“I-is she dead?” Asked Titus frightfully. He stared down at the motionless form of the creature he had known as Mags. Her, no, it’s long, bony limbs lay splayed out from where Kai had slammed it into the ground. The skinwalker’s face was featureless; a blank canvas of hides stitched together haphazardly. No breath stirred its body either.
“Tis quite dead.” Responded the short, terrifying girl.
Titus couldn’t tear his eyes away from the monstrous form of his dead caretaker. Then, he crumpled to the ground, legs buckling underneath him. The girl watched him, confused.
“Thou wouldst shed tears over the demise of a monster?”
“She raised me. For seven years, Mags took care of me, and healed my wounds.” Replied Titus, still staring at the skinwalker.
“Art thou aware that this…Mags…would be willing to end thine life in an instant, should the situation require such a thing?”
Titus couldn’t quite wrap his head around that. To him, Mags was still just an old healer, who had taken him in and mended fractures both inside and out. The realization that she wasn’t who he thought shook the foundations of everything he thought he knew. It would take time for him to reorient his life to this new reality. Until then, he felt…lost.
Titus turned his head towards Kai, intending to ask…something…anything really. He turned just in time to see her fall backwards, letting out a soft ‘Oh!’ of surprise. Her back hit the ground, and she remained there, unmoving.
Titus got up somewhat reluctantly, walking over to where the girl now lay.
“A-are you okay?”
“Mine body seems unready for combat, as of yet.” Replied Kai in a small voice. Then she laughed a little. “Ten millennia giveth me such a crick in mine neck.”
Titus paused.
“Have you been down here for that long?”
Kai sank into thought at the question. In truth, she had no idea how much time had passed down here. There was simply no way to tell. She didn’t even know how long a day lasted anymore, and the years had just...blurred together. And even if she could measure the time accurately, her estimation would be off. Kai recalled the periods of insanity imposed by such a lengthy stay in the dark. It was a small miracle she had even survived that last bout, or simply just come out of it. Though, who’s to say she still wasn’t just a little bit mad in the head. You don’t just casually go insane without consequences, and it was only due to her nature that most of those were avoided.
Needless to say, she had been down here for a long time. Kai could likely figure out exactly how long by checking her status, but she really didn't want to do that.
“I do not know how long it has been.” Kai answered, speaking truthfully.
The boy stood gaping at her. Kai found that slightly annoying, though the sheer joy of meeting another person after so long filled the rest of her. It was a simple joy, and one she’d missed dearly. Sure, she’d had other visitors now and then, but those were the wardens of this prison, and not nearly the same as the clueless kid who let her out.
She sighed lightly, and looked at the kid.
“Wouldst thou help me stand? Mine legs are refusing to move.”
Titus hurried over to her side, and propped Kai upright. She groaned lightly, wobbling on weak legs.
Titus stared at her backside. Kai noticed very quickly, being somewhat sensitive towards his presence at the moment. He looked up, and caught her inquisitive glare.
“What!?” Said Titus, throwing his hands up in the air. “I was looking at your tail!”
Kai reluctantly nodded, accepting his answer for the moment. And, it was a nice tail, in her opinion. Thin, not too long, flexible, with a sharp looking white bone ridge at the end. Other than the tip, it was as black as the horns on her head.
Or, horn.
Kai reached up, and felt at her left horn. Unlike the right one, curving into a wickedly sharp point to the side of her face, her left horn was broken hallway down it’s length, the tip missing. It still pained her.
Titus noticed the motion. It was hard for him not to be aware of Kai. But, he refrained from asking about it. Nothing about her face changed, but he recognized the pain in her eyes. It was something he’d seen reflected in the occasional puddle before.
If it weren’t for the healer, he would still be wallowing in that pain. Titus glanced over at the skinwalker’s body once more, knowing that Mags would eventually become another memory burdening him down. He would mourn later. For now, Kai is Titus’ biggest priority.
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“You said you wanted out of here?” He asked.
“Verily.” Affirmed Kai, nodding.
“Come on then. It will take a while to get out of the caves, and I do not wish to travel that forest at night.”
“Forest?” Asked Kai.
“Outside. We are at the bottom of a very complex cave system, and the entrance is inside the forest. I-it is death inside the forest itself. We do not want to spend a lot of time inside of it.”
“That much has not changed, at least.” Responded Kai. “In mine time, the Dark Forest shared home with all manor of foul creatures. Drakes, Shadows, Céian, and Liches stocked the darkness betwixt the city and freedom.”
Titus didn’t know what any of those things were. He did share the only thing he knew for certain.
“I know that Mags—er, the skinwalker was a guard here. She stayed in the forest for the most part.”
“Truly? That creature was meant to stand watch over mine prison?” Asked Kai. Titus nodded in response.
