Solomon wakes up, terribly sleepy, having stayed up to dry herself to avoid suspicion. Her plan worked like a charm and she still has more than enough charge in her phone to update her situation to her friends for at least a couple days. She has no intention of using it for anything else. Finally, she is being compensated for the misfortunes that befell her, although she can’t help but feel nervous about what happened with Fulmine. If he somehow comes back… Then, and only then will she regret not spending the night with him.
She heads down for a meal, looking for Rufina in the meantime. Turning a corner, distracted by people cleaning, she bangs her left foot against the corner once again. She quietly curses before she continues.
Rufina is nowhere to be seen, or at least not in the dining hall. She does see Luxor, however, lightly bobbing his head to a soft violin tune as he eats.
She takes a quick look around the places she figures the bat could be, but she is nowhere. Her brother is apparently talking to Wraps from afar, though. She feels increasingly tempted each day to find out more about the thick-clothed person, but not enough to possibly have it interfere with her plan.
As she’s searching for Rufina, she realises something: she could just wait for the lanterns to light up! Then, she’s guaranteed to be at the hall.
Hoping that the bats won’t find Fulmine’s absence suspicious, she heads to her favourite place in the entire castle: the library. At the very least, there is no noise there, plus she can ease her mind with some reading.
This time, she chooses to read nonfiction. A short book about a boy who went missing and was unceremoniously found one day. She’s happy he was found, but it makes her remember why she prefers fiction. It’s enough, however, to pass the time until the lanterns begin shining intensely. “Please be there, Rufina.”
Upon walking down to the main hall, she spots the bat with the silver and grey markings talking to her brother at the side of the hall. Once again, she doesn’t see Wraps anywhere.
The ceremony begins soon after, Luxor shines his light onto his followers, Solomon covers herself from it. If it’s a reward for supporting him, then it’s a reward she does not want, even though she really wants to allow herself just a couple seconds of the happiness she would experience from it. Genesis disapproves of the latter part.
As the eight minutes pass, she sees the lanterns and the whole hall grow dimmer, that’s when she pretends to have taken in his light once more. The people then scatter and she immediately heads for Rufina when she sees Haemon leave her alone.
“Hey.” She makes her attempt at starting a conversation. “So?”
“I’ll let you know.” Says the bat, much to Solomon’s and Genesis’ disappointment. “We need a good plan for this.”
“No matter. I can wait for now… I hope.”
“Alright, I’ll be waiting.” She nods, the bat then walks away after giving her a reassuring smile.
Solomon then goes to sit down at an empty table, mildly nervous about last night, still.
As she’s inspecting her hands, a sensing calm from Genesis, Grayson walks up to the table and sits down next to her.
“I see you made a new friend.” He remarks, looking refreshed from the light.
“If you want to put it that way…” She responds, holding up her head in apparent boredom. “About as much of a friend as Sheila.”
Grayson quickly turns to face the cat.
“Sheila?” He asks in disbelief. “She’s also here?”
“Yes?” Solomon raises an eyebrow. “I thought you-”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Where is she?” Grayson demands.
Solomon was under the impression that the goat already knew. Now that she knows that he didn’t, she wants to tell him what happened, even if they worked for Ludwig, she feels like they should know that they’re both there.
“As far as I know, she’s in the dungeon.” She tries to keep herself, and the goat, calm and quiet as she replies.
“Then I’m going there.” He states as he stands up and leaves the “Hall of Light”, heading towards the dungeon. Solomon follows him closely behind, the prospect of leaving growing ever greater in her mind.
“Sheila… I know her all too well. She was my superior before I was sent to that damned park.” Grayson says softly, making sure to walk in the middle of the hallway.
“That’s why you sent us to Lion’s Den.” Says Solomon, doing her best to keep pace as they approach the door to the dungeon.
“Precisely.” He says with a hint of irritation in his voice, reaching for the doorknob. He looks around one more time and opens the door.
