Time's Ticking Pt.2
Phantom and Fire rushed back to where they had come from and were found in front of another decision. The central tunnel was now the one that would bring them back to their cell and they surely didn't want that, but the other two were another story entirely. Or at least, so the purple dragon had thought.
"We go left," she said, sounding very sure of her decision.
"Why left?" asked Phantom, looking at her questioningly.
Fire looked away as she answered. "Because I-I already went that way and it is a dead end," she explained, taking a deep breath before turning her eyes back on him. "Just a dead end with a lot of rooms to the sides and no, I don't know what's inside those doors as I was too concentrated on founding another way to…" she faded and the purple dragon just nodded his agreement.
After all, that was a good thing and it would help them avoid wasting more time. They would be going in the left tunnel, this time using the caution necessary for their situation.
Leaning out without being seen, the two dragons observed the corridor that they will soon be forced to walk in. This could lead to who knows how many other corridors, thus creating a kind of gigantic labyrinth from which they would never be able to get out, but they had to try without letting some problems on their way stop them from quitting that place. Not even those two ape guards currently walking in the corridor, just the beginning of what awaited them along the road.
"Are we sure of this plan?" Fire asked in a low voice as from her hidden position she watched the guards disappear from that corridor and take one on the right.
"We came up with this plan together," Phantom pointed out, noting that the female had not fully recovered from her broken state, but she was evidently trying and he was hoping that this attitude of hers would last.
For the sake of everyone.
Fire did not respond and simply went out from her hiding place, heading forward to the prisons on the right side of the hallway. Phantom did the same but kept on the left side of the same hallway, just to be sure. Both walked slowly and without making any noise along the corridor, keeping their gaze fixed in front of them and ready to enter one of the many side corridors that were definitely to be found throughout the whole underground structure.
As he walked, Phantom also took notice of what was in the cells he was passing by. Many were empty, others contained dragons or other creatures such as cheetahs, apes, moles, and so a perfect variety of different species to fight in the arena.
He also noticed carefully as they had caught the attention of the other creatures as they passed, even if most of them merely observed them without saying or doing anything. The same reaction that Spaiha would have had if they had passed in front of her cell. They didn't seem mistreated at all, nor determined to get out of their cells, and that attracted Phantom's very consideration.
How come would a being, no matter the race, be willing to remain in a cell voluntarily? Had they been promised something? Had they been blackmailed? Or had they been broken to a point of no return?
Spaiha did not look broken...
Suddenly a voice broke the tension and also their concentration as both dragons turned in the direction of a dragon of unusual color closed behind bars to Fire's side. He was of a grayish color, something very close to the ash color, his eyes two malignant golden spheres. He looked treacherous and deceitful as he put his paw out of the bars of his cell and blocked the passage to the red dragoness.
"Where do you think you're going, Sweety?" he asked his tone that was promising cunning attitude and a quintal of malice.
Fire snarled menacingly at the strange dragon, her position ready to attack. "I'd raise that paw if I were you," she threatened. "I don't want you to lose it"
The dragon looked more amused than frightened.
"Oh oh oh, we have a nice little character here, don't we?" he teased her, sounding delighted.
The fire dragoness was about to say something back when Phantom decided it was time to intervene. "Just ignore him," he told her in a voice loud enough to be heard by her, but not too high to make it look like a scream in the silence of the hallway, his gaze again pointed at the end of the corridor, rather than on her and the strange dragon. "We must go on"
Fire snorted but said nothing, simply kicking out the grayish male's paw and continuing on her way without a second glance.
"If you think you're going to get out of here without knowing where to go, you're wrong!" the dragon spoke again.
This caught their attention and made them stop. It was clear that the dragon knew something they would be needing to get out of that place, but he could be lying too, maybe another mindless slave like Spaiha, trying to halt them with a trick until the guards showed up and took them again to their cell.
But if he was saying the truth…
Phantom and Fire stared at each other for a second, speaking that silent language that did not need to be expressed in words but only through the gaze. After a few seconds, Fire nodded and returned her attention at the end of the long tunnel, while the male took the direction of this conversation. He only hoped that the unknown dragon would prove himself to be a useful ally and not a waste of time.
Going through the corridor to the other part and in front of his cell sure that Fire had his back covered, Phantom stared at the grey dragon waiting. The stranger didn't seem to need anything more to start speaking again, keeping the mischievous and cunning smile firm on his features.
"This arena consists of a series of empty, useless, and many dead ends," he began, smiling. "Some are without light, while others are ready to collapse tunnels, all to avoid an effective escape of any prisoner that would be too confused to find the right way out of this place. That's why no one in here wants to escape like you are doing now, for they know they probably wouldn't go far and the safety of the cell's food and lodging is better than anything waiting for them out there in the upper world."
The purple male had to admit to himself that the speech had a certain logic and certainly explained a thing or two about what they had seen down here. But still, he certainly brought other questions that he was very quick to ask.
"And how do you know all of this?" he asked suspiciously, not trusting an unknown prisoner who had on his face that eternal mischievous smile of those who enjoy mocking people as they speak.
The smile of this dragon grew out of proportion if it was possible. "Let's just say I had the opportunity to be taken further into the tunnels for a particular check, and I casually end up hearing a conversation between two guards," then he laughed, amused. "These apes are so stupid that apart from the aesthetic aspect they have nothing else big, not to talk about their brain," then sneering slightly he resumed to the main point. "And considering that I have a good memory, I remember both the way back to where they took me the first time and the place where you can find something useful to quit that place, maybe even a map."
Phantom did not survive all this time on the surface being a naïve dragon. "So, basically, you know this place is a maze and you know how to get to a certain point that you don't even know how deep inside the tunnels is or even if it is near the exit," he summed up, his voice oozing distrust. "Without even knowing if it's the right way, if there is something useful in that place, or if they did it to deceive you"
The grayish dragon didn't seem offended by this summary. "Yes," he simply replied, shrugging his wings. "But I'm sure that place I know it's further inside the system than where you and your nice, chatty, little friend over there would go without me."
A growl of response could be heard from the female's direction, which meant that even though she was mounting guard, she heard it.
Phantom thought about it for a moment, evaluating all the possibilities, then he said. "And I guess you want to be freed and come with us in return."
The grayish dragon simply smiled at him. "Exactly."
Phantom looked at him, giving him an unconvinced look. "And what about the safety of the cell is better than anything that is out there?" he asked, a nod of irony used against the dragon that seemed to have it as an integral part of his attitude.
