The celebrations of the battle lasted for hours as the sun started to hang lower in the sky. The celebrations spilled from the tavern and onto the street, where additional tables and benches had been placed. Kona and Nigel stayed nearby, but there was no sign of Haralda or L. If L doesn't show soon, I might have to sneak off and check on him, as for Haralda.
"Hey, Kona, why isn't your mother here? Shouldn't she say something to the victor?"
"She's probably holing up in her house. Don't mind her." With a smile and a swig of her drink, she leaned in and kissed me deeply.
I had almost forgotten. I was so focused on trying to prolong the fight that I completely forgot the point of it. I don't know enough about the culture here, but does this mean Kona and I are married now? Or simply betrothed?
"So what happens next?"
"With what?"
"Like, you know… marriage and stuff. Wasn't that the point of the duel?"
Kona's lips curled into a deep smirk as she leaned in close. I had a feeling that she was only about to say whatever she was about to say simply because she's drunk. She's usually far too bashful to make a face like that. She leaned in closer as I felt her breath against my ear.
"We get married when you put a kid in me. Would you like to try that tonight?"
Despite how forward she was being, it did answer my question, and her invitation was enticing, but now wasn't the time. I suppose if I had to guess, I would say we're betrothed to some extent. Either way, I'm far too young to have children, maybe in my twenties. And I'm sure that's what she wants as well; she did say she wanted four more years.
"I'm definitely not ready for that yet."
"Good! Me neither." She happily blurted out as she swung an arm around me.
As time ticked by, more people flocked to the tavern to celebrate. In truth, it looked like everyone wanted an excuse to get drunk. I didn't mind, though.
"Shouldn't I at least meet your mother properly, because we're betrothed now, right?"
"Behothed? Yeah, I kinda guess we are. Mmkay, Imma go find her. Then we can laugh at her dumb face." As she got up and stumbled out of the tavern, she chuckled and cackled until she was gone. Good, that's one person distracted, since everyone else is just celebrating just for the sake of celebrating, most of the locals that tagged along aren't really even paying attention to me, all that's left is Nigel. Looking around the tavern, I spotted him leaning against the bar, talking with one of the girls from the brothel. I suppose that counts as him being distracted, time to slip away unnoticed.
I got up and went upstairs, while walking towards L's room, I heard the unmistakable and overly loud sounds of people having sex in some of the rooms. It seems they really like to celebrate here. I knocked on L's door and pressed my ear against it, listening out for any sound that might indicate he's inside. I knocked again, louder. No response.
I returned back downstairs and headed for the exit. As I wandered away from the bar, I noticed a few others coming the other way, and even more people were arriving. I suspect the whole town might be here at this point. But thankfully, nobody was looking my way. They were all too preoccupied with their drinks and company.
Travelling down the roads and retracing my steps, I found my way to the alley once more. I continued to follow the path that snaked to the left and around the rise of a hill. I didn't know how much farther it was until the cave; I had a few options before me. The smartest of which was to travel just off the road and out of sight so I can see a guard before I am spotted myself. Though it was getting dark, and this area was darker still, with the amount of twists and turns this path has, peering around a corner should be enough as well.
As I approached the next corner, there was the flickering light of a fire coming from beyond. I spied around the corner and saw it, the path led straight to a large metallic door that seemed to lead into a cave. Next to the door was a small fire pit that was smouldering faintly and an empty chair. There was no guard; if not here, then where?
"What are you doing?"
A voice spoke from directly behind me, causing me to yelp and spin around. Ready to try and plead my case. But it was just Nigel.
"Nigh!? You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?"
"I asked you first."
I peered back around the corner, scanning the ridgelines for any movement in case the guard was just taking a piss somewhere nearby and heard us. There was no sign of him.
"Well, since you're here, might as well help. That cave there is what we're here to investigate. L went in earlier but hasn't come out yet. We need to go in there to check if he's okay and get him out."
There was no harm in telling him now since we're already at the cave. He nodded and peered around the corner, starting to walk towards it. It's a good thing he hadn't been drinking.
We approached the door to find that it wasn't even closed; it was slightly ajar, just enough to slip your fingers in. There was no door handle of any kind, so we hooked our fingers in and pulled it open.
The cave before us was dark and deep. Nigel reached into the fire pit and pulled one of the burning logs out to use as a torch to light the way forward. I took it from him and started to walk in front, without even speaking, he understood why. As we went deeper and deeper within the cave's walls, and floor became wet and reflective.
"L" I called out into the depths of the cave. But there was no response other than my own voice echoing back at me a second later. The lack of response was concerning. I looked back at Nigel, who gave a firm nod with a serious look on his face. We both understood that he might be dead.