The two of them enter, Grayson starts checking out the cells one by one, giving each but a brief glance. Even the cells are spotless. As they walk farther and farther down the dungeon corridor, Solomon feels more than a little unnerved. Now that she gets a better look at it, there are no lanterns to light the way, just like in the showers, only regular torches.
Upon looking into one of the cells, Solomon sees a dishevelled canine lying on a bed. He sniffs the air, sits up, and looks directly at her. Except where his eyes should be are two burnt holes. The sight sends a chill down her spine, she quickly looks away, still feeling his empty gaze.
She’s reminded of the agents who originally went to the dungeon, hoping that whatever happened to them won’t happen to her or Grayson. Then again, she’s supposedly a part of the cult now, surely, whoever or whatever got to them wouldn’t do the same to cult members.
It takes a bit of walking, but they eventually get to the cell where the lioness is held. She is lying on a ramshackle bed inside, certainly having seen better days, parts of her suit have cuts and holes torn.
“Sheila!” Grayson exclaims, grasping the bars of the cell. The lioness looks up, confused by the familiarity of the voice.
“You’re here too?” She asks, then glances over to Solomon. “Well isn’t this a merry little gathering.”
“Sheila, I’m so glad you’re alive!” Grayson states, looking as he said, glad. Solomon has to admit, deep down, she’s a little happy to see her alive. The same can’t be said for Genesis, however, judging by a mix of visceral anger and disappointment from him. “We’ll need to work on that.”
“How come they didn’t kill you like the rest?” Solomon asks. Based on the goat’s expression, he would also like to know that.
Sheila rolls up her right sleeve in response.
“Apparently they just lost another Mystic One. Guess they’ll try to get me to join.” She scoffs. “I’d rather die than worship whatever that thing is.”
“You have to get her out of here.” Grayson pleads, looking at Solomon, much to the surprise of the two felines. “Please, consider this your way of repaying me.”
“What do you mean “repay”?” Sheila chimes in, but is ignored.
“I don’t care how you do it, but please get her out! I have some unfinished business here.” Grayson states with a look of determination.
“What business?” Solomon inquires, slightly suspicious along with Genesis.
“Listen…” The goat says in a whisper after looking around. “They don’t suspect me. I could be a man on the inside here!”
“Really?” Sheila questions, now standing at the cell door. “You’d choose to just stay here for that?”
“Someone has to!” Grayson replies, a little louder. “I could still be useful to our operations, even without magic! I could inform you about their plans once you’re out.”
Solomon feels conflicted. She wants to help Grayson get out, but she also understands his side. Even if it’s The System, an expert org having information on the cult would make her feel better once she’s out. Not to mention, it could help her keep up whatever ruse she’ll use to leave.
“That’s an insane plan.” Sheila remarks, then smirks. “But as your boss, I approve.”
“Good, good!” Grayson then looks over at Solomon. “So please, get her out. Do this one thing for me.”
Solomon owes them nothing. That’s what Genesis thinks anyway. But her… She certainly feels like she owes Grayson a favour. Maybe not so much to Sheila, but it can’t be helped. She makes up her mind.
“I will.” She says with a nod, which Genesis doesn’t seem to like.
“Thank you.” Grayson smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder. “I hope to see you once more on the outside, when this is all over. Until then, stay safe.” He salutes Sheila and turns to leave.
“Where are you going?” Sheila asks, now more concerned.
“I don’t want to draw suspicion. I haven’t seen the warden all day and I’d like to keep it that way.” He then glances at Solomon, as if to recommend that she does the same.
“I’ll leave soon as well.” She states. “I’d like to talk to Sheila a little.”
“Alright.” Grayson gives in. “But make it quick.” He then walks down the dungeon hallway, the sound of his hooves echoing more than he’d probably like.
“Always playing the hero…” Solomon remarks, then turns to the lioness. “Sheila, I’m sorry I got you in this situation in the first place!”
“Apology accepted.” She says in response. “To be fair, if you brought Shaqie, you possibly could have escaped already.”
