He was cold. That was all Lavimo could think when his eyes fluttered open, his brain barely processing as he lifted himself up. He was cold, and his body was aching. His wrists felt especially sore, even though he was laying down on a padded mattress in the middle of… a cell. It took Lavimo another moment to truly register that as he looked around.
His first instinct was to tug on himself, to try and get up. Only for his efforts to be in vain, his wrists shackled tightly to the ground, which only led to panicking.
Why? Why was he locked up? What had happened? The last thing he remembered was…
…was trying to kill Arcadia and… almost destroying everything.
The memories made him pause, Lavimo’s heart drumming wildly in his chest as the blood drained from his face. He… he’d almost corrupted everything. Just because he was angry. Except, in hindsight, Arcadia had been nothing like he’d imagined. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but Lavimo had imagined someone who felt far more guilt than what the real Arcadia had displayed. Ahh, he couldn’t even remember what that horrible man had been trying to say, all he remembered was him asking why he should feel bad since it’d only been an accident. What kind of thought process even was that? If you did something bad, even if it hadn’t been your intention, it was obvious that you’d still need to own up to it. And Arcadia hadn’t done anything small, he’d started the apocalypse! Orvana might be a horrible person he despised just as equally, but she’d been right about him needing to repent!
Ugh, and then that awfully one sided fight… looking back on it, he really had almost destroyed everything, and he probably would have had Arcadia not contained it. That forcefield was amazing… probably the strongest forcefield he’d ever seen, even better than what Adona could make. And honestly, if he were to be completely real with himself, while corruption was objectively a bad concept to have, it made him pretty strong, didn’t it? He might’ve fared better if he’d been put up against someone less god-like. Because hell, he’d been destroying everything he touched! The ground beneath his feet had literally started breaking! But Arcadia hadn’t been phased in the slightest. He’d dodged and hadn’t even raised a finger against Lavimo until he’d knocked him out at the very end. He certainly wasn’t about to declare he liked Arcadia because of the mercy he’d shown him, but Lavimo couldn’t deny how utterly graceful and magnificent he’d looked. If only someone like him hadn’t started the apocalypse.
Though, the concept Lavimo now had was kind of like the apocalypse, wasn’t it…? Was the land he’d touched okay? He must’ve hurt the castle and surrounding area pretty badly. He really needed to get out of here and check on that. Now that he was awake, he felt more level-headed, so even if he came across Arcadia again, Lavimo swore to himself that he would be much, much more civil. But he refused to ally with him.
“Mm… these must be concept resistant,” he observed glumly as he looked down at the chains, his wrists sore when he pulled on them. Not much could break through those. He couldn’t break them the last time he’d tried. Though, technically speaking, it wasn’t impossible. If a concept was strong enough… if it had enough of a presence to flood into the chains and overwhelm their resistant properties until they shattered… it could be done. He wondered if his new concept could do it…
The concept of corruption. If Lavimo had to guess, that was probably the name of the concept he’d just developed. It made him feel sick, and he didn’t like it. It reminded him too much of what Orvana had prophesied, about him being a harbinger, or something along those lines… was that really what he was? If he used that concept now to try and break free, would that be what he was considered? But Lavimo really, truly didn’t want to corrupt anything else… he already knew he was too far gone. He was already plagued, his heart was already too dark. But he didn’t want to spread that same rot to anyone else. He didn’t want to corrupt anything more.
The other option was that he wait for someone to come get him, notice he was awake and levelheaded, and be freed. But he wasn’t too sure how he felt about that. Objectively, Lavimo understood why his aunt had decided to lock him up down here, and that he should just be thankful she provided him with a cushion to lay on, but he really didn’t want to stay down here much longer… and he also wasn’t sure what would happen when he was brought back to the surface.
He didn’t want to side or have an ally with Arcadia. Lavimo wanted nothing to do with the man. It didn’t matter how powerful he was, or how much mercy he’d shown him, Arcadia was the reason his family was dead. He couldn’t forgive that. But Nadia, his aunt, was a very different person. She most definitely could forgive that. If a person was strong enough, and if she deemed their character to be something she could approve of, she would forgive almost anything. Of course, Arcadia had also killed her younger brother, Nico… but honestly, she could probably forgive that too if she saw enough potential. And Arcadia definitely had the immense potential that Nadia was always on the lookout for. He couldn’t trust her in this. The fact that Arcadia was already walking around the castle freely without even a single knight for surveillance proved that she was already choosing to put her trust in him. Either that, or Arcadia had slipped off to do his own thing, which wasn’t much better.
Both of those ideas made him mad. And while it made Lavimo feel like a child throwing a fit, he really could help it. He couldn’t help but scream.
