Freedom always comes at a price. After Kaia leaves the sanctuary of the guild to finally make a name for herself under a new alias, things don't quite go as she expects. As dual mages, she and her twin Kieran are able to dip into air and lightning m...
After about five more minutes of walking, Tyler and I ended up in a big, circular cavern. Two more tunnels branched off to our right.
The cavern was lit with the same bluish cold light that shone inside the tunnels. Ten cells were set into the walls, all seemingly empty. Tyler seemed interested in them, but I didn't sense any movement or life, so I set out to look at the tunnels more closely. However, he gently pulled my arm, one finger over his mouth to indicate for me to be quiet.
I followed along, slightly confused, before I saw what he must have sensed beforehand. One cell was not empty after all.
It was crouched on a small pedestal close to the ceiling, seemingly sleeping. If I focused very hard, I was finally able to detect a small intake of breath coming from where I supposed its head was. So, that was how I didn't sense the creature earlier.
There wasn't the slightest bit of movement until we were both about two steps away from the bars. One second it was crouched, completely immobile, then out of nowhere jumped at us, claws outstretched. The bars rang as it crashed into them but thankfully, they held firm. A moment later, it stopped and swiftly moved back again. Its yellow, intelligent eyes were fixed on us, watching our every move.
In the dim light, it looked like some sort of nightmare creature. Although somewhat skinny, each set of limbs came with sharp claws, at least several inches long. Its long head was bent slightly forward, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth. Several runes gleamed on its skin, but it was too dark to make out their exact form. If I were to guess, I'd say it seemed to belong to the same species I had found dead in one of the cells before.
While I studied the thing, Tyler checked on the other cells.
"That reminds me..." I said while keeping an eye on the creature, "what exactly are we looking for?"
"Evidence," Tyler remarked.
"Anything else you want to share, Mr. Specific?"
"Evidence for runic experiments on humans," Tyler replied, dead serious for once.
"What?" I asked, alarmed.
Runes held a high potential for every mage, but they also came at a risk. The safe number of runes a person could carry strongly depended on their mana capacity and purity. The more runes a mage had, the harder it became for the body to adapt. Especially, if the rune stemmed from a different element since the chances of the body rejecting foreign mana were much higher. Additionally, the process itself was increasingly painful for every added rune and often enough, people were driven mad by the pain they couldn't handle.
"I might be wrong of course, but in my humble opinion: I rarely am."
Wait a second.
They were doing runic experiments and Tyler was carrying more than the average safe number of runes on himself.
Coincidence? I think not.
"So, is this in any way related to the reason you of all people might have ended up with an express pass for the V.I.P. suite? Or what do suggest they want from you specifically?" I asked.
Tyler carefully twirled his sword in his hands as he contemplated his answer. "Shouldn't you already know the answer?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked bewildered.
Tyler stared at me, his eyes seemingly hiding a deeper meaning, but before I could grasp his intent he had turned away. "Nothing. They could want many things from me. For one my services are in pretty high demand if I may say so myself. I am a popular man," he drawled as he decided to take the left tunnel.
"Sure." My voiced was laced sarcasm but I decided not to push any further and simply followed after him. Not that it mattered since it was unlikely that we'd be crossing paths again after this.
To my dismay, the passage we chose turned out to be a dead end. A sturdy looking, closed door barricaded the path in front of us. Two bars were set across it with several runes for fortification and other defensive measures, which probably meant two things. One, we finally found what we'd been looking for, and two, we were screwed because breaking into this was actually not something that you could achieve with just two people.
"Shit, I can't believe we got this far just to turn back now." I huffed in frustration.
But of course, Tyler had to prove me wrong again.
"Hold my sword." Before I could protest, he placed his sword in my hands. I grabbed it tightly in apprehension, but to my surprise, a comfortable weight settled into my hands. So, he was able to somehow manipulate it.
Cheeky bastard.
He even had the nerve to shoot me a quick smirk at the sight of my skepticism. A heavy pressure seemed to gather around him before he kicked forward, blasting the door and some of the surrounding wall right into the room behind it. At least I was finally able to solve one of Tyler's mysteries; what sort of magic he possessed.
Stone magic. Of course.
After the dust settled, the sight behind the crumbling door rendered me speechless in horror.
Two floors of cells lined the walls. Each containing one or two people, mostly young. By the looks of it, more than half of them were dead, their lifeless bodies hanging limply. The chains were the only thing keeping them upright. The shackles appeared to be made from the same dark ore as the walls and everything else in this castle. The few survivors were not better off. Their eyes seemed to fall out of their sockets as they buckled, and strained against the shackles, gurgling nonsensical words, completely consumed by madness. Their upper bodies, no matter if male or female, were bare and covered in runes that glowed unnaturally bright, clearly indicating that the body couldn't handle the amount of mana put onto it.
As I stood frozen, runes lit up all around us, covering the walls, ceiling, and floor. Once again, a loud noise echoed throughout the tunnels and corridors as the alarm started blaring.
Guess now they definitely know where we are.
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