Marcus was blindfolded as he was led into the castle. Marcus wondered regarding the logic of this. Was the castle so simple that he could escape easily? Was that why the demons were blindfolding him?
The demons guided Marcus through what he assumed was the castle and he believed that they would lead him to the dungeon. Instead, Marcus was surprised when the blindfold was removed and he found himself in a bedroom. What the fuck was going on?
Marcus looked around. The bedroom was lavish. A large bed lay to his left with a window on the opposite side of the bed. Lavish curtains hung over the window, partially closed, letting in the reddish light of the sun. There were bookshelves on either side of the bed and behind Marcus a meeting area formed of chairs and a coffee table.
The entrance to the room was just behind Marcus to the left and after the meeting area, there was a door which led; Marcus was not sure where it led. There was also another door on the opposite end and Marcus was also not sure as to where it led considering all the doors in the room were closed. There were large mahogany wardrobes on either side of the large window and there was also another small window overlooking the meeting area.
Marcus wondered whose room this was. Marcus also wondered what the fuck he was doing here instead of being sent to a prison cell. Considering the situation he was in, he was not liking this one bit. He walked up to the door leading outside the room and tried to open it.
“Fucking locked”, muttered Marcus as he could not open the door.
“That door will not open, not yet”, said a voice and Marcus whirled around ready for an attack.
Instead, what Marcus saw surprised him.
“You!”
“Me”, grinned Marbas as he stepped into the bedroom from the door on the far end, “Welcome to my prison.”
Marcus frowned as he looked around and Marbas laughed.
“It doesn’t look like a prison”, said Marcus.
“Yes, it doesn’t. But I assure you, it is a prison. You see, unlike you, I cannot leave the room.”
Marcus rattled the door knob and said, “I cannot leave either.”
“That is temporary. They were going to take you to Lucifer. I interfered.”
“Why?”
“Because I was curious. And if you remember, I deal with information. After all, knowledge is power. Come take a seat. We have much to discuss.”
They both sat down on the chairs. Marcus sat on the chair facing the door while Marbas sat on the chair facing the window. The curtains were not drawn across the window and the red sunlight threw an eerie light on features of Marbas. Marcus shuddered inwardly as he looked at the demon lord.
Marbas still looked like a humanoid lion with curved horns protruding out of his forehead. He was still dressed in frivolous robes that looked somehow terrifying on him.
“What do you wish to discuss?”
Marbas tilted his head to the left, “Isn’t it obvious? I want to discuss you. What are you doing here Marcus Blank?”
Marcus debated what to tell Marbas. He did not trust this demon lord. Not one bit. But for some reason it felt to Marcus that Marbas had saved him from a worse fate by bringing Marcus to Marbas’ room.
Marcus thought for some time and said, “Well, I got captured and the demons brought me here. So, I am here.”
“Cheeky. I like it. But that is not what I asked. What are you doing on Twarftha, Marcus Blank?”
Marcus paused again. He knew what Marbas was after. However, he was not going to give him a proper reply. He sort of remembered his earlier conversation with Marbas. He knew that higher level demons could tell if you were lying. In return, they did not lie. That did not mean that they twist the truth or tell the complete truth.
“What do I get in return?” asked Marcus.
“You get to live”, came the reply.
Marcus froze, “You plan to kill me?”
“Not me. But Lucifer is not as forgiving as I am. I am pretty sure he will try to convert you to our cause. Failing to do so, he will definitely kill you. Or he may keep you imprisoned forever. But I am betting on the first option. A particular recent meeting has left a bad taste in his mouth, as per my information.”
Marbas gave Marcus a malicious grin and Marcus gulped. Marcus knew what Marbas was referring to. It could only be Lucifer’s meeting with the Game Masters Rauros and Leyda. And as to what Tasha had said earlier, it had definitely not gone well. And here was Marbas confirming the same.
“There is a chance that he may still spare me and keep me prisoner.”
“And you think you can escape easily from this place?”
“I aim to try.”
Marbas started to laugh at that.
“Oh! You are truly hilarious”, said Marbas in between laughing.
Marcus was not amused. He knew that it would be difficult to escape from the palace but that was what he had come to Twarftha to do. Now he had to get himself and the adventurers out of this hell.
Marbas finally stopped to laugh and wiped his tears with his paws. Marbas said, “I get the feeling that you are not going to get what you want Marcus Blank. Unless you answer my questions. Now, shall we try again? What are you doing here Marcus Blank?”
