So what happens after death? I thought about that question long and hard many times, refusing to blindly follow the church’s teachings. While I won’t go as far as to deny the existence of the Plane of Light and the Underworld, I still wanted to believe that there was more to it.
The Church explained that the souls of those who passed away end up judged by Lucius, the King of Souls and the God of Death. However, his judgment is based on the rules set by the twelve deities. If you lived a life of piety you’d end up in the Plane of Light surrounded by comfort and love. If you were evil and twisted, you’d end up among the damned souls that were fated to be tortured for all eternity. But what if you didn’t fit in either of these categories? Well. . . There’s one more plane that sometimes interacted with the mortal realm. It’s called the Spirit World.
I’ve always been fascinated with the tales regarding the so-called parallel plane bordering ours. It separated the living from the dead and has been proven to exist by mages who managed to perceive it and draw its power. All the ghost stories that we heard as kids could’ve been real as vengeful spirits were sometimes able to escape and interact with our mortal world.
So? What happened to the souls that wander the Spirit World? Nothing. They existed only to mindlessly roam and merge with the plane itself while serving as food for demons to hunt. Dreadful really. . . That’s why I always wanted to believe in something more. Sadly those that were resurrected retained no remembrances of the afterlife meaning that nothing was ever truly proven.
I often heard them mention the whole ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ after they came back to life, which left me wondering, where the fuck was I? There was nothing but darkness surrounding me and the only thing I could hear was a vexing croaky voice that kept disturbing my eternal peace. . .
“-told you to be careful. . . Not only did you let them escape, but you brought back a broken toy. You’re useless!” the disembodied croaky voice woke me up.
Oh. . . I wasn’t dead.
When I opened my eyes my vision was blurred but I still saw the two men standing above me. They were too busy to notice that I had woken up, but considering I found myself chained to a pole in the middle of a dark empty room there wasn’t much I could do. The moist cold stone under me and the lack of windows made it obvious that we were probably in an underground dungeon.
"We underestimated their potential. Lady Penelope's gift ended up slowing us down after he sacrificed himself for the sake of his siblings."
“I don’t want to hear excuses! Because of your failure, our plans are pushed back. We no longer have a bargaining chip against the Duke.”
During the ambush, I assumed that it was no accident that our carriage was hit, but I didn’t know why. Now that my eyes adjusted, I was able to have a good look at them and recognize the leader of the ambush who was currently being yelled at by a masked man wearing dark robes.
“We can always try catching them on their way back. . .”
“This is why I hate dealing with Reapers,” the masked man sighed. “You’re all overconfident brats who don’t understand that just because you were deemed worthy of becoming our elites does not mean you’re able to do whatever you want. Besides, now that the ambush failed, there’s no way that the Duke and his private escort will let the kids out of their sight. Are you saying you can defeat a seventh circle swordsman?”
Duke Kallis was a renowned swordsman of Eleron who played a large part in the defense of Dellion during the Notish invasion. He was known for possessing a seventh circle mana core strong enough to rival a seventh circle mage. When a mana core is formed, it becomes a first circle mana core and allows spells of the first circle to be cast if learned. Magic swordsmen like my father utilized mana to enhance themselves and their weapons to perform unimaginable feats for a human. One such man now stood in front of me, the Reaper as the masked man called him.
“No, but don’t be fooled into thinking that one’s core strength is the only thing that matters in a fight.”
“You underestimate how rare a seventh circle talent is. . .”
Penelope once told me that the seventh circle core and above belonged to a league of its own and that those who reached the ninth circle today numbered less than a few dozen in the whole world. Most happened to be professors at the Grand Academy of Nuia that Eliot was enrolling, and the headmaster was the only known tenth circle mage alive.
“If the power of a single man was all that mattered, wars wouldn’t be waged anymore and the elves would’ve conquered us long ago. We’re all mortals, are we not?” he chuckled, but the masked man seemed displeased by his carefree attitude.
“Enough. . .” he turned to look at me. “It seems our guest is awake.”
While I was glad to be alive, the idea of being a prisoner and used as a chip against my family infuriated me.
“Is there nothing we can use him for?” the Reaper asked.
“A cursed boy that’s not even a recognized Kallis? We’re better off selling him at the auction. There are quite a few nobles with a very particular taste.”
“He’s still the Duke’s son,” the Reaper pointed out. “Maybe we can try luring the kids out in secret.”
“They’re not foolish enough to fall for that. Besides, we’ve been waiting for a chance for far too long to risk being exposed over a questionable card. We must be patient. How is his arm?”
