Jadax Firestorm Day 27 Jadax raised his sword into the air ready to end this feud once and for all. Araz took a few steps back and prepared himself for the oncoming attack, but then Araz took a bad step and tripped over a rock, falling into the shallow water. Jadax laughed and then ran at Araz who looked quite angry as Jadax neared him and then suddenly Araz was staring up at Jadax with a look of absolute terror. "Scared because you know you are going to die? I don't blame you because if I saw a guy like me getting ready to eviscerate me, I would be prayin to the Overseer," Jadax said. But strangely enough Araz didn't answer back and appeared to be looking past Jadax. Jadax cocked his head to one side then turned around to see about 20 soldiers wearing black armor and wielding strange, glowing swords and one soldier at the front was wearing a red suit of armor. Jadax dropped his sword, realizing they both didn't stand a chance against these fighters. Hopefully they might just take them prisoner and then he could find a way to escape quietly. The lead soldier in the red armor pointed at the brothers and said, "What fools be these that come upon our glimmering shores? Speak and tell me who you two are or my men will surely gore you to the great beyond." Jadax was perplexed at this man's way of talking but none the less quickly gave an introduction, "I am Jadax Firestorm from the clan 'Spyre' and this is my brother Araz Firestorm of the clan 'The Shadow'." Araz got up and nodded toward the man. The man took off his helmet to reveal hardened features, tan skin, black hair, and green eyes. He didn't smile and his face didn't betray any emotions. Not someone Jadax wanted to mess with if he could help it. "Very good. I am Toth, 1st general of legion 2 of the Kinshou army. You two have trespassed on the great Island Empire of Kinshou. For your indiscretion you shall be given the sentence of two weeks hard labor at the Kinshou feric mines. First you will meet with our leader and answer her any questions that she asks of you. Now, walk!" Just like a well oiled machine the soldiers surrounded Jadax and Araz in a circle like pattern that cut off all escape routes and made it to where if they tried to kill one soldier another could easily kill them on the spot. Toth marched at the front of the formation of men, leading them north past several small hills. After a short time the hills had ended and two large mountain ranges could be seen on the left and right of them. The group marched in-between the mountains continuing their journey toward an unknown destination. Jadax was busy contemplating escape whenever they put him to work in the mines. He wasn't about to be stuck here for two weeks. He just had to bide his time and hope that nothing bad happened while he was here. As the band kept moving, the mountain ranges were getting closer together until they could see them form a dead end. At this dead end situated within the rock itself was a large castle made of stone and the same black metal the soldier's armor was made of. On either sides of the fortress were caves leading into the mountains, Jadax could only assume that these were the feric mines. As they got closer to the fortress Jadax could see several turrets on the structure that had a soldier and a round, black cylinder on each. At the front of the stronghold near the large front door were 3 soldiers on the left and 3 on the right. Jadax could see they were being taken straight into the lion's den, and from the looks of things escape seemed almost like an illusion. At the caves were several soldiers, watching men and women bring carts of something out to two separate entrances on the sides of the fortress and then exit with empty carts and go back into the caves. Toth kept going to the front of the fortress and then stopped the soldiers as they got to the front door. Toth then spoke, "General Toth reporting back from standard security sweep of the island outskirts with two prisoners in custody. Requesting entrance into Virsh and an audience with the Beloved." A call came out from on top of the castle, "Unit recognized and voice verified. Provide password to enter Virsh." "Name Toth, number 2618, rank 1st general in command of the 2nd legion of Kinshou, code number 845V900I24J7. I vouch for the loyalty and identity of all my men." After Toth said this each soldier with Toth gave a similar answer to the call. There was a short pause and then the call came back, "Information verified and permission granted. Proceed." The great stone door to the castle opened and they all walked through to the inner chambers. Inside Jadax was astounded at how large the room was and how high up the ceiling was. They were walking on a purple carpet that separated at different directions to the left and right, each leading to a different door or staircase in the initial chamber. Several of the soldiers had left and only four remained with Toth still leading the way. The soldiers had gotten on either sides of both Araz and Jadax as their formation changed. Jadax looked past Toth to see where they were headed. Toth was taking them to a staircase near the rear of the chamber and they all climbed straight up until they reached the top. At the top was an enclosed area with only one door straight ahead of them. At the sides of the door guards were posted. Toth pulled out a strange key that unlocked the door and they all went through into a much larger room. The room was much brighter than the rest of the castle and was decorated with colorful tapestries, paintings, stained glass windows, and a red carpet that ended at a throne on which sat a beautiful woman. The soldiers grabbed hold of Jadax and Araz as they walked toward the throne. On the left and right sides of the carpet stood 16 soldiers in perfect lines not moving a muscle. Toth halted their movement as he neared the throne, dropped to his knees, and bowed his head. The soldiers with Jadax and Araz did the same thing, pulling the brothers down with them. Now that they were much closer, Jadax could make out the features of the woman. She was very tall, had silky, brown hair, a soft radiant face, blue eyes, and light skin. A woman not far from perfection, thought Jadax, this might not be so bad after all. But as Jadax would find his musing would seem to be quite wrong. The woman known as the Beloved motioned for Toth to stand. He rose and waited for further commands. "Toth my loyal general. What news do you bring?" "My empress I completed the sweep and only found these two men trespassing on our shores. What would you have of them?" The Beloved stood and looked down upon Jadax and Araz, "Who are you men and why have you invaded our island?" Jadax stood up but was pushed down by the soldier and when he was about to try again he thought better of it, "Empress me and my brother never meant to trespass on your island. We just happen to crash here. I am Jadax Firestorm of the clan 'Spyre'." "And