The room was almost claustrophobically small, but it was clean and quiet and looked even safe. Nesha was lying on a simple bed, the only real piece of furniture there, and stared at the ceiling. She was in Inggison. And they have healed her. But they must have recognised her, because this looked more like a prison than an infirmary. And the aether-cuffs around her ankles were just a bonus. Her chest and arms hurt with sharp pain and were wrapped in bandages soaked in odella paste, but without access to aether the healing was very, very slow. They made sure she wouldn't die, but after that they did very little to ease her pain. She was a prisoner. Again. The only option left for her. She didn't belong to the Asmodians and neither to the Elyos. She had no purpose. The door opened and someone entered.
"Nesh, how are you doing?" Ylrian asked.
I'm fine, she wanted to say, but it required too much effort to even open her mouth.
"I'm sorry," he sighed.
Why?
"I tried to convince them to move you to a better room, but Lord Kaisinel insisted you're a traitor, so you'll remain prisoner until he says otherwise."
Fine.
"I see you're not in the mood for talking. I'll let you rest and come back later."
No, don't go!
As the door closed behind him, all she could do was to clench her fists. Tears rolled from her eyes.
~ o ~
Right before she would hit the roof, Aielyn spread her wings and landed on her feet. She risked a look behind. The mech walked towards the edge, charged his cannon and shot not at her, but to the air. A few seconds later a piercing sound almost split her ears. Maybe trying two labs in a row was a bad idea. She found a glass roof window, through which she could see into a lab with a few people in coats and lots of chemicals. She stamped on it, twice, and the glass broke. As the Lepharists looked up, she threw down a tripeed fruit. Unlike the seed, it could create potent explosions. Smoke burst from the broken window, but she was already running away. She had only one more fruit and had to make it count before the guards caught up to her. She noticed several guards running out of the building and aiming their guns at her. In an instant she ducked behind a chimney. Maybe I have overestimated myself. Or underestimated them. Or both. One of the plus sides of the location this deep in the canyon was the abundance of shadows. She stepped into them, ran carefully to the edge of the roof and threw the remaining tripeed fruit at the gunner squad. It exploded in a cloud of spores and she could run around them towards the western exit path. I hope the distraction worked. But I have to get out now! She shot several aetheric arrows at a nearby pole holding metallic wires, which crashed down right in front of the pursuing guards. One of them, however, got lucky and his shot hit her left arm. She dropped the bow. Without the time to pick it up she just ran as fast as possible. She could see the beginning of her escape path. Just as she leapt over a toppled barrel, a new mech emerged from the large door. The person riding it had not only special goggles, but also a lab coat and bright pink hair. Issalla. Israphel's head scientist. The mech aimed and a ball of bright, sparkly aether hit her. As she fell to the ground, she heard Issalla shouting orders, but couldn't understand the words.
~ o ~
Lonewolf quickly walked to the table. The woman... Sigwyn... his wife... was unconscious and her copper-coloured hair was unevenly cut and spread around her head like a halo. Her chest was moving, she was alive! He searched for a way to release her. The straps she was bound with were reinforced with wiry mesh and secured with locks.
"Tatran, the keys," he hissed and the spiritmaster watching at the door tossed him two rings with several keys each. Lonewolf tried every single one, but none worked. "Dammit! None of them work!"
He tried to cut the straps with his dagger, but the metal was too durable.
"Sigwyn, hold on, we'll get you out of here, I promise. Tatran, do you have any spells to cut metal?"
The spiritmaster walked over to him.
"This looks like an aetherlock."
"Which means?"
"All these wires are collecting aether from the surroundings and conducting it through the entire mechanism. It needs a key and aether to unlock. Go keep watch, this will take a while."
"But you can open it, right?"
"With enough time, yes."
Lonewolf walked to the door and closed it just enough to make it look closed, but left a tiny space for him to hear the sounds from the outside. He put his longbow against the wall and prepared his dagger. Tatran began trying the keys again. When he found one that could have the correct shape, he tapped his aether-enhancing jewel and concentrated. Lonewolf couldn't see what exactly was happening, only a faint shimmer of aether around the lock. Quick steps sounded outside. His muscles tensed, but relaxed again, when the steps receded. He glanced back at Tatran, who was still struggling with the first lock. Come on... The seconds felt like minutes. Another set of steps sounded from the outside. This time with urgent voices. They discovered the dead and the unconscious and were now looking for the intruders. Just as they were passing by, the first lock clicked and fell to the floor. And the Lepharists noticed it. Lonewolf pulled out a tripeed seed, infused it with aether and as the Lepharists were arguing about who will open the door, he quickly opened it, threw the seed under their feet and attacked them with the dagger. The seed sprouted into vines and bound their legs. Their surprise was enough for the ranger to stab one in his chest and hit the other in his head. Both fell down.
