Chapitre 4: Chapter 4 - Prisoners
As he walked down the winding corridor, some prisoners called out to him from within the cells. While all they said sounded both foreign and familiar, Xun decided to use the key-ring on every door he could. After fiddling with the different assortment of keys, Xun realized he could just imbue Demonic Qi into his hands, before smashing the lock on the door. It drained a small amount of Demonic energy, which he re-absorbed naturally through breathing. While most people were desiccated, devoid of even a hope of escaping.
Around ten or so people came out. Three humans, with fairly well built bodies. Two strange beasts giant looking cats which walked with a strong sense of pride. While their fur was covered in blood, they still sauntered forward. In front of the two was a young teen. He had small dog ears coming from his head, and he constantly made strange motions with his hands. Four elves, three standing protectively over the last. A young girl who exuded an aura of purity, she naturally cleansed the area of Demonic energy, much to Xun's dismay.
Xun could hear the humans whisper among themselves with some strange language.
"Do you understand me?"
The humans looked up to him, then continued to talk with a look of contempt on their faces. One of the elves tapped the girl on the shoulder and spoke. The girl repeated the sentence wi and a small light was emitted from her body. A small blue light flew towards Xun's forehead.
"Rune gained: Universal Language Communication."
"How convenient."
Xun thought to himself.
He started speaking,
"Do you understand me."
The humans glanced at him with a shocked look before one stood forwards. He had a scar over his left eye that was seemingly charred black, but his body seemed unharmed. A brown beard gave away his seniority over his otherwise younger companions. He spoke up with a gravelly voice.
"Elven magic truly is powerful - fallen, do you have a plan to escape this prison."
He had a smug, complacent look as he continued. "I am Damien, a second class aura knight. If you can share your method to use aura through the dampening effect in this prison, I can break us out of here alone."
Xun spoke up, "As a fallen my ability to use the Demonic energy in the area manifests itself into fire."
Satisfied with his wording, Xun looked towards Damien.
"Without aura what's your combat level at."
Damien scowled, having his weak point prodded by Xun.
"My defensive abilities are second class, even their strongest whips weren't able to damage me.
My two squires may only be first class but will be able to hold their own in a battle."
Damien was clearly hinting towards the fact that all of his offensive capabilities were aura-based, and hence unusable. Xun, wisely backed off and turned towards the girl.
"Excuse me my lady, can you tell me what you and your-" Xun glanced up at the four elves who were warily staring him down, before continuing. "Friends. What can you and your friends can do in a battle."
One adult elf stood forward from the group of four. Each elf had beautiful long blonde hair and a perfect face, yet their genders were not easily told. If not for the symbol that each of them had shimmering brightly on their forehead, it would be difficult to tell them apart.
This elf spoke with a strong male voice, despite his otherwise female features.
"I am likely the only one who can provide you assistance sir. As elves our primary skills lie within magic, yet nature does not flow naturally in this place. I am an expert in the bow as well as the blade. My class is known as a weapon-master, so given any weapon I can improvise."
The girl seemed like she wanted to speak up but was shushed by the other members of the group.
Xun continued towards the young teen. His body was tanned, and covered with tribal marks, they seemed reminiscent of runes but without magic flowing through them. Before he had a chance to speak, the boy spoke out.
"Fluffy one and Fluffy two are perfect for scouting! I'm sure they'll have a great time being able to chew on as many bones as they'd like."
The boy himself started drooling as he spoke, over-eager for the skeleton bones. His hands never ceased moving, as the cats behind him made a strange roar before walking forward down the halls.
Xun finally began to speak out with an aura of calmness. Xun was never one for leadership, but considered himself to be fairly strong with tactics. He often played video-games such as Fire Emblem and Diablo, so he understood the basics of how each class would play out.
"My abilities allow me to manifest the energy around me in the form of fire. My other abilities are irrelevant under this suppressing field, I'll be our main DPS along with the elf..."
"Johan." Replied the elf, before continuity with a confused expression. "DPS?"
Xun paused, realizing what he was going to say.
"It's an expression from where I'm from, which is to say attacker. Johan, you'll take this chain to use as a weapon, your class should allow you to wield this."
Xun paused, before ultimately deciding not to released the other chains from his inventory. He already knew he was a 'fallen' so he didn't want to step on any toes before using what could be classified as forbidden or even demonic magic. Not to mention the high-quality enchantment on the chain could be seen as some sort of rare luxury.
Xun glanced at the boy, hoping he would give his name. After a few uncomfortable seconds of the boy staring back he sighed and said.
"Fluffy one and Fluffy two will be in charge of scouting and probing the danger of certain rooms."
He continued with a stricter tone of voice for the boy.
"If, and only if they meet in any danger, have them return immediately. That way we'll know when we need to be prepared."
The boy nodded before humming a small tune, it sounded both erratic and mysterious. Xun thought to himself, maybe the boy was 'raised by wolves', never really growing up. The boy seemed to be 15-16 at the youngest, yet he missed social cues and chose... rather unique names for his beasts.
Xun finally looked towards Damien and his squires. It didn't seem like Damien particularly wanted to take orders from him; but due to the circumstances, or possibly other reasons, he chose to relent.
Xun started imagining a formation in his mind, before declaring his plan.
"Damien, you will stand in the front lines. Your job will be to attract the attention of any enemies we come across. I will stand a half foot behind you to your right, and attack enemies whenever I get the chance."
Damien grunted in acknowledgement, seeing that he would cooperate Xun let out a small sigh of relief.
"Johan will stand 3 feet behind you and to the left. Whenever necessary he should move to strike out with his chain."
"Behind the three of us, you elves and the..." Xun paused again glancing at the boy, before he heard a message in his head, a voice which he recognized as the young elven girls was transmitted into his mind.
"He's a beastman silly."
Leaving only a small pause in his sentence Xun said "Beastman, will form a group behind us. The squires shall serve as our rear guard in case we get flanked."
Xun shot a grateful look at the elven girl after finishing his spiel, to which she stuck out her tongue in playful manner.
Everyone nodded at the commands given, even Damien, and slowly arranged themselves in that formation. Johan began to familiarize himself with his new chain, while the beastman boy kept singing his strange tune. The beasts ran forward excitedly, while the other elves chatted quietly among themselves.
Seeing everyone being so receptive to his commands, Xun let out a sigh of relief. He had never been in a circumstance like this before, nor was he good at speaking to groups of people. While he was able to adjust to his situation due his tendency to sit back and observe, he wasn't well equipped to be a leader of a group.
This was Xun's first time making a decision of such magnitude, one that could be the life or death of 8 other people. Almost as if recognizing Xun's small growth, the system prompt alerted.
"Ability Gained: Leadership - novice - level 1"
Xun gained a little confidence, and gave out a small smile.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Shamu
Shamu Hey everyone, while my novel might be short so far, if you like it give it some powerstones! I have it submitted to the competition so if I can get it some recognition more people will flock to this novel!
Really it means a lot to see that people are reading this novel. Even just leaving a comment or giving me a rating lets me know that you enjoy what I'm doing.
And if you don't... let me know, and I'll see what I can do to improve the quality.
Thanks a lot for reading :)
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