Tales from The Vacuous Breach pt1

Vacuous Breach, Featureless Crater

Dark as it always was, deep in what he could only consider the ‘heart’ of this damnedable place, the man in the strange armour sat at his work desk, staring at a strange glass flask of liquid. Purple in colour but moved as if it were mercury.

“We have one.” a tinny voice said from the doorway.

The man placed the flask gently on the desk “Good. Prepare dinner, And have Three get the supplies.” he instructed, as he put on his coat.

“At once sir.” Two nodded.

The metal clad man in the vanished from the door and headed off to the kitchen, whereas The Figure headed off towards the dining room. As he arrived his two taller ‘compatriots’ were sitting a human man in a chair at the opposite side of the long dining table.

The figure pulled out his chair and waited for the man to awaken from his forced sleep.

When the man finally stirred, The Figure spoke. “Salutations.” His voice was deep and metallic through the helmet he always wore.

“WHERE AM I!?” the man shouted and attempted to rise but the two tall ‘men’ that flanked him forced him to sit back down.

“You are in my home. A special place, and I’ve brought you here to help me. In exchange for your freedom from the horrible place you were rotting away in.” The Figure explained.

“Why would I trust you, I can’t even see your face?” the man asked.

“Simple.” The Figure said as a large plate of steaming hot food was sat before the man who was a prisoner just moments ago. “You can’t.” The Figure leaned forward a bit. “You have no reason to, but…” he noticed the man eyeing his plate. “Eat.” The Figure commanded, “It’s what it’s there for.”

“Why aren’t you eating?” The man asked, stopping, fork half way to his mouth.

“That would require me to remove this helmet, Which is quite tedious and quite painful,” he explained, “I only remove it when necessary.”

The man’s hunger beat out his scepticism, and the moment he took the first bite he didn’t care as he shoveled in mouthfulls at a time. “What…I…H..ve..ta…do?” he asked as he chewed.

Under the metal mask The Figure frowned. “Uncivilised troglodyte.” he thought as he stopped himself from grinding his teeth or saying something, “All you are required to do is place a few lanterns and tie rope to them. It’s really quite easy as long as my instructions are followed to the letter.” he told the man.

“I don’t read so good so better just tell me.” The man said after washing down his overstuffed mouth full of food.

“That is fine.” The Figure said calmly, having tamped down his disgust. “If you do this for me and return, your sentence will be dissolved and you will walk home, or where ever you like, a free man.”

“Say…How can you do something like that?” the man cocked an eyebrow. “You some kind of Royalty? Place is a bit shabby for a castle.”

“It is what it’s required to be. And no, I am not a Royal. I simply have connections and my connections have a product…” The Figure gestured to the man, “that I require.”

“You're calling me a…” the man started but was cut off.

“A product, correct.” The Figure steeped his fingers. “You are a murderer. Set to simply rot away underground in a dank cell, but based on what my contacts told me, you are quite ingenuitive. Four escape attempts, bravo on not being put to the axe right away. What I am set to provide you is that escape. It is really quite simple. You follow a few small orders, a few days of easy simple work, I will provide you with the means, and provide nourishment and hydration, You only need to not try to run. I assure you any attempts to do so will result in your death, I don’t mean it in a ‘I will hunt you down’ sense I mean straying from the lights you will die, The Light protects here, they are special. The path is your salvation. You can accept my offer or you will be returned to your cell, and marked for execution.”

The Figure pushed back his seat and rose. “You will have ten minutes to decide while I check on the preparations for your excursion to the outside.” The Figure snapped his fingers and two more of the strangely dressed men entered the room flanking the exit door holding what looked like strange sleek black crossbows. “Oh, and please don’t get any idea that you can escape from here. I can assure you this compound is quite secure and my men are quite capable of cutting your life short.” The Figure said as he stood half silhouetted in the doorway “Don’t dally.” he instructed as he walked away and vanished down the dim hallway beyond.

“That bastard thinks he’s better than me.” the prisoner thought, eyeing the men standing sentry at the door he came to the one and only conclusion. “Doesn’t look like I have a choice.”