It was the morning of the next day; the sun was rising and the loud ringing of bells echoing once again. After the usual morning routine, we all made up our minds to find that cellar and find the people that were being held there. Hopefully we won’t be too late, and I have a hunch that that’s where they’re going to be using them as sacrifices.

“The cellar is hidden behind the main building of the prison, where all the cells are located.” He’d point at the tree we had always been going to during our free time, “You see that tree over there? Head left and you’ll spot a hidden staircase going down to the lower levels.”

“But won’t there be dozens of guards there?” Glenn would ask him, “If the guards find us, we’ll be executed on the spot! I don’t want to die yet!”

“Don’t worry,” The man would pat Glenns head, “You won’t die. There’re no guards inside the underground cellar itself, but there’s guards that occasionally check inside.”

“When should we make our move then?” I’d ask, “We’ll have to thoroughly prepare ourselves before we actually go inside.”

 “From what we’ve observed, the guards check every two hours or so.” He’d suddenly pull out a large piece of cloth that appeared to be torn out from someone’s shirt. “Here’s the layout of the entire place, we mapped it before the guards caught us, I barely managed to escape; quite literally hanging onto a thread.” He set the map down on the ground and we all squatted down to get a closer look as he explained to us everything we needed to know.

As we all analyzed the map, we all spotted one major problem. Our only way out was also our only way in, and if we somehow coincidentally exited at the same time that a guard was passing by, we were fucked. If we were lucky, all we’d take were beatings and isolation time, if we weren’t however, we’d most likely be publicly executed as a show of force to the other inmates.

He described the smell of the interior to be vomit-inducing, noting that the stench of rotting corpses and blood made many of his comrades leave immediately. I advised Glenn and Iferos to opt out of joining us down in the cellar, but they stubbornly refused my suggestion, insisting that they needed to come along with us.

We all agreed that me, Damian, and Reanne would be the ones leading the group up front, while Viella, Iferos and Glenn would stay back by the entrance, acting as a rearguard for us. It was risky, what we were about to do, but we had to do it. If this was somehow connected to what the Laurei were scheming, then we had to uncover it and find a way to report it back to the higher ups.

The time we were set to infiltrate the underground cellar was around midday, since there was a duel that was set around that time, we could use that time while everyone was busy watching the fight to get in and get out of there as quickly as possible- there was absolutely no room for error or delays the moment we step foot inside.

Aside from the horrid stench, the man also told us to be wary of something that was lurking there. He didn’t know exactly what it was other than the fact that it was completely blind, had large tusks resembling dragon’s teeth, and was over nine feet tall. It was a creature that would tower over us as if we were mere children to it.

He also pointed out where his friends were being held, which was, unfortunately for us, in the deeper parts of the area, which was going to take some time to get to even if we sprinted. We carefully examined the rough sketch of the map one last time before he scurried off to another area with another group of people. We went to the cafeteria to grab some food before we headed off into that cellar, and the two young boys would talk about how scared they were- more so than when they were drafted into the war and fought on the battlefield.

Damian would try to comfort the two, but to no avail. To be honest, I was quite anxious as well. Even Viella and Reanne were, the look on their faces and their hands and legs being fidgety making it all the more obvious. Damian looked as if he could face anything that came his way, but I had a slight feeling that this was all a façade, and he was just as terrified as we were.

We had a few hours left before we were set to go, and we all went to our own different areas, as a way to pass the time. Me and Reanne went back to the tree where we always go to, which was near the entrance to the cellar too. “I’m scared, Talis.” She’d say as we slowly walked towards the tree, “I-I don’t want to die…”

“We won’t, Reanne.”

“But what if we get caught?! What if that monster inside there kills us all?! What if-“

“Deep breaths, Reanne. Deep breaths.” I’d try my best to calm her down as we both sat down by the cover of the verdant leaves, but she’d suddenly burst into tears, unable to hold back her anxiety and cries, barely even able to catch her breath, “It’s okay, there’s no need to worry, okay? Nobody’s going to die here, I’ll make sure of it. We still have to get out of this place and back to our families, remember?”

