Clarice clicks her tongue. Young and foolish. There is no way to break through that. Clarice has seen his magic’s capabilities so she knows that with his mana reserves he would not be able to make a meaningful offensive. He should use this opportunity to dodge so that Clarice can make it in time. Does the boy have no idea how to stall for time? But then, an unexpected move unfolds. Osiris uses all the mana that is left in his body and appears right before the armour clad assailant. How stupid can he be? Does he know it will take a month to recover if he spends all the mana in his body? There is no way he will be able to move after that. Clarice herself has experienced the state of mana exhaustion, and she can say for certain that it's a pain that can make one pass out.
Contrary to all expectation. Osiris with a savage smile upon his face, as if to say “aha I got you”, uses his entire body as leverage to thrust with the most force possible with his feeble bleeding body. The armoured attacker clearly looks distraught, but they react fast. They dissolve the mana spears all around the square, and the attack that Osiris was betting everything on has failed. Now he was about to die to the new mana spear that the attacker is preparing. But that gave her enough time, and opened an opportunity that Clarice could exploit. People always let their guard down at the killing blow. When they are sure of their victory, they get drunk on the thoughts of killing. She jumps in, and activates
Frankly… although she hates to admit it, Clarice was impressed. The boy Osiris clearly has a grasp of the battlefield. It is no miracle that he is alive.
“Tch”
The figure in black clicks their tongue. They smash a mana spear into the ground, and dust and debris fill the air where he once was. Clarice in an attack posture prepares herself for an attack, but once the obstruction clears, there is no one there. She thought perhaps it would use it as a cover to attack, but it seems that was not the case. Clarice heightens her senses, to search the square, but finds no one matching the attacker’s profile. She makes her weapon disappear and runs over to Osiris. She summons Solar divinity to perform basic first aid on the boy, and as she is doing so Bert trudges over to her, and plops down on the floor. As Clarice is focusing on healing, Bert says nothing. After a few minutes pass, the medics dispatched from the fortifications reach the square and take over treatment of Osiris.
Clarice turns to Bert, “Are you all right? That wound on your arm looks pretty bad.”
Bert spins his shoulder as if he was stretching, and wincing through the pain he says, “This is nothing time can’t fix”
With an uncharacteristic bright smile, Clarice responds, while helping him up to his feet, “Fufu~ I am happy you are okay Bert.”
Deep down, Clarice knows that she would have come back to the square even if Helix did not let her. She did not do it only for Helix and Osiris. She cared deeply about Bert, probably more than he could ever know. Wrapping Bert’s unharmed hand around her shoulder, they walk towards the fortification, where Helix is waiting for their return.
* * *
I feel cold shackles around my hands and feet. A cold, unforgiving stone floor sits under my bottom, and the putrid smell of rotting flesh and sewage wakes me. Looking around, stone walls surround me from all sides and metal chains bind me inside a cell. A guard stands outside a metal bar door. Calling out to them would be useless as by standard all guards in the capital of Lux are Servus. They cannot be swayed by money or words, and most of the time they would not even respond… Still I should probably make him aware that I am awake.
“You can tell them I am awake.”
The guard’s body does not move, but it seems that he pressed some sort of button on his belt, as a clicking sound can be heard from his direction.
Minutes go by, and the distant sound of a heavy door opening could be heard. Footsteps of two people march through this desolate place, and I patiently await their arrival. Honestly, I am feeling hella comfortable here. I don’t know exactly how, but the combat mode has ended, and I can stop dying over and over again. While I can feel the shackles upon my hands, they are very faint. I think my nerves might have gone numb from the phantom pain. The footsteps get closer until two figures stop by my cell.
The two people are an older man and a woman of unknowable age. They both wear military outfits with military caps, and their eyes are as if they were staring at a sewer rat. I put on a smile and speak to them.
“Welcome to my humble abode, how can I help you?” I’ve really gone insane, haven’t I? Who the hell says something like that from within shackles.
The two imposing figures say nothing. They stare down at me, then give the guard a short nod. The guard moves to the cell door and opens it for the two to enter. The man looks towards the woman and speaks the lines a classic villain would say before they interrogate the hero.
“You may begin extracting information, Tormentum.”
The woman puts down her suitcase and opens it up to reveal a plethora of torture devices, both conventional and unconventional. She spreads the familiar navy blue mana mixed with divinity in the room, Ah, so she is from the Department of Truth… While I do not know what is happening, I can tell that even if I asked these folk where I was or how long it has been since Ains Square, they would not answer me. Regardless, I ask them the only thing they can answer.
“I am about to go through hell again, aren’t?”
A twisted smile forms upon the Tormentum’s mouth, and she picks up torture tool number one.