Still, he did not seem offended at all by it. On the contrary, he seemed to like playing the game and re-presenting his mischievous smile once again. "Well," he said, with a tone of voice both casual and ironic at the same time. "This will be worth for them, but certainly not for me," he spat, disgusted. "And I am certainly not the dragon that let slip his only chance of escaping like that for silly fears. I don't know how you guys did it, and I respect you for what you have done I really do, but I'm sure you need me to have a real chance to get out of this in one piece," and soon after he added. " I'm sure you guys have half plan to get out of here, but with new information I bring with me it will need to be changed," then he pointed with his claw at himself. "And who better than an additional brain, who knows that place better than you for that?"
Leaving aside the arrogance of the dragon, his reasoning seemed to run smoothly for the purple dragon... even too much. But they didn't have much of a choice or time. As the grey dragon rightly said, they had a plan but with this information, although still potentially working, it would take too long to get out of there and they didn't have time to change it as they had to warn the others and save Sonohra.
Phantom turned to take a look at the red dragoness. For the time being she seemed fine, but that continuous, almost spasmodic movement of her tail, as well as the repetitive puff, symbolized that she was beginning to get caught up in anxiety and, considering what she managed to do before, perhaps it was not a good idea to make her wait any longer.
He couldn't afford it, they had an escape to do, and he had no choice.
Phantom pulled the lever and the bars of the grayish dragon's cell automatically pulled down and shoot into the floor. The grey dragon smiled victoriously, but the purple male simply stared at him coldly. He didn't like this dragon in the slightest. But, alas, he needed him…for now, so raising his paw and pointing it out towards the long hallway, he said. "After you. You lead the way."
The grayish dragon simply chuckled and did as he was told, coming out of his cell with a display of munching on his paws and wings completely unnecessary. Then he approached the purple dragon and smiled at him in front of his snout as he gave him a warning growl.
For a moment they were all silent. Then the newly escaped dragon spoke smilingly.
"You can call me Absolute, by the way," he said in a loud enough voice to be heard even by Fire who was still guarding the way.
That being said, he started at a decisive pace towards the corridor, passing the red dragoness and then taking the corridor to the right without a second glance back to them or looking at the arrival of any kind of guard.
Phantom stops by Fire's side.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, looking at the way that dragon had just taken. "I'll keep an eye on him," she promised.
Phantom stared at her in the eyes for a moment, trying to use that wordless technique to see if she was really okay. Her golden globes were dangerously flickering, another symbol of her restlessness but she seemed able to keep it under control and they had to go with it for the time being.
He nodded his understanding. She nodded back before starting to walk forward to follow the dragon that would otherwise escape without honoring his side of the deal.
Phantom followed her just after a few seconds, his mind was running with apprehension and worry as he knew that his trouble would be doubled now since he would have to look after not a single unpredictable dragon, but two.
MDT - MDT - MDT
The three dragons continued quietly along the various corridors, meeting very few guards on their way that, using the side aeration alleys, could be easily evaded. The path was clear and smooth, without problems, and this was because of their new grayish guide who seemed to allow them to do some kind of progress.
Walked with sweaty, quick, and decisive steps, just like one who knows what he is doing, he had proved himself as useful as he had claimed to be. He kept a few steps ahead of them, saying that he would hear better the arrival of some guards and warn them to hide while the two dragons covered the back of the group.
It was dangerous for the unknown dragon could betray them and sell them to the guards, but for the time being everything seemed to work just fine.
No matter how things were going, Phantom still had the not-very-desirable task of controlling the dragon in front of him with one eye and the red dragoness at his side with the other. If the greyish dragon proved himself to be under control for the moment, Fire was completely another thing.
She was clearly displeased with the situation at hand. It was visible in her flickering tail, the rigidity of her limbs, or the tendency to twist her nose, bang her teeth, and stick her claws in the ground a little too much as she walked.
They were all indicators that she was holding back something, and Phantom hoped that whatever she was doing to keep herself on track, would last, otherwise they would have a big problem.
"Do you think the big guy will really take us to the exit?" Fire suddenly asked, interrupting the silence that had dominated until that moment their path. Her voice was contemptuous, as often he heard from her, but there was also a hint of apprehension and haste that certainly did not escape the purple dragon's attention.
"I don't know," he honestly admitted. "But what other choice did we have?"
The female snorted indignantly. "We did have a plan," she pointed out.
"Yes, we did," agreed the male. "But this before we discovered that the arena is an escape-proof maze and, that even with our distraction, it would take too long to find the exit," he paused, then went on. "If we could ever find it ourselves in the first place."
Fire grimaced but said nothing in response, so the Phantom saw a chance to reassure her and try to cool that boiling volcano that was growing in the fire dragoness.
"I'm keeping an eye on him, don't worry," he reassured her. "If he makes a misstep, we'll put him out of the game on the spot and implement our old plan. From there we will understand something, I guess," then he changed the argument, shifting all his attention to her for a moment, asking seriously. "How do you feel?"
Fire instantly responded with a "Good" that had to be as true as the Empress's love for the Resistance. So Phantom decided to reformulate.
"Ok, then, how do you really feel?" he rephrased, underlining the word "really" to emphasize its importance.
The fire dragoness lowered her head and sighed, defeated.
"I don't know," she said, her voice frustrated. "I feel so... so… I don't' know, just so confused," then she growled, hitting the ground with her paw, angrily, before leaving room for more sadness and confusion again. "I feel… shattered. It's as if something that contained emotions within me exploded and, put back in place in a clumsy way, could not completely hold all of it as it did before. I-I'm worried about what will happen if this something breaks again," Another sigh. "I feel restless, confused, lost…" she confessed.
Phantom respected the moment of silence that followed without saying anything, for he felt that she had not said it all.
"I feel as if my inner fire, which has guided me all my life, has been weakened," she tried to explain. "It is not exactly extinguished because I feel that something is still alive under all these emotions, but surely it is no longer a living flame, but a brazier on the verge of extinguishing. Every time you try to spice it up, something comes up that suffocates it..." she huffed, contemptuous. "All those useless and damn emotions"
Phantom did not expect her to be so open with him. She gave him the impression of being one who didn't often talk about her emotions, so he certainly did not expect such complete reasoning to make him understand better her situation. Maybe, he thought, there was so much more underneath in there that Fire had ever let out, and that's why he knew that, unfortunately, things for the female would never come back as they were before.
As she said that something inside was broken and as much as one tried to put it back together, the cracks will remain forever and one day they may crash into pieces again, more easily each time until the cracks will be impossible to put together again. All she could do from now on would be to learn how to live with it and keep herself together day after day, for the rest of her life.
