The girl trembled as screams echoed through the tunnel, muffled by the lengths they had to travel to reach the room. Elyza crouched to her knees, struggling as the cat made of ink tried furiously to escape her arms, wanting to make its way to the girl, whose gaze was still glued to the stone floor. Biting into her shirt made no difference, only resulting in an annoyed meow by the feline when she instead focused on approaching the corner without startling the youngster.
“Hello,” She spoke, forcing her ears to fall so they wouldn’t stick out like the antennas of a bug, trying to curve her mouth into a slight smile. Using the voice she reserved only for her bees, she extended a shoulder to the girl with her words, “Could you tell me your name?”
As she offered her hand to the girl, she recoiled from it, shoving her body into the jagged walls, still not taking her eyes off of the rock beneath her. Elyza couldn’t imagine what had been done to her, but as the girl crawled backwards, her hair shifted and out popped two ears, almost the same as the cat she held in her arm, except the child’s were coloured a sandy brown like her hair. There was a pause as she wondered whether her partner had noticed the connection or it was plain dumb luck, before a bang shook the earth around them, no doubt Alex’s doing.
The booming sound lingered, its aftershocks still bouncing off the rocks, causing the girl to quiver as more tears streamed down her face. She could not see any other way to connect with the child, at least not while her mind had severed itself from reality. Realising so, Elyza gently placed the cat down to the floor, its legs of darkness stretching to welcome the ground, purring as a thanks to her restrainer. The sound strummed her heart, as comforting as her mother’s voice, and it reached the girl as well.
Her eyes were no longer fixed to the rocks, shut tightly instead, her breathing rapidly increasing with shallower and shallower breaths. Elyza could sense the ongoing turmoil within her, whether to return to existence and be hurt once again, or, as the girl turned her head into the wall, refrain and hope to survive within her mind forever.
Its paws made no noise, instead leaving wisps of ink that dissipated as they rose into the air, the black cat hurriedly striding towards the child. Meowing for attention, it received none, so it nudged the girl’s arm with its head, rubbing her hand with her ears. The child’s hand quivered, opening a bit as it felt the strands of fur, before immediately clenching into a fist to stop herself. The cat let out a trill of annoyance, pawing at the girl to pay it her undying attention, and when refused, it nibbled on her finger to elicit a response.
Failing to get one, the feline burrowed under the girl, crawling behind her back, purring as it rubbed against her skin. It climbed up the wall as it nuzzled the girl’s face, shoving its eyes in front of hers, pawing at her cheek as the cat licked the dried tears off of it. The girl finally reacted, her hands rising slowly, wrapping around the cat's shadowy coat, but instead of pushing it away, she buried her face into its fur.
Her quiet and muffled sobs were hidden by the cat’s deep purrs of approval, who continued cleaning her with its tongue. There was a silence as the girl shifted her body to curl up around the animal; Elyza would’ve been worried about suffocation if she didn’t know the true nature of the cat. She let the girl cry, to rid herself of whatever was plaguing her mind, to let it settle back on reality, to be healed enough to listen and possibly help.
“Hello,” Elyza began again, sitting with crossed legs as her mind raced to think of a name for the fluffy ball of ink that the girl was wrapping around her head. “I know this may be a lot to ask of you, but me and… Squid,” She stopped a sigh at her own creativity from escaping her lips as she continued, “We need to find the rest, the other prisoners, and we will be able to help them faster if we had someone to guide us through the tunnels.”
Studying the girl, Elyza noticed her shoulders were tense, but her eyes had finally opened, the empty look in her yellow eyes slowly being replaced with resoluteness with a healthy dose of both doubt and suspicion. Yet, now holding the cat like a baby, using a hand to support its butt, she struggled to her feet, and Elyza did not attempt to help her. Standing once again, Elyza nodded towards the girl as she gave her a way towards the exit. The child hesitated, staring deeply into the fur of the feline, letting herself get lost in the tapestry of night moulded from shadows.
The hesitation allowed Elyza to study her for a moment, and her emerald eyes devoured every detail it could. The girl’s head only reached just beneath her chest, every part of her exposed skin riddled with burn, bruises, and cuts, her back slouched forwards as her calloused and bloody hands offered her back Squid.
Smiling, she stroked the cat's chin, causing it to purr before she spoke, “You should hang onto her, if she’s anything like her owner, she’ll drag us into trouble and then act superior when she gets us out of it. It's best if you keep her with you at all possible moments.”
She flicked her hand into the air, her halberd spinning out from her fingers, wind swirling around it before she caught it, slamming its butt into the ground. As the sound echoed through the tunnels, so did the air under her will, flowing through the corridors to scout ahead for unwelcome company. However, Elyza was more focused on the happiness that had flooded the girl’s eyes for a second as she held the cat close to her, before it was sealed away again.
“Would you like me to take the lead for a while?” Elyza asked, getting a nod from the child, “Left or Right?” The girl answered by pointing with the cat’s paw the opposite direction from where she had arrived, further down the corridor lined with doors.
