Closed Birthed by flames part 1/5~ Abduction

[Shadow]

Spring 45, 125

There was darkness and then there was light. Luke awakes in a large stone room lit by luxite orbs that are recessed in the walls and ceiling. There is plenty of light and space. Luke is chained on all limbs but he has enough room to move and take a few steps. There is a circle around him that is glowing with magical power. It forms a ten meter radius circle around him.

The ceiling is high and there are no windows. There are holes for air to travel through but there is no telling where he is or what escape would look like.

There is plenty of time for Luke to observe his surroundings. There is a singular door at the center of one of the walls that he is facing. There are glyphics absolutely everywhere. If he tries to cast magic at all the glyphs will glow. All glyphs traced back to something that his attention would be drawn to; a strange looking meter. Even a master level cast would barely cause it to budge.

The prison he was in was not perfect. By design it allowed him to cast fulgur magic, but the circle around him would prevent any flames or aethereal influence from extending past its boundaries.

Nothing to do but wait.

 

[Luke]

────── Luke Pendragon ──────

​

"Ugh, where am I" Luke said as he opened his eyes and found himself in a strange stone room. It was very unlike any room he had ever been in. It gave him the vibes of a prison even before he noticed that he was in chains.

"What in the…" he started as he quickly got to his feet and started pulling at them. This wasn't good. He tired to think back to how he'd gotten here. He had been in Jian, hadn't he? He felt so tired though… maybe he'd been poisoned or knocked out? Or maybe someone had used some kind of sominite fueled spell on him.

None of that really mattered. How he got here wasn't nearly as important as the why. He'd been captured and put into a space so obviously designed to contain a mage that he didn't even have to try to cast magic to tell that it wasn't going to work. That didn't stop him from trying, however.

He tried getting his restraints to come off – first by pulling on them as hard as he could, physically. When that didn't work he tried manipulating the metal itself. All that did was activate some glyphs that led to some kind of meter. Somewhat desperately he shot a pillar of flame from his fists to try seeing if he could even cast magic anymore. To his surprise, he could, but the fire didn't make it very far before it was sucked up.

This was about the point that he wished that he had given a hoot about ensorcelling. Else maybe he could have exploited a weakness in the glyphics somehow. However he was helpless in that regard, and his strongest spell barely caused the meter to budge. He had to assume that it was an indication for how powerful the talismans were.

"What do I even do?" he asked himself. He supposed all he could do was wait until someone arrived. Surely someone would arrive eventually. He needed to eat and presumably someone wanted him alive else they would have just killed him.

10
-0.33 expert Terra to try breaking restraints
-1 master Fulgur to test the waters
8.67

348

 

[Shadow]

Luke's futile attempts had proven that he was stuck here until someone let him out. The only one with the power to let him escape was the one who walked into the room several hours later.

It was none other than Sire Pendragon, his father. He wore a spotless suit and a smile when he saw Luke.

"My son, it's been so long. How have you been after all this time?" He snaps his fingers and something inside his coat glows. A chair is created out of thin air which he grabs and puts down in front of Luke right outside of the circle.

"I've awaited this day for so long. All those years of building you up to make you strong. Did you know that out of our entire bloodline, there's only record of a handful of people making it as far as you have? A paragon candidate in my lifetime. This is so wonderful~~"

 

[Luke]

────── Luke Pendragon ──────

​

As soon as Sire came in, Luke started to get angry. The man looked as young as the day he'd last seen him over a decade ago. He waited to talk until he heard what he had to say… but then he lost control.

"I hate you!" he shouted. "Let me out of here!!!" He struggled against his chains then threw his full body weight at the man only to slam onto the ground.

He scrambled to his feet and looked him right in his eyes. "You made me live out in the desert my whole childhood, left me and my mother alone… and then kidnap me after all this time? You're fucking insane!"

He refused to acknowledge that he was a paragon candidate. He'd hidden which magics he'd taken on and mostly used fulgur alone if he could get away with it. But apparently the word had gotten out, somehow. He didn't understand why his father would even care. He didn't understand most things about his father.

516

 

[Shadow]

"You hate me? I'm insane? My boy, everything you have, everything you are is because of me. Who do you think sent you all those mages to initiate and train you? Your poor mother could never do that. Who do you think kept your fed and housed? Just because you lived away from the kingdom doesn't mean I didn't care about you. Kidnapping is also rather harsh. I brought you here to have a chat. It is time you put aside your childish anger and grew up. We should be working together, you and I."