He was about to try and tell her what he thought, but the grayish drake stopped in the middle of one of the many corridors they were passing in, putting an end to the short but intense journey of their fellowship.
"This is where the road I saw when they took me out of my cell ends," he said arrogantly. Then he pointed to a solid wooden door in front of them. "This is where I've been held last time."
Fire looked suspicious. "And what's in there?"
The dragon smiled at her, unkind. "Oh, believe me, dear, you don't want to know what's in there."
It was not the right thing to say, for the female's golden eyes shone with pure power, the power of anger, running out of her in waves making the situation more dangerous. Fortunately, the dragon seemed smart enough to understand his mistake.
"All right, all right," he was quick to correct himself. "I don't think a torture room is a place of particular interest to fugitives, is it?" and saying this he brought back his gaze on the purple dragon
"Torture room?" he asked, hit by the information. He understood the under meaning before, but having it said directly created a different feeling of reality and the dangerousness of their situation.
Absolute snorted, his tone bitter as he smiled viciously. "Let's just say they have good tools of persuasion made by those damn imperial moles for when they need it," then he was back chuckling. "Damn it, those little city mice with their little paws know how to do it."
"Stop talking, already!" hissed Fire in a not-too-loud voice, probably to give him an example of how he should be speaking. Then she turned to him and asked. "How do we proceed from here?"
Phantom was for a second taken aback by the request. For that short time, he had been with them, always Fire or Sonohra had taken the lead of the group and he had always limited himself to following and doing what was required of him. But now Fire was relying on him to get out of there and save their friend, basically both recognizing her precarious state and putting a strong responsibility on his wings.
But he was ready and determined not to disappoint anyone.
He looked around, trying to figure out if there was any difference between this corridor and the others they had just crossed. Apart from the door of the "torture room" the rest was practically all the same. Only here there were empty and open cells, and this room occupied the space that three cells would occupy.
"Absolute, apart from the instruments of persuasion, in the hall, have you noticed anything else useful? Anything that can help us figure out how to proceed from here?" he asked the grey dragon.
This looked at him, smiling ironically. "Unfortunately, they didn't give me a chance to see too much, considering I was feeling extruded pain and had in front of my face the smelly snout of one of those apes," he replied in an increasingly loud and sarcastic voice.
Phantom growled. He had to check himself. But this meant leaving two problematic dragons out of his control. One was a sarcastic and bitter dragon that he did not even know and that could betray them at the first opportunity to get out unnoticed, the other a dragoness who had her nerves broken and who was putting her life and that of her best friend in his paws because she was not able to carry that weight at that time.
Perfect, just perfect.
"Fine!" he growled. "Then we'll all go in here and see if we find anything useful."
The grayish dragon lost his smile at once. "What?" he yelled, realizing in the end that he shouldn't have done it for his good, and so lowering the volume he said. "Are you crazy? I'm not going in there!"
Phantom looked at him with a glow of determination inside his purple eyes. "We will not separate", he growled in response, making it clear that the argument wasn't up to negotiation.
As if to strengthen the point, Fire growled at him too, making it clear that there would have been pain and agony for him if he did not comply.
Absolute did not even have time to protest as, just then, heavy steps responded for him signaling the incoming danger of someone arriving down the hallway. The three dragons turned to the corridor in front of them from whose end the unmistakable noise of approaching apes could easily be heard.
The dragons abandoned their discussions and hid in the nearest side air tunnel. Phantom and Fire in the right one, and Absolute in the one exactly in front of the left. They remained still and silent in the suffocating darkness of those alleys, waiting for the apes to pass.
With each passing second, the steps became louder and louder, accompanied by the squeaky noise typical of the iron armor that the imperial apes carried as well as the hideous gruff of their deep and hoarse voices.
"I think he would," said the first voice.
"Who?" replied the other, sounding confused.
"What do you mean by who?" rebuked the first, the tone exasperated. "You asked me the question, and now that I have answered you ask me who we are talking about?"
"Hey, you said he'd like to," the other said in his defense, sounding indignant as well as confused. "I didn't understand who we were talking about because you didn't specify it!"
The noise of something rubbing on the ground must have meant that they had stopped abruptly. Then a loud noise, like a snap, must have meant a slap. A lament and a series of insults from what was supposed to be the first apes followed right after that.
" You Idiot!" roared one of the apes, disdainfully. "If we're talking about a subject and the subject doesn't change, there's no need to quote it every time, you ugly imbecile!"
A brief silence where Phantom imagined the second ape rubbing off the spot where he took the slap, as the ape thought of what he had been told with an empty look. A classic of the stupidest imperial apes, he knew it very well.
And in fact, shortly after. "But I still have to understand who we are talking about," protested the second voice.
"We're talking about General Fenris, you dumb thickhead!" roared the first.
Fire stiffened near him and he put a paw on hers to calm her down and prevent her from making even the slightest noise.
"Ahh, General Fenris, yeah, I got it now!" said the second voice. "And what were we saying about him?" he asked, still sounding confused.
The other ape made a mixed sound between repressed anger and despair, a strange sound, not easily describable and that surely dragons had never heard from an ape before.
Another snap and another moan of pain, followed again by the furious words of what must have been the smartest ape of the two.
"I swear to all the gods, one day I will find a way to make you fight in that bloody arena!" he roared, probably right into the other's face. "Just imagine how funny that would be? I'll be there to pull a lever and the bars in front of you go down, putting you directly against one of the most dangerous dragons we have in that damn place!" then he calmed down, his tone going down. "Too bad the audience wouldn't be satisfied by such a fight because you're too stupid to even fight correctly…"
He sighed, then he spoke again. "Now let's end this useless patrol, then you go to the main control room, all right? Do you remember where the control room is?" he asked, and probably the other ape nodded in agreement as the first voice continued. "That place has a bunch of different levers and you don't know what they're for, so you don't touch ANY of them, do you understand me?!" and he specified this word with a lot of zeal that almost broke the eardrums of the hidden dragons in the alleys.
"Yeah…" answered the second voice.
The first resumed, grunting displeased. "Hmm, so you will earn your ration like many other idiots like you within the imperial ranks, pah!" he spat, disgusted. "I'm surrounded by idiots…"
A long moment of silence, when they could hear their heartbeat in their chests and their fear running through their veins, before the second voice intervened again, sounding hesitant. "And where is this room again?"
That sound of fury and despair repeated itself and another snap, this time very loud meaning very hard, was everything that preceded the furious voice of the first ape.
