Chapter Ten
Farren
That wouldn’t be good for anyone. Including those who aren’t in the dream with me, because I’ll most likely start fighting, and from experience, it’s not just my asleep self that will fight.
Finally, we hit a dead end.
Zev and I share a confused look. There is literally nowhere else that we can go from here. There are cells on either side of us, a solid dirt-packed floor beneath our feet and a black rock wall straight in front of us.
Before either of us can question the kid though, he starts to tap on the wall and floor.
At first, I think that he’s actually lost it, and we’ve followed him for no reason, but then I realise that he’s tapping in a very specific pattern. There’s a rumbling sound, and Zev steps closer to me as we both move backwards away from the kid.
My eyebrows rise high on my forehead as a door appears, the kid opens it, and I’m surprised to see another set of stairs leading even further down.
He disappears through the door, and Zev mutters, “What the fuck?”
“We’re obviously supposed to follow him, but that’s a bit questionable even for me,” I reply. Looking up at Zev, I ask, “What are the chances that he’s leading us into a trap and we’re going to be stuck in the dreamworld?”
Zev tilts his head, and I feel his magic expand around us.
“It’s not a trap that’s going to keep us in the dreamworld,” he replies simply, and with complete surety.
“Yeah, you are definitely not just a Seer. That was seriously impressive,” I mutter.
He grins, “Why, thank you. Do you want to go first, or do you want me to go first?”
“I’ll go first,” I shrug. “I may as well.”
We cautiously enter the stairwell and follow the kid who is waiting for us at the bottom of the steps.
“Thanks for waiting,” I say to him.
He shrugs, “Of course, miss. I know that this is an unusual situation, and I would be cautious about following me somewhere as well.”
I grin, “Well, I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“They’re down here,” he says, and then adds as an afterthought, “watch your step.”
It doesn't take long to realise what he means by that, and as we follow him down the tunnel, we have to cautiously step over several holes in the floor that look like they are so deep that they are never-ending.
For all I know, they could be. I have to repress the urge to drop something down there to see how deep it really is.
Knowing my luck, it would awaken some kind of beast or entity that would be intent on devouring our souls.
“Whoa, careful,” Zev says, as he catches my arm and prevents me from falling down one of the holes that begins to crumble and get bigger.
“Thanks,” I tell him as we continue forward.
“I wonder how much further we’ve got to go?” He asks.
The kid stops and points to a door. Somehow, it’s made out of the same material as the castle and the cells above us, but it’s covered in inscriptions and spells. Each one is intricately carved in various colours that I know strengthen various parts of the spells.
Whatever is in here, someone wanted to ensure that they couldn’t get out.
I tilt my head to the side as I study them closer, no, that’s not right.
They weren’t put there to stop the occupant from getting out, but rather to stop anything from getting in, and I think, if I’m reading them right, that they’ve warped over the extremely long period of time that they’ve been here, and no one can get out either.
“They’re in there, miss,” the kid says.
“Rolo, is that you, boy?” A kindly voice asks from within, and I can’t help but gasp.
Someone is alive in there.
What the fuck?
A face appears in the small barred window, and he looks as shocked to see us as we are to see him.
He’s tall, and I can only tell that because of the size of the door and the fact that he’s having to duck slightly in order to look through the small, barred window.
He’s like no supernatural that I have ever seen before.
He’s got a nose a bit like Poca’s but huge eyes like an owl's, and red and orange feathers in place of hair.
I don’t even have a vague inclination of what he could be.
“Who are they, Rolo?” The supernatural asks, suspicion heavy in his tone.
“I’m Farren, and this is Zev,” I reply, and his eyes widen in shock. “You’ll have to excuse our surprise. We had no idea that anyone was still alive here.”
“We shouldn’t be,” he replies with a smile. “I’m Ignatius.”
“We?” Zev asks, his eyebrow rising with surprise.
Again, the guy looks shocked, but he nods, “Yes, take a look.”
He steps back from the door, and I hesitate for only a moment as I hear him call out to someone else.
Clearly, the saying curiosity killed the cat has absolutely no bearing on me because my curiosity quickly chases away my caution.
Stepping up to the door, I feel Zev move behind me so that he can see as well.
What I see behind the door has me gasping in shock. What first appeared to be a small cell, much like all of the others that we have walked past, couldn’t be further from the truth.
It’s a lot bigger than a normal cell. Although it is not that big, it’s certainly not really big enough to house the number of people inside of it, but the people still have room to move around.
There must be a hundred people in there—all different supernaturals, most of which I do not recognise, all in tattered clothing and all pretty cramped.
“How?” Zev mutters.
“Everyone that we have come across is nothing but bones and has been that way for years and years,” I say. “How is it that you are all still here and alive?”
“Why are you in here?” Zev adds with a slight edge to his tone.
A good question and one that should have probably been higher on my list. They are, after all, in a cell, in a massive castle. Logically, that means that they have been put there because they’ve pissed someone powerful off at best.
At worst, they deserve to be there and are actually incredibly dangerous.
Despite the fact that I’m not getting any kind of warnings that they’re dangerous, or that I’m under threat.
My instincts are very rarely wrong. The spells on the door were also initially put in place in order to keep something out, not keep something in, I’m certain of that.
It seems that despite the situation that they find themselves in, they are dealing with it far better than most people would.
