Ander was working the late shift again,a shift that he so despised. 'Evil magic is stronger at night, so shouldnt they put a more talented guard on at night?' he constantly thought to himself. His job was generally not a hard one, all he had to do was wander about the prison, making sure everything was in order.
Tonight was different for Ander. Not only was tonight quieter and creepier than other nights, but he was also told that he was in charge of the monthly seal check. He was sick of checking the seals, when he knew that they were always exactly the same, as functional as always.
Ander prepared himself for his inspection. He casually strolled down the dark hall which lead to the first seal. The awkwardness of the night repeated in his head. 'The prisoners were so quiet tonight. Prisoners are never quiet...' he kept thinking. As he reached the door he inserted a shiny silver key and casually unlocked the door. The room was even more awkward than the prisoner's quarters. He headed towards the Stone tablet in the center of the room. The stone tablet was the weakest of all the seals, the last binding seal against the Overlord of shadow.
As he reached the center of the room he saw something that he wasn't expecting. A suprise that shocked him and even scared him. In the middle of the room, on a solid alter, the Stone Tablet sat broken into 4 pieces. He turned to the door to run, but before he could reach the door his soul left him, and he fell to the ground, dead.
Voices appeared from around the room, cheering and laughing at their new found freedom. "Let's go wreak some havoc!" one prisoner shouted, as a handful of sinister looking men left the room and the prison.


Sion sat on his bed, staring out of his window, his mind elsewhere. Unexpectedly, he felt a strange tingle, an unexplainable sensation. "Did you feel that too?" he asked outloud. The ghost that stared at him from Sion's reflection began to speak. "Yeah, I could feel it. It looks like there's going to be some changes around here..."

Gelvon (http://forums.ffextreme.com/showthread.php?t=636) was standing in the level one security guardhouse when the commotion broke out. He muttered darkly to himself. His job as commander of the prison security was to keep watch and make sure the seals were untouched. Most people didn't believe in the Overlord anymore. They thought that the monolith was just a very high security prison for all of the criminals of the land. In any case, the prisoners that were kept here were also locked in by the seals, so as long as Gelvon kept watch, he guarded both the prisoners, and the greater evil that he knew was locked much much deeper within the prison.

He was about to go out the open door to the level one corridors to yell at his men for fighting while on duty when three of his guards burst in, stepping backwards while they clashed swords with several prisoners. Gelvon was shocked. The only way that prisoners could have escaped was if the first seal was broken. He drew his sword and entered the fray. He killed one of the prisoners who had been grappling one of the guards and attempting to strangle him. The guard barked a short thanks before he was engaged once more. Gelvon felt something strike his side. It stunned him for a moment, and he realised that a brick had been hurled at him with the use of dark magic. One of the escaped prisoners was a potent sorcerer, and he sent another brick flying at Gelvon.

Gelvon ducked under it, and it just grazed his helmet. He ran at the sorcerer, who flung more objects at Gelvon, but Gelvon had managed to pull his silver shield from his back and now blocked all of the objects as he made his way towards the sorcerer. The prisoner's eyes began to look more and more frantic as Gelvon neared him, and as Gelvon came within striking range, he turned and ran. He didn't get far, as a crossbow bolt suddenly struck him down. Gelvon turned to see that one of his men had managed to get to the crossbow rack inside the security guardhouse.

"Everyone, fall back to the guardhouse!" screamed Gelvon, as he realised that the fight could not be won. Several of his men lay dead on the floor, the prisoners stripping their weapons off and becoming better equipped with each man they killed. Gelvon's men began to retreat, but that proved a fatal mistake on Gelvon's part, because just as he ordered that, several of the prisoners who were more skilled at magic than the previous one came around the corner and began launching fireballs into his men. He turned and ran, throwing himself into the security guardhouse. He cut the two ropes that held the guardhouse's door open, and as he did, it slid down and boomed as it clicked into the floor slot. It could only be raised from inside now, but there were three other guardhouses leading out of the level one corridors into the town, and they could have been breached. Alone in the guardhouse, and forced to listen to the dying screams of his men on the other side of the door, he ran to the other side of the guardhouse, found the alarm chain, and pulled. It triggered a magical burst of sound that wailed like a siren. Gelvon listened. If the other three had managed to lock themselves down, then they would sound answering sirens.