"Take the first corridor on the right, then the second one on the left, and then again the third one on the right, simpler than that you die!" he hissed, and then some steps resumed, louder and more incessant, before stopping again. "And then you find yourself a map of this place made by those damn moles so that we do not have to send an idiot accompanied by a smart one to control this fucking hole." The sound of footsteps resumed and the big, armored ape passed right in front of their alley before disappearing again, mumbling something aloud. "That way we could save time and send two idiots alone, but I think you idiots could get lost with a map printed on your face."
He continued to mumble insults, followed right after by the second ape, walking with a confused step as he followed his superior.
At some point, they both just vanished somewhere down the corridor, and silence became the master of the place again.
Phantom turned to Fire at his side. "We have to get to this control room," he said. "I'm sure we can find something useful there."
Fire simply nodded and the two left the side tunnel to re-enter the main one. The grey dragon was there waiting for them, a bright and mischievous smile already coloring his expression.
"You see?" he said, smugly. "I told you that following me would lead us to something useful."
MDT - MDT - MDT
There was nothing to suggest that those corridors they were walking through to reach the control room were any different from those they just passed, hadn't they known which way to go. This place was indeed a labyrinth, each corridor completely identical to the previous one. Some probably contained dead ends too. Either you knew where you were going, or you'd always find yourself walking around the same rooms without even knowing where you were before.
This was the reason why finding Absolute for them was a fortuitous thing, despite all. Their initial plan was too much of a gamble.
Eventually, they seemed to arrive at their destination, in front of a wooden door like many others. Or at least they hoped it was the right door since all of them were unnamed, probably to prevent fugitives from having reference on their location within the labyrinth.
"I hope there's no one inside," commented Fire.
Phantom thought about this too. "I hope so too," he replied. "But in case it should not be the case, I want you both to be prepared to put the threat out cold without making too much noise as soon as possible," and saying this he pointed a claw warningly to the new addition to their gang. "We must not be discovered"
The grey dragon gave him his usual smile and the purple male took it as a sign of affirmation, or he liked to think about it as such.
Phantom positioned himself behind the door, ready to open it. Fire positioned herself on the left side of the door, ready to leap inside. Absolute, simply stood in the rear waiting to see, with a serious face for once, what would happen.
The two friends, the purple and the red dragons shared a look for a few seconds, once again their silent conversation without words, then when Fire nodded, Phantom reciprocated the nod and opened the door, revealing the inside with...
No one… there was no one.
Among the three, the grayish dragon was the first to speak, sounding amused. "Well, it seems no one's home," he said.
The other two dragons act immediately without speaking coming in (and forcing Absolute too) and closing the door behind them, finding themselves in a small environment, but certainly full of stuff. On the right side, there was nothing, just a wall with nothing on it, while on the left there was a desk, a large chair, and other various paperwork attached to the wall and on the desk itself.
But what was of particular interest for them was the wall right in front of the door, a wall full of levers, with each one of those attached to a series of circular-shaped gears through long ropes. They had to control something, moving a mechanism behind the wall probably, but they didn't know what they were for.
Surely it looked like a control room.
Without wasting too much time, Phantom took the reins of the mission and distributed the duties.
"Fire, you control this side of the wall," he said pointing to the longer one full of levers and gears. "Try to understand what they are for and if they can have a tactical advantage for us."
The female nodded and did as she has been told.
"Absolute," he turned towards the grayish dragon. "Guard the door, make sure no one can make his way in without being heard."
The dragon seemed ready to protest, but a bad look from the purple male forced him to nod, snorting dissatisfied, his smile off. He stood by the door with his left ear attached to the wood to listen outside.
Satisfied that the dragon complied, Phantom headed to the left side of the hall, where all the paperwork was. Now he was convinced that, of all that stuff, a modicum of a clue as to how to get out of there, a map, a note, a spit, a claw engraved on the desk, had to be there. Therefore, he immediately set to work attacking everything that was on that table.
He began to take every single piece of parchment he could find, turning from top to bottom, trying to read anything that he could understand, such as the Draconian language (the official imperial language) or something not written but drawn that could explain in a minimal way how to get out of that place.
But the more he searched and threw things on the floor marked as "already read" the more anxiety began to assault him because he found nothing useful and the more his anxiety grew the more he rushed to find what he wanted and end it once and for all.
He didn't point it out so as not to worsen an already desperate situation of its own, but he too was very worried about Sonohra and he too, like Fire, had that feeling that they were running out of time. But he could not show it, not especially to the red dragoness, and he couldn't say a word about any of it, and now he couldn't even think about it because he would only intensify his anxiety. He could not afford that too, as he had two unpredictable dragons to deal with.
He had to be strong for them, for Fire, and Sonohra...
But it was becoming difficult to keep it all together as he found nothing useful to design their escape. The more time passed, the more he found nothing other than a pile of scrolls and other objects lying in a white/brown coat on the floor. It was so hard to keep it under control when there was no progress in sight, nothing, not even a small clue. It seemed to him that they were just wasting time, walking in circles, discovering something only to find it to be useless.
Phantom growled frustrated, losing his self-control.
"Damn it!" he growled under his breath, smashing his paws onto the desk and coming into contact with something that made a strange metallic noise. Right after a click, as if whatever it was had just been unlocked.
Completely withdrawn from his frustration, Phantom checked the strange grayish-colored iron container that lay beneath the left side of the desk, an obvious shot of claws on the side that had engraved the slice leaving three white marks on its surface. He noticed how the object's first compartment was pulled back than the others. Curious, he inserted his claws into the small crack that had been created on it and pulled it back. There were other cartridges but, among all of them, he could easily see something that caught his attention: a piece of parchment rolled up. He took it gently and unpacked it on the desk with the utmost care that his claws could allow him.
Bingo!
A little victory smile made its way over his features, unconsciously, as he finally made some progress.
"Fire, come here!"
The red dragoness was by his side instantly, and the grey dragon followed soon after.
"Check this out," he pointed with his paw to what appeared to be some kind of map. Or rather, it was what looked like an arena drawing made by a mole, which contained information detailed enough to show which corridor was to be taken and what not.
First Phantom pointed to a square box with an X engraved on it. "I think that means we are here," he followed with his claw the other corridors near the X. They were so many, each one of them colored differently. Then he pointed to a legend at the bottom right of the map, where it explained how the color of the corridors corresponded to:
Grey: dead alleys.
Green: for the arena.
Blue: for the canteen.
