-- Aster --

Mullein's house was shockingly normal. I honestly didn't know what I was expecting in a house but the idea that the inside would just be a house, with furniture, pictures, and a kitchen didn't even cross my mind. For some reason, I was still kind of expecting some kind of den of crime. Evidence of wrongdoing all over the place or my team, somehow, frozen in place like statues. I really need to stop watching crime shows.

I cautiously walked around the house looking for anything, even cameras but there wasn't the telltale light of cameras anywhere. This was just the councilwoman's home. I was beginning to think there wasn't anything here until I caught the first glimpse of a shimmering invisible door in the kitchen. That's when I started to notice signs of a struggle, or possibly just where and tare.

Drawing close I noticed some fresh chips in the door-frames wood like there was some small resistance. Looking down I saw a few cracked tiles like they had dropped something heavy. There was either a fight here, I looked closer to the cracks finding no blood, or they moved something really heavy through here and dropped it. I was guessing, I was no tracker able to piece these things together. In fact, the chips looked a few days old and the crack even older. This was probably just normal, I was even beginning to think I would just fin a pantry hidden behind the invisible door.

I couldn't just leave without checking so I began to search for the access point for the entrance. When I reached out with my mana I was surprised to find that it wasn't a pantry but a solid steel door with an access mechanism on the other side. I was starting to feel like this was the place, so I pushed more power out to feel what was on the other side.

I had pushed a few feet out into the room when my mana touched something moving. I pulled back the energy afraid whoever was behind there would notice. When I didn't feel anything move into the range I tried again pushing. When I did I found it was a man at a desk, and I could feel two buttons right next to him.

I wonder if he can see me. I still hadn't seen any cameras anywhere or their tell-tale shimmer of cameras. So no cameras here, hmmm. How do they communicate to be let in?

Wait... That doesn't matter. I felt again at the desk and found it at waist height. If I open the door he'll sound the alarm but... I had a big smile as I thought of something. Something I knew I could do because I'd done something similar. I found the edge of the door and faced away, I imagined exactly what I wanted, as I gathered shadows to muffle any noise, and I began "FALLING through the cracks"

I felt the energy rip out of me as I fell through into the other room and pushed myself up against the desk. It had worked but it had pulled way more energy out of me than I expected, to the point that I didn't know if I could do it again, without a long break. Even now I needed to catch my breath before moving.

I sat under the desk for a lot longer than I should have, holding the shadows around myself recovering. When I started to feel normal, I took a chance to look over the desk at the man and saw him leaning back with his feet up reading a book. Must be a really boring job. I looked up and over to see monitors of a room with a few people chained to a wall, the cameras at a weird angle only showing the tops of their heads, and a strange box with light...is that a TV?

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I was surprised they provided them with some entertainment but thought it was a good sign. If they wanted to kill or torture my team they wouldn't have given them something like that. I could only surmise then that this was some kind of delaying tactic to keep us from doing something, but what?

The only...it's to delay us. Rot this is a city versus city thing. They must take this shit way too seriously. I almost cursed aloud but with me being right next to the guard I held myself back.

With the guard distracted I slid past the desk finding a relatively normal wooden door as the entrance to the cell. Weird there is only one guard here. I reached through the door with my power to see if anyone was behind it. I only found stairs down and an orange extension cord.

Why not just have not hidden outlet or something in the cell? I wondered while I began to follow the cord with my energy. I found not a trace of anyone down the stairs, and couldn't help but be confused by it all. The guard's monitors didn't even show these stairs the only thing they showed was the cells. No lead-up or anything. It was like someone told them they wanted a dungeon and forgot the cameras then realized they should have something in the cells. The layout of the entire system was frankly amateur and rushed. It's like this was the first time they got a dungeon and never used it before. I even found that the door to the cell itself was unlocked. I opened it and slid through making no sound.

Could this be a trap?

I slowly and carefully made my way down the stairs wary of some type of trap, but the entire way I found nothing. Am I just growing paranoid? Eventually, I made it to the bottom of the stairs right before the camera light. Looking in the room I saw six people chained up. Three men and three women, I was so surprised I blurted, "wWHOo ThE RoTt ArEe YoUu All?"

This drew all six people's attention to me, a woman who was wearing warrior armor, brown hair, and serious eyes said, "The better question is who are you? Are you here for lunch?

"No, mMy TEamm GOtt gGrabBeed. I thoOuGhtt YOUu wWerE tHEm." I had forgotten how strange my voice was when I was falling.

"A rescue mission?" The leader looked me up and down surprised, "That's nice. We could probably also use a rescue.

I looked the team over not sure what to do. "wWho ARRe youu?"

"Questers we've been here a couple days now." She said the rest of the team looked on hopefully.

If they had been here for a few days, then that would explain the lack of guards, "wWhiCHh cCitYy?" I asked curious.

"Babylon." I knew next to nothing about that city except it was on the opposite end of the continent.

I looked over seeing a familiar black sucking in the shackles around their wrists, "pPowERrr DRraiNningG cCufFfs?"

"Yeah."

I looked around at the team and asked, "AanYy Of yOUu rOUgess?

A man was leather armor spoke up, "Yeah, but they took everything bad when I tried they came real quick and took all my hidden picks. Actually, why haven't they come yet, you're in the doorway and we're talking?"

"gGuarrdD hass mONitor muTtedD, anDd caAamerass dDon't poINt at tHhe doOor."

The rogue looked shocked as he spat "Amateur."

"tThatT's WwhaTt I saAidd."

"So you gonna free us?" The warrior woman asked.

"Whyyy NOTtt." If their quest was anything like ours it would be better for it to be done than not. There was one thing still bothering me, "HhowW didD tHhey GgraBb youu?"

"Sleep spell ambush"

"OHh" I had to rethink my defenses. I didn't think I had thought to protect myself against something like that. "HholdD uP yOUr sSHackLles pLleaseE."

"Should be pick three and seven." The rogue helpfully told me.

"THhanNKs." I looked out to the room readying myself to run through opening the shackles, "tThe gGuarrDd waAs Not payYing atTtentTion wWhen I LefTt. Sooo We mMay juUst Bee aBle To waLK ouTt or wEee onLY get a miNUTe befoRee hee callss foRr bACkup. Sso gett rEAdy."

All six of them stood and held up there shackles, as soon as they were ready I ran through the room popping each cuff off.

They were rubbing there wrists, "lLeTss Ggo."

I ran from the room as they followed right behind me.