He woke up on the floor in a small, white cinder-block room. He'd been there before to bail his mother out for 500 Faen, Elven money, hard to find and twice as expensive as gold. His mother was addicted to this substance that transformed her into a monster, the night he bailed her out, she took it and ran off into the woods, leaving him. He was 13 at the time and couldn't get a job, so he became a thief, he was never caught. Until now, three years later from his first theft. Daendel got up, or at least tried because he fell over and realized his ankles were loosely tied. He could have slipped out of them, but he rather wait for an opportunity to escape.
So he just sat on the ground for what seemed like and eternity when finally a man came in and told him that he was being tried for Manslaughter and Theft by the Grand Ones. The Grand Ones are a group of immortal aristocrats who have had countless years of experience in judging the weaker races. For their race was before ours, and they have seen the error of their ways which eventually led to their destruction. They are the lone survivors of their kind. Daendel did his best to keep up with the man, while also looking fro the best escape route. He found none. So he decided he would have no choice but to the follow this man.
He followed the man into a big domed room with a panel of six judges arranged in a semi-circle around him. They looked menacing, but Daendel knew that they had set up the room specifically to make him feel that way, so he shrugged it off. The man in the middle, a tall, dark-haired man said to him, "You have been accused of murdering one of our guards during a pursuit after you stole some food, do you have any proof to say otherwise?" Daendel wanted to say yes but he was getting uncomfortable, so he just decided to agree with the old bastard. "No", he said, hoping to end this quickly. The man then conversed with the rest of the judges and said, "You are aware of your punishment then? Playing The Game?" Daendel said yes then the man said, "All for the accused being Guilty, raise your hand." Everyone raised their hand, Daendel did too as a joke. But just as he put it up, the man who brought him there seized his arm and threw it down. He then grabbed the back of Daendel's neck and whispered into his ear with a menacing tone, "Not funny, boy. He took him back to the cinder-block room but this time it had a bed with some sheets on it. The man shoved him into the room and said, "goodnight", with a sadistic smile and slammed the door. Leaving Daendel in complete darkness, save for the light from the crack under the door, which was quickly extinguished. Daendel stumbled around until he found the bed, which was a hard as a rock, but still usable. It took him 2 hours to fall asleep, only to have nightmares of the guard's scream, not the solace he wanted.
