by Edward Brody
At least I hoped.
“You can’t escape,” Trynzen heckled. “No one escapes.”
I snickered. “How long have you been in here?”
“Oh,” Trynzen said. “Let me think. One, two, three, four… Hmm. Long time. Trynzen has been here for ten years.”
“Ten years?” I questioned. I couldn’t imagine staying in one of those dark, damp cells for so long.
“Yes. I am sad,” he moaned. “Trynzen wants to go home…”
“Don’t we all!” Jeremy huffed.
“Why are you in here?” I asked.
“Ohhh,” he said. “I cannot say. Trynzen did something bad.”
“Something bad, huh?” I felt like I was talking with a child, so I adjusted my voice so that it sounded like I was talking to a cute toddler.
“Yes,” Trynzen said.
“You can tell us,” I said. “We won’t tell anyone.”
Jeremy cleared his throat and leaned close to me. “What are you doing, bro?”
I shrugged. “Just talking. The more information, the better.”
“You won’t tell?” Trynzen asked.
“Of course not.”
Trynzen sighed. “Okay, I will tell you. Trynzen find item, make me feel good, make Trynzen feel strong. But Trynzen brothers want item, want to steal. So Trynzen run far, far away.”
I creased my brow, certain that wasn’t the end of his story. “So you were put in jail for that?”
“Trynzen hungry, not know Freelands. I find food and home to stay, but owner not like Trynzen. Try to kill Trynzen! I have to fight him!”
“So you’re in prison for fighting?” I asked.
“Yes, but Trynzen hurt him bad, almost dead. And then I ate his food. They say Trynzen want to be murderer, but Trynzen just scared, just hungry.”
“Hmm,” I said. “That’s unfortunate. I’m sorry to hear that.”
There was a mewing sound from the other cell, and then I heard the sound of feet scurrying across the ground.
There were no windows in the prison, so it was difficult to tell what time it was or how long we had been held captive, but after what felt like four of five hours, a guard returned.
“Meal time!” I heard a guard yell.
I heard the sound of feet scampering in the cell beside us again, and when the guard was in front of our cell, he tossed a food ration into the cell directly in front of ours. It landed on the ground beside another dried, shriveled food ration, and the guy lying on the bed still hadn’t moved. He turned and tossed two more in our cell.
You’ve received: Small Stale Food Ration. Durability: 1/5. Quality: Poor. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.2 kg. Who knows what’s in these tasteless things? All you know is that they keep you alive.
“Maybe you should check on the guy over there,” I suggested. “He hasn’t moved since we got here.”
The guard glanced back to the man laying on the bed and shrugged. “If he starts stinking, I’ll have him removed.”
“He’s dead?” I asked.
“Could be,” the guard said. “That’s what happens here in prison, you know? You stay locked up and then you die.”
“Food,” I heard Trynzen cry.
“Shush up,” the guard said.
I walked to the bars and could see the guard hold the food ration out towards Trynzen’s fur-covered hands, just an inch or two out of his reach. Trynzen stretched his arms out and grunted as he tried to grab the ration.
“You want this, huh?” the guard said, bobbing the ration forward a little, then pulling it back just in time that Trynzen couldn’t grab it.
“Please!” Trynzen cried. “Trynzen hungry!”
The guard snickered and kicked the bars of Trynzen’s cell, causing the prisoner to duck away. He opened up the food ration, took a bite, and moaned as he chewed it. “This is good stuff,” the guard said.
“Please!” Trynzen cried excitedly, again reaching his arms out between the prison doors.
The guard snorted, cocked his arm back, and threw the rest of the food ration into Trynzen’s cell, hard. “Go fetch it, you dirty Barbaros!”
I heard the ration smack against the wall and the rapid patter footsteps as Trynzen rushed to retrieve it.
The guard spit the chewed bits of ration onto the floor. “Nasty grub!” He started down the hall, handing out rations to the rest of the cells before he eventually disappeared.
