09/07/337

Vasuki

  Vasuki felt himself being dragged across the stone ground by his ankles. When he began to open his eyes he saw two figures in black hoods at each of his feet.

  “Who is this?” A woman asked, “The one we were warned about?” Vasuki looked directly forward to see another figure with the hood pulled back, revealing a ponytail of blonde hair, though she was blurry he could still make out some of her features.

  “Yes, he came from the altar.” The man holding his left foot said.

“Throw him with the other. Before he’s done waking up.” The woman ordered. He couldn’t move, it was as if he was restrained by some invisible force.

  "Sleep, my puppet. Sleep until I bring you back." Vistrata ordered, normally he would resist most of what Vistrata orders him to do, instead his body gave in to the command.

  Vasuki jumped up when his dreamless sleep came to a sudden end. He examined the room he was in. He was shirtless, not like his shirt offered much protection from anything anyways. He examined himself first, his scales had somehow finished growing back. The small patch on his right arm was also completely recovered, he assumed it was the same for the scars on his back. Quickly examining his surroundings he saw that he was in a stone room. Metal bars separated him from the stone hall on the outside. The room smelled of blood, piss and shit, not something he welcomed. Three small stone beds were the only decorations in the room, one against each wall. He sat up, thankful he still wore his pants. He walked to the cell bars and looked down the hall as best he could, everything looked the same as the rest of the hallway on the other side of the bars. He was getting real tired of breaking out of cells.

  Hearing footsteps coming from down the hall he quickly made his way back to the bed opposite of the bars and pretended to be sleeping. He heard the cell door being unlocked and someone falling, or being thrown to the floor, based off of the sound of her grunting.

  “Your cellmate seems to still be asleep, make sure to tell him good morning when he awakes. In the name of Lord Runahera your blood is appreciated, in our thanks we will begin a summoning ritual.” He heard the cell door come to a close and the turning of the lock. He heard the woman begin to sob, until they became muffled as if she was eating something. The footsteps soon became distant, he quickly opened his eye and saw a girl wearing nothing more than rags, and dried blood. Her crimson hair was wet with sweat and her body was showing signs of heavy starvation. She was eating out of a stone bowl, it didn’t have a pleasant smell.

  “Who are you?” Vasuki asked. She jumped from the noise, dropping her bowl of food and backed away towards the bars of the cell.

  “I-I...I’m Liz.” She answered, panic and fear in her eyes.

“Calm down, I’m not here to hurt you. My name is Vasuki, where are we?” He asked.

“I don’t know, from what I’ve heard we’re under Daemerall.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“I don’t remember. Time is skewed down here.” She claimed. He looked up at the bars and felt for his magic, only for the chains of magic to be just out of his grasp.

“Dammit. This shit again.” He grabbed the cobalt chains of Etherea, “Anytime a guard or something comes nearby?” He asked.

“In a few minutes...why?” She questioned.

“I’m breaking us out of this hellhole.”

“No!” She screamed, “If I get out, I’ll be tortured more than if I stay.” She claimed, “I can’t leave. This is my life now.” She said, fear was deep within her hazel eyes.

“I won’t let anyone torture us. I’ve had enough of that lately.”

“But I…” Liz seemed to think, as if remembering something, “Maybe this is what he meant?” She whispered to herself.

“This is what who meant?” Vasuki asked. She shook her head.

“It’s nothing. What’s your plan?”

“Well. They didn’t block all of my tricks, if they don’t let us out willingly then I’m breaking us out of here.” Vasuki claimed. Liz seemed hopeful but extremely nervous.

  Like Liz had said, a few minutes later footsteps were coming down the hall way. Vasuki waited for the guard to get in front of the cell before making any move.

  “Hey, buddy!” Vasuki said, the guard stopped and looked over at him, “Let us out of here.” He ordered. The guard smiled from under his hood.

  “Why would I do that?” He asked, before standing against the stone wall next to the cell. Vasuki wouldn’t be able to reach the man with his arms but he had other ways.

“Well do you have the key?” Vasuki asked.

“You’re a lot more talkative than Liz over there, of course I have the key.” He claimed. Before he could get a reply, a small ball of cobalt ice hit him on the right side of his cheek, forcing him to fall directly in front of the cell. Vasuki reached forward and pulled him close to the bar.

  “Etherea?” Liz asked.

“Yeah, this is my second rodeo in a prison where I can’t use magic. It’s getting to be a real pain in the ass.” Vasuki searched the man’s clothes as best he could through the bars. He could have probably cut them in half by calling out his sword of ice, but he didn’t want to risk it and reveal his biggest secret to whoever these psychos were. Eventually Vasuki found the keys inside a pocket on the inside of the mans robes.

  Opening the cell doors, he dragged the man into the cell and looked down each direction of the hallway. He gestured for Liz to follow him out of the cell, which he followed up with locking it behind them.

  “Do you know which way is out?” Vasuki asked.

  “Last time I went right, I can lead you in the general direction of the exit.” Liz claimed.

“Good enough with me. The quicker we get out of here, the better.” Vasuki said. Liz began to quickly walk to the right, her body couldn't have had a lot of energy, seeing as she was as thin as a stick.

  The structure they were in was more or less the same everywhere, there were hundreds of cells with dried blood on the inside of them. The halls would eventually lead to an intersection that looked the same as everywhere else. The only thing illuminating the halls were torches that were placed at set intervals.

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  “This place must be an ancient prison or something. What was that blood stuff about?” Vasuki asked.