Fortunately, checking each room they came across, she was only met with dark, dingy, and empty cells, the only signs of life being the scurrying of rats as they ran across her feet. But with each step they took, the girl’s movements became more sluggish, flinching at the sound of the wind, the crack of the lanterns’ flame. Her breathing had become ragged, grunts of pain as she moved her legs, she was exerting herself past what her body could deal with. Elyza wanted to help her, but whether the girl would drink something handed to her, or even let her come close, was a question she already knew the answer to.
The rattle of armour wormed its way into her ears, hidden beneath her own breaths, and her instinct yanked her from her thoughts. Her hand shot sideways, halting their stride immediately. She gestured towards the girl to stay close to the ground, her voice unwavering as she instructed, “Keep behind. I will ensure none can reach you, but if I am otherwise occupied, do not hesitate to use Squid as a weapon, she will probably be able to take care of any aggravator.”
Delving into her pouch, her fingers delved between the different layers, diving to the very bottom, her mind subconsciously naming each variety of seed they encountered. She ignored all of them, her hand wading down to the sag in the leather, down to a sticky patch she had woven into the cloth. Her skin encountered the squished ovoids glued to the cloth, and she retrieved all of them.
With a thought, her halberd shrunk back under her gauntlets, wind replacing the weapon, whirling around her hand as the other readied the seeds. Her soles made no noise, but the feet of the girl smacked against the rocky floor, dirt crackling under them, the sound hushing the child’s panicked breathing with each inch the two crept forward.
Elyza could hear the spattering of fire approaching further, harsher than the low murmur of the lanterns that flanked her, whose flames were soon extinguished with a wave of her hand. Nearing the end of the corridor, as it started to curve, warm light bounced off the wall opposite her eyes, the roar of torches growing louder. She stopped, crouching to let her hand trace the ground, and the air behind her followed the command. The gale crept along the rocks, rushing past her legs, carrying with it the seeds she released in its paths.
They rattled as they hit the rocks, descending deeper forward without cracking, kept stable by the little mana she had infused in them. Rising to her feet, Elyza glanced backwards to check upon the girl, who was a few metres back, flattened against the wall, hugging Squid as hard as she could. She had to wait as the light of the torch became clearer, the clanging of iron greaves announcing the arrival of the group of slavers, as their chatter became clearer to her.
“…can’t be just one, can it?” A voice spoke, louder with each second, another replying, “We’ll smoke however many bastards there are, probably get a bonus for each rat we catc–”
The moment the man stepped out from the protection that the curve of the rock provided him, Elyza shot forward, knife in hand, focusing a kick through his chest. He was almost as quick, his sword flashing as it reflected the flames of the torch, held in one hand while the other aimed the blade at her neck.
The steel found its path stopped by wood as the halberd materialised in her hand, shooting up to the ceiling, the blade embedding itself into the rock above. Its shaft clanged against the sword, the fibres of the ironwood denting the edge, as her other hand plunged the knife into the man’s throat. Blood shot out of the wound, as quickly as her halberd shrunk back around her finger, freeing her hand immediately. The man lost grip on his sword, which clattered to the floor, his hand grabbing his neck to slow the bleeding, causing blood to cascade down. Grabbing his other hand, she twisted the palm till the torch fell to meet his weapon, allowing her to glance further down the corridor to analyse the situation. Her eyes landed upon a small battalion frozen on their feet at the other end, the few eyes she could see, those not hidden beneath the shade of helmets, still had not comprehended what had happened.
Turning on her heels, she dragged the man behind her, gathering speed as she swung it round, catapulting the body towards the rest of the slavers. As it flew through the air, Elyza flicked up the fallen sword with her feet, grabbing the blade as it bounded upwards, air swirling around her. The wind whipped down her arm, swirling around the sword as she swung it forward, releasing a blade of concentrated pressure that tore through the airborne body. Guts spilled down to the rocks as the now split man fell upon his once brethren, and a few moments later the wind blade sheared through the armour of the vanguard behind him.
Unfortunately, the spell had lost enough magic to only slice through their armour, its power insufficient to draw blood. But that was not the case for long, more blades following the first, purposely weaker this time, managing her flow of mana in order to only expose as much skin as she could. Cracks appeared in the steel of the sword as it struggled to funnel her magic properly. She could feel the weakness in the metal blade, and the slavers had noticed as well, advancing even through the barrage of magic, although it was just a few metres. The blade struck one, embedding itself into the lone warrior’s eye, delving into the skull till the steel broke through the other end, the squelch echoing through the tunnel. Yet, the rest still stepped forward, even as their brethren collapsed dead.
Elyza could feel the seeds scattered in front of her, brimming with her mana, ready to unravel, but she delayed their release till the time was perfect. The sight of her calmly pouching her knife as she stood unmoving, staring daggers into their skin as her eyes scanned each and every one of them, slowed the slavers’ to a crawl. They were expecting a trap.
