The cage was silent, yet he could hear the young man's grip tightening around the golden bars. "...What?"
Sylene nodded with quiet certainty. Mavis thought he was joking, but the look in his eyes said otherwise. Sylene was smaller than him—how could they possibly escape? And why had he decided to help him? They had only just met… and honestly, he was a little scared. What if they got caught? Wouldn't that be awful?
But... he'd wanted to escape this place for a long time. If this was a chance...
The fox hybrid blinked, throat bobbing as he gulped nervously. "Uhm... can you really do that? Ah, you're a vampire hybrid, right? They are...strong, but you honestly look like... a normal human."
His words were laced with doubt, yet his eyes shimmered with fragile hope. His fluffy tail gave the slightest wag. That sight made Sylene freeze for a heartbeat. A strange urge to bury his face in that softness fluttered through him.
He coughed, turning his gaze away. "I can help you. Being here isn't ideal... besides, if I escape, you'll be the witness. Maybe you could report this to those people, but..."
Sylene turned back to Mavis sharply. The snowfox flinched, but Sylene couldn't suppress the warmth blooming in his chest when his gaze settled on him. "I doubt you'd do that. You risked yourself yesterday just to remind me."
The sound of that painful whine still echoed in his memory, leaving behind a dull, persistent ache he couldn't quite shake. Guilt. His eyes roamed over Mavis, searching for any signs of injury—but there were no bruises, no wounds. Well, of course not. He was considered prized goods. Either they struck him in places that wouldn't show, or they have healed the bruises up with pricey medicine...
The thought unsettled him. Deeply.
This place didn't suit a hybrid like Mavis—no, it was far too dangerous. And maybe... just maybe, if they managed to escape together, he'd get to bury his fingers in that soft tail, or...or maybe stroke those snowy ears...
Sylene shook his head, pushing the thought away, though a faint warmth still clung to his cheeks. He had always liked small animals with soft fur; whenever he got the chance to pet them, he felt on top of the world. They were calming, soothing his overwhelmed senses and easing the anxiety that lingered after the harsh experiments often conducted in the forest to test his raw power. After a while, he gently set the wild animal down and returned to continue the test.
He was afraid the scientists might do something to them if they discovered he was fond of them—it would be seen as a distraction, something that could hinder the experiment.
Then Mavis spoke, his gentle voice laced with cautious hope. "Well, if you can, please do. I can guide you to the train station—and I know a city that could hide us from those people for a while."
Sylene nodded, even though he could still see the hesitation in Mavis's eyes. But he stood with quiet confidence. "Alright."
The fox hybrid stared at the younger boy—doubtful, but clinging to hope.
In the room, Sylene cracked his fingers, preparing for their escape. Once he felt his strength mostly return, he moved his frostbitten thumb. It already looked good.
Finally.
Miranda's potion really did its work perfectly.
A second later, there was a slight sound of iron bending smoothly. The cage was bent like butter. Mavis was speechless. But what made his eyes widen even more was Sylene bending the bars back into their original shape after stepping out. The cage looked untouched, as if someone had opened it rather than broken it.
Sylene patted his cloak and dusted it off for a moment. When he noticed Mavis's open mouth and wide eyes, the hybrid rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry. I don't want to draw more attention after this escape. I'm on the run."
He had straightened the iron as if it were soft clay. Mavis gulped nervously. Honestly, they wouldn't have stood a chance if they hadn't used that substance... And just what—or who—is he running from?
"I-I understand." Mavis gripped the cage bar too, trying to bend it, but it didn't budge. A vampire hybrid really was strong. But... were they really this strong? His brow furrowed. The vampire hybrids he had met before weren't this tough—some were even fragile and spoiled rotten by their owners at those noble parties.
The fox moved to the back of his golden cage when Sylene crouched in front of it. Once again, Sylene bent the cage smoothly. He even commented that gold cage was easier to bend than the iron cage he had been in. That somehow made Mavis feel weak—so much weaker than this younger boy. With a sigh, he jumped out and landed softly on the floor.
He watched Sylene shape the golden cage until it looked untouched and perfect. Another metal had been reinforced into the golden cage to make it sturdier by the cage maker, but that wasn't a problem for Sylene.
Mavis stood beside him, looking at the golden cage with a scrunched nose. "So ugly. I didn't think it looked this hideous and tasteless from the outside." The snowfox hybrid kicked the golden bar in distaste. "Hey, don't you think we can steal a bar? Maybe we can sell it?"
Sylene looked at Mavis, tempted. But if the cage was missing bars, wouldn't that rouse suspicion? He planned to leave quietly... but he was tempted.
"But I've smoothed them out..."
"It'll be fine, it's my cage." Mavis looked at him with sly eyes, mischievous and a bit pissed—maybe at the brothel, or at the guy who harassed him until he shook in fear, or at that Alistair guy who abandoned him. "I know a place where we can sell them in Forschel. It's not pure gold; there's other metal mixed in." He was trying to convince Sylene, because only Sylene could break the bars and store them in small pieces.
"I'm poor. At least I want to take this as revenge for them kidnapping me in the first place—and putting me through all that with their 'customers'. It wasn't long, but it was still something..." His hopeful eyes looked at Sylene innocently. That made the boy look away and sigh. How could he say no when he also had the grudge against those people who kidnapped him?
Mavis tried to pull at one of the bars, but it didn't budge. Without saying a word, Sylene stepped forward and effortlessly pulled out three bars from the frame—targeting the sections that had small dents, worn from the kidnappers' repeated kicks.
Mavis's tail wagged slowly, grateful and happy. There was even a greedy look on his face, but he still looked endearing. Sylene bent the bars into smaller pieces—about 20–30 cm—and stored them in his travel pouch.
He pulled out his one gold cloak from that greedy vendor and put it around himself, then gave the good one he had bought with Bryent to Mavis. At least the cloak would cover Mavis completely with his eye-catching white fur. And his own face could be covered with a small piece of fabric if the one gold cloak couldn't fully conceal it.
The boy moved quickly. Heavy footsteps already echoed toward their direction. There was no time to use the potion on the fox—and besides, Sylene didn't know the side effects on normal hybrids. He hadn't experienced any, but that didn't mean Mavis wouldn't.
"This cloak could help hides your hair and eyes temporarily. We're leaving now."
Sylene moved to the door and crouched silently. Mavis followed quietly, his large ears twitching as he, too, tried to listen.
"It's around three people. They're in the next room—that's where they're keeping the red-haired boy's brother," Mavis whispered.
"I think they've started loading hybrids onto the auction stage... and I heard the buyer is going to pick me up after the auction ends."
There was a trace of sadness on Mavis's face, but it vanished as he refocused on the situation.
Sylene was contemplating whether to break the key with brute force or wait for one of the people to enter their room. But if the buyer was arriving after the auction, that meant they would leave the room alone for quite a while.
"Maybe it's better if we wait—"
Suddenly a loud explosion rocked the floor beneath them, sending a deep rumble through the sturdy walls. The well-built building trembled, dust trickling down from the ceiling as the vibrations echoed upward. Sylene froze, heart skipping a beat as the shockwave passed through his feet. His gaze snapped to Mavis, whose wide eyes and twitching ears betrayed his panic.
From all around, doors creaked open, voices rose in confusion, and the sharp clatter of boots rang out—guards shouting, rooms stirring with unease. The brothel, once thick with suffocating silence, now burst alive with chaos.
Mavis looked shocked. "What happened?! No, it doesn't matter—what should we do now?!"
"Sorry, we better go now." Whatever caused the ruckus, this was the perfect time to slip away, Sylene thought.