Until he mentioned it, I had completely forgotten that it was heavily burned as I felt no pain at all. My hands were chained above my head so I didn’t bother looking up.
“It’s still burnt but our healers have stabilized it and bandaged him up. Thanks to their spells, there should be no scars by the end of the week.”
“Good. We can’t risk any physical faults if we wish to sell him for a high price.”
They talked about me as if I wasn’t even there.
“If I may suggest, how ‘bout we torture him before fully healing his injuries? He’d be a lot more obedient.”
I won’t lie, I broke a cold sweat at the word torture.
“We can’t risk his mind breaking. . . I’ll discuss things with the others. Until then, put him in a cell and make him work in the mines. There’s no point in having an extra mouth to feed if we can’t profit.”
“Very well,” the Reaper whistled. “Take him to his cell.”
The masked man and the Reaper left the room through a thick wooden door before two armed men entered. They were both covered in tattoos and wore simple dark clothes with scimitars strapped to their belts. I wasn’t too bothered remembering their faces since they looked like common grunts and I was too focused on trying to figure out who kidnapped me and why.
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They undid the chains that bound me to the pole but kept my hands in shackles. Before I knew it, they wrapped their arms under my armpits and lifted me, carrying me out of the room. My legs were forcibly dragged along the ground as we moved through the dimly lit hallway full of empty cells barred with iron, but I could hear we were not alone. Mumbling, coughing, and other sounds echoed, and even a rat came running past us.
The thought of how my sisters would react if they saw a rat in the house made me chuckle. I could’ve probably imagined something less traumatizing for the two, but even that was enough to help me escape my grim reality. Those sweet thoughts of them were the only thing that could get me through the whole mess. It’s true what they say, hope does die last.
Eventually, we reached a section of the dungeon where it was more populated with prisoners. They let go of me, making me fall to the ground face first in front of a cell full of inmates.
“Don’t try anything funny,” one of them said licking his lips while snickering, thinking he could beat me up if I did.
Even if I did manage to disarm them once they took off my shackles, I had no hope of escaping with the Reaper around so it was pointless to try. Certain conditions had to be met to even attempt such a foolish endeavor.
He leaned down and unlocked the bindings that kept me in check, allowing me to stand up for the first time. They were quite tight so my wrists and ankles felt sore though it wasn’t time to complain as they opened the cell door and mercilessly shoved me inside. Locking us up, they turned and left which was when I finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Well, that was unpleasant. . .” I sighed, turning to my new roommates.
“You get used to it. . .” said an older man, probably around the same age as my father. “Name’s Gregor.”
He was bigger than me, built like a typical lumberjack with long messy black hair and an overgrown patchy beard. His coal-like eyes stared intently into mine as he tried to figure me out. I couldn’t help but notice that he wore nothing but pants and that his body was covered by countless scars. Now that I looked around, everyone had the same attire apart from me who still wore a linen shirt and comfortable pants. He didn’t seem like a bad person, probably just as unlucky as me. Neither did the other three.
There was a young kid that looked around two to three years younger than me with short dirty blonde hair and baby blue eyes as well as a bald guy in his twenties. They both looked battered. The last one was an old man in his late sixties that sat on cold wet stone, leaning against the wall with his chin touching his chest while presumably sleeping. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing or not, and considering he was all skin and bones, he might have been even dead.
“I’m Alex,” I shortened my name to keep it simple, giving them a friendly smile.
“Well, Alex. . . Hope we get along,” he let out a sigh, lowering his guard. I couldn’t blame him. Even I felt uneasy being in a room full of strangers. “You won’t find many friends in here and they sure don’t stay forever either. The kid’s name is Daniel and the baldie is Travis.”
“Ay, I told ya not to call me that,” he chuckled, leaning against the wall. “Another kid ey? They sure come by often. I bet ya gonna be gone in a week.”
“Maybe. . .” I cautiously said.
“No need to be alarmed, we’re not bad folk,” said Gregor, sitting back down on the ground.
“Who’s the old man?”
“Nobody knows. . . He’s been in here for three days and hasn’t moved once.”
“I bet ya he dead. . .” said Travis.
The kid looked traumatized. His lips were dry and his bones started showing from starvation.
“Did you check?” I asked.
“I did a day ago,” Gregor explained while scratching his beard. “He still had a pulse. . . Once he dies, they’ll throw away his corpse just like every other.”
“At least we get an extra meal, ey?” Travis chuckled before noticing the disgust in my eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. You’ll start starving soon enough as well. They only feed us barely edible food once a day and make us work all day long in the mines. He doesn’t leave the cell nor eats at all, might as well indulge.”