I am Araz Firestorm of the clan 'Shadow'. Really we have no intentions of invading your island," Araz said. The Beloved looked down on them and her features changed from soft to hard and menacing, "How do I know you are telling the truth? Are there more of you? And before you answer just know that I have ways of making you tell the truth." Jadax took a deep breath and spoke again, "I am not lying. I have no reason to lie seeing as how I could regret it very much. And no there isn't anybody else with us." The Beloved took a seat in her throne and folded her hands in a thoughtful way, "I do believe you about there not being anybody else on this island because my general Toth is very thorough. I am not however convinced that you came here by accident. In over 20 years we have never had a visitor to our island and suddenly you end up here by chance. It sounds like a clever cover story to me." After saying that Toth spoke up, "Shall I put them to work in the mines empress?" "No take them to the green room. Find out everything they know. They will talk or die." "Yes my empress," Toth said with a bow. He then turned and motioned for Jadax and Araz to be led out of the room. Jadax was upset at the Beloved's decision and didn't like the sound of what was happening to them, "Hey! That isn't fair! I wasn't lying I tell you! Just let me go and take my brother he is a good worker and doesn't eat much!" Araz flashed an evil look at Jadax, "Hey speak for yourself you loser! I intend to get out of here!" The soldiers knocked Jadax and Araz to the ground with the hilts of their swords. "Shut up you ingrates! Never talk back to the Empress! Her word is final!" Shouted Toth. The soldiers kicked Jadax and Araz until they stood up then pushed them out the door. Soon they were in the main hall again and began following an offshoot to the left toward a door with a strange symbol on it. Jadax assumed it stood for the "Green Room". Inside the room were many strange devices. Several metal chains hung from the ceilings, metal instruments were in a wooden case against the wall, two chairs with metal clamps were in the middle of the room, and a glass square held a green liquid behind the chairs. Jadax and Araz were placed in the chairs and bound with the metal clamps so tight they could scarcely move. A cloth blindfold was also tied over their eyes that blocked their vision. Jadax felt the worst was yet to come and wondered if he would ever finish his fight with Araz. Jadax looked around as he heard a voice, it was Toth, "This is the green room. In this room you will answer all my questions with as much detail as possible. If you don't or if I feel you didn't answer the question as best you could punishment will be dealt to you. Each time you give a wrong answer the punishment will increase in severity until you pass out from the pain. Then I will wait for you to wake up and we shall begin again. And don't worry about wishing for death because my friend here who will be administering the punishment is very careful about not killing our guests in this room." Jadax began to get worried and pondered how he could out of this predicament, "Hey what if I said I will never answer you stupid questions!" Toth's voice got rougher, "Then you will sway my hand to use the green liquid of mire. And believe me when I say you don't want it to come to that." Jadax swallowed hard and then remembered he had a dagger in his right boot. Those guys were so foolish. They never bothered to search me. Now they will pay for their stupidity, he thought. Jadax waited and listened to get a bearing on where exactly his two captors were. He heard a man on his left standing very close not moving and then he heard Toth begin to speak to behind him, "My first question is are you here to invade our island?" Jadax spoke up loudly, "I already told you no!" "That is a false statement. Lash him!" The man on Jadax's left obeyed and used a leather whip on him multiple times that cut and ripped his skin. "I will repeat the question. Are you here to invade our island?" Jadax started to shake his boot loose as he answered, "Yes. My clan sent me here to find out what kind of defenses you had. Me and my brother were going to disguise ourselves as one of your people and infiltrate your capital." Araz quickly spoke, "What are you talking about? Ouch!" Jadax heard a clank of metal against Araz's head after he burst out and he chuckled quietly. Toth continued his questioning, "My second question is what is your invasion plan?" Jadax got his boot off, "We don't have one yet. First my clan needs my intelligence before any plan can be made." "Satisfactory. My third question is give me a location of your clan's base with numbers of members." Jadax reached his bare foot into his boot, "My clan is located in southern Hakido and we currently have 500 members." Jadax used his toes to grab his dagger and pull it halfway out of the boot. Toth nodded at the answer, "Good. My fourth question is give a description of your clan's skills, powers, and armaments." Jadax readied his plan and hoped his assumptions of what would happen was right, "Oh why don't you go kill yourself!" Toth spoke clearly and slowly, "That is a very inferior answer. Strike him!" Jadax could feel the wind of the object about to smack him and he ducked just in time to dodge it. When he did, Jadax brought his knife up to his face and cut off his blindfold, put it in his mouth and swiftly freed his left hand, and tossed the knife at the man that just missed him. The dagger stuck him in the head and he fell to ground oozing with blood. Jadax could hear Toth coming toward him so he tipped his chair over and broke the now brittle wooden pieces so he would be free from the chair. Jadax bolted to his feet and turned to see Toth pulling his sword and yelling for more guards. Jadax looked over at his brother still in the chair and decided to free him so that maybe they could stand a chance at getting away. Jadax flipped backward just avoiding Toth's sword swipe and took a wooden staff with a pointed, metal end off of the weapon case. Jadax, now armed, ran at Toth who sidestepped him and slashed his side. But Jadax didn't care because his true target was Araz and he succeeded in freeing his hand. Araz pulled off his blindfold to see Jadax fighting Toth and tripping him with a staff weapon. Toth struggled to get up but his heavy suit of armor kept him on the ground long enough for Jadax to execute a fatal blow. Just as Jadax was about to thrust his weapon through Toth's head, he stopped and lowered his arms. Toth didn't stop and contemplate his luck but instead lunged his sword through Jadax's stomach and he turned to show a dagger in his back that Araz had pulled from the other man's head and shove in Jadax's back. Jadax fell to his knees and said, "Why? I will see you in ange Araz to finish this! Don't think you have seen the last of me!" Having said that Jadax collapsed on the ground dead.