"We should be fast, Liro…" whispered Tyel. Both he and Liro, covered by Tyel's mantle, were walking inside the building while their bodies were camouflaged with the walls behind them.
"I know… but remember to always remain near me, Tyel. We don't want the others to discover you," answered Liro, he kept his voice extremely low, as they were currently passing under a small security camera.
The moment they passed through that, Tyel signaled to Liro to move to his right. "Over there…" whispered Tyel. Liro slowly tilted his head and noticed an old door.
"It's an old storage room. I need to let you know some important things," added Tyel. Liro slowly nodded his head, and they walked toward the storage.
Before they were about to enter, Tyel gave one last look to notice if anyone was nearby. As there weren't any security cameras pointing in that direction, he whispered, "Safe…" and slowly closed the door behind him.
This storage room, exactly as Tyel had said to Liro, looked extremely old. There was a ton of dust everywhere, and almost every single object there had been used by Zrelekai in past years.
"Woah…" Surprised, Liro moved his hands around the multiple boxes. Inside them were tons of scrap metal, old electric wires, and extremely old papers about Zrelekai's experiments.
"This was one of Zrelekai's old storage rooms. He used it for a really long time before he actually built his newest laboratory, where he keeps almost everything," answered Tyel. He didn't want to touch anything, as he had spotted a small bug's dead body in one of the boxes.
"Still, everything here feels very old…" whispered Liro as he picked up a dusty piece of scrap metal from one of the boxes. The moment Liro picked it up, he immediately placed it back in the box, as it could be destroyed easily and he didn't want to get hurt.
"For how long did you say this Zrelekai has lived? You told us that he was half-krukin, but…" Liro started to remember when Tyel had told him and the others about the scientist, Zrelekai, yesterday.
"By the way, with the way you're talking about this Zrelekai, it feels like he is extremely old, like he has lived for a really long time," Vane had joked, as he clearly didn't expect what Tyel was about to tell him.
"Oh, right. I completely forgot to tell you about this…" Tyel had whispered before speaking with a higher voice tone so that they could hear him too. "He is half-krukin and half-human."
Hearing those words, the others had gasped in surprise, as they couldn't have seen it coming.
"It's like Sappho…" Liro had pointed out. Vane, next to him, had nodded his head. "But she has only a single horn on her head. If this Zrelekai has lived for longer…" whispered Vane. Realizing how much Zrelekai's body might have changed after all these years, he slowly moved his head toward Tyel, looking scared.
"I know that he has been alive for over three hundred years, and if I'm correct, his body started to change almost after the fall of Karyuz," said Tyel. "I don't know what this Sappho person you're talking about looks like, but Zrelekai can't be defined as human anymore. Half of his face is totally black, and he's slowly turning into a krukin in every single aspect."
'Then if he is a half-krukin like Sappho, it must mean that he has a resistant soul… and if he has been a half-krukin for over three hundred years…' With this thought, Liro gulped, as he expected Zrelekai to be able to create as many things as he wanted thanks to his magic.
"Still, I couldn't understand why you decided to bring me here, Tyel…" asked Liro, as he started to feel uncomfortable staying in this small storage room.
Tyel, noticing Liro's acting, immediately reassured him. "Oh, don't worry, Liro. Soon we will come out, but from now on, speaking will be harder. As we enter the laboratory zone, it will be full of guards and cameras; it will be almost impossible to speak."
Liro didn't even answer as Tyel kept speaking. "And because of this, I need you to follow me while you remain silent. We don't know what danger we might find there."
Hearing those words, Liro simply nodded his head. "I'll be ready. We should not lose any time, c'mon," pointed out Liro, as he realized that it was getting late.
"We have Darian, Snowy, and Catripple to save. Let's go," said Tyel cheerfully. Before coming out, he carefully opened the door to see if there was someone who could spot them, but in this place, the prison was still empty.
Liro now positioned himself behind Tyel and touched his shoulder while Tyel's mantle covered them. Thanks to the mantle, in case Liro were to accidentally remove his hand from Tyel's shoulder, the mantle would still cover all of them. Since the illusion was still cast on everything touching the mantle, there wouldn't be any problem for either of them.
Liro started to follow Tyel, and the first place they passed through was the cells. "From here, we will reach the laboratories," whispered Tyel, as there wasn't any security camera around. Liro, next to him, nodded his head and, without answering, kept walking behind him.
While walking, Liro noticed all the cells. I will not return here anymore… With this thought, Liro should have felt happy, but he was feeling the opposite emotion instead.
