Gregory inspected the crumbled piece of wall before him, he had followed a lead on some rumours for some curious ruins deep in a forest. He had wandered in circles for three days before finding an overgrown clearing.
After spending half a day clearing undergrowth from old fallen stone walls, he recognized them being very old, and quite mysterious as these had to have been brought here, nowhere in this forest was a place to get such stones, then worked into perfection.
The crumbled wall formed a reasonably sized square, a small home or cottage, single room, no furniture was left.
He did recognize remnants of an old fireplace, he put his pack near it, camping equipment and various tools for spelunking.

Somewhere in this yard there was a cellar, and he was determined to find it.
He wandered around the clearing, occasionally using his hatchet to clear undergrowth, roots and various plants so he could see what was underneath. He found some rubble, stone mounds, something that looked like a well, he used a rope and a fabric bucket and the water seemed clean, cold and fresh, at least he didn’t need to worry about water, which made him happy.

He stood before a small pile of dirt, it was about as tall as him, had roots growing all over it, underneath certain places he could see worked stone, hoping it was a dirt cellar he started working the roots off, strangely resistant to his hatchet, but his strength proved too much to the growth, almost as the roots did not want him to find it.
Some time later he stood before a stone archway, small but fit for a man to walk through, the door was rotten and barely hanging on the hinges, the passage down was narrow and steep, and very dark. THe sun was setting so he decided to rest as he had worked all day, he returned to his pack in the ruined building to build himself a camp, and laid down in his sleep roll to drift off sleeping.

The dreams were confusing, something was blocking him, but a voice beneath the chains, more like a feeling, a faint light wanted him to come through, he tried to pull through the chains before him, they were heavy and strong and resisted him at every step. The light grew stronger, it was weak, but he could almost make out a person, or something.
He woke up, the sun was rising above the horizon, birds were chirping. Gregory got up, pondering about the strange dreams he had ever since he started searching for this place. He made himself breakfast and prepared equipment.

Wearing simple but strong clothes, a simple pack and a tool belt. He had tied a magical lantern to his hip, it gave off a gentle warm glow, enough to see the walls and floor.
The broken stairs down were steep, perilous and slippery, he had to be careful with each step, taking support from the wall that almost felt like it was avoiding him as he ascended.
He had lost count three times on how deep he had gone. He looked at the slightly wider corridor before him, the air was musty and damp.
He carefully followed the corridor, the walls were surprisingly smooth, unnecessary so for a root cellar he thought.
Through a rotten wood door he found himself in a large room, along the walls were more doors, made of metal. Most were rusty, some had mould and fungus growing on them.
It felt strange, something wanted him to be here.
He inspected a metal door next to him, the dim light giving colour to the red rust, pale critters and spider web, wiping it off he peeked inside through a small hole in the door. All he saw was some bones. He pondered if thiws had been a jail or some necromancer's jail, the lock and hinges were too rusty to budge even a bit.
It was quiet, he could almost feel something nearby.

Walking over to the next door, hanging off a broken hinge he peered into the small cell. Cramped, metal fittings on the wall and floor covered in water. He was more sure this had been a cell of some kind.
Next few cells didn’t give any more insight, the remains of people, rusty tools and rusty chains.
He placed his lantern on the floor to look around and take a sip from his water bottle, most of the cell doors were broken, some had fallen to the ground due to hinges rusting, he tried to guess the age but it was too old for him.

He noticed the last door, it was black, rust free and clean, impeccably so, confused he returned the water to his pack and picked up the lantern. There was no visible hinge, no visible lock and no small window to peek through, and the door was warm to his touch.
With no obvious way to open it, he took his pack and pulled out a hammer and a chisel and started to inspect the stone around the door that he thought was a doorway.
The stone was smooth and untouched by time, his chisel barely left a dent in it, the stone further away the door appeared to be a common grey rock, but not this.
Hammering his chisel between the stone and metal edges of the door he noticed movement, something was loose or imperfect, he began going around the door, slowly hammering the chisel in at various spots to slowly pry the door out.
Some hours later, he managed to finally pull the door out with its edges, it fell out with a loud crash, pulling up a cloud of dust and dirt, he covered his face waiting for it all to settle before peeking in.

Gregory gasped as he looked inside the cell and hurried over to the chained one.
He inspected the creature, it didn’t respond to his calls and tried to hold their head, it just flopped hanging down, he could recognize faint pained breathing.

The creature was about as tall as him, but they were on their knees. Tough skin seemed to be a bluish grey in his lantern light. Forehead, head and back of its neck was covered in something that looked like a separate gark golden helmet, but it was part of their skin, it felt smooth but tough, and followed the contours and bends. On top of their head and down their neck there were tall sharp spines, they seemed blunt and hung along the spine.
He inspected her arms, malnourished but strong, forearms, wrists and hands were covered in the same gold as their head, hard, bendy but warm, like their skin, but functioned as armour.
Gregory noticed other pieces of gold plate, on their legs, feet and along the tail and back. Unsure what they were for he inspected their binds.

