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After Kyren's announcement, Arthur's heart felt as though it was ready to beat out of his chest, and he had to fight to keep it under control.
"Excuse me, sirs. I must check under this table now." Arthur declared as he approached.
The four men appeared average and unassuming, yet the one Kyren referred to as 'the big guy' sat a head taller than the rest.
"What the fuck are you doing, kid?" The big guy asked, clearly not amused by his antics.
"Ah!" Arthur quickly covered his mouth with both hands and took a step back. "You used a bad word..."
"Pfft!" One of the men fought back a laugh.
The big guy glared at the man who laughed before returning his gaze to Arthur. "What are you doing?"
"That's right! I could just ask you!" Arthur cheered. "I'm looking for my friend Foster. He went missing!"
"Oh, Yeah?" The big guy asked as his eyes fell upon the slim sword on Arthur's hip. "What's your name, kid?"
"My name?" Arthur pointed to himself, mirroring Harkon's innocence from earlier in the day. "I'm Arthur Revan, and I'm twelve."
Arthur announced his age unprovoked so that even if they suspected little lords had more opportunities, they wouldn't imagine he had mana. Of course, he lied and said he was younger than he was, just to be sure.
The four men shot glances at each other before the big guy spoke. "Revan? As in Marquis Revan?"
Arthur smiled proudly. "Yup, that's my father!"
The moment the words exited his mouth, the big guy looked behind Arthur toward the silent barkeep. The sketchy action made it clear to him that something was wrong at The Cat's Cradle.
However, the fact that these men didn't know who Arthur was right away affirmed to him that Elyria probably wasn't involved in Foster's disappearance.
"You said you were looking for a guy named Foster, right?" The big guy smirked before calling out to the barkeep. "Hey Ivan, you know a guy named Foster?"
"Isn't Ivan an Agelian name, kid?" Kyren asked as he rubbed his chin and scanned his memories.
Arthur's mind raced because Kyren was correct. Ivan was one of the most common Agelian names. He refused to believe it was a coincidence that a man with an Agelian name happened to be at the place where two of his guards had gone missing, especially after the Agelian attacks in the capital.
If they truly were Agelian, then it would explain the disappearances. After all, they need a mass sacrifice to open a portal to Minaan's realm.
"Oh, Foster?" Ivan chuckled in a friendly manner. "He's a regular. He should be downstairs resting after a rough night. Follow me, and I'll bring you to him."
"I'll go and check it out." Kyren said as he phased through the door behind Ivan.
Arthur felt like he was suffocating as his mind parsed the new information he had gathered. If it were only some thugs, as he had first thought, he at least felt somewhat confident winning in a fight.
However, he didn't stand a chance if they managed to summon an abyssal. Arthur felt tempted to attack immediately and let the chips fall where they may but decided against it.
If, after killing the Agelians, it turned out that Foster and Harkon weren't in the building, he'd never be able to find them again. It wasn't like he could take one hostage and ask them about the location of his guards. He'd be far too concerned with just surviving the ordeal himself.
"Did he drink too much again?" Arthur asked, playing along with the charade.
"That's right. Come now. I mustn't leave the tavern unattended for too long." Ivan said as he beckoned Arthur with a smile. "Barro, watch the place for me while I'm away."
Barro was another common Agelian name. It seemed they believed Arthur was too young to make the Agelian connection, or they simply didn't care if he did.
"Got it, boss." The big guy replied.
Ivan opened a door behind the bar counter that led to a basement before descending the candle-lit stairway with Arthur in tow. His nerves had reached their limits, and Arthur was ready to make a move the moment Ivan showed any signs of aggression.
Kyren came shooting up the stairs. "You need to leave now! They already got the portal open!"
Arthur wasted no time and immediately raised his right arm, shooting out the blade hidden within his sleeve. The blade made a faint shredding sound as it passed through the fabric covering it, and at that moment, Ivan suddenly flinched as if he had heard it.
Ivan began to turn his head, but before he could, the blade had already passed clean through his skull and returned to its sheath. Arthur lunged forward, grabbing the man's body as it went limp before pulling it onto himself with all the strength a thirteen-year-old boy could muster. A soft thump echoed through the quiet stairway.
Arthur pushed Ivan's body aside and caught his breath, but everything suddenly went quiet as he glanced at Ivan's corpse. Beat by beat his heart thumped until his racing pulse drowned out the world around him.
It wasn't guilt or shame that he felt. He had no remorse for killing a man intent on murdering a child. Nithe wasn't Earth, and moral adaptability was essential for surviving in a world where the value of human life was lower.
The reason for Arthur's pounding heart was the emptiness he witnessed within Ivan's lifeless eyes. Followed by the subsequent thought that had he made a mistake, Arthur likely would have been the one listening to nihility's siren song instead.
"Kid, you gotta go!" Kyren screamed.
Arthur jerked his body as if woken from a dream and immediately gasped for air. It felt as if he hadn't taken a breath since killing Ivan, and he was a moment away from passing out.