'Many people will have to stay there while we will be free…' Liro couldn't remove from his mind the scene where all the prisoners, seeing the holes in the walls, tried to escape. After they realized the holes were fake, Liro could never forget the faces of the prisoners who had decided to give up.
'We… I'm sorry to everyone…' thought Liro. He remembered that a few hours earlier he had seen the faces of the prisoners having fun during lunch, and a few minutes earlier he had seen their lifeless bodies. The more he thought about this, the more he realized that he had to change.
'Keep thinking about this will not bring me anywhere… I need to change. I can't just remain here, paralyzed…' Suddenly, Liro realized the worst thing that could happen if he didn't actually try to change his way of acting.
Tyel, noticing that Liro had been extremely quiet, slowly turned his head toward him and noticed his face looked extremely worried. "Hey, are you sure you can do it, Liro? Things from now on will only become worse," whispered Tyel. He knew that once they were in the laboratory zone, the things Liro would see would be definitely worse.
Liro, still blocked in his thoughts, didn't answer. Suddenly, Tyel stopped and completely turned his body to face him. Liro, caught by surprise, was about to lose his balance when Tyel grabbed his arm to prevent him from falling to the floor.
"I know what you might be thinking, Liro, and I know that it is extremely bad. But we need to keep going. We will return for the other people as soon as we are ready. With Catripple and Darian, we will have a bigger power force to counter this stupid empire," said Tyel with a reassuring tone.
"I know… don't worry, I'll be able to come with you. I…" whispered Liro. He looked at his fist before taking a deep breath. Liro closed his eyes and his face turned serious. In his minds he saw the faces of all the people he met in his life, starting from his family, then from his companion in Therya and to the most recent people he had met, 'I'll do it for everyone…' Suddenly, Liro closed his fist and opened his eyes again. As his eyes met Tyel's, it felt like he was a totally new man. "I'm ready!" he said, with fire burning in his eyes. Tyel, hearing that, smiled happily. "Let's not lose any time, we're not far from our objective."
Liro and Tyel arrived at the end of the cells when suddenly the environment around them started to change. "Liro," called out Tyel. Behind him, Liro nodded his head. "I know." Liro memorized the colors of the wall they were about to walk near and changed their color so that they could pass without any problem.
"Man, have you heard what happened in Garden D-2?" Liro and Tyel heard a voice. Tyel immediately signaled Liro to stop, and they remained still. Two guards appeared from the corner of the hallway.
"Yeah. I'm lucky that today I was assigned to Garden D-4. I heard that some of the guards were gravely injured too," said the other guard while they walked past Liro and Tyel, unable to spot them.
"I've heard that three prisoners have escaped. The guards are searching for them like crazy in the whole town." With those last words, the guards walked away, and Liro and Tyel couldn't hear their voices anymore.
"Don't worry, Liro. The rebels' base has never been found in all these years. They will not find it today, not even in a million years," said Tyel as he started to walk again. Liro, behind him, nodded his head. "That's great to know."
The moment they turned the corner, a security camera grabbed their attention. Even if they couldn't be spotted, they gasped in fear. Tyel and Liro kept walking.
They passed by different laboratories where people tied up could be seen in constant pain as blood was drained from their bodies.
"NO, PLEASE! I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY OF THE REBELS RECENTLY!" shouted a poor old man as his nails were slowly being ripped off by a guard who seemed to enjoy his pain.
As another nail was removed, the old man emitted another loud cry that made Liro and Tyel scared. Covered by the old man's loud cry, Tyel was able to speak. "We're close to Catripple's cell. We will first take her," he whispered. "Alright," answered Liro, and the two of them kept walking.
The laboratories were full of people in constant pain. The moment Liro and Tyel passed near a window, they noticed one of the prisoners getting brutally shot in the head only because he had begged the guards to stop torturing him.
"Are you sure it was the right choice?" asked the younger guard of the two. The other one, with a scar over his face, spat on the dead person's body. "Yeah. It was clear that he didn't know anything. We need to ask Zrelekai if he can give us a new prisoner to interrogate."
The younger one immediately spoke. "Sadly, it won't be possible. Zrelekai went to Ashikunz recently. I didn't understand why." Hearing this, Tyel immediately stopped Liro and positioned his index finger over Liro's mouth to make him understand that he had to remain silent.
'It's rare for Zrelekai to go to Ashikunz… especially if the prison is attacked…' thought Tyel. He wanted to know more.
The guard with the scar went out of the room. "Tch… and why is that?" The younger guard followed as the two of them started to walk in the opposite direction of Tyel and Liro.