Then he stopped his claw to the last color, smiling.
Red: exit.
Phantom repeatedly slammed that point with his claw. "Our way out," he said triumphantly, turning to Fire who responded with one of her own.
"Yes!" she smiled for once a real smile of joy. "I also found somethi-" the red dragon's speech and enthusiasm were interrupted by a loud noise. The three dragons turned to look at the door, now open, where a huge, armored ape appeared, staring at them with a confused look.
The amount of time it took for that look to go from confused to angry, was the same that took the escaping dragons to understand they were in trouble, that Absolute had left his position near the door vacant, and that if they did not bring down this beast now and in a silently way, they would never leave that place alive, map or not...
The ape immediately threw himself at them in a frightening charge that they could barely dodge, sending the beast banging against the table, breaking it instantly, and sending all scrolls into the air. But the great ape was far from finished, though, and he was already standing ready for a second charge.
Phantom was still holding the map. "We have to get rid of this thing, and quickly," he said.
"Good idea," replied sarcastically the gray dragon. "Why don't you give me the map while you fight it? I would never want the map to stop you from fighting your way out of this."
Fire was at his side almost immediately. "Yeah as if we trusted you with that," she growled at him, just before having to move away, dodging a sword hit that the ape had tried to trim exactly on her neck. The other dragons followed her and out of the way.
Luckily for the two dragons, the ape decided to chase after Absolute, giving them enough time to think.
"What do we do?" asked the red dragoness, trying her best to hide her nervousness and fear but failing.
Phantom looked round into the room, trying to find something useful. There was nothing in that room they could use to dispose of the enemy. The table had already been destroyed, the wall on the other side and the machine wasn't exactly a weapon. No, they had to fight it with their elements, they had no other choice, no matter how loud it could become.
Doing just that the purple dragon threw a single dark fireball at the ape who had forced their gray companion into a corner, aiming at his head. The shot took the ape in an explosion strong enough to send him slamming into the wall, and also giving Absolute time to get out of the way.
"Thank you!" replied said the dragon returning to their side.
Fire growled at him.
But the ape was already getting up, the helmet he was wearing dented, some vivid red blood dripping from his forehead, and the smell of iron staining the air and their senses. He had been hit, and he got hurt. Still, he was all too healthy after such a blow.
"Oh shi-"
The grey dragon was interrupted by a sharp knife thrown by the ape across the room, sharp enough to cut through the air and their hard scales if it had caught said dragon who lowered himself to the ground just in time not to be hit and killed on the spot.
The ape used the distraction to charge once more, its eyes fiery with fury, an intense red color dripping from its forehead and flowing down its muzzle until it accumulated on his chin and fell to the ground in heavy drops. It made it look even more horrifying and dangerous than it was already.
The dragons dispersed again.
"We must strike him together at the same time," yelled Phantom over the bang that the ape created when he strokes against the wall, too fast to interrupt his charge.
Fire nodded and they fired at the ape at the same time as the purple dragon repeated the attack, colliding a red fireball and a black/purple one against the head of the rising ape and causing an even stronger explosion than before, also producing a collapse of part of the wall and a build-up of debris on the floor on the ape's body.
A cloud of dust rose covering the environment, while the small landslide stopped leaving them in complete silence.
The bloodied and distorted helmet was just a short walk from their feet. Empty.
"Did we make it?" asked Fire, sounding surprised.
"I think that-" Phantom tried but whatever he was planning to say was interrupted by an animally snarling and furious growl, a violent shift of rocks that were blown up like an explosion, flying all over the room as if pushed by a slingshot, shattering in contact with the walls.
From the fog and the sea of stones that the same ape, battered and bloody but certainly very alive and angry, was staring at them with a mad look on its face, its blood covering areas of his head probably smashed by the impact of their elemental blasts.
"I think this is a no," replied sarcastic Absolute for the other male, veering cowardly towards the exit. "And if that doesn't stop this creature, I don't know what will!" and saying this, the grayish dragon made to escape from the front door.
But the ape must have somehow predicted this move for it jumped right where the door was, landing with a thud that shook the earth and barred the passage between the exit and the grey dragon. Absolute tried to stop, but it would have served no purpose because the ape had already moved his arm, and loading a destructive punch, he hit the dragon on the muzzle, sending him flying in the air and against that machine with levers. The grayish dragon crashed against the wooden machine, breaking it, starting all the levers and gears that, no longer attached to anything that held them, began to turn swirling on their own.
Unfortunately for him, he struck with side of his body exactly at the height of the levers and they were more resistant than they looked as they pierced him from side to side, spearing him on the machine, his blood dripping from the wounds into small drops staining the gray scales. Absolute's features were twisted with pain and surprise, his breath shaky and broken, his mouth and nose dripping crimson blood on the ground. Then just as fast as it all happened, he spasmed and spied, dead, leaving his eyes open wide with horror printed in the eternity of his very end.
The two remaining dragons stared at him, shocked by what just happened but that was a mistake, for the ape charged again and this time neither of them was fast enough to dodge. The two hit dragons passed through the hole that the ape had created in the wall and found themselves slamming, vehemently against the wall of what was supposed to be a neighboring cell.
The two, hurt but still awake, were fast to recover, the adrenaline pumping through their very veins giving them enough energy to try and survive.
That is when they heard the sound.
A metallic noise of something squeaking and screeching.
Turning to the entrance of that cell, they saw the very source of the noise that was deafening them:
At the entrance of the cell, the iron door seemed to have gone crazy. It climbed noisily down and disappeared into the floor, then it came up with a violent thud just as noisily, crushing against the ceiling, all while any mechanism that allowed it to go up and down suffered from the continuous use, sounding like strident iron.
The cell in front of them did the same thing. Indeed, the noise was really loud, repeated, and a little out of sync all over the corridor. Probably it was a problem of not just their cell, but also the others in the same corridor, maybe in the same place…
A furious roar made broke the place and the two dragons took a combat position to face the threat of a great and bloody ape passing through that hole it did in the wall between the two rooms.
"Our combined attack didn't do him much," Fire pointed out, a thread of apprehension in her voice. "We'll die here as that grey dragon if we don't find a way to bring down that bastard for good."
Phantom was trying to think of something again but was continually interrupted by the loud noise of the doors. It was annoying, it entered inside his head, breaking through his ears, and smashing their way up to his brain, piercing him like screeching spears and-
Suddenly he got an idea from them. With a small victorious smile, he turned to his red companion.
"Get out of this cell and get ready," he urged her. "Be careful, calculate the ascent and descent time of the door before you make a try."