“And you only tell me this now?” Solomon snaps at her.
“I wasn’t going to argue with the old man about it. Shaqie has a lot of combat experience. Originally a Blazing One, but wanted wind as well, for reasons beyond my understanding.” She glances to the side, disapprovingly. “ Objectively worse for fighting in general, but trust me, she’s damn good with it.”
“What about Rufina?” Solomon inquires. “She told me what happened between her and Ludwig. What happened after she left?”
“Ah, so you met her.” Sheila puts her hands under her head as she lies on the bed. “Power really got to the old man’s head after that. Sent Harper and I to Lion’s Den and chose to make all the decisions himself. From what I’ve heard, he just throws men at problems until it’s solved.” She lets out a sigh of exasperation. “And that’s how we ended up here.”
All of a sudden, Solomon herself feels a burning resentment in her body. It definitely isn’t coming from Genesis, however. Such hate… The last time she felt such hatred was when her emotions were still mixed with his.
“If only you had someone else as a leader…” She says, ears drooping.
“I don’t particularly care who I work for as long as I get paid… But I still think that a change in leadership is due. All I’ll say is that if I was the boss, there’d be a lot more reconnaissance.” Sheila states causally, but her expression tells a different story, a rather sombre one. “I won’t force you to do anything, but if you could get me out… That would be preferable.” She lifts her head to look at the cat. “We all have people we want to see again, Solomon.”
Solomon pauses for a moment, looking down at the floor, then her hands. “There definitely is someone like that.”
“Lisa…” She says softly, looking down at the floor, then back at Sheila, who seems a little bit surprised.
“Look, I’m not judging.” She states. “Just… Find a way to get us out of here.”
“A plan is in the works.” Solomon grabs onto the cell bars. “I could melt these whenever it’s needed. That’s a good start, right?”
“Yeah.” Sheila instinctively steps back from her. “Let’s call it that.”
From her peripheral, Solomon spots something. She turns to look, her heart skips a beat upon seeing the unmistakable silhouette of Wraps standing at the far end of the dungeon hallway. She’s certain that they weren’t there before.
“What is it?” Sheila asks.
Solomon keeps looking in the direction of the person. “Not this time.” She is shocked to see them do a beckoning gesture. They then turn to their left, take a step, seemingly push on air, take another step and… Disappear. Not into a cell, very clearly a good half a metre in front of it.
“What?” Solomon questions out loud. She rubs her eyes, but sure enough, they’re still gone. The inquisitive feeling from Genesis tells her that he either doesn’t know what happened or doesn’t remember anything that does that. Only then, does she turn to look at Sheila.
“I just saw someone disappear into thin air.” She states and would question her sanity if it wasn’t for the fact that Genesis also saw it happen.
“Really?” Sheila scoffs, her expression then turns concerned. “Place is starting to get to you, huh?” She goes to lie back down on the bed. “Can’t blame you too much. This place is… Weird. To put it mildly.”
“No, I’ve seen them before. The one in the winter clothes, the warden.” She says, taking a step in the direction where the person was.
“You don’t think they heard us, right?” Sheila asks in response, but Solomon ignores her.
Solomon feels conflicted once again. She wants to investigate so much… But she has to keep herself safe. She will get out soon, she just needs to not die, especially now that she promised Grayson to get Sheila out. Everything tells her not to go down farther, but curiosity, the yearning to know… It’s positively killing her. “I have the original Acid One on my side. I can take care of myself one on one. Curiosity killed the cat… But not this one.”
“Solomon?” Sheila asks, but is once again ignored as Solomon quietly walks down the corridor. The farther she goes, the more she feels like this is a mistake, but she can’t help it. She wants to know. The cells along the way are remarkably empty, only an unfortunate few are laid on the beds of some. Solomon doesn’t recognise any of them, she hears no pleading or other noises from them either.
