Kalrina had been moved from her cell to Meera's old cell. There was a gaping hole in the steel bars that had been bent inward as if some great force had ripped them open as it tried to force its way in. The opposite was true for Kalrina's old cell. Its bars were bent and ripped open outwards. That was not all. The clouds covering the cells were gone, and in its place was a purplish slime covering the steel bars. The slime, which Meera figured was poison, gave off a pungent odor.

"What did you do, witch?" Meera asked.

"I must admit, I got a little too happy at seeing my old friend," Kalrina replied.

Meera frowned. "You don't have any friends."

Kalrina smiled. "Oh, but I do. I have one friend who needs help moving from this world to the next."

Ah… On a whim, Meera used Identify on her.

[Sorceress of Mirrors – Level 402]

And her hunch was correct. The old Kalrina would never have attempted a shot at Aksha, not as she was. She had made some considerable gains in her levels, which was good. They needed to be strong to get out of here and escape the dragons once they were outside.

"My, my, someone has grown strong," Meera said.

Kalrina raised an eyebrow. "I could say the same about you."

She shrugged. "Well, I wasn't sitting around gossiping with your Sovereign…much. By the way, she said, you aren't as smart as you think."

"Oh, that hurts, and I so looked up to her."

"Yes, I'm sure you did," Meera replied sarcastically. "Enough talking, I'll drop some mirrors, and you can teleport out."

"Nice and simple. That's why I like you, dearie."

Meera shot out some mirrors from her armor, and in the next moment, Kalrina was out. Before either of them could say something or move, someone stirred in the cell. Meera hadn't noticed them because her attention was solely on the witch, and she had been covering them for the most part.

On the outside, she looked like Aksha, but on the inside, this was none other than Lainor. However, it took Meera a few moments to figure them out on account of him being bashed and tortured so brutally. He was missing an arm and a leg. His left eye was swollen shut, and many other parts of him were burnt or melted with Aksha's poison. She had a hard time finding a spot on his clothes that wasn't stained reddish-brown with blood.

"Oh, yes, and there's him," Kalrina beamed. "Our very own traitor. Do you want to put him out of his misery? There would be a lot of experience if we did. Though, it might alert Aksha if we do since we'll be sharing the experience with her, given all the damage she's done the poor dearie."

Meera was not one for revenge, but what he did back in Drurith almost got her killed more than once. His Cult had been on her tail since then. But maybe that Cultist girl had escaped with Onyx's help and brought the dragons. The timing did seem rather convenient.

"Leave him," Meera said. "He's of no use to us."

"N-No, please." He tried to stand, only to fall and crawl to the bars with his lone arm. He cut a pathetic figure, and Meera couldn't help but pity him. "I-I can help you…escape."

Kalrina cackled. "In case you've forgotten, this place was my home for nigh on a century. I know all the ins and outs of this place. And besides, you look like Aksha. You should be thanking the lass. For if she arrived a few moments later than she did, I would've begun torturing you myself."

Given what Meera knew of the witch and her hate for Aksha, she was almost certain that the witch was telling the truth.

Lainor's eyes were wild as they flicked between her and Kalrina. Meera wouldn't want to be left in that condition either and at the mercy of the sorceresses, but as he was, he would slow them down. Besides, he couldn't be trusted.

"Sorry, you'd just slow us down," Meera said. "And like the witch said, we don't need you."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"P-Please don't leave me here," Lainor cried, tears welling up in his eyes. "They'll—she's going to kill me."

Kalrina sat on her haunches. "Just like how you were planning to do when you served us up to the dragons. Oh, you're lucky we don't have time to waste, or you can bet on your miserable life that I would've said a fitting farewell." She stood and smiled at Meera. "Let's go, dearie."

Meera nodded, and they had taken just a single step when Lainor desperately called.

"Stop, please. I-I know everything that she does."

They both halted.

"Come again," the witch said, turning.

"I know everything that Aksha does," Lainor said, with a mixture of hope and fear in his voice. "B-But only until the moment of this body's creation."

A strange, almost evil sort of smile spread across Kalrina's lips. "Well, in that case, I am saying a proper farewell, after all."

Meera gripped her by the shoulder. "Are you insane?"

"If he has all her memories, then in a way, he is Aksha," Kalrina said.

"But he didn't kill your…your family," Meera barked. "I didn't come back here to sit and watch you torture a man just because he holds the memories of another. Now, answer me this logically, and not emotionally—can he or rather Aksha know any secret ways out of here that you don't?"