"Hurry," the ranger growled, as he pulled the bodies into the lab. He knew nagging would be pointless, but he wasn't in the state to resist it.
"These will go faster," Tatran said, as he worked on the second lock. And indeed, in the time it took him to open the first one, he unlocked the next three. Three more remained. "Get their shoes in the meantime."
Lonewolf quickly checked the hallway. No one was there, so he started taking off the shoes from the Lepharists. The one, who was just unconscious groaned and opened his eyes, when Lonewolf was also taking off his lab coat. The ranger immediately stopped what he was doing, grabbed his neck and pressed him to the wall.
"One loud sound and I'm breaking your neck, understood?" he whispered. The Lepharist nodded. "Good. How many prisoners like this one are here?"
"Nine... eight... one was removed today..."
"This hall doesn't have that many doors. Where do you keep them?"
"I-I don't know... I'm just an assistant..."
"Sure, and I'm the Empyrean Lord of braxshit detection. Where do you keep the rest of the people?"
"But... it would have to be on the other side of the Cauldron."
"Cauldron? What's that?"
"You're here and don't know what Cauldron is?" the Lepharist's eyes widened in surprise.
"What. Is. It?" Lonewolf squeezed his throat a bit harder.
"Sorry! Sorry! It's the heart of the lab, where aetherium is made!"
"What's aetherium?"
"Are you guys real? It's... that..." he pointed at the table with unconscious Sigwyn. "The metal. It's... special..."
"Done," Tatran opened the last lock and removed the straps. Then he checked the shoes, one pair seemed to be better fit than what he had, so he quickly changed.
"We're also done," Lonewolf pressed the Lepharist's neck a bit more, until he lost consciousness. Then he removed his lab coat and draped it over Sigwyn. She still wasn't waking up, so he gently and carefully picked her up from the table.
"Let's go find others."
"We won't be able to carry everyone," Tatran objected.
"I know. But some of them might be able to walk."
They continued through the hallway, the spiritmaster at the front with his aether-enhancing jewel ready to cast a spell. In the next door, there was another table and an Asmodian man on it with various tubes and infusions attached to his body. His black veins were visible on his pale grey skin and pulsed with dim green light. Tatran killed him and destroyed the machinery with one aether blast.
Next room was empty and smelled of fresh disinfectant.
The last door on this hallway led to a spacious room filled with colours. As soon as they opened the door, a blob of bright orange paint hit the door frame.
"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know someone was coming!" There were splotches of bright colourful paints everywhere and in the middle of it sat a young woman with a colourful gun in her hands. As she noticed Tatran's serious expression, she immediately dropped the gun. "I'm not attacking you! I'm just a good girl with some paints, right?" she looked to her left. "Right?" she looked to her right. "Yes, I am nice today. Wait, you're not doctor Negon!"
"No, we're not, who are you?" the spiritmaster asked, frowning, watching her. She had paint stains everywhere, except in her snow white hair. Her fingers had claws, but her skin's shade of brown was too warm to be Asmodian. And something in her eyes was unnerving and it wasn't only the fact that one eye was cyan and the other bright green. And a gemstone on a thin metallic band around her neck was glowing yellow.
"I'm Stain, but you should know that, right?" she looked to her left. Between the splotches of paint there was a crude white shape resembling a person. On the other side of the room was a similar shape, but in black. "Yes, everyone knows that. Oh, wait, wait, wait!" she jumped to her feet and alternated her gaze between Tatran and Lonewolf. "You're not from here! You're the intruders! I heard the alarm! And you're taking her out? Will you take me too?"
~ o ~
There was pain everywhere, overflowing her body and seeping into her soul. Someone smacked her face. And again. Aielyn opened her eyes and immediately closed them. The light was too bright! She realised she was laid down on something hard and her hands and feet were tied.
"She's awake!" someone said. They slapped her again.
