Another rumble shook the hallway, nearly throwing me to the ground. The stone archway finally gave out and collapsed under the weight it carried. A quick burst of aura step shot me forwards just in time, like a loosed arrow. Behind me, the rubble had already blocked the path and I knew I couldn’t waste any more time. A desperate sprint ensued. As I passed through the winding corridor, past the different cells I had taken note of before, several people screamed at me. Both young and old were imprisoned here, apparently, though none sounded like children.

Unfortunately, I lacked the time to save them. Besides, I hadn’t a clue as to whether or not they even deserved to be saved. A few cells had already collapsed, either freeing their previous occupant, or burying them. A macabre thought.

More and more similar cells appeared with each corner I turned, but eventually, I arrived at the torturing room from earlier. Surely, some storage area was nearby… Sadly, nothing of the sort could be found.

I kicked a few doors open, but they only contained some spoiled prison food and rags. At my wit’s end, I decided to search the torturing room, just in case. The stone door had already started cracking, so it didn’t take much effort to crush it and head inside. Sure enough, apart from a table and some ‘tools,’ this room, too, was empty. I did, however, spot some parchment laying on a wooden desk in the corner. Picking it up and inspecting it, I found out that it was some kind of rudimentary map, with a few labeled chambers and cells. One of them, curiously, was marked as ‘evidence’, while another was called ‘command’. A last label of note was a staircase called ‘to level two’. If my gear was anywhere in this building, it would be in the ‘evidence’ chamber, I thought.

The only issue with this room, was that it was located on the opposite side of the stairs and the command room, making it a risky venture. Then again, was going after my gear even a question?

With my mind made up, I hurriedly furled the map and held on to it, for lack of pockets on this shitty prison suit. Then, I sprinted out of that chamber and went back the way I came, until I reached a juncture where I turned left, instead of right. A few more twists and turns later, a steel door appeared at the end of an abandoned corridor. The evidence chamber!

As I was about to try to kick it open somehow, another rumble shook the buried prison and the cracks in the walls widened a little further. Before long, the entire place would collapse. I didn’t have much more time.

Unable to visualise what the chamber looked like on the inside and therefore unable to apparate, I had to get this damn door open. I grabbed a lengthy, thin rock from the floor and held it like a sword, in the hopes that… Sure enough, my [Sword laser] skill was reacting, if only barely…!

I gathered as much mana as I could and noticed the sturdy piece of stone start to crack under the force of the energy. Not much more now, hold on rock…

The rock was about to break, so I let loose the stream of energy I had charged up. It was far from the power I was used to, but it was enough! The circular stream of mana coursed at the door like a river, before charging right through and leaving a similarly shaped hole. Due to the lack of power, the hole wasn’t big enough for me to pass, through… But it would allow me to visualise a spot to apparate to!

I did as planned and reappeared inside of a veritable treasure trove. Dozens of crates were spread across an equal amount of storage shelves, each labeled with different names and designations.

“Radral, tier 2 swordcaster. Arrested for heresy… no, that’s not it. Riordan, tier 4 oneiromancer, arrested for aiding in heresy. That’s not it either, but I’ll take it anyway…”

I quickly realised that everything was categorised based on the alphabet, so I quickly headed over to the letter A, where, sure enough, I found my crate. I pried it open with some forceful measures and found my gear inside. I didn’t have much time, so equipped as much as I could and raided the rest of the room as quickly as I could, grabbing anything that seemed even somewhat valuable. Unfortunately, there wasn’t that much loot, since most of these crates belonged to tier 1 and 2 classers. More importantly, I eventually found Emeri’s crate, which wasn’t so much a crate as it was a chest. An ornate one, even. Clearly, her affiliation still paid dividends, even when arrested. Unfortunately, the presence of her gear also attested to the fact that my suspicion had been accurate. She was arrested, just like me.

“Helios be damned, Emeri. Why did you have to go to that statue in the end…” I muttered. I couldn’t really hold it over her, since I had landed myself in exactly the same situation.