  “They’ve been stealing my blood for however long I’ve been here, I made a deal with a demon so I can’t die by normal means, I think this cult wants to bring Runahera to this world. But I honestly have no idea. Maybe they drink it? All I know is that, no matter how many times they impale me, torture me, injure me they give me food then I come right back to health.”

“Never met someone that made a deal like that. Do you work with this demon?”

“Yes, but there’s a barrier surrounding this place, he can’t enter it and we won’t be able to find each other until I get out of here.”

“Do you have any family that’s looked for you?” She seemed to get saddened from the question.

“No, no I don’t.” Vasuki could hear her voice crack, he decided not to push the subject.

  Just as they reached another intersection, Liz decided to turn left when they heard a voice from behind them.

  “Another breach! Get the others!” They turned and two men were behind them, one began to ring a bell that he had produced from his pocket.

  “Can you run?” Vasuki asked.

“I got a bit of energy!” Liz answered. Vasuki called forth his Etherea and created a large ice wall at about chest level at the entrance of the hall they had just turned onto. He ignored the pain in his arms, turned and quickly began running after Liz. It didn’t take long before she came to a brisk walk. She just didn’t have the energy to run.

“It’s just a straight shot up ahead, then a right when we get to the end of the hall.” Liz claimed.

“Thanks.” He got on his knees in front of her, “Get on my back.” He ordered.

“B-but I’ll slow you down.”

“Just do it already!” He demanded.

  Vasuki found himself running down the hallways while Liz rode piggy back, she was extremely light. More so than an adult should be. Bells were sounding through the entire structure and he could smell people getting closer to them. Whoever, or whatever was chasing them, was extremely fast. He eventually came to a wall, gasping for air he turned right and began to run, though much slower than before. He went down a winding hallway, until he came to a flight of stairs. Mid way up he felt something enter his calf, he dropped forward and looked back to see an arrow sticking through his leg, with a group of hooded figures at the bottom with bows, drawing them back. He ignored the pain and made a giant block of ice on the step below him until it reached the ceiling, followed by the sound of a volley of arrows cracking against the ice.

  Vasuki limped his way up the stairs until he came to a hatch. He put Liz down on the step below him and began to push it, it felt like there was a lot of weight on the other side but eventually it became ajar. He could see vines grown over it, making a small blade of ice over his hand he quickly cut through vines and pushed it open.

  Climbing out he was surprised to see they were in the field just north of Daemerall. He quickly pulled Liz out of the hatch, closed it shut then froze the edges to the ground, he flinched as his right arm began to cramp.

  Vasuki fell to the ground, doing his best to catch his breath, the Etherea was taking a large toll on him.

  “Are...you okay?” Vasuki asked.

  “I’m fine.” Liz claimed, “We need to get that arrow out of you.” She said as she knelt down next to him. She quickly broke the tip of the arrow off and pulled the shaft out of his leg. He screamed through his teeth as the pain seared through his leg.

“Bit of a warning next time?” He complained.

“Better to grit through it as soon as you can. And you’re a dragon, so you’ll heal quickly.” Liz claimed.

  Vasuki slowly came to a stand.

  “It must be nice to be outside again.” Vasuki claimed.

  “It’s strange, I came out of that hatch once before. I entered a world of ruin and ash. Zaurah forced me back to my prison...Why did he want you to find me?” She questioned.

“Zaurah did it personally to you?” Vasuki asked. Astonished that Zaurah was actually active, “So you mean he’s out and about?” Liz responded with a nod.

“He told me to wait for the right time to leave. And now that I’m here he isn’t putting me back.” Liz claimed, “I don’t suppose you have any clothes?” Vasuki chuckled.

“Afraid not.” He said as they walked away from the hatch.

  The air slowly began to ease it’s grip on them, Liz flinched then a wide smile broke out on her face.

  “You good?” Vasuki asked.

  “Better than good, I feel amazing! I can feel my contract with Erefus again!”

“Erefus is your demon right? He’s not going to attack me is he?” Vasuki asked.

“He’s a good dog, he only bites if I ask him to.”

“Let’s see if I can get us some clothes, stay around some of the shrubbery, I don’t think people around here would like seeing a woman that’s dressed the way you are.”

“Of course they wouldn’t. Are you any better?” She asked.

“At least I got pants on.”

  Approaching the northern gate he found himself getting some strange stares.

  “Halt. Why...why are you, shirtless, did something happen?” The guard asked, Vasuki noticed a faint glow, coming from the man.

  “Yeah, just broke out of a cultists hellhole under the city, with a girl, we need some clothes, do you know anything about that?”

  “You serious?” Another guard asked.

“Would I be dressed like this if I wasn’t serious?” Vasuki asked, “The girl is dressed in nothing more than rags, we really need some clothes, man!” He finished.

“Come on men, get him some clothes. Can you bring us to the girl?” The first guard asked.

  Vasuki put on the black doublet over his naked torso, then showed the guard to where Liz was waiting in a bush in the field. He provided her a brown tunic and a pair of leggings, as well as socks and some basic shoes, everything was a little big on her.

“How long were you down there?” The guard asked.

“I was down there since last night...I think, I woke up this morning then busted us out.” Vasuki claimed.

“I don’t know how long I was down there.” Liz claimed. Vasuki shattered the ice around the hatch.

“The structure is just down that hatch there. I put up a wall of ice so we wouldn’t die, I couldn’t use magic down there for some reason. I think they gave me a magic blocker or something.”

“I will get my men down there as soon as we can.” Thunder rumbled overhead, the three of them looked up. This storm didn’t seem any different than a normal storm, but something told Vasuki to run as fast as his legs could carry him, as if it were an omen of some kind of coming calamity. Then the rain began to fall, black as ink.