“AHHHHRGGGHHH!!!! THIS SUCKS!!!” he yelled into the abyss, not even a guard to watch him. Well, there was probably a guard at the entrance of the prison. There was only one way in and out, but still… as a prince, or at the very least the nephew of a queen, shouldn’t he get his own special guard, or at the very least a servant to cater to him? Why was Nadia treating him like this? Because he might’ve destroyed a portion of her castle?
…no, yeah. That was probably why. She’d probably keep him down here until she felt he’d learned his lesson. Would he even get fed? Nadia wouldn’t go as far as to starve him, right? Wait, how long had it even been? Lavimo didn’t feel particularly hungry, and as far as he was concerned, he hadn’t even had breakfast yet… so it probably hadn’t been too long. But no way was he going to stay down here like she wanted, he had to make sure she wasn’t allying herself with a monster first.
“Please work…” he winced, summoning his corruption to the surface as he felt his palms start to tingle. It wasn’t hard to do, not when he was still so fresh with anger. Some might call him immature for being so emotional, but Lavimo didn’t like holding in what he felt. Pushing down his emotions made him feel suffocated, and he would always undoubtedly explode if he tried to. Just like this time. He’d exploded at Arcadia, and look where that got him. He got even more angry thinking about it, his emotions raw and rash as corrosion ate at his chains, before he leaned forward and the metal snapped, his body jerking against the released tension before he fell onto his shoulder.
“Augh, damn it…” he grumbled, pushing himself up before looking back at the broken chains. Corroded metal turned into dust was scattered over the ground, black in color while the chains’ sharp broken edges caught his eyes.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The concept of corruption, hm? He had to focus a bit to use it right now, but it seemed like a strong concept. Lavimo might not like what it represented, but it had its uses. It wasn’t like he could get rid of it now, so he might as well use it. He’d already vowed to never let his emotions get the better of him again and mindlessly corrupt anything he touched.
Though, ah… after tentatively corroding the bars, watching them turn black as they shattered and crumbled into dust at his feet, Lavimo walked through and out into the open prison corridor… but he had no clue where he was. If he were someone like his older cousin, Nefion Aixon, maybe he’d be able to use a concept of navigation to tell where he was in relation to his surroundings. Or if he were someone like Cirrus, maybe he could use the concept of the all-seeing eye to guide himself out. But no. He was Lavimo, wielder of the concept of corruption. He had no way of knowing his way out. He didn’t have any reputable concept to help him. He was on his own.
Hm. Should he start talking to himself? Lavimo remembered Cirrus’ old habit of talking to himself whenever he felt lonely. Maybe he should try that? At least until he found a guard.
“Uh… haha, sure glad there’s light down here,” he tried awkwardly, doing his best to mimic his older cousin’s habit as he decided to take a random path. But he still felt cold, rubbing his hands up and down his arms as he tiptoed throughout the prison. “I guess I should, hah… admit to Nadia I never paid attention when she gave me the castle layout,” he chuckled to himself, slinking through the underground for a while to come.
Lilino didn’t really keep prisoners. They used to, he was sure, otherwise they wouldn’t have a prison. It was just that… Nadia wasn’t too keen on keeping her prisoners alive. She typically had them killed within a month or two, so the place should be empty. It wasn’t heavily guarded because of that, as there was nothing to guard. Though, thinking that way, it also meant he must’ve been placed somewhere close to the way out… so hopefully he was going the right way. But after a while of walking, Lavimo was starting to get restless.
“Where! The fuck! Am I!” he yelled, kicking at one of the prison cells as his foot made contact with the bars, which immediately corrupted and turned to dust as he stared at the black ash at his feet. Well then… um. “Uh. If anyone saw that, it wasn’t me,” Lavimo spoke out loud, just to humor himself, before he quickly ran off and turned a corner.
Crap, he hadn’t meant to corrupt anything like that… he was lucky it hadn’t spread. Goodamnit, that scared the crap out of him! No wonder he nearly corrupted the entire castle when he got so blindingly angry!
“I will not corrupt everything I touch, I will not corrupt everything I touch, I will not corrupt everything I touch…” he repeated over and over again while crossing both his fingers, not really paying attention to where his feet were taking him at all. He just wanted to get away from the prison cell he’d tarnished. “I will not corrupt everything I touch, I will not corrupt everything I touch… saying this over and over is going to help because usually when I’m being punished, I’m told to write something similar down over and over again on paper… so clearly it works. Anyways, I will not corrupt everything I touch, I will not corrupt everything I touch, I will not— not…” he paused as he passed a certain cell, his amber eyes blown out wide as he met a person who was… inside it. A prisoner. A real prisoner. A real, living, breathing prisoner. Right in front of him. Oh my god.
