The Sacrifice Hall was just as she remembered. The front room gave off the feeling of safety while the hallways deeper into the complex were big enough for only one person to walk down at a time. They were poorly lit and without windows giving her the impression that they were underground. It was a good thing she had no fear of small, enclosed spaces.
They soon passed the stairs that led down to the basement, and Serena tapped Lucian's shoulder to bring attention to it. He stopped walking so abruptly that she nearly ran into him. It took several moments until he seemed able to move again, which made Serena feel bad about having startled him.
"I didn't mean to scare you."
His tone was clipped as if he was trying to be polite but was frazzled by something. "You didn't. We will explore it after we get the pixie."
Serena nodded in agreement and then continued towards the room they were in last night.
As soon as they stepped inside, a chipper voice began to scold her as soon as he saw her.
"There you are! I've been worried sick about you!" Mint said. The little pixie was pouting and he looked more pitiable than anything with his hands on his hips. "Didn't anyone tell you how dangerous this place is?"
Serena sighed and rolled her eyes at the tiny creature before her. She couldn't help herself; she knew that she shouldn't let his antics bother her. But she had come here for answers and she wasn't going to give up now just so she wouldn't hurt someone's feelings. "No one told me," she replied bluntly, "but you were the one who brought me here."
Mint leaned away as he floated in mid-air. He tried to smile but it looked forced more than anything. "Well, you did ask me to take you to the nearest human village. You said nothing about the safest."
The words made Serena pause in thought while Lucian stared into space as if trying to recall what exactly it was he'd been doing when Mint arrived last night. He finally spoke, but not until after he took a deep breath of exasperation. "This is why I feel you should have let him die. His malicious intent nearly cost you your life, Lady Serena. Any blasted fae like himself should not be trusted."
Lucian was right, of course; she could only imagine how much worse things would be without his aid last night. However, she was still annoyed by Mint's behavior. If she didn't know better she might think that he was purposefully trying to harm her. As soon as she realized that she had just assumed such a thing she felt embarrassed for thinking that way.
She shook her head and smiled at Lucian reassuringly. "It's alright," she said kindly. She turned back to Mint and tried again to put on an innocent face.
"Is that any way to treat people who saved your life?" Serena asked, giving Mint's wings a little tug to try to get his attention.
Mint looked down at the top of her hand as if it were the most interesting thing in the world before turning to look around the room they stood in with wide eyes and a slightly pouty expression. "I suppose not," he said slowly, though it sounded more like something else entirely than what it should have been.
Serena sighed in relief and let go of the small creature, which flew away from her. He circled over their heads several times until he finally settled into one of the tables.
"Isn't it rude to treat one of your kindred like that?" Mint glared at Lucian who glared back with far more hatred and spite. He was not pleased by being called 'kindred.' "We are both fey, aren't we? You should be nicer."
Lucian snorted but didn't say anything back. Instead, he just stared at Mint with an odd smile on his lips while he thought about how best to reply without actually saying what he wanted to. The pixie just sat there staring at him for a moment before looking up at Serena with an apologetic expression.
"This is where we part ways, Mint," Serena said, her voice frigid. "You can return home now or you may stay here if you wish.n Perhaps our paths will cross again," she finished coolly before turning on her heel and walking out of the room.
She heard Lucian's soft footsteps follow after her and she felt relieved.
"You are upset."
Serena stopped dead in her tracks at the empty words. "He knowingly brought me to a place where I would likely die."
Lucian's voice was soothing as always and it helped calm the anger inside of her. "He is a fey and specifically of a species known for their often malicious tricks. He seemed to uphold the letter of whatever deal you had if not the intention. The fey is tricky and uses wordplay to get what they want as often as humans do."
She merely turned her head to give him an unimpressed stare. "Are you not a fey as well? How can I trust you?"
Lucian smiled, but it wasn't his usual charming one this time, but rather something more thoughtful than that. He looked down for several long moments, his smile fading, before he finally spoke up again, still speaking quietly, so only she could hear him.
"I am not your enemy, Lady Serena," he said softly. "I am indeed a member of the fey, but I was swapped at birth with a human child. I was not raised in the whimsical or macabre courts, and tend to have a more human perspective on things. You may find my opinion helpful," he added quickly when she tilted her head at him. "I do not have the same morals and twisted hobbies as the fey. You need not be careful of my words with me." His tone was kind and sincere which made her feel foolish for thinking otherwise in the first place. She gave him an apologetic look and nodded her head slowly.
"Thank you for telling me that. It would seem that Balar was right to offer me your services."
Lucian trembled in what she took as excitement at hearing that. His eyes glittered as if lit by some inner light as he smiled widely for several seconds. "Lord Balar spoke to you?"
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Well, he has my eyes on me at least."
He seemed overjoyed with that before his brain caught up with the rest of what she said. "What do you mean he offered me to you?!"
"That's between you and your god if you want to place a formal complaint," Serena said, her tone light and teasing as she turned back to the front and continued to the stairwell.
The stairs down were made from stone, just like the rest of the building, and gave her a sense of unease to even consider going down it.
She channeled some mana into her hand and molded it into an off-white ball before batting it upward with her palm. It started to hover and float around her head, illuminating the area.
She was glad she could still make a [Light] spell. If she couldn't do something as simple as that, then she would be in a far worse situation than she originally thought.
With that pleasant thought running rampant in her mind, Serena descended into the bowls of the Sacrifice Hall. She didn't know what to expect, but it no doubt would be disturbing.
