Axel entered the prison through a wooden door, and is walking back towards the iron tower. He just had to pass through the dungeons where they kept all of the cold, heartless prisoners to rot so they never do anyone harm again.

At least, that's how it's supposed to be. Axel walked through the cold, iron hallway; cages flanking both sides, torches placed in the spaces in between while the soldiers here at the Clockwork Fortress patrol the halls.

Axel didn't know how they can see anything with those red vein-covered hooded cloaks they wear over their leather armor. The single eye designed in the center of the face-covering hood is void of all emotion.

Axel noticed that the guards are still. Unnaturally still. Uncaring even as, much to his confusion, they all walked out in unison.

But as they walked out through the double iron doors, he let out a relived sigh. Axel continued forwards to see that the cells are empty, even though he saw many people come in here not too long ago.

"Where is everyone?" he whispered as the cold, metal place continued to answer him with silence and unease. Oblivious to the events happening on the inner walls with his friends.

"Who knows?" A male with his back against the metal bars replied came from one of the cells. His voice tired as his red jacket is tied around his waist; he ran a bruised hand through grime-covered blue hair. The mysterious male in the cell stood up and turn to look at Axel, revealing his torn jeans. "It's good to see you're doing well, Axel."

"How do you know my name?" The large male asked in surprise.

The man in the cage shrugged. "Well, first of all, Scribing." He gestures to his eyes, glowing with faint Mana. "Second, I'm the one who let you into this fortress along with your friends."

"You did?" Axel replied, unable to remember.

"I don't blame you if you can't," Said the man in the cell. "You were so ill... but it's good to see I didn't cause a mistake."

"Mistake?" asked Axel before shaking his head. "Why should I be listening to you? You are in here for a reason..."

Axel then Scribed the man. It's not as good as the runes in Jesse's right eye, and while Axel has difficulties exercising Mana outside his body, it's enough to get a name. "Luke?"

[Luke] Level 157

Class: Berserker

Title: The Hungry Miner

"...You know what I did to get locked up in here?" Luke asked. "I tried to give a starving family food."

"That's it?" Axel said, surprised by the unexpected answer. "Why would they do that?"

"I was tired of hearing starving children cry," Luke shrugged. "I wanted it to stop."

"Even if it means getting locked up?"

"I took the risk, but I still failed." Sighed Luke. "More people were thrown out, the rest get locked up in here."

"...So where is everybody?" Axel questioned, looking at the empty cells. "Why are the guards not even guarding this place?"

"Other than me being the only prisoner?" Luke asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow. "Can't think of anything; they move the people into the next room, into that door."

Axel looked down the hall where he saw double iron doors. "What's in there?"

"I honestly don't know." Luke shrugged. "The soldiers drag the people in, but only they walk out; no prisoners."

"Isn't that suspicious?" Axel pointed out the obvious. "Why isn't anyone doing anything?"

"There is no point, it's like talking to a brick wall when you try to confront them." Luke responded. "They'll just give the usual, 'I've been following the commander here for years' type of response... or they just beat you until you're silent."

"I don't get it, why are the soldiers so loyal to the commander here?" Axel questioned, looking around to make sure there aren't any guards around. "I've been here over a month, and not once have seen her, and yet the soldiers loyal to her are willing to let people starve if she says so?"

"I don't know," Luke shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure out why as I spend my time in here."

"Aren't you under her command as well?" Axel asked, noticing that the iron cells don't have doors; taking the whole 'locking the cell, and throwing away the key' thing to a new extreme. "You do work here."

Luke just shook his head. "I've transferred here during the war, I've been here for over three months." He revealed, smirking at that. "She never earned my loyalty."

"Three months?" Axel repeated. 'Aiden said Jess was in the Twilight Forest at the time...'

"Yep." Luke nodded. "Me and two others were transferred here to support the commander of this fortress, apparently she did something so amazing she earned the kingdoms' respect."

Axel looked around to find anyone else in the cells, but Luke stopped him. "Don't worry, they're not here. One of them is working on the outer wall, the other is with the commander."

"I'm guessing you haven't seen either of them." Axel stated. "But what about-?"

CRASH-!

Something broke through the wooden door that Axel just entered, catching his and Luke's attention as they turned to see a single zombie covered in black material stumble into the metal hallway.

"A zombie?" Luke wondered as the undead monster's red eyes looked at him. Its' groaning is metallic and static. "How did it get in here without the guards noticing?"

