Date: August 12th, year 1286 (one day after Nyx's trial) Location: Cafeteria, High security dimensional prison, Headquarters of the Second Branch
Nyx pushes the door to the cafeteria open, wearing her green jumpsuit. Instead of handcuffs, she was wearing white gold bracelets around her wrists, suppressing her magic at a slightly lesser efficiency. Many of the inmates, wearing either green or yellow jumpsuits, turn to her as she walks by them to sit at a specific table, where a singular elf donning a yellow jumpsuit was absentmindedly chewing on a slice of tomato.
- "Regulus!" Nyx waves at him.
- "By Lady Night." Regulus hunches over, desperately looking down at his plate in hopes she would lose interest.
- "Hey, at least swear by me, or Solomon!"
- "...What could you possibly want from me this time? Are you going to demand I participate in your pointless sporting events again? I have already told you to cease your harassment."
- "No, I just wanted to tell you about my trial!"
- "And what makes you think I am interested in it?"
- "Julian was my lawyer, and Lady Night showed up to try to kill me and Vanessa."
- "...Go on."
As Nyx recounts to him the events that transpired during her trial, a woman approaches them. She was wearing a green jumpsuit, just like Nyx, had blonde hair and glowing pink irises.
- "Oh, it's you!" Nyx exclaims. "Fancy seeing you here!"
- "You… still remember me?" The woman replies, dumbfounded.
- "Of course! It's only been a few months, even normal humans would remember that. You're the woman who kidnapped me when I was on my way to Crystal Rose!"
- "That's… true I guess… I figured someone like you wouldn't remember someone like me."
A shadow suddenly looms over them. It was a very tall, muscular mountain of a man with dark skin, a bald head, dark eyes and a black beard. A few abstract tattoos were visible on his biceps and forearms, along with his neck. He was wearing a red jumpsuit, and his wrists had extremely thick white gold bracelets wrapped around them.
- "..." The man looks down at Nyx, and utters a menacing sentence in a deep voice, in a language most of them couldn't understand.
- "Was that Polemian?..." The woman comments. "Let's all relax alright?"
- "Oh right, they can't understand you Sylas." Nyx tells the large man. "Can you talk in Common?"
- "..." The man clears his throat. "I was saying, are they bothering you, boss?"
- "You can understand 'im?..." The pink-eyed woman asks.
- "I learned Polemian on my second day here!" Nyx replies. "And no, Sylas we're just chatting."
- "She did say she kidnapped you." Sylas frowns at the woman. "Mage trafficking little Nyx? That's a no-go."
- "Aren't you a mage trafficker too though?"
- "Yeah. But she tried to traffic you. That's an insult to you, so it's an insult to me too."
- "Did you even know 'er back then?..." The woman asks.
- "You said something?" He cracks his knuckles.
- "Nope. Nothin'."
- "Sounds about right."
- "Hey Sylas, since you're here and I'm back in prison, you wanna run a powerlifting competition? The last one we held before I left was really fun!" Nyx asks.
- "Sounds good to me. My trial's in a month, so maybe you'll finally have a chance at winning one of these then!" He has a powerful belly laugh that shakes the table the group was sitting on. The nearby guards get visibly a little more nervous, and reach towards their wands and staves.
- "You're on!" Nyx gets up, and turns to Regulus. "You too Regulus!"
- "I refuse." Regulus replies without looking at her.
- "Oh come on! Are you still sour over losing the first one? You could get better if you trained!"
- "I have no interest in… powerlifting."
- "Too bad!" Nyx turns to the pink-eyed woman. "What's your name?"
- "Me?... Livia." She hesitantly answers.
- "You wanna participate, Livia? I don't think I've seen you around here before, so it's nice to have an extra challenger!"
- "What's powerliftin'?... I'm not that great at combat y'know…"
- "Oh don't worry you don't have to fight!"
- "Alright then, I'll give it a shot I guess."
They get up, and follow Sylas out of the cafeteria. As soon as they exit, a group of ten guards starts following them, all preparing spells aimed at Sylas.
- "That's… a lot?..." Livia comments.
- "Oh yeah Sylas is a red suit!" Nyx replies.
- "Kehehe." Sylas laughs. "I'll say, these Spectans know how to run security. Should take some inspiration when I'm free."
- "Red suit?..." Livia asks.
- "Yup! In here you have the green jumpsuits, like you and me, which are people who don't or can't really cause trouble. Then you have the yellow ones, who are kinda dangerous and who need to be watched but probably won't act up out of nowhere. And then there's the red ones! They're all like, super war criminals, terrorists, rogue mages, mass murderers and other things! Most of them are really powerful or really violent, or both. I was a red suit on my first day but they changed me to green after I broke up a fight in the cafeteria. Most red suits aren't allowed in the cafeteria though, only the not very violent ones."
- "I sure wasn't expecting you to jump in between me and that guy to ask for tomato sauce, boss." Sylas comments. "I respect that."
- "Why does he even call you boss?" Livia asks. "Really, 't makes no sense. Have you seen the guy?..."
- "Lady Night tried to link up with my group to get an extra supply of Irregulars for some kinda project." Sylas answers. "But I don't deal with weirdos like her, so I declined. And after that, she killed half of my men and left me for dead. Not a fun time, I'll tell you that."
- "So Lady Night is kind of his enemy too!" Nyx adds.
- "Yup. When I heard little Nyx over there almost blew her to bits, I was real giddy. Between that and the cafeteria thing, she's more than earned her share of respect in my book."
