Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Helpless
"<Any word back from Azar?>" Rakon Asked. He scribbled a few more symbols on the parchment, before setting his feathered pen to the side. He looked back at Bjorn awaiting his answer.
"<No word so far…>"
"<Tsk. Two weeks and no response. I should've checked on her before that last match…>" Rakon leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms frustrated. "<And what of the craftsmen and blacksmiths below?>"
"<They already worked out how to make the metal part. Now thanks to that man, we now know how to make the powder too. But they hit a problem.>"
"<And what is that?>"
Bjorn glanced away almost unsure. "<How do I put this? Apparently, the handles are made of special wood. Some wood with… Magic properties to them?>"
"<Wood with magic properties?>" Rakon stroked his chin, curious about this news. "<I don't think I ever heard of wood having magic properties before…>"
Rakon pondered to himself for a little while. "<Does the man know what these trees look like?>"
"<He just said that these woods came from trees that were alive. So perhaps some of the Trent's in the pit will be suitable?>" Bjorn said.
"<Perhaps…>"
Rakon quickly turned his gaze back to the parchment, seeing some of the symbols slowly fade away as if absorbed into the parchment itself. He quickly took the pen, tracing the symbols back.
Just then a small blue demon girl entered Rakon's studies. Rakon narrowed his eyes on the girl.
"<What do you want Mae...?>"
Rakon saw Magnus right behind Mae.
"<Magnus...>"
"<We wanted permission to see the lands beyond this castle.>" Mae stated bluntly.
"<No.>" Rakon said without hesitation.
Mae puffed her cheeks a little and looked back towards Magnus who waited outside. "<I told you so.>"
"<You can explore any part of the castle or dungeon if you want, But I need you all here for when we leave.>" Rakon said. "<I don't need any more surprises.>"
Rakon got up from his seat, finished tracing the symbols. A sudden pain then shot through him like thunder.
He quickly looked at his hands, seeing the black veins returned. He hid his arm taking a moment to calm himself and after a little while, it disappeared.
"<Are you alright?>" Mangus asked.
"<I'm just fine…>" Rakon gave a sigh. "<Like I said, we only have a more couple days, so we all need to be ready to leave.>" Rakon turned his attention back to Bjorn.
"<Bjorn, if you find Gaz tell him I want to see him.>" He glanced back at Mae and Magnus. "<And if you two don't need anything else, you can leave as well.>"
Without another word everyone left, leaving Rakon in his studies.
Just outside the room Bjorn began leaving to complete the order. However, to his own annoyance, Mae and Magnus followed close behind. His curiosity peaked and stopped, turning to the two tailing him from behind. "<Need something?>"
"<You're going to the dungeon, right? Take us with you.>" Mae bluntly said.
Bjorn rolled his eyes, continuing forth. "<Fine but only a few places and that's it.>" With that, the two followed close behind walking through the castle hall.
"<Bjorn. Is there a reason Rakon is holding up in his studies?>" Magnus suddenly asked.
Bjorn glanced behind with some irritation. "<I don't know either. But he seems to be working on contract.>" Mae and Magnus continued to listen intently to Bjorn. "<I could only imagine that he's just making them to pass the time. I heard that he once held himself for over ten years trying to make a contract that extends a person's life… but by the end he burned all of them to ash.>"
"<huh?? That seems like waste… still I didn't know making contracts was his niche.>" Mae said. She then glanced up at Magnus. "<did you know about this?>"
"<I think I've heard inklings here and there. I amused they were only rumors.>"
"<They're far from rumors…>" Bjorn corrected.
He continued. "<From what I'm told it's his favorite hobby. There's no other demon in the pit that understands contracts better than him. In fact, you can say that he's one of the last few demons that know how to make them. Considering that contracts themselves are made using ancient magic…>"
Back with Rakon writing on his parchment he wrote down a few more symbols of the demon language. but a few seconds later they all completely vanished from the parchment.
He slammed his fist down out of frustration, seeing that the entire parchment had now become blank.
"Grrr!! I need something much stronger than this!" he exclaimed.
Rakon grabbed the paper, ripping it and tossing it to the side. He looked in his barrel of wrapped leather and grabbed a scaly looking leather. "Last one… I'll have to make do."
