogether. I suppose his time has come as well. In fact, I’m surprised he even managed to live this long, with what little sanity he had in the first place. “Sleep tight, my dear old friend. Heh.. guess I’m the last one around now who still somewhat has his head in the right place.. despite being decapitated a multitude of times so far.”
As I struggled to get away from the chains that bound me, I reminisced of when I first got here. Wait, how many days has it been anyway? Or rather, how many times did I die here already? Too many times to count. So, how did it happen again? Memory’s still a bit hazy. Oh yes, it was a sad, sad day. On that rainy day, the Raknus lost the war. I still clearly remember the first scenes as I came into this prison. What happened before is unknown to me, all I know is we lost. All I know is this planet is lost. The first thing I remember is me standing before a large, blue glowing hole. Behind me was this intimidatingly large Sikuku warrior. He threw me into the hole, and as I plunged down, I saw this female figure. She was floating above a giant boney spider, wearing a scythe in hand. Or rather, the scythe was hovering around too. Her figure was so amazing, it would be hard to hate her, if not for what she did. As I was falling, she lifted the scythe, and slashed me in half with it. Just thinking about what happened causes me to feel the agony I felt that moment.
What happened afterwards is unknown to me. No one knows what exactly happens when we die here, yet we somehow all end up back ‘alive’. By now it’s just taken for granted. Some would say they saw what happens, but they’re mostly lies. Although there was this one person who had quite the tale to tell. How did it go again? Oh right, like this: “It’s the witch doctors man.. They do things with your corpse. Strange things. Unspeakable horrors are happening in Kera’s room. You’re all lucky that you can’t remember what happens in there. I for one remember, and I’d rather not..” Before he could finish his story, one of the cannibals came along and bit his leg off. Shortly after he went lunatic and started roaming the prison halls. No one knows if what he spoke was the truth or not.
The chains finally broke. Looks like it’s time for me to go. I have to go see her, that woman. Kera, the woman on the bone spider, and the warden of this prison. Legend says if she is defeated, the victor will be able to escape the prison. That scythe of hers, it’s cursed.. Once struck, you’re no longer able to escape the prison halls. The exit, no matter if you know its location, will not open up for you. Doomed to roam forever. But that’s only talk of the madmen around here, for all we know escape is impossible. Yet it is our only hope, as far as it can be called hope at all.
Oh well, rise and shine, we have another death to embrace. Or rather, I should stop being so pessimistic, if even I don’t trust in myself, then who will? All the others are already hopelessly lost. Even now, as I walk across these halls, the prisoners follow me. They attack me, one who was their ally, long, long ago. Yet they don’t chase all the way. It seems to be a lingering attachment, or prison tradition, but they will not try to harm one who is dead set on going to Kera, or is heading for the exit. They don’t go that far from the place they ‘protect’. But those only guard the first halls. They who lie ahead, are much, much worse. The Sikuku cannibals. As their name implies, they will eat anything that lives, even those of their own kind. Sometimes, the prisoners here are offered as a feast for the cannibals, since they would go on a rampage and eat their own allies if not pleased enough. It’s not just the cannibals either, all the other soldiers that guard or dwell in the prison all have their own mad tendencies. Every single one of them is sadistic, for one. Torture is an everyday occurrence, executions, fights, and so forth. Dark things happen here, some I would rather not remember.
As I keep running across the halls, I see a faint blue light glowing in the distance. “She’s there. This’ll be the last time I try, before I accept my lack of strength and inability to defeat her and escape this wretched place.” Luckily, the area before her room is empty. I can rest up a while before facing that monster. “Hahaaaa, it seems one has come to play with the queen again! You will die and lose it all!” One of those Sikuku skeleton dancers laughed at me while dancing, as if to mock my feeble attempt. I stepped through the entrance...
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