Jeremy and I opened our food rations and bit into them. Almost immediately, I wanted to spit it up, and judging by Jeremy’s twisted face, he wasn’t enjoying it either. They tasted ten times worse than a normal food ration.
“Ugh!” I said as I swallowed the first bit.
“I can’t eat this.” Jeremy coughed and sat his ration down.
“Me either,” I agreed. “It’s too sour and too bitter at the same time.”
The feet in the cell beside us scurried quickly against the floor again. “You not eat?! Give to me! Give to Trynzen!”
“Take it,” Jeremy spat and was starting to stand up to hand his ration over.
“Wait,” I said holding my hand out towards him. “We don’t know how long they’ll be in here or how often they bring food. You might want to hold onto it just in case.”
Jeremy looked down at me like I was crazy. “This is nasty, bro.”
I pointed towards the shriveled ration in the other man’s cell. “It might not be too nasty if we haven’t eaten in days. That one over there has to have been left for a couple days at least.”
Jeremy groaned. “Yeah, I guess that’s a good point.”
“Please!” Trynzen cried. “Trynzen hungry, always hungry!”
“We’re keeping our rations,” I said firmly.
“No, no!” Trynzen continued. “Please. I will trade you! Trynzen will trade.”
I raised an eyebrow to Jeremy, then yelled back to Trynzen, “Trade for what?!”
“Got any lockpicks?!” Jeremy called out.
I nudged Jeremy and rolled my eyes. “No escape attempts, dude.”
Trynzen scurried back and forth across his cell several times, and then yelled. “Here! This! I’ll give you this!”
I walked over to the prison bars and could see Trynzen holding his arms out of his cell with a small, wooden bowl in his hands.
“A bowl?” I asked.
“Yes! Good for eating! Good for drink!”
I snorted. “We don’t want your bowl.”
“Wait!” Trynzen yelled and started scurrying around his cell again. When he returned to the bars and held is hand out, between his fingers were a small, white, sharp thing. “This! Trade for this!”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Trynzen’s tooth! Very special.”
If I hadn’t been trapped in a prison, I would’ve lost my patience with the guy. “Dude, we can’t do anything with your tooth. Unless you have something valuable, we’re keeping our food for now. If we get out of here anytime soon, we’ll give you what we have leftover.”
“You can’t get out,” Trynzen said. “No, never!”
“Hey,” Jeremy whispered. “What about that item he was talking about earlier? The thing he said he ran away with?”
I pursed my lips together as I thought about what Jeremy said. My expectations were low that Trynzen would have it, and even if it were worthwhile, why would he trade it for stale food rations?
“What about the item you said your brothers wanted?” I asked. “Is that something you want to trade?”
“No!” Trynzen cried. “Cannot trade. It’s Trynzen’s, and Trynzen cannot trade.”
I smirked and Jeremy shrugged my shoulders.
“What is the item anyway?!” Jeremy yelled.
“A trinket,” Trynzen said. “A special trinket. Powerful. Make Trynzen feel good.”
I perked up, my interest growing as he spoke. “Can we see it?”
“No,” he replied. “Trynzen not have. Trynzen hide it already.”
I looked back toward
s Jeremy and grinned. “So if it’s not here with you, why can’t you trade it?”
“Because it’s Trynzen’s!” he yelled.
“But you said that no one ever escapes, right?” I clarified.
“No escape,” Trynzen said.
“Okay, so if you can never escape, why not trade the item?” I asked.
There was the sound of something scratching on stone erratically.
“Trynzen not understand. Trynzen not have! Cannot trade!”
“Well, you could tell us where to get the item, right?” I said. “Well trade you a food ration for the information.”
“Information?” Trynzen asked curiously.
“Tell us where you hid the item, and we’ll give you a food ration.”
“But you cannot escape!” Trynzen cried.
I let out a deep sigh, feeling my frustration grow the longer I talked to the guy. “So, if we can’t escape, then we can’t get the item right? So we give you a food ration, and you tell us where the item is, and since we can’t get the item, Trynzen gets to keep the item. Understand?”
There was an erratic scratching sound again.