“Stay clear of their leaves, cover your nose when you walk through, I will attempt to keep them contained,” She whispered back to the girl, who was peering round the corner with her bright yellow eyes. Hiding one hand behind her back, mists of mana concentrated into lines that reflected hues of purple and green, a glyph evolving into a circle. The different layers of the spell rotated conversely as it prepared itself to be unleashed.
“Gaiste agus a mharú,” Her voice echoed off the walls, and the seeds followed her command, bursting from their shells with a spectacular flurry. Green vines shoving whatever they encountered upwards, wrapping around most of the slavers, crushing them before they were slammed into the ceiling, causing the entire tunnel to rumble under the assault. The vines turned brown, hardening as more emerged from them, splitting into nubs that grew leaves that brandished thousands of needles on their surface. The viridescent hearts smothered whatever semblance of flesh they could find, and instantly the corridor was filled with screams.
The shrieks lasted for just a moment, as more leaves grew to cover the slavers’ faces, forming a mask over their mouths to muffle the screams. Sewing their mouths shut, the thin syringes covering the green fabric of the leaflets delivered the toxin that that had already fermented within. The leaves fluttered as the plant’s victims tried to scream them away, only causing them to grip tighter as their bodies wriggled fruitlessly against its solid vines, not even groaning under the weight. Little of the skin being assaulted could be seen, and even if it could, the Gympie left no trace of its existence. The shaking did release some of the needles into the air, her eyes spotting them gleaming under the sputtering flames of the fallen torches.
As they floated down, still carrying remnants of their poison within them, the needles posed no danger for her, but the girl was weak already. So, she extended her mind to the surrounding air, commanding it to flow forward calmly, wanting to disturb the hovering shrapnel as little as possible, pushing them to the flanking walls. They floated back from whence they came, embedding themselves into those hanging from the vine, who still fought against the pain. Their bodies trembled, their muscles contorted, the crack of bones echoing along with their muffled crying as they struggled to escape. A rogue stinger floated in front of Elyza, and as she held out her palms to receive it, it wasted no chance to sting her.
Immediately, her skin burned, as if she had dipped it in acid. Her nerves felt exposed, lightning flowing through her muscles, trying to bend them in ways not designed to, burning whatever was remotely near to the affected area. But it was a sensation she was well acquainted with, and it failed to run up her hand, its ferocity lasting for only a moment before it became a dull throb, giving her body an excuse to energise her further.
Letting go of the command over the air, her flow of mana halted as well, stopping the sustenance that fuelled her druidcraft. The Gympie’s vines dried, yet its leaves still stuck onto the slavers’ skin, their thorns latching into any pores that allowed it, still pumping into their system the remnants of the toxin. The thrashing reduced to unmotivated trembling, their brains finally succumbing to the relentless agony. There were two that had escaped the same fate, standing silently in the flickering light of the dying torches. She gave them a chance, a moment of hesitation on her part, a chance to save themselves from the Norn’s ire.
As soon as they unsheathed their weapons, they squandered their chance. Her halberd appeared in her hand as Elyza raised it above her head, and she did not need the aid of wind to catapult the spearhead through the tunnel. It hurtled through the air, unfortunately missing its mark as one ducked under the pole, but a rogue gust of wind flicked the halberd towards the other. The head of the spear tore through the bones of the man, crackling under the sudden mass of the weapon, pinning his body to the wall, the blood pouring from the cavity.
It gave the first the opportunity to rush forward, her axe rising in one hand and the left engulfed in ice as a glyph ballooned into existence. Elyza’s thoughts rushed towards her weapon, and her hand shot towards trailed them. The halberd followed her command perfectly, pirouetting back into a ring, as a funnel of wind came rushing from behind the remaining slaver, whisking her jade band back towards her. The serpent gave a weak glow as it stabilised, almost seeming alive as the ring spun towards her, before the halberd sprung from it once again. As the staff materialised into solidity, her fingers wrapping around it, the engraved steel hook snapped into existence in between the slaver’s neck, ripping her throat as it carried the momentum of the wind.
The oesophagus snapped immediately, her hand freezing as the rune lost control, the axe clattering to the ground as the hand that dropped it rushed to cover the gaping hole in the neck. She let out her last, and painful, wheeze, as her mouth opened to say something, yet nothing came out, the slaver falling to her knees, clawing at her face, trying to force herself to breathe.
“The path forward has been cleared,” Elyza spoke, her head turning to gaze at the girl, whose eyes were still in apt attention, unfazed by the bodies strewn about. She said nothing as the child emerged from the cover, Squid busy grooming herself, taking a moment to look around, before deciding the girl’s face needed her attention next.
Pulling out her water flask, she clicked her tongue twice, causing the cat to leap from the child’s arms. Squid bounded towards her, meowing as she received the bottle, before promptly returning to the girl. “Drink up,” Elyza advised, gesturing to do the same.
“It seems to be a search party, no doubt for you,” she added, her words honeyed no more after the ordeal she had, and let out a deep sigh after they faded. She had not intended to speak out loud, but it seemed her partner’s habit of frequently speaking to himself had spread. At least the tiny little Alex in the back of her mind was quieter than when the Empress held influence within it, and not as prone to suggesting random acts of violence.