He felt relieved as two of the other sirens sounded immediately. He waited for the final one to sound. Surely they were just fighting back a few prisoners and were about to seal the doors and answer the siren. Surely. But time passed and the final siren did not sound. The final guardhouse had been breached. Gelvon only hoped that the town guards were quick enough to hear the sirens, and come to the his aid, but it seemed inevitable that many prisoners would escape. Gelvon looked up as he heard a great thump on the sealed door. The thump happened again, except louder. The third time, the door shook, not much, but a little. The fourth, it shook a little more. Gelvon closed his eyes and silently prayed that help arrived before the prisoners broke through this guardhouse with brute force.

Sion continued to stare out of his window aimlessly. He waited calmly, the strange sensation was all the warning he needed to be prepared, but for what? to wait for his next duty? He could save people, or the world, but what would it really achieve? In the end he'd still be left with the ghosts from his past and nobody beside him. His soul was not alone, but in life he walked alone.

A sound began to ring, a siren which managed to push Sion's crisis to the back of his mind, though he knew it would never go away. It was clearly an important siren, and while he was unsure of what it was trying to signal, he was sure that it was important that he would be needed. He lifted his depressed body from his bed, and began to wander out of his room and out of his dwelling.

As he reached the door to the world that lay beyond, he passed a room, although it was empty it was the most important room to him. With consideration he stepped away from the door, and entered the room. Inside the room were only two mirrors, angled so that if Sion stood in the center of the room he could see his reflection in both mirrors, but Sion never saw his reflection in these mirrors. To the left Sion saw a figure in light clothing emitting a bright aura, with a face that resembled his own though younger. To his right he saw an intimidating figure, and a powerful dark aura that made it almost impossible to distinguish any features.

"Brother, people are in danger, let us go forth together and defend the innocent." A voice spoke to his left with a pure euphoria
"And bring me the blood of guilty" a voice spoke to his right, with a sinister joy
"And I'm still left in between." Sion muttered to them as he walked out of the room and out of the house.

The streets were empty, the only sound to be heard was the constant siren and the footsteps of Sion. As he wandered about the streets the siren became louder and more significant, then it struck him. It was coming from the monolith from the center of the town. Having understood the signal, he felt a sense of urgency and began to run towards the center of the town.

It hadn't taken him long to reach the center of the town, but at first he felt slightly overwhelmed at the size of the complex monolith. Although he had been in the town for sometime he had not been so close to the feature which was the foundation of the town. As he looked about he discovered something disturbing. From what he assumed to be guard posts dead bodies were lying about, and blood stained the ground and walls. "What the hell is going on?" he thought to himself. Before he had anymore time to think, his senses told him he was no longer alone.

Casually walking towards him were a handful of what he assumed to be prisoners, but deep inside these men burned an evil aura, something unnatural for normal people. They smiled in a sinister way, then charged towards Sion. One was armed with a steel rod, another with a sword and a third with brass knuckles. The prisoner with the rod was the first to reach him, he swung his weapon Sidewards towards Sion's ribs. As Sion dodged the blow he continued his assualt by swinging downwards at Sion's head, with force Sion caught the rod inches before his head. "That's strange, he's too fast and too skilled for an average prisoner" Sion thought. Sion lowered the rod to chest level, then stepped forward to slightly close the gap between the man and himself. He then launched 2 quick kicks to his knee and his stomach, the prisoner weakened, then Sion released his grip and swung his reverse leg into the face of the man. As he fell to the ground the knuckled prisoner lept forward and swung a fist wildly towards Sion. Still trying to regain his balance from his kick, Sion attempted to push himself back, but he was too slow and the blow landed in his stomach. The blow rattled Sion and sent him back, with that the third prisoner stept forward and swung his sword towards Sion's neck. Seconds before the blade pierced his skin, his arms shot up to stop the blade in it's track. Sion looked up at the prisoner and for a second his eyes flickered with a jet black shadow, then Sion threw the blade from the prisoner's hands and launched a flurry of puches and kicks into the prisoner's body. Within a few seconds Sion reset his stance, and the prisoner fell backwards in agony. Shocked at the sudden counter the knuckled prisoner stepped back in horror, but before he could make another move Sion launched himself towards him, and struck him with an open-handed strike to his neck, and an uppercut to his head. The prisoner was knocked to the floor about a metre from Sion, choking and with blood pouring from his broken nose.

"It's a breakout then." He concluded as he advanced towards the monolith
"brother, those souls were tainted with a very powerful evil." A young voice said in his head. "Yes I thought so too" he replied out loud. But to a more important matter, how do I get into this place." he answered out loud.