“But Trynzen not have—” He paused and there was another scratching noise. “—two food rations! Give me two food rations, and I will tell you where Trynzen hid his special item!”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You wouldn’t lie to us, would you?”
“No! No! Trynzen cannot lie!”
“Okay, how about we give you one ration, and after you tell us where the item is, we give you the second one?” I asked.
“One and then two?” he asked curiously.
I rattled my head, not sure if I was understanding him correctly, but I wasn’t going to keep pressing the guy. Worst case scenario is that we lost the food rations. “Yeah. One and then two…”
“Okay! Give Trynzen now!”
I kneeled down, reached my arms between the prison bars, and slid the food ration across the floor. As soon as it was in Trynzen’s grasp, he snatched it up and started eating it furiously.
“Okay, so where’s the item?” I asked.
There was a long silence, and Trynzen suddenly grabbed the prison bars forcefully. “East, past the Wastelands, past the Freelands, between Babarosia and here. The Peace Temple, hidden beneath a broken Barbaros. That’s where Trynzen hid it. Now, one and then two!”
You’ve found a hidden quest: Trynzen’s Trinket
Trynzen has told you of a hidden trinket somewhere in the Peace Temple between Barbarosia and Highcastle. Find the trinket, and optionally, return the trinket to Trynzen.
Reward: Unknown, 6,000 XP
Do you accept this quest?
Accept/Decline
Nice, I thought and quickly accepted the quest. I was about to pull my hair out, but putting up with Trynzen’s antics had at least netted me a quest. “Barbarosia?” I asked. “Barbaros?
“I am a Barbaros. Trynzen is Barbarosian. Barbarosia is my home! But Trynzen is not like the other Barbarosians. Trynzen is Trynzen!”
I looked at Jeremy. “You heard of that?”
Jeremy shook his head.
“What about the Peace Temple?” I asked.
“One and then two!” Trynzen yelled. “Trynzen told you where I hid it!”
Jeremy handed me his food ration, and I repeated the process of sliding it to the Barbaros man.
Trynzen snatched the ration and started cackling to himself as he ate it. “Barbaros smart, human dumb. No escape, no have trinket, no have key. Why human dumb to give Trynzen one and then two?”
“Did you get a quest prompt?” Jeremy whispered.
“Yeah, I got it,” I said, “Who knows what he’s talking about, but the XP reward looks nice.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “If we can ever get out of here.”
I sighed and moved back to the bed where I laid my head and tried to avoid the water that was pooling in the corner. I was feeling agitated after speaking with Trynzen. The guy was extremely weird, but I’d probably be a little crazy if I were cooped up in there for years as well.
“So what are going to do about food now?” Jeremy asked.
“Well, we’re Reborns,” I said. “We die, we respawn. And since entering the game, I’ve gone without food a few times. A few days will be uncomfortable, but it won’t hurt us.”
“Reborns?” Trynzen said to himself. I hadn’t been talking loud, so he must have had very good hearing. “Human says they are Reborns. Human dumb. Human give one and then two.”
Jeremy groaned, sat down, and leaned his back against the wall. “I’m already starving…”
I lay there with a thousand thoughts rushing through my head. What was the trinket Trynzen was talking about? Why were we in the prison? Who was the murdered noble? What was the rest of the guild doing? I thought about Keysia. I thought about Adeelee. I thought about Rachel. Would I ever get a chance to win a rank in the Arena and get my name listed on the plaques? My most pressing question was what would I say to the King, and was there any chance he would believe me?
I tried to clear my mind and pulled up my stats to assign my points from my last level up. My progress in First Aid was coming along very slowly, so I threw my LP in that skill, and once again, I put all my AP into Intelligence.
The longer I lay there, the more anxious I became. I felt trapped like I had when I was in the Sands, and the more I thought about the Sands, the more I remembered the horrible things I witnessed with Dryden Bloodletter. He would be crossing the Serpent Sea soon, and he’d have a dragon to roast anyone who opposed him. We hadn’t been complacent, but I wasn’t sure if my guild alone would be strong enough to defend itself by the time he’d come. We had only just started the foundation of a castle.