After I was done looting, I noticed that the time to go had arrived …if it hadn’t passed already. The walls and roof of the prison were starting to look downright brittle, like glass about to shatter. I ran back the way I came, but gave up on running halfway through and used Aura step the rest of the way. The path behind me collapsed with each explosion, but at least I was making quick progress.

I passed by the torture chamber not long after and headed over to the ‘command’ room. Specifically, I was looking for the stairs upward, as well as any information on where Emeri was being kept. The ‘evidence’ room hadn’t told me anything about her cell-number, so I was left in the dark.

A few minutes later, I finally found the command room, nestled right next to the stairs. Unfortunately, I had company. Until now, no prisoners or guards had bothered me, since I hadn’t come across any. All of them had long since run in the other direction, even going so far as to abandon the evidence room, fortified though it may have been.

Now, however, that was no longer the case. Near the entrance to the stairs and the command room, guards were engaged in a fight with a few dozen prisoners, each of their wristbands sparking with lightning as they tried to use their superior numbers to fight off their captors. Seeing the perfect opportunity to get inside, I decided not to pick a side. After all, what if these prisoners wanted their stuff back? Instead, escalating the conflict would be better for me.

To do so, I broke some of the higher-tiered prionsers wristbands by hand as I rushed by, setting them free. Though they were weapon-less, their renewed freedom saw them fight with equally renewed vigour and courage, distracting any of the guards that had turned their attention over to me. I slipped past them into the command room, which I found half-destroyed.

“Now then… Where could I find Emeri’s cell number?” I wondered to myself. I opened a few cabinets as quickly as I could, but found nothing. Eventually, my eyes fell on a steel safe that had nearly become buried under rubble. Its door was cracked and nearly open, so I used my sword to wedge it open fully. Inside, I found some valuables and a thick ledger, which I focused on. Flipping it open, I found old, faded records of prisoners, with a cell name attached right next to their names. This was it! Hurriedly, I flipped through, until I got to the more recent prisoners. I found my own name pretty quickly.

“Arthur, presumed tier 3 necromancer, cell C,-1,8…”

Hold on… that didn’t spell 18, that spelled -1, then 8. Was the -1 a reference to the floor number? So this prison was only partially underground. I continued searching until, right near the end of the lest, not far from mine, I found Emeri’s.

“Emeri Helios, presumed tier 3 holy lancer, cell A, 1, 45. Shit! She’s two floors above me!”

I had to move quickly. If she was still stuck in her cell, or worse…

I dashed past the guards and prisoners, who were still in a heated battle, and headed up the stairs. A few disgruntled folk called after me, displeased at my early exit, but I paid them no heed. The single paladin that sought to stop me and run after me was stabbed the moment he turned his back to the other prisoners, so I wasn’t worried.

The ground floor of the prison would have been just as devoid of light as the floor buried below it, if it wasn’t for the giant crater in the side of the building, letting sunlight through. The rubble sparked purple, reminding me of Dalius’ gravity magic. Sure enough, he had gone mad and attacked the prison. But why? Could he be trusted?

I shook off the train of thought, since I didn’t have time to care. More importantly, the crater provided me with an easy way up to the first floor, even without a map. Before I could get there, though, another rumble shook the building. Purple and golden light flooded the hallway, the two forces clashing not far from the prison. As the building strained under the pressure, I was showered in dust. The top half of the prison was even worse off than the underground part.

I hesitated for a moment. Was heading toward the fight really a good idea, even if it allowed me to get up quicker? I nodded absentmindedly. I had no other choice. Not if I wanted to save Emeri, in case she needed saving.

I ran toward my goal and reached just as another clash of power erupted. A purple vortex came into existence in the distance, pulling all of the loose rubble towards it, including me. Before I knew it, I was floating right out of the prison and into the jaws of death. Seeing no other option, I apparated back into the building, into the gap that led to the first floor. The vortex lost its pull on me as I became intangible, allowing me to make enough distance to escape it.

Now then, where was Emeri’s cell?