Areal in Dungeon

[thepanda]

"I believe it went something like 'The world I live on is rich in minerals and natural resources, which you can have and pretty much whatever else you can use'. That in conjuncture with there only being a few hundred people in the WORLD meant there was practically a whole world out there with nobody in it.  As payment for 'fighting the darkness' as he put it, I expected to claim some of that land as my prize.

"My world isn't exactly the greatest place around. Too many people competing over too few goods, too little lands, and too many willing top do whatever to whomever to get their way. Not even the might of Zeal can control all of it."

[kpjam]

Lafiel rolled her eyes.  "There's a difference between taking some land to settle yourself upon, and starting a colony of your people..."

She looked directly at Areal and spoke.  "You said when you got here, you wanted to speak to me alone.  What about?"

[thepanda]

Arael shrugged.

"Semantics. Doesn't matter now, anyway." Arael moved from the wall a pace, turning fully toward her captor.

"I wanted to talk to you earlier because you seemed a bit more perceptive than 'the great sage Arkanel' when we first showed up." She shook her head. "At first I just wanted to see what you had to say about the situation as I thought you his servant. After a bit of time with him, though, I felt more inclined to find out more fully what exactly was going on. It seemed prudent to find out a bit more about this situation."

[kpjam]

"What's going on is a movement to free the people from the ant farm they are kept in.  Allow them to grow and mature on their own merits.  Arkanel doesn't like what Zaphiel plans to do, and instead of talk him out of it, or contact those who can stop him, he sought to 'hire' those who would do his job for him."

She looked pointedly at Areal then.

[thepanda]

Arael blinked in surprise. "Eh, what? Could you repeat that? I don't think I quite caught it."

[kpjam]

"Which part.  The part about you being hired because Arkanel couldn't stomach doing what he thought best.  The part about everyone here living in a kind of part menagerie, part breeding pen?"  She asked.

[thepanda]

"That last part."

[kpjam]

She sighed heavily.  "It is something I have learned from Zaphiel, and his words ring true.  The current chosen, Arkanel, myself, others on this continent are the weakest of the race of magic users that won the war.  They once ruled openly, until they had to fight the last great war; but they still rule today.  In response to the war, they set up the people as breeding stock.  Both to keep them in check, and to use them.  Breeding for experiments, breeding for their powers, and cattle for the magic that keeps this continent perpetually subjugated to them, without knowing.  They breed the other people of this continent to be simple folk, and during the 'rite of decay' those over forty, and not of the chosen, are sent to fulfill their real purpose, as guinea pigs and cattle.

"Zaphiel, and others have banded together to stop them.  Stop this attrocity.   Since you answered Arkanel's call, you are against that purpose.  You are here now to determine what to do with you."

[thepanda]

"I... see," Arael murmured as the woman's words sank in. "Does Arkanel know about these experiments?"

[kpjam]

"He knows.  He doesn't care," Lafiel spit.

[thepanda]

Arael winced. It made sense, in a disturbing sort of way. It also hit way too close to home with Zeal and the lambs of her world, though to the best of her knowledge they weren't being used as guinea pigs.

"Do you have proof of your claims?," she queried tentatively.

[kpjam]

"Proof.  Huh," she whispered.  "What proof did Arkanel give...?  No don't answer that.  Proof and truth don't exist in the soft world of these walls."  Her hands rose as she indicated the cell.

"Shall I take you to where those who are sacrificed are taken?  If you get in, you can find the proof you speak of... one way or the other."

[thepanda]

Arael remained silent for a moment. "So what do you plan to do with me?"

[kpjam]

"I don't actually know," Lafiel said as she leaned against the wall.

"Zaphiel does think he's found a way to the heart of the old one's magic.  He intends to go after it.   Being the softy he is, he might take you."

[thepanda]

Arael cocked her head slightly. "So there is a way around the magic deterrent?"