“What is the meaning of this?” Fiona demanded. She looked ready to strike the mayor down after watching the boy’s transformation.

The mayor looked at her, and then his eyes fell on her blade. “I thought I’d made it clear enough. There is no need for such hostility. I merely act in service to my king.”

“Calm yourself, Fiona,” the king said. He turned to address the mayor. “You mentioned an exchange. The creature took away the boy’s youth, and now it can make me an immortal?” he asked.

“Yes, and no. The process ages any human being under the age of sixteen instantly. It leaves them biologically around the age of twenty-eight. Each child can add 15 to 20 years to your natural lifespan. It’s random, as far as we can tell. But it’s always 15 to 20 years. Never more, never less. The process also heals any ailments or diseases within the body. It’s a reset. A fresh start for a wise mind. Used in this way, we can ensure Aysela’s leadership endures forever.”

So they'd have to keep doing this, sacrificing children over and over to prolong the kings life. To prolong the lives of everyone involved.

There was a glint in the king’s eye. That infuriated Charlie. Luc had been so adamant that the king would save the people of Sange. But he was here now, surrounded by Hex Knights, and his only thought was of extending his lifespan.

It made Charlie sick.

The king stared at the boy floating in the liquid. “And the boy? Will he be alright?” the king asked.

The question seemed to catch the mayor off guard, but not for long. “Of course! He’ll be in a daze for a few days, but afterwards he’ll return to his usual self. Well, he’ll regain his mind. His body will remain as it is.”

“He’s lying,” Lyra whispered, careful not to be overheard.

Fiona stared at the two snatchers standing behind the mayor. “And those two? How long have they been in this condition? A few days?” she asked. The accusation was clear in her voice.

The mayor glared at her. “These two are different. Notice their eyes. Red irises mean the child was dead or on the brink of death during the transformation. This process is the only reason their bodies remain in this world. The boy you just watched transform does not have red eyes. Nor will he ever. He was alive when the process occurred, and he is alive now.”

A clap drew their attention. It was the king. “Excellent! That’s great news! After all of this is done and I return to the kingdom, I’ll see the boy rewarded! I’ll send someone to bring him to the capital. We’ll provide a nice home for him and all the gold he could ever need. Perhaps…” he stroked his chin. “We could make him a minor noble, or maybe a knight is more realistic? Regardless, he will reap the rewards of his sacrifice!”

A grin crept across the mayor’s face. “An excellent idea. We should get started immediately. The process is simple. All you need to do is approach the core guardian. It will handle the rest,” he said.

The king nodded and took a step forward. But Fiona held a hand out to stop him. “You know I cannot allow your majesty to go through with this. Not without a member of the Hex Arcana examining the creature first. We cannot move forward until a proper investigation takes place. The Mayor of Sange should’ve warned us ahead of time.”

The king sighed. “I know it’s your job to protect me, Fiona, but many of the nobles have already undergone this process. Surely we can make an exception this once?”

The mayor held a hand up. “A compromise, perhaps? Why don’t we allow Fiona to test the process herself? She can see just how simple it is. Besides, increasing the lifespan of one of the kingdom’s most powerful knights would be a tremendous asset. What do you think, Fiona?”

The proposal caught her off guard. The king, however, thought it was a fantastic idea. “This makes perfect sense, Fiona! You can test out the magic and extend your lifespan all at once. It’s extremely generous. So far, only nobles have been afforded the opportunity. But this…it’s a show of trust. We should take it!”

Fiona was hesitant. “Your majesty…”

Charlie frowned. She seemed uncomfortable with the idea. It wasn’t right for the king to force her. If he tried to, Charlie would intervene, dangerous or not.

One of the other knights stepped forward. “I will do it. Allow me to test it for you, my king.” It was one of the three male knights, this one was bald.

Fiona shook her head. “Albert, no. None of us should do this. Let’s be patient and wait for—”

Sir Albert shook his head. “The king has set his mind on this and will not be easily persuaded. Allow me to fulfill my duties as a knight. I will pave the way forward and check whether or not it is safe for my king to follow. If it is not, you will cut down those who would betray him. But if it is, we will rejoice together that the king’s flame will burn ever onward.”

