Those frigid fingers drifted through the air before seizing my throat with bone-crushing force. My breath caught, lungs thrashing like a caged bird beating against iron bars. I could only claw desperately for air while that figure loomed before me, merciless and unwavering.
His hair gleamed snow-white, combed back with military precision. Round spectacles perched on his aquiline nose, magnifying the web of wrinkles that betrayed his advancing years. Yet any illusion of frailty crumbled the moment his grip tightened like a vise. Through my blurring vision, his impeccable attire and ramrod posture made one thing crystal clear, this man was the butler of Tytoal-ba Kingdom.
Reckless of you to swipe what's mine.
Kaleb's voice flowed smooth as silk over steel. I had fled into the alley beside the tavern, where the blazing lamplight ahead seared the eyes, but here only dampness and the sharp bite of stale fish lingered in the shadows. Fool that I was, I hadn't realized that bolting into this dead-end was like diving headfirst into a Shark's maw.
An ivory-hued tunic billowed loosely around Kaleb's frame, cascading like silk courted by the wind. Its modest V-neck was bound by cord thin as thread, adorned with tasseled ends that swayed with each measured step. Intricate embroidery, a tapestry of florals and geometric patterns, adorned the surface with meticulous care, as if proclaiming this was merely the garb of common folk.
But something felt off-kilter. This clothing was too... foreign for the Wetlands. Though the locals here dressed simply, they never dressed quite this simply.
He continued his measured pace. On the back of his right hand, a gold coin perched with casual grace, a sliver of metal catching the alley's wan light. His gaze remained fixed ahead.
Yet every two steps, his wrist would twist for the briefest fraction of a second. The movement was nearly invisible, the coin would tumble, arcing through a perfect, abbreviated flight before landing squarely in his palm like a trained bird returning to roost.
He repeated this ritual with religious devotion until he stood close enough that I could taste the cold mint of his breath.
"Young man, golden hair, crimson eyes." Kaleb was still toying with his coin, his voice a whisper edged like a devil's blade. "Not many folks like that in these parts, are there?"
"W-what do you want?" My words escaped like glass shards, fractured by the vise tightening around my throat.
"W-what do you want?" My words spilled out like shards of glass, splintered by the grip tightening around my throat.
"Do you know anything about the Heart of Wetlands?"
My heart stopped cold for a heartbeat. "You mean the dungeon in Wetlands? The one no one's ever conquered? The one Alteker keeps under lock and key, secrets so deep the public hardly even whispers about it?"
A flicker of excitement finally flashed in Kaleb's crimson eyes.
The coin stilled in his hand.
"No idea."
The chokehold at my neck constricted, a noose tightening slowly but surely. Saliva pooled in my mouth as I clawed the air, wishing my fingers could wrangle oxygen down my burning throat.
"Can you let him go, Luther? We're supposed to be having a conversation here. Hard to trade words if you throttle him quiet," Kaleb's voice flowed ice-cold, his coin spinning nonchalantly in the air.
"My apologies, Master Kaleb."
Luther loosened his hold, releasing me abruptly. I crumpled to the icy floor. If there'd been any light, the angry red welts of his grip would have branded my skin.
All I could do was cough, racking my lungs for air that tasted like freedom and pain all at once.
Kaleb crouched low, his face aligned with my tear-streaked eyes. "There's something I'm hunting for down there. Word is, you know the way in," he murmured, voice soft but thick with intent.
A hacking cough ripped from my throat, as if my lungs were ready to burst through my ribs.
"I'm searching for an item, a book to be precise. So, I'll need passage, though not right this instant." Kaleb's coin twirled, gleaming between his nimble fingers.
"If it's just a book you want, why risk a deathtrap like that?" My voice rasped out, brittle as burning parchment. "I can take you to Mozi's Shop. He's got every book you could dream up, ancient or forbidden."
"Sir, may I throttle him again?" Luther's voice cut in, hopeful and dark.
Kaleb shook his head, snatching the coin as it swung to rest. Then, towering over me, his eyes glowed, embers smoldering in the gloom.
"Have you heard of Anathema?"
I shook my head, the name unfamiliar, yet the way Kaleb spoke it sent ice trailing down my spine.
"I want you to lead me inside. I'll pay well, but you're coming in with me, all the way until—"
Kaleb's words were swept away as reality fractured, collapsing like a sandcastle devoured by a tsunami. Darkness pounced, swallowing me whole. I didn't know why, just felt it, an invisible force wrenching me under. My hands clawed at the void, desperate for anything solid in the choking emptiness.
I struggled to stand—
Suddenly, my eyes snapped open.
My breath came in ragged bursts, like I'd been drowning and finally clawed to the surface. Was it all a dream? Everything felt too vivid, too razor-sharp to be mere fantasy. Was this Erin's memory? Was this what happened right before he led Kaleb into that cursed dungeon?
