The morning sun always came through the barred window of every cell in the dungeon of Fort Iskon, in contrast to the beloved Warden's inconsistent rationing. The sun was always right on time, letting the imprisoned unfortunates know that another day had arrived.
And it awakened a prisoner in his cage, made of moldy stones and rusted steel, by sharing the warmth it carried through heaven and sky. It was only a little, but it was enough to keep the living sane, something that had not been taken, something that gave a sense of belonging.
Even though the hostile architecture placed limits on it, nature gave what it could without discrimination, if only for a moment. Before the day filled with back-breaking labor and the loss of his free will, this brief moment was something he truly owned, something that belonged to him.
The prisoner smiles as he places his hand in the ray of light, playfully grasping at it. He turns his hand back and forth, slowly admiring how the light falls across his skin, soaking in its warmth…
"Hey, Yohan, are you awake?"
A voice called out from the cell opposite Yohan's, asking the question.
A flicker of annoyance crossed Yohan's face, but he quickly pushed it aside. He let out a deep, audible sigh to make his irritation known, then rubbed his cold face with his now slightly warmed hand to wipe away the sleep. Brushing his long, dirty, tangled hair back from his face, he ran his fingers through his full beard, tugging at it to tidy it up…
While he was doing that, he answered....
"Yes, Gunther. I'm awake now. What is it that you want from me this time?"
With wide eyes and a friendly smile, Gunther asked awkwardly…
"Eh… nothing much. I just wanted to ask, do you still have that clean cloth you found yesterday in the yard? If so, could you spare me… You know… a small piece of it? I've got some splinters from the broken pickaxe, and if we combine them, we could make an ear pick. My ear's been itching a lot, and I really want to clean it…"
(Awkward pause.)
"Umm… please?"
With one raised eyebrow and a stern, questioning look, Yohan asked…
"Is that all?"
Gunther - ''Yes, sir."
Yohan turned around and pulled a piece of green linen cloth from between the two layers of his makeshift pillow, the crushed gypsum base and the dry hay mat on top. He tore off a small strip from its edge, rolled it into a tight ball, and flicked it firmly across the corridor. It sailed into Gunther's cell and landed at his feet.
Gunther picks it up immediately and takes out a splinter from his folded sleeve, wraps the cloth around the splinter, and starts picking his ear. He gets to it in a few seconds, and the desperation shows how much it has been irritating him.
A few satisfied noises have come out from Gunther, while he picks his ear with his closed eyes. "Mmmh."
It makes Yohan smile.
Yohan rarely speaks to other inmates, except for Gunther. In the third quarter of Fort Iskon Dungeon, everyone knows him as "Silent Baba" or "Mute Baba," because he hasn't shaved or cut his hair since arriving, and he didn't speak a single word for the first whole month after arriving here.
However, he treats Gunther differently from the other inmates. Perhaps it is because of Gunther's lineage. Gunther is a noble from the southern region of the Baylon Continent, hailing from a powerful trading family that controls the Flodina Peninsula.
And Gunther made sure everyone knew about it as well. He talked far too much, becoming an eyesore and an earache to most of the inmates, like an annoying mosquito buzzing constantly around their ears.
However, they were hesitant to harm him because he was closely associated with the scary mute man.
Unlike Gunther, Yohan never runs his mouth. As a result, no one truly knows what crime he was imprisoned for. This air of mystery has stirred up plenty of speculation among the inmates. Some say he is an assassin, others believe he is a mass murderer. Most, however, think he is a warrior monk from the Eastern Continent who ended up here seeking revenge on a noble family.
But Yohan avoids thinking about or discussing his past because it's something that he's trying to get away from, which is why he refuses to befriend or socialize with the other inmates.
In any case, the real reason he treats Gunther differently is that Gunther's situation is unlike that of the other inmates. Yohan does not consider him a criminal.
Gunther is almost a political prisoner. While studying arithmetic and trade at Yosemite Studium Generale, he took part in, and to some extent helped lead, the scholar uprising during the Nigramorean Genocide.
The head of the scholars' house suppressed the uprising and attempted to have Gunther prosecuted. However, due to the influence of his noble family, he managed to walk free. Even so, the headmaster expelled him from the Studium.
In retaliation, he rallied supporters from his former campaign and exposed the headmaster's corruption. This time, however, he crossed the line, and the repercussions were severe.
The headmaster gathered a group of senior scholars who began ambushing him wherever they saw him. It got to the point where Gunther could no longer move freely around the city, too afraid to even leave his room.
Now it had become deeply personal. In an act of revenge against the headmaster, Gunther set out to seduce and fuck his wife.... !!HARD!!3 hours straight.
The emphasis on "HARD" is not a filler word; it's exactly how he told the story to the inmates. He would boast about the three-hour-long affair in extravagant detail, describing everything from how it bent to how lush it was, even claiming positions that sounded anatomically impossible.