Arriving at the cell she saw Wraps disappeared, she sees someone sleeping on the bed. It definitely looks more lived in than most of the others, having a neat desk and a somewhat better bed. Whoever is in there must be a little more important than the rest. She looks around, but can’t see anything suspicious.
She takes a few more steps down the corridor before she starts hearing a soft noise. It sounds like something grinding on stone, but much quieter. She turns to look, but can’t see the source. “What’s going on?”
The noise stops. She then sees an arm, then one half of a person, Wraps, emerge from seemingly thin air. They lean out from… Something. Whatever it is, it covers one of their legs and part of their torso. It looks as if the parts covered are not even there.
“Come in.” Says the muffled, decidedly feminine voice of Wraps, gesturing for Solomon to get closer.
“Who… Are you?” She asks, taking a tentative step towards them, and bangs her foot on something. She looks down, but can’t see anything. “Wait a minute…” Genesis practically yells at her to get out, to just leave, but she’s so close… She has to know.
She’s now in front of Wraps, the thing no longer covering them. She reaches out to feel for whatever it may be, only to touch a cold wall. Wraps steps behind the wall and disappears again. The cell door then opens, seemingly on its own. Solomon follows, looking through the inner side of the invisible wall, everything seems… Darker, save for the little entrance she used to enter. In front of this cell, there are walls made from whatever material this is.
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Wraps touches part of the wall, a slab slides into place, sealing it. Solomon feels a jolt of panic, hoping that if need be, she can melt it as well.
“You don’t belong here.” Says Wraps, which doesn’t exactly encourage Solomon. “You don’t take in his light.” The sense of dread only grows inside her, now inside Genesis as well. “You could help me.” The fear in her heart is quickly replaced with confusion.
“What?” She asks, bewildered.
“About time we met properly.” Says Wraps, taking off their hood, which Solomon finds ever so slightly exciting. Finally, she’ll get to know who this person is!
“Yes, please.” Says the cat.
Wraps then takes off the welding goggles. For the first time, Solomon gets a good look at their eyes. Their left eye is a deep blue colour, but their right… The iris is almost as black as the pupil, even the white of it is a dim grey, closely resembling the colour of Wraps’ fur. They then start unwrapping the fabric on their head. As they do, two ears pop out. Once their head is free of the fabric entirely, she can confidently say that they are a she, another bat, no less. “You have got to be joking.”
But that isn’t what catches her attention at first. Rather, it’s the dark markings on the right side of her head, even going through her right eye. It looks as if the darkness is spreading from her eye, almost as if it’s leaking darkness, breaking into lines that go down the side of her neck. Wraps exhales deeply as the fabric is removed.
Solomon has to admit, she’d be quite pretty if it wasn’t for the markings on her face, her nose is more like Fulmine’s, resembling that of a canine. She guesses that the bat must be a little older than her, much like all the bats she met so far.
“My name is Lumi Jarvinen.” She states, taking off her coat and putting it on a chair. Under the coat, rather than a shirt or so, she has the rest of her upper body wrapped in more fabric, including the arms. “But why?” It is now apparent that she has an excellent physique.
“A master of darkness.” She says as she takes off her gloves, panting softly, clearly happy about not having to wear those thick clothes here. On her right hand, Solomon can see traces of dim blue, choked by dark markings. On her left, only dim blue.
“It must get so hot under all that…” Solomon remarks, having way too many questions she wants answered, something Genesis is quite used to by now.
“Oh, you have no idea.” Lumi nods at her with a slight scoff. “But it’s better than death by light. What matters is that you’re not with him, and maybe you have some information about what I’m looking for. Or rather, who I’m looking for.” She states, winking with her dark eye.
“I’ll have to stop you right there.” Solomon interrupts. “What are you saying? A master of darkness? What does that even mean?”
One of her questions is answered, at least: why she wears all those thick clothes. Magical light can kill Dark Ones, and Lumi is no doubt a Dark One. But that only leads to more questions.
