Immortals Unbound (Degusaurusrex/minot18)

[minot18]

"And here is Prisoner 8216," said the heavy southern accent of the prison warden.

The large white haired man stood in front of the cell in question. Turning to the entourage of three other individuals the warden continued his explanation. "We are not quite sure which pantheon of legends this one comes from but he was found in the late sixties. You all remember that magic bullet that ended peace talks. Well that was this fella here. Local authorities arrested him on the scene with get this a bow and arrow." This allotted a chuckle from all involved.

"Anyway things didn't add up and it was escalated over to us. We quickly realized what we had and brought him here. Every time we try interrogating the prisoner he switches languages on us. Everything from ancient Roman to American sign language. BTW most of those he learned in here from books. For all intents and purposes though he remains a model prisoner and there for is one of the few allowed outside solitary conferment."

The warden pulled back a slate on the door revealing the inside of the cell. On a simple cot laying down with a book in hand was the prisoner in question. By appearance he looked to be a white male in his mid to late thirties. Atop his head was a shaggy mane of thick brown hair and a slight stubble upon his chin. As he turned to face the door he flashed a charming smile and rose from his cot. He slammed the book shut and began speaking in what the three individuals guessed was probably French. "Bienvenue au zoo. S'il vous plaît, avancez et rappelez-vous qu'il n'y a pas de photographie au flash."

"Enough of that now," the warden spoke shutting the door panel.

The man inside the cell chuckled as he heard them stop at the cell next door. He could mostly hear the muffled voices. Once things were silent the man reached inside his mattress and pulled out a thin shiv of ivory. It had once been the binding of a very old book that had been lent to him from the library. With a practiced swiftness the man began fiddling and tapping with the side of his cell. It had worked on the other side and he had made a quick friend and ally. He hoped it would work with his other neighbor as well.

A few pokes and prods later and a small sliver of the cell seemed to pull apart. Lowest bidder always was the case in government contracts. "I'm not sure which language you speak or even who you are. So we will start simple," he whispered through the wall in English. "My name is Pest. Who might I have the pleasure of addressing?"

 

[Degusaurusrex]

She had been there for months now, and it was seeming like she would never be able to escape. It had been warm when they'd stolen her off the streets, shoved a hood over her head and thrown her into the back of a van before slamming the door shut. No amount of screaming or lashing out had done anything to deter the men that had taken her, and a needle prick later she had found herself spiraling into unconsciousness in the back of the van.

When she'd woken the hood had been gone and she was in a room so bright she could hardly see at first. The metal cuffs around her wrists and ankles had bit into her skin and rubbed it raw the first few days, and she had lost her voice from all of the screaming that they'd gotten the wrong person. She had begged, pleaded with them to let her go. She didn't know where they were at or how to get there, all they needed to do was blindfold her or knock her out and drop her off in any random city, any random place. Anywhere that wasn't there, locked in a cell half the time as they told her over and over again that she was the descendant of a goddess. They were insane!

Over the months she had come to discover that maybe they weren't so insane, because when they brought her out in her chains to explore the facility, she was taken past cells and cages containing creatures of pure myth. Men that turned into wolves at will, gnashing their teeth and thudding against the cage as she walked by and stared in horror. Creatures with horns and claws, tails and scales and any other variety of traits she could think of!

Then there had been the visit. No amount of screaming had seemed to matter when the woman appeared in her thick cell, it seemed like no one could even hear her while the goddess stood there with an exasperated expression. Was she somehow muting the entirety of the cell to the rest of the world as she spoke of how Kellyn was her descendant, a reaper of souls that would grow in power the more she was exposed to blood and death?

Ranting about it had been a poor decision on her part and had led to more tests being run on her, experiments as she was paraded around near feral creatures before they had finally thrown her into a cell with what looked like a rabid man-wolf hybrid intent on tearing her throat out. She had thought that to be her final moment then, to die under the fangs and claws of a beast, and nothing could have prepared her for how good it felt to bury her newfound claws in his throat and tear. The blood had splattered both her and the surrounding area even as she shrieked, spitting and pulling back as she stared in horror at the black talons that had once been her fingers. It seemed to have satisfied the staff there, though, and she was periodically allowed to roam the halls with supervision to see if she could feel any oncoming death from any of the other prisoners.