Fire seemed confused. "What are you going to do?"
"Something very, very stupid…" he said, smiling at her before urging her again. "Now, go!" and saying this he fired another dark fire shot at the ape that was forcibly passing inside the hole that he had built with his head, crumbling the rock around it and causing it to break, even more, widening the hole to pass through, growling like a beast, its blood covering its face entirely, clearly dropping on his eyes.
"Hey big guy, over here!" he yelled at it.
Red eyes were fixed now on the purple dragon.
Phantom turned to the exit of the cell and noticed that just then Fire was coming out of it, just avoiding that the opening crazy door took away her tail.
Perfect.
"Here goes nothing…" he thought as he made his way out when the growling beast resumed its charge. Phantom didn't see it, but he was sure that it was charging him by the trembling floor under his paws.
A fire shot struck the beast right into the chest, causing it to stop for a second by the backlash and giving him enough time to pass through the crazy cell door, unarmed.
They were now both out.
But the trouble wasn't over because the ape, dropping the now destroyed iron crush he kept on his chest, and revealing to them that strange, blackened chest made of fur apes had on their bodies, he was still standing and too alive. He just had to use his paws to clean the blood that was still dripping from his head to his eyes, but after that the beast was back into the charge, completely careless both that his blood kept falling on his eyes ruining his sight, and that he was going straight against a poorly functioning iron grate.
Phantom counted exactly on that.
"Prepare to fire at my signal," he ordered.
The female simply nodded. She probably understood the plan by now.
The ape kept bending forward, completely careless of what was around him, certainly blind as its blood was covering his eyes. And it was at that very moment, by the time the axle had reached the right place, that Phantom and Fire fired yet another shot together. But this time not against the ape, but on the ground in front of his trajectory.
As expected, this was enough to stop his charge. The location was right. The creaking of the cell entrance stopped for a single tiny moment. A howl of pain and despair and a disgusting sound of wet and bloody flesh and broken bones interrupted the screeching. A strong thud on the ground. Then the sound resumed as if nothing happened.
The sound continued regularly exactly as it had done before only that now every time this door came up after the creaking, it always encountered that noise of flesh that is stuck, shedding blood on the walls, soiling the stingers that had to secure the iron door into the ceiling, not strong enough to lift the body, but trespassing it on their way to the top, as a pool of red and ferrous blood was forming on the floor.
Phantom and Fire looked away not wanting to throw up at the sight but knowing they would dream of that disgusting sight for a long time.
Phantom understanding they were now out of trouble checked the situation in the hallway. Each cell entrance made the same up and down game and the same noise; creaking, up and down, creaking up and down. In addition, down the hall and probably in the whole underground arena, they could hear screams and sounds of swords and elements and, Phantom could swear to have seen a group of moles flee down the aisle, an ape running after them.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened with that machine full of levers.
"Well, we can say that he actually helped us get away…" pointed out the purple dragon. He knew it was a bad comment, but the dragon had not been exactly his favorite version of ally since they had met him, and probably without his sacrifice they wouldn't have escaped that monster.
Fire simply glanced at him, not exactly disagreeing, but he could see she had more on her mind than an unknown dead dragon, and it could be seen from her haunted golden eyes. Phantom understood the situation, the urgency, and the deadline that they had already postponed for external reasons. Now they had a map to get out and the way more or less free, as the guards had their hands full of escaping prisoners already.
It was their occasion.
Phantom opened the map and checked the right direction towards the exit of the arena following with his paw the red strip of corridors. They had a way out of there now and no one else would interpose between them and the very exit of this underground hell.
They ran towards it, for they had a friend to save and they might be already too late.
MDT - MDT - MDT
Sonohra was quick to put the fledgling to bed. Sure, just like all puppies he seemed unsatisfied while she put him to bed so early, but fortunately, their training and the overall day they spent together was enough to tire him up and made him fall asleep shortly after touching his bed made of soft pillows and blankets.
Leaving Licht's room, the white dragoness slowly closed the door behind her, trying not to wake the little one while she looked around the place with concern written on her face. She knew she was supposed to go to her room now, or at least those were Governor Sky's orders, but she was also kind of a spy in there and she had to bring something of value to Asla, otherwise, hers would be just a vacation outdoor and not even that relaxing. She also really wanted to know who this "he" was. "He" must have been someone important so much so that "he" made the generally composed blue dragon, stiffen.
With her senses alerted to any strange noise, she made her way to the last room in the hallway that, the scurvy butler ape had said, contained the governor's office.
Walking as slowly and silently as possible, the dragoness stepped forward, one paw after the other, keeping ready for anything, starting with a surely voluntary intrusion of the cursed ape that would take such an opportunity to sell her out to her boss. Fortuitously for her, she had an excuse that, in an emergency occasion, would serve her purpose well enough, although she very much hoped not to have to use it yet.
The hallway was long and dark. The many doors on the sides were all closed, the lights in the hallway had been turned off, and the window down the hall didn't let in a hint of moonlight, probably because it was cloudy outside. At the end of the corridor, however, on the last door to the left, she could see a small weak light passing through what was a small crack in the door that had not been closed entirely, and that was exactly the place she was heading to.
Sonohra came closer, taking care that no wooden beam under her paws was so marching that it betrayed her presence there and creaked. She kept an eye both on the bass and the surroundings with her ears so much that she was not surprised at all when she could begin to hear the voices coming from that room.
Initially, they were very little distinguishable, distant, only background noises that broke the silence and darkness in which the corridor had fallen. But soon, step by step, claws withdrawn so as not to make any involuntary sound, the white dragoness had come close enough to hear their conversation clearly.
"I told you I would do what I could," said the first voice, that of Governor Sky. He seemed worried and, though it was evident by his tone that he was trying to be as neutral as possible, he sounded very tense and that worried hint in his deep voice gave him out.
But it was the voice who answered that froze the white dragoness on the spot, making her gasp in fear.
"Clearly your efforts are not enough then, Governor," said a voice that Sonohra knew all too well. It had a hint of a growl, but mainly the tone was playful and mischievous, something she had heard before in her life, and that she would rather not hear again.
Fenris…
Despite her fear, the overhearing dragoness was now even more interested in the conversation between those two. He would have been a problem, for he would have recognized her. But if she played her cards well and avoid being discovered by the evil dragon, she would manage to get some useful information from him too, enhancing her mission beyond expectations.
Still, she had to be cautious in her approach since the hairy dragon proved himself several times how full of surprises he was.
