Quest 1.2
Enter Prison de Joaquin
After a whole day and night on horseback from the Coimbra Nimrod Bridge, the Thunderspring Squad finally arrived at the Joaquin Crater. Somehow, they had managed to arrive to their destination without facing any problems with bandits or wild animals.
"Uugh... this place gives me the jeepers." Fye muttered, shivering under the enormous grey stone building that stood before him. He should've just wear his Deinclain fur coat instead of this clean white Clara Margo coat.
"Prison de Joaquin was built 16 years ago by the NOCC. This place was used to hold political prisoners of Vespanola. It was considered to be the largest prison in Orpesia." explained Celeste while she was tying the reins of her brown horse to a tree, next to the other four Thunderspring Squad's stallions. As usual, she was dressed in her precious leather garments; the Gladiator's Armour, a fashionable design made exclusively by the famous designer Andre Janzur, just like Fye's Clara Margo coat.
"But why did they abandon it?" Fye asked in dumbfounded.
"Because the NOCC was disbanded after it's headquarter was attacked by the rebelling pioneers during the Three-Year War between Vespanola and Brestia." Rezxy said, walking towards Fye in his heavy set of blue-lining Schivarliere metal armour.
"If this place was abandoned, then what happened to all of the prisoners?" Fye asked.
Rezxy didn't answer, but his grim expression revealed everything.
"Don't tell me!" Fye shouted while crossing his arms together.
"Being a criminal has its price. Either you die now or later." Vexen said with a sigh. He donned a dark black version of the Pioneer's Le Blanc Musketeer coat.
"Relax, Fye. It's not like we're going to find any walking dead in there. A few rotten corpses maybe, but I don't think we'll find any form of undead inside this place." Athena said, wrapping her arms around Fye's collar. Opposite to Vexen, she wore the dark finely decorated Le Noir coat; a uniform specially made for the elites of Granado Espada's pioneers.
"It's not like we haven't seen any undead around, Athena." Fye shivered, remembering the undead Wahlansche and Gavis they had encountered three days ago.
"You feel it, Celeste?" Vexen queried, while staring at the flock of black crows flying around the roof of the building.
Celeste nodded. "I'm not sure why, but Fye is right. This place is quite disturbing."
"Then we should find the client's artefact and get out of this place as soon as possible." Rezxy said, as he went for the large two metred double doors which was the main entrance to Prison de Joaquin. His teammates followed him suit.
Rezxy the stopped in front of the doors and inspected them closely.
"It seems that this place hasn't been disturbed for some time now." he said, noting that the handle was all covered in dust and rust. The truth was that Rezxy was actually worried that their task might have been a trap, and that a Royalist ambush is waiting for them inside the building.
But he was wrong, and he was grateful for that.
"Well, duh. This place has the word 'abandoned' in it." Celeste blurted.
"Oh great it's lock." Rezxy growled, as the handle didn't budge when he tried to push it. Then a thin smile spread across his lips. "No matter…"
Lifting his metal-covered leg up, Rezxy delivered a powerful front kick against the doors, throwing the wide opened with an explosive sound.
"Let's go then." Rezxy gestured to them, and the five mercenaries made their first step into Prison de Joaquin.
x*x*x
Before they had proceeded further into the prison, the Thunderspring Squad took a short stop in order to make a final inspection on their supplies and the equipment they had brought with them.
Rezxy had brought with him his black great sword, the Schvarliere Slayer. Vexen had his two Serpent Revolvers holstered on his belt, while his black Dragon Hunter bayonet was strapped on his back. Athena carried her one and only trusted weapon of choice, the glimmering white Aquarius Tempest bayonet, which was also one of the powerful Constellation Treasures made by the Ancient Gods of Zeia. Celeste also had her own Constellation Treasure, the sabre of Acuben's Will, while other than that she also carried a bulky looking pistol called the Revolver of Justice.
Strangely enough, only Fye hadn't equipped himself with a weapon. In fact, he wasn't carrying any form of offensive object with him.
After the inspections on their equipment had been made, the Thunderspring Squad stood together in a circle for one final briefing of their mission.
"Prison de Joaquin is divided into five main parts." Explained Athena, while showing them an old drawing of the interior plans of Prison de Joaquin, carefully drawn on a big canvas sheet. Athena had brought this old map yesterday from a black market located near the docks of Coimbra.
"The Morghus; this is where we are now." she pointed at the first section of the drawing. "Next we'll have to cross the Altar of Despair to get to the Torture Chamber." she continued while pointing at the second and third schematics in turns.
"T…tt…Torture Chamber, you say?" Fye stammered nervously.
"Well, this place is a prison after all." said Vexen.
"Yeah. What's with you, Fye? You looked chicken out since the first time we arrived here." Celeste added.
"Sorry…it's not wrong to be scared right." Fye bowed his head in embarrassment.
"Well, I guess not." Rezxy shrugged. "Please continue, Athena."
"Right, as I was saying, from the Torture Chamber, there's the Schivarliere, a long corridor that leads to the Gehenna Bridge, the final part of Prison de Joaquin." Athena resumed.