"Are they still alive?" Arthur whispered in between ragged breaths as he clutched his chest.
"Did you not hear me!" Kyren roared. "They already opened the portal! And besides, you look half dead from launching a tiny little blade! Are you trying to get yourself killed!? Don't forget, kid. I'm stuck like this if you die!"
"Are. They. Alive?" Arthur repeated his question through his teeth.
"You've gotta be shitting me, kid!" Kyren grabbed his hair in frustration before taking a deep breath and calming himself down. "I don't know, alright? There's gotta be fifty bodies down there with another hundred or so locked in cages wearing marinite collars around their necks."
Arthur remained silent as he weighed his options and attempted to get his breathing under control.
Seeing Arthur's unperturbed attitude, Kyren's frustration resurfaced. "Those collars mean they can't use magic, you know! You'd be on your own, and there are three more of those shits down there!"
"How many circles do they have?" Arthur asked as he shakily lifted himself.
Kyren stared at Arthur for a moment before sighing. "Only one's a mage. He's a third circle. The basement's empty, but a hidden tunnel behind the wine rack leads to a large chamber. That's where they're performing the ritual."
"Was that so hard?" Arthur laughed despite feeling as though every cell in his body was screaming to flee.
His body hesitated to step down the stairs as if instinctively avoiding an action that would cause it pain. Arthur despised feeling controlled, even if it was his own subconscious attempting to preserve his life.
Through sheer defiance of himself, he pushed his foot forward and stepped down the stairs. Once in the basement, Arthur ran over to the wine rack Kyren had described.
It seemed as though the Agelians didn't bother pushing the wine rack back in place to hide the tunnel as it sat at an angle separated from the wall behind it.
Arthur silently thanked the Agelian's laziness as he entered the tunnel. It would've wasted time and effort had he been forced to figure out some secret mechanism—or worse, to try and move the massive rack by hand.
Arthur was surprised by the size of the tunnel. It was easily large enough to fit a small carriage, should it be required to do so. Wooden support beams lined the earthen walls every ten to twenty feet, with a lit torch illuminating the area on every other beam.
After a few steps, Arthur could hear a faint chant resonating through the tunnel over a symphony of screams and shouts. He looked back to check on Kyren, who had been far quieter than usual, and shook his head when he saw the ghost grumbling.
Kyren likely believed Arthur was being foolish, but his mind was clear despite the havoc his fear was playing on his body. If he had fled like Kyren had wanted him to, he would've had to fight the four men upstairs, who would've seen him coming the moment he opened the basement door.
He might've been able to trick them and take down one or two, but once that happened, he'd be left fighting grown men in a child's body. At least by going down the tunnel, he'd have the element of surprise with the possibility of finding help should things go his way.
The frantic shouts and chanting grew louder with each step he took, and before long, Arthur came upon a dim earthen chamber. He pressed his body to the tunnel wall and scanned the area.
Half a dozen identical tunnels marked the chamber walls, and nearby, he could see cages tightly packed with all manner of people. Some were pleading, some crying, and some shouting obscenities in a blind rage. However, they each wore a metallic collar made of marinite, even the children who couldn't possibly have mana.
A man in crimson robes stood chanting in the center of the chamber, his back facing Arthur. In front of him, two men held a sobbing woman upon a stone altar before a swirling crimson portal. In between frenzied sobs, she desperately pleaded for mercy as the chanting man in crimson robes grew closer.
In response, Arthur entered the dim chamber and quietly inched closer. Some shouting prisoners saw him and abruptly stopped their cries, but Arthur's eyes remained focused on the people surrounding the altar.
As Arthur closed half the distance, the man in crimson ran a small ceremonial blade across the pleading woman's throat. Arthur instinctively shut his eyes and frowned. He would've liked to have saved her if he could, but he was no hero.
He couldn't throw caution to the wind for the sake of others, especially those he didn't even know. His fear would prevent him from acting upon such an urge even if he wanted to.
As the woman's blood shot out of her carotid artery like a fountain, it froze mid-air and drifted toward the crimson portal before sinking within. Arthur knew the followers of Minaan used blood to open the portal to Minaan's realm, but he didn't realize they actually formed it from the blood itself.
By the time the last drop of blood was extracted, Arthur was only twenty feet away, but as the two men lifted the woman's body, they turned to each other with a confused expression.
Arthur immediately realized what had caused their perplexity. It was dead silent in the chamber as most prisoners had spotted Arthur creeping toward the Agelian men and stopped their shouting in response.
Realizing that he only had a moment to strike before they, too, discovered him, Arthur placed his weight on his hind leg, readying himself to dash forward.
As he lifted his foot to begin, an explosion rocked the chamber, causing a light hail of pebbles and dust to rain down on them.
Arthur instinctively turned his head to ensure he wasn't within the blast and discovered that the explosion had come from the direction of The Cat's Cradle. Then, turning his head back around, he found the three Agelian men staring at him with fierce expressions.284Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5WC9AYxX9
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