"I am sure your Master will understand," tried the Governor but was interrupted by a warning growl.
"You do not dare put my Master in this discussion, Governor," he warned, footsteps and noises of claws touching the ground symbolizing that he was moving, probably menacingly toward the blue dragon. "Especially not when you have nothing but excuses to provide for your incompetence," he remarked the last word with disgust. "Your lack of progress in finding and rooting out the resistance cell that has formed before your very nose in this city is extremely worrying," he paused, then he added. " So much that you attracted the attention of the Empress herself…"
"And believe me when I say that you do not want to attract that kind of attention, Governor," he said with a hint of malice in his voice that meant troubles, probably framed around that mischievous smile of his.
Sonohra, getting a little closer, found it strange to hear from the dragon about his master and the Empress by not linking the two terms. When he talked about his "master" he sounded so respectful and devoted as if he was speaking about some kind of deity. But when he said "Empress" he did not sound that respectful and surely he sound no way near the adoration he reserved for the purple dragon.
It was strange.
"Anyway, both my Master and the Empress do not share your optimistic predictions on the situation here, Governor Sky. Not at all," he concluded coldly.
The dragoness arrived at the edge of the door crawling on the floor to be as silent as possible. Then she carefully took a pick inside to have an idea of what was really happening there.
In her field of view was Governor Sky, behind what appeared to be a large wooden desk and, behind him, a large window that gave on to the outside. A purple-colored flag was behind him too, the symbol of the empire, but what caught her very attention, however, was the falsely calm expression of the blue dragon. It was evident that despite his contained behavior, the hairy dragon must have had a certain effect on him too.
That was yet another confirmation of how dangerous the purple dragon's minion was.
"Fernis," began the governor, his voice as diplomatic as possible as he spoke. "I am sure you understand quite well that hunting and crushing a resistance involves much more effort and time than that given to me..."
Sonohra was listening to the conversation when a small creaking behind her caused her senses to be alerted and redirected immediately. She was stuck for a moment, her heart in her throat beating uncontrollably with fear and adrenaline, her body stiffened, but certainly lucid enough in her mind that she could reason quickly and counterattack without being discovered.
When her instinct, the one telling her that something was very close behind her, sounded the alarm, she turned lightly without making a single noise to attack the opponent and knock him out without even being able to-
She stopped right when she saw him…
Licht.
The little dragon had at least the decency to show embarrassment, or at least that was what she thought she was seeing from what little she could see only with the light coming from the ajar door of his father's office. The hatchling looked also a mix of different emotions, from frightened to surprised by the speed with which the white female had turned around. Maybe it was not entirely her speed the problem of his behavior, but more of her claw pointed at his throat, menacingly.
She got off of him as she cursed herself internally for not making sure that the little dragon was really asleep when she left his room, but she could not make a scene there, at that precise moment, in that precise corridor, with one of the most feared and sadistic dragons in the history of the realm in the nearby room.
Gritting her teeth, holding back her growl, Sonohra whispered in a barely audible voice to the little one. "Licht, what the hell are you doing here? I thought you were sleeping!"
All the good-up terms and faces had gone and she showed him real fury and bad manners.
The puppy lowered his head and his wings. "I'm sorry, I was just curious about who's daddy going to talk to," he whispered guiltily.
Sonohra sighed internally, as she reasoned that she couldn't keep the little one there in the corridor. She knew Fenris wasn't exactly "family-friendly" and the air of tension that was building in that office was dangerous for a child to hear, especially when another dragon was threatening their parent. But, on the other hand, she needed everything she could get from the dragons, especially since that "he" was Fenris, and surely, if possible, he would leave out something that she could take back with her that night.
She could not and did not want to give up now on her mission so, taking gently little dragon, turning around, and putting him exactly between her front paws, Sonohra returned to her overhearing, after having warned the little one not to take a single breath. It would have been a problem for both of them as Fenris was not known for his mercy for females or little ones…
She just hoped Licht was smart enough to realize that whatever they were doing, it wouldn't be okay if he opened his mouth to speak.
Unfortunately, she realized she lost a piece of their conversation.
"No certain no, I-" was babbling the blue dragon looking at everything but the other dragon until, at that precise moment, by sheer chance, the governor's gaze shifted exactly to his left, where the door was and came into contact with that of the white dragoness. Before he could open his eyes wide or frowned at her intrusion, the blue adult dragon lowered his gaze and surely noticed Licht hidden between her paws who, seeing his father turn to him, was about to say something but was kept quiet by the paw of the white dragoness on his muzzle. The governor now seemed extremely worried.
"What would he do now? though the white dragoness. "Would he sell us out to him?"
For a moment Governor Sky stammered, seeming not able to find the words, but quickly he resumed his composure and turned all his attention again to his interlocutor, ignoring them. He cleared his throat and spoke.
"...uh, what I wanted to say is that precisely because of your hunts of the resistance throughout the whole real, you better than anyone must know it's a long, laborious job and that it involves planning and patience."
For a moment silence followed.
Outside the room, Sonohra kept her left paw on the muzzle of the yellow puppy that looked inside the office and at his father with confusion, having stopped protesting and moving.
Silence reigned.
Until…
"Yes, I know this sort of thing well enough," replied the furry dragon, who now showed a less cold and much calmer tone.
Again the noise of footsteps meant that the dragon was moving somewhere and, considering that the governor was now fulfilling his desire and looking at them from time to time, it meant that probably the hairy dragon was not looking at him directly but at something else inside the room.
"My Master thought me that patience is a virtue that helps the strongest, and I believe him, as only with patience and power he was able to build the empire."
The governor didn't seem too interested in that speech, rather he was looking at them, at her to be exact, miming with his mouth some silent words all the time, always the same. Now, Sonohra was not an expert in this kind of silent code, especially since Kohle had talked so much about its usefulness that she had begun to hate it, but she thought she could understand well enough what the adult dragon was trying to say to her.
"Take my son away, please"
If the words were not clear enough, the governor's expression certainly showed a sense of despair and fear that she had not expected from him. He was practically pleading her with his eyes and she felt split between the desire to respect the will of this dragon, and the obligation to the resistance, to Asla and all good citizens of this city to find out more about what was happening in this place of power.
The focus of the blue dragon was back again a neutral gaze as he turned to face the furry dragon that must have turned himself to face him too. "And we certainly are grateful to you for your help in collecting the eggs for the Empress's army," he said, surely smiling mischievously considering his tone of voice. "A very important task that is, entrusted to you, the Governor of the most populous and big city in the realm, and a task that at least you have been able to do," his tone was now tinged by displeasure. "At least you can say you have truly served the empire somehow."
