Da Bai coughed again, and made sure to cover his mouth with his great, white hand. He was almost certain that was standard etiquette. He should know such customs, but as he had never been sick one day of his life, nor did he ever think he would be, he had never needed to know such things. He coughed once more for good measure, and looked proudly at the pink smoke his illness produced. Even at his lowest he could still perform miracles.<br/><br/>To be fair, Da Bai was not even sure he was sick. He had never been sick before so he had nothing to compare to. Quite frankly, he did not believe he could get sick. He embodied nature, all of it, not only plants and animals but fungal spores and microscopic germs as well. The tiny things that eat the flesh of lesser beings, or simply made their noses run harmlessly, were also aspects of his greatness. "Traitors," he thought at the prospect of his servants making him cough like this.<br/><br/>Strangle, he did not consider the men who imprisoned him traitors. He was their god, sure, but it did not mean they could not make mistakes, nor did it mean he could not forgive them, even if he was a tad annoyed about the shackles they put his upper pair of arms in. They were amicable chaps in their own right, and had left to get more manacles once they observed he had more arms than the cell allowed for, and they had not yet returned.<br/>Although he bore no ill will towards the men who brought here, the place was depressing, mostly because he was alone, and because of the chains. He did not mind bleak dungeons, but you needed company with whom to discuss the atmosphere and share the chills that Da Bai did not get running down his spine.<br/><br/>He could think of maybe three immediate routes to break free of the prison, and called on his trusted friends:<br/>"Sandals, free me!"<br/>The wooden sandals stirred and wiggled free of his feet, before growing little arms and legs on their own, so they stood up like miniature, square people with no mouths or faces, only a single large eye on the sole, and small, black arms and legs like on a child's stick figure painting. The tiny shoes looked at their chained master and started jumping up and down in distress, before they hastily climbed up his leg and scaled his upright torso, without help by his free pair of hands. They wanted to climb themselves, he knew, and he would not rob them of the exciting task of freeing him.<br/>Each sandal raced across the upper pair of arms and reached their tiny arms into the shackle lock and started fidgeting within, feeling the surface and finding out how to open the tumblers. They showed great ingenuity, thought Da Bai, when considering they had never, to his knowledge, picked a lock before.<br/><br/>His left sandal, who had no name, but distinguished herself by putting a flower in her sandal strap, even though Da Bai had no problem differentiating between the two, got his arm free first, but the right sandal soon followed suit on the other shackle, and Da Bai rose to his full height, his sandals balancing on his wrists before manually climbing down his body , although the right sandal took a more daring approach and jumped down to his lower arm and jumped from there all the way to the floor. The left sandal reached the floor a shortly after, Da Bai following its descend with interest, and when they were both on the ground they lay face down, their little arms vanishing into their wooden bodies. Before Da Bai stepped into them, he made sure to thank them in a gentle voice.<br/><br/>And the Great White was free.<br/><br/>Almost on cue the guards who had left to get manacles returned, gaping in shock at him and he politely smiled at them, chuckling slightly at their incredulity.<br/>"Would either of you kindly let me out now?" he said in a voice that was too deep to sound natural. An artificial boom resonated within a much kinder voice. He had not fought the guards when they locked him up, only followed them when they asked him to come along. They were so small compared to him, in fact the whole cell was too small, and he had to tilt his head or bend his knees to fit inside. That was yet another reason to get out. In fact the only silver lining with being in the dungeon was that it added an echo to his voice, which made it sound all the more booming, but even Da Bai doubted they had imprisoned him for this effect. He honestly did not understand why they had brought him to such a place.<br/><br/>The guardâ€™s reacted differently than he expected at seeing him out of his chains. They dropped the manacles and drew their weapons, but as he made no attempt to further to break free they gradually relaxed, sheathing their weapons and then began discussing how to sell or eat him, as he stood right there, and Da Baiâ€™s good mood ran out. He could forgive a lot, but eating him was too much. Had these fools brought him here in an attempt to steal his divinity? Frowning, the colossal white figure stepped closer to the bars and inhaled. They were tiny things, using sharpened iron to fight, when he-<br/><br/>He was a God.<br/><br/>Da Bai blew a gust of pink smoke at the tiny humans, the smoke quickly forming into a fluffy pink cloud that carried towards the guards, who suddenly got looks of small fear mixed with major confusion, and the one guard yelled to not touch it as he tackled his companion to the floor, narrowly avoiding the slow cloud that hung over them for a while before dispersing. Da Bai smiled happily the whole time, trailing the cloud with his eyes. He could have grabbed the tiny men on the floor through the bars, but he did not have to. He had shown them who had the power.<br/><br/>The guards scrampled to their feet and fled his line of sight, but not the dungeon. He could hear them just a little down the hall. Now they talked about getting crossbows to subdue him, and how that would diminish the price they could get for him. The nerve of these two, had the smoke taught them nothing?<br/>And much to Da Baiâ€™s delight there was another man in the dungeon now, who also did not appreciate the bumbling tomfoolery of the guards. At first Da Bai could not see him, but when he came into view The Great White immediately recognized him as a man of such dignity, it was almost comparable to that of the half-naked Great White, who still towered over them inside his cell. The two studied each other and just as Da Bai was about to break the tension, the other spoke.<br/>"Do you speak?" the man asked gruffly.<br/><br/>Da Bai answered by coughing again, not violently but it was still more than he ever had coughed in his life, and little pink puffs of smoke emitted from his mouth.<br/>"Watch out, sir!" one of the oafish guards shouted, but the dignified one remained calm and Da Bai chuckled.<br/>â€œMy friend, I am afraid I must ask you to open my cage. I fear I have come down with what you mortals call a â€œsore throatâ€, and while I persevere I have been told a cup of tea would do wonders, only your oafish friends took my kettle.â€ Da Baiâ€™s voice still resonated with the artificial boom, that he could never sound natural no matter how often he invoked it. â€œBesides, this cellar is too small, and it would save me great discomfort if you let me out now rather than later.â€