Thoughts whirled, pulsing like a maelstrom as I clutched my throbbing head.
Tentatively, I traced my limbs, chest, legs, each wrapped in dingy, bandages, as if I was a mummy woken after an eternity.
"You're awake!!!"
Gelemia's shout crashed against my eardrums like a gong struck with an iron mallet. My heart jackknifed right up my throat, I'd thought I was alone in this forsaken place.
"Gelemia… could you not scream like that?" My voice rasped, rough as sandpaper.
"Well, you woke up!" she shot back.
Was it really that simple, I woke up? Had they been about to bury me alive just now?
"Where am I?" I asked, trying to sound casual despite my head pulsing as if someone was drilling into my skull.
"This is the infirmary in North Sector," Gelemia said, straightening up and snatching a dish of bananas from the table by my bed. She flashed a grin wide enough to split her face. "We were brought here the moment we made it out of that dungeon. The captain dragged us in himself and made the official report."
"Your condition was a disaster, you know." She peeled a banana theatrically and held it to my mouth, but for reasons only the gods understood, she snatched it away at the last second and devoured it herself, like a cat taunting a mouse.
"Four busted ribs, a twisted arm, cracked shin. It's a miracle you're still breathing," she said, chomping away until the banana nearly vanished.
I gingerly felt my ribs. Nothing strange, no stabbing pain. My hands flexed easily, and my legs obeyed.
"Where's Captain Hach?"
"He's off investigating with the others, trying to figure out what went down in his sector." Gelemia's face dimmed suddenly.
"Your comrades… You're from South Sector, right?"
Her expression darkened, clouds rolling over a summer sky. "Yeah. Commander Auger has already held the funerals, the honors. Nearly everyone from South Sector is gone."
"Only those who happened to step out, run errands, or get assigned elsewhere survived."
"Or us, who clawed our way out of that dungeon," I murmured, weighing the gravity of my own words.
Suddenly, a memory hit. My breath caught, heavy as a stone crushing my chest. "Wait. I need to speak with the Commander and Captain Hach."
"Whoa, slow down! You're not supposed to be up and running around," Gelemia scolded, trying to hold me back as I attempted to sit up. "It's all under control."
With a stubborn twist, I slipped free of her grip. The instant my hand brushed the doorknob, the door swung open from the other side.
Frozen in surprise, I barely noticed Gelemia's lightning reflexes, she yanked me back onto the bed, like a cat dragging its kitten from harm.
A figure stepped in, short-cropped blue-brown hair jutting out in wild layers, frozen fire amid a storm. Shadows danced across the tiled floor, swept up by flickers of light that ticked over those messy strands, sparking like falling stars.
"Ikaris?"
He smiled, just a thin curve of his lips, secretive.
"Have you spoken to Commander Auger yet?"
"Yes," Ikaris replied, keeping it short. Our eyes met, and something in him buzzed with familiarity; the hair was styled differently, but the color, the gaze… much too alike to be mere coincidence.
"Your friend's awake," Ikaris said, his unreadable stare settling on me as he stepped over for a handshake.
"Must've been rough, huh? Heard the story from Gelemia already." He stretched out a hand. "Oh yeah, by the way, I'm Gelemia's classmate."
I shot Gelemia a sharp, suspicious look, I remembered her stories, and friends were never part of the picture.
But Gelemia brushed off my doubts. "Yeah, he's my classmate. We don't talk much. He's here for business with the Commander."
Ikaris nodded, robotically, like a marionette on strings.
"But knocking out for two days straight? That's tough," he commented.
Wait, what?
"Hold on, what do you mean?"
"Yeah, two whole days. I woke up right away, but you… you took the hard road." Gelemia rubbed their neck, awkwardness leaking into every gesture.
"Wait… two days?" My voice faltered.
Both of them nodded, perfectly in sync, like twin metronomes.
"How long were we stuck in the dungeon?"
"If you go by time here," Gelemia explained, her tone soothing, "we spent about three days inside. But out here, it only took four hours."
And I was out cold for two whole days?
I lunged for the door, fingers trembling with urgency.
"Whoa, where are you off to? You just woke up, don't go rushing around!" Gelemia barked, her grip surprisingly ironclad.
"Let me go. This is an emergency!"
"Emergency, huh? If anyone's panicking, it's me, I'll be the one in trouble if I let a patient dash out right after waking up!" Gelemia clung to me with both hands as Ikaris joined the fray, wrestling my wild, desperate limbs.
"Hey, Gelemia, is your friend always this intense?" Ikaris asked, struggling to pin down my writhing arm.
Panting hard, I grabbed at their shoulders, driven by sheer panic.
"You're not listening!" My voice cracked like breaking ice. "This headquarters is in danger, it's going to be attacked again!"