Time: During Ty's Arrival at the Castle Location
Dungeons: 4 Levels Below the Castle.
The dungeon floor echoed with the heavy clank of metal boots.
A low chuckle broke the silence. The Yami King strutted toward Elithira's cell, where each of her limbs was bound by chains fixed to the cold wall.
"The elusive Elithira makes her grand return," the King sneered, offering a psychotic smile that would normally send chills down someone's spine. "And we finally apprehended your skeleton friend, who foolishly believed that he could escape my grasp."
Gritting her teeth, Elithira mustered the strength to speak as she tried to mask the fear and desperation that was clawing at her heart. "Where is Sogetsu?" she demanded, raw emotion crackling in her voice. "If he's dead, spare me the torment and tell me!"
The King stepped closer, and the darkness in the room moved with him.
"Where's the fun in that?" he mused, removing his glove to reveal a hand wrapped in cold darkness.
"Wouldn't it be much more delightful if I brought him to you as a soulless slave?" His lips twisted into an evil grin as he extended his hand towards her.
Defiant, yet filled with a mounting dread, Elithira met his gaze. "Do your worst," she spat as she braced herself for the agony that awaited.
As the King's hand hovered over her head, an unbearable pain surged through her body, prompting her to release a soul-wrenching scream that she was not able to hold, letting the walls of the dungeon feast on her despair.
The moment stretched until the dungeon seemed to hold its breath around the horror. Elithira's screams reverberated, echoing further and further, causing a tumultuous stir among the other cells. Chains rattled in nearby rooms as prisoners woke and pressed themselves against cold stone.
After one long scream, cold silence took over.
The Yami King removed his hand. A transformation overcame Elithira as her luminous, pearly white skin shifted to a disconcerting bluish-black hue. This unforeseen change even took the stoic Yami King by surprise.
"This is something new," he mused aloud as Elithira, now devoid of life's essence, went limp before him. Her once vibrant eyes seemed lifeless now, with only a hollow shell remaining where a soul had once resided.
"Could it be that you were always devoid of a soul, a mere wretch lost in the abyss?" he taunted, his voice laced with derision.
"Fleeing for over a dozen years, did you nurture the futile hope that the skeleton boy would emerge as your savior, and redeem the multitude of your life's miseries?" Yami King's cold and merciless eyes remained fixated on her as he pulled Elithira's hair back, revealing her lifeless visage.
He drew his blade and severed the chains binding her, letting her body collapse onto the cold floor.
"Stand up and follow me," he commanded, his voice reverberating through the dungeon, bouncing off the cold stone walls and cutting through the subdued murmurs and sobs of hundreds of imprisoned souls.
"We have much to prepare for as the final, desperate throes of your futile rebellion unfold."
____
Meanwhile, back at the top of the castle walls.
Masaru and Nana walked up to the castle walls, where two sun-darkened guards snapped into a salute and welcomed both generals back.
Noticing the fatigued pain in Nana, one of the guards asked.
"Ma'am, are you okay? Do you need to go--"
However, he was interrupted by Nana as she used her power to push him against the wall without uttering a word before the two walked through the gates that were adorned with wooden symbols, a black masked figure, and black tendrils that were wrapping around its icon, symbolizing the king's numerous victories.
"Now, where is King Yami?" Masaru inquired as Tusandro, who was sitting in a chair, ran up to them both, bowing.
He then explained that the King had gone to the dungeon to retrieve the woman and requested for both of them to wait in the King's Chamber area for his return.
"It shouldn't be long," Masaru muttered before he turned to Tusandro and sneered.
"Ah, Tusandro, that name sounds familiar. That's right, it was your son who tried to overthrow the capital all those years ago after King Yami rightfully defeated the last King, isn't that right?"
Tusandro's words trembled as they escaped his lips beneath the low light of old lanterns.
The mystical carvings danced along the walls, weaving tales of battles that were lost in the mists of time and long-forgotten magic.
Tusandro muttered, "Ye-yes, Sir," regret weighing down every word.
Masaru's cold, mocking laughter cut through the silence, rippling through the haunting enchantments that filled the hall.
"What a pitiful father, aren't you?" His words slithered through the cold quiet.
Their footsteps echoed ominously under mystical archways that shimmered with threads of old, pale spells, illuminating their path with a ghostly glow.
The ancient stone floor, worn down under countless steps, bore old stains and fresh trails of Tusandro's blood.
The walls themselves seemed to resonate with the echoes of the silent fury that was burning within his heart and the hidden tales of his powerful sorceries.
They entered the King's Chamber, a wide room hung with banners of old victories.
Black pillars rose to a ceiling Ty could barely make sense of inside the barrier. Every footstep carried too long. Every whisper came back bent and colder than before. The room existed to make people feel small.
Inside the barrier, Ty kept scraping at the layers Masaru had wrapped around him. The cracks were tiny, but they were real. He focused on them while Nana and Masaru spoke, because focusing on anything else meant thinking about how many people in this chamber wanted him broken.
A chilling wind swirled through the room, carrying with it the faded echoes of incantations.
"So that's Sogetsu, huh?" Nana said, breaking the silence.
"To think he actually put up a fight against King Yami all those years ago," Masaru stated, his voice carrying a hint of disappointment as it mingled with the cold drafts that wandered through the chamber.
Now Sogetsu looked frail, a shadow of whoever he had been before Yami broke him.
Moments passed. Masaru noticed cracks spreading through the barrier that held Ty.
"There's no way he's still chipping away at the barrier," Masaru muttered. He layered more protection over it, unwilling to risk Ty breaking free again.
Nana's heart fluttered with unease as she inquired, her voice threading through the silence, "That sword that appeared out of nowhere, did you see who threw it?"
"No, why do you ask?" Masaru's reply bounced off the words which carried a hidden understanding.
"It seemed as if it threw itself at me. And after the skeleton caught the sword, it erupted into an array of flames," Nana explained, her words recalling the scene of the battle that was bound to the realms of the mystical and unimaginable.
"What's your point, little girl? He's not getting out anyways, so why should it matter?" Masaru responded, the skepticism in his tone pretty obvious.
Swallowing her apprehension, Nana spoke with a hint of frustration, "Arr, are you really that oblivious? I believe that the skeleton somehow formed a contract with the Head Captain's Blade."
Masaru paused, skepticism giving way to concern.
"I see your concern," he acknowledged, his voice reflecting a newfound understanding before he reassured her. "But as long as he's sealed away, we have nothing to worry about. Besides, there's nothing that Yami King can't figure out, you know it very well."