Prologue: The Prisoner

Deep within a dungeon, there is a man in tattered clothing shackled to a wall. The shackles are not made of the normal iron used to restrain most of the prisoner kept within this pit of despair, but they sparkle in even the flicker of a flame's light. The sparkle comes from the dust of a precious gem prized for its ability to restrict elemental spirit powers. These are necessary because the man they are restraining is a Kotada. The Kotada are considered to be an offshoot or evolution of humanity. They possess the unique composition to allow them to merge their essence and that of a spirit within their bodies. This Merger grants them the powers of the Spirit which manifest in various forms of magic. The shackled man does not appear to afraid like the other prisoners around him are. If he is hungry or injured, one cannot tell from his demeanor. He merely seems to be waiting for what is to come.

After thirty minutes pass, the door above them opens and the the man does not move as he feels a presence enter the room and move to stand in front of him. The figure stands before him for a few moments and he can hear the quivering of the humans around him, but their fear does not bother him. They are humans who more than likely defied the current captors or they are Kotada with a valuable power. The shackled man finally decides to open his eyes to look upon the one who stood before him. The man before him was taller than he was by probably 4 inches with a muscular frame. He grits his teeth and growls at the shackled man who does not budge. He inquires in an unphased tone, "You're disturbing my meditation. Why?" The growling man scowls at him and goes to punch him in the stomach, but another voice calls out, "I told you to retrieve the prisoner, not to harm him!" The fist of the larger man stops a mere inch from the prisoner's abdomen as he looks up in the direction of the voice that halted his attack. The voice was female for sure, but it carried a slight accent to it.

The prisoner is left in shackles and dragged over to the opening from which the jailer had descended. With a large hand gripping the back of the prisoner's neck, the larger man launches him out of the pit and into the daylight of the above world. The prisoner had almost forgot what the daylight looked like. It had been at least two weeks since he had been captured following The Incident. Looking around, he tries to gain his bearings as his sight returns. Rising to his feet, his eyes fall on the first female he sees waiting to find out why he hasn't been tortured or executed yet. The large jailer goes to try to keep him on his knees and he drops to off balance the behemoth. Before the jailer could react, the prisoner brings up his right leg towards his chest before driving it forward and downward in a diagonal line for the man's right knee. He turns around and looks at the woman. He makes no motion towards her as her guard prepare to attack him.

The prisoner shows no further aggression or action, but instead he just sits down cross-legged and looks at the robed female in front of him. "Why am I here?" the prisoner inquires. She looks down at him and responds, "You aren't going to try and escape?" He raises up his arms to remind her of his shackles. "I am unable to use my powers with these on no matter how hard I strain or try to push my powers to their limits. Besides, from what I do remember from my capture, I would not be able to return to my homeland before your forces would catch me again. Who are you and what do you want with me?" A younger female grabs a cushion and positions it on the floor a few paces away from the prisoner and kneels next to it. The older woman walks up and sits on the cushion. "You are here because I wish to speak with you. I am hoping that you have answers to my questions. You will not be harmed so long as you are cooperative and helpful." The prisoner smiles and retorts, "I am here and unharmed because you wish to know about what happened in that port village that got destroyed." With a smile, she nods, "Are you the one responsible for all that carnage?" He looks her directly in the eye and asks, "Do you think I would be sitting here in these shackles if I was? Also, I do not suggest that you go looking for him either. If you power-stealing vermin would have left our people alone, none of that would have happened! We have lived separate from you for generations and we have enjoyed peace on our own with the spirits of the island." The female interrogator takes on a quizzical look for a moment before she asks, "Power-stealing vermin?" She turns to one of the men in the room and speaks, "Inform The Shroud that the Brokers were involved in the Incident." Turning back to the prisoner, she continues, "You just said that you don't suggest I go looking for him. Are you trying to tell me that a single person caused that much death and destruction?" The prisoner looks at the male she spoke to before turning his attention back to her. "You won't get to them without going through him first and you don't want to deal with him. Just go home before you get yourself hurt, milady." His words trail off as he looks at the insignia on her uniform. He would not inquire about that just yet. He needed to find out so much more before he could start planning a way to get himself free and able to fight back.