"Dio! What did they do to you?"

Hakim's expression told me I looked like shit. I sure felt like it, and the Elder never laid a finger on me. She was a scary woman, other than being the first saint since the Collapse, she was influential and smart. The guards threw me into the cell, slamming the door before leaving.

"She loves her weird torture." I breathed the words. Once the Church Woman dispelled my disguise, she wasted no time and began at the entrance of the Main Temple. She sent the bard into the dungeon below. "You remember the Nightmares?"

My companion rushed over to check my wounds, but I didn't have any. He furrowed his thick eyebrows, the dark skin even darker in this windowless room. But he created some light, only the size of a dancing little firebug since they took his lute too.

"She scared you into talking?" He asked, looking worried.

"No, not exactly." I shook my head, sitting up. Was he still playing my Dad, or was he scared about what fate awaited him? "The Nightmares would show you a realistic vision of your fears but can't cause physical pain. This bitch did the exact opposite."

"What do you mean? It sounds like regular torture then." He took it as an offense, but I pushed his hands away. I wanted to shake off this feeling, the Elder crawling under my skin, and my senses were all messed up. What did she do exactly?

"No um, it's hard to make sense of it." I pondered, my head feeling empty. It happened only moments ago, and I couldn't remember a thing. "She asked no questions but showed me some torturing devices. And then, without touching me, she caused all the pain they could cause."

"And she never left the entrance of the Main Temple?" He asked, rubbing his jaw. "So she uses visions of pain, instead of fear. That is like what the Nightmares did, but I thought Cranta branded it a taboo. And the head of the church would use them herself?"

"If what Omerta said is true, she's also a necromancer. I doubt she cared much about what's banned and what's not," I noted, getting dizzy. "I don't know how she did it, but now I can't even remember what happened. This is bad, I'm going to throw up..."

"My guess is she can read minds." Hakim pointed out, disregarding my previous announcement. I shuddered, fighting back the urge. "You can say she's evil but why would she waste her time on such an elaborate torture method? Especially if she doesn't ask questions."

"Ugh, you tell me, Bard." I scoffed, leaning against the cold wall. The session ended and my memories about it faded fast, yet I felt worse with every passing moment. "Does it explain why I'm about to lose my mind?"

"It could be a simple side-effect, but if she caused you pain through visions... It could be that she wanted you to think about your unfinished business. Stuff that's important to you so she could read it." He said, grabbing my shoulders, but his touch burned my skin. I still had the armor on, they didn't bother to remove it, but my trusty dagger was gone.

"I heard this method was widespread in the darker days of Cranta. But the Emperor banned it two centuries ago," Hakim explained.

"Damn it, so that's what she played at?" I realized, trying to recall what I thought about during her torture. Again, I couldn't remember, which could be part of her plan. She made me forget everything, so I don't know what I gave away. "What an ingenious method."

That's when I could no longer hold it back, and vomited into a dark corner. This improved my mood a little, but now the smell got worse. Or I became more aware of it now, that my senses returned.

"You feel better now?" Hakim asked, navigating his tiny light source so it wouldn't irritate my eyes. He treated me like I had a hangover, but that's how I felt too. "I bet you worried yourself sick about your comrades and the mission, so she knows everything now."

"I'm not feeling any better from this." I shook my head before the urge came again. This time it came right up, my stomach's contents filling the dip in the corner until it overflowed. "Uh, some water would be nice."

The bard shook his head, opening his arms. Yes, the cell was empty, apart from us. Thick iron bars surrounded us from three sides and a rough stone wall from the fourth. They threw uneven slabs together to form the base. The only deliberate feature was this little ditch filled with vomit.

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"Of course, there isn't any." I nodded, throwing up once more. "Ugh, this should be the last one. But now I don't remember anything but the pain from the entire torture session. Gods damn her."

"You don't recall anything, hmm?" He pondered, keeping a safe distance from me now. "Yes, that sounds like she learned what she wanted, and attempted to erase your memories of it."

"How do you know?" I asked. Hakim's random pieces of knowledge always impressed me. But these snippets had to come from somewhere. He talked a lot when he was in a good mood or wanted something, but I realized how little I knew about his past. "Mind sharing your wisdom?"

"There was a woman from the southeast in the Saipole capital. Her name was Sariah." He said with a mysterious and painful smile on his face.