The mayor laughed. “Quite the speech. Well, I for one, welcome you. Come, let us proceed then.”

Fiona looked dejected, but Albert had volunteered for this, and the king wanted to move forward. It seemed she’d accepted this outcome was unavoidable now.

Albert paused in front of the core guardian. “Is it possible for me to only take a little of the youth? Like a week, or maybe a month?”

This confused the mayor. He looked back at the core guardian and then glanced back at Albert. “I don’t understand. Why would you do something like that?”

Albert laughed and scratched the back of his head with a hand. “Well, I figured that way you wouldn’t need to bring another child here for the king. We could share, right?”

The mayor frowned. “Yes, of course. That should be fine.”

Charlie noticed Lyra shaking her head in her peripherals. She looked up at him. “He’s lying. I don’t know what he’s up to, but he’s lying. It doesn’t work that way.”

That gave Charlie pause, how exactly did she know that? More importantly, something else was bothering him.

The mayor had offered the compromise so quickly that it was almost like he wanted this outcome. But if that was the case, what was his actual goal?

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Sir Albert approached the shapeless core guardian and placed his hand into its liquid while following the mayor’s instructions. At first, nothing happened. He didn’t put his arm in any further. He just stood there, waiting for a result. Albert turned to raise a brow at the mayor.

The mayor was focused on the core guardian, though. He no longer concerned himself with Albert. “You’re sure? That wasn’t the plan,” the mayor said.

Albert’s mouth opened in confusion. “Uh, what wasn’t part of the plan? Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

The mayor ignored him. He shrugged. “It’s your call. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

Fiona shook her head. “Who are you talking to? Does the magic work or not? I don’t sense anything happening, so what’s going on?” she asked.

Albert perked up. “Oh! Something’s happening. My hand feels a little tingly!” He looked up at the mayor. “Is that good or…”

The mayor laughed softly.

Albert tilted his head. It was an odd reaction to what should be a normal question. Albert shrugged and turned to look back at his hand. “Oh, they’re turning white. That’s strange.” He paused.

Charlie leaned in. Albert’s fingers weren’t turning white.

The skin was dissolving off of them. The liquid was eating at Albert’s flesh.

The knight realized it and made a horrified expression. He tried to yank his hand free and pull himself away from the creature. But it was stuck. His flesh continued to dissolve inside the beast. Fiona hurried forward to help him, but he cried out to stop her.

“Stay back! Protect the king!” He drew his sword and held it away from himself. With a flick of his wrist, the blade arced upward and through the portion of his arm that wasn’t embedded within the creature. He’d sacrificed his arm to free himself. He backed away, staring at the bones in his hand and part of his arm that floated within the creature.

Albert backed away. He turned, hurrying to join the other knights. But the core guardian suddenly sprung to life. A part of the liquid creature shot outward and wrapped itself around Albert’s waist. His eyes grew wide, and he looked down, realizing he’d been ensnared.

Fiona’s eyes lit up as well. She hurried forward to grab him.

But she was too slow.

The creature retracted its extended portion and reeled Albert inside of it. The knight’s face was full of agony as his entire body dissolved until only his armor, weapon, and bones remained.

Wait.

There was something else, Charlie realized. Something floated above the armor where Albert’s head had been. Several additional objects floated outside of the armor and settled in random places throughout the shapeless beast. Charlie couldn’t figure out what they were.

His head leaned to the side as he thought about what he could possibly be looking at.

But Lyra knew enough about human anatomy to inform him. “Charlie, those are his organs…why would it…what is happening?” Her voice faltered.

Organs? Brain, heart, kidneys, and every other kind. They floated in the aquamarine liquid as if it was a monstrous preservation jar.

But regardless of what was going on here, the knights were no longer under the impression that the king wasn’t in immediate danger.

The Mayor of Sange and the dungeon had made the first move.