Elyza looked to the girl, who was too busy emptying the lemon water her leather flask held to notice the comment, but still she felt the need to clarify, “I apologise, that may have sounded bad spirited, I tend not be around children much.”
The girl froze in place, swallowing the last of the liquid, Squid wrapped around her neck, warming her up. “Further encounters are unlikely, and my ability to guide us further is rather questionable, could you help?” Elyza asked, her voice warming with each word, as soft as it could get.
The girl’s skin wasn’t as pale anymore, her movements no longer sluggish as she walked towards her, wiping the dried blood off her hands with the leather flask before handing it back. Yet, the girl spoke nothing, simply bowing before squeezing beside her, returning Squid between her hands. Holding the cat closer to her chest than before, the child walked into the darkness without the aid of light, and without any hesitation.
Elyza followed, keeping a wall of wind alive in front of the girl, a barrier to ensure she could protect her from any unforeseen encounters. Fortunately, as the two navigated the labyrinth of corridors with the flanking torches deciding to provide illuminance on their own accord, their journey progressed unhindered. However, the further they delved, the more the girl’s grip strengthened around Squid, her feet struggling to tread the gravely floor beneath, her shoulders sagging under an invisible weight. There was more pain to come for her, yet she did not stop, her breath wavering as she turned corner after corner.
Sniffing the air, her entire body rejected whatever was wafting through it, a shiver running through her spine as Elyza forced herself to take another step. She could almost see the stink, as if she was trudging once again through the sewers of the Capital, if it had somehow managed to grow even more rotten. The stench of iron and rust hid beneath the assault on the senses, an omen worse than the existence of what overpowered it, her mind already preparing itself, and her lungs steeled themselves as it grew even stronger. The girl seemed to be doing the opposite, the rhythm of her steps ascending with each passing movement, and she did not know whether it was from joy or apprehension.
And then they arrived, to a door they had seen dozens of times before, made of steel with hinges of iron that were splattered with orange rust. It stood there, holding the miasma of scents at bay, like the seal of a teleporting gate that had tapped into a long forgotten dimension. Yet, she still reached with her hand to open it when the girl froze, shielding her eyes with the dozing Squid, who was woefully uninterested in the whole accord.
As it creaked forward, its hinges somehow glided smoothly as if absent from rust yet also stuck randomly as if it was made only from the orange dust. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim illuminance that was being cast down by the cracked crystals that ran the length of the hall. Their blue light fought for control over the orange flames of the torches, and it would’ve been preferable if they fell to the shadows as her eyes scanned the area. Through the steel bars stared empty, distant, defiant, and hopeful eyes, ranging every single hue of the rainbow. There was nothing linking them, not age, gender, species, or number of appendages. She spotted a bakeneko lying on the floor with greying and matted orange fur, a huddled family of Luins whose scales had become dried and faded this far from the sea, and the last thing she let herself notice was a kneeling minotaur who’s horns had been sawed off, smashing her head into the wall.
He was right, it is weird how they are named after the most infamous representation of themselves.
Reaching for her pouch, her hands unhooked the bag of seeds to hold it in one hand as the other sifted through its layers. Elyza grabbed a handful of ivy stones, as those that weren’t sleeping reached through the bars to beg for help, the tired ones murmuring in their native tongue, the more aware ones able to mutter a few words in that of the land. Most of them, even in elvish, multiple dialects of arabic, dwarfish, latin, and some languages she never had the chance to hear before, they all pleaded for freedom. But the girl was the priority, and as she stopped and peered expectantly into each single cell, Elyza followed, scattering some seeds at the barred doors, infusing them with mana as they fell.
Every single time, and with every single cell, the girl put her head as far as she could in between the bars. Her yellow eyes searched with Squid riding her head, the feline’s matching pair doing the same, her fur failing to blend in with the child’s dirty blonde hair. She was unsure where the person she was looking for was held, but her enthusiasm remained unaffected as she raced to the next. Each time, however, Elyza could feel the doubt in her head compound, fear in her muscles she was trying to push away and failing. The girl was trying to keep her hopes up, even after seeing the bruised, battered and bloody state of the prisoners, the grey bricks of their cells caked with red and brown. Yet, the smell of vomit and faeces did not dissuade the girl’s spirit, her eyes still keeping a glimmer of hope alive within them.
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The farther into the chamber they walked, the more restless Squid became. She meowed at the girl, pulling her hair, nibbling her ears, even jumping down from her seat to bite the child’s ankles, trying whatever she could to halt her. It was not hard to deduce why, but Elyza knew the girl would not rest till she learned of the truth, so she picked up Squid against the cat’s wishes and let the girl continue, dropping the seeds of her spell behind their steps.
The cat’s breathing became more erratic as they neared the end of the row, hissing at Elyza to let her down, her claws dropping to defend the girl from something, or someone, getting closer to them. She did not budge, her hands containing the cat effortlessly with the protection of her gauntlets, Squid’s claws not even scratching the surface of the metal. And as they approached another cell, the rusted and putrid door no different from those that came before, the feline froze entirely.