Tough dark grey silver looking shackles around each four wrists, he was surprised this one had two pair of arms, handy, he thought and chuckled at his own dumb joke.
Upper pair of arms were tied with silver chains to the walls aside, keeping the arms up and tightly open. Bottom arms tied to the floor. Keeping them in a tight painful X pose, so they couldn't stand up or sit down, perpetual crouching pose. He felt pity for this creature, it looked painful and exhausting.
He tried to talk to the creature, he felt a warmth emanating, but no response.

Determined, he looked at his tools and equipment. Finding a compact smithing hammer and a sharp chisel, he was satisfied, and returned to the chained one, inspecting the best approach.
The shackles around their wrists were thick, so no going through that, but it looked like whoever tied them up used chain links to lock the shackles together, so if he could hammer the half chain link loose he thought he could get the shackle off.
Kneeling down next to the creature, he supported their arm and shoulder by his side. He felt a strange emotion of peace, as someone was near.
Placing the edge of the chisel on one side of the half chain link, he struck with the hammer on the opposite side of the chain link, with a loud bang. He noticed a small nick in the link by the chisel, he was happy it made a difference. Supporting the creature's body he continued to hammer the upper chain link locking the shackle together.

Some time later, the chain fell and hit the floor and wall with a racket. The creature's partial weight fell onto his shoulder; he was surprised that they weren’t too heavy. The shackle fell onto the ground next to them, freeing one of four arms.
“Alright, getting there” Happy with progress, he turned to the other upper arm, his arms starting to ache as he began breaking the other chain link locking the shackle together, at the same time supporting the creature’s body.
The shackle broke and fell to the floor, there was a flash as the chain fell and he thought the room aged a lot, before it was polished marble and now it looked like the walls had become older.
The creature’s upper torso collapsed onto his back, he smiled and gently put the creature to lay on their back, top chains were broken, bottom chains were not tight. He thought he heard the creature breathe more freely.
Taking a break to tend to his aching arms, returning to his pack for water and a snack.
Walking over to the laying creature, sitting down next to them, watching the body.

Few moments later he returned to their bottom arms to hammer and chisel the chain link off.
Was easier this time as he could support the shackle to the floor.
Not many moments later, he tossed their chains aside and packed his tools aside.
“Too much to request you magically raise up after being freed, huh.” Shaking his head at himself he looked around, the walls were cracked and in places the marble tiling had fallen, some magic had kept this room in perfect shape, possibly absorbing the power from the chained creature.
He just hoped he didn’t release a cosmic horror upon the world, but he also couldn’t just leave the creature to suffer like this. Rubbing his own wrists, remembering how it was to be chained as a slave against one owns will.

Fastening his tools and pack back to himself, he wonders for a few how the best way is to carry an unconscious creature.
Taking a deep breath, summoning some of his internal powers. He lifts the creature to hang along his shoulders for stability. His dimly lit lantern gave a soft yellow light as he started making his way towards the narrow stairs.
The walls felt like they were caving in, each turn being tighter and narrower than the next, trying to stop his advance. But he didn’t come all this way to be stopped by visions and hallucinations.
Exhausted, he finally reached the stairs. The creature didn’t weigh too much, but the air was stale and moist, unpleasant and thick.
Slowly starting to make his way up the stairs, they felt slippery and steep, each step fighting him. He had to call forth more of his wild power to get the strength to combat the stairs trying to stop him.

What felt like several hours later he finally emerged into freedom, the fresh air hit him like a punch, almost losing balance. Fresh air rejuvenating him he wandered over to his makeshift camp with the limp character.
He gently placed the creature onto his bed roll, not the softest but some cushion from the ancient stonework.
Placing his pack on the ground next to them, he watched the solemn creature, they seemed more alive, or atleast content but still their eyes closed.
Gregory put them to lay on their side, fluffed a pillow under their head and the thick blanket over them to keep them warm.

Muscles still aching from the hammering and carrying and fighting mysterious stairs, he moved over to the ancient fireplace. He put some firestarter in a small pile, then placed slightly bigger logs on top.
Using a flint and steel he started throwing sparks, he had other means of making fire, but he enjoyed the mundane style of flint and steel. Kneeling down he blew some oxygen into the embers. Smoke started to emerge as he pushed the burning embers into the core of his wood pile.
Waiting until the fire started growing, rearranging the woods he enjoyed the gentle fire. His occupied bed roll was next to him, warming his unconscious companion.
From his camping pack he pulled out a small cast iron pot he put it near the fire and filled it with water.

Steam rising from the water pot, Gregory pulled out a small collection of vegetables, various carrots and turnips and potatoes for a makeshift vegetable soup. Added some salt and pepper for seasoning and flavour. Using a tick to stir, he watched the pot simmer, letting his thoughts wander about the day. He did hope to find treasure, trinkets and gems. But instead he found a bound creature he had no idea who they were, or even if they were alive.



(this is Gregory: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44789512
All characters mine, story too.
ARtist deviantedcreature )