Manon's Ascension

Love and Obsession

Amorette had no choice but to beat her way through, making another hole into the next hall beyond which, mercifully, wasn't yet thick with smoke.

They climbed through the next hole and looked around trying to get their bearings. It was no surprise that they didn't recognize this place either.

The royal guard, however, gestured for them to run right.

Before she turned, Manon looked back at the holes they made. The fire was free to eat through into the storage room where it had plenty of what appeared to be pickled and jarred foods to devour and nothing to stop it.

But, more worrying to her, were the abundance of cracks expanding from around the wall. Reaching up to the ceiling and down to the floor.

The entire palace was carved from a single piece of rock. Only a few additions and repairs had stone that had been brought in and added. If Amorette started weakening pieces of the palace by breaking through, how much could it loose before it began to collapse?

Manon wasn't allowed to worry for long as Jacques pulled her along, desperate to get her away from the fire.

Their sense of victory of escaping the fire didn't last long. When they turned into the next hall, it was to find that the fire was already creeping down that hall as well and the only doors here led to the many, smaller, private rooms of the servants that lived here.

Cursing, they were forced to turn back. They passed the hole in the wall again and Manon could have sword the cracks were spreading. Or maybe she was just paranoid, seeing things, as the others continued past it without concern.

But Manon had learned to fear those cracks. After the Gold District fell in Vasconia, the explosions that brought it down and the subsequent shaking of the entire mountain had left multiple structures with those same lines. They spoke of the dangerous structural abnormality and the threat of eventual collapse. More than one building had been forced to be demolished after the collapse of Gold because they simply couldn't continue to stand safely.

She was being silly. She should be more focused on the fire. Of course the rock was cracking. Amorette had just beat a hole into it. It was only natural there would be cracks.

The next hallway led through the servant's dining hall. It was empty, but there were the remnants of a celebration that had been quickly abandoned. Food still lined the walls, half empty plates and a cups were on the three long tables. There was even decorative ribbons and drapes in here. More fuel for the fire.

And judging by the smoke pouring over the archways from two of the three exits, it was already approaching.

Amorette chose the exit without smoke, but it quickly proved to be a dead end. It led into a storage room for jugs of water, a cold room used for keeping pastry chilled, and a third room for storing cheaper wine meant for the servants.

Cursing, they ran back. Even the guard didn't know this place because it was only utilized by the palace servants. The guards had their own dining hall.

By the time they returned, it was to find that the fire had caught up to them through the only unused doorway. The one they entered still only had smoke billowing inside. Manon wasn't the only one coughing now.

Cursing, Amorette ran to the near wall and slammed her entire body into it. The wall cracked. On the second try, she burst her way through. The action created a much bigger hole than when she just put her fist through.

Much bigger cracks.

But the smoke was choking now. Manon couldn't even ask her not to be reckless. They were fighting against time and suffocation now.