Dani had just dropped off a package containing an expensive bottle of wine to a tavern in the midst of the town and was now wondering rather aimlessly about town trying to find somewhere that was still open at this hour and had a room to spare. This wouldn't have been a problem if she had arrived earlier like she was suppossed to, but unfortunately for her a bridge had collapsed further out into the countryside so she had to take the long way round. Now her legs were aching and she was so tired that she was almost walking in a zombie like state.

"Stuff that, I've had enough!", she shouted to no one in particular whilst promptly sitting down where she stood. A decision that she instantly regretted as the stone path was cold and her jeans didn't do much to stop her from feeling it. She stood bolt upright while shouting again "DAMNIT!!!". She scratched the back of her head, sighed in defeat, and continued walking.

She was on the verge of starting a fight with a barrel in frustration when a piercing wail caught her ear, making her flinch and cover them with her hands. Unfortunately for her the noise would'nt let up, continuously screeching from deeper in the town. After a few more seconds she had become slightly more used to it and returned to standing properly, her hands dropping back down to her sides. She figured it was a warning siren of some sort, but for what she didn't know as this was the first time she had visited this town. Whatever it was for, she wasn't going to get any rest if it continued so she decided to head further into town to investigate, rejuvinated by a sudden burst of adrenaline from the noise.

She set off at a quick jog and soon found the Monolith, towering over the local buildings. She had assumed it was some sort of fancy palace from a distance when she first entered the town, but as she got closer, the imposing nature of the structure suggested otherwise. For a moment she paused, slightly daunted by it all, especially with the siren still sounding but it was even louder now that she was closer. Lights had come on in the local buildings, its occupants wondering just what the heck was going on. Some shouting, followed by the sounds of a scuffle came from her left. She turned to see a shape being tossed back a few hundred yards in the distance, her stong senses penetrating the dark. It wasn't exactly the safest of options but if people were about she could find out what was going on so she set off at a faster pace than before.

Soon Dani found herself in a much wider street, a handful of bodies on the floor, poorly dressed like prisoners by the looks of things. The pieces of the puzzle started to fit as she realised just what was going on and what the Monolith was for. She scowled to herself and clenched her fists. She wasn't the forgiving kind, so ex-prisoners were not on her friends list. By the level of noise, things were not going well and Dani decided to at least try and help keep things under control so civilians wouldn't get hurt. She spotted someone further up the street, heading towards the Monolith. She doubted very much that any prisoners would want to go back in so ran to catch up with him, jumping over one the bodies instead of going round it.

"Hey, you! Whats the deal around here? Can't this joint keep all the undesirables in one place or somethin'?"

Sion's target became the monolith. As he began to walk towards it his mind began to formulate what it was he was going to do. The fact that he hadn't been in this town long and that he hadn't accurately surveyed the monolith before caused a large gap in his rescue operation.

Unexpectedly, Sion saw a figure moving towards him from the corner of his eye. It wasn't another prisoner, it didn't move in the same rough manner. As the figure got closer, an image of the person could be identified and a voice accompanied it. An attractive woman who appeared older than himself approached Sion, and with a voice that was sure to often grab attention said "Hey, you! Whats the deal around here? Can't this joint keep all the undesirables in one place or somethin'?"

Sion immediately looked towards her and gave a smile at the site of a non-convict. "To tell you honestly, I'm not sure what's going on myself." he turned his head from her and looked up towards the monolith. "I'm guessing it's a breakout, but I think there's something more to it than that." He paused for a minute "I get the feeling that there are still innocent people in there, I've been planning to try and get in there but I'm not too sure how..."

"By the way" he looked back to the girl "My name is Sion"

The twin mirror room was silent, aside from the unsettling siren muffled by the thick walls. Espiyan concealed himself deep in the shadows. Approaching footsteps could be heard from the corridor just outside the room. The footsteps stopped. The door slowly opened and a mature looking teenager entered the room. From his appearance, Espiyan decided that this was Sion. Although he could only see one person, Espiyan could feel the presence of three. Sion had made his way and stopped directly between the two mirrors. Sion looked as though he was talking to himself and that's when they could be seen, the two mystery presences, one in each mirror.