Her cries were voiceless, claws retreating back into her shadowy paws, as she reserved herself to watch, just like the one who restrained her. Elyza’s stomach would have dropped as her eyes adjusted to the unnatural dark of the cell, almost as if the shadows were trying to obscure whoever lay within. The darkness sustained itself for a mere moment, before retreating to allow the two to gaze upon the lone prisoner.
A man was propped up against the back of the cell, his back hunched so badly that his own head rested in between his knees. On the wall behind him, hanging limplessly with ship nails battered through their centre were, presumably, the man’s hands. The fingers had streaks of dried blood running down its skin, the ends reddened by some kind of blunt force trauma, and squinting revealed that they lacked any kind of fingernails. She could see that the wrists had been gnawed off by a dull knife, or the teeth of an animal. It also revealed to Elyza the nature of the man, with ears of a cat similar to the girl’s, sliced in half, his hair a darker shade of brown, with a few streaks of grey littered in between. He lay motionless, the sway of his back, the trembling of his muscles as it was exposed to the frigid floor, all the little ticks of life were absent from his body.
He could not breathe, and he had not taken a breath for at least four days. The man was dead, but the girl had not noticed the same, hope clouding her mind from reality. She tried yanking the door ajar, her thin fur covered arms fighting against the weight of the metal, but failed to budge it. Grabbing a hold of the bars, she dropped Squid, who squeezed in between the iron rods, crawling till she was curled up next to the body. Elyza positioned her hands next to the girl’s, and pushed upwards, abusing the half hinges of the door to pop it forwards. Keeping it away from the floor, she allowed the girl space to wriggle between her and the door, resting it against the wall as the child kneeled in front of the man.
“Papa,” the girl spoke, her voice wavering as she patted the man’s ears. Her hand quivered as it held the man’s cheek, pulling his head upwards to touch his forehead with hers, she continued in her own tongue, “I’ve returned, papa, I kept my promise, I survived.”
Her dad’s head slumped to the side, falling out of her grip, his body following it, falling to the one side. The girl crawled closer to the body, whose eyes were staring aimlessly into Elyza’s, its mouth propped open by a tongue drier than leather. “We can finally leave, papa, go to that place you were talking about, what mama wanted us to do, you promised I would get to see the coast,” The longer the girl spoke, the harder it was to understand her, her throat choked by the held back tears.
The dam finally broke, the girl falling into the corpse’s arms, hugging him with all her might, nestling her head into his chest. Her voice was muffled by the ragged clothes of her dad, trying to reason against reality, “Come back, we can leave, I’ll be good from now on. Come back. Please.”
Squid arrived at her side, only to not be noticed by the girl, yet she stayed, licking the tears off the girl as the latter tried to convince her father. “I will never forgive you if you leave me alone again… just come back to me. I want to leave… we can finally leave,” The girl struggled to utter the words through her sobs, hugging the body tighter when Squid tried to push her back.
Elyza walked behind the girl, crouching next to her as she put a hand on her shoulder, which was surprisingly allowed. She did not know what to say, her mind racing to find ways to put the girl’s mind at ease, but as she looked into the man’s lifeless eyes, her gaze was intercepted by Squid’s. The cat’s yellow eyes went from cutting into her soul to becoming almost endless to stare into, her master’s voice speaking through the bottomless pupils, or just the one at the back of her mind.
Squeezing her shoulder twice caused the child’s eyes to open through her tears, and Elyza nodded to the girl, gesturing for the child to leave with a shake of her head. “No,” The girl pleaded, hugging the body tighter, “He can’t be gone, he promised me…” Her voice trembled, gasping for air through her sobs, giving Elyza a chance to think.
“Can’t you help him?!” The girl screamed at her, not an ounce of anger in her voice, only desperation.
“It is time for him, your father will be sent to a better place,” Elyza reassured the girl, pulling her from the body, to a furious fight that quickly gave away to almost no struggle, kissing her father one last time before she was dragged away.
Squid meowed in appreciation, blinking slowly at the girl, who wiped away her tears, swallowing all her sadness as her face became expressionless, staring beyond the body as she stood by Elyza’s side. The cat turned from a pitch black to something made from pure umbra, the same way Alex did whenever he crossed dimensions. Her outline turned from solid to melding with the background, wisps of darkness emanating from what appeared to be the centre mass of the feline. Curling up around the body’s head, Squid purred with the warmth of summer, the sound echoing off the walls of the cell, its low reverberation worming its way into Elyza’s heart.
The shadows of the cell bent towards the sound, curving around the body’s shadow, darkness rising around it as the floor fell away to receive it. Tendrils slowly formed from the umbra, but they acted not from the savagery and precision Alex’s magic did, wrapping respectfully around its limbs, coercing the man to lay straight. Squid meowed as the tentacles finally stopped swathing the body, her eyes turning to the girl to see if she was ready. Elyza did not glance down to the child, not needing to as the cat meowed again, and the body sank into the floor, succumbing into the darkness as it descended through to the other side.