* * *
In a luxurious room, Caedis Arkenia sits facing Helix. This is a meeting between justiciars of the Department of Truth, accompanied by two others. They need not tell lies to each other, as they hold truth as the highest virtue above all else. Helix places her hand over her chest in a semicircular shape as a sign of respect towards Caedis.
“Lady Caedis, it is good to see you again.”
Nodding at Helix, Caedis has a small reminiscing smile upon her face. “Likewise. You have grown up to be a wonderful girl, Helix. I am happy to call you my comrade. Now, I am not one to beat around the bush, we both know why this meeting is taking place.”
“Yes Lady Caedis. I apologize that I could not speak to you sooner, I have been in confinement by the Lux Armed Forces for the past week. They had me locked up to contain information leakage after the Massacre of Ains Square.” Helix puts her hand out over her shoulder as if waiting for an item, and the person behind her, Bert, places a mana display box onto her hands. Helix puts it on the table between them, and starts the video that Bert managed to record at the square. The scene of Osiris talking to the figure who he called ‘Chancellor’, and the armoured figure’s acknowledgement as well as Osiris talking about Tenebris makes Caedis’s already serious expression grows even more severe.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Helix, have you shown this to anyone else?”
“I have not. There have been no copies made of this recording either. Bert, the man behind me, witnessed this himself, he is the source of the recording. I wanted to question Osiris about this. To be completely honest, he saved my life at the hospital. Then he survived that deadly encounter, but as soon as he was transported to the fortifications by the medics, people from the garrison came by, and I never got the chance to talk to him.
“I see. Where do you suspect he is now? If someone high up like a Chancellor of the High Chamber is involved, then the likely-hood of us finding him through normal means are very low. However, if they want to interrogate him, then they will most likely have to get someone from the Department of Truth to help them.”
“Yes, that’s our best chance of finding him.”
“Alright, it has already been a week since the incident so we better hurry or there will be nothing left of my boy to discover.” Caedis stands up and starts leaving. The expressionless maid behind her follows suit. Before they can step through the door, Helix quickly says the final bit of information she has.
“Uhmm… Lady Caedis, I am not sure what to make of this, and my memory and abilities might be failing me…” For the first time in the meeting, Helix starts acting embarrassed as if she is unsure of herself. “...but when I used Absolute Truth on Osiris, for some reason when he uttered the words ‘I am Osiris Arkenia’, it was flagged as a lie.”
With a light smile on her face, Caedis walks up to Helix and gently touches her cheek. “ It is alright, Helix, it must have been stressful for you as well.” With a short pause, as if she is considering something, Caedis's emerald-green eyes lock onto Helix's striking lime-colored gaze. “We won’t know the truth until we meet with Osiris himself. There is no use in overthinking it, so take it easy for now. I will make sure to bring you along when I go to meet him.”
* * *
I thought that maybe after getting used to a lethal level of pain, I would be immune to torture.
Well… I was wrong.
Lethal pain is unbearable, but less-than lethal pain that is meant to teeter you near the edge of death and the lasting marks it leaves is just as unbearable. After escaping combat mode, I thought I would be saved by the Department of Truth, but I guess Chancellor Interitus is at one of the highest points in the government so he would be able to pull strings like this.
I don’t exactly know how long it has been since the torture began. The minutes fade into hours and those turn into days. I just want to lie down in my bed again and have Charlotte wake me up. My once pristine appearance is probably completely ruined. Fingernails stripped, scars across the taboo on my chest with dried blood surrounding them. They even stabbed a syringe containing a strange liquid into my neck that made me more sensitive to pain. My head is in a daze. The pain is ever present. With the cold shackles binding my legs and arms, I can only daydream about waking up at home like nothing is wrong…
I wonder how much longer I will be here for.
I want to go home.
* * *
Caedis walks up to the office of Helix in the Department of Truth HQ located in Lux. The Ains Square massacre became a terror attack that shook everyone of the Empire. Many deployed justiciars worldwide were called back to HQ, and security around the whole capital tightened. It has been a month since then. No other attacks have occurred, and the public is slowly but surely settling down.
Caedis has been busy during this time searching for clues as to where Osiris was taken. The military is not cooperating, claiming that he alone was responsible for the massacre, and thus had to be kept locked up in an undisclosed location. Caedis knows that someone high in the government is involved with this whole incident, but they are not the only ones with power in the capital. Among the Department of Truth, Lady Caedis is the most respected figure, just below the High Justiciar who oversees the entire department. She was able to pull some string within the department and found the Tormentum that was most likely assigned to Osiris. Due to the nature of their work, they have vowed not to talk about it to anyone else. Or rather, they cannot even if they wanted to. This was bad news, if a Tormentum was assigned, that means that Osiris was going through hell for this past month. Caedis does not want to imagine the state he is in now. She is sure that he is alive, but there are degrees of alive after spending time with a Tormentum.
