Chapter 68 ‒ The Rebellion Unleashed
Chapter 68 ‒ The Rebellion Unleashed
As Tyler fought below, Drellic watched from the upper balcony, his face pale and twisted in terror. His hands trembled as he clutched the railing, eyes darting between the collapsing guards and the blood-soaked arena floor. A single bead of sweat slid down his temple as the realization struck him: the guards were failing, the slaves were stirring, and his carefully crafted empire of cruelty was crumbling before his eyes.
With a strangled cry, he turned and fled, his rich robes billowing behind him. Tyler saw him vanish into the corridors above, but he could do nothing to stop him. He had no strength left to give chase — he couldn’t leave Farnak and the prisoners vulnerable. All he could do was watch as Drellic’s silhouette disappeared into the dark, a viper slithering back into its hole.
Tyler kept fighting against the waves of guards charging at him. In his normal state, these soldiers would have been nothing more than minor obstacles, cut down in moments. But now, Tyler no longer knew what his ‘normal’ state even felt like. Every fibre of his being was strained, each muscle screaming in defiance as he pushed beyond exhaustion. He fought desperately to hold back from delivering fatal blows. He didn’t want to kill anyone. No more blood. No more senseless death.
Yet, the guards came relentlessly, like an unending tide, ignorant of their comrades collapsing around them. They knew neither fear nor hesitation, mindlessly following orders. And then, amidst the chaos, a realization struck Tyler like a hammer: no matter how vivid their expressions, at the end of the day, these NPCs were still lines of code. Their emotions and reactions were artificial, preprogrammed behaviours assigned to mimic life.
But was that really the whole truth?
Tyler had met NPCs — Farnak, Zephryn, Morik — who defied this mechanical pattern. They wept, they hoped, they dreamed in ways no mere puppet should. Were they truly just mindless constructs, or had they become something more? The more he pondered it, the more his mind throbbed in pain. His head felt like it would split open. He pressed his fingers to his temples, only to feel a sticky warmth seeping through his hair. Blood. He was bleeding from his head, so absorbed in combat and existential torment that he hadn’t even realized.
As the dizziness took hold, Tyler felt the connection to his body slipping. It was no longer his own. His movements felt foreign, as if strings were attached to his limbs and someone else was pulling them. He slashed and parried with mechanical precision, each attack measured and controlled slicing through flesh and metal. His consciousness faded to a mere observer as his body moved of its own accord, executing flawless technique like a master swordsman on a stage.
He didn’t know what was happening to him. But deep inside, he felt it — the same voice from before, the ones that demanded blood and destruction — an intense bloodlust. His thoughts shattered as a voice pierced through the fog.
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“Hey! How long is this going to continue?!” Farnak’s shout brought him back for a fleeting moment.
Tyler snapped to attention, replying hoarsely, “Hold on, I have an idea.”
Above, Velin watched the carnage unfold. Her golden eyes narrowed as she assessed the crumbling defence. When Tyler struck down a guard near her cell, she saw her chance. With predatory grace, she slipped her tail through the bars, snatching the guard’s keys from his belt as he fell. Unlocking her cell, she stepped out silently. The prisoners nearby called to her, voices full of desperation. “Velin! Help us! Free us too!”
Velin turned to them with a cold smirk. “I don’t owe you anything.” With a flick of her tail, she vanished into the shadows, leaving the others to their fates.
Tyler glanced toward her briefly, but had no strength left to intervene. He felt a pang of guilt but refocused. He yelled hoarsely, “Farnak! Go free the others now! I’ll hold them back as long as I can!”
Farnak hesitated, trembling. “I… I can’t—”
“NOW!” Tyler roared, as he parried another sword swipe.
Farnak gathered his courage and sprinted towards the underground cells, his heart hammering. Down below, he was met with dimly lit cages and the stench of sweat and blood. The fighters looked up at him with hollow, vacant eyes. Years of defeat and betrayal had stripped them of hope.
“Please!” Farnak pleaded. “We need you! [Player] is fighting alone! We can win your freedom today!”
A jagged scarred wolf hybrid spat at his feet. “Freedom? We tried. Every attempt ended in chains, or worse. Drellic turned us against each other, made us watch our brothers die for a scrap of meat. You think we trust each other now?”
An old reptilian fighter, his scales dulled and cracked, hissed, “There’s no freedom. Outside this pit is just more cages. We’re marked beasts — hunted, hated.”
Farnak’s voice cracked. “But you’re strong! If you fight together, no one can stop you!”
A feline hybrid with torn ears whispered, “Strength? What good is strength when you have no reason to live?”
Farnak’s knees buckled. He slammed his fist on the bars. “You’re wrong! You’ve been lied to! You’re not monsters — you were forced to be this way! [Player] came here and fought for you! He could’ve escaped alone but he stayed! Why can’t you see that?!”
Silence. Eyes dropped to the floor. Farnak felt despair crash over him. He turned to Kragg, his last hope.
Kragg sat slumped, staring blankly at his shackled hands. Farnak approached cautiously. “Kragg… you can inspire them. They look up to you.”
Kragg’s voice was a gravelly whisper. “Inspire them… to what? To die? I have nothing left. No home, no family. I am cursed. Even if I escape, what is left?”
Farnak grabbed the bars, tears streaming down his cheeks. “You still have a sister! Don’t you want to see her again?!”
Kragg flinched, his massive shoulders trembling. “My sister… they will kill her if I move.”
Farnak pressed on, desperation fuelling him. “If you stay here, you’ll never see her again! But if we stop Drellic, there’s a chance! One chance! Don’t you want to take it?!”
Kragg’s breath hitched, and in that instant, a memory flashed before his eyes — the last time he saw his sister. She had clutched the bars of their cell, her tiny fingers white from gripping too hard, tears streaking down her dirt-smeared cheeks. Her voice, hoarse from crying, had called out his name over and over, echoing in his nightmares ever since.
He could still see her desperate eyes, that fragile hope shining through her sobs — the hope that he would protect her, that he would find her again.
Kragg slowly lifted his gaze, his eyes flickering with something long buried — hope. With a roar, he stood, muscles coiling. “I will help.”