The Discovery of the Chain Breaker
A Day in the Life
I had been working the fields as usual, another load of grain to go towards the Masters’ stockpile, when I tripped over the unseen extended foot of Timerius, who reveled in causing trouble when he could. “Get up you lazy good-for-nothing slave!” Timerius liked to bring attention to my mistakes whenever possible, in an effort to distance himself from the herd. We had grown up together, but when the previous slave-driver had fallen to heatstroke, he had found a way to steadily worm himself into the remaining overseers good graces; mostly involving a generous amount butt-kissing and belittling the rest of us as much as possible. I glanced angrily back at his sneering face, and catching the look he remarked “Don’t give me that look. We all need to take care of ourselves.” and walked away before he brought attention to his own lack of progress with his section of the field. This left me working to gather the fallen items around me when the closest guard came around. Noting my situation, he harshly shoved me to the side and demanded to know why I was taking a break. I meekly stammered a reply, but he interrupted me with a new demand: if I couldn’t work like the rest, I would have to go dig some trenches for the new field section.
Off to the Trenches
All of us dreaded trench detail; it was backbreaking work, and the guards posted there enjoyed holding back the water to watch us suffer while pushing us to the very limit of exhaustion. Here is where I found myself now, digging at the furthest corner of the masters’ land. As I fell into the familiar rhythm of moving dirt, my mind wondered to far off lands I had heard about in stories from the elders. As if in a daze, I failed to notice the soft ground begin to give way under my feet until I started to fall into a newly uncovered stone pit!
Unearthed history
I landed on hard earth with a suddenness that took my breath away. As I gathered my senses, I glanced up and was amazed at how far I had fallen. I was at least 15 meters deep! As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I looked around to see if I could gain my bearings. In the dim light shed through the newly created hole, I could make out stone shapes along a wall to my right, but to the left only blackness. As I crept forward, testing each step before putting my foot down, I could begin to make out the outline of a huge stone archway a short distance ahead of me. Bass reliefs of grinning monster-like faces adorned the archway, all looking down towards whoever walked beneath it, and now that my vision was more adjusted I could see the path continued beyond and a faint glow could be see ahead. A strange tugging sensation started to attract my attention, as if gentle hands were attempting to bring me forward. I felt fear, but also a strange warmth that somehow reassured me.
At this point I could hear the guards above starting to yell; they must have just noticed I was not where I was supposed to be. Steadying myself, I gave into the pull and allowed my legs to carry me forward under the archway toward the glow…
The Temple of the Cyclops
The force guided my steps along a rough, down-sloping path, and after walking for a short while, the walls opened up into a massive cavern. The walls of this chamber were covered in a fungus that was giving off a faint blue light somehow, allowing me to see the structure before me. The ornate marble pillars on each side of a crumbling arched entrance were covered top to bottom in beautiful works of art, depicting huge giants wrestling with other monsters of legend. I could identify multi-headed hydras from the stories my grandfather used to tell at night, and I could see huge Krakens I had heard a guard describing once wrapping its tentacles around the arm of another giant. These went on as far as I could see, but towards the edges of the wall most of the finer detail had faded with time. In front of this building the ground was jagged and covered with ancient looking metal armor pieces and broken weapons. I noticed a mace head in the middle of the remains, but its size was absurdly huge. Who could wield a weapon like this? I was about to move further into the entrance, when the tugging sensation returned, pulling me towards a nearby boulder. I walked closer to investigate, but as the detail came into closer focus, I realized the boulder was actually a massive skull!
Discovery
Gasping at my discovery, I took a step back. The massive skull was so obvious from here that I marveled at how I could have missed it when I first entered the cavern. Aside from it’s immense size, it looked like any other human skull, except it only had one eye socket that dominated the upper half of its face. It was so old where it touched the ground had begun to fall away to rot, but the right side seemed to have an unnatural break, as if a massive forced had smashed in the side it long ago. Sticking out of this crack I could make out a black handle. A strange pulse of power seemed to emanate from it, and before I could stop myself I reached my hand out to touch it.
Visions of the past
I opened my eyes and the edges of my vision were blurry, as if I was in a dream. I was in the same cavern, but now the glow from the fungus was glaringly bright, and the ruined structure looked as if it had just been built. The level of detail was beyond anything I could have imagined, and the entrance was shut with huge iron doors. In front of the doors waged a battle straight out of my nightmares. Swarms of armored solders were attempting to trip a behemoth figure with one giant eye, who was swinging a club so large it looked like the handle was made from one massive tree. With each swing it would send at least 3 of the soldiers flying away to crash into other monstrous creatures that seemed to be waiting on the edges of the battle. As soldiers would drop lifeless to the ground these creatures would dip down and start to feast on the poor souls’ bodies. I was horrified by the monstrous battle and scared. Was I really here? Is this how I die?
Enter the Champion
It appeared the monstrous giant was about to become the victor in this battle, when I heard a shrill whistle come from behind me. Turning around I gaped in awe at an onrushing soldier riding a large warhorse directly into the scene I had just witnessed. This man was different then the rest, broader of shoulder, with a presence that gave him an air of authority. He wore very dark armor, with a massive set of horns rising from his head, but the most impressive piece of this mans ensemble was his weapon. As he rode, he readied a massive hammer in his hands: Jet black along the handle and head, with a large red eye in the center, the weapon seemed to be surveying the field of battle. A cheer rose among those on the field, and soldiers cleared the way for there incoming champion. The giant bristled and roared at this new challenger, and swung his treelike mace.
Battle of the titans
The warrior jumped off his horse, who took the brunt of the monsters’ swing and crumpled to the ground. The momentum of his leap carried him towards the beast head, and as he got closer to his target, a purple glow began to pulse from his hammer. The effect grew in intensity as he swung a wide arcing swing directly into the giants face. The monster obviously expected to shrug off the hit as he had so many times before from these smaller creatures, as it took no action to try and avoid it. I could feel the ground shake and multiple stalagmites cracked and fell from the ceiling of the cavern from the impact, and the monster spun around fully two times, dropping his mace where he fought and stumbling towards the corner where I stood, crumbling to the ground, black hammer stuck in a deep hole in the side of his face.
Aftermath
A cheer rose from the small group of soldiers, but a horrific scream came from the temple at the same time. 2 more of the one-eyed giants, roughly half the size of the first, came running out of the temple in a blind rage. They were followed by multiple tiny versions of themselves, who were crying most pitifully as their wardens left them alone. The first few hits took the soldiers by surprise, halving their numbers immediately. The former hammer wielder started to sprint towards the fallen giant, but he was hit by one massive fist and sent sprawling to the floor. As the other soldiers attempted to get to him some of the creatures that had stayed out of the fight started to swoop in, no doubt in an effort to get first bite of the remaining fighters. As the final moments of the battle seemed about to pass my vision blurred again.
The future
My vision cleared, and I was back in the cavern, the faint glow showing the building was back to its decrepit state. My hand was still touching the worn black handle, and I grasped it and pulled the mighty hammer from the monsters skull. The lustrous black I had seen in my vision was more a mottled dark gray, and the red eye seemed less ominous in my hands, but the sense of power could still be felt as I held the weapon. As I walked to the area where I had witnessed the mighty champions’ last stand, I found his battered armor and helmet. I lifted the helmet and put it over my head, and I could feel a rush of power course down my arms. I put the sleeping hammer on my back, and lifted one of the rusted swords laying on the ground. I could hear the guards coming, they had finally figured out a way down the hole and were coming for me, but after what I had witnessed, and the swelling pride I could feel rushing up from my belly, I only had one thought…
I will never be a slave again.