"I can't say it's a pleasure." The petite woman lay sprawled on her cot as she heard the voice coming through the wall, her eyes closed and an arm draped over them as she sighed. Now who wanted her attention? "But my name is Kellyn." It wasn't a voice she remembered hearing before, which was strange since she had toured various parts of the facility over the last six months.

 

[minot18]

"Kellyn," he whispered through the wall.

Taking a moment he thought through his readings and listing of God's he had met. The name didn't immediately ring out as familiar.

"Well I'll say the pleasure is all mine than," he chuckled. "I'm not sure how long you have been here. But I've been here long enough to know the accommodations have since grown stale in hospitality."

Hearing a slamming sound he quickly turned and checked his door. It was still closed at the sound seemed rhythmic. It seemed one of the other guests was having a bit of a melt down.

"And it dosent sound like I'm the only one. So what's your story?"

 

[Degusaurusrex]

"It's winter, isn't it? I've been here since the summer." That equated to about six months give or take, although she wasn't entirely sure what month it was, or even what part of the country they were in. Even if she had continued to keep track of how many days she had specifically been a prisoner, that wouldn't have helped her to know their location or much about the place in general.

The sound of slamming from several doors down caught her attention and she sighed, lifting her arm and opening her eyes to stare up at the ceiling. Bland, boring like the rest of her cell, but at least she'd been given enough privacy to have her toilet behind a tiny built in wall, after much protesting and bartering for it. If they were going to insist on parading her around and using her to suss out when someone would die, and see how she reacted to the death, let alone the way they had thrown her in with the rabid werewolf, she was going to demand a sliver of privacy in her prison.

"I don't have a story. They stole me, brought me here and told me I'm descended from a goddess of death. Didn't believe them until she visited me one night, and then they decided it was a good idea to throw me into a cage with a monster and see who came out on top. I assume you can figure out who came out still alive." The memory of those ridiculously sharp talons came back to mind as she gazed at her hands, holding them above her head as she tried to see if she could summon them. No such luck at the moment, but she hadn't gone out of her way to try and practice it, especially since it seemed they were more prone to come out in times of need or immediate danger.

"Why do they call you Pest?"

 

[minot18]

The man smiles at his own good fortune. Whoever was on the other side of the wall must be powerful.

"Pest is a name my brothers gave me," he replied doing his best to keep a calm demeanor. "I don't my real name would mean much in here. So Pest it is. Also keep that on the down low are hosts haven't quite figured me out yet."

Strife, as he was actually called, took a moment to think of his brothers. How shortly he could go look for them and find out what the delay was. They had great works to do and they others were slacking.

"Look we don't have much time to talk. Later tonight things are going to happen and happen quickly. Do you want to join in?"

 

[Degusaurusrex]

"Pest it is." She echoed his words and sighed again. Great, she was clearly housed beside a maniac who called himself Pest, and he was talking about what, starting some sort of riot tonight? He hadn't been very specific about what was going to happen in the night, or who it involved, yet he was asking her if she wanted to join? Like hell she was just going to agree to do something without knowing the details, and after a long minute of silence she sat up and rubbed at her face. What time was it, anyway? They didn't have clocks in their cells and the only way she'd been able to keep track had been when meals were delivered.

"Join in on what, exactly? In case you haven't noticed, we're stuck in these cells, and I don't plan to just attack the first person that comes near my door. They tend to put you back in chains and poke at you with needles because suddenly they need to run more experiments. Are you mad? Unless you've got some good friends in high places that are coming to burn the entire place to the ground, I don't know what you think you're planning."

 

[minot18]

"It's funny you mention that." The man said chuckling.

His plan did in fact deal with a great deal of fire. Strife and been here for many years. In those years most of it was spent quietly watching. The guards kept a routine and that routine never changed. Except for three months ago.

Officer Delmar, as his tag read, was a slightly larger dark skinned man who had many bad habits. The worst was an absolute over panicked desire to help anyone.

Strife had first noticed it Delmar came to deliver meals. He always asked if they needed anything extra. One time Strife had accidently spilled some if the food. The guard was in such a panic to handle thr problem he personally brought his own lunch over to the prisoners cwll.

"Tell me Kellyn. Do you know what a ifrit is?"