"Come out!"
The door swung open and Audreya was shoved out with a rough hand on her shoulder. The guards rushing back and forth to find her, came to an abrupt halt, their eyes widening.
"You! So you were hiding here!"
Audreya's fierce gaze didn't waver, angering the guards further. Things were about to take a violent turn when Martin's harsh voice bellowed.
"Why did you stop! Keep moving!"
His eyes landed on the guards, and a look of shock crossed his features. "What happened?"
One guard stepped forward with menace. "This woman attacked the doctor and tried to escape!"
Martin's eyes went wide, and he shot Audreya a nasty glare. "Escape? You've got some nerve!"
"Was she hiding in there?"
"Yes. I came for my regular rounds and found her hiding in this room."
The second guard rushed past them to check on the young woman and her child. The woman scooted back against the wall, terrified.
"This witch! You'll be punished for this!"
Martin asked, "You said she attacked the doctor?"
"Yes! Freaking woman strangled him. He's lucky to be alive!"
Audreya held a strong urge to retort, but Martin had strictly warned her from retaliating. The guards dragged her back to the doctor's room where he was beginning to regain his consciousness. His throat burned and ached with a stabbing pain. His fury towards Audreya was clearly palpable.
One guard sneered. "We should push her next. Let her know what is in store for her."
Audreya caught Martin's subtle glance.
"I know you're trying to do some blasphemous rituals with a veil-born. I saw that child with the young mother! But too bad for you. You can throw me to a demon all you want, but what's the use if I can't conceive?"
The doctor looked stunned and so did the guards. He couldn't voice out his questions, but his frantic gestures expressed the same.
'You cannot bear a child?'
She smiled wryly. "I'm of no use to you. See my red hair?" She flicked a lock. "This red hair is the culprit. Red-haired women in my family have always had a fiery womb. One of my ancestors had gotten trapped in Mount Lavos. She had come out alive, but the lava had left her body scorched."
"That's a ridiculous story!" One guard lashed out.
But the doctor's expression said otherwise.bHe took a scroll and brush and inked urgently.
'Redheads are historically known for their fierce temperament!'
Her attack on him alone had proved that vividly enough. Redheads were rare in the Human Realm, and with such an unusual color like blazing fire, they began to get associated with temper and rage. So if Audreya claimed her ancestor had gotten trapped in Mount Lavos and the great mountain's lava had scarred her body - it wasn't so difficult to believe.
The guard scoffed. "If that ancestor was infertile, how did she carry her lineage?"
"Why do you expect me to know the full story of some long-dead ancestor? I was a rare redhead child born after a long time, even though my parents had dark hair. I don't know how that works, but they had wailed at my birth. When I got older, I learned that I'd never be able to conceive because of some old redhead ancestor of mine."
The guards cast a confused look at the doctor as though searching for his judgment - to which he hesitantly nodded. There were few instances when a child was born with a rare hair or eye color, completely different from his or her parents. Women were usually and unfairly accused of being adulterers, but doctors in his field knew that there was some strange magic at play, even if it remained elusive to this day.
He asked her several more questions, and her answers only further proved her claim. Recurrent fevers signified a scorched body, but since she was imprisoned in an underground cave cooler than the surface, those feverish symptoms had eased since then.
He stared at the scroll for a moment, then turned it to the guards.
'She's useless for our purpose. Better take her as a slave instead.'
—
Lake Morveth was now raging inside the cavern with a force that threatened to consume the intruders. The crumbling cave on top of the flooding water only added to their unending challenges.
"Ah the scent of impending death…What could be more heavenly than this?" Finnian spread his arms wide, welcoming the pain with a flushed face.
Vivia smacked him on his head. "You might like to die, but we don't!"
Zerath urged Arzan. "Use teleportation magic!"
Arzan's face turned ashen. "I've been trying to, my lord, but the magic is not working!"
Finnian smiled as if he had already found salvation. "Whoever has trapped us in here has probably resealed the magic flow. We can't locate and break the seal in time."
Silas stared. "Reseal? You mean the Shifting Vein has also gone? How will we return to Rudaheim then?"
Judith cut through a barrage of falling debris. "I think the bigger concern at the moment is getting out of here alive."
He shrugged. "I'm a stubborn existence. I'll survive somehow."
Zerath grabbed Vivia's hand and pointed at the far end. "The altar is our only way out!"
They climbed down the stairwell again, rushing towards the altar with all their might and speed, while also battling the raging fall of the cave over them. The water had already risen up to their knees, the level only dangerously growing further.
"You cannot break the altar, my lord!" Arzan cried over the thunderous tides.
"Why not?"
"Nethermoor's situation was different. That altar had collapsed naturally, but if you or Sir Silas strike it with your weapons, we don't know what kind of a consequence it will have. The altar may have been used for evil rituals, but the runes are still the sacred Yin and Yang of our world!"
"His argument holds merit," Finnian hummed with joy as if this whole ordeal was his childhood dream.
"Do we really have to think about offending the Gods when we're literally moments away from being either crushed, poisoned or drowned?" Silas grimaced. "So many colorful options to die from - I'm actually impressed."
"We cannot disrespect the natural forces!"
Zerath glanced at Vivia, her hand firm in his.
Yin and Yang…If Vivia and I truly carry the Blessed power by some strange miracle - then perhaps the natural forces will forgive the both of us.
"Take Lady Judith's sword and break this altar with me."
Vivia held his gaze for a moment and nodded. She didn't need it spelled out.
Finnian said, "Well if you want to break it, then do so from the opposite sides. A Yin demon breaking the Yin runes will only repel the force."
Zerath and Vivia quickly swapped positions. They raised their blades high up in the air. With one lethal strike, the swords sliced came down together, slicing through the altar. It revealed an opening beneath.
Then another wave of Lake Morveth came crashing through, swallowing all six of them in its deadly tide before a single one of them could have taken even a step forward.