Deafening silence lingered in the air for a moment as Squid stretched herself up, her claws popping out as she started to groom herself. The girl choked back some more tears before she joined the chorus of quiet.
Elyza took in a deep breath, focusing on her magic that lingered in the corridor behind them, she set the spell in motion, letting her mana flow till she had the will to speak. “Can you walk?” She asked the girl.
Wiping the dried tears from her cheek, the girl answered, “No.”
“Would you like me to carry you as we head back?” Elyza suggested, a violet and green circle forged from mana appearing in front of her mouth as her mind finalised the spell.
“Can you help the others first?” The sheer concern in the child’s voice would’ve made any god’s remnant of a heart burst.
She did not know what came over her, but for a moment, Elyza swore the tiny Alex in the back of her mind took over the reins. Her hand raised, her fingers curled into a claw, and she snapped them behind her back. The crack that flew through the corridor commanded every single seed to explode. Vines shot upwards, the sadness that filled her heart fueling them to flatten the steel bars into disks, and then they retreated back into the ground, as quickly as they had sprung.
“Do not worry about guiding me, or the others,” She instructed, crouching to meet the girl’s eyes, adding a question that her curiosity refused to leave alone, “Could you tell me your name?”
“Nadia. Do you know the way back?”
Elyza tried to smile like her partner so often did, remarking, “Our feline friend here always knows where her master is, and I am sure wherever he is, an exit is nearby.”
As she lifted the girl in her arms, she shouted through the corridor, “The ones that can understand me, tell the rest to follow behind, and whoever decides not to trust me, you will wake up to freedom staring at the clear blue sky.”
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“Follow that tunnel and then take the first right, the strong ones need to aid the weak up the ladder,” Elyza instructed the crowd behind her as she stared down the path not taken. She stood at the split after they had encountered the first group of slavers, yet the well worn floor of the other side of the split was hidden beneath a river of viscous red liquid. The smell of burnt flesh and blood stewing in the air threatened to wake the dozing Nadia on her back, so she created a tiny bubble of wind around them both, cleaning the air whenever it could. Squid seemed unaffected by the stench, calmly waiting for the others to leave, staring down the tunnel they had to soon walk through.
There was a torch at the other end of the passage that gave her enough light to witness what had occurred. She could see the crevices that had been forced into the rocks, cracks mimicking the trail of lighting, and scars that had been melted into the surface beside them. She could also see remnants of bodies hanging from the walls, some whose flesh had been fused into the stone, others simply cut in pieces by their own shadows. Yet, the cat sauntered straight forward, her paws not touching the blood as darkness rose to form tiny stones to save her from wet fur.
As the sole of her boot sank into the crimson puddle, the darkness of the tunnel flared out, the solid rock turning into a black sea as Elyza continued. It was restless, tentacles of umbra trying to force their way through. They were frustrated at their containment, remnants of her partner’s domain, always dormant in his magic, waiting for their chance, but they had never been this unsettled and outward. Alex was angry, she was sure of it, but his theatrics had not stopped. Deeper into the tunnel, she stepped onto a perfectly intact skull, charred to an ashy black, before it was crushed to a fine dust under her weight. She found more, arms separated with their nerves still clinging onto it, a torso or two, more burned appendages, and two eyes hanging from one side of another split, the same path that Squid decided her creator was.
The further she travelled, the bloodier it got, but her mind was steeled against the gore, and she needed to find Alex regardless of the state of his mind. Suddenly, Squid froze and hissed, moments before a scream blasted through the passageway, followed by some familiar cackling laughter. The sound would have woken up a passed out dwarf, so there was no doubt in her mind as Elyza instructed the girl, “Keep your eyes shut till I tell you otherwise, and hang on tight, but try to not choke me.”
She felt Nadia’s grip around her throat tighten, but she did not know if her eyes were shielded from her partner’s handiwork, and she had no time to check. “Go,” She commanded the cat, and Squid was happy to follow, her back arching as she dashed forwards.
Elyza took in a breath to focus herself, before she followed suit. She leapt forward, the soles of her boots hammering the floor as she cut through the air, one hand helping her navigate the corners without slowing down, the other grabbing the girl’s arm to ensure she didn’t fall. The cat seemed to have a boundless amount of energy, weaving through the bloody tunnels. On the other hand, she was already heaving, the extra weight on her shoulders straining her already tired muscles, yet something in the back of her mind slowed her down before Squid did.
They came across a doorway, but the doors were further into the room, bent in half and embedded into the floor, the hinges still attached to them. A crypt would be a better designation for the chamber, the walls painted a mix of red and black, the smell of blood and flesh, both their fresh and burnt variants, were strangely cut by the aroma of ozone hanging in the air. Bodies had been piled into mass graves, many missing appendages, and some had been wrapped around the pillars that bolstered the roof of the cavern. Standing in the middle of the carnage was her partner, leaning forward upon his claymore, half of the blade sheathed into his shadow, the exposed half glowing a faint orange. He was not alone,a man hanging from his neck, kept aloft by inky tentacles that had grown from the surrounding darkness.