"I did what I had to," he said, in a hesitant tone. "For the good of the empire and for the wishes of my Empress," these last words seemed a little forced in his tone.
"Oh yes," immediately replied the playful voice of the other dragon. "Surely you have done a great service to her too. Just as we are speaking, the last pack of eggs has just arrived at its destination at the Mountain of Malefor," he informed.
The white dragoness' eyes opened wide. That was a discovery, the real discovery that interested them all. A piece of important information for both them and Asla, progress in her mission, something she could bring back!
"That's where you take them, then…" she mumbled to herself.
"But," continued the voice of the dragon. "The advantages of keeping you in your position do not seem to compensate for the disadvantages that your failures in capturing those terrorists of the resistance bring to the empire and its image. You know, you are the head of the capital, the entrusted by the imperial palace and the Empress herself and your failures here can cascade onto the empire as a whole, destroying his capability of keeping peace and order in the realm…" his voice turned into ice as the noise of claw scraping on the floor brought terror to the very heart of the white dragoness who, instinctively, retreated one step back with the little dragon.
"And my master cannot allow something like this to keep happening," continued the dragon. "So I was sent her to thank you for your services…
The tension in the air froze and the feeling of anticipation in her very body and soul was telling the white dragoness to flee but she was frozen too, as the tension, incapable of moving as she tightened her grip on the little hatchling that was trembling and whimpering under her, surely feeling the same danger as she was.
"…and to inform you that your services are no longer required."
Sonohra instinctively took the hatchling between her paws, which had also instinctively turned and sunk his snout into her scales, while she surrounded him for protection as everything that happened next was just a quick brushstroke: a loud noise of something colliding, the clamor of falling objects breaking on the ground, wood bending and breaking, the whole house shaking. Sonohra saw it all unfold before her eyes, something she would never forget and dream about as long as she lived. Fenris was on the governor, the blue dragon on the ground, the fangs of the furred dragon at the throat of the blue one, the blood staining blue and then dripping and leaking on the floor, Sky's gaze that was dull and dead and directed towards them, towards where his son was. A lonely tear ran from his right eye as he passed, closing the curtain on his life, exactly with the image of his son curling up in an unknown dragoness, both of them now in danger. The choices and the mistakes of someone couldn't justify this useless death…
But Sonohra couldn't sit there and watch, she had to unlock herself and go away from there. Licht grunted out of fear when his father was attacked and immediately Fenris, his dirty fangs covered in blood and his feline yellow eyes completely lost in craziness, snapped his gaze up towards that hole in the door where, until a few seconds before were the two dragons. With a speed she never believed she could reach, Sonohra and the little one made it to lock themselves in the front row. She didn't have time to run down the aisle, so that was the best idea at that moment. She didn't close the door, for she could have made a suspecting noise and Fenris was already out, looking for them…
She stood there, right behind the door, peeping from the small opening, terrorized. Licht was strangely silent and calm between her paws. But she did not have time to thank the ancestors for this, because they weren't to be thanked yet as they were still in danger.
From that little slit, she could see Fernis in the hallway. He jumped out, destroying the door in the process, and now he stood motionless there in the center, illuminated by the flickering golden light of the room behind him. The dragon had blood all over his jaw, his teeth stained with it, and droplets of red liquid were falling from his mouth and onto the floor, staining and soiling it with a reddish color and an iron stink. The dragon's eyes were wide open, almost insane, searching for the source of the noise.
The dragon could not find them by their smell as blood stink covered all the place, but Sonohra thought for a moment if the mad dragon was able to catch her out smelling the fear emanating from her and the little dragon.
Suddenly, the bloody dragon looked in her direction. The dragoness' heart lost a beat, choking in her fear to keep silent, and her eyes widened in terror.
Fenris was slowly approaching her door, smelling, and growling as something must have attracted his attention toward that door.
Sonohra felt the adrenaline flow, her muscles stiffened, ready for action. She strengthened her grip on the puppy who hid in response even more in her scales. She wasn't going to go down without putting up a fight for her and also for Licht. Without even noticing it, she kept her breath and suppressed her fear, the tension high in her whole body but ready to fight, as the wild beast settled in front of the door, blocking the light, stretching his paw to-
"My lord!" called a known voice, in an urgent tone.
Fenris snapped to the source of the voice, his growl even higher and dangerous with a clear hint of warning, but he calmed down as he the source of the voice and Sonohra too from the crack of the door separating her and Licht from death.
The butler ape had come running down the stairs and corridor, if his short and fatigued breath was a clue, and stopped in front of the door to take back air in his lungs after having called his master with the last breath he had left. But then, even he had to note that something was not right because the dragon in front of him was covered in blood, and from the open door of the governor he must surely be able to see governor Sky's corpse lying on the floor, staining in a pool of his blood.
The ape did not say anything for a while, probably shocked.
"What is it?!" growled Fenris, impatiently and completely uninterested in his current aesthetic physical condition.
The ape jumped in surprise as if he forgot where he was and what he had to say, but he was quick to recover, straightening his position, smoothing his vest, but at the same time pulling the collar on the neck, nervously as he spoke. "A rebellion, Sir," he said, a hint of trembling in his voice. "The prisoners in the arena have managed to get out and are wreaking havoc throughout the whole city as we speak."
Fenris growled furiously and without a second glance at the ape, he darted down the aisle, disappearing from her sight and probably from the structure.
The ape remained there, looking to his left at what was supposed to be the corpse of his governor. He took a shaky breath, his shoulders dropped, his head low. The next moment, though, he recomposed again, taking a deep breath, shaking his head a little, and putting his garments in place once again with discipline as if nothing had happened. As he did so, his gaze moved to the door to the right, the one that kept Sonohra and Licht hidden inside.
Fear never left Sonohra, even when Fenris went away, the tension was still high in her body, the adrenaline still running in her blood, making her ready for a fight. But now, she knew she had more chances to get out of that place alive as an ape like this was much easier to pull down than a mad dragon that had almost killed them all several times.
She stretched her claws, ready as the ape reached the door with its paw, slowly with those small fingers contracting slightly.
He was about to open it and Sonohra was again ready to leap, her muscles stiff and ready to jump, to silence the ape for good and have enough time for her and Licht to escape from this hell.
The ape took the doorknob and simply closed the door, without making a sound.
Sonohra remained there with Licht, closed in a now dark room, where nothing could be heard but the furious beating of her own heart.