"So, dear, who are you?" a strict female voice asked. When she didn't respond, the interrogator grabbed her chin and turned her head to the side. Claws dug into her skin. Aielyn opened her eyes and saw a round face framed by pink curly hair. A gaze from white eyes was piercing through her. "I asked you something. Answer."
Aielyn yelped in pain. Then the pain stopped and she saw it weren't claws, but long nails. Pink.
"I'm no one important. You're wasting your time."
"I'll do what I want with my time, dear," Issalla smiled. "Tell me, who are the others, who came with you?"
"I was alone, don't you remember?"
"Don't play dumb. Who are the other intruders?"
Aielyn didn't respond.
"As you wish, dear," Issalla took a syringe and started filling it from a vial of something bright pink. "But if you change your mind, you have time until this forces you."
"They are better than me."
"How very clever, dear. Time's up."
~ o ~
Lonewolf and Tatran looked at each other. Is this happening?
"You want to go with us?" the ranger asked, not sure whether to believe her or not.
"Yes, yes, I haven't been outside, since... well, since I got here," Stain turned around on one foot. "And I'm bored! And I can help you, that's what you want, right?" She spread her arms and gestured to the two figure paintings on the walls. Bubbles of paint separated from them and floated to her, settling on her earlobes like earrings.
"Sure, take what you need and come with us. And hurry," Lonewolf said. That's why we're here.
"Oh, no, no, no! I can't!" she pointed at the metallic collar. "Not with this! You need to remove it first. It hurts if I leave the room."
Tatran sighed and entered the room, trying not to step into any paint. In about half a minute he drained the aether from the gemstone and the collar fell off.
"Done, let's go."
They left the room and at the intersection they immediately understood where the Cauldron was. Orange light was coming from the hallway on the left. Lonewolf checked the fire evacuation plans again. He also had to put Sigwyn over his shoulder. He would much rather carry her in his arms, but this place was too dangerous for that. He needed at least one hand free.
"So, you're a prisoner, but you're allowed to have guns?" Tatran asked with suspicion, when Stain caught up with them. She had two guns at her hips and a blanket-turned-backpack full of something.
"Well, those are just paint guns... they thought it would be safer to let me tinker than to have paint everywhere."
"This way," Lonewolf pointed at the middle hallway. "The prisoners should be here," he tapped on the plan. "After that, we'll go here, that looks like an escape route towards Geroch Caldera."
"What about the Cauldron, shouldn't we... destroy it, or something?" Stain asked. "Oh, hello!" she pulled one of her guns, aimed it at two scientists, who appeared in the short hallway from the Cauldron, and shot twice. They fell to the floor with blue paint splashed on their faces. She giggled. "And good night."
"Just paint guns, and what was that?" Tatran frowned.
"It's a gun that shoots paint," she holstered the gun and ran her finger over her arm. "And I add aether to the paint. And it does stuff," the paint rolled over her finger, until it formed a red bead around two or three centimeters big. "Blue is for sleeping. At least if it hits your face. Here, if you get into trouble, just throw it," she offered the bead to him.
"And what does red do?"
"Explode, what else?"
"Keep it. Let's move," the spiritmaster shook his head and took the lead again. Stain slouched, but followed.
They reached the hallway with another set of doors. This time there were guards. As Tatran and Stain started fighting them, Lonewolf gently laid his wife on the ground behind a corner and shot several aetheric arrows at the guards. They didn't have a chance against two elite daevas and a crazy one. Tatran opened the first door and closed it right away with disgust.
"They have a fucking Balaur here."
"Then kill it."
"Balaur? Let me see, I've never seen one!" Stain ran to the door.
"How? Everyone must know the Balaur?" Tatran couldn't believe her.
"Yes, yes, I've seen the pictures in books, but the books in the orphanage were trash. I've never seen one alive."
"Stop, just kill it and move," Lonewolf growled at them. He carried Sigwyn closer and laid her down behind the door to give her cover. "Let's quickly check the others... where's Stain?" The girl was there, just a moment ago. He stopped watching her just for a moment...
"What? She was here," Tatran walked out of the prison room with fading sparks of aether around his hands. "Lonewolf, if she ran off on her own, we can't afford to look for her."
"I know."
The ranger opened the next door. Inside was a male Balaur with pale bluish grey skin, black claws and several bone protuberances on its bald head. It was tied to a device, which seemed to either add something to its blood or take the blood away. Or both.
