And Soon To Be Found

INSIDE THE BUILDING:

Kyuala and John walk inside the building, and are met with the sight of Amilia and Virra removing their daggers from the bodies of two guards they've dragged into the shadows. Lani then flies over to the two recent arrivals and says, "If it's any consideration, they did try to wait for them to move... for about five seconds."

Kyuala just shakes her head, "Unsurprisingly. Did you overhear anything about Terra at least?"

"Nothing, I'm afraid. However, we did hear them mention something about their leader having something be prepared in the main chamber."

"Then that's where we go first. If it's not Terra, then it's got to be involved with her somehow." John says, getting the attention of the other two.

"I knew he was good for something. Let's get going then." Amilia comments before beginning to move ahead, with the others quickly following behind.

A FEW MINUTES LATER:

The group have been scurrying around for the past few minutes, attempting to make their way toward the main chamber, but have yet to find it.

A guard comes walking down the hallway right next to where the group are, and just as she passes one of the doorways, Kyuala scoops the guard in and quickly chokes her out before hiding her body.

"Where the hell are we?! I swear we've been going in goddamn circles!" A frustrated Amilia asks as she peeks out of the doorway.

"How can we be going in circles? The building is rectangular." Virra responds, earning more contempt from the pissed cat.

Just before Amilia goes to retort, Kyuala puts her hand up and says, "Listen... do you hear that?"

The group all focus on listening, and that's when they hear the sound of heavy metal objects being moved around in the distance.

Kyuala then scouts through the doorway, seeing that they're in the clear before saying to the others, "Follow me. I think we're close."

Kyuala then takes the lead and the others quickly trail behind. They stick to the sides of the hallway, making sure they can quickly duck into any rooms if anyone were to come towards them.

Eventually, they get to the end of the hallway and creep up to the windows at the end. As they get to said windows, the group peek through the windows and see that below them is a massive room with a lot of machinery. Lani notices said machine and recognizes it, "This is the processing chamber. Those huge pot looking machined are smelters for the processed minerals. There's the track that the minerals are put on from the mines and brought up to this room to be melted down."

Virra then sees something different in the middle of the room, "Is that what I think it is?"

Everyone looks at what Virra is talking about, and they see a large altar that has seemingly been constructed by the group that inhabits this building. Lani looks at the altar, seeing something on the side and on top, but can't quite make it out.

"It definitely looks like a ritual altar of sorts. Kyuala, may I use your telescope to see more clearly?" Lani asks.

Kyuala quickly obliges, bringing out her telescope before extending it and holding it in place for Lani to peer through. Now that she can see the altar much clearer, Lani looks and see that the things that she couldn't make out before, are actually symbols. One is on the side face the group whilst the other is on top. The symbols are different, but they do share some similarities.

Lani then remembers back to her days at the academy, and is shocked, "Those symbols... are the work of dark magic. The symbol on top is the activator. Once the victim is placed upon it, the symbol lights up, and the ritual begins. As for the symbol on the side... It's one of the two Words of Binding. If the person enacting the ritual reads the words... the victim is mentally tied to them."

The group are all stunned by this sudden revelation as the implications are rapidly filling their minds. John, being the ever-confused person that he is, asks, "When you say mentally tied, do you mean..."

"The victim is made a mindless slave. They become unable to break any command given to them by the enslaver, even if the command is to physically harm themselves. The only way to break the Words of Binding is to perform the Freeing ritual."

The group are now completely shocked. There's not a single doubt in any of their minds that the altar is for Terra.

Amilia draws her daggers before saying, "We need to destroy that fucking thing!"

"I agree with Amilia for once. We can't even risk having that altar around for another minute." Virra says before they start to head toward the stairs.

Lani then quickly stops the two in their tracks, "What about Terra? We can't risk making a lot of noise if she's still in trouble."

Lani's statement makes the duo hesitate, realizing that she's right. Virra then asks, "So, what do we do?"

Kyuala then quickly takes over, "Amilia and I will remain here. Virra, you take John and Lani and try to find Terra. Smart coin is on Terra being downstairs, so try and find a way down. If either of us find her, let us know with the communicator."

"Got it." Virra says, quickly looking around before heading to the left with John and Lani in tow.

Amilia then moves over to Kyuala, "Why didn't you ask me to go find her? I'm quicker than all three of them."

"Because once they've got Terra, you'll have nothing stopping you from getting out your aggression."

Amilia just looks at Kyuala with a tilted head, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, a grin appears on her face as she readies her daggers.

DOWNSTAIRS:

Virra, John and Lani have managed to creep down the steps, narrowly avoiding three guards that pass by. A moment after they pass, the trio dart into the shadows, hiding behind a barrel as they look around.

As they do, they see a hallway on the left side of the room and one on the right.

"Which way should we go?" John asks.

"I don't know. I was kinda hoping for a single way. Instead, we've got two paths, and we don't even know how far they go or how many guards are down here." Virra answers.

After a few moments of deliberation, Virra lays down the new plan, "Alright. I'll take the left side, you two take the right. We'll meet back here if we get Terra."

"Got it." John replies.

Lani then quickly adds, "Stay safe."

Virra nods toward the fairy before carefully heading through the path on the left side. John and Lani then get to the right path before heading into the unknown.

With his sword drawn, John creeps forward with Lani flying on his right. As they're walking along, they can hear some guards talking. He can't quite make out the conversation yet, but he hears their voices getting louder with each step. As he continues forward, he can make out that the voices belong to a man and a woman.

