CHAPTER 1.3

The guards turned their attention towards him.

“Get back to your cell! Right now!”

Garvin ignored the orders backed at him. A travesty. He folded the sleeves of his over-sized garment and began hopping around on his toes like a rabbit, loosening up his stiff limbs, as his feet landed on the ground they kicked dust into the air.

“Get back to your cell now prisoner or you die!”

Garvin kept ignoring them like they weren't even there. The front line was forced to engage. Two of the guards pulled out lances and advanced aggressively towards him.

“It’s been a while since I let loose, now come at me with all you've got… and don’t hold back, because I won't!”

He leaped into the air with tremendous ability, concocting his body in ways not thought to be possible, producing a powerful roundhouse kick that ripped the spear tips of the lances away. His feet kissed the ground gracefully and he pushed himself forward, barreling towards the two disarmed guards. Fingers sunk deep into their throats and they found themselves floating in mid-air. This prompted the remainder of the cavalry to engage. The cellmates watched on as Garvin put on a clinical display of brute force and finesse. He tossed the suspended guards both in their respective directions and they smashed onto the cell doors, bending the bars.

What made it amazing was that the hallway was completely cramped, two people couldn’t stand side by side and fit in that cavity called a corridor, that pocket-sized space couldn’t allow for the kinds of acrobatic movements Garvin was pulling off. One punch after another the guards were pushed backward, closer to the exit. At one point Garvin swung a kick so mighty, one of the guards achieved flight, only the ceiling managed to break his air travel, were it not for the concrete roof he would have gone a few feet higher. The impact of his collision with the ceiling was so powerful that cracks sprouted upon contact and spread across the entire ceiling.

The guards grunted in pain with each blow they received. Garvin didn’t seem to tire down, not one bit. His intensity stayed the same from the beginning of the fight onward, it could have been increasing as well. He managed to push the onslaught all the way to the entrance and out of the cellblock, onto open land.

At that point the guards were questioning whether they had the capabilities to go up against a beast like him, landing a hit on him was impossible, they hadn't managed it since they started the brawl.

“I do not sense any life inside you. You are just dolls, controlled by a magician, you have no souls. And so I shall feel no remorse when I kill you!”

The atmosphere decayed quickly. Garvin had picked up the spearheads he managed to sever with his kick, clutching them tightly in his palms. He dashed once more towards the guards, his feet barely touching the ground. Instead of running towards them, it seemed like he was leaping. The first guard to go down saw nothing but a blur. One moment he was in front of him, the next he was gone, all he felt was an uncomfortable sensation around his throat. As he looked down he saw the huge snag along his neck, blood gushing out violently. Garvin dug the spearheads into his torso, utilizing them as handles to maintain his grip as he tossed the guard towards his colleagues. Some managed to dodge the flying body, those that were caught in the projectile’s pathway were taken down.

He charged once more, picking up a fallen sword and tossing it towards another guard. It split his lower abdomen releasing his bowels as he was flung aside by the sheer force of the sword on impact. The rest of the guards had their meaningless lives flash before their very eyes. As blood splattered across the grass, one by one the guards were taken down swiftly with no remorse. The humorous lazy eyes dotting Garvin’s face turned cold and desolate, empty of thought and emotion. He was a man possessed, unrecognizable.

By the time the rest of the prisoners had stepped out of the prison, Garvin had laid waste the entire cavalry by himself. His garments were soaked with blood dripping off them. He wiped a streak of blood that had splattered across his face flapping his hands to shake the residue off. He turned back and he was met with dreadful looks. The rest of the captives examined the carnage in disbelief, unable to comprehend. They would have never thought Garvin was a man capable of such wretched actions. If only they knew the monster hiding behind that mask.

“The rest of the soldiers will arrive here soon enough so we better get moving.”

The crowd was still stunned. None answered back. Garvin decided to approach them but they retreated, spooked like they had all seen a vurhan in their midst.

“Come on let's go! Unless you want to stay behind. Those who want to follow me I suggest you do so. If you want to stick behind that's fine by me.”

Felista pushed her way through the crowd and dashed towards Garvin frantically.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?!”

she ravenously run her fingers through his torso to check for any cuts or bruises, not minding one bit about the blood tainting her hands. Her face was folded in genuine worry.

“Stop, stop! I'm fine okay.”

The captives were still unresponsive until Felista turned to them and barked, “Is that a way to treat the person who just granted you freedom? Now all of you quit standing around and let us get a move on.”

One by one the people crossed the puddle of blood and piles of dead bodies to the other side, joining the group ready to make their way out of the prison. Soon the rest of the captives, agitated, joined in and so the journey began.

They made their way out of the prison and into the woods. Defectors State was a pretty huge state compared to the other states. There were lots of prisons and lots of residents that resided in the state and were imprisoned soon after the invasion. Garvin wondered if they were the only prisoners who were broken free, or were the rest of the prisons patterned around the state also granted liberation.

He would soon come to find out that the entire Kingdom had been granted freedom, and that the rest of the captives around the conquered states were on the same route they were taking, towards the village near the forest at the border of Free State. They were like birds migrating towards a breeding ground. The Heads’ motives for the massive evacuation of the conquered states were still unknown. North Angus and Defectors State were the states that were fully conquered by the tyrant. The rest of the states were protected from colonial rule by the Vurhanil boundary set by Dakario. It was bigger than most people thought. Furthermore, it was practically impregnable.

Back at the capital, the Tyrant Ladzgery Tyndale was ready to begin his match towards the rendezvous point. He had sent out his saints to track down Albert who was at that time, a day’s journey away from the new capital of the regime in District Dark, Sal's village.

Alicia on the other hand was hours away from entering the Forgotten Temples of South Angus for the first time in her life, ready to uncover the secrets of the spiritual realm. Everything seemed to be strategically falling into place. All was going according to plan, according to Alvatrone’s plan, the administrative head. But like all his plans there were always anomalies unaccounted for that usually popped up and messed everything up.

He found a way to fix his earlier plan of the invasion. Most of the heads believed it to be a fluke. But all in all the end result was what they had desired. In his next phase, however, the anomaly unaccounted for was bigger than the previous one. As the spies made their way back to the headquarters with valuable information, one that would dismantle the entire plan Alvatrone had set in motion. The covenant had not been broken at all. They had no knowledge that the covenant had been renewed and the new dark bender was Alicia Iko. Which meant that the anomaly was the other half of the covenant keeper was still alive, somewhere.