COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 11: The Impossible Request (Part 2/3)

          Káel was about to question the stones statement, but the voice withdrew from his head before he could process the thought, leaving his thoughts to their typical privacy. He gave Phantom a wary side glance. 

          Could he be the demon the Ceptrum was talking about? 

          Phantom did say the family controlling the place took a particularly harsh dislike towards him, but he didn't seem like a bad guy. 

          Even if he was, Káel thought, he was powerless, being stuck in a rock and all.

          Káel held his Ceptrum out to the white stone and muttered the password. In a sway of habit he went to stroke the motionless wall, his heart nearly bursting out of his chest with a cry of surprise at the loud clank that echoed throughout the small room. It's aged joints screamed as the thick slab of wall shifted and slowly retreated upwards, providing a clear view of the room beyond. 

          It was empty. A dimmed expanse bathed scarlet by a crown of eerie red orbs hovering at the walls. They were the same ones that had lit the corridor, but with their presence in the larger room Káel felt like he'd walked into some forbidden ritual, and the room had been put through a pagan filter for extra effect.

          Even Phantom shuddered when he took in the lighting, strolling to the center of the room so his getup complimented the sinister setting, and turning on his heels. "I like red and all... but these power saving enchantments really need to choose a different colour." 

          He muttered a small phrase, forming a large white orb above his head that burst, its vibrant spatters assaulted the little red orbs scattered around the room and boosted their dismal light. After the attack was over, the room had gained a lighter atmosphere, and the once red orbs were a burning bright orange.

          Káel looked around in awe, the room barely had any dust for its size, and the hard floor was plastered with an interlocking pattern of crystals and dark, polished stones. He took a step, allowing the crisp echo to bounce off the walls, its thousand-year-old waxing job still fresh enough to give Káel a glimpse of his blurred reflection. After resisting the urge to lie on the cool floor like a beached whale, he continued to scour its features. The room didn't hold any windows, likely because it was below ground level, but it had a second doorway as clear as day. Káel jiggled the nob with a frown.

          Locked.

          "That cuff is a lot like the rock I'm sealed in," Phantom started, for once his booming voice didn't startle Káel. "We can't use magic, but we can still use a bit of Lumience. So your little dragon should be able to hold up its half on guardian duties."

          

          Puff looked around the large room, flailing a little as his soft pads slid against the smooth floor. 

          That red man was irritating. 

          Puff snorted, digging his claws into the floor without a care for its expensive coat and casually joining Phantom's side. He watched Káel's excited face, his smile the picture of stupidity.

          That black haired boy had better get my cuff off. 

          He had a decent amount of lumience, enough to get the cuff off at least. Puff sighed, the black haired boy couldn't even lift a stone, and although Puff could easily help him control his lumience on the smaller spells, controlling it to get the chain off would be next to impossible. 

          He needed help, and not the kind that was stuck in a rock.

          Puff rolled his eyes at the thought, squishing his snout with a sour frown.