There seem to be different areas in the big room, such as a sleeping area, a lounging area, and even a small area where some children are playing.
So, although cramped, they have managed to divide the space fairly well.
There only seem to be three or four children, the rest of the supernaturals all appear to be adults of varying ages.
I’m surprised to see that there are also smiles and laughter, and I have to say that their obvious resilience is impressive.
As I watch them, scanning them rapidly, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing, they slowly begin to notice us.
It doesn’t take long until silence has fallen over all of them, their gazes watching us unnervingly.
“They haven’t seen anyone but each other for thousands of years,” the kid says.
I try not to jump, having completely forgotten that he was there.
“Wait, did you say thousands of years?” I ask incredulously.
Ignatius smiles sadly and nods, “Yes. You heard him right. We have been trapped down here for thousands of years.”
“How are you alive?” Zev asks. “There’s no one here that could be giving you things like food, water, or any of the necessary things to keep you all alive.”
“Unless we’ve somehow just missed them?” I muse. “But then again, that wouldn’t make much sense because the whole place screams abandoned.”
“There isn’t anyone here. You are the first people that we have seen since the battle that destroyed the realm and trapped us in here,” Ignatius replies. “The castle is keeping us alive, although even its vast reserves of magic are now starting to run low. We do not have much time left.”
“I’m so sorry,” I reply.
What he’s saying is that they have basically been given a death sentence, a very long and very drawn-out death sentence.
It’s a cruel way to die.
“Why are you in here?” Zev asks, his worried gaze scanning them all.
Ignatius smiles, “Believe it or not, we were put in here to keep us safe.”
“To keep you safe?” I ask even though he’s just confirmed what I was thinking.
He nods, “Yes. Our King, and the ruler of this realm, knew that it was the end, and he put us in here, guarding us with some of the strongest ancient spells he knew, in the hopes that we would be able to explain what happened here and pass on the knowledge when the time comes. He had a vision and told us that someone would come for us. We had no idea that it would take this long.”
“If the spells he used were ancient to you, then that would mean that they are aeons old to us,” I say, awe and shock in my voice.
“Your king didn’t survive the war?” Zev asks.
Ignatius shakes his head, looking sad, which is all I need to know about the kind of person the king that once ruled this realm was.
“No. To my knowledge, no one did. I don’t know how you are here, this realm is locked down, it’s dying.
There was nothing around us, nothing outside of this door, and yet now I can see the hallway that once existed,” he replies with a heavily confused frown.
Suddenly, his expression clears, “You’re not really here though, are you? You’ve travelled through a dream.”
I nod, “Yes, we did. Through my dream.”
His eyebrows rise, “My, my, you are very strong.”
“This place really exists, doesn’t it?” I ask. “This isn’t a simple dream.”
Ignatius shakes his head, “No, this place is real, although it is now desolate, reduced to nothing but a hunting ground. You are seeing it as it once was, not as it currently is. Even though the realm has been plunged into nothingness, there is still a very real threat that stalks the realm. The same threat that started all of this. No one could defeat it, the King tried and failed, and it has plenty in this realm to sustain it. It has already turned it into the ultimate hunting ground that seems like pure nothingness. It is the ultimate predator.”
I frown, my head spinning with all of the possibilities and mysteries.
“You said that you were running out of time?” Zev asks.
Ignatius nods, tilting his head to the side slightly and studying us curiously, “Yes, that’s right.”
“How long do you think you’ve got left?” Zev asks.
Ignatius tenses slightly as he looks over his shoulder at the rest of the people in the room.
Most of them have gone back to what they were doing, although they’re all looking over at us curiously every now and then.
Ignatius steps closer to the door, clearly wanting to keep this conversation as private as he possibly can within the circumstances.
“A month, two at maximum,” he says barely above a whisper.
My eyes widen in shock. I did not think that he was going to say such a small amount of time.
This changes things. I can’t just leave them here to their fate.
Not after they have already been trapped here for thousands of years, and not after their king went to such great lengths to protect them, even sacrificing himself.
“I’m going to try and get you out,” I tell him firmly.
He smiles, “I had a feeling that you were going to say that, but I fear that it’s going to be more complicated than you think it will be.”
Zev shrugs, “Oh, I have no doubt that it will be, everything tends to be.”
“You won’t be able to get us as easily as you have in the dream. In the real realm, there are creatures that have been set upon the realm and stalk the halls of the castle. I don’t even know if Rolo will be there for you,” Ignatius says.
We all look at Rolo, who shrugs.
“I have no idea, they are the first people that we have seen in thousands of years, and they’re a part of a dream. I don’t know if I will still be able to help them if they were actually here,” Rolo tells us, his ghostly form wavering slightly.
Ignatius nods, like Rolo has helped him come to a decision, and looks back at us, “You will need to get the grimoire out of my workroom then.
I was the kingdom's head Spellcaster. I helped to create some of the spells that guard the door, although I was not strong enough to cast them. My grimoire has the code that will help you to get down here, the one that I’m sure you watched Rolo do.
It has to be performed exactly right, or the place gets locked down, and even more spells are layered on top.
“Those spells would make it absolutely impossible to get through. Not even the Spell Weavers, as rare as they are, would be able to pick them apart, they were designed against them. The grimoire will also have the information in it in order to help you get past the creatures that now roam this realm, and even defeat them if you are strong enough, and I have a feeling that you may be,” he explains.