"Another one," he grimaced and let Tatran deal with it.
In the third room was also a Balaur. And in a similar device. This time it was a female with dark violet skin and white hair. It looked almost human. Lonewolf only recognised it as a Balaur only because of its tail and white horns.
"Tatran," he called his companion. "Have you seen this before?"
The spiritmaster walked over to the door. And his pale skin became a few shades lighter.
"Yes," he said, his voice tense. "In Kurngalfberg, just before it froze over. It's Ereshkigal's."
"Shit."
"It makes sense. The Balaur would take advantage of our weakened state. And if Ereshkigal's troops got close enough to be captured, they are already taking it."
"We have to get this to Lady Triniel."
"I agree."
"Take care of it."
The room behind the fourth door was empty. He was about to give up on opening the last door, when he heard a scream from behind it. He found the correct key and opened the door. Inside was a Reian man, very thin, his wings were butchered and his hands were bound with aether-cuffs. His body was convulsing. Lonewolf walked over to him and gripped the man's shoulders. After several seconds the spasms faded and the man opened his eyes, looking confused and scared.
"What happened to you?" Lonewolf asked. When the man didn't respond, he added: "We'll get you out and then to Kamar. Can you walk?"
"What? Who are you?"
"I'm called Lonewolf. We're here to destroy this lab and get you out."
"I... I'm Ortiz," he said, breathing heavily. "They keep taking my blood. I... I can walk, but slowly. Have you found Hildi?"
"Who's Hildi?"
"She was my colleague in Gelkmaros. We were... watching the Dragonbound. When the war started, we were too slow to evacuate and one day I woke up here. I think she was here too, but I haven't seen her in... a long time."
"We didn't find any other Reians here," Lonewolf shook his head. "Let's go, we have to hurry."
"Yes, that sounds... it makes sense," Ortiz nodded.
Lonewolf helped him get up and they walked out of the room. He waved at Tatran and before he could say anything, he heard a noise, as if something was rolling over the uneven floor and it was coming closer. And from the direction where Sigwyn was! He let go of Ortiz and prepared his longbow with an aetheric arrow. Stain appeared in the hallway, pushing a lab cart in front of her.
"Hey, hi, it's just me, don't shoot!" she waved at them. "Look what I found?"
"Where the fuck did you go?" Tatran dispersed the aether he was preparing to blast her with.
"To get this," she pointed at the cart. "He was carrying her all the time and he can't do that for long, so it's easier to put her here and go. Also I found some papers, wanna look at them?"
"Let me see," Lonewolf said and took one folder from the pile on the cart. "Records of their experiments. Quite detailed. Yeah, it can be useful," he put all the folders into his cube, then looked at the cart and at Stain. "Next time, say something before you leave."
"Sure thing!"
"Did anyone see you?" he asked, as he moved Sigwyn to the cart. In the meantime, Tatran opened Ortiz's aether-cuffs.
"Yeah, I think so," Stain tilted her head to the side. "But don't worry, I killed them."
"Alright, let's leave. I think the closest exit is this way," he pointed further to the hallway.
"Wait a moment!" Stain stopped him. "What about the Cauldron? Shouldn't we... destroy it or something?"
"I agree with her," Tatran said reluctantly. "We're here already, let's use it."
"Alright, you and Stain go to destroy the Cauldron, but catch up with us as soon as possible. I'll take Sigwyn and Ortiz out."
The spiritmaster only nodded and turned around. The brightly coloured daeva followed him.
"Ortiz, let's go."
~ o ~
Tatran was carefully watching the Stain girl. She looked young, maybe in her early twenties, but her aether manipulation was too precise, which meant she had to Ascend a long time ago and had a very good training. He couldn't imagine anyone anywhere to give this level of training to such an obvious half-breed. He didn't trust her. Even her name sounded fake. But he had to work with her, at least until they got out of here.
"Where did you learn to manipulate paints like that?"
"Oh? I figured that out myself," she shrugged and reloaded her guns with vials containing red paint. "I always liked painting and when I Ascended, the paint came to life."
He wanted to ask more questions, but they entered the gallery above the Cauldron and he had to concentrate on the current enemies.
"Hi," Stain waved at the closest duo of guards on the gallery and threw the red bead from earlier at them. The explosion made Tatran deaf for a few seconds and blew up that entire section of the gallery.
