City of the Mad started off as a writing project for my Writer's Craft course back in my highschool days. Due to the time restraints, I left it as a rather abbreviated version of my original idea. I got near perfect grades for it, but I still thought that I could do so much more with the universe I had created. So here it is. City of the Mad, the full version. I'm still not sure how long it will take to cover, but it will probably take a while to cover the whole story. Thus, I'll leave you with part one for now. I'm a bit excited to press the publish button as I type this, so please excuse me if I've accidentally left any typoes/other errors in. There shouldn't be any, if not, very few.
1
For the first time in ten years, Jorin took a step out of his prison cell. The spell keeping the guards asleep was still in effect. Jorin had collected just enough astral energy over the decade to cast two spells: one to put the guards to sleep, the other to destroy the door to his cell. If he wanted to cast any more spells while indoors, he would have to find his ring. Jorin sighed. He was not even sure if the mage's prison kept or destroyed their prisoners' meteorite rings. He figured that the best place to start looking would be the warden's office, running parallel to his cell. Quietly, Jorin opened the door to the office and peeked in. The warden sat at his desk, but he too, was asleep. This was not due to Jorin's trickery either. The Mundanes have gotten lazy, Jorin said to himself.
The warden kept an organized collection of unique and interesting meteorite rings in a display case in the far corner of his room. Many were simply ordinary meteorite rings with elaborate engravings and polishing, but Jorin could sense immense power from others. The warden was quite the fool to leave such power lying around to be retaken, Jorin thought. After rifling through the display case, Jorin came across a familiar ring. It was his from ten years ago. The curse was undoubtedly still on the ring, and Jorin was unsure of whether he would fall under its influence again. That was, after all, how he ended up in the best defended mage prison to start with. Jorin was faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to put on his ring. He was but a boy of six when he discovered the cursed ring. Those were the last memories of his childhood spent free. He did not know why he was imprisoned, but he knew it must have partially been due to his ring's curse. It made him lose all control over himself, and it could very well happen again, but Jorin no longer had time to continue debating with himself.
He could hear footsteps getting closer, and soon after the angry voices of guards trying to wake up the sleeping guards outside. Jorin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slipped on his cursed ring. It was a feeling unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was as if his entire body was dunked into ice cold water, and every blood cell in his body froze over. Immediately, cruel and violent thoughts gripped his mind, and he had to struggle to control them. His vision started to fade, and he became disoriented momentarily. When he regained control shortly after, he found himself on the floor of the warden's office. Jorin stood up just in time to greet the two guards entering the office.
"Warden, sir, are you oka--" The first guard's face grew white as death when he saw Jorin.
"I'm not sure why I am here, but I'd like to be let go now." Jorin said in as cheerful a tone as he could manage. It was a long shot, but still worth a try.
"I didn't think murderers had a sense of humour." The second guard said, looking at the first guard.
The first guard drew his sword and raised his shield, pointing both at Jorin. "T-the only way you will be sent away from here is in a coffin!" Before the guard could charge at Jorin, his body was torn apart by one of Jorin's spells. Blood now coated the walls of the room and, to Jorin's amazement, the warden was still fast asleep. He couldn't help but laugh. The second guard thought he was laughing at the fact that he just tore a man limb from limb using magic.
"W-warden?" the man whimpered, before turning to flee the room.
Jorin raised the man off his feet. He remained there, magically suspended in the air, trying in vain to stop himself from flipping over midair. The guard was now upside down, and began screaming for help.
"Sorry." Jorin said, before conjuring a sharp bone pillar and impaling the man on it. It was then that Jorin knew he could control himself, having just felt remorse. The ring screamed at him, and Jorin's vision darkened again. When everything was back to normal, the blood was drained from the walls and dead guards, and he felt slightly reinvigorated. Evidently, it would take Jorin some time before he would be able to fully control the ring's compulsions. Jorin sighed deeply, and grabbed the key ring from the still sleeping warden's desk before leaving the office.