“Sadly, he’s right. . .” Gregor defended him. “Like I said, you’ll get used to it.”
“And what do you think, Daniel?” I looked at the anxious kid.
He refused to say anything and kept to himself. I didn’t wish to cause trouble, but I was certain they took his food as well based on how skinny he was.
“You won’t get much out of him,” Gregor said.
“Mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“Do as you like.”
“Where are we?”
“Tartarus,” Travis interrupted us before spitting on the ground. “At least that’s what they call it.”
“It’s a massive dungeon complex where they bring slaves from around the continent and torture them into obedience before selling them off at the black market. Those that can’t be sold off are forced to work in the mines and some of the women are kept here for their men to enjoy.”
“Just like her,” Travis pointed to the parallel cell.
Turning around, I was horrified to see a bruised young woman in her early twenties stripped of all her clothes and forced to sit on the cold ground bare-skinned. She was petite and had long red hair pushed to the front to cover her well-endowed chest. At least she appeared to be well fed but her eyes were full to the brim with tears as she silently sat.
I let out a sigh before taking off my linen shirt. It wasn’t much but it could help ease her suffering at least a little knowing how cold it was.
“What are you doing?” Gregor asked.
Refusing to answer, I approached the iron bars holding the shirt. There was a decent distance between us, but the worst-case scenario was that I don’t get it through and she had to get up to get it. Swinging my arm back I tossed the shirt over to her and luckily managed to drop it within arm’s reach. Before I saw her reaction I turned around and sat on the ground, leaning against the iron that kept me trapped.
“I change me mind, he ain’t lasting till the auction,” Travis chuckled.
“While I admire your thoughtfulness, you’ll end up regretting it. . .” Gregor warned me.
“Thanks for the warning,” I mumbled closing my eyes.
Now that I had a better understanding of my situation I could narrow down the reason behind the ambush. Obviously, I wasn’t the target they were aiming for so the fact that I was still alive was nothing short of luck. They probably hoped to capture all three of the Kallis children to use against the Duke, but the question was why?
Duke Victor Kallis was a pillar of strength within our Kingdom and a trusted childhood friend of the King. That alone was enough to draw plenty of envious eyes to him. However, nobody was foolish enough to cross him within Eleron unless you had the backing equal to that of a King. That meant that it was likely the works of either an independent group, someone who held a grievous grudge, or someone that wished to invade.
My thoughts for it to be an independent group were that it would require them to need something. Ransom wasn’t what they were after as the risk was too high for the payout, even if it was the wealth of a Duke. Considering people such as the Reaper served them, they were stronger than your average mercenaries. Without anyone backing them up, they’d be making an enemy out of Eleron which also wasn’t worth the effort. I thought about them needing the Duke’s favor, but that didn’t make any sense either. The obvious goal would be to draw out the Duke to capture or kill him. That too would be pointlessly risky for any group that hoped to simply ransom. All that meant was that if it was an independent group, they were hired by somebody else to do their dirty work.
My father was an honorable man and as far as I knew had no enemies within Eleron and held no real position of power outside the Kallis Dukedom. The Lords under his territory wouldn’t serve anyone else so it wasn’t out of greed. If they wanted to take revenge or ruin him, then killing his children would have been better than capturing us alive. It was unlikely that the ambush was orchestrated by a vengeful individual.
The last option worried me greatly. If someone wished to invade or take over Eleron then war was inevitable. Invasion from another continent was unlikely because of the logistical problems. The frozen lands northwest of us were ruled by dwarves and giants who had no desire to start a war against humanity which proved to be cruel to its enemies time and time again. The eastern continent was ruled by elves and other fae that had no interest in our politics, unlike the unfortunate elven kingdoms on Nuia which were forced into a long history of bloodshed. While fragile, the peace between humans and elves now existed so I was doubtful they were trying anything, not to mention that our king established a solid rapport with the Queen of Thysa, the nearest Elven Kingdom. The only option left was the southern continent, but the travel distance between us would make it a logistical nightmare. If another kingdom joined Eleron at any moment, their supply line would be cut off and any hope of victory would be lost.
Was it Notish? That’s what I kept thinking. We had a shaky history over the past couple of decades with more than one war breaking out. However, they too were unlikely to start a war of conquest considering we allied with their other neighbors down south. The possibility was there, but they needed perfect conditions. Taking out my father would be only one minor step toward a full-scale invasion.
In the end, I couldn’t figure it out but I felt as if I wasn’t too far off. Though, none of it mattered if I didn’t manage to escape Tartarus.
I needed a plan.
Chapter End.
Thank you for reading.
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