Almrak awakes alone in a terrifying position, and he tries to decipher what little he knows to find the answers he desperately needs
But when his captor makes a return, those questions are tossed to the side and if Vulcannus could not provide him with an identity, then he must work it out for himself
Author's note: pls excuse my terrible ability to draw mysterious looking characters. an attempt was made, and that's all I can say XD
(yes I purposely left the markings off the dude. I drew them every other time tho) XD
that said, during the upload process for Wattpad, the image won't even show for me, and instead I see a blank placeholder and idk how to fix it, so if you see it, great. if you don't, yeet over to my Ao3 or my Pinterest (pinned on my conversation board) - it'll be on there and you can make the judgement yourself XD
[EDIT 22/08/22]: yeah I can't get the image to load here either. Wattpad is just not having it and I give up
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It was the sudden howling of snowy winds whistling through the cave, scraping the walls as though they carried sharpened nails that woke Almrak seemingly mere hours after his abduction, and he shivered at the biting cold that nipped his legs, almost clawing at him, prising his eyes open, tearing him from blissful nothingness. It took him a long moment to acquaint himself with reality, blinking against the freezing breeze, with chattering teeth wearing his jaw as he struggled to clear his blurred vision. He ran his hand along the stony ground, almost feeling out his environment as if blind, and he tried to sit upright. When one hand failed to support his venture, he tried to find his other, but it wouldn't move. He couldn't feel it properly.
He shook himself awake, brushing loose strands of marron hair from his weary eyes, and he scrambled to sit onto his knees, freeing his aching ribs from the ice-cold ground. He clutched at them with his free hand, wincing against the pain, although he couldn't recall where this pain had come from. The last thing he remembered was being cornered by an unknown Ardoni, cloaked and disguised, powerful and foreboding. He saw Jerome get knocked to the side, out of the way and unable to help. He saw the blacksmith in ruins, blocks of stone and brick littered across the ground, holes in the ceiling and crumbling dust falling from the collapsing structure.
Why didn't he stay hidden like Jerome had asked him to?
Why did he let his curiosity get the better of him?
He held his head in his palm with frustration rising inside of him. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know who had taken him. He didn't know who had injured Jerome. He didn't know who had killed Galleous. He knew nothing.
He tried to find his balance, to stand up and stretch his leg, maybe find a way out, work out where he had been taken, anything to orient himself. Perhaps he had just been dumped somewhere out of the way and he could find his way back to someone somehow.
But he was a Voltaris. Who would help him? They would see the absence of a leg and take advantage; he was sure of it.
He would know it.
As Almrak pulled himself onto his knees, he was tugged back. He couldn't rise any further. He looked behind him and found why he had lost the feeling in his other arm.
Tied to a pole.
He slumped to the ground with a huff, tears welling in his eyes. In place of a cry, he swallowed hard, allowing himself only a soft, wavering sigh, and he threw his head back, absentmindedly tugging at the bindings around his right wrist. There was not an inch of space with which to move his arm, and no matter how hard he clawed at the knot with his free hand, nothing would budge. He tried to bite at the ropes, but he couldn't angle himself to get to them. He used his whole leg to kick the knot free, but it was as much use as it was to claw at it. There was no give – not even to the steel pole itself, wedged deep in the ground and well secured in the rock, unmoveable, most likely once used to hold wolves, or to secure storage; of weapons or supplies, Almrak couldn't be sure, but wherever he was, the cave had been used before.
YOU ARE READING
Before the Storm
Fanfiction"Tygren Voltaris is the most dangerous Ardoni to live since the disappearance of the Deathsinger. You must show him no mercy, should you ever find him." But Tygren is still alive. He is still out there, and he is still after the Prime Songs. After...
