There was a thunderous clap as my tightened fist hit the metallic bar in front of me. A flash so bright I was forced to painfully pinch my eyes shut right as the flash ignited across my vision. The blinding white light left me so stunned that I was forced to take a few hobbled steps backwards to avoid the worst of it.
As my eyes slowly fluttered open I was able to see the outcome of the thunderous strike that I had somehow mustered.
The bar I had hit, alongside the one closest to it on its side were violently bent outwards at a harsh angle with bluish lines still arching across them. I was left stunned for several more seconds as I watched the arching blue streaks before Tulip's voice snapped me from what thoughts I had been conjuring in my head.
"Holy shit you did it!" Tulip sounded as if she hadn't been expecting me to succeed in breaking the bars open. Honestly I hadn't expected to succeed either, but now that we had broken out, we had to continue out. And quickly. "Lets go while we have a chance still!"
Tulip didn't waste a moment, she grabbed my good arm, only to retract it with a visible wince as a blue arc jumped from my hand to hers. I couldn't get my mana back under control, and the pain from my left arm was very quickly returning. Not to mention the bleeding had still yet to stop for even a moment.
"I can't quite get it under control..." I replied apologetically, white hot pain seared into my left arm as I began forwards with Tulip.
"It's fine- You've done a lot already. I'll take the lead, maybe we'll get lucky and can find wherever they keep the keys... But I doubt we're that lucky." Tulip spoke with caution as she very carefully weaved herself between the bent and warped bars to squeeze out.
I followed soon after her, finding a much easier passage given the difference in our body types.
Tulip was moving at a slow pace, one I was still barely able to keep up with from the shock of pain each step gave me. The momentary bliss of adrenaline was already wearing away rapidly, with anxiety moving in to take its place as the sounds of a violent battle could be heard.
"What's going on?" I found myself asking as I kept following as close to Tulip as I could. "Shouldn't any fighting be done already?..."
"I don't know, but I think we'll be finding out soon enough given we're forced to go right towards it." Tulip sounded anything but happy as she stayed in the lead, the further we walked the more cells we passed. Yet they were all empty, it left me to wonder just where we even were that they had such a big compound.
The further we walked the more it felt like the hall would go on for ever, with the gentle curve it kept at a near continuous rate it limited how far we could see, and how fast we could move. Not like we could move any faster than we already were. But finally the scenery changed when abruptly around a corner we came before a series of doors.
"This doesn't look right..." Tulip spoke as she looked at the door. I found myself inspecting it but I couldn't tell a single thing, it looked to me like all of the doors, were just doors.
"What do you mean?" I asked, the confusion palpable in my voice.
"This isn't a type of wood that you can find in Arcadia... or even Berinia." Tulip spoke with utter bewilderment in her voice. I just blinked several times, who payed that much attention to wood of all things? But I didn't have time to ask further before Tulip grabbed one of the door handles and pulled it open.
The room behind it was thankfully empty, but it was barely lit. I moved over to hold the door open while Tulip took a few tentative steps inside, looking around wearily before she found something on the wall. She pressed it lightly and a trail carved in the rocks lit up, illuminating the room with a very soft glow.
It looked like some form of barracks, with chairs and tables strewn around. I could rather easily assume what Tulip was looking for, but the hooks on the far walls where keys looked like they would be hung were empty, as if taunting her.
Tulip carefully worked her way back out of the room after a moment of investigation, but we both froze in place as a massive crash slammed into the ceiling above us. It was so loud that I was worried the ceiling might cave in before whatever was happening rapidly moved away.
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"We need to hurry up... The longer we stay here the more we're at risk." I had to vocalize the obvious as Tulip began moving to the next doorways, but each one was locked and needed a key.
"Can you break these open?" Tulip asked quickly, she eyed the door but as another crash resounded right above us, and debris was starting to fall, I knew we needed to move.
"Not fast enough, or without giving us away. Come on we can find a way to get you out of those later!" My impatience was audible in my voice with a resounding echo across the halls. Luckily, the fighting above was far louder.