“Ahh! Who are you?!” Lavimo screamed, backing himself all the way up to the wall despite the other man being chained up and behind sturdy bars. It took him a moment to realize that, yes, this man was completely restrained, before he calmed down and merely held eye contact with the person who was staring at him in disbelief.
He had bronze skin and deep violet hair, intense golden eyes meeting his own with a certain kind of uncertainty that had Lavimo hesitating. It was like the prisoner was evaluating him, not quite sure what to make of the man wandering around a prison so aimlessly, before he lowered his chin and stared up at Lavimo. “Uh. I’m Alroy,” he answered slowly, as if he were suspicious of the person in front of him. “...and who are you?”
“Oh. I’m Lavimo,” he responded, slowly taking a step closer when Alroy’s eyes widened, clearly recognizing that name, as anyone should.
“Hah, really? What’s someone like you doing down here?” the man spat, Lavimo’s eyes widening a bit before he squatted down in front of the bars to be level with him.
“I got imprisoned, but I’m breaking out. What are you doing here?”
“Ah. Ah…”
It was silent as they both stared at each other, Lavimo’s eyes not holding much suspicion for him. He didn’t know who Alroy was, after all. He didn’t want to judge someone just because they were imprisoned. Of course, the fact they were imprisoned probably meant they did something bad, but Lavimo would let Alroy explain that for himself. He looked pretty skittish, like a dog on the streets scavenging for scraps, so Lavimo didn’t particularly find his presence to be threatening.
Though, all of a sudden, Alroy’s expression relaxed, and he leaned back against the concrete wall before turning his head to the side. “Pah. Do you even care about me?”
“Well, I don’t have a reason to, I guess,” Lavimo shrugged, smiling slightly as he tried to be friendly. “But I’m lost and don’t know how to get out. I’ve been wandering for a few hours now, and I think I got myself twisted inside a labyrinth, haha. So I don’t mind talking to you. Did you do something pretty bad?”
“...kinda,” Alroy admitted slowly, evaluating Lavimo with his eyes as the prince smiled at him.
“Really? What’d you do? I’ll judge you based on what you say next.”
“...okay then,” Alroy accepted, his voice measured, averting his gaze to the side again as he thought it over. It took him a moment, seeming to be formulating the right words in his mind before he turned back to Lavimo, looking rather edgy. “I was recruited by the people who want to start the apocalypse.”
“Huh?” Lavimo suddenly glared, about to stand up and leave when Alroy’s expression twisted into something more emotional.
“Yeah, I knew you’d react like that! Everyone fuckin’ does,” he seethed, lurching forward in his chains as Lavimo glared at him in disgust. Though, suddenly, with Alroy’s next words, his disgust faded. “You’d do the same if you were me! What would you do if they had your brother held hostage, huh?! What would you do?! It’s not like I can overpower them! I mean, look at me, I already got myself caught!” Alroy yelled, almost as if he were accusing Lavimo of being the reason his brother was a hostage. “But none of you fuckin’ royals care about that, do ya?! Do you think I wanted to do all this?! I just want to live with my family! That’s all I want!” he sneered, Lavimo not able to do anything other than gawk. “But whatever. You go find your way out, and go fuck yourself while you’re at it. You hear me?”
“...no.”
“Eh?”
“I said no,” Lavimo repeated, immediately grabbing the bars as they both crumbled in his hands, Alroy watching in awe as the man in front of him stood up and corrupted the bars to black ash like it was nothing. “That’s not right. If what you say is true, then you’re just a victim, and you don’t deserve to be in here. I’ll get you out, and then we can go save your brother.”
“...ehhh?” Alroy stared, leaning back in his chains as he set the final piece of bait. “You’d really do that for me? No way. Royals only ever look out for themselves, now get outta my face.”
“No, that’s not it. I am looking out for myself,” Lavimo insisted, reaching forward to destroy Alroy’s shackles around his throat, wrists, and ankles as the man found himself free as a bird. But for some reason, even though he’d gotten exactly what he wanted by spreading petty lies, he couldn’t look away from Lavimo’s eyes. “I don’t want to see anyone lose their family ever again. So don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here, okay? Your brother will be fine.”
“Oh… thanks,” Alroy suppressed his smirk, casually taking Lavimo’s hand as he felt himself get pulled up. But he allowed himself to smile, deciding he’d flatter the prince with it as he squeezed the shorter man’s firm shoulder. “Wow, you must be different from other royals, I’m kinda surprised. I guess I owe you one, then. I’m in your debt, Lavimo. Please take proper care of me.”
What do you think will become of Alroy and Lavimo?