He summoned a fire spirit near the giant containers below and let it loose. Fire spirits usually didn't last long, but left unchecked they could do a lot of damage. He gathered aether and blasted the closest container. The metal budged, but didn't break. He looked around for some clues for where they could do the most harm.
"Stain, blast off that pipe, the one at..." he turned around and saw her at the same spot as before, unmoving, staring at the other side of the gallery. A woman in a pristine white cloak and with bright pink hair just entered the same gallery. Tatran froze. His muscles tensed, his breathing became shallower and faster and he could hear his heartbeat quicken. He knew this appearance well and would recognise it anywhere. Issalla. She saw the havoc in the Cauldron and with an angry expression she pulled a huge key from her pocket. Before she could use it, Stain let out an inarticulate scream, unholstered her guns and started shooting at the head scientist. The entire room shook with explosions, quite a lot of them secondary. He lost his footing and fell to the floor. Several parts of the gallery collapsed. Through the smoke and steam he saw something move on a pile of rubble down below. He focused, quietly cursed and got up. His fire spirit was no longer there, so he channeled the aether to call an earth spirit from the pile of rubble to raise the half conscious Elyos girl to the gallery.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he grunted as he helped her up. "Didn't you say you just went to distract them?"
"Uh... hm..." she clearly had trouble focusing her eyes on him. "They caught me..."
Tatran rolled his eyes and looked at Stain. She was still standing at the same spot, now pulling triggers on her guns even after she ran out of paint.
"Fuck this, can you walk?" he asked the Elyos who's name he didn't bother to remember.
"May... be..."
He let her go and walked over to Stain.
"Hey, we destroyed it. We have to go now," he carefully put his hand on her arm. She twitched and looked at him. Her eyes were glowing red.
"Is... is she dead?"
"No idea," he said. "I hope so. If we leave now, she can't hurt you, even if she survived."
Stain nodded, the glow in her eyes subsided and the two original colours returned. She reloaded her guns, one with blue vial, the other with red and walked towards the exit Lonewolf talked about earlier. Tatran followed her. He rolled his eyes, when he saw the Elyos blonde slowly walking along the wall, holding onto it for stability. Without a word he took her arm and led her away.
~ o ~
When the escape tunnel became too steep, Lonewolf had to leave the cart and carry Sigwyn again. And even then he had to wait for Ortiz several times, as the Reian was in really bad condition and on the verge of fainting. Finally they reached the end of the tunnel. It was barricaded with planks and rocks, but a few minutes of investigation showed it was just for masking the exit from the outside. When they left, he found a well hidden cave nearby, where they could rest. He fetched Tatran and Stain, when they also exited the tunnel and to his surprise Aielyn was with them and in a bad shape.
After Ortiz and Aielyn fell into sleep and Stain started painting over the cave walls, Tatran joined him at the entrance. For several moments they just stared ahead, keeping watch.
"Thank you for bringing Aielyn with you," he said.
"She said she was captured," Tatran frowned. "And they clearly drugged her. And it looked real. But I still don't trust her."
"I don't expect you to," Lonewolf shook his head. "I'm just glad she's... if you left her there, I would have never known."
"True."
"Can you keep watch for a bit alone? I'll go find some food, I don't have enough in my cube for all of us."
Tatran nodded. Lonewolf climbed down from the cave to the part of the mountains that resembled path. He was tired, but he still could go on for a few hours. The mountains appeared barren, but an experienced ranger knew how to look for edible plants. Within minutes he found the first zeyla, an almost flavorless vegetable that had a lot of nutrients. He picked as many of them as he could find and was also lucky enough to discover a meon berry bush. When he thought he had enough at least for today, he returned back to the cave. As he was getting closer, he heard a noise from there. He quickly climbed to the entrance.
"Sigwyn!" he called, as he saw his wife awake and holding Aielyn by her neck. Ortiz and Tatran tried to talk with her, but weren't accomplishing much. Her eyes burned with red.
"It's an Elyos!" she didn't seem to notice it was him who was talking.
"Yes," he said and walked towards her. "She looks like an Elyos, you're right," he gently put his hand on her arm. "But she's not like them, she grew up in Kamar. Inside she's basically Reian. She's an ally."
"Really?" she looked at him. There was a violet paint smudge on her cheek. "Are you real?"