"Hold on." Vexen interrupted, his fingers pointing to the final section of the map. "You said this was the final part of the prison, then where's the basement where the artefact is being kept?"
Athena shook her head. "Unfortunately, there aren't any drawings of mentions that there's any basement in this building. I've studied entire map, and there's nothing to prove that the basement exists."
"So this was all just a trick!" exclaimed Fye in disbelief.
"Don't jump into conclusions yet, Fye." Vexen grumbled.
"If the basement doesn't exist on the map…" Celeste said while thinking.
"Then perhaps the person who had constructed this place didn't want anyone else to know of its existence. It's where the building's power source is located, after all." Rezxy helped her to finish.
"Or maybe he's trying to hide this so-called artefact that our client is looking for." Vexen added.
"That's another way to explain it." Rezxy nodded in agreement.
"Is this antique really that important?" Fye wondered.
Then Rezxy remembered what Zero had mentioned to him in the letter; that this object they were asked to find will affect the future of Granado Espada and Vespanola. If that's true, then there's another reason for them to accomplish this mission no matter what.
"This mission is going to be tougher than I thought. Looks like we're gonna have to search this whole place high and low." Rezxy admitted.
The four of his teammates looked at one another, and then nodded to their captain.
"Let's go Thunderspring Squad! Athena, lead the way." Rezxy ordered them.
"Yes, captain." Athena responded. She unfolded the map and tucked it safely under her coat. As she started walking down the corridor of the Morghus, Rezxy and the others followed her from behind.
x*x*x
"Something's bothering you?" asked Vexen while walking beside Rezxy as the Thunderspring Squad made their way across the vast corridor of the Morghus.
"What? No. It's just that, isn't it a little odd?" Rezxy said coldly as he looked at the dozens of empty barred prison cells built to the walls of the building. "This place was supposed to be abandoned years ago. And from what I heard, the NOCC didn't release their prisoners even after this place was shut down."
Vexen looked at the prison cells with a grim expression. "Now that you've mention it, I haven't seen a single trace of carcass since we're here."
"They could have made an escape of their own, but…"
"That's highly unlikely." Vexen shook his head in disagreement. "Prison de Joaquin was designed to hold even the strongest of creatures within its confinement. Also, the front door was tightly locked when we first arrived."
"I don't like where this is going" Rezxy grunted under his breath.
The two friends then returned their gaze to the front. Athena was walking a couple of metres in front of them, the Aquarius Tempest held neatly in her hands. Fye and Celeste was close behind her, both had their eyes admiring the high walls and ceilings of the prison.
"Tell me, Rex. Why did you choose to accept this job in the first place? You do remember that we're mercenaries, not treasure hunters, right?" Vexen asked, eyes still looking at the front.
Rezxy lowered his head down as his mind tend to find a suitable 'answer' for his friend's question, but nothing came to him. He felt really guilty to lie at his comrade, especially Vexen, who was his right hand man in the Thunderspring Squad. He must tell Vexen the truth, just to him.
"That Zero, he works for the Vespanolan government." Rezxy said in a lowered tone volume, so that the others would not be able to listen to their conversation.
Vexen didn't look too surprised or shocked by it; he just raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I see, a client directly from Vespanola, now that's a first. I understand why you wouldn't want the others to know about this."
Rezxy bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to cause all of you any worry. He did promise that he wouldn't tell the kingdom regarding our identity."
"So that's why you accepted his offer?"
"Yes, that is one of the reasons." Rezxy nodded.
"Then what is the second one?" Vexen asked with curiosity in his eyes.
Rezxy gave a short sigh and blurted it out. "He told me in the letter, that the artefact that we're looking for is somewhat very important to the future of Granado Espada and Vespanola."
Vexen gave a short chuckle. "So I see. I didn't know that you actually cared about the fate of this country and the kingdom. I guess I really don't know much about the real you yet."
"I just don't want tragedy to repeat itself." said Rezxy in a grim expression. "I've failed once, and I'm not going to repeat it."
"I understand how you feel." Vexen agreed. "Something I wish that someone out there would punish me for that grievous mistake I had done that day." he then took out a canteen of wine from his belt and drained a few of its content.
"And yet you chose to fog yourself from that incident." Rezxy smiled wryly.
"It's better this way." Vexen sighed while putting the canteen back on his belt.
x*x*x
The walk through the Morghus had taken longer than they had expected. After 30 whole minutes of walking down its long and gloomy corridor, they had finally able to reach the second part of Prison de Joaquin; the Altar of Despair.
The structure of the Altar of Despair was a long and wide stone which connected the Morghus to the Torture Chamber. A hundred metres down under this bridge was a vast pool of boiling lava, erupting out from the volcano crater where this prison was built into. And as its name as implied, a massive altar was located at the centre of the bridge, with a large tombstone placed at its top. A bunch of small burning furnaces was also seen around the side of the bridge.
"This place is even worse than the first one." Fye complained, as he was already breaking with sweat by the intense heat of the active volcano.
"This prison was built inside an active volcano?" Vexen said as he looked down into the burning hell below them.