We descended deeper into the dark. The light from the burning log began to fade as the flame started to extinguish. I looked back at Nigel, who in turn looked back at the sprawling dark behind us. Do we go back, or push on into the dark? The cave itself was only one path; as long as we knew which way we were facing, we wouldn't get lost going back. Nigel looked back at me with that same serious look, tilting his head forward slightly to say, We go forward. The fire faded fast; the smouldering wood inside was too dim to use as a light, and darkness engulfed us. I felt Nigel place a hand on my shoulder so we wouldn't get separated in the dark as we pressed on.
As we fumbled in the dark, I slowly noticed I could see my feet faintly when I looked down, and a short while later, I could see the wall next to us. It was dim, but I could see. I felt Nigel's hand lift from my shoulder; he could see as well. It was meant to be pitch black here, yet it was as if the walls and floor themselves were giving off the faintest amount of light.
"You can see too, right?" Nigel whispered behind me.
"Yeah."
"How?"
"The rocks… they're glowing faintly."
Nigel inspected the wall, running his finger across it, and he peered closely. This all felt a bit familiar. Quickly, we noticed the cave ahead was brighter, just around a bend. Moving near it, we heard something faintly in the distance; it was the sound of a person breathing heavily. It must be L, who else could it be?
We rounded the corner and saw him standing in the middle of a large open room that was lined with lit candles. At the other end of the room, a throne carved from rock. Sitting atop it, Haralda Godi. Her eyes snapped towards us instantly.
"Are these your friends you spoke of?"
"I don't have friends," L replied with a sluggishness to his voice, like he was half asleep.
"Right, work colleagues. If you two could please come here. I would like a little chat."
"L? Are you okay?" I called out as I stepped forward. There was no response, though Nigel pushed past me, almost knocking me over as he walked forward towards Haralda. "Nigel, what the fuck?"
"Ah, see this one is well behaved, aren't you?"
Nigel kept walking forward towards her, past L and stopped at her feet. Looking at her. His posture was slouched forward, the same as L's.
"Now, be a good boy for mommy." She extended her foot out as Nigel dropped to his knees, holding her foot. He moved his head closer and started to lick it.
"What the fuck is wrong with you! Snap out of it!" I marched forward, placing my hand on L's shoulder and shaking him. "L, what are you doing?"
"They can't hear you. They're in a happy place right now."
"Happy?"
Haralda Smirked and looked down, shifting her foot, pressing it against Nigel's crotch as he leaned back slightly. "See, look how happy this one is. He really must love older women."
I didn't understand what I was looking at, but it was clear she had done something to them. Was this the work of some magic? "Let them go!" I marched forward towards her.
"On one condition." She raised her hand up to halt me. "I have no intention of hiring you or your friends, especially this sweet thing here." She turned her gaze back to Nigel as she continued to rub her foot against his tightening pants. "I have a small favour to ask of you, do that for me, and I will release your friends, happily."
"What?"
She pointed to a carved-out section of the wall to my right that housed an urn, surrounded by candles. "Grab that."
I looked at the run and then back at her, unsure. She smirked at me as she continued to move her foot. "Could you… Stop doing that to him."
She shrugged and moved her foot away. Clearly, she was willing to comply. I didn't understand what had gotten into those two, why they were acting that way. The only thing that makes sense is some form of magic. If I could find the artifact that's causing this, I could maybe break it. I picked up the urn and turned back to Haralada.
She was sitting in the stone throne, Nigel's head was now buried between her legs, under her dress. I looked away instantly. "N-now what?"
"Don't be like that, sweetie. He started doing this himself. Now take that urn and open it."
I glanced back, and Nigel's head was indeed between her legs. She stared at me with an intense smirk. L was still standing still in the middle of the room in a total trance, not speaking or moving aside from a faint swaying of his body.
With a reluctant sigh, I pulled the top of the urn open. I looked inside, but there was nothing. Then, I heard Haralda starting to chuckle. I turned back to her, and Nigel had thankfully moved away. Though he was kneeling next to her throne like a dog. She stood up from the chair as her laughter grew.
"Thank you, my dear marked child. I have tried to open that for eons, and all it took… was you."
"Eons?" I whispered under my breath. What was this? Who was this?
She stepped forward towards me as her skin began to glow purple. Her dress suddenly caught fire with a purple flame. Horns emerged from her head, her hair grew long, her clothes changed into those of something else. It was flowing and revealing on her now more pale-looking skin. Her eyes shifted and turned into those of a cat.
"What the fuck are you?"
"My name is Dilindala. I am the sin of Lust, now unbound from moral vessels. You freed my soul and made me whole. For that, I will give you a good dream."
She walked up to me, her presence and her appearance were wholly inhuman. She really was a sin. As she stepped closer with each step, I felt my eyes grow heavier. Through dark and blurred eyelids, I saw her face come closer to mine, and closer still. Her lips locked with mine, and I fell into a deep slumber.