Marcus decided to gamble a bit, “I am here to rescue the adventurers that got sucked in through a demonic portal.”
Marbas stared at Marcus. He did not say anything. He kept on staring at Marcus for some time.
Then he said, “Gorking son of a gorking bloody rennet. This gorking explains so much.”
Marbas started to mumble to himself. He stood up and started pacing around the room. He was still mumbling to himself and Marcus could not figure out what Marbas was saying. Marcus did catch a few random words but could not figure out their context. It felt like Marbas was mostly swearing; a lot.
After pacing around for a bit, the demon lord sat back in front of Marcus. He had a grim expression on his face. Marcus was not liking this one bit.
Marbas said, “You have told me a gorking lot with that statement Marcus Blank. More than you would have liked to have told me.”
Marbas paused and Marcus did not say anything. He did not quite know what to say.
“I will talk with Lucifer”, said Marbas, “I am giving you a chance Marcus Blank. You have been embroiled in a power struggle which you are not quite aware of. You have become their pawn without realizing and they are manipulating you. Try to escape if you must. I really hope you do. I quite like you. There is something about you which I find… amusing. Go for now Marcus Blank. We shall meet again on Una if you manage to escape this place. And then we shall talk. There is much to discuss with you after all.”
“What-”, Marcus started but Marbas clapped his hands and the door to his room opened. Demons swarmed in.
“Take him to the cell with other adventurers from Una”, said Marbas to the demons, “Blindfold him and someone please ask Lucifer to come visit me. We have important matters to discuss.”
And Marcus was again blindfolded and escorted out of the room. Then they walked for quite some time. Marcus wondered how large the castle was. He also wondered about his conversation with Marbas. He wondered what exactly Marbas had deduced in the end and was a bit scared when he thought about Marbas taking an interest in him.
Finally, the blindfold was removed from his head and Marcus blinked as he was deposited in a room right opposite from a window through which bright sunlight was hitting his eyes. He squinted and raised his hand.
A familiar voice said, “Marcus!”
Marcus turned to his left and found Selena looking at him in astonishment.
“Hey”, said Marcus lamely.
“What the gork are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you?”
There was laughter, not from Selena but from behind Marcus. Marcus turned to see Shania, Thalia and Tim sitting on a sofa and shaking with laughter. At Marcus. He was sure of it. Tamara was nowhere to be seen though.
“And what makes you qualified to rescue us?”
Marcus turned in the direction of the voice and found Tamara leaning against the wall, her hands folded. Her elven face held a frown and Marcus felt as if she was looking down on him. Considering her height, she may very well be.
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Marcus said, “Are we kind of safe here? I mean are the demons listening?”
That elicited another round of laughter from Shania, Thalia and Tim. Marcus gave a sharp look to the elf, celestial and the gnome but they ignored him. They somehow looked comfortable and well settled where they were. This weirded Marcus out. What was happening here?
“The demons do not care about us”, said Selena. She stepped up to Marcus and gave him a hug, “It is good to see you, Marcus.”
Marcus gave Selena an awkward hug and then looked around the room. It looked like a furnished apartment with all of them in the living room and a kitchen to the right of where Marcus was standing. There was a passageway opposite from the entrance which Marcus assumed led them to other parts of whatever this place was. They were still inside the castle considering the walls of the room he was in.
“What is this place?” asked Marcus confused, “I thought I was being sent to prison.”
“This is a prison”, said Tamara, “Of sorts.”
“This is kind of confusing.”
“It seems we have much to discuss”, said Tamara and gestured to Marcus to follow her.
They all sat down on the sofas not occupied by the three adventurers. Marcus looked at the imprisoned adventurers that he had come to rescue. They seemed fine to him. Was this some sort of a political capture? He was thoroughly confused as to what was happening. He really should not have accepted this mission.
Marcus groaned and put his head in his hands. Then he realized and looked up. Everyone was looking at him.
“I have got a lot to process”, offered Marcus.
There were nods all around.
“We understand”, said Selena, “We have had a lot to process when we came here. Now”, she shrugged, “We have gotten used to our circumstances.”
Marcus frowned, “Do you guys have Stockholm Syndrome?”
“What’s Stockholm Syndrome?” asked Selena.
Marcus explained what Stockholm Syndrome was.
“We do not have this gorking Stockholm Syndrome”, hissed Tamara.
“And it is called Waylaid Empathy, not Stockholm Syndrome”, said Selena.
“Ok”, said Marcus slowly. He wondered why he was more comfortable with Stockholm Syndrome and not Waylaid Empathy.
