"This is a prison."
A rough and husky voice responds and the man looks up at the two.They focus on the man noticing the ghastly burn scars covering the bottom half of his face with his whole lower lip missing, spreading to his neck, covering his shoulders and the left half of chest.
"Kyle come on lets help them!"
"No. Are you stupid? He just said that this is a prison, he's clearly sealed down here for a reason."
"It doesn't matter! No one deserves something like this. And i have a feeling that pressure we felt earlier was his and it was a cry for help!"
The man's eyes widen slightly before immediately settling back to an impassive gaze.
"No, just save Colby."
The two look back at the man after he spoke Lloyd raising an eyebrow in confusion?
"Who's Colby?"
"Colby is the snake behind me."
The massive winged snake narrows its eye at the pair. Lloyd and Kyle break out in a cold sweat from the snakes glare at them.
"How did this happen to you?"
"The imprisonment or the burns? I was betrayed. The burns were from an alchemy experiment gone awry"
"Betrayed?
The man said in a casual manner, with what he could muster of a shrug. While Kyle questioned as if prying for more.
"yeah betrayed. It happened three-hundred thirty-eight billion seven-hundred ninety-one million two-hundred forty-eight thousand seconds ago, i don't know exactly how long that is but when you're trapped all you can do is count."
"No hold on wait a second. you were trapped down here for over ten-thousand years? and still alive?"
"So that is how long it has been, huh? Yes I am alive, I am immortal. Now want me to continue or no-"
The mans word were cut off from a coughing fit the strain causing more blood to spurt out of the wounds on his torso.
"Damn it this hurts. As i was saying, I am going to finish my story, now shut up and listen. I was framed for the destruction of my home empire by the goddesses. The goddesses told the hero, then she and her companions sealed me here as they could not kill me and I was too stunned from the loss of my home to retaliate."
Lloyd and Kyle look between each other then back to the man.
"why would the goddesses do that?"
"Because they hated me. I do not know why, but perhaps it was because I am an anomaly."
""Anomaly?""
"I am immortal, were you not listening?"
"Oh right, wait if immortality is one of your skil-"
"It is not one of my skills. It was from alchemy. This is why the goddesses kept such a close eye on me."
The man cut off Kyle's words and Lloyd and Kyle once again share a look and Lloyd moves closer to the man drawing his sword.
"I don't care if it was the goddesses who sealed you here no living being should ever be put through this torment."
Just as Lloyd was about slash at the metal spikes he suddenly feels the same pressure he did earlier and he falls to ground along with Kyle who does pass out this time.
"w-what? again?"
Lloyd groans as he fights it trying to stand up.
"That wasn't from you?"
Lloyd glances up at the man who is looking at the two with a confused look completely unbothered by the pressure that's clearly affecting the other two.
"What are you talking about?"
"This killing intent yo-"
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Lloyd's words are cut off by a loud roar once again trembling the mountains.
"Oh do you mean that thing? It has been screaming for a while now. In fact it started when the seal on the door started to weaken, perhaps it is a countermeasure to keep Colby and I in here- and great I am now talking to myself."
As the man was talking Lloyd had also passed out.
"You know, it is quite insolent to pass out so unseemly in front of an emperor. Are you not a hero? have some decorum. Well Colby seems like this generations hero is far weaker than (her) though I suppose that can also mean something good, like the world is peaceful so there is no need for a very powerful hero."
While the man is talking to the snake the image of a woman with long brown hair and in armor just like Lloyd's flashes in his mind.
The mountain shakes again and this time the floor beneath them crumbles and they all fall.
"Hmm... Was it not meant to keep me locked up? Surely the goddesses would not make a guardian for me that would also destroy my prison."
As the floor breaks apart so does some of the metal spikes, enough for the man to free his arms and rip the rest of them out. After he removes the spikes the holes in his body heal instantly except the burn scars which stay exactly the same, he stretches as he walks over toward the giant snake.
"Ahh, that is better. We are finally free now Colby."
The man says with what he can muster of a smile with his disfigured face while removing the spikes in the snake as well. The snake stretches and flaps its wings a couple times.
As the pair was enjoying their new freedom the floor suddenly collapses again. The man tosses aside the metal spike and leaps over to Lloyd and Kyle catching them midair before landing cleanly on another floor.
"How many floors are here? Oh wait a moment this is a labyrinth so there will be a couple more."
The man sets the pair down and looks around the new floor noting the small river and a locked chest with chains on it in the river.
"Hmm? What is that?"
The man moves closer to the river getting in and rinsing off his pitch black hair turning a coral color and he picks up the chest.
The man walks over to Lloyds body, picking up his sword and tossing the chest in the air before cutting it apart with ease and precision that it doesn't damage anything inside.
"That is nice, I have my normal hair color back. Oh and my gear too? Pretty dumb of the goddesses to leave all this here in the same labyrinth as I."
The man picks up his gear while tossing Lloyds sword aside and puts on the gear. He is now wearing a white schenti reaching his knees, a white sleeveless tunic kalasiris, a light blue sash around his waist, a black and gold respirator mask that covers the bottom half of his face and throat and is connected to a wesekh, leather vambraces that cover his forearm and the back of his hand, gladiator style leather sandals and a dagger on his waist.
"Here we are, while I do have my gear back my hair is too long."
As the man speaks again it goes from the scratchy rough voice that makes you clear your own throat, to a smoother and easier on the ears voice. That is because the mask isn't just to hide his ugly face it also fixes his voice and makes it easier to breath, without it he sounds like a dying dog and his breathing hurts him. He walks back over to the river using it as mirror cutting his hair to a wolfcut style reaching his shoulders.
"Urrggg. What's going on?"
Lloyd starts to wake up rubbing his head in a daze glancing around before locking eyes with the man.
"Uhh who are you?"
Lloyd slowly stands up while reaching for his sword.
"What? So rude, how could you for get me? You were just speaking with before you passed out."
"What, no. I've never seen you before?"
"Such insolence."
The man removes his mask as he walks toward Lloyd then behind him and ripping his cape off with the shoulder plates too and putting it on himself.
"As a payment for your insolence of forgetting an emperor right after meeting, I shall take your cape. You should not have one anyway you are not a ruler only a hero."
"Wait... WHAT?!?! YOU'RE AN EMPEROR?!?!?!?