Sniffle… Sniffle… “Y-You’re right… I’m just so scared…” She’d wipe the tears off her face with her shirt, “I’m sorry you had to see this side of me, Talis.” She’d say, with a soft and gentle smirk on her face as she looked at me teary-eyed.

“Don’t worry about it, Reanne. I’ll always be here for you.” I’d whisper to her, gently massaging her hair.

She closed her eyes, slowly falling asleep beside me as her head rested on my shoulders. We had quite a bit of time left anyways, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to fall asleep too. We needed as much energy as we could get, and I could tell that this was going to be a very, very long day. I slowly closed my eyes and rested my head gently leaning on top of her head and dozed off into sleep.

“Talis.” I would wake up to the high-pitched voice of Iferos, “Psst. Talis… Wakey wakey!”

“Is it time?” I’d squint my eyes and notice Reanne was already awake, and everyone was waiting for me to get up.

“One of the guards just finished their rounds inside, we have to go. NOW.” Viella would whisper to me as she dragged me by the hand to get me to stand up.

Damian checked our surroundings to see if anyone was in earshot or would notice us heading to the cellar, and it was clear. After waiting for the guard to move away from the line of sight, we sneakily rushed towards the entrance. There was an ominous aura that was surrounding the staircase going down, and it seemed like only I could sense it, as the others didn’t seem all that fazed at all.

Making our way down and Glenn would immediately note how much worse this is compared to the main prison cells, there were bloodstains smeared all over the walls, the stench of rotting corpses was worse than what that man had described, and there was this eerie feeling I just couldn’t shake off.

As we entered the main area after the two flights of stairs going down, I immediately noticed dozens of crates of differing shapes and sizes, all piled up together. Just like we had planned earlier, Viella, Iferos, and Glenn stayed by the stairs to watch our backs, while me and the other two went on ahead to find the man’s friends. Iferos and Glenn, being the curious young boys they are, slowly creaked open one of the boxes as they covered their noses due to the stench.

“AGH!” Iferos would let out a horrified scream, just barely held back by Glenn covering his mouth.

Glenn would take a peek too, and he’d back off and fall down in horror. We all decided to take a look at what all the commotion was, and… “What the fuck?” I’d gag but hold in the urge to vomit right then and there, it was a small, square crate fully stuffed with corpses, their limbs being forcibly bent to fully occupy the entire crate. None of us could’ve predicted something like this.

Damian would quickly put the lid back on the crate and tell everyone to maintain our positions, Iferos and Glenn immediately lost their morale; their cheerful glee quickly turning into faces filled with horror and shock. It was understandable, these boys were still so young, and they had to see such… such things. So that’s why this place reeks of rotting corpses, they were stockpiling them here. But for what?

Me, Damian, and Reanne would make our move, the hallways brightly lit up with an endless number of light-lamps and crates. We stopped for a moment to inspect one of the crates, this time it was rectangular in shape. Damian would take the lead and forcefully open it, only to find a Rahasa, an eagle at that. The poor woman’s wings were wrapped around her body as a sort of cushion, while the rest of her limbs were bent and angled in a way to properly fit in the crate.

“These fucking empire dogs!” Damian would slam his fist on the nearby wall as he looked at the deceased body in anger. “How could they do this?! They may be enemies but they’re people as well!”

I’d calm him down, putting my hand on his arm as he slowly lowered it. “We’ll get our revenge soon enough, Damian. For now, we need to focus on our objective.”

Sigh… “You’re right, let’s keep moving.”

We walked and walked, it was just a long hallway filled with crates of corpses, there wasn’t anything else that was noteworthy. As we were walking, however, we began to notice the odd amounts of vines and flora that was spreading throughout the hallway, I had a hunch that we were slowly approaching the main area where we were supposed to be in.