Espiyan slowly crept closer to hear what they were saying. "...I'm still left in between." Sion concluded and wandered back out of the room. The two reflections lingered in their mirrors. The light reflection looked at the dark reflection, then walked out of the view of the mirror. The dark reflection looked over to the shadowed end of the room. Espiyan sunk deeper into the shadows, trying to avoid being seen. The reflection stood there, gave a slight smirk, then disappeared.

Espiyan waited in the room for a moment, then when he thought it was safe, stepped out into the light. He revealed his face which was hidden under a hood and scarf. He was young with strong, defined feautures, rather tall and reasonably muscular. He had long, spikey brown hair, with a spikey fringe hanging infront of his mysterious, dark, turquoise eyes. A long cloak was wrapped around his body. In a holster on his back hung a long-handled blade which was skillfully crafted by himself. The young man also carried a ractangular pack with one long strap wrapped twice around he waist.

With a pleased smirk, the young man made a slight gesture with his hand, and then a strange mist of ambiance, not light nor dark, completely surrounded Espiyan, growing thicker, consuming his entire body, then evapourating, leaving the room empty.

The same strange ambiance began appearing on the roof of a building in the centre of town. Espiyan stepped out of the mist and stood on the edge of the roof, peering down to see whom he pursued. He watched as Sion was confronted by three men, and winning the battle. At the conclusion of the battle, Espiyan was about to leap off the building but stopped just in time as he saw a feminine figure approaching Sion. He was expecting Sion to leave but this woman delayed his departure. Espiyan waited a little while longer until he watched them make their way to the source of the siren.

At this, he finally jumped off the building. Just before hitting the hard ground, he performed a backflip to make his landing less of an impact. Check that the street was empty, Espiyan swiftly made his way to the three bodies on the ground. They were all knocked out. He leant over one of the prisoners and placed an open hand above their chest. A dark misty aura began pouring out of the man's body, forming a small bluish-black spear in Espiyan's palm. He repeated this to the other two prisoners until he held three dark orbs in his hand.

He placed them in his pack and made his way to the nearest building. He swiftly climbed up to the roof and began leaping from building to building, in the direction he saw Sion and the woman go.

Daniella folded her arms and let out a little sigh. Her thoughts had been confirmed. She too gazed up at the Monolith, but her attention was jogged back to him as he introduced himself as Sion.

"Thats a funny name" She smirked playfully then continued talking. "Dani, short for Daniella but don't call me that. Dani is just fine." She paused for a moment, debating her next move. "I'll tag along then. The sooner this is sorted the better."

She started to walk forward, getting a closer look at his face as she did. She though he seemed older than he actually was, he had rather young features but had a much more mature presence. She didn't stop walking as she spoke again. "I guess we just head in the direction of the most noise, and if there are lots of prisners then we've done good and picked the right way."

Gelvon wondered if reinforcements would ever arrive. With every thump of the prisoners battering the door down, his hope shrunk. If he could somehow send a signal out, he could alert troops outside that help was needed, but the guardhouse could only be opened from outside now. He would have to batter his way through the outer door to leave, which was impossible given his circumstances.

He suddenly had an idea. There were arrow slits, and if he could shoot something outside the window, he might be able to attrack attention. He grabbed a bow off a rack and a quiver of arrows. He lit the end of an arrow on a torch and fired the arrow out a slit, watching it trail smoke through the darkness. He pulled out another arrow and shot it again. As the pounding grew more insistent, he hoped somebody would see and respond to his signal soon......

Sion and Dani continued to walk in the direction the two of them had thought to be the 'right way'. His mind was slightly confused and he was hating it, he wished for the facts, a certain objective and means by which it could be achieved. But right now he and his companion followed only a hunch into what could be close to anything.

Suddenly Sion noticed something from the corner of his eye. Shooting upwards was a flaming arrow or possibly a flare. By assumption he followed the path of the arrow and realized it had been shot from a nearby guardhouse. He looked towards Dani and nodded, assuming she too had seen the flare in the sky. He began to make haste towards the guard house. as he ran a light aura filled him for a moment and he felt his soul touched by an angelic force, he whispered to himself "Let's do this, brother." and he continued forward with a greater sense of purpose.

Soon a door to the guardhouse was in sight.Sion ran towards it and reached it in moments. For a second he paused to catch his breath (he never was very good at marathon running) and reached to open the door. It creaked with the force applied, but it would not allow them entry.

"It's locked" Sion obviously pointed out. "I dont suppose you'd know any tricks to get this door open?" he asked Dani.