Marcus ignored that for now and said, “Alright. What exactly is happening? Can you tell me?”
“You first”, said Tamara.
Marcus nodded and said, “Okay. I hope you are right about the demons not listening in on us.”
And he explained about the rescue mission. His conversation with Leyda, his meeting with Tanniv and the other companions of the champions. His trip with Tasha. He let out a few secrets regarding the Realm out of Space and Time. He believed that it was not his secret to share. It was Tasha’s.
He continued with his experience on Twarftha; their breaking into the city through the sewers; the meeting with Harados and finally his capture.
The other adventurers silently listened to Marcus’ story. No one said anything. Even after he was finished no one asked a question. They seemed to be digesting everything.
Tamara finally broke the silence, “This is indeed a lot of information. From what you have told us, it seems that there is a way out of the city. From the sewers it seems. Then why have the demons here not found it till yet?”
Tamara continued to mumble and Marcus could not follow the rest of her conversation. She walked away from him. Marcus frowned and turned to Selena.
“Now, would you explain what is happening here?” asked Marcus.
Selena turned to Tamara who seemed to be deep in thought and mumbling something from time to time which they could not catch. Then she sighed and turned to Marcus.
“I don’t remember how many days have passed but the rune in the forest sucked us into a vortex-like portal. We ended up in the courtyard of this castle”, said Selena gesturing around, “Hordes of demons were already waiting for us. Moreover, we were hit with a sort of a fit.”
Thalia said, “That was the impact of all of us losing the system.”
“What?” asked Marcus.
“I am sure that you would have figured by now that you cannot use the system or your powers that you had on Una”, said Selena.
“Yes”, said Marcus slowly, “But I did not have a fit like you stated.”
Tamara narrowed her eyes and said, “Alright. That is a bit odd. But everything we have experienced since we got here has been a bit odd.”
Selena said, “Well, moving on, after the fit passed, the demons took us to a dungeon. It is deep beneath the castle and locked us in chains. Then they questioned us. Rather calmly, which was odd. I was under the impression we would be tortured, but other than keeping us down in the dungeons in chains and questioning us, they did not do much else. We were mostly left to our own devices, unchained, when they were done questioning us. Then a couple of days back, we were blindfolded and taken to their King, Lucifer Morningstar, and were asked to keep quiet. It seemed that the Game Masters Rauros and Leyda had come to negotiate for our release. The negotiation did not go well. Lucifer was asking about freedom of demons which seemed to be not in the power of Rauros and Leyda to do so. After the negotiation, they dumped us here. No word. We are allowed to roam the castle and they feed us when we get hungry. This room and even the dungeon have livable and utilizable facilities. And here we are. As confused as you as to what to do now.”
“What questions did they ask you?” asked Marcus.
“They mostly asked about Una”, said Tamara, “And the Game Masters. Mostly they seemed to be interested in the Game Masters. I think the demons wanted some sort of negotiation tidbit against them.”
Marcs was thoughtful for some time. He could not understand the demons’ behaviour. He had had the same thought process as Selena. He had been sure that the adventurers would have been tortured but this was not the case. And why were the demons focusing on the Game Masters? And what was this about their freedom? This was their prison planet, Marcus had got that from Tasha. But did this mean that any Game Master had the power to release the demons?
They talked some more about their experiences on Twarftha. Tim told Marcus that he had talked with some demons and his interactions had been downright normal. Shania and Thalia had been exploring the castle a couple of hours before Marcus had been deposited to their room.
“So, what’s the plan now, Marcus?” asked Selena.
“We do need to break out of here”, said Marcus.
“Will we be able to do so?” asked Tamara softly.
Marcus frowned, “What do you mean?”
“Considering how the demons are not bothering us, it seems that they are confident that we would not be able to escape this walled city”, said Shania.
“Galmanosh”, said Marcus, “This city is called Galmanosh.”
“Thank you for the trivia, Marcus”, said Tamara, “How does it help get us out of here?”
Marcus started to reply something but stopped at the frustrated look on Tamara’s face. It would be safe not to say anything.
Marcus turned towards Shania and Thalia, “Did you find a way to the sewers while you were exploring?”
“You think the entrance that you came from could be used for our escape”, said Thalia slowly.
“It’s worth a try”, said Marcus.
“Marcus, I don’t want to be rude here or anything”, said Tamara, “But what exactly was your plan for getting us out of here?”
