Legend of the Empyrean Blacksmith

PRISON BREAK (II)

Myrtiha, or better known as Land of Chains, was a world of islands . Graystone stood erect from within the ashen sea, turbulent waves repeatedly beating against the cliff shores, carving out rock in their wake . The sky above remained dark and clouded throughout, sparks of lightning and thunder repeatedly blasting away, booming sounds shaking the world .

Islands themselves were connected by massive, thick chains, each so wide twenty people could stand side by side on them . Black chains seemingly kept the islands close together, so they don’t drift away on the tidal sea . Each island had its own specific name, and each was divided in at the very least two separate sides .

Alison, Lucky, and Hannah were currently standing on top of a rugged edge, bent strangely over and under itself like a loop, surrounded by thick and tall trees . Like the man told them, the intersection between two different quadrants was largely abandoned . There was roughly a mile of width to work with, helped by the fact that it was submerged within thick branches of the blooming trees . Though the weather did little to inspire joy and hope, it certainly helped the local plant life thrive .

While Hannah and Alison were preparing a quick meal, Lucky stood upfront with the man, gazing through the half-circular hole within the looping rock . In the far distance, the ’Submerged Prison’ emerged . Contrary to its name, it was not underneath water . . . or anything, really . It was similar to most others, with two sections -- aerial and grounded one . In the sky, hanging off the chains wrapped around something invisible, were countless cages, repeatedly blasted by wind carrying thick shards of glass and ice .

Down below a fortress of sort heaved up, built mostly out of aged marble, with occasional parts exuding metallic sheen, largely gates and supporting beams . Lucky immediately felt her head pulsate with pain -- she imagined she wouldn’t have a difficult time at the very least sneaking in . . . but her dreams were crushed quickly . From the first glance, it was seemingly impossible to sneak in -- the fortress faced the open sea on its back end, as it was bunched up straight at the edge of the island, with its front exposed to a vast clearing without a singular obstacle insight that she could use to hide .

There were in total sixteen sentry towers, six at the front, six at the sides, and four on the back . Though she was still to understand the guard patterns, she imagined the shifts were regular, and it would be difficult to exploit the temporary respite . As she was in no rush yet, however, she merely sighed and turned around, walking back, with the man following after her quickly .

"Do you know if they have any sensors to detect underground movement?" Lucky asked the man .

"Yes," the man nodded . "Every prison is built on top of a set of arrays dedicated entirely to scouting -- ground, underground, above, invisible, even spatial . "

" . . . what the fuck?" Lucky mumbled, rubbing her temple . "Are they really that paranoid?"

"They should be," Hannah chimed in as Lucky joined them . "Most of the worst from our world are locked up somewhere here . Not only is being a Prison Warden here one of the most profitable jobs that exist, letting a single prisoner escape pretty much means the end of your career . "

"You don’t see a way in?" Alison asked worriedly .

"Not at the first glance, anyway," Lucky shrugged, sitting down . Their temporary base was wedged between a cover of tall trees and a side cliff Lucky just descended from, ensuring that unless one specifically looked at this spot, they wouldn’t be found no matter what . "But, we’ve just settled here . Ask me again in a few days . "

"Do you have any ideas?" Alison asked the man with a warm smile, grabbing his hand .

" . . . I-I’m sorry . . . I don’t . . . " the man replied .

"If the goal is to just grab a few of them," Lucky mused aloud, grabbing the freshly roasted boar meat . "Can’t we just set a trap outside and wait for them? I mean, they’ve got to leave at least once in a while, right?"

"Chances are that they have teleportation arrays inside the fortress," Hannah said . "To minimize the need to leave the place . "

"Eh, I’ll figure something out," Lucky shrugged . "I’m the brains and you two are the brawns . So always be ready to brawl, got it?"

" . . . are you saying we’re stupid?" Hannah asked .

"Yeah, pretty much . " Lucky replied . "Well, you are stupid; Ally is just innocently ignorant . "

" . . . I’m surprised you aren’t spitting shit out of your mouth considering how hard you’re kissing her ass . " Hannah said .

"Y-you two! Please stop!" Alison chimed in quickly . "What did you promise me?!"

