Shiori Novella One-shots

Jailbreak

The group of criminals has somehow pulled off a daring escape. Prisoner 0502, now seated upon your throne, grins mischievously. "You really thought you could keep us locked up in here?" she taunts. As the warden, a sinking feeling of dread washes over you, realizing that the security of the Cell, your prison, has failed.

~~~~~

You can smell the burning stone, melting steel, and... several smells you can't quite place, but are sure they're related. The stones in the walls are unsettled from the various explosions that have rocked the facility. This facility was intended to keep the most dangerous beings in the history of the world locked away... And it has... failed.

With this failure, you can already tell that the gods will be furious. You have no idea how they did it. The Archiver's prison was the most secure cell, complete with astral chains and binding posts.

"H-How...." you stutter, cold sweat dripping down your back.

Even one of these criminals has the power to upend modern civilization, and now... All 5 have escaped...

"That's for us to know, and you, to try to figure out for yourself," 0502 smiles broadly, her golden eyes shining brightly in the dim light of your throne room.

As you watch, the shadows around the room waver and seem to come alive. The eyes of the other members also seem to glow in the dark as the shadows deepen and wrap around the room more and more.

"Please! Wait! You can't do this!" you plead.

"Oh? But... Even one of us is capable of doing whatever we please now... What are you going to do to stop us?" she grins, and the other four start to chuckle.

"No! I mean... the gods will find you and bring you back!" you try to explain.

"Well... That's only if you tell them... Their sense of time is skewed from.. You know, being gods. They won't know for a long time, and I think you know that, don't you?" she sneers. "You see, we're tired of being locked up. We didn't ask to be put here, we are only here because of how we were born and what we love." Her voice starts turning to anger as the shadows sharpen into shapes that could easily spear you against a wall with no effort.

"By the way, Warden, we have names. Nerissa just wanted to sing, Bijou just existed, Fuwawa and Mococo were just excitable, and me? MY NAME IS SHIORI NOVELLA, AND I JUST WANTED TO READ! And we were LOCKED AWAY! All because of the gods' EGOS, and their LAZINESS!" 0502 screams wrathfully, and the shadows speed toward you before you can even think, wrapping around you, pulling you into a shadow portal she opened below your very feet.

As you feel the eldritch ink wrap itself around you as your consciousness flees and you slip into darkness.

You wake back up with a sharp pain as you feel yourself fall and your head slams into a hard floor, quickly followed by the rest of your body.

"Ugh..." you rub your head and try to sit up, but your body won't cooperate. "It's... not like I don't understand... But they're a hazard to everyone... Especially 0502..."

Hours pass, the pain slowly fading, and you sit up to look around. Slightly rusted steel, astral chains, ancient brick, and the crimson lights of the magic torches nearby. She somehow managed to send you to one of the upper level cells with the lower security prisoners.

The saving grace is that she didn't put you in the lower levels where they were kept. That said, these areas aren't patrolled, because none of the prisoners have the power to get out. You try to exert some of your strength but immediately fall to your knees as a searing pain wracks your body.

Looking down, you see black bands with glowing gold characters shining brightly. They seem to be limiting you and inflicting pain every time you try. You can only hope you can finally get some peace and quiet. With those criminals gone, you can finally get some sleep. In the corner, there's a cot that is looking very comfortable right about now. Maybe you can finally sleep...

Until you hear the tapping of... five sets of feet, coming down the hallway. This is unusual... There shouldn't be anyone here, and this area is locked down... She... didn't get full access to the Cell... did she?