"Yes," he smiled and pulled the platinum ring with a sapphire from his pocket. "You lost something."
She let go of Aielyn, the glow in her eyes retreated into black and she hugged him.
"I missed you. I thought you died."
"I was looking for you. But I couldn't find you. I'm... I love you, Mer."
"I love you, Wolf."
~ o ~
It was always like this. Every session with Darrand, who insisted she shouldn't call him Mister, ended up with Cathy on the ground with something hurting.
"This is enough for today, my Lady," the templar said and offered his hand to help her stand up.
"I'm sorry," Cathy replied as she handed the training staff to him.
"That's not how to end a session, my Lady, you have nothing to apologise for."
"But I keep messing up. I... I can't..."
"Yes, you make mistakes, but often different mistakes. That means you're learning. The only mistake you're repeating is closing your eyes. If you want to focus on something, then this."
"Alright," she took a deep breath. She wasn't convinced, she still felt like a failure, but repeating it only annoyed people. "Thank you for the session."
"We'll continue tomorrow, my Lady," he bowed.
"Ah, here you are, you coward!" a woman in plain infirmary clothing stormed into the training area. Her dark crimson hair was messy and looked like a fire. "How the fuck is someone like you allowed to teach anyone about fighting?" she grabbed a training staff and pointed it at Darrand.
"Go back to the infirmary, Shairun," Darrand said. "You can bring that up with Lady Triniel after you recover."
"Fuck you and your condescending attitude! You ran away, when the rest of us were fighting!"
"I didn't run away!" he raised his voice and turned to the woman. "I was following Lord Zikel's orders!"
Cathy decided it would be wiser to get a bit farther from them, in case the two Lord Zikel's Wings started fighting. If it came to that, it would be very dangerous to remain around.
"Braxshit! Lord Zikel would never order anyone to not fight!"
"He ordered me to protect the people of Asmodae, so I did!"
"Oh, and that went so well."
There was a brief pause in their argument. Cathy was already around the corner, so she didn't see their expressions, but she was certain Darrand was angry.
"Go back to the infirmary, Shairun."
Yes, he's angry. A lot.
There was a scream and then the sound of impact. So they started fighting. Cathy hummed a melody to calm herself down. I'll just stay here. Darrand doesn't like it when I run off somewhere. But it's too dangerous there. So I'll stay here and wait for them to finish. Someone passed by at the intersection on the other side of the hallway and Cathy heard a sound of a person falling and then sobbing? She went there to see what happened. A servant was kneeling near the wall, her shoulders twitching.
"Uhm, hello? Are you alright?" Cathy crouched next to her and touched that person's shoulder.
"Yes, yes, of course," the servant said and looked at her. She had grey, almost silver hair, but other than that looked young. As Cathy was staring at the horrible scar on the woman's face, something cold wrapped around her wrist and clicked and suddenly the aether was leaving her.
"What?" Cathy looked at the metallic band. Aether-cuff?
"You're going with me," the woman's voice became cold.
"No..." the young Asmodian Lady looked around in panic. No one else was there. She screamed, but the woman, an Elyos, covered her mouth.
"Yes, you're coming with me and no, you're not going to call anyone for help."
Cathy still felt the aether around, but the cuff was blocking her access to it. She bit the woman's hand and tried to get away, but the Elyos was holding the other part of the aether-cuffs. Her heart was beating loudly. She screamed for help again. This time the woman punched her in the face. Three times. It hurt. And without aether she couldn't even ease the pain. She tried to get away, but in a few moments the woman pushed her face to the floor and bound both of her hands behind her back. With the full power of the aether-cuffs she felt like suffocating.
"Lady Cathy!" Darrand appeared at the intersection. He drew his sword, aimed at the woman sitting on Cathy's back and an aetheric rope shot towards her.
But at that moment everything disappeared.
Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurred, but she recognised she was somewhere else. Teleportation scroll? She was still on the ground. Somewhere in front of her Darrand was fighting a few people. She could see only outlines, but she recognised her mentor. Where were they? She tried to sit and it worked, no one held her anymore. But her hands were still tied. She tried to move her hands in front of her, but unsuccessfully. More people stormed into the room and started shooting at Darrand. And he didn't have a shield! Something sharp stung into the side of her neck. A few moments later the entire world swayed and became black.