********
Donovan with chained cuffs on his legs pounded the metal in the scorching heat. The flow of lava from some unknown source in the rocky wall made it hard to breathe as he rhythmically pounded the iron into the shape of the pipe.
He felt like he was making pipes for an army ten times the size of his country, all in the last few days alone. He lifted up the hammer, swinging it back down to finish the latest piece. He quickly caught himself on his tool, feeling faint.
"Why couldn't they just let me work the powder, Huh?" He wheezed to himself.
The Demon handling the metal answered. "We only need to know how the powder is made. Besides, we don't need trouble making humans. Especially not one that'll handle something that dangerous and important."
Donovan leered at the demon. "Then just bring me back to the prison."
The demon ignored him, presenting the metal to be worked on. Donovan grimaced seeing this. After resting for a few seconds, he lifted his hammer to strike the metal into shape. "I wonder if Kalika and that maid of hers, made it out."
CLANG
"Hopefully they did."
CLANG
Donovan stopped for a moment, catching his breath for a second. "Hopefully, she finds peace from this place." He lifted his hammer up, striking the pipe into place
Another red-hot metal is presented, and ready to be shaped like the last piece.
Just as he was about to strike the metal, a group of demons joking around passed Donovan. he saw them pointing at him as he glanced their direction.
He clearly understood that they were likely poking fun at his situation, but he paid no mind to them. As he continued to work, he heard them begin to mention Kalika's name followed by laughter shortly after.
Donovan looked back at the group as they continued to walk and bring up Kalika. He turned back to the demon handling the metal. "Hey. What are they talking about?"
"Eh? Who?" The demon cocked his body, looking around Donovan, and listened intently for a moment. "Hmm…"
"Don't pay no mind to them." He presented another piece of hot metal for Donovan.
"Just tell me."
Rolling his eyes the demon finally gives in. "They're talking about that immortal girl. Apparently, there's some game or something. I don't know. Nor do I care." he presented the metal again. "Now hurry up, it's getting cold."
"Wait…She didn't escape…?"Donovan was taken aback, now hearing this new as the demon affirmed his suspicions.
He took a second to himself before taking a deep breath and striking the metal again and again.
Memories of their last conversation where she seemed to be teetering on the edge of despair resurfaced. Concern started to grow within him and as much as he wanted to check on her, he was stuck in chains inside a dungeon still being constructed. And it didn't help that they were constantly bringing strange dangerous creatures from inside the pit.
The pit was practically hard to miss as this level of the dungeon was being built around the entrance to the pit itself. The very home of demons and the monsters the world had yet to know.
Donovan continued his work pounding metal after metal with thoughts racing of what he could do. But no matter how many ways he spun it, He was trapped on the seventh and last floor, forced to work for the demon as a practical slave.
"Why am I so useless!!" He thought to himself.
He sighed, finishing the latest piece. "Sorry Tilus… It looks like I won't be able to keep our promise… I'm sure she's doing alright."
With that last thought, He lifted and slammed his hammer down hard.
CLANG
********
In the dark Prison, Kalika leaned herself at the corner of the stone room that she considered safe and clean. Her nausea had yet to cease and found herself unable to move around much.
"Kalika~." A familiar voice sounded.
Kalika tried to move her gaze in the direction of the sound. "Lily?"
Kalika found Lillian standing over her in her regular attire. She cocked her head with her hands on her cheek. "What should we do today? Hmmm… I can try crushing your heart again. Oh no. How about we see how long until you dry out again. Maybe you'll last a little longer than last time."
"N-no. N-n-no." Kalika said, weakly. She tried pushing Lillian aside only for her hand to pass through, and like smoke, Lillian vanished.
"L-lily? L-lily?" Kalika's voice started to break a little as she looked around the room the best she could. It took her a moment before remembering that Rakon told her that Lillian had died along with the Demon King.
Thinking about it more made a fear creep into her. finally realizing that he always intended to get rid of Lillian and Lucius from the very beginning.
She could swear that she felt a finger touch her chin. as if guided she was brought to the gaze of Rakon. she blushed a little.