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Serena was greeted by an odd sight upon reaching the bottom floor—a room filled with cages and cells. Each cage held one person inside them though some of the cells had multiple people. They were all locked within their metal bars with thick locks set into each of those doors. The only light came from several dying torches on either wall near the entrance, making everything seem much darker than normal despite there being so many people present.
They were humans who wore clothing made from rough cloth. Many were dirty and looked malnourished; they had dull eyes and thin faces with sunken cheeks and mouths hanging open slightly. Some were older while others were young children. Their skin colors varied from pale white to deep brown and black and every shade in between, though most appeared to be pale-skinned like herself. All of them stared at her in fear and shock when she entered through the doorway.
There weren't any guards or Duskwallow villagers left, and if she left them in the cage it would be the same as killing them. Starvation was a terrible way to go, or so Veles informed her. Luckily, she never lacked the necessities of life.
It would be troubling to survive without her supplies, but she would find a way to make do.
"Hello," Serena called out as her voice echoed around the room. "Where are the keys to your cages?"
She was met by silence, but after several moments a woman's hand pointed straight ahead through some bars.
Serena walked over in that direction and saw an old man sitting on his knees inside one of the cages, holding up what looked like a key ring with about ten different sets on it. He looked like he had been living in there for a while with little food and water, just like all these people did. His skin had turned yellow with age and there were dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep and hunger. When he spotted her staring at him from outside of his cage, he smiled wide and held up the key ring. It was as if she was the only thing keeping him alive right now.
"Thank you," she said to him as she opened a set of locks on each side of the bars that separated their cages together.
The old man stood up slowly as she unlocked the door between them; she could tell this was difficult for him to do because she hadn't seen any movement beyond that point before then.
He seemed to be somewhere around sixty or seventy years old when she finally got to look into those sunken cheeks better. There wasn't much left to see though since his hair was completely gray and thinning out in patches along with some bald spots where it had been cut short recently. The rest was still long enough for Serena to notice how dirty it was—he must have been in here for quite some time without proper care. His clothes were also tattered and torn, and they were so filthy in some places that Serena couldn't even make out what color fabric they had once been made from. His shoes were cracked and worn down with holes in them, and he wore no socks underneath the cloth covering the bottom of the footwear.
"My name is Serena Araceli," she introduced herself as she stepped away from the cage and began to unlock other cages. "I am a traveler who has come upon you by chance."
The old man stared at her blankly as she spoke; she wondered if she should repeat everything for him but decided against doing so because she didn't want to waste any more time than she needed to. She continued opening cages as she talked about her situation instead.
"The village of Duskwallow has been wiped out, down to the last member of the community. The buildings in the village have also been destroyed, leaving you, the village's emergency rations, in a difficult position. And I, in turn, am here to offer you some options."
She unlocked another set of locks on one side of their cages, then moved over to the next door in line and opened it up, revealing a woman inside, along with an older gentleman. Both looked terrified when they saw Serena, but they soon relaxed once they realized there wasn't anything else they could do right now anyway. They had nowhere left to go and no food or water. There was no way they'd survive long enough without help.
Serena explained all that had happened while unlocking each cage as well as what she knew so far. When she finished explaining everything and told them how much she wanted to be able to leave this place with both these people as her companions, they agreed readily—they were just happy not to die after being stuck for so many days within those awful walls.
"What are you planning," Ravana questioned. "You don't seem like someone who would willingly help such worthless individuals."
"They have no allies and no hope. They also have no leader among them and likely no belief left to local gods or nobility. Most of them seem to be broken to the point of accepting anything without thinking if it offered them a way out. Now is the perfect time to approach." Serena said, ensuring it was mentally to the troublesome being. "They are not the finest minions I worked with, but if I assumed command over them, I'll be able to reforge them into loyal weapons of reasonable quality. Some might even blossom into being skilled in things I will need in the future. The rest would be put to good use as well."
"Do you believe that they would follow you?"
"Though not the best, they are still natives to this world. Some could be travelers or farmers, merchants even. All of these are skills that would be useful to me, even if they knew nothing about the world. In exchange, I would be offering help with food, resources, and other things to help them get back on their feet. As long as they remember who their patron and benefactor is, who saved them, then it will be alright." She shrugged. "Any of them who haven't realized their predicament is not worth my time and effort."
Serena stepped back to the stairwell leading to this accursed place and looked at the captured humans that slowly left the cages and cells in a stunned manner. "Duskwallow has fallen and will not be able to recover. You may return from whence you came and hope that you will not meet the same fate."
"Or you may fall under my command. I will not promise that it will be easy, or that my decisions would be constrained by your principles and beliefs. What I can promise is this - under my command, you will never feel like you are prey again. You'll have a chance to survive. And perhaps thrive again one day. I will wait for one hour near the stables. If you decided to follow me, head there. After the one-hour mark, I will leave this village for Mythras." Serena said as she began her ascent up the stairs. It was clear how much she had thought through everything; there were no surprises or any other unexpected twists or turns for anyone involved, which made things easier all around, especially when dealing with people who would otherwise feel like they'd been taken advantage of or tricked into something they didn't want. This way they could work together without feeling pressured—or threatened.
The near-silent footsteps of Lucian followed after her and rampant whispering began in the cellar. Finally, there were footsteps. They were weak, weary, and slow, but there was a kind of determination to them.
It would seem like she would have some minions after all.