"I heard that he needed to move a prisoner… I couldn't understand." With that, the guards disappeared from Liro and Tyel's view.
"What does this mean?" asked Liro, unable to believe what he had just heard.
"I don't know… but I've got a bad feeling about this." With that, Liro and Tyel kept walking for several more minutes until they reached Catripple's room, which was completely empty.
"What? It shouldn't be possible… come up, Liro," called out Tyel. Liro nodded his head, and the two of them carefully returned to their feet.
The cell was empty; in fact, Catripple wasn't there anymore. There were only some of her feathers on the chair, and the room was vacant with the metallic door closed.
"Don't tell me… that motherfucker has sent Catripple away? Really?" Without noticing, Tyel slammed his fist against the wall, and the sound echoed throughout the hallway. Some robots detected the noise but weren't able to spot anyone.
The robots, confused, started to walk toward Liro and Tyel. "Dammit!" Liro immediately positioned his hand over Tyel's mouth, and both of them returned to their knees.
"I don't see anyone… strange," said the robot as it looked around with a rifle in its hands. "Strange. I was sure I heard someone bumping against the wall." Suddenly, the robot's eyes locked on the spot where Liro and Tyel were hiding, and it remained there looking for several seconds.
Liro was about to lock eyes with the robot when suddenly he remembered what that old woman had said to him the other day: "If you'd like some advice, don't look the robots in the eyes. I've heard they have a sensor that looks at your pupils and understands if you're scared or if you're plotting something."
Thanks to those words, Liro immediately closed his eyes, and after that, the robot immediately turned away. "I guess there must have been a sort of bug in our system, but remain alert." With that, the robots kept walking.
"We're not far from Darian's room. Let's go," whispered Tyel. Liro, next to him, started to walk and followed him from behind.
'If Zrelekai isn't here, it is bad… I don't know how we would even be able to open the door…' thought Tyel. He felt that this mission was about to be a total failure.
The moment they turned another corner, Tyel finally spotted Darian's room, and what he saw made his heart beat extremely fast. The door wasn't fully closed, in fact, there was a small opening. "We're here." Hearing those words, Liro's heart began to beat extremely fast.
"But what? How can the door be open? Didn't you say that we would need to bait Zrelekai out of it?" asked Liro, as he clearly remembered the plan.
"One of the hardest parts of the plan tomorrow will be in front of Darian's door. If Zrelekai is there, you have to bait him outside with one of your illusions." Tyel already knew Liro's answer and was preparing how to respond.
"But if I can hold only one illusion at once, it will be impossible; he will spot us," said Liro, almost shouting.
"I know… that is why it will not be easy…"
"Let's go inside…" whispered Tyel as both he and Liro entered the room. It was empty; Zrelekai wasn't there, but Darian was unconscious on the bed, and next to him was Snowy.
"Darian!" shouted Liro. He couldn't contain his excitement anymore and immediately rushed toward him, removing the spell and leaving Tyel there alone.
"We're safe… it's strange…" whispered Tyel as he carefully closed the door behind him and adjusted the cape on his back.
"Remember what I told you last?" asked Tyel. Liro immediately nodded his head as fast as he could and grabbed Darian's body. "How could I forget the last part of the plan?" Tyel went toward the back of the room and moved some old boxes, just to reveal a window.
From there, an eagle could be seen, and they immediately understood that it was Vane. The moment he looked at them, he moved his left wing to wave.
"One at a time, guys. Remember that I won't be able to carry more than one of you together," said Vane the moment the window was opened. Tyel nodded his head. "Don't worry." With that, Liro brought Darian's unconscious body to Vane. "I'll bring him to Syrmax, who is waiting for him."
Even if this spot wasn't safe from the security cameras at all, it didn't matter anymore. The others were saved, and even if the guards spotted them, they could simply escape into the town.
"And for the last part… do you see that window over there?" asked Tyel, as he pointed his finger toward one of the highest windows in the prison. "I've asked some friends which window it was… and I discovered it is located in the same room where Zrelekai's new toy was located. Vane, I need you to turn into an eagle and wait for us there. You can bring at least one of us down, right?"
"I'll be able to do it without any problem. Do I need to wait for you there?" asked Vane. Tyel nodded his head. "Just put yourself in that blind spot so the camera won't spot you at first."
And with that, the group was finally safe to escape from this prison. Vane brought Darian's unconscious body to Syrmax, who still had some muscles, though not as many as before, and nodded his head. "I'll look over him." With that, Vane immediately rushed back toward the others to help them escape.