It was amazing how quickly everything happened. It felt like in a blink’s worth of time Thergurd’s body came crashing down, and his angel was standing in front of him with a smile, holding a pig’s head in offering.
Yes, his angel was indeed the most deadly of all.
It was interesting to notice that his bracelet still tingled as if he had made a wish. Seems there was no skirting around the system by just simply asking his angel to do something for him instead. Oh well. Noth looked at the severed head whose eyes were still wide open in despair, and felt slightly disgusted at the thought that he’d have to somehow use his hands to take the thing from her. There was no way he was willing to just touch it. The boy looked down at the skewer in his hand, entertaining the thought of perhaps having Serris stick the head on it like a pike, but the idea of showing something so gross to the children that he was about to go see was obviously a bad one. If he was going to take his trophy back with him somehow, he’d have to go about it in a more secretive way. That really only left one choice then.
A minute and a quick wish later, and the head was nicely placed inside of a sack.
Noth slung it over his shoulder and marched out the door, all the while trying to ignore the feel of the head bouncing against his back through the cloth with every step he took.
There was a promise to keep and kids to be saved, this was no time to be fussy over what was touching him where.
It took a little while to locate where the children were, but eventually he found the four of them hiding behind some storage boxes and blankets in a cell, not too far away from the room he’d been in. In a pleasant surprise, the girl Noth had healed was already awake, although in a drowsy and seemingly impaired state. It appeared that she’d still need a bit more time to fully recover her mind, but sadly that was time that the group just didn’t have to give. Luckily the children had talked it over while they had waited for him to come and get them, and they’d decided that the boy and the beautiful girl would just support her out, while the ashen haired girl who’d almost been eaten would be carrying all their flowers. Noth was grateful that they’d already worked out some kind of plan. He was also once again amazed with how undaunted they all continued to be.
After a quick wish to erase all of the children’s wounds, Noth started to lead them through the long dungeon hallway. However, an unexpected request suddenly stopped him once they’d made it halfway. The mousy voice of the ashen haired girl spoke up from the back of the group, startlingly cutting its way through the silence.
“Um, is it… Could we maybe… Is it possible if, um, we… let all the others go, too?”
The way she dragged out her words and hesitated showed just how much she thought her request was going to be rejected, and yet it was still quite brave of her to have said it anyways. In all honesty, Noth hadn’t even once shot a glance at any of the other slaves and kidnapped people that had been locked up in here; He’d really only cared about the children he’d been looking for. But… maybe the little girl was right? Perhaps it was the right thing to do, instead of leaving them in here to rot for no reason. It was doubtful that any of these people actually deserved to be here, and if it would earn him points with the kids then why not?
“Alright yeah, I suppose you do have a point.”
The teen’s words came out sounding a little bit put out, and the tiny girl pulled a little apologetic frown. Noth panicked at the look and quickly rushed out his wish.
“I wish all the cells were unlocked!”
There was a loud echo of sound as every single one of the cell door locks broke apart and disappeared. And there was also the sound of dozens of people getting up off the floor and coming over to their doors in wonder. Unexpectedly however, there was barely a single sound of anyone actually opening the doors. On further observation it seemed that no one could actually easily open the doors, because they were all still very much tied and fettered. The imploring gaze of the children was hard to ignore, and Noth quickly pulled a face as he made yet another quick wish.
“Yes yes. Ok, um, I also wish that everyone was untied and all that.”
And of course the wish worked.
However, something unexpected happened.
There was a small clinking sound, as if something had chipped, and when Noth looked towards the location of the sound, he realized something very important:
His bracelet was now halfway broken.
Noth’s face wrinkled a bit as he stared down at the bracelet. How had it gotten so terribly broken down after just a few wishes? Was it more brittle because of all the divinity that had been suddenly forced through it? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted however, by another child’s voice; This time it was the Krysthid boy.
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“Why are none of them leaving their cells?”
It was a good question. The group looked around, but just like before they’d all been untied, no one had dared to open their cell doors, they all just stood next to them and anxiously stared at the exit instead. It took a moment, but Noth finally figured out the riddle; They were all scared that the guards might come in at any minute. No wonder they weren’t willing to just rush out if there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t just be cut down and put back. Someone would have to lead the way and get rid of the guards that were obstructing the path.
