The Dark Nights [Slow Update]

17. The dungeon

With a heavy headache, Wuxie woke up. He was surprised.

"How am I still alive?"

Wuxie uttered as he got up from the hard surface he was lying on. He felt the torn and rugged cloth beneath him and the icy cold stone plank under it.

But before he could look around a voice grabbed his attention.

"Obviously because she needs you alive."

It was a man. Probably in his twenties. He couldn't scrutinize him clearly as his eyes locked into the iron rails that separated them.

Wuxie hastily looked around him. The thick stone walls, the reeking smell of blood on the floor, and darkness.

"What is this place?"

"A dungeon."

The man dressed as a royal guard answered as he studied every minute reaction of Wuxie. He found Wuxie to be more surprised than he thought to be.

"Don't tell me you expected to wake up in a prince's chamber. You could have. If you have followed the Queen Mother without putting an act."

Prince's chamber? Queen Mother? Dungeon? Don't tell me-

"I am in the capital city? How many days did I sleep?"

"Almost a week."

"A week? How- What is she planning to do with me?"

From everything Wuxie knows from Jian's mother, Wuxie could figure out he will be alive but only until the queen used him for whatever evil she planned to commit. But what is that? What's his role in such an evil act, Wuxie didn't have a clue about it.

He stood up slowly as he could still feel pain all around his body. He then managed to walk towards the iron rails, facing the man outside.

"Brother, do you know why she needs me? Is it to use me as some kind of bait to fight with other nations? or betray her people?"  Wuxie asked in expectation.

"Guess you don't have any idea about her and her atrocities." He couldn't help but let out a silent chuckle.  "I feel jealous of you. Of your village. You all managed to hide from her evil eyes for this long." The man didn't hide his helplessness from Wuxie anymore.

He was wearing shining armor but it didn't hide how weak he was. For him, the protective vest was what locked him up.  He continued. 

"Listen to me carefully. You have heard she is evil. It's not just that she is a tyrant that mercilessly kills off her subjects. She is an evil force who practices dark arts. You know- something that's beyond human capacity. If I am right, to be able to hide from her eyes, your village must have had some kind of protection. Something that guarded you all. Something beyond human capacity."

"Xiao ge," Wuxie uttered the name faintly audible to the man on the other side. 

"Huh! So you do know it exists. Then what happened to your protector? How did she find you after 15 years?"

"It's me... I made him leave the village."

The man couldn't believe what Wuxie was saying. Why would someone do such a thing?

"I didn't know. I didn't know anything." Wuxie's heart ached every time he thought of that foolish act. Without even thinking he shooed away Kylin. And in a span of a night, his entire village was wiped out.

"Kid... I understand you. All these things- It's not something you should be facing at such a young age. But I have to warn you. Here... no one cares about you. Or even everyone here was living in a hope that you'd have died with your mother 15 years ago. So now, at least for a few days, this dungeon and this palace are your safe place. If even I want to help you out of here, you won't be able to step outside the fort."