“Why are you here? This is a cult of light, why do you put up with this as a Dark One? And while on the topic of that, how did you-”
“One at a time, feline.” Says Lumi, holding one hand out, looking slightly annoyed. “I can see that we differ. You call us Dark Ones, we call us masters of darkness. Same with other types, I presume?” She says as she unwraps her right arm, causing her wings to pop out. Going along it, Solomon can see that the dark markings on her head and arm are likely connected, darkness winding around the frost markings on her right arm. She repeats the process on her left arm before letting out a sigh of relief.
“Much better.” She then sits down on the bed. The person sleeping there turns out to just be a decoy dummy. “Take a seat, by all means, make yourself comfortable.”
Solomon apprehensively goes to sit down on the chair on which Lumi put her coat.
“I’m here because of one reason.” Lumi begins to say. “The person I’m looking for is bound to get here eventually. This amount of light in one place… The power inside them will not tolerate such a mocking presence for long.”
Solomon Doesn’t feel like she’s even a single step closer to her answers.
“But then how come Luxor allows you to be here?” Solomon frowns at the bat suspiciously. “Why are you even telling me this?”
“You’re not with him.” Says the bat, then grasps the handle of one of her knives. “Right?”
Solomon nods vigorously, slightly worried for her safety. She senses that Genesis would probably be berating her if he could talk.
“Good.” She relaxes and lets go of the handle. “Neither am I. The moment this person arrives… I’m leaving with them. As for Luxor, he finds it immensely pleasing that a master of darkness is serving him. The gullible fool.” She smirks. “I asked to be the warden, so I don’t have to wear all that stuff while down here. Asked him if he could remove the lanterns from the showers, and surprisingly, he did!”
Solomon is quite happy to see how chatty Lumi is, after everything she thought she knew about the bat. “Just what I needed.”
She listens intently as the bat goes on and on about how glad she is that even just one person refuses to take in his light, a telltale sign of not accepting him, as well as how boring it can be to just wait for this apparently tremendously important person to come. To be fair, she goes into detail way more than Solomon would prefer, including all the minute details that she frankly just doesn’t care much for. She can’t blame her too much though, it must feel exhilarating to have someone to properly talk to. She finds it odd that Lumi trusts her so much just for rejecting the light.
“And… Who is this person?” Solomon asks, trying to steer the conversation in a way that may help her find out more.
“We call it True Darkness.” Lumi says.
Now, Solomon has a guess on who she might mean.
“A person of immense dark powers, able to snuff out the magical light! I need to find this person and become their disciple.” She says with great fervour and excitement. “My family has spent generations looking for such a person. If I can find one… That would bring great honour to my name.”
The more the bat says, the more suspicious Solomon gets. No one would ever share so much clandestine information to a stranger.
“Okay, drop the act.” She says, crossing her arms. “You just met me. There’s no way you trust me so much just because I don’t take in his light. I never even saw you during those ceremonies.”
Lumi sighs in response.
“I can tell you why I trust you, but you may not like it.” Says the bat.
Solomon waves dismissively, but still quite curious.
“I’ve been following you. I have little pockets and entire hallways made of this ice around the castle to hide me. And the rest of the cult is aware, they’re great ambush points!”
Solomon feels dreadfully exposed all of a sudden.
“Just… How much do you know?” She asks, scared to hear her answer.
“I heard you plotting your escape, your conversations with Fulmine, even when you were talking to yourself in the library. What was that about anyway?”
Solomon tries to keep her composure, but she feels like she’s doing a terrible job at it, along with a sense of dread from Genesis.
“...what?” Is all she manages to say.
“I know, that’s creepy and all that. But I needed to confirm your reliability. I do that for every new member, most just accept him and move on. Unlike you.” She chuckles. “The things you said… Quite scandalous.” Her expression turns serious. She stands up and takes a step towards Solomon, which startles her. “But I can help you vanish just like you want. All I need in exchange is some information.”
Solomon’s ears perk up. “Yes! She could be my ticket to get out of here!”