It seemed as though he was going to say something but then came to her senses and tried to push his hand away. But like Lillian, he too vanished.
She looked at her trembling hands, confused. She then brought her hands to her face, clutching it tightly as she tried to calm herself. She took breaths in and out trying to stabilize even her own breathing as it shook.
Suddenly a group of demons arrived. She shuddered and balled herself closer to her corner. She shook uncontrollably as a small blue demon girl entered first looking around then turning to Kalika.
"<It stinks!>" She pinched her nose, smelling something pungent. Looking down, she found the remains of Kalika's last meal.
"<This is the human, right?>" Mae said.
Bjorn followed in illuminating the area a little more. Looking at Kalika she looked troubled, Mae and Mangus also took note of this.
"<What's wrong with her?>" Mae asked.
Mae got closer to Kalika, stepping around the strange chunky mess. She cocked her head as she studied Kalika. She noticed the varied blue spots riddled on her body.
"< is she sick?>"
Kalika peeked her head seeing Mae, Bjorn and Magnus.
Bjorn looked closely at Kalika himself. From looking at her, she seemed to be lost, she looked around periodically as if expecting someone else. "W-where's Rakon?"
"<What bring you three here?.>" Daji along with her posse of ladies came from behind along with one of the guards.
Bjorn stared at Daji and her group for a moment. "<I was showing Magnus and Mae around the dungeon. Mae wanted to see the girl out of curiosity, so I've brought her around.>"
"<I see. Well right now is not the best time, I'm pretty sure she caught something sickening so it's best to keep your distance for now.>"
Mae turned around to look at Kalika. "<Oh?>" She glanced back briefly.
"<Don't worry I'm sure you and Magnus will have plenty of time with the girl yourselves…But…>" Daji turned to Bjorn. "<I think the poor girl might need some more time to rest. She seems to be getting a lot worse, and she's even refused to eat her last meal. Perhaps another week will help?>"
"N-no! N-no…"
Everyone looked at Kalika curiously. Daji chuckled to herself. "<It looks like she might be becoming delusional now too. It looks like she's seen a ghost again.>"
Bjorn casted a suspicious glare back at Daji.
"<Well it doesn't matter now. In a couple of days, we'll be leaving. Even if we give this human more time to rest, I doubt it'll do much for her now since she's set to be Rakon's slave.>" Magnus said. "<Her fate is already sealed.>"
"<What do you think, Mae?>" Bjorn asked.
"<Huh?>" Mae glanced back, quickly turning back to Kalika, with a somewhat uncaring expression. Looking at Kalika she seemed lost, staring at them like she was seeing something they didn't. "<I don't care. But if its so important, why don't we ask Rakon.>"
"<Alright. Then I'll just bring this to Rakon's attention. But for now, Let's get going.>" Bjorn said.
Mae sighed"<Alright.>" Mae got up taking the lead in leaving the prison
Valam then approached Bjorn. "<If you want Bjorn, we can take these two off your hands. Being the wardens, we can show them around the dungeon prison.>"
"<I think that's a good idea. How about it? I'm sure you have other important thing to worry about.>" Daji added.
Bjorn thought about the offer for a moment. He accepted it, letting the three women take the two demons off his hands.
Just as they were all leaving, with Bjorn being the last, a weak voice sounded out.
"<Wait.>"
Bjorn stopped. Looking back, Kalika was now on the ground. She seemed to be struggling to even crawl. "Please wait… P-please I don't…"
"<Bjorn?>" Mae called.
Bjorn glanced back. He looked at Kalika, one final time before leaving. She could only watch on as she reached her hand out in desperation. The guard slammed the steel door shut, drowning out any noise.
"<Wait…>"
Kalika grabbed her throat. Her throat felt scratchy and uncomfortable. She began to cough uncontrollably.
Her heart started pounding, racing beyond what she could handle. she continued to cough and gasped for air. And a sudden surge of pain entered her permeating throughout her body and left her to squirm on the ground. The pain continued to persist until… It was gone...
Kalika's heart still raced, but this time she was able to catch her breath. While lying on the ground she noticed that the blue bruises on her hand were now much bigger than before.
"<W-what's happening to me…?>"
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