If I couldn’t convince the King of Highcastle to do something, I wasn’t sure where I’d turn next.
Chapter Twenty-Six
1/29/0001
We had been locked up for two days.
Jeremy was lying on the bed groaning and rolling his head from side to side. “I’m dying bro. This is so boring!”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “This is rough.”
We had passed the time sleeping as much as we could and chatted a bit about our lives back on Earth and our times in the game when we were awake. I learned that he had studied to be an electrical engineer, and unlike me, had been very close to his family, even up ‘til the day he put his headset on. Everything had just been ‘too much’ for him, he claimed. His parents had put lots of pressure on him to succeed, and with no job and thousands of dollars in debt, he felt like a failure. He claimed he would’ve never considered suicide, but he was willing to take a chance on the Nexicon working. Right before crossing over, he had a final conversation with his parents on the phone, and told them to join him when they could—that they’d see that he was doing better in Eden’s Gate.
It all sounded way too dramatic for me, but I wasn’t going to judge him. I had never walked in his shoes, so what did I know? I was just happy that he was happy, which he assured me he was—aside from being trapped in a cell.
During our boredom, I tried casting an Arcane Missile on one of the tiny insects that would occasionally crawl into the room, but I found that nothing happened. When I tried all my other spells, they didn’t work either. There must have been something in or around the room that nullified it.
The outer iron door of the prison clanked, and I heard it slide open for the first time since the guard brought us the food rations. Jeremy and I both shot up to our feet and ran to the prison bars, anxious for something to happen.
Four guards chatted as they walked down the hall and ultimately stopped at our cell.
“Food!” Trynzen cried and held his arms out through his bars. “Trynzen is hungry!”
A guard snarled and lifted a kick at Trynzen’s arms, causing him to back away. “Filthy creature!”
Another guard pulled a key from his pocket and began unlocking our cell. “It’s time for
your trial.”
“Finally,” Jeremy said with a sigh. “I wanna get the hell out of here!”
One of the guards snickered. “Don’t count on staying gone too long. You’ll likely be right back here if you’re not executed.”
“We’re innocent!” Jeremy snapped.
“Innocent,” the guard huffed. “We’ll see about that.”
When the door swung open, another one of the guards produced two sets of shackles and held them out in his hands. They looked a lot like the shackles that I had been bound with in the Sands but slightly thinner. “We’re going to need to put these on you. We can’t risk you casting magic around the King.”
A guard motioned for me to come forward, and when I stepped outside the cell, he forced me to turn around and bound my arms behind my back. As I was being shackled, I looked inside Trynzen’s cell and saw his face for the first time. He was a cat person of some sort—but not quite like the Krazirs that I had seen before. Instead he looked a bit like a lion with a distorted face and a thick mane around his head. He wore only a loincloth, and the white fur on his body was covered in dirt and grime. He was skinny, hunched over, and decrepit.
If he was some sort of white lion, he was the saddest excuse for a lion I had ever seen.
One of the guards sniffed and brushed his fingers against his nose. “This one over here.” He indicated the cell with the lying man who hadn’t moved since we arrived. “He’s starting to reek.”
“We’ll get him in a few days,” another guard said.
After shackling Jeremy’s arms, they led us further into the prison, past several other cells, some empty, some with half dying people, and some with people who were clearly dead. We eventually reached another iron door that led to a set of winding steps that led straight up and into the King’s castle.
It felt like we had entered a new world as soon as we stepped out of the prison and into the castle. The walls were still stone like the prison, but they were larger, clean immaculate stones, and everything inside of the castle was neatly arranged. Banners and shields hung on the walls, both bearing Highcastle’s crest, and candles and torches were spaced evenly, lighting up the spacious hallways. Portraits of the King and the two women I saw him with in the Arena—who I was pretty sure was his wife and daughter—were hanging throughout, and empty sets of plate armor were placed decoratively on just about every corner.
