Hasty Escape_Demons and Heroes

Blaze stepped back, shocked and excited at the same time.

“What the…” He murmured. All the aches in his bones were forgotten. He stepped back to the door and slid his hand on the door. It was awfully smooth for wood. This was master handworking. Shaking with excitement and fear. He grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. He peeped through. Inside, there was a chamber. Blaze quickly stepped through the door, pulled his cleaning tools in, and pulled the bookshelf from the other side back. He wasn’t an idiot. If anyone came into the chamber, they would only find an empty, dirty room. Closing the door, he turned and stared at the room. It was darkly lit and the only furniture was a pedestal in the middle of the room. The pedestal was on top of a staircase shaped like a pyramid without the top. Slowly Blaze walked up to the pedestal and climbed the stairs. At the top, he found a wooden box on the pedestal. Of course, Blaze knew that this box would be protected. So, instead of grabbing it, he hurried down the stairs and picked up his mop. He carefully turned it around and pushed the box off the pedestal. At once, the pyramid shaped stairs fell and the stairs fell into a gaping hole.

Blaze peered over the hole and stared into it. He couldn’t see the end. Runes covered the walls and they were glowing eerily. Blaze gulped and was glad that he hadn’t been standing there. Then, he froze. Wasn’t the box on the stairs? Had it fallen down the stairs? Panicking, he went around the hole. It wasn’t there. Blaze felt faint. So, this all was for nothing. Blaze started wondering if there was a luck status. If there was, his must be in the negatives.

Sighing, Blaze started to turn, when the pedestal caught his eye. There was something on top. Blaze wasn’t tall, so he had to jump to see it. Blaze heart leapt. On the pedestal, was the box.

“Some kind of enchantment.” he muttered in excitement. It was the only explanation. He sat down and started thinking. He thought back to his life when he hadn’t been enslaved. His father had shown him a lot of tricks. One of them was balancing a rock on a stick. What if he balanced the box over? It would be risky, but then again, he didn’t see any other way and anyway, he couldn’t miss something he never had. Well, to be honest, he could miss something he never had but there was no other way. No ritual of common rank he knew could get him that box. So, taking a deep breath, Blaze stood up, went to the mop and picked it up.

He had to concentrate. He slowly slid the front side of the mop under the box, then as carefully as possible, he balanced the box over the gaping hole.

****

He had been balancing that box for 15 minutes, when finally, he reached the other side. Blaze snatched the box and threw it to a corner, just in case it had a magnetic effect. Then, he fell to the ground, gasping for air. He had been holding his breath, only breathing when he felt he couldn’t hold any longer. Blaze lay on the ground for a bit, then he remembered what he was doing. Blaze got to his feet and went over to the box. He sat down, and tried to open the box. But, it was stuck. When Blaze looked closely, he noticed that there were runes on the box.

“Great, so an impenetrable box.” Blaze muttered. Blaze started turning the box to see if there was some other way to open the box. The box is wood, if Blaze hit it with his mop, it might break, right? So, he grabbed the mop and started slamming it on the box. Nothing. Not like he had expected it. Blaze sighed and sat back down. All this effort, for nothing? Blaze ran his hand over the top of the box, feeling miserable. Then, he noticed something weird. The runes were still glowing, but it was a bit weaker. That’s odd. Blaze turned the box upside down. The runes on the bottom were also weaker. The box was moist. He had used a cleaning mop to get it off the pedestal. He had used a wet mop. He had hammered a box with a mop too. Blaze grabbed the sponge and scrubbed it on the top of the box. The runes went thinner. Excitement grew in Blaze like a wildfire. He started scrubbing the entire box as hard as he could.

The runes started fading away. After a good hour of scrubbing Blaze had removed most of the runes. The rest were hardly glowing. Blaze tugged on the lid. It opened to reveal inside… two glass cases. Inside there were two diamond shaped gems. Around each of them, smaller gems were circling. Blaze took a sharp breath. With shaking hands, he picked the two cases up. His own gems, or at least, his stolen gems. Opening the first case, he stared at the first gem, tapping it. The middle gem was a scarlet red, while the outer crystals were pitch black. The language looked runic and he couldn’t read its contents. He didn’t dare put it in his star deck. What if it was some kind of double edged sword power? Or even worse, a fake gem? Grabbing the two gems, he closed the lid and balanced it back on the pedestal. As soon as he did, the staircase returned. That was perfect. Then, grabbing all his equipment, he bound the gems under his shirt on his chest, using mop threads he ripped out and tied together. If anyone checked his pockets, they would find nothing. Then, standing, Blaze fled.

****

Blaze left the room and closed the door. Then, he turned and started running, pulling his wagon. He opened and stepped out of the door, to bump right into a massive figure. Blaze fell back and hit the ground hard. Blaze felt a heavy foot land on his chest, pushing down.

“What are you doing here, runt?” A deep voice growled at him. He looked up to see Duke Blackthorn. He was glaring down at Blaze. At once, Blaze panicked.

“I-I, I am o-on night s-s-shift, Sir” He stammered, trying to breathe. Duke Blackthorn glared at him, suspicion flashing in his eyes.

“What’s the hurry?” Blaze's mind went blank for a moment.

“I-I was tired and w-wanted to get into bed q-quickly.” At that, the Duke just snorted and lifted his foot off of Blaze.

“Get back to the chamber, runt.” Nodding quickly, Blaze scurried away. He had to leave this mansion tonight. If the Duke checked the box, he would know instantly that he had stolen his star gems. He had to leave.

****

“Wake up!” Blaze shook Tom, urgently. Tom just groaned and kicked at Blaze. He dodged easily and shook Tom harder.

“Get up! We have to leave!” Tom opened one glaring eye and stared at Blaze.

“Why?” He groaned.

“The Duke was hiding star gems in his office. I stole them.” Blaze answered hastily, looking at the door, just in case guards stormed in. At that Tom shot awake.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What?! You stole from the duke?” Then, he groaned and put his face in his hands.

“I guess then, we really have to go. You’d be dead if you stay. And you’d be dead if you went out without me.” The last part he said with a little bit of smugness. Blaze just glanced at him. “How can you be annoying as soon as you wake up?”

Tom just laughed at that and got up. “What are the gems?” “Can’t read them. All runic.”

“Show them.” Blaze pulled the gems from his chest and showed them to Tom. Tom read them silently, then his eyebrows shot up.

“Are you sure these are his?” Blaze eyebrows shot up as well.

“Yeah. Why?”

Tom scratched his head. “Well, this gem’s requirements are that you have to be part of the Draconis family.”

“Wait, what?” Blaze asked, surprised.

“Oh, can I have this one? It's an Angel race, anyway.” Tom asked, picking up the other gem. The middle gem was a glowing rainbow while the outer crystals were pure white.

“You can only have one race.” Tom explained. Blaze blinked and stared down at the scarlet black gem. These gems meant a lot of power. Power he could need. But, power Tom could also use. Blaze nodded reluctantly. Tom grinned and placed the gem to his heart. It dissolved and Tom's eyes flickered. Blaze gulped and pushed the black gem to his own heart.

The star set Fallen Demon (Legendary, Demon/Dragon) is available to put in your star deck. Do you wish to awaken Fallen Demon?

Yes / No

Blaze gave his acceptance and the messages disappeared and the gem melted into his heart. Blaze gasped in pain. It was only brief, but it had been sharp. Messages popped up, covering his vision.