Kingdom Falling | Gyuricky forty.

The Lost Fortress was the cultivation world’s designated prison for its most heinous criminals. Located deep in the heart of Lunar Valley, the Fortress itself was not lost, but had earned its name because it was part of a massive underground cavern that had been uncovered by Lunar Valley’s ancestors from decades ago when the sect had first been founded. 

Some parts of the cavern were found to be rich in moonstone and other energy stones which were useful to cultivators; those areas had been set aside for mining purposes, and years later when the caverns had been mined clean, they were converted to detention cells for prisoners. The Lost Fortress was the most effective place to hold criminals, since the Valley was shrouded in so much darkness it was awfully confusing for non-Lunar Valley residents to find their way around, and Lunar Valley’s grounds itself were already so heavily fortified that escape was practically impossible anyway.

If that was truly where they were planning to take him, he could end his own life now and it would make no difference. As far as he could remember from lessons he hadn’t really cared much to pay attention to, criminals were held at the Lost Fortress either to serve out their punishment or to await their trial. 

Trials were not held at the Fortress but at Seven Star Manor, on a platform known as the Judgment Gallery; the cultivation world put their trust in the Manor’s scholar-path disciples to know better about upholding the tenets of morality and justice than the average layperson, and the responsibility had fallen to them to decide on the fates of every convicted criminal that entered the Fortress. A panel of high-ranking cultivators from each of the five sects under the Coalition, advised by top scholars from Seven Star Manor, would be called in to vote on the final conviction. Sect Leader Baek was called up to partake in trials every now and then, though he famously did his best not to be involved in things like these, claiming that he was too small a fry to be making decisions about someone else’s life or death.

Gyuvin wondered if they would let Sect Leader Baek sit on the panel for his trial. Would he even be allowed a trial? He’d heard stories of the most heinous of criminals who’d been executed without trial because of how horrific their crimes against humanity had been. But even that rogue cultivator from Sunshower City, the one who’d been convicted and imprisoned for using Soul Erosion talismans to fuel his personal gain, had been given a proper tribunal and a fair judgment. Gyuvin didn’t know much about how Seven Star Manor did things, but it was reasonable to assume execution without trial was accorded to only the worst of the worst, the scum of the earth, people who deserved to die ten times over and spend the rest of their lives in purgatory, never to reincarnate again.

That wouldn’t happen to him, right?

He comforted himself with that thought, as the carriage slowly pulled to a stop. He was still blindfolded, but he could hear the sound of human presence, and smell the scent of damp earth and soil that had gotten stronger in the past half hour. They must be in the underbelly of Lunar Valley now, deep in the underground caverns.

“Come on,” one of them called to him, helping him down from the back of the carriage so he didn’t fall. “Follow me. Don’t try to remove your blindfold.”

Gyuvin wanted to ask, once again, how he could remove his blindfold when his arms were bound behind him. The restraint had gotten a little uncomfortable, honestly, as the hours passed, but it wasn’t like he was in a position to complain.

He could hear the sounds of other people talking quietly, but his footsteps and the footsteps of his escorts echoed through the cavern. He presumed they were walking through the Fortress corridors now, passing by other prisoners’ cells. They stopped at some point, and there was the sound of spiritual energy unlocking something, and the person behind him nudged him forward.

A pair of hands reached out to unfurl the blindfold from his eyes, and another pair unwound the Spirit-Binding Cord from around his wrists. “This is your cell,” one of them said, finally. “You are not allowed to leave, or attempt to leave. If you need anything, ask the Fortress guards, but don’t waste their time with stupid requests.”

Gyuvin nodded wordlessly, shaking out his wrists where the cord had chafed a little. The three cultivators outside his cell looked a little sorry for him; really, he was quite possibly one of the youngest people ever to be imprisoned inside this Fortress, and they couldn’t help but feel some pity for his plight, criminal or not. “Just hang in there for a while, kid,” one of them added. “I’ll let you know when your trial is scheduled, so just sit back and rest for a while. I gave you one of the nicer cells, if that helps.”

Gyuvin gave a grateful little smile. “Thanks,” he said. He didn’t really know what else there was to say.

The cell was walled on all sides by smooth gray rock, a tall, door-shaped hole cut out in the front wall. Gyuvin poked at the entryway with his finger; he couldn’t see anything, but an invisible barrier stopped him from going any further.

“There’s a barrier,” one of the escorts said. “Moonrise Palace developed it for us. Don’t try to get out, it won’t work and it’ll get you into more trouble. I’ll bring you some food in a while, so get some rest till I come back.”

Gyuvin nodded. The cell wasn’t too bad, honestly, other than the gloomy dimness. There was a bed against the left wall, sparsely furnished with a pillow and a thin blanket, and a table diagonally across from that, with a single chair. If he squinted, it even looked a little like his room back at the Sky-Ascending Peak. But he found that thinking of the Peak brought him more misery than joy, and he put that idea out of his head entirely.

The cultivator from earlier came back with a tray of food, as promised. It was nothing special, just some rice with boiled vegetables and a bit of stir-fried meat, and Gyuvin was so abjectly miserable he didn’t have much of an appetite at all, but he accepted the tray gratefully, and started eating. He expected the Lunar Valley to leave, but he lingered outside the cell for a while, and Gyuvin looked up with some curiosity.

“So, kid, what’d you do to end up here?” he asked, a little awkwardly.

Gyuvin remembered to swallow his food before answering. “They didn’t tell you?”

The older man shook his head.

“I don’t know either,” he said finally. He didn’t offer any more information, partly because he wasn’t in a talking mood, and partly because he really didn’t have any more to say.

“What’s your name? I recognize your uniform, you’re from Moonrise Palace,” the man continued. “My name is Yeo Chungho. Just call me that, without any honorifics. I figured a long time ago that little formalities like these aren’t worth much in a place like this.”

“My name is Kim Gyuvin,” Gyuvin returned. “I wish I wasn’t wearing my sect’s colors. I don’t want to bring them any dishonor.”

“I can get you a set of plain robes,” Chungho offered. “I’ll bring them to you tomorrow, if you wouldn’t mind waiting.”

Gyuvin’s heart filled with something warm. Even in a place as gloomy as this, there was someone out there who was willing to stick his neck out for him, it didn’t matter that it was something as small as a clean set of clothes. “Thank you, sunbae. I’d really appreciate that.”

“No honorifics, remember? We had a deal,” Chungho said playfully. “You might be in prison, but you should still keep your word.”

“Right,” Gyuvin answered, nodding. “Thanks, Chungho.”

“Anyway, I’ll go now so you can have your food in peace,” he said, getting up from where he’d been sitting on the floor. “They were just trying to scare you, by the way, about the no stupid requests thing. We only enforce that on the annoying prisoners. If you need anything, just call for me, or let whoever’s on guard duty know you’re looking for me and they’ll pass on the message.”

“Okay,” Gyuvin said, bowing politely. “I will. Thank you for everything.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll see you tomorrow with the clothes, so don’t try to break out of your cell before then, got it?”