“What do you want to know?” She asks, unable to hide her excitement.
“This True Darkness… Will you help me find them?” Lumi asks, leaning a bit closer to Solomon. The sight of her darkened eye creeps her out more and more. “If she’s talking about Thalia…”
“Their body is covered entirely in darkness. I know that can be deceiving, but if you’ve seen someone like that…” She adds.
“She’s definitely talking about Thalia.” Such a dilemma. Solomon would rather not tell the bat about her… She could just lie. “Maybe Lumi is testing me. Or maybe she’s lying.” If she really overheard the things she told Genesis… She can’t remember if she outright stated that Thalia is True Darkness. Desperate for allies, she decides not to risk it.
“Yes. I know her personally, actually.” She states, Lumi seems to be in disbelief at her response.
“No way! Are you sure it wasn’t just…” She begins to say, but Solomon cuts her off.
“I saw her fill a room with unnatural darkness, then move at high speed in it.” She states, truthfully.
Lumi is in awe.
“You’re not getting out of here.” Says the bat, Solomon gets ready to sic Genesis on the bat. Even after all this… “Not by yourself, you aren’t.” She holds out her dark and frost covered right hand. “I’m coming with you.” She states with a confident smile. “Why would you phrase it like that?”
She grasps her hand, they both nod. Solomon can’t help feeling a little weirded out by the bat, but as long as she gets her out, she doesn’t care.
“Now I’m sure you realised that this ice isn’t normal.” Says Lumi, pulling her hand away. Her markings then light up and produce a small, dark ice crystal. “This will be the key to your freedom and my destiny.”
Solomon takes a closer look at the dark ice. She can see right through not just the ice, but Lumi’s hand as well where it covers her hand.
“How is that…” She mutters, more to herself than the bat.
“Darkness is stubborn. It hates company. In my case, ice.” Says Lumi, the crystal in her hand growing bigger. “It has qualities that other types do not. For example, darkness itself can never hurt you. It’s what’s in it that matters. And it hates that.” She clenches her fist, shattering the crystal and startling Solomon. “It only has an effect on living beings by itself, so it transfers that property to other types. Dark fire won’t burn down a forest or kill you, but it will hurt all the same. Ice, on the other hand, it seems to tolerate the most.”
She walks out of the cell and to the wall in front of it. Solomon follows and listens.
“This, is my masterpiece.” Lumi exclaims proudly. “Dark Ice normally hides all living beings and whatever they wear, except plants for some reason. But what I made, think of it as a one-way mirror of sorts.” She explains, putting one arm on her hip. “By combining regular ice and dark ice, I can make these panels! We can see whoever’s on the other side, but they can’t see us.” She puts her hand against the side of the wall. “It’s not an easy process, it’s hard to make the ice look so hard to see, but it works. The dark ice also keeps the regular ice from melting.”
Solomon feels fascinated by Lumi’s ingenuity. She’s more and more interested in the combinations that can be made, especially with darkness. Judging by how he feels, even Genesis is impressed to an extent.
“And that’s how we’re getting out of here. I already have an idea.” She says, giving her a reassuring smile.
“Please tell me then!” Solomon practically pleads.
“Now, no one else knows that we want this. I hardly talk to the other bats, especially not about my plans with darkness. You will bump into me, I will get annoyed and call you out for a duel.” All of sudden, Solomon doesn’t like Lumi’s idea anymore. “It will be outside. I will throw a knife into your shoulder, you will act like it’s fatal, and hide behind a panel I will set up beforehand. Do whatever you have to in order to make it look like you died, then hide behind the ice. After that’s done, I’ll meet you later and we’ll slip away! How’s that?”
Lumi says the whole plan, entirely too fast for Solomon to follow completely. She feels like she understands the point though, slightly perturbed by Lumi knowing about her acid power without her telling.
“...what if you miss and actually kill me?” Solomon states, concerned.