Just as John reaches the end of this hall, he can now hear their conversation clearly. The woman says, "Did you see the altar when you were up there?"

The man responds, "Yeah. What in the hells is up with that? I was asking around, and the best I can get is that it's for the girl."

"It's a Binding altar. The boss is going to use it to bind the girl to him, don't ask why, all I know is that he's obsessed with the lady."

"The one behind all of this is a man?" John and Lani think to themselves. They realize that this revelation means that surely Myssera can't be the one behind this. However, they don't write it off outright quite yet.

"How long have they been working on that thing anyway?" The man asks.

"I have no idea. I heard that he had it made ages ago. I did overhear a rumour that he has been looking for the girl for quite a while, and apparently, he had some sort of deal with a group to kidnap and keep her til he got there. I assume she managed to escape considering that she's here now."

"Jesus. You're telling me he's been after her for all this time? Must've been some serious business to go to all this effort." The man says in response to hearing that. Just a few short moments after that, he then says, "Anyway, it's your turn to feed her. Last time I went in there, she nearly bit my finger off."

"Oh, you big baby. You act like you don't have nine more." The woman teases as she grabs a cup and some bread before opening up a door.

John takes this as a sign to act, and he turns the corner before continuing to move forward. John quickly yet carefully walks through the last past of the hallway before getting to the area where the man and woman guards currently sit.

Immediately, John slices the man's throat, killing him as quietly as he can. The blood splatters onto his hands, and the warm liquid feels horrible on his skin. John quickly looks around and sees that the room is some sort of dungeon as there's quite a few cells all around them.

The closest cells are completely empty with only an empty bed and chains remaining within. Both John and Lani check the six cells in the room and find nothing to suggest that Terra was in any of them. John then grabs the man's body and hides it in the closest cell, trying to avoid leaving any sort of obvious blood trail.

As John walks away from the last cell, Lani says, "Not in there either?"

"Nothing. Wherever she is, it certainly isn't here. Why are there even cells in a building for mining anyway?"

"Well, where else would they put the workers who got a little too aggressive?" Lani responds, causing John to simply accept her point. She then continues, "Anyway, if I had to make a guess, I'd say that woman went to wherever they're keeping Terra. So, if we find her..."

"We'll probably find Terra." John finishes.

The duo then begin to move ahead, walking through another doorway which leads to a set of some perilous looking stairs. John, with his sword still drawn, carefully begins to descend the stairs with a scared Lani clinging onto him whilst hiding behind his shoulder.

Step by step, John creeps down toward the last doorway. It's not as well lit like the upstairs room, but it's not in total darkness thanks to a few candles that seem to be the only source of light in there.

John and Lani walk into the room, and are surprised to see that the other guard is nowhere to be found. The fact that the woman seemingly disappeared, and the fact that the room is not guarded doesn't give much hope to either John nor Lani.

They look to their right and see what looks to be another room. John and Lani quickly peek their heads in, but don't see much, in fact, these are even more desolate than the cells upstairs.

A little more hope has been lost for the duo, but soon after they leave that room, they hear a noise coming from behind them.

John whips around, ready to slash, but neither he nor Lani see anything.

This flares up the anxiousness within the duo which is only amplified by both quiet and the darkness of the room that even the flames of the candles can barely light.

The aura of the room is so off-putting, like at any moment, a shadow could come to life and grab them. The fear does firmly plant itself in John's mind, since he's already seen zombies, why wouldn't shadow ghosts be a thing in this fucked up world?

John carefully steps forward, keeping his sword ready to swing at a moments notice. As they creep forward, Lani sees a door to their left, and whispers to John, "Hey, I think there's another cell beside us. We should check it out."

"Got it."

John stretches his hand to the left, looking for the door. However, as he fumbles around, the candles all suddenly blow out.

The entire room is now completely coated in darkness, and the duo's heart rates immediately shoot through the roof. Lani lowers her body down behind John's shoulder, having only her head above said shoulder, but keeps her head on a swivel.

Meanwhile, John's hand begins to quake, but he keeps his grip firm on the hilt of his sword. He tries to control his breathing, but the nerves make a fairly difficult task.

Suddenly, the duo hear footsteps ahead of them which cause the pair to jump.

Step after step, the footsteps continue, but they don't seem to be getting any closer, if anything, they're just going from side to side. It's almost as if the person ahead is simply observing the two, but they can't see anyone, they can't even see a figure within the dark.

The steps continue with the exact same amount going from left to right at the exact same pace. Whomever this person is, they're weirdly calculated.

John then decides to very carefully creep toward the footsteps to see if he can get even the smallest of glimpses of the figure.

Just as he begins to move forward, the footsteps stop...

John feels all the air practically escape his lungs, and his heart is trying to leap out of his chest.

The footsteps start again, but this time...

They're coming towards them.

These aren't just regular steps though, these are the sounds of boots hitting the ground at a running pace. John readies himself, unsure of what's about to come out of the shadows.

Step after step, they get closer and closer.

John continues to stare into the dark in front of him, just waiting for the figure to appear. The steps are now just a few feet ahead of him, and not a second later, he finally sees a figure.

The figure then seemingly lifts their arm and looks as if they're beginning to swing something. So, in the briefest of moments, John makes a decision and thrusts his sword forward...

And the steel plunges into flesh.