- "I… got you…" Livia frowns in confusion.
- "So how did you end up here? I remember you were really far from Crystal Rose." Nyx asks.
- "I just stewed over it for a few months, tryin' to bounce back and takin' a few odd jobs here and there but… I just decided to quit it all and turn myself in. That life just ain't for me. I'll just try to atone for my sins to Lord Solomon for the rest'o my days. Got transferred here a few days ago, cause I know some stuff they're interested in."
- "Oooh. So what are you gonna do now?"
- "Hell if I know? Become a nun or somethin'? If I ever get outta the slammer."
- "Interesting!" Nyx stops, along with Sylas and the small battalion of guards. "Ah, there's the gym!"
In front of them was the open door to a vast room filled with inmates exercising, using a variety of different machines. They enter, and Sylas speaks up.
- "Hey." All the inmates immediately stop to look at him. "We're holding a powerlifting gauntlet. Anyone who's not participating, get the hell out of here. The cafeteria's got beef today, so go eat up to strengthen your weak ass for the next time."
Multiple inmates immediately vacate the premises, and both Nyx and Sylas make their way to an area of the gym filled with steel bars and weights made of a black metal brimming with a light violet glow, very similar to the one Nyx creates when manipulating gravity. The rest of the gymgoers join them shortly, and Livia's face quickly turns pale.
- "Wait up, Nyx…" She calls out. "This ain't a strength thing is it?"
- "It is!" Nyx enthusiastically replies, her eyes sparkling.
- "Nah I'm droppin' out."
- "Oh."
- "You could. But you wouldn't disappoint little Nyx…" Sylas puts his giant hand on Livia's shoulder. "Would you?"
- "Right, meant I'm NOT droppin' out. My bad." Livia quickly follows up.
- "Great!" Nyx concludes. "Let's do this thing!"
The whole design of the competition was to have a barbell of a specific weight in the center of the room, and whoever felt brave enough to try to lift it would step up to do so. Anyone who failed would be automatically eliminated, and those who succeeded got to the next round, with an even heavier barbell. Livia does not get past round two. She simply collapses on the floor, her arms twitching after giving it all she had.
- "Oh, I guess Livia's out." Nyx comments, helping her up and sitting her down on a nearby bench. "Better luck next time!"
- "Lord Solomon, please don't let there be a next time…" Livia prays.
The competition continues. Round three, four and five pass by, and the rest of the inmates are quickly eliminated. By round seven, the only people left were Nyx and Sylas, both drenched in sweat after the effort they had to exert. They were now using the enchanted barbells, which were much heavier than their modest size suggested. Sylas takes a deep breath and lifts the barbell off the ground, the metal bar creaking and bending under the strain. He then drops it, and it forms a few cracks in the enchanted floorboards designed especially to withstand large weights. Nyx leans down, breathes in, and pulls. However, the barbell does not leave the floor. Sylas, who was sitting on the ground and recovering, has a satisfied grin.
- "Ah. I really can't lift that one…" Nyx complains.
- "Guess I win that one aga-" He starts.
- "Not yet." She whispers.
She raises her head. Her eyes were empty of stars, but full of a burning determination. Sylas' grin gets even wider at this sight.
- "Ain't that Vanessa." He mockingly calls. "You here for revenge for the last time?"
- "You… bet… I am!" Vanessa screams as she lifts the barbell off the ground, with so much force she almost sends it flying above her head.
- "By Lord Serafim." Sylas' smile disappears and he gets up, standing tall. "I guess we're real serious this time huh? To think you lost at round seven before."
- "I'm not even… at my max!" Vanessa defiantly replies.
Round eight is a struggle for both of them, but Vanessa still barely manages to pull the barbell up. However, round nine seals her fate: she falls forward, her arms refusing to move another inch. Sylas catches her with his left hand before she hits the ground, and helps her stand back up.
- "I take… that one." He huffs. "But you fought like a damn warrior. You sure you don't got some Polemian in you?"
- "I… do actually!" Vanessa faintly replies, her voice coming out quieter due to exhaustion.
- "Ha, thought as much. Well done."
That night, when Nyx is back in her cell, she lazily lies in her bed and looks up at the ceiling.
- "My arms hurt…" She complains.
- "You mean OUR arms hurt…" Vanessa adds in her head. "I can still feel them burning…"
- "By the way, remember when Sylas said he did tattoos? I think I should get one!"
- "Absolutely not. I don't want to go back home to Oakvale looking like some kind of delinquent, or crazed jailbreaker."
- "Oh."
- "I truly do not understand the purpose of such activities." Nyx-R comments. "Thankfully I am not tied to both of your senses."
- "It's fun!" Nyx simply replies. "We need to do something while we're in jail, so why not do that?"
- "...There are better activities available to you. On that topic, I demand control of the body for four hours tomorrow. I would like to speak with Regulus about philosophy again."
- "You can't just demand control over me!" Vanessa complains. "Plus, four hours is too much. I can't stand listening to you both yammering about these pompous, complicated things for more than an hour…"
- "An hour will not do. Who can have a good conversation in a mere hour?"
- "Me! Because I talk about normal things!"
- "How about we do two hours?" Nyx suggests.
- "That is acceptable." Nyx-R replies.
- "...I'm fine with it." Vanessa adds.
- "Great!" Nyx closes her eyes. "I really hope everyone's doing okay outside… I feel a bit sad when I'm away from them."