Aziya:

“What are you trying to do?” Aziya demanded, shaking herself off of Ophelia “You are fully aware of the traditions that this town holds, how could you?”

“Shut up, you are acting on your emotions,” Ophelia said as she started looking through the cabinet for fresh bandages “You also know full well what’s going to happen to that boy”

Aziya grimaced, she didn’t want to be reminded, the town she grew up in was a special case, they held the king they served under as a sort of deity higher than gods, anyone that acted suspicious or unpatriotic would be sacrificed to the altar. The altar had been gifted to them by the one of the kings within Alagadda; Frevor, the Soul King. They needed sacrifices every month and today was the deadline, Aziya trembled as she remembered that her brother had been captured for the ceremony. After he returned alone Oakira must have thought that Aziya had died to the Rake and chose him as one of the sacrifices.

“I’m going to save my brother” Aziya stood determined to get her brother back “I need your help”

“What makes you think I will?” Ophelia laughed as she finished wrapping her wound with the bandage she had found in the cupboard above the medicine.

“You will help me because they’ve also chosen you as a sacrifice” Aziya said without looking at Ophelia “Oakira told me before you left for the Rake, that if you were to ever return that you would be the last sacrifice for the alter”

“You lie” Ophelia hissed “I came to solve your problem and you guys repay me with murder?”

“I tell the truth, I know when they plan to come” Aziya shrugged “I also know that they plan to sedate you to keep you alive for the ceremony”

“Fuck!” Ophelia punched the metal cabinet and dented it as she did so “This is why I never take these jobs! This entire town is fucked up!”

Aziya stood silent waiting for Ophelia to calm down, as Ophelia did, she glared at Aziya while unsheathing one of her many knives.

“Lets get one thing straight, I will help you, in return you will help me” Ophelia held the knife to Aziya’s throat “First thing you can do for me is tell me what is your Gifted ability”

“I don’t know,” Aziya closed her eyes ready for the blade “it hasn’t manifested yet”

“You better not be lying” The blade retracted “When are they coming?”

“Judging by the time right now,” Aziya looked at the clock hanging above them “We have ten minutes until they get here”

“Is there another exit other than this one?” Ophelia pointed towards the door they entered “Since the people who have been following us are across the street from door”

“Yes,” Aziya said hurriedly crouching down to knock on the floor until she hit a hollow tile, she grabbed one of the knives sitting on the table and edged the tile up, removing the tile from the floor Aziya popped open the trapdoor that lead to the tunnel. “Here”

“You go first” Ophelia gestured “I don’t trust you”

“Fine” Aziya rolled her eyes as she let herself into the tunnel, it was lit up and bright like she had remembered from the her first time entering

“What is this place?” Ophelia said with a knife still ready at her hand “Where is the natural light coming from?”

“This is a sacred place, my father called it the Orchanium meadow” Aziya explained while leading Ophelia down the passage, “The ore that surrounds the wall absorbs soul energy to keep it lit up”

Getting to the end of the passage, she signaled for Ophelia to stop as she peered into the next passage.

“Bassa, if you weren’t part of my ability I swear to god I would have strangled you to death by now” a familiar voice came from a dark cell where there was no Orchanium.

“It’s you!” Aziya ran up to the cell where the boy that had saved them was being held “Didn’t you get sent to the altar yet? Have you seen another boy?”

“You…..” Hunter glared at her “As your savior you could have at least warned me about the ceremony this shitty town holds”

“Sorry” Aziya apologized as she tried to break a bar with a piece of Orchanium, with little effort the bar broke “Have you seen another boy anywhere?”

“You mean this guy?” Hunter squeezed out as he pulled an unconscious body with him “The guy got thrown into my cell a few minutes ago”

Aziya almost cried as she went to hug her brother, but suddenly her heart dropped “He’s not breathing”

“Of course he is,” Hunter shrugged “He’s dead”

“What?!” Aziya cradled her brothers lifeless body as tears started to form in her eyes, she put her ear to his chest desperately hoping that he was still alive to no avail, she crumpled to her knee “He’s already gone through the ceremony hasn’t he”

“I’m sorry for your loss” Hunter turned away as Aziya wailed “They said they were coming to pick me up in an hour”

“Then let's get out of here” Ophelia said handing a knife to Hunter “The quicker the better”

“Oh no I don’t think so,” Hunter had a mad look in his eyes as he got hold of a piece of orchanium “This is perfect, this is almost the most perfect place to start”

“Ophelia got away from him,” Aziya said as she backed away from Hunter herself, still holding onto her brother's corpse. “Somethings wrong with him”

“Nothings wrong with me” Hunter giggled madly “I have a goal and I’ll stop at nothing to achieve it”

Aziya watched in horror as Hunter cut a wound into himself with the orchanium summoned what looked like bandages from the ground forming into the form of a man. She turned to Ophelia who was staring at the bandaged figure.

“How do you know him” Ophelia pulled out a gun and aimed it at Hunter “What's your relationship with the Hanged king?”

As the last of the bandaged man formed Hunter stared at them wide-eyed “That's what they call me these days eh?”

“Not a bad name” Aziya jumped as the bandaged man started talking, His voice sounded raspy and sounded like a male and females in unison with each other, the man turned and Aziya puked “Did you want me to explain to them Hunter?”

“Go ahead, I need to make more plans before we head out” Hunter shrugged him off as he pulled a wad of paper from his backpack. “If that girl shoots your free to kill”

“Just how I like it” The bandaged man smiled, or what would have been a smile appeared on his face if she could see the man’s mouth, “You can call me Bassa, the advisor of the Hanged king”

“Who’s the Hanged King?” Aziya tilted her head at Ophelia, who avoided her gaze

“Are you going to ignore your friend's question?” Bassa laughed as he started walking towards them “Don’t you want to tell her about my liege?”

“Who is the Hanged King?” Aziya asked again, shaking Ophelia's shoulder “Why won’t you tell me?”

“The Hanged King….. Was a myth that we had believed the father of the kings had used to stop the six siblings from fighting for the throne” Ophelia started not lowering her gun “We all believed that it was a myth… until the seventh sibling came along”

“Seven years, the last shall birth, from broken glass upon this earth, to live or to die the seventh shall rule supreme, breaking all within society” Bassa chanted “That's the prophecy”

“It is… How do you know it?” Ophelia stood completely still ready to pull the trigger “That was classified information”

“I know many things” Bassa hissed “However it seems like you are as ignorant as the day my liege was imprisoned”

“Bassa, that's enough” Hunter stood up and folded the papers he was looking at “I know what the altar’s real purpose is, we need to destroy it before anyone else is sacrificed”

“It runs our energy” Aziya finally found her voice “That's all it does, If we don’t perform the ceremony, the altar will take our souls instead”

“How do you think the so-called soul king fights?” Hunter said impatiently as he walked closer to the two of them “I am not the enemy, your so called kings are the ones you should be careful of.”

“Your saying Frevor fights with the souls of the dead… you're saying that they’ve been sacrificing people so that our king can stay in power?” Ophelia spoke up, her voice cracked as she realised what Hunter was trying to say. “So how can we trust you?”

“You don’t need to but I can show you” Hunter signalled the light at the end of the tunnel with one hand, Aziya noticed he clenched the other as if he were trying to keep something in his palm, as she raised her head she saw the mad grin, still on his face“I will show this world the truth of their so called kings”