Calary sauntered back into the room. Her eyes narrowed as a kunai emerged in her hand. With slow steps, she dwelled deeper into the war room where she had seen Heimdal last. The issue was, he was no longer here.
Every nerve screamed in the body that something was afoot.
'An infiltration? No, couldn't be…'
Those of Shadow God's domain were the only one who were granted refuge in the sanctuary. Not because intruders would be expelled, but because the shadows acted as a filter to anything they touched.
Her mind could only come to one conclusion.
'An inside job.'
It hadn't taken her more than ten minutes to inspect every passage of the war room. And her search came out as fruitless, which only fed the growing fear nestling in her core. Her grip tightened as she bolted through the impossibly long corridors. Every step thumped louder as she approached the king's chamber.
"My king! Heimdal is-"
The doors had burst open, and the king's attention was drawn toward it. But he wasn't sure how a powerful enough gust of wind could have breached the doors.
Calary's face whitened as she found her voice not reaching her leader. Her gaze danced frantically around the room.
Within the blink of an eye she was yanked back into an earlier chamber. It was decorated with wooden tables and chairs with various forms of shackles bolted onto them. Chains hung loosely and swayed with the little airflow the castle allowed.
Three figures unveiled themselves, blocking any way out. Yara stood by a bolted window. Lucy held the door. And Riley maintained his iron clad grip on her hand. A friendly smile that betrayed no emotions.
"Y-You!"
She roared, but the halls remained silent. Torture rooms were designed to leak no noise. And to Riley's joy, blood.
"Yes, me!"
Riley clapped his hands and laughed. He wandered closer and pushed her against the wall lined with barbed wire. Trails of blood leaked from her back and smeared themselves on the shiny metal.
"Why are you doing this?"
Her breath was ragged. Each inhale drew a little more blood in her lungs.
"Would you believe me if I told you I was a pacifist?"
Calary spit in his face.
"No then. Just answer some questions and you might live."
A flash of contempt swept across her gaze before she subdued it. Her surrender was presented in the form of a meek nod. Locks of black hair draped down her slumped shoulders.
"First, who do you serve? And I don't mean your king."
She looked up at him in confusion. And Riley seemed to believe it to some extent.
"Second, what is your plan?"
Calary seemed much more hesitant than before. It was as if her lips were sewed together, but pained groans did escape her mouth.
"Sorcery? Just who could be connected to this…"
As someone not of this world, he had forbidden pieces of information. With such info, it would not have been difficult to pinpoint a candidate. But Riley's memory was spotty, for a reason he had yet to figure out.
"Lastly, join us and live or die under Shadow God's banner."
Her lips unsealed themselves and a crooked smile trembled with a damned passion.
"Do your worst."
Lucy's spear flashed in the dim light and Calary's life was forfeit. The tip had poked straight through her chest and her body fell limply to the ground.
Riley shuddered even looking at the corpse. Killing two people was not something he anticipated having to do. And it was far beyond what he wished to do. However, the path of a leader is one soaked in blood.
The spear spun in the air and the blood flew off.
"What next?"
Lucy was the only one that spoke to Riley anymore. Yara still held the same look of distant anger, but she was amicable enough to at least escape the nightmare.
"Two of the seven are dead. I think we could kill two more like this, but the last three all seem to harbor boundless power."
Riley shuddered simply thinking about the androgynous beauty whose Will permeated the walls. The king would be harder to get to if guards continued to follow his every move. And the one that looked like an assassin would be nigh impossible to sneak up on.
That left an archer who he had bumped into previously near the outer wall. And a knight who carried some carvings in his armour.
Sensing his inner turmoil, Lucy rubbed her hand on Riley's back. A faint smile was all she could conjure up. But it seemed to work enough for Riley.
Despite her apprehension, Yara also patted him on the back. An unstable leader made for a shaky foundation.
====
They had acted swiftly in fear they would be found by the others.
The archer had been dragged into the shadows, but died through his own means via a poisoned pill. His death was swift and painless, but the same couldn't be said for the knight captain. Riley had learnt of the pill from the archer and yanked the false tooth from the knight's mouth.
"GAHHH- What the hell do you want from me??!"
His voice rang through the obsidian chamber, yet no help came. It was as if he were cut off from the outside world when they stepped into the chamber of shadows.
"I assume you don't want to answer any questions. Pity."
The knight bit at Riley's hand, barely grazing his skin and earning himself a smack across his cheek. Redness bloomed along the seams of his crooked smile.
"I'd die a thousand times before betraying my own."
"Then I will fulfil your wishes."
Riley's blade swiped through the air and a head hit the ground. The inky black surface was stained with crimson before being absorbed by the darkness.
'How did it come to this?'
Riley sat down against the wall, looking at the fourth death he had been an accomplice of today.
'These aren't real people Riley. Don't forget that.'
It was a fact that they weren't real people. The issue was…
'They were real people, at one point in history…'
He sighed, the luster in his eyes had faded long ago. When Dari died from his inadequacy. But it continued to dull with every kill, as if death was the only thing that he could bring to the table.
"Riley…let's go back."
Lucy offered him a hand. And he was no fool not to take it.
Yara poked her finger into his chest.
"Your guilt means nothing."
Her voice carried none of the usual animosity. Rather, it hid a pang of concern for her party members.
"Right…let's go back to the camp. We have a war to win."