Caedis shakes her head. This is not the time to worry about that. She has always been a woman of action rather than overthinking, so there is nothing she can do until she meets her son. She nods her head at Charlotte, the maid who has been accompanying her this whole time. Charlotte walks up to Helix’s office and knocks on the door. From the other side of the door, Helix’s voice resounds.
“Come in”
The pine door creaks open and a smaller office with books and fancy lights reveals itself. At a fine wood table sits Helix writing away on something, with a pile of documents on either side of her. She looks up, and as soon as she sees the maid accompanied by Lady Caedis, she drops her pen and stands up holding onto the table.
“Have you found him?”
“Yes, get everything you need to get ready, we leave in 15 minutes.”
“You mean we get to go see him now? How?”
“The Traitor Chancellor is not the only one with connections in the Imperial Palace. My entire family has been busy behind the scenes pulling strings, I managed to get us a meeting with Osiris. Prepare yourself, we will not be leaving without him.”
“I understand.”
With that, Caedis and Charlotte leave, both with a great fire in their eyes. The same fire can be seen in Helix’s, she grabs her weapon, and puts on her Department of Truth cloak that is meant for combat.
* * *
Arriving at the garrison, Caedis, Helix, and Charlotte all step out of the car. Caedis and Helix are both wearing Department of Truth cloaks designed for combat. The exterior of the coat does not indicate this. They are navy blue cloaks with navy blue suits underneath, underlined by white button-up shirts. They may not look it, but they have been enchanted by the highest degree of defensive magic, both physical and magical. There are various other enchantments on it that boost overall combat ability as well.
Beside them, Charlotte stands wearing a traditional black and white maid outfit. Charlotte looks calm and collected, as if everything was right in the world. But Caedis knew the silent anger and frustration that has been boiling her from the inside for a month. Charlotte dedicated her life to Osiris after what he has done for her, and now when Osiris needed her the most, she could do nothing for him.
They all step into the garrison and are greeted by the military officials present. An old man with gray hair stood before them with the Lux Army’s military outfit.
“Greetings guests, I am the Garrison Commander, Praesidium. I have been told you would be coming.”
“Take us to him.” Heavy words that expose none of her emotions escapes Caedis’s mouth.
The Garrison Commander nods and starts heading into the garrison. Helix is impressed by the authoritative figure of Lady Caedis, but she stays silent.
They walk deep into the garrison. The steel and walls covered with metal sidings with high vaulted ceilings eventually turn to stone with runic engravings upon them. They head even deeper, down a flight of stairs and deeper still. Past the standard prison, on the ‘lowest’ level of the garrison stands two heavy iron gates, surrounded by multiple guards. The Garrison Commander gives them the command, and the doors open with a loud, resounding creak. What hits them first is the putrid smell seeping out from within the darkness that leads even further downstairs. A smell of sewage mixed with rotting flesh and the distant sound of chains rattling now and then. The commander turns to them.
“Welcome to Rock Bottom.” He gestures towards the stairs leading down. “I have been told to not accompany you, but I hope you understand we must close these doors behind you to secure the entrance.”
“Not a concern, thank you for leading us.” Without even giving him another glance, Helix, Charlotte and Caedis head down the stairs with great resolve in their eyes.
The stench becomes stronger the deeper they go. They reach the bottom of the stairs and what welcomes them is a space devoid of light. Giving their eyes a second to adjust, a long hallway lined with cell doors and dim mana stone lights reveal themselves. Some metal bars on holding cells are empty, while others hold gruesome figures covered in dried blood, feces, and other unknowable materials. Rust corrodes the bars, but thanks to the runic engravings upon them, they retain their strength. Each cell that has a person or creature in it is being guarded by a Servus. Walking for a bit down this dreary hallway, they reach Osiris’s cell. The light in the cell is even lower than the hallway, and they cannot make out Osiris’s figure in there. They stop by the guard, and the Servus standing at attention opens the door without a complaint. The slow creaking sound echoes in this vast underground area, and Caedis, Charlotte, and Helix walk in.
They bring forth a light from below their cloak and light up the area. What greets them is a gruesome sight of a boy shackled to the wall, bound by metal on both hand and feet. Teeth missing, long scar marks lining his entire body, fingernails ripped out and covered in salt, holes upon his neck and arms as if he was being injected with something. The sight alone nearly makes Charlotte and Helix empty the contents of their stomach. The boy that was once filled with so much vitality and vigour now sat against the cold rock wall breathing shallow breaths, his eyes closed. He seems to be asleep.
Caedis steps forward and request Charlotte. “Charlotte, please wake up my son.”
“You don’t even have to ask me” Charlotte raises her skirt and kneels upon the filthy floor.