Then they heard the screams coming from outside. Painful... agonizing... surprised... blood-choking screams of the innocent and starving.

Axel managed to look behind the zombie, through the shattered remains of the now-destroyed wooden door, only to see a thick fog mixed with a thin tint of black mixed into it.

And the red eyes glaring within. "What the hell is going on outside?" Luke asked as the fog seemed to roll in.

Luke then Scribed the monster, looking through the gaps of the iron bars. "PAMA?" He questioned, making Axel startle in surprise from Olivia's retelling of Redstonia.

"What's a PAMA?" Luke questioned as the fog then flowed into the hallway, wrapping around the strange zombie as the creature itself became more transparent than glass.

The screaming in the fog outside was all they could hear. "Where did it go-?"

CRUNCH-!

Axel felt the air burst out of him while he was thrown back, and crashed onto the metal floor, ignoring Luke's concerned screams.

Axel slowly got up onto his shaking feet, ignoring the metallic taste of blood inside his mouth as he quickly looked around to find the invisible mob; turning his body caused the dark fog, that pooled onto the floor, to shift.

But then Axel saw something disrupt the fog a few blocks away from him. It happened so quick that he was punched again, doubling over before he felt something grab his arm and threw him into Luke's cell.

Axel crashed into the bars before falling face first onto the floor. He groaned in pain as he got up, not noticing Luke pull out a diamond pickaxe.

Axel got up from the ground, blood trailing down from the corners of his mouth. His vision hazy as the screams from outside is all he can hear.

He got punched again from his right, he stumbled in that direction before getting slammed into Luke's cage bars again. Axel slid onto the ground, tired, only for an invisible kick to throw him across the hallway again. The ringing in Axel's ears blocked out Luke's panicked voice and the screams outside.

'I'm really not that smart after all... ' Axel thought as he steadied onto his feet, readied his stance. Waiting.

A spot on the fog-covered floor shifted, moving towards him. Axel waited. 'I can't grasp redstone, or basic magic...'

That shifting moved closer to him. Axel still didn't move; focusing. It came closer to him as Axel heard a metallic scream.

'But at least I'm smart enough to learn from my mistakes!'

Axel felt the invisible mob tackle into him, but he used his superior size and a bit of momentum to grapple and lift the mob.

The invisibility washed off like water the second the zombie was out of contact with the dark fog. "... nice try," Axel growled before throwing the zombie up, waiting for it to descend at the right moment before punching the mob with his superior strength.

It flew back through the opening it entered, returning outside as Axel let out a wet cough; using his arms to grip the cell bars to prevent him from falling.

Axel then felt someone drape his other arm onto a length of shoulders. "Man... that was awesome!" Luke cheered as he supported Axel, helping him to the double iron doors. "It would have been cooler if you didn't get your butt kicked in multiple ways under ten seconds."

"...How did you get out of your cell?" Axel coughed as Luke set him down near the iron doors.

"Other than you crashing into it?" Luke asked rhetorically before running to the opening where the zombie broke in and placed iron bars to block. "I used this," He ran back, and pulled out a diamond pickaxe in his right hand.

"You had that the whole time?" Axel asked. "Why didn't you break out sooner? Or at least helped me..."

Luke's smile became sheepish as he walked back, and helped Axel to his feet. "I was too hungry, they don't exactly feed us in here often."

"So what now?" Axel asked, flinching from the explosions coming outside. "Our only way outside is blocked by those mobs..."

"Then our only hope is through these doors!" Luke realized as he pulled back his fist before impulsively punching the iron doors.

What he didn't expect is the red veins to surface on the doors. A red circle with a dot in the center formed in the center, resembling an eye, and glowing an ominous red before a flash of light blew Luke back.

"Agh!" Luke flinched in pain, gripping his burned left hand. "What kind of door does that?!"

"Why does a door need that at all?" Axel asked, watching the eye slowly closed as the red veins retreated back into the metal door. "What's inside there?"

"Well we got to get inside," Luke declared as he used his Mana to heal his fist.

CLANG-!

He looked behind him to see fog pouring through the bars he placed earlier, and watched them shutter as something repeatedly slammed into them. "Because something is breaking in."

"I'll get it open," Axel declared as he picked up the diamond pickaxe, that Luke dropped earlier, in his right hand. Ignoring Luke's protests, Axel walked towards the end of the hallway, channeled Mana to his right limb before charging at the door.