"According to the schematics, Prison de Joaquin had a magical barrier which protected its structures from any form of eruption that the volcano might cause." Athena explained.
"And that barrier was generated from the building's power plant." Rezxy said. "That's where we'll find the artefact."
"It's really hot in here" panted Celeste while fanning herself with her hand. "Maybe I should lose the clothes a little."
Just as Celeste was about to pull her shirt off, Fye came rushing in and halted her halfway. "Don't even think about it! I've seen enough yesterday!" Fye yelled nervously, his cheeks were already flushing red.
"So Athena, where do we go now?" Rezxy asked as he went to stand next to her.
"From here we'll have to pass the Torture Chamber. The entrance is on the other side of this bridge." Athena directed her eyes to the large double doors beyond the bridge. She then craned her up into the sky. "See that long bridge up there? That's the Gehenna Bridge; the final part of Prison de Joaquin."
The four of them looked up as well, and saw a series of very long elevated bridges dozens of metres high above their heads. The bridge Athena was pointing on appeared to be longer, and slightly wider than the Altar of Despair. It connected a large outdoor veranda-like structure to a small entrance that was built into the volcano walls.
"Where does that bridge leads to?" Fye asked to Athena.
"There is no info about that on this map. It only said that Gehenna Bridge was connected to the Schivarliere. I'm not sure where that strange door will lead to though." Athena said while scratching her head with curiosity by the mysterious door that wasn't drawn on the map.
"Probably it will take us to where the building's power plant is located." Fye grinned broadly. A disc-shape of magical energy began to form under his feet. "I'll just have to levitate myself up towards that bridge and check it out then."
"Hold it, Fye." Rezxy ordered him. The disc under the young man's feet vanished and his legs dropped back on the ground.
"Eyy? What's wrong Rezxy?" Fye questioned him dumbfounded.
"You numbskull." scolded Celeste, slapping Fye on the back of his head. "The client said basement. And basement is down, not up. Got it? God, even a toddler knows that." she slapped her palm against her face.
"Wait, listen." Rezxy hushed them. "Did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" puzzled Athena.
"Something's moving, right underneath us." he pointed down to the floor.
"I can't feel anything…" denied Celeste.
"No wait. Rezxy's right." Fye interrupted. His right hand then began to glow and a rod with four black wing ornaments on its head began to materialize on his hand. This was Fye's weapon, the Constellation Treasure, Control of Ophiucus. "I can feel hundreds of life force directly beneath our feet."
The atmosphere had grown tense. The five of them withdrew their respective weapons and scanned the vast opened bridge in alarm. Rezxy wondered if they were being over-cautious. There was still no sign of an enemy. They begged the question, were they being followed by someone, or worse, something.
"Royalists? Bandits?" whispered Celeste.
"Unlikely." Vexen disagreed.
"I can still feel life forces. There are a large numbers of them." Fye muttered.
"Watch out!" Rezxy dodged out of the way, as a strange armored creature flitted out from behind him, The curved blade that the creature was wielding had failed to slash him and the creature landed on all fours in front of them.
"What on earth is that thing?" exclaimed Athena.
"Looks like he's not alone." growled Vexen.
A hundred more of the humanoid monster climbed up to bridge at the same time, followed by another hundred. Rezxy now recognized the features of these beasts. They had a human-shaped body and heads which had sharp fangs protruding out from their long reptilian-like snout. All of these creatures were covered in dull scale armours, and a helmet that covered their ugly monstrous faces. Each of these monsters carried a long crescent-curved blade on one hand that could slice off a human's head with ease if not careful.
"Jabberwocks!" Rezxy said after recognizing what the creatures were.
"Jabber-what?" Fye snapped.
"Jabberwocks. They were known for attacking pioneers a couple of times in the wild. I can't believe they could inhabit a place such as this." Celeste told him.
"And what are those things then?" Vexen asked while pointing up into the sky.
A swarm of ghostly wraiths clad in a silvery robe, each had a book in hand, could be seen flying down towards the Altar of Despair from the Gehenna Bridge at a very fast speed.
"Evil Priests!" Rezxy growled.
"This place was filled with monsters. We're trapped!" Athena cursed, taking an aim with her rifle.
The Thunderspring Squad was now encircled by hundreds of Jabberwocks and Evil Priests, and there was no opening for them to escape from the monsters. They were outnumbered from a hundred to one.
"Great, just when I thought this was just going to be a walk in the park." Celeste growled, gripping firmly on her Acuben's Will and Revolver of Fortune.
"Looks like this wasn't a treasure hunter's job after all." Vexen smirked, while lifting his two Serpent Revolvers up to his shoulders.
"What now, Rezxy?" Fye asked, as a sphere of magical energy took form on his right palm.
"We'll just have to force our way through these losers." Rezxy replied, as he held his great sword in both hands. A smile of satisfaction appeared on his face. "This is where the fun begins, I see."
The five mercenaries charged at different directions towards the swarm of enemies that were encircling them.
"Thunderspring Squad! Move out!" Rezxy bellowed a thunderous battle cry as he swung his blade horizontally on the first group of Jabberwocks.
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