Tulip looked torn for a moment, for a moment I was really debating smacking her, but as a third crash and a audible crunch of stone shifting could be heard she began to move towards the door at the end of the hall that very clearly lead to a staircase.
"Once we get through here we're gonna need to run, alright?" I looked at Tulip with a tight nod. I knew these next moments were about to be agony, but I also knew I could survive.
Without another word escaping either of us Tulip shoved the door open, she lead the way in a full blown sprint while I followed close behind her. Running up the stairs was taking a lot of cardio that I simply didn't have, and losing a half breath each step to the throb of pain from the inertia on my arm certainly didn't help either, but on the bright side the pain in my arm made me forget about the pain on the side of my head. But the stairs weren't long, and once we got higher, I could see plain daylight, but it looked almost like it was tinged green.
We didn't slow down for a moment, once we got to the surface there was just rubble all around. I couldn't tell what was going on, smoke and dust covered the terrain with only the occasional flash of light or a shadow moving so fast I could barely register it breaking the scenery. Looking up didn't give anything either, so I just kept my eyes forwards to follow Tulip.
We kept running, each pounding step leaving the sounds of battle, clashing metal, resounding impacts, further and further behind. We kept running until neither of us could take another step, slowing to a halt to observe our surroundings for the first time. And for the first time I was left to wonder, why were we in a forest?
"Tulip... Where are we?"
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"What do you mean they're gone?!" Levi's voice left the entire room, and if Lotus had to assume, the next two blocks, shaking with his rage.
"I mean the Slavers had a portal mage, sir." Lotus spoke with clenched teeth, she was trying her best to keep herself calm while she thought about just how bad this situation had just become.
"So you're saying you have no idea where the crowned heir of the throne is, after she and a wanted criminal who barely escaped a death sentence by the skin of her teeth were kidnapped, and have no leads because the portal mage who got them away killed himself?" Levi's voice calmed slowly as his rage only increased. And only now did Lotus start to feel fear for her life.
"Y-yes sir." A stutter broke through her cool, calm words. She was lucky she was able to keep her arm from rattling as she was shaking in place. "We have a single lead... Though it is probably the only place worse than the far north." Lotus didn't even need to finish her words as Levi opened his mouth to speak.
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"We're in... Elligorse?" Tulip spoke with an answer shaped like a question. And I was left trying to figure out what Elligorse even was.
"What, and where is Elligorse?" I asked quickly. My breath was returning to me slowly. But with it so was the pain, and I could start to notice the overwhelming humidity and heat around us. Trees climbed high into the sky, taller than I thought to be possible with vines spiraling down between them. Hanging to the ground gently, swaying with what little wind broke through the incredibly dense canopy above.
"Elligorse is the largest country on our border, it's directly to the north in the center of the continent. It's the land of the Elves. We're in the jungles in the very heart of their nation... Which means we're close to Ellitor, one of their two capitol cities." Tulip gave what information she could before she moved into the shade beside me. The pain slowly increasing forced me to lean back against the tree and lower myself to the ground slowly.
"How did we get... Into another country entirely? And what do you mean one of two capitol cities?" My eyes closed as I spoke, trying to hide from the overwhelming sunlight.
"I don't know. I don't know how long I was unconscious after they kidnapped us... But it would have taken months for us to get here, unless..." Tulip trailed off as she moved behind me to the other side of the tree. I didn't pay attention to what she was doing, just keeping my eyes squinted. "It's a stretch but the only thing I can think of is that they had a Portal Mage. It's a rare type of magic that lets someone put two points down to travel between areas instantly."
Tulip paused again as she walked around in front of me, crouching down she had some vines in her arms bunched up.
"Try and stand still, we have more time now I can put a half decent cast on your arm." While she spoke I just took in a deep breath, knowing I would have to prepare myself for the upcoming pain. "Lets get this changed and find somewhere to rest, then we can talk more... I don't want to stay out in the open. Since it won't take them long to start following us."
"Alright..." I clenched my jaw, trying to hold the screams of pain back as Tulip had to adjust my arm and apply far more pressure to the wound. It was at least bleeding a little less than before... I think.