Axel screamed as he slammed the tool into the iron door, hitting the center of the eye that formed again. The pickaxe hooked into the eye, a second passed before cracks formed across the eye as it started to bleed.

"Hey," Luke called walking up to Axel's side. "Did it work-?"

BOOM-!

The door exploded. Both males coughed out the crimson smoke out of their lungs before continuing. "Yeah... I think it did." Axel grinned, despite his injuries before the duo ran into the new entrance. Axel then looked at the broken remains of the diamond pickaxe and gave it a respectful nod; a silent, and strange, appreciation.

Luke made sure to place more iron bars back where the iron doors used to be in order to slow down whatever mob that will be going to break in soon. "That should do it," He looked towards Axel, placing his hands on his body and using his Mana to heal the large male. "I don't have the proper Class to do this, but it should be enough."

----------

After healing Axel, they started to explore; walking down a dark corridor. Simply talking about current events. "How can the soldiers here get away with all this?" Axel asked in sadness. "All those people, starving, being thrown out into the unprotected world... it's just not right."

"That's what I thought too," Luke agreed, squinting his eyes to try and see well in the dark. "But when you realize how far this place is from other Forest territory, the people in charge here can do whatever they want."

"But shouldn't people figured that out?" Axel saying the obvious. "Wouldn't anyone be suspicious or concerned of this unchecked authority, why doesn't someone from the Kingdom of the Forest at least inspect this place?"

Luke shook his head. "Apparently the lady that's in charge of this place earned a fearsome reputation after she came back a week later from the Twilight Forest."

"The Twilight Forest?" Axel asked for confirmation as Luke nodded. "When was that?"

"About over three months ago." Luke informed, much to Axel's surprise. "I never saw the lady myself, but word of her accomplishment did spread fast. The king praised her, and asked what she wanted for doing such a fearsome feat. She wanted total independence of her fortress, for her and her men to work in peace with no outside interference."

"The king just agreed?" Axel asked disbelieving.

"There were some tough negotiations," Luke shrugged. "But she got what she wanted in the end. Like I said earlier, me and two others transferred here, but it's because they felt the commander needed more muscle."

"What did she do?" Axel asked, curious for an answer.

"She and her soldiers from the Clockwork Fortress ventured into the Twilight Forest," Luke explained. "And killed Jess' partner."

"Jess has a partner?" Axel, once again, asked in disbelief. "That's not possible."

"Apparently not." Luke disagreed. "Although I don't think it matters anymore considering who Jess is; no one ever returns when they go after her."

Axel pieced the information together. "So that's why people fear her, or don't question her: she is the only one who survived,"

"-and managed to do damage to the world's most infamous woman since the fourth Emperor." Luke finished, just not what Axel was expecting.

"Wait, the fourth Emperor was a woman?" Axel deadpanned in the dark. "Wouldn't she be called 'Empress' then?"

"Yeah, she was a woman." Luke affirmed. "But the position itself is so serious that no one really cares about gender-restricting titles. I mean, would you really sass the individual who is in charge of every kingdom?"

"Look, we're getting off topic here." Axel shook his head. "Earlier you said that the commander in charge of this fortress earned respect by killed Jess' partner in the Twilight Forest, and was rewarded with autonomy. Who did this lady kill?"

"I don't know," Luke said as they continued to walk down the dark corridor. "Some blonde guy named Lukas."

A/N: You must have a lot of questions. You can ask them, but I won't answer. :p

Luke is one of the OC(s) requested by aureliabw965, and one of the three OCs I'll be introducing! Yes one of the OC(s) they requested for me to add, because they wanted me to add in two! Apparently they're siblings who use the same account? Idk, it still confuses me and it frustrated me when they're demanding something from me. Again.

I was actually prepared not to add in their OC(s) due to how disappointed I was in their behavior. But they did the one thing others never: they apologized, didn't kiss my ass, and didn't try to make excuses for their actions. I may not believe in forgiveness, but I can respect what they did.

But seriously, stop spamming my inbox, and my comments, begging me for forgiveness. It is way too late for that, and I don't even believe in it. I don't get angry, just disappointed.

On a side note, thank you to those who helped me figure out how to add videos to chapters! Also, I discovered a youtube channel called Aphmau... why didn't I discover it sooner? It's awesome!