“Odd. The Dark Forest was an artificial dungeon. It would bring into life the strongest monsters possible, and task them with slaying any who would venture into their realm. For a lowly skinwalker to be a member of them… Tell me, how fares the city? What of thine people?”
“City?” Asked Titus. “There is no city. I saw the murals on the way in.” He said, pointing at the reliefs as they passed. “I do not know how many there used to be, but the only thing inside the forest now is my community.”
“Oh? And how many reside in thine community?”
“About…two hundred or so people? I always thought that was a lot of people, but apparently not.” Stated Titus, looking again at the murals. They depicted armies numbering in the thousands, with actual weapons and armor. Coming down here had revealed how small his world had been, stuck within the forest containing them all.
“Two hundred? Thou speakth truly? My, how the mighty hath fallen. When I first was captured, mine gaolers made sure to parade me through their mighty city build to contain me.”
“The city was built to contain you? How?” I asked.
Kai thought for a moment, unsure of how much Titus would even understand if she explained it all to him.
“What do you know of magic?” She eventually asked.
“More than most in the village. Mags taught me some, though most of it was useless.” Said Titus, shrugging. “None of us really had anything in the way of great magic power.”
“That would only be natural. Mine prison prevents those above from using much of their mana.” Responded Kai. Titus looked at her, confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Imagine magic is like water, and flows like a stream unseen to most. Everyone holds their own magic within, and it is like a little pond inside. What this prison does is open a channel in those ponds, and force the magic outside. This magic—like a stream—will flow towards lower ground. It will join a larger stream, and follow that. There are three ley-lines in this area, like grand streams of magic. Any magic within the area is pulled into these, and all three of these streams nearly converge in one spot. All of this prison’s wards and defense systems are powered through the magic in those ley-lines.”
Titus looked even more confused at Kai’s explanation. He seemed to have gotten lost somewhere around the stream comparison. Damn it all, Kai had thought that was a good analogy, too. She sighed.
“None of your people are good at magic, because all thine mana is funneled into this prison. And the city was designed to provide people and their mana. It is only because you live here, that you are unable to use magic.” Concluded Kai, who hoped this explanation would satisfy Titus.
It did, thankfully.
“Oh. So, they needed us to live up there, to keep you…imprisoned?” He asked.
“Exactly so. Without a certain number of people, basic functions of this place would not be available.”
“Mags did mention that some sort of barrier fell a while back.” Mentioned Titus. Kai immediately became interested.
“Really? What barrier?”
“The outer one, surrounding the forest. It fell a few years ago, along with whatever was compelling the guards to stay in the forest. A lot of them left, from what Mags said.”
Kai stared at Titus, agog.
“This…I can leave this place entirely, then. I had been planning on waiting in your community. Before, that barrier would have prevented my leaving.” Said Kai. She did not go on to say how, exactly, she would then plan on getting out of the barrier were it still active.
“You are just going to leave, then? Walk straight out of this place, and through the forest?”
“That is the best action I might take. Those who put me in here would know of mine escape by now, so getting far away from this place before they come to investigate makes sense.”
Titus nodded, and then realized he had his own dilemma to consider.
Why should he go back to the village?
It’s not like this is the first time he’d had thoughts of this sort. Everyone dreams about leaving the place they’re at sooner or later, and Titus is no different. He’d spent many days thinking about what would happen if he made it out of the forest, if there was something beyond the confines of his little community.
Of course, such dreams were impossible before. He’d seen what happened when someone went into the forest, and the death that followed. So, while he dreamed about leaving, he’d never entertained the notion for long. And besides, the healer would be upset that he left.
Not anymore.
She was dead, there was nothing stopping him from leaving, and there was someone he could go with. They could discover the world outside by seeing it themselves.
Titus made up his mind.
“I am going with you.” He said. Kai didn’t look surprised, or concerned. She had always been a big believer in letting people make their own decisions. This was something that hadn’t changed in all those years spent locked under the ground.
“That is fine. I am a little starved for company anyway.” Said Kai, smiling at the odd boy who had let her out. Young demons always do bring chaos, after all.
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The two of them, Titus and Kai, forgot an important detail.
Not that it was very obvious, since she had been very, very quiet throughout the entire ordeal. And the two of them had been more focused on each other, and the skinwalker, than any other person in the room.
Not that Maria was strictly a person now, anyway. She had experienced the same thing Titus had, those seven years ago. Atavism had begun its slow transformation on her newly demonic bloodline.
And not that she was even awake to know about it. Mags had held a very tight grip on the young girl’s mind and body, forcing her to do exactly what the healer had wanted. Once that vanished, Maria had collapsed into a heavy coma, the forced control taking its toll on her mind. She wouldn’t wake up for a while, and when she did, she would wake up in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people around her, asking questions about someone unfamiliar named Kai. But that wouldn’t be for a while. In fact, Maria would nearly die of starvation while sleeping before that happened.