"Oh no, another Saipole girl you seduced?" I raised an eyebrow, wiping my mouth with the tunic's sleeve. I felt better, at least as much as I could in this situation. We needed a way out of here and soon. "I'm surprised neither of them ended up killing you."

"No, no, I never seduced her." The bard shook his head, acting offended. "She was a lot older than me, and not one of the Sea People either, she only worked for them, but she came from Shibalan."

"Who would have thought that age matters to you." I hid my discomfort behind shallow insults but let him continue his story. I had to report everything to the Demon Lord, or we risked our lives for nothing, but I had no idea how. So listening to his story was my best option so far.

"This woman often pretended to be one of the prisoners, and act kind to them." He wasn't offended enough to shut up. "The guards would move her to the cells next to the new prisoners. She waited until they let their guard down, and slipped up for her."

He was careful, so his long-winded sentences wouldn't reveal his main point too soon. But I listened in silence, rubbing my throat that ached from throwing up. At least the guards didn't chain us up, but there was no need when the Elder could control our brain if she so wished.

"That sounds pretty standard," I noted, my thoughts elsewhere. I wanted to run away when the Church Woman caught us, but my legs wouldn't move. I'm not the type who freezes, but the hero who runs away.

"No, I don't mean to slip up and talk. She would warn them not to say anything because the guards could hear it. She'd let their mind wander, and then read it." The bard clarified. I used telepathy with magicians, answering their messages, but they couldn't read minds.

"So is this technique also banned by the Crantans?" I asked, strolling across the cell to be as far from the pool of vomit as possible. The smell wasn't better there, nobody cleaned here.

"No, it used to be common with wizards. But as the education system worsened since the Collapse, new magicians don't seem to learn it." He shrugged before continuing his story. "She introduced herself and warned the prisoners about the guards."

"But she read their minds as they thought about what to avoid while talking. It does sound smart, I have to give her that. But did it also include torture?" I looked around in our new home, an empty cell with no food.

"No, she didn't use any," Hakim said. "She told me when I realized her intentions. Most people wouldn't suspect anything unless she revealed it herself. And I guess torture would have been quite revealing."

"Fair point." I nodded, feeling better. "This woman had no issues like that. I even thought she only tortured me for the fun of it, and that's why she never asked me questions. But now I can't figure out what I thought?"

"Let's hope you were selfish, thinking about yourself." He grinned, but it didn't seem genuine. "But then it would mean I'm next, so it could be better if you talked instead. Or I mean, let your thoughts betray you."

"The guards would take you on their way out. Damn, why didn't you tell me about this before?" I fumed, trying to make myself comfortable. "I doubt she'd hesitate to execute us. How am I going to warn Fang?"

The smell didn't help, neither did my negative thoughts. The only window was on the corridor up high, moonlight reaching halfway through the cell. But we wouldn't see each other without the bard's tiny light.

"I already did." He claimed, his usual grin appearing for a moment. He was always satisfied with himself. "I painted a warning into the night sky that shouldn't be visible to humans, but his sharp senses could pick it up."

"Oh, that's great. And did you hear anything from him yet?" I asked, and my heart almost stopped in the next moment. The beastman's voice was impossible to miss. I couldn't imagine how he made it through the city's gates. The moon revealed his face in that tiny window.

"What do you want me to say, Dio? Congrats on getting captured, Major." He didn't grin like last time in the forest. "I got your message and sent a crow, but how am I supposed to bust you out of here? This place swarms with gold-plated soldiers."

"Fang!" I couldn't hold back a yell, for some reason, I felt relieved already. His head disappeared from the window, but I could still hear his voice. "Thank the gods. Both you and Hakim deserve a promotion."

"I could ambush them when they move you, but I didn't bring the Nightmares." He already worked on a plan. "I'd have to fight them alone, then get away with you."

"They have no reason to move us." Hakim shook his head. "They know what they wanted to know. You'd have to break in somehow, and as long as the Elder doesn't get involved, I can help sneaking our way out. But she saw through Dio's mask in an instant. You can't fool a saint."

"Let's face it, we won't go anywhere. But as long as the Demon Lord gets my message, our mission was a success," I claimed with a long sigh.

"Bullshit, I'm not leaving you here." Fang protested, his face showing up in the window again. "I'll find a way soon, hold tight until then."