Sire did not care about most of his children. Only god knows how many he killed trying to create a paragon candidate. He laced his words with lies to try to bring Luke to his side. His silver tongue could work miracles.

"Even after you left Arcanis, I kept tabs on you. I would never let harm befall you. I love you, can you not see that?"

 

[Luke]

"I don't… I can't believe you," Luke said through gritted teeth. It did kind of make sense as to how his mother was able to afford to educate him and make sure he didn't do anything exceptionally stupid with his magic. He had decent teachers. He always assumed his mother found money through less than honest means. If his father had been behind his training this whole time, that changed things.

Or did it? It was almost worse to find out his father had been deliberately trying to get him to become a paragon candidate. How many had died from his ambitions? Why should he think more highly of his father if he could have gotten him killed during any one of the initiations?

"What do you even want from me?" he spat, "how does me being a paragon candidate help you at all? Did you expect me to gain all that power and be your little lap dog?"

675

 

[Shadow]

“Oh my boy. I don’t want anything from you. I want to help you realize your true potential. Once I do that, you will be able to accomplish things that even I cannot. You cannot fathom the power that a paragon wields. It is not befitting to spend the rest of your life doing mundane jobs that I know you’ve been doing. Fighting like a dog in a war, pretending you only know how to use fulgur, I know the things you’ve been doing my boy. I’ve kept a close eye on you.”

Sire got to his feet. He walked around Luke to see if he was injured.

“Once you become a paragon you won’t have to ask me what I want from you. Our goals will be aligned. And you seem to be in good physical condition. We can begin your ascension soon. I am making some final preparations.”

 

[Luke]

“You’re delusional,” Luke said, “I would never help you, even if I was a paragon. In fact, the first thing I’d do is probably make sure you were dead. Actually, I think I’ll do just that as soon as I get out of these chains.”

He struggled some more, but his heart wasn’t really in it. He knew there was next to no way that he was going to break out. He was going to have to find some kind of weakness… maybe he could try blasting the barrier with different amounts of power when Sire left.

“What do you even intend to do to make me ascend? Is it even possible to force someone to ascend? You’re so good at talking without actually saying anything. As usual.”

He wanted to goad the man into fighting him because at least he had a chance of winning in a battle. He couldn’t see how things could possibly get worse than this.

835

 

[Shadow]

“Save your insults, boy. Save your energy too. I don’t want to come back and find that you’ve completely drained yourself. You will need your aether and your health if you want to succeed. And yes, it is possible to force an ascension. Your options will be to ascend or die. I would expect nothing but extremes when it comes to you.”

Sire looked at Luke and he looked like he saw something inside of him. He looked like a caring father but it could have been a convincing act. Luke was like a pet that had been bred to have a very specific trait. Even if there was no love there, he was important to his father. He would not kill Luke for no reason but his plan to ascend Luke was not going to be painless.

“You will see in due time. Get your rest.”

Sire left the way he came; leaving Luke to his thoughts.

 

[Luke]

“Fucking…” Luke didn’t even have words to respond to what his father was saying. How could someone look at him like that and be prepared to kill him at the same time? “Hey! Don’t just leave me here!” he shouted when his father turned to leave.

He was chained up and he was starting to feel hungry. And he hadn’t gone to the bathroom this whole time. Where was he supposed to go? Right here? He didn’t even struggle when his father shut the door. He was really stuck, wasn’t he? He sat down and thought about what he might possibly be up against. At the very least it didn’t sound like he was going to be killed… but the confidence his father exuded regarding how he would help him… it was unsettling. Why was it that he never knew what the hell was going on behind the scenes?

Having nothing to do, he tried to get some sleep, figuring he’d need it pretty soon. His wrists were already starting to get bruised from all the struggling...

1000 wc

 

[Shadow]

Thread Title: Birthed by flames part 1/5~ Abduction

Thread Summary: Luke wakes up in a prison cell in his father's kingdom. Sire prods him for information.

Expected Rewards:
Shadow~ +8
Luke~ +10

Thread Link: https://antarok.net/threads/birthed-by-flames-part-1-5-abduction.594/
​