COMPLETED Remembrance of Self | Fantasy | LGBTQ

Chapter 8 - Part 3

Haiden looked around for anyone else, someone who would say something, do something, but there was no one. Not one soul, except for him, Master Coner, and Mara. The sudden realisation that he was waiting for someone else to take charge and save the girl made him ashamed of himself. Didn't he swore he'd never be useless again? I'm not useless anymore! With this one thought ringing in his mind he decided to take action.

Haiden waited for a few moments before pushing through the door after them, closely listening for their footsteps to move away. Once they were, at what Haiden thought to be, a reasonable hearing distance, he went in. This part of the palace was dark, no light stones to be seen. Haiden's eyes had to adjust to the darkness before he could proceed, but the footsteps were now quite far away, if it weren't for Mara's squirming he would have lost their trail through the dark network of hallways and rooms of the palace.

The dark tall stone walls loomed with thick darkness overhead. He could barely see the shapes of console tables, glass cases, random chairs here or there, and tapestries that filled the hallways. He had to be careful not to make any sound and avoid anything that could give him away. Haiden stuck the corners and tried to make himself as small as possible while debating what he could actually do. He wanted to help Mara, yet he was up against a Master Wielder so powerful he healed Tasgal from the brink of death with not even a sweat. He didn't know what he'd do or if there was anything to be done at all. Haiden questioned his decision to follow, but despite all common sense pointing to turning back and pretending he never saw anything, he pushed forward. Even if he didn't know what plans Master Coner had with the poor girl, he didn't want to risk letting another one die. But Mara was a slave. What could he do to save her? He clearly could not battle a Master Wielder, and a Master of the Academy nonetheless. It would get him thrown out, or worse killed. He had to think this through.

Following the two, he saw the desperation in Mara's insistent tries to free herself, she was not giving up, and so was not Haiden. Soon the palace walls became decrepit and empty of the usual luxuries. The darkness intensified to the point where it forced Master Coner to hover a light stone so that they could at least see where they were going. After a few turns their way was cut off by two massive metal doors that were inscribed with geometric ridges so fine, they would have been invisible were it not for Master Coner's light stone casting moving shadows on the doors.

The sudden stop made Haiden's stomach churn in anticipation. If he had to do something, now it would be the case. He had no idea what could be behind those doors. But what could he do? Master Coner was working something on the door, a mechanism that he couldn't see properly how it operated. Stuck into a flurry of thoughts going through everything he knew, but nothing seemed to be able to help him out in this situation. He didn't even notice the static that overcame the room until the temperature dropped to the point where he saw his own breath.

Haiden turned around as he felt a presence behind him. Standing a few feet away, viscous and darker than the blackest black, was a shape so near to his heart, he immediately knew who it was. Regor. Unsure what he was doing here, now of all times, he impatiently looked back at Mara whose whimpers were now tepid, she had given up on resisting. Her whole thin body trembled in fear. He turned to face the figure again and froze.

His heart stopped for more than a second and it took every ounce of power he had not to jump and scream. Regor was now inches away from his face, with bulging red eyes his whole bloodied face distorted into a snarl.

FEED ME he yelled into Haiden's mind. The next thing he knew he felt static surrounding him from his own Fios surfacing through his whole being and being absorbed into the figure that stood before him. Haiden felt how his stamina was being drained, becoming so weak he could barely draw breath.