Marcus blinked and said, “Um… I was solely dependent on Tasha. I was going to follow her lead. Currently, I am winging it as I go.”
The silence was deafening. Everyone looked at Marcus for quite some time till he started becoming uncomfortable with all the gazes upon him. Tamara broke the silence with a spring of expletives. Thalia and Shania simply shook their heads. Tim sighed and plopped down on the sofa, sort of disappearing from the view beneath the fluffy pillows that were present on the sofa. Selena lay a hand on Marcus’ shoulder. He could see the pity in her eyes.
Tamara said, “I don’t blame you Marcus. I blame the Game Masters. I do not understand what gorking game they are playing. I mean sending an adventurer does not make any gorking sense no matter how skilled they are. We need an army to break out of here.”
Marcus replied, “Or we could use the demons' lack of interest in us to our advantage and escape in stealth?”
“We could try, but I don’t think we will be successful.”
“I am going to give it a try.”
“I will not stop you. Take someone with you. It is better to move in pairs.”
Marcus looked at Selena who simply nodded. She was willing to come with him. It was good for now. Marcus knew that he would not be able to do much to get them free, but he was going to try.
“Is there a place to sleep here?” Marcus asked, “I was preparing to sleep when I was captured.”
Tim said, “Follow me.”
Marcus followed him to a room which had two single beds. There was another door to the right side of the room which Tim said was a bathroom.
“Each room has an attached bathroom. And close the curtains on the windows if you want to sleep”, said Tim pointing at the windows through which the sunlight was streaming in.
Marcus nodded and Tim exited the room. Marcus closed the curtains and lay on one of the beds. He had forgotten to ask which one Tim was using. It did not matter. He closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.
***
“Okay”, said Tim looking at Tamara, “What the gork is going on?”
“What in the gorking world is Marcus doing here?” asked Shania.
“We all heard his explanation”, said Tamara.
“But it does not make any gorking sense”, said Thalia.
“I know it doesn’t Thalia but I get the feeling it is some form of Game Master manipulation that we do not know about”, said Tamara.
“What gorking manipulation would it be?” asked Thalia.
Tamara sighed, “I fear the person Marcus came with, this Tasha, she is our true rescuer. Marcus is simply sent here with her as a sort of distraction for the demons.”
“How do you figure that?” asked Selena.
“You all did not have much contact with the Game Masters but Tanniv and I did. And in one of our conversations, we came to know that they consider Marcus an anomaly. They did not go into details but it seems that they are both not happy that he is on Una and adventuring with other adventurers.”
“That is bonkers”, said Selena.
“I could be wrong but I do not think I was reading the Game Masters wrong. Neither was Tanniv. He had a similar opinion”, said Tamara.
Selena opened her mouth to say something, stopped, threw her hands in the air, harrumphed and went to sit on the sofa.
“So, what do we do now?” asked Shania.
“I have a feeling there will be further negotiations for our release. Lucifer would also throw Marcus in the negotiations to get what he wants. I feel bad for hiding it from Marcus but we do know what he truly wants”, said Tamara, “And I do not want him to achieve it.”
“But why did we not tell Marcus?” asked Tim.
“I dunno”, said Tamara shaking her head, “Something does not sit right with me regarding this situation. I want to wait. For the time being we wait. We watch and we try to find a way out of here. Selena, stick with Marcus. He is passionate about us escaping but he has not spent time in the castle like we have. The demons don’t do anything to us as long as we do not try to escape. However, it may change if they find out what Marcus is up to. Try to keep the escape attempt as discreet as possible.”
“I still believe we should tell Marcus everything”, said Selena sullenly.
“And do you think he has told us the whole truth?”
“What do you mean?”
“He said he fought the demons when they caught him. How did he do that? We are all powerless as we are not on Una anymore. How was he able to fight and kill demons as he told us? Also he did not tell us about how he and Tasha travelled to Twarftha from Una. He is lying about a portal. There is something else. He is not a good liar.”
Selena flumpled deeper into the sofa amongst the pillows and said, “That doesn’t mean he is not here to help. But I will do as you say. I will wait and watch and make sure what he does is discreet.”
“Thank you”, said Tamara, “Now I believe the hour is quite late. And Marcus was right about one thing. I am tired too. Let us take a rest and meet after a rest to decide what to do next.”
The others nodded and went to their rooms to sleep. Selena got up from her comfortable position and looked at the door of the room where Marcus was sleeping. She gave a long sigh and with a shake of her head started to head towards her room. This was getting more complicated by the second. And she did not like it. Not a bit.