“– kill me…” The hanging man muttered out, his face bloody and an eye missing, the other staring into Alex’s hood, the working bloodshot orb darting in order to meet her partner’s gaze. “… and say goodbye to your menial attempts at saving any of those animals. Their marks will burn them from the inside if they dare leav–”
“Shut it, you knobhead,” Alex’s voice echoed within the chamber as his back straightened to stretch, pulling out his claymore in the process. As he placed the flat of the blade on the man’s cheek, the skin boiled immediately, curdling as the steel seared its image onto it, and a scream followed.
“I asked you who’s bankrolling this operation of yours, and look at me,” Her partner remarked, using his sword to turn the man’s face towards him, scorching his other cheek as Alex continued speaking, “And do you really think I’m not familiar with slave charms by now, you aren’t even a fly on the shit stains I’ve cleaned up in this world. Unfortunately for you, but fortunately for me, slavers tend to be bad at covering their trail, meaning I don’t need you anymore, and I have guests to entertain.”
The tentacles ripped the man’s neck in half, part of his windpipe was still attached to his head as it fell to the floor, a wet thump echoing through the tunnel just as the shadowy tendrils retreated back into the floor. Before he even turned, Squid bounded towards her creator, leaping onto his cloak, swinging around with the fabric before landing in his arms. “I thought you were against kidnapping, Ears? Why is the girl here?”
Sighing first, Elyza kicked a pebble towards him before speaking, “This appears to be a bit… overkill, even by our standards.”
“At least it gave me a chance to blow off some steam, my mind has never been clearer… and my face never bloodier,” Her partner remarked, wiping the bloody stains that ordained his jaw with the collar of his shirt.
She wanted to know if he was alright, taking a step towards him, but Nadia asked her own question, “Is Squid yours?”
She knew Alex flipped his hood back just to make sure she could see his brow raise, grinning as he replied, “Ah, Squid… Of course she is, don’t you see the similarities?” Placing the cat onto his head, her fur melding in with his hair, the cat meowed as he remarked, “She seems tired after the ordeals of the day, do you mind if I send her back home?”
Nadia must’ve nodded, Squid blinking slowly at the girl before jumping into her master’s shadow, disappearing completely into the darkness. “Nadia, is it?” Alex inquired, not waiting for an answer as he asked another question, gesturing around to the gory mess as he spoke, “You know where these guys hide their secrets?”
She felt Nadia shake her head, causing him to smile as he added, “Well, I didn’t just happen to meet the majority of their forces here, did I? Seems to me something important is residing behind door number one.” He spun on his heels to point at the innocent looking door hidden in the shadows of the chamber, his cloak fluttering, and his claymore melting into umbra.
“Joining me?” He spoke, looking behind at his partner, his grin growing wider.
“Is it safe for her?” Elyza asked in return, nearing her partner as he started walking towards the door. He hesitated, his steps staggering a bit as a wave of warmth flowed over her, mist from his rising hand forming a zero to answer her question. The illusion hovering o.
No words were exchanged as he knocked on the wooden door at the very back of the hall. Getting no answer, he reached for the handle and turned it, a click echoing through the room. “This doesn't happen a lot,” Alex threw out into the air, pushing the door open with ease.
Elyza was equally perplexed, her mind coming up with the most rational explanation it could conjure up, “Seems you were enough of a problem to call upon all the resources they had. I do not know whether that is horrifying or impressive.”
“I do specialise in both kinds of acts, so it’s dealer’s choice as far as I’m concerned,” he remarked, lighting his hand on fire to add some more light in addition to the sole, dull chandelier that hung in the centre of the room.
Her eyes scanned the room for any areas where one could hide. A war table sat beneath the glowing gems, no figurines upon it, papers, books, some rusted weapons, and a knocked over crate spilling out coins adorned it. The wood was rotten, parts of it brown from dried blood, parts of it hastily covered with red paint, and some planks having holes gnawed through them by termites.
Looking around the room, it was filled with even more crates, towers of them, and upon them were chests, some open and some locked shut. However, as her eyes moved over the crates, she noticed some of the wooden surfaces of the boxes reflecting the light of her partner’s flame in a way that neither replicated rough nor varnished planks. What was stranger was that all of them dissipated the light the exact same way, even though the crates were all made from different kinds of wood.
“Nadia… Could Alex carry you for a moment?” Elyza asked, her mind racing as she came up with different reasons why the crates seemed familiar, different but forced to look the same. The most probable, and worrying theory it spat out for her, needed her to check the crate on the table.
Silence followed the words, Alex’s expression towards her shifting from confusion, acceptance, and curiosity in a blink of her eye, and the girl’s grip around her neck tightened. But her arms unwrapped themselves from around her, allowing Elyza to shift Nadia from her hands to Alex’s. He accepted the girl on his shoulder, supporting the girl with the hand not engulfed in fiery red, helping her adjust herself onto him. The other hand kept his flames alive as he stepped aside with a wave, beckoning her to do whatever she wanted to.