After that, the headmaster returned home and caught them in the act. Enraged, he tried to kill them, but his wife, a former imperial sorceress, panicked and cast a petrification spell on him.
At first, neither of them knew what to do. She suggested killing him outright, taking his revenge for everything, and fleeing together. But Gunther wasn't a battle-hardened sorceress like her; at the thought of murder, he lost his nerve.
Instead, she proposed returning to her family on the eastern coastline, where her noble house held power and her husband could not reach her. She invited him to come with her, but once again, Gunther faltered. Commitment, it seemed, unsettled him just as much as violence.
So he told her he needed to return south to his own family first, to seek their blessing before marrying her properly, honorably, as a nobleman should. He promised he would find her afterward and ask for her hand.
It was a blatant lie.
But after three intense hours tangled in hardcore "Sorcery", perhaps it was enough to rewire her brain into believing everything yellow is gold, or maybe she truly did fall for him. After all, she had said he reminded her of her first love.
The headmaster remained in the room, frozen like a stone statue, petrified and unable to move. Yet his rage was unmistakable, audible in the low grunts and muffled murmurs that escaped him, and burning fiercely in his eyes.
His wife was in a state of panic, frantically gathering and packing her belongings as quickly as possible.
And then the most diabolical question was asked.
"How long is he going to stay frozen like this?"
She said that it depends on the strength of the physical body, maybe a few hours. Right after she said it, she suddenly realized the implication and intent of his question. Her face shifted to disgust and disbelief. But most people know whores don't need much convincing. He wasn't going to miss this chance to get his ultimate revenge.
So he fucked his wife in front of him for 1 hour straight, !! EXTREMELY HARD !!
And again, the emphasis on "EXTREMELY HARD" is not a filler phrase; it is exactly how he recounted the story to the inmates. But this time, it was even more diabolical; the things he described were outright mystical, more haunting than even eldritch horror. Even the hardened criminals listening showed clear disgust and discomfort at his words.
One even turned away and walked off when he heard how he hurled the most vile insults at the frozen men standing in the bedroom doorway, words meant to condemn even demons to hell, while fucking his wife in a position that defied ordinary understanding of geometry, seemingly transcending an infinitely expanding plane of dimensions.
And when he was done with her, she was so impressed that she even gave him a piece of jewelry, a family heirloom that she received as a wedding gift that she had kept throughout her marriage, to aid him in his escape from Central County.
Now the next part is something Gunther doesn't seem enthusiastic to talk about. He was caught on his way home, brought into court, and charged with adultery. The headmaster also appeared to have burned some furniture after the incident, which added another charge for destruction of property.
On top of that, they found the family heirloom on him, resulting in an additional theft charge. This ultimately sealed his fate for life, condemning him to slave labor at Fort Iskon, even though he was born a noble.
Gunther really doesn't like talking about that part because there are still charges he doesn't fully understand. But the rest of the story is what he is eager to tell people, so much so that he tries to tell it whenever he gets the chance: across the cell, while working on quarry duty, while resting in the yard, or even in the adjacent latrine just to continue his tale.
Eventually, his persistence wore everyone down. While others were trying to sleep, he was still going on about it, which ultimately led to someone throwing a warm, fresh shit into his cell. Understandably, he didn't try that again.
Some inmates think his story is made up, and that all he actually did was commit arson and theft against his headmaster. To Yohan, it doesn't really matter whether he's lying or not; he doesn't care either way. But he does know one thing: liars and lies tend to be inconsistent.
Still, Gunther can retell the same story down to the smallest detail, including the features and parts of the mistress, with remarkable consistency.
Yohan thinks the story is probably exaggerated, but as the saying goes, "A tale is never perfectly smooth without a touch of lies."
Because he is a good storyteller, some of the inmates like him as well. In their miserable lives, he entertains them with what he is good at, and that is how he stays safe in a place surrounded by criminals.
That is how a bubbling clown who never shuts up befriended the mute baba—through stories.
To Yohan, the ability to tell a story with detail and imagination is a talent, and charisma is a trait needed by anyone who wants to be a leader. He understands why those young scholars once stood behind him when the uprising against the Nigramorean genocide began. It resonates with him because in some way, he was once part of that uprising as well, though not on the same front as Gunther.
Yohan watched Gunther, his silly antics while picking his ear amused him and even made him smile. In a way, it gave him a sense of pride, like the feeling he might have had if he had a younger brother, seeing the boy manage to survive using his own abilities.
Gunther was 24 years old, while Yohan was 33, and Gunther looked up to him when it came to work. After all, only experience teaches where to strike a rock to break things apart with ease.
Just as Yohan was about to ask for a make-shift ear pick....
"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! YOU CRIMINAL SCUMS!!! I want to see all of you sons of the whore sticking to the iron when I walk down the corridor..."
(To be continued...)