“That won’t happen. Trust me on that.” The bat winks her darkened eye. Solomon is less than excited about having a knife thrown at her, but if it means that she’ll get out…
“Don’t worry about bleeding out either.” Lumi adds, pulling out a knife, which is made out of dark ice. “The good thing about this ice is that it doesn’t melt from heat! It will form ice crystals around the wound, not letting the blood out, as long as you don’t pull it out. I’ll make a brand new one for the occasion!”
“Just be careful, okay?” Says the cat, still worried. But in her situation, she’ll have to put safety aside.
She then comes to a realisation.
“I need you to help me get someone out as well.” She states with a slightly alarmed expression. “I made a promise to someone who saved my life. I cannot go back on it.”
Lumi seems to understand.
“I can do that, I’ll just slip out with them! Who is it?” She leans against the ice pane, which is apparently strong enough to hold her weight, smiling at the feline.
“The lioness in the dungeon. One of the few prisoners. How come there are so few of them anyway?”
“Got it.” Her smile fades. “You see… Luxor doesn’t like taking prisoners. He prefers a more…” She pauses for just a moment. “Direct solution to intruders. Unless he finds them interesting enough. That happens on more of a whim than anything.”
Solomon nods.
“I’m not surprised.” She says with a sigh. “But thank you. Once we’re out, I promise I’ll repay you.”
“All I’ll need is a meeting with the True Darkness.” Lumi replies. “That’ll be plenty.”
Just like that, things are looking up for Solomon. She can hardly believe that the bat would be so inclined to help her, all in exchange for meeting Thalia. It feels too good to be true. “I’ll keep an eye on her, just in case. When I can see her, that is.”
“I better go now.” Says Solomon. “I should let her know about the plan.”
Lumi puts her right hand on the ice wall, a part of it comes loose and slides out, making an opening.
“You can find me here in the evening any day. Knock four times on the ice, leave some time between the second and third knock, that way I’ll know it’s you.” She puts up her other hand to wave her goodbye for now.
Solomon wishes her well and watches the bat disappear behind the sliding ice. She stays for just a little longer to inspect the wall from the outside. She has to look very carefully to see it, if she didn’t know it was there, she likely wouldn’t have noticed it. Then, she makes her way to Sheila and briefly informs her of the plan, after which, she goes to leave the dungeon. “Finally… Even in a place like this, I can find allies! Allies that I am very much in need of…”
When she opens the door leading to the dungeon, she comes face to face with Haemon, wearing a white hoodie, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. He seems just as delighted to see her as she is to see him. “Merde.”
“We really have to stop meeting like this.” She says, trying to be casual about it.
“We really have to stop meeting.” The bat replies coldly. “What were you doing in the dungeon?” He demands.
“I don’t believe that’s your business.” In her mind, she’s already making up excuses, none of which actually sound decent enough for her. Genesis really wants to handle the situation, apparently. “No.”
“What were you doing in there?” He repeats, more slowly, in a tone that’s anything but friendly, taking a step towards her. She holds up her hands in defence, the green glow of her markings projecting on her white robe. That makes him stop in his tracks and recoil slightly. Seeing that he’s still very much scared of her power, she leans against the wall and lets herself slide down to the floor. Maybe if she makes herself appear like less of a threat, he’ll leave her alone for the time being.
“Where’s Fulmine?” He asks, calmer now. The question hits Solomon’s mind with the weight of the entire castle. “Don’t panic. Don’t let him have even a chance of guessing that he’s floating down the river.”
“Why should I know?” She asks with a shrug. “A fair question, surely.”
“Haven’t seen him all day and he wouldn’t shut up about you since he first saw you.” He states with a scowl. “It’s getting annoying.”
Solomon covers her face briefly before shaking her head. She feels like she should keep him in her peripheral at the very least.
“It’s not my fault he can’t take a hint, now is it?” She turns her head to look at him. She finds it hard to keep her composure while looking into his red eyes, so she turns back not long after. “I’d prefer if he stopped.” She adds.