"That we’ll abstain from saying the ’c’ and the ’f’ and the ’p’ words in front of you?" Lucky said, grinning .

"You forgot the ’ts’ . " Hannah chimed in .

"Ah, yes, the tits . How can I forget the tits? There’s six of them just here alone . "

" . . . . . "

" . . . how does anyone blush because of that?" Lucky sighed .

"Ask him . " Hannah pointed at the man who seemed rather intrigued by the girls’ conversation to the point his eyes unconsciously drifted over to their chests as they talked about them . "That’s a real man right there . Unabashedly staring without a care in the world . "

"A-ah! I’m sorry!" caught red-handed, the man drew back a few paces with a horrified expression . Lucky and Hannah stared at him dubiously for a moment, wondering just how many psychological problems he has developed, before turning back to their dinners .

"At the very least," Lucky said . "The guards’ levels aren’t anything praiseworthy . If it comes down to just booming right in, we shouldn’t have much of a problem . "

"We can’t just boom in," Hannah said . "Though I don’t know for certain, chances are they have arrays and formations to stop exactly that, regardless of the guards’ strength . "

"Yes, and besides, the guards that you can see are most-likely just there for a show," Alison added . "Back home, most of the official guards in the Sect are Disciples who failed to keep up with the curve . They’re usually among the weakest members of the actual fighting force . "

"Disguise as them?" Hannah proposed . "I have some fairly high-tier talismans for it . "

"Even if we could, how do we get in? If no one’s leaving, they probably won’t be expecting anyone to return either . " Lucky said . "Maybe have one of us try and get captured as a prisoner?"

"Too risky," Hannah shook her head . "We don’t know the structure inside, and whether we’d even be locked up . Chances are, we’d be first auctioned off as we wouldn’t be official prisoners . Distraction? Maybe cut the prisoners in the cages and sneak in during the ruckus?"

"Can those chains be destroyed?" Lucky asked the man who had seemingly recovered from his previous blunder .

" . . . I doubt it," the man shook his head . "There have been attempts before, a few times; one time, a Primordial Titular tried it and barely got a chip in . "

" . . . what the fuck are they made out of?" Hannah sucked in a cold breath, glancing at the hanging chains .

"I could ask my . . . khm, Master, if he has any ideas," Lucky said . "Though it would mean, khm, telling him about the fire and all . "

" . . . would he know what to do?" Alison asked, the image of a strange man flashing through her mind .

"If there’s anyone, it’s him," Lucky said, glancing stealthily at Hannah who was secretly grinning at her . "Though I must warn, his methods tend to be . . . less than ethical . "

" . . . let’s hold back on it for now," Hannah said, noticing the struggle in Alison’s eyes . "We’ll call that ’Master’ of yours if we’ve no other choice . We’ve only just arrived here, anyway . We’ll observe the situation for a bit . "

"In shifts?" Lucky asked .

"In shifts . " Hannah nodded .

"Hm? What shifts?" Alison quizzed .

"While two of us sleep, the third one observes . " Lucky explained .

" . . . why would we sleep?" Alison asked, confused .

" . . . because it’s relaxing? Fun? The reason to live?"

" . . . he he, you are weird, Sister Lucky . . . "

"Yeah, I’m weird, you’re adorable, and this third wheel is unnecessary . It’s nice how all of us are something . "

"Be careful," Hannah said . "You might just go from weird to dead if you keep this up . "

"If it means getting away from you, go on -- end me . No, wait, I’ll just end myself . I don’t trust you have the ability to do it . "

"It’d be a miracle if you died, regardless," Hannah said . "I’ve a feeling even death doesn’t want you . "

"Then I’ll just stay among the living to annoy you . I’ll make that my purpose in life . "

"Aww, it’s adorable you think you can annoy me . . . "

"Uh . . . then what was I doing for the past few hours? Sucking on my toes?"

" . . . aaaand you had to make it weird . . . "

"Well, I am the weird one . " Lucky grinned as the two glanced at Alison who had a rather dispirited expression; she seemed to have finally accepted that her reality would remain this and that there was no point in fighting it .