The knights would not tolerate the loss of one of their own. Fiona drew her sword and the other knights stepped forward as well. “You will face punishment for what you have done, traitor. I will tear through you and this beast alike with my blade. I swear it on my honor as a Hex—”

“Fiona, get me out of here. Now,” the king said, taking a step back.

Fiona looked back. “Your majesty? Didn’t you see what it did to Albert? This creature is a threat to Sange. No, this is a threat to the entire kingdom. We must eradicate it. We will defend you. I give you my word. But we cannot leave this creature alive.”

“I am the kingdom! You will ensure my safe evacuation from this town. That is an order! Sir Brandt will travel here in force to wipe this creature from the face of the world. But you must get your king to safety! At once!” he cried out. The man was visibly shaking.

That was the moment when Charlie realized the King of Aysela was a coward. He wasn’t anything like the king that Luc had described from ancient times. He certainly wasn’t fit to be an immortal king.

Charlie decided then that he didn’t care what happened to the king. It wouldn’t bother him at all if the stupid man didn’t make it out of these dungeons. He was bad and Charlie wished the monster had turned him into a bone man instead of Albert.

Albert seemed much nicer. At least from the little he’d gotten to see. When given the choice to extend his life, he’d asked for only a week or a month instead of the 15 to 20 years he’d been offered. He’d volunteered for the process to keep Fiona from having to go through it.

He was the only reason she was still alive.

Fiona’s head fell. Her expression darkened. “Retreat, take the king and go! Now!”

The other knights were likely just as disappointed as Fiona was, but when she gave the order, they didn’t hesitate. They ran with the king in their center. Fiona held up her blade to hold the rear.

It was a good thing she did.

Another burst of the liquid shot after the king. Fiona whispered something and then her sword glowed brightly. It was a bright white glow. She intercepted the surging creature’s makeshift limb and cut it. The attack splattered onto the dungeon floor. The droplets started receding, crawling back to rejoin the core guardian.

“Fiona!” the king called out. It seemed he didn’t wish for his strongest knight to remain here instead of escorting him. The other knights waited with him just inside the hallway they’d entered earlier.

Fiona started to turn and follow after him.

But that was when she saw Charlie and Lyra hiding in the entrance of the other tunnel.

Her eyes widened. She turned to look at the core guardian and then the mayor. The mayor looked disinterested. He just stared back. She turned her attention toward Charlie and Lyra again. She didn’t even seem concerned with the fact Charlie was sitting atop a Scaler's head.

“Children, come now, quickly. I’ll help you escape this place, but we have to hurry.”

Charlie frowned. Fiona didn’t have any idea who he was. She didn’t know he was the same child the other knights were hunting. All she knew was there were children in front of her, and she wanted to help them.

But Charlie and Lyra had business here. For a second, he thought about telling Lyra to give Kyo to her. But something held him back. Something he would come to regret in the future.

“Fiona! Let’s go! That’s an order!” the king cried out.

Fiona’s eyes glazed over for a second, then she returned to normal. She realized the children weren’t coming.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and then she ran after the other knights.

Brel watched her leave, then turned to look at the mayor. He’d stood there so quietly that even the knights hadn’t acknowledged him. But now, he broke that silence. “It’s a little weird to go through all that trouble to get the king here, only to let him run away.”

The mayor chuckled. “I went through all that trouble to get a Hex Knight here. I would’ve preferred Fiona, but this one will do. Besides, the king is still in the dungeon, isn’t he? He may not be in the room anymore, but he certainly hasn’t gotten away.”

Flesh grew on the bones inside the core guardian. Charlie and Lyra gasped as Albert’s body reformed around its skeleton.

A few minutes passed, the miraculous healing took place quickly, and then the Hex Knight stepped out of the core guardian. His eyes were a deep, blood red color.

“What the hell? I thought you said snatchers had to be made from children?” Brel asked.

The mayor smiled. “They do. This…well, this is something else entirely. Trust me when I say the king isn’t getting away at all.”