“You and me both.” Says the bat, the positivity in his voice catching Solomon by surprise. “A word of advice: tell him you have a partner. If that doesn’t shut him up, nothing will.”
Now Solomon can’t hide her surprise and wonders why she didn’t just try that. “Would that even have stopped him?”
“Why are you telling me this?” She raises an eyebrow.
“Because if he tells me about the “beauty of your eyes'' one more god damn time, I just might go insane.” He states, making air quotes with his fingers.
Solomon feels much less guilty about sending Fulmine down the river all of a sudden.
“Right.” She says, feeling like she should have expected him to talk about that in her absence. “Didn’t think I’d say this, but sorry to hear that.” She stands up, feeling like she’d much rather be anywhere else than here. “And if you must know… I was just talking to the lioness I arrived with. I only learned she’s alive recently.”
Haemon naturally doesn’t appear to believe her, but shrugs his shoulders as a response anyway.
“Get out of my sight already.” He says with a sigh.
Solomon wastes no time doing that exactly. She wants to get out as soon as possible. “Tomorrow. With Lumi’s help, I’ll finally be free. Free of the Lightborn, free of The System.” It may be a little early, but she’s already thinking about what she’ll do. Or rather, what she won’t, for she certainly won’t go anywhere near a public space for some time. She may take a page out of Thalia’s book and take on a new persona entirely. Anything to be free.
Solomon has one more meal before the sun eventually goes down. She takes an early opportunity to clean herself, hoping that it wouldn’t appear as suspicious to other people, searching for a good spot to disappear into in the meantime. She plans her actions, discreetly keeping in contact with Lumi. She already made a new knife.
Close to the end of the day, she heads to the library to consult Genesis hopefully for the last time in the castle. Upon settling at her usual place, Solomon feels her hands tingle.
“You are awfully quick to trust sometimes.” The cat feels quite irritated at his opinion.
“What better option do we have?” She looks around carefully, making sure there is no one within earshot. “We can’t just fight our way through. There are too many of them! If they think we’re dead, however… They won’t even look for us.” She can’t help feeling like she is being watched ever since Lumi told her that she has these invisible ice pockets set up all around the castle. She figures the bat must have put great effort into hiding them, as she’s only bumped into a couple of them. She can’t even imagine how much polishing the ice needed to make it appear so invisible.
There is no response from Genesis for a good minute.
“But if things get bad…” She begins to say, pensive. “I can count on you, right?”
“Of course. You are my best host so far. I cannot let you die.” She finds this message of his incredibly creepy. “Your best host, huh…”
“Thank you. I may not be able to use these powers correctly… But you can.” She feels encouraged by his notion, creepy message or not.
She puts away the notebook and as she is leaving the library, she has a revelation. “I need to tell them about the change of plans.”
She makes her way to the top of a castle tower once again. The sun has already set. Finding a comfortable enough spot on the roof, she takes out her phone to write a message to the others. She assures them that she will be leaving this place soon enough, which she can’t help feeling excited about.
After the message is written, she puts her phone away and takes a moment to look around and just admire the view. The vast forest stretches across the horizon, no other building can be seen, even from this high up. She can still hear the crickets chirping and various other sounds of the forest all around her. “How can such a beautiful place house people like him…” She glances down to the river and sees no one. Not the fishermen, not Fulmine. Unlike last time, the weather is nice and cool, there is a gentle breeze in the air. She unbuttons her robe to feel the wind on her fur, taking in a sensation she missed so much. All alone with Genesis on the roof of the tower, for the first time in what feels like years, she feels at peace.
She lies down on the roof and allows herself some time to relax and look up at the stars. Soon, her ordeal will be over. She will be home.
After an irresponsibly too long while, she decides that it’s time to head to sleep. She takes one more look at the forest… And is suddenly glad that she did, or rather, horrified. Down in the woods, staying in the darkness, she spots several people. One in particular makes her blood run cold: Ludwig.