Noth couldn’t help the sigh that escaped from his lips as he accepted that speculating about his bracelet wasn't all that important right now. Instead, he should be thinking about how he was going to get everyone out of here. If he didn’t have the ability to make a bunch of wishes, then he’d just have to somehow make whatever he could wish for really count. But how? What options did he have? His eyes wandered around the dungeon as he pondered the possibilities, but they eventually settled on the item that he had still been carrying around without realizing it: The spear-like skewer.
“Serris, will the bracelet survive me wishing for an enchantment?”
The angel smiled, giving a small nod of affirmation.
With permission granted, Noth raised the skewer in front of him like a knight, and with the most serious of faces, whispered his wish into the metal.
“I wish that anyone I pointed this skewer at would immediately turn into sand.”
With the wish made, a painfully hot sensation assaulted Noth’s wrist, and the overworked bracelet rang out in a shattering noise. The overly cracked bauble looked like it would break apart at any moment, and the jagged edges felt like a million knives cutting into the boy’s flesh. At the same time, the metal of the skewer seemed to glow, and as Noth pushed through the pain and tried to focus on the changes his weapon had acquired, he noticed that every movement he made with it let out a gorgeous, heavy swooping sound. Somehow even just having it in his hands felt reliable. Yes, maybe with this he could manage to get everyone out of here just fine.
~~~
The guards stood no chance against the enchanted skewer. The moment that Noth noticed one of them, he would just point the metal implement in their direction, and their entire body would just instantly collapse into sand. Even if they managed to notice the boy and his group first, they still weren’t able to reach in enough time to not just become another pile on the floor. It was almost scary how effective the enchanted skewer seemed to be. Noth had to make extra sure that he only ever faced it forward as they went along, for fear that he might accidentally point it towards the children following behind him.
After about 30 minutes and a little guidance from his angel, Noth finally safely led the children out of the building and back onto the streets. Serris also notified him that the slaves and abducted people had been following after them from a distance, and would also all make their way out in about 10 minutes. Noth smiled down contentedly at the children. Who cares how much pain he was in right now? Everything had been worth it if it meant he kept his promise to the kids. Now all he needed to do was make sure that they got home safe, just as he’d failed to pull off previously, and he could finally say he successfully finished his angel’s favour.
“Now that we’ve escaped, tell me where to take you and I’ll escort you all back to your homes safely.”
However, unlike what he’d expected, not a single child spoke up. Instead they all just gave him blank stares like he'd asked them something strange. Did they want to go alone? Was it such a wrong thing to ask? Did they not want such a weird person to know where they lived? As Noth’s face grew more and more worried, the trio of children’s faces grew more and more awkward, until eventually the beautiful girl was forced to step up as their leader once again.
“No, you see… We… Well, we don’t have anywhere left to go.”
Now it was Noth’s turn to make a blank face at what he was being told.
The meaning of what she’d just said swirled around Noth’s head, and none of the possible reasons he thought up for why what she said could be true were good. He felt more and more saddened by these children’s fates by the second. How could he, someone who also once didn’t have anywhere to go but the prison he’d been caged in, let a child suffer through anything similar? The teen knelt down, getting on the children’s eye-levels, and did his best to look each of them in the eye.
“I’m sorry to hear that. If you have nowhere else to go, why don’t come and stay with me? Of course, you’ll be free to leave anytime you find a different place you’d like to be. Does that sound alright?”
The way all of their expressions seemed to quickly change for the better warmed Noth’s heart. The children looked amongst each other in joy and surprise, and eagerly tugged on his pants-legs to try and get him to hurry up and take them home. The smile that blossomed across the teen’s face at their antics was practically impossible to erase. He turned to his angel with a tender look on his face as he started leading the group towards his manor.
“Serris, could I please ask you to go tell Elillith I need her to prepare the rooms in my villa, as well as some food for the kids?”
His angel gave him a wide smile and gracefully flew away. Noth’s heart felt so full from all the amazing people around him that he didn’t know how to process all the overwhelming happiness that he was being flooded with.
His family had grown once again. Now he had a caring yet cool big sister, and a gaggle of courageous and lovable younger siblings. Noth couldn’t wait to see how life would be with this sudden increase of people to hold dear. He never knew that he could feel this way before, and he never wanted it to stop. No matter what, he’d do everything in his power to keep this big new family of his safe.
Unbeknownst to the boy who was stewing in his own reverie, the upset angel he’d sent off had taken a detour to beat up the escaped demon that had been stalking him since the dungeon. He made the perfect punching bag for her to take out her overflowing jealousy on.