Kalrina didn't meet her gaze for a long moment.

"Speak up, witch. Like you said, we don't have time to waste."

She finally nodded. "Yes, it's possible."

That was all Meera needed. She turned to Lainor. "You can come with us if you can find a way out of that cell. You have until I get bored."

His eyes widened, and he crawled for the bars, flinching and wincing. He gripped the poisoned bars, and immediately, the poison was sucked off from the bars and into him. His injuries began to heal. His bruises and cuts vanished. His swollen eye returned to normal. The only thing the poison did not heal was his missing arm and leg. They continued to remain as stumps.

Meera remembered that this was one of the skills that she stole from one of the Daughters but decided not to accept it because it was very situational.

"My, my, if I had known Aksha could do that, I would have tortured the last daughter to my heart's content," Kalrina mused.

Meera gave her a sidelong glance.

"What? You can't fault me for daydreaming."

"Just when I was beginning to think you're normal." Meera shook her head.

Lainor's eyes flicked back and forth as if he were reading something. With a start, Meera realized he was going through Aksha's skills. It was something else that not only did he have her memories, which made sense because of the same brain and all, but he had her skills, too. She was marveling at whoever had figured out how to transfer his soul to this Daughter's body, that a green sludge poured forth from his stumps and took the shape of an arm and a leg.

He rose on unsteady feet, unsure himself if he could stand. He took a step and tumbled to the ground, making the witch cackle, who was enjoying this far too much.

"Oh, this is far from boring," Kalrina said. "Do that four more times, at least."

To the witch's dismay, he only fell once more before he found his footing. He stood holding the steel bars, huffing, and then his hands made of the dark greenish sludge sizzled where they touched the steel bars. A similar sizzle and smoke came from his other hand. He groaned as he gave a mighty tug and bent the bars, making a hole wide enough for him to step through.

If he were in his original body, he would not have been able to step through, but given that Aksha's form was much skinnier than a man's, he was able to slip through with no issue.

"Well, that wasn't entirely boresome," Kalrina drawled as she came forward, gripped the collar of Lainor's tattered and ruined shirt, and slammed him against the cage. "But you so much as think of betraying us again, and I will forget that there is someone other than Aksha in this body."

"Trust me, lady, I want to get out of here as much as you do," Lainor managed.

"Good. Now, lead the way to this secret escape route." The witch shoved him forward, making him stumble.

He nodded to Meera as he took the lead. She was as vary of him as the witch, and she had more than learned her lesson to trust anyone blindly. He could very well lead them back to Aksha and, in exchange, ask for his freedom.

"I wonder what happens when this body dies," Meera wondered out loud. "Do you go back to your own body, or do you die?"

Lainor looked back hesitantly. "O-Only Neserin, the girl I came here with, can send me back to my body."

"Well, then, for your sake, let's hope she made it out of this place," Meera said. "I sure tried to help her. Maybe it is her who brought all these dragons."

Lainor said nothing and led the way. All about them, the prisoners reached out from their cages, begging to be spared, only to be ignored. Then, as they reached the end of the dungeons, Kalrina stopped and turned.

"I will let you go on one condition," Kalrina said. Meera wanted to knock her on the head and ask if she were right in the head, but the witch raised a hand, telling her to wait.

The prisoners hollered that they would do anything if she let them escape.

"That's good." Kalrina smirked. "All I want you to do is create as much mayhem as you can on your way out."

The men howled their approval. Their voices echoed in the long dungeons, but their voices quieted when the stone door opened. In stepped what looked like Aksha, but it was just one of the daughters. The spear in her hand indicated that she was none other than the jailor.

The witch turned and looked at Meera. "Would you like to do the honors, or should I?"

Meera pulled off a level 2 chakram. "I'll race you."

A mirror spear materialized in her hand. "Oh dearie, you still have so much to learn."

Then, at the same time, they hurled their weapons at the cages. Meera's chakrams flew faster than the witch's spear. They had chosen one side, and their weapons cut open the steel cages. The doors fell, and to the jailor's horror, the prisoners stepped out of their cages like hungry, salivating wolves.

Kalrina stepped up to the Daughter and patted her cheek. "Now would be the time to set that compassion of yours aside, love, and make your mother proud, but alas, it would be for nothing." She turned to the prisoners. "Boys, remember our promise."

Meera, Lainor, and Kalrina walked by the bewildered jailor as she readied herself to face her doom.