Veloren

Chapter 25: Immortal

Inside the prison facility, loud consecutive banging sounds could be heard from the other side of the prison main door. The loud clanging of steel continues to echo throughout the entire prison.

San pants heavily as he and Jayce have freed themselves out of Jayce's cell. Before them is the main sector door with giant dent marks imprinted all over.

Jayce: Wow... So the great San cannot even break down a door...C'mon San, weren't you in the "top 3 guilds" back in the day?

San: Shut up! I already told you why I cannot break down this door in one go!

San (thinking): I'm getting way too old for this...! If this was me back when I was young...! Ah...My glory days... I miss them...!

San: Anyways, I've already freed you from your shackles, why aren't you helping?!?! Don't you want to see "your bois"?!?!

Jayce: Bro, just because I'm a fighting maniac, doesn't mean I've got super strength like you do. Besides, what kind of normal human could bust down an iron door with their bare fists?

San: Hpmh! Shows what you know...You're just pathetically weak...!

The door clicks which catches Jayce's and San's attention. They turn their heads towards the door. It gradually opens up and before them stands Tatsuo along with a random goon from Punk Riot that has a comically large bruise on his head.

San (bewildered): What..? You...!

Jayce: Wait what? I fought you yesterday!

Jayce turns to face his bro that Tatsuo dragged with him, "And Fletcher! What da hell are you doin' here?! And where'd you get that big ass lump on your head?!"

San: How'd the two of you find us?!

"Uhm...this...dude...thing....dragged me out here, and I led him to this prison." - Fletcher says whilst scratching his head nervously as he fidgets while keeping a distance from Tatsuo.

Fletcher glances towards San: By the way...You're not goin' to kill me for this...Yeah...?

San coughs.

San: There are exceptions to what I've said... – Fletcher swipes his sweat away and sighs in relief.

Jayce turns to face Tatsuo to ask him about the door - "How'd you even get this dang thing to open?"

Tatsuo: I just took every key and tried out every single one until it worked. Your friend here helped me out a lot there.

Jayce and San looks at him puzzled.

San: Wha – What about the guards...?

Fletcher disturbingly points behind them. San and Jayce peeks over into the room on the other side. Bodies of guards lay scattered all across the room, surprising the both of them.

Jayce lets out a respectful whistle and praises Tatsuo, "So him knocking Hector out in one punch wasn't a fluke afterall."

San continues to stare with his eyes bulging out in disbelief.

Jayce: Heh! Well I guess that takes care of all that! Heymlir that jackass...I can't wait to get my hands on that bastard...! – He says smacking his fist against his hand.

San (thinking): Heymlir....

San (thinking): What has gotten into you...?

Tatsuo turns his head towards one of the prison cells and proceeds to walk towards it. The group notices this.

San: What's wrong?

Tatsuo: There's something going on in one of these rooms. Fletcher, could you help me?

The group gets the door open and they enter the cell.

Fletcher (gasps): What...

The room that the group entered was the one where Archer was being held in. The area is in shambles from the effects of the empowered blazer cannon.

Fletcher: What on Beria happened here...?

An unknown voice of a young boy thanks them for opening the door, to which the group looks down in front of them.

Before them is an infant Archer with his burnt clothes draped over his child-esque body.

Jayce: What...The hell...?! Aren't you that fire kicking dude?! Why da heck are you like that?! What happened to your body?!?!

Archer: I was killed by Heymlir.

His words befuddled the group.

Tatsuo: But you're alive right now.

Archer: That's because I've made a pact with a phoenix. Phoenixes have the ability to revive themselves. When they reincarnate, they take the form of a chick. Thus when I died, I returned to the form of a human baby from the remains of my ashes.

Archer: Well...The aging process is sped up to catch up to my true age, so I'll be back to normal by the end of the day.

San: Ho~...So you were able to make a pact with a phoenix huh...You should consider yourself very lucky, chap... – He says amusingly.

Jayce: So you cannot die then. Well ain't that convenient for you. Why don'cha become my personal punching bag, you'll make for a pretty good sparring partner.

Archer: How about I give another one of your goons another concussion?

Jayce (smirking): You little shit...I see your body's changed, but your attitude hasn't...That's good...I like a guy who can stand up for himself...

San stops the banter between the two - "Enough. We need to find Heymlir. We need to prevent any escalations of the current situation."

Tatsuo: Ok, you do that. Good luck.

San (dumbfounded): HUH??!!

San: You aren't going to help?!

Tatsuo: No. Why should I...? I don't have anything against the mayor. This is between you guys and him.

Everybody else is left speechless.

San: Then....! Why did you come and save us...?!

Tatsuo: I just wanted to find out more about Veloren. You're hiding some things from me aren't you–

San (frustrated): Aaarrgghh!!! Alright! Alright! Fine! Could we do that later!? I'll talk with you about Veloren all you want after this is all over! In fact, the sooner this all gets resolved, the faster we can talk about him!

Tatsuo: .....

Tatsuo: Alright, fine.

San swipes his head and lets out a sigh of relief, whilst Jayce makes fun of San – "Ha ha! He had you in a bind there old man...!"

With Tatsuo at the lead, the four combatants and Fletcher take their step forward to put a halt to Heymlir's actions.

*Meanwhile, Hector has finally managed to gain information on the prison sector Jayce is held in. Upon arriving at the base, Hector stumbles upon the bodies left by Tatsuo, after the group had already left.