Walking around the table, Alex in tow, she reached the turned crate upon its surface, spinning the box full of coins towards her so that the silver coins spilled onto the floor. Before she turned it the right way up, Elyza felt the edges of the container, the skin on the tips of her finger coming across a familiar triangular pattern running along them. Her stomach fell in a mix of annoyance, rage, and surprise as she flipped the crate upright, the panel now facing her revealing what she had guessed. Painted in a bright vibrant orange was the pattern’s base, a triangle within another, the first’s edge merging into the second’s, or as she better knew it as, “The Cyllenius’ trade.”
She looked back at her partner, expecting a comment that tried to be funny, only to see his face in absolute distraught. It almost appeared to take his entire soul to reply, “Do you know how much more work this means? Once is a coincidence, a misplacement of assets, twice within a week means that someone’s asleep at the wheel, and unfortunately, you’re working with the one who needs to find out why.”
“You were expecting these jobs to be easier, were you not?” Elyza responded with a slight smile.
“If I say no, I would think Loki herself would come kick me in the shins for a lie that egregious,” He remarked with a grin back on his face. “All of this…” He gestured around the room, “requires much more manpower than the two of us. So, how about you find out the secret way out of here, and I cook some grub for the people waiting above.”
Sighing, she closed her eyes to listen to the faint breeze of the room, her body attuning to the air around her, aware of every single current that ebbed and flowed through. It was easy to locate the odd one out, there were three doors in the room, and air did not seem to use them as it left the room. She felt the air flowing towards a singular direction, some metres behind her and into the ceiling, and as her head turned towards the spot, her eyes picked up the gaps between the planks above.
Her halberd jumped into her hand with a flick of her wrist, and with a quick tap with the point of the blade, the trapdoor fell. Down came a ladder, sending a clang echoing into the room as the metal hit the floor. She looked to where it led, only to meet pure and all consuming darkness, only the refraction of the light of the room coming off of the iron steps showed her that it didn’t lead into the abyss.
“You should go first,”Alex suggested, his head slowly coming near hers as he stared with her into the hole dug to the surface, presumably. “I have a child to take care of,” He said smirking, Nadia joining the two upturned heads, looking towards where the ladder led, “How long do you think it’ll take us?”
“Around three minutes, maybe more for you since you would have to tread more carefully,” Elyza replied, climbing the first step of the ladder, looking down at him for confirmation of the plan.
He gave her a smile, whispering something into Nadia’s ears. The girl, with some help from Alex, shifted to his back. Hands made of ink emerged from within his cloak, snaking beneath his arms to wrap around both the black fabric and Nadia, clamping her onto him. As the shadows that made the hands stabilised, he remarked, “Let’s do this, boss.”
The climb was quick, nothing about the ladder or the path drawing her attention, the space filled with mind numbing quiet, the flow of air so stale that she barely felt it. The stillness allowed her to just put one foot and one hand after the other. It also forced her to think of what lay above, her mind coming up with scenarios ranging from just another entrance disguised as an old shack, to popping their heads out into a den of raging partying demons, the latter awakening not the most pleasant memory in her mind.
Her partner remained unusually chatter-less, replacing his voice with a whistled tune that completely did away with the overwhelming silence. The melody stirred something within her, memories flowing through her mind in an attempt to locate it. It was so simplistic that every piece of music she could remember resembled it in one way or another. Scaling the iron steps came to an end, her hand slamming into the top of the tunnel, hitting what felt like a grate, her fingers probing through the holes only to be stopped by another solid.
“The exit is blocked,” Elyza informed, her hand retreating to her side to call upon the wind.
Alex did not answer, but her ears perked up as she felt the air beneath her whip, shadows from around her partner shooting inwards to anchor him and the girl to their place. Her focus dropped to the room below, her mind focusing on the air within it, calling upon the zephyr to rise under her command. A soft breeze came first, which was forced back into the depths to meet the climbing torrent of whirling wind. Her ears popped as the pressure foretold the flood of wind that came, forcing her to tense every single muscle in her body lest she be swayed by its power. The groan of metal as it resisted the push was short-lived, the grate failing to hold the wind at bay, and along with it, sent whatever was blocking the way flying into the air.
She was allowed a glance at what was sent airborne, and as it tumbled away from her view, she saw a flurry of white and brown, which quickly dropped to the ground. A wooden crunch followed, signalling the end of the pew. Poking her head out from the hole, she could have paid attention to the vast stretching ceiling, the shimmering stark marble columns that rose to meet it, or the ethereal light that streamed in through the stained glass. But her attention was drawn to the massive statue etched from black obsidian, its likeness matching the myths of old and the recollections of the few allowed to be graced by its subject’s greatness.
“Alex,” Elyza began, staring at the pristine statue of Juno, the Queen of Olympus, “It seems to me that, unfortunately, things have become much more complicated.”