Jorin proceeded down the cell block. Many of the cells were empty, but some contained prisoners, quite surprised to see a fellow inmate walking the halls freely. It was the perfect time for an escape, as most of the guards were temporarily sent to garrison the city of Stonewall that very night. The prisoners pounded on their cell doors, begging for their freedom, but Jorin was unsure of how many of these men and women he could trust. Many mages are imprisoned by The Mundanes for little other reason other than the fact that they are mages, but Jorin knew that in order for them to be imprisoned at this particular institution, they must have committed a serious crime. He lowered his head, and left the prisoners to their fates.
At the end of the corridor was an arched entranceway into the main lobby of the building. To the right of Jorin, a girl stood at the door of her cell, staring at him. She looked about the same age as Jorin, perhaps even younger. She had long, blond hair that seemed well groomed for a prisoner. Her sapphire blue eyes were glistening as if she had recently been crying. Jorin cursed under his breath, and turned to face the girl. He felt compelled to help her, perhaps due to the fact he had not seen anyone as pretty as her in a long time, or perhaps because she did not pound at her door and scream at him like the other inmates. She dropped her gaze and scowled when he made eye contact. There was silence for a time.
"Who are you?" Jorin eventually asked. She remained silent for a time.
"You first." she replied, looking back up at him. Her expression was one of sadness, or perhaps of worry.
"I... there isn't much to tell. I was imprisoned here for a long time. I decided I wanted to escape. I don't know much more than that." Jorin told the truth. He was for the most part uncertain of how he came to be here.
"What is your name?" she asked, after yet another long pause. Whoever this girl was, she was adept at tugging at Jorin's emotions. He felt obligated to answer every one of her questions truthfully.
"Jorin." He answered. She scowled once more.
"Family name?" She asked.
"I... I don't know. I don't remember ever having a family."
At this point, the girl started crying spontaneously, as if she was suddenly reminded of something. "You expect me to believe that?" She asked through tears. "Who sent you for me? If it was Godwyn, you can tell him I'd rather stay here." She brushed away her tears to look up and scowl at him again.
"Godwyn? That's a Mundane name. By the stars, why would a Mundane come to rescue you?" Jorin asked sardonically, almost laughing at the unlikelihood of it all. Mundanes and mages virtually never got along.
The girl's scowl turned into a look of surprise, and then back to sadness. She diverted he gaze towards the floor again. "So you really are a mage." She finally said.
"Yeah. Any reason for you to think otherwise?" He asked in response, raising his right hand so she could see his ring. Another look of shock gripped her face. He had forgot about the markings on his hands. They were black demonic runes, seemingly tattooed onto the backs of his hands. Jorin was unsure of how they came to be there.
"I... see." The girl said faintly. Jorin grew eager to divert the conversation away from himself.
"Now it's my turn. Who are you?" Jorin asked her. The question was met with silence. The girl was still looking downward, evidently trying to fight back her tears.
"It doesn't matter, does it? I'll be sent to be executed soon enough." she replied. It was Jorin's turn to be shocked. Mages imprisoned here were seldom executed, instead being kept alive for questionings, research, and torture.
"Executed! How many Mundanes have you killed to get that sentence?" was Jorin's response.
"Nobody. It's... difficult to explain. I'm looking to reclaim something, and the Roy-" she paused.
"Hmm?"
"... And the Mundanes didn't like that." she finished.
"I see." Something about her struck Jorin as odd, but he couldn't shake off the idea of helping her. "Well, I'm leaving. We can talk more once we get out of here."
"We?" she replied. Jorin was too busy fantasizing about running rescuing her that he only then realized his slip of the tongue.
"Err... I'm leaving. You can come with me, if you like." Jorin thought he saw her smile faintly, but her expression quickly changed back to sad.
"I have nowhere left to go. I may as well be here." She said. "And what makes you think I trust you?" She added coldly.
"But they'll execute you. Surely you would rather..." Jorin was having a hard time understanding her, and he began wondering how long it would be before more guards showed up. "Forget it. I'm opening your cell. Follow me, or don't. The choice is yours." Jorin crushed the lock with magic, and turned for the lobby entrance.
"But-" he was gone before she could finish.
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