Chapter 74: Chained
--- [Alex’s perspective]
“Let’s go get them, Lett.” – Alex
She stands up and wipes away her tears.
“Right…!” – Lett
How could he do this?
We were here to help them, then they betray us like this?
If they’ve hurt them…
My anger feels almost uncontainable.
My teeth are clenched together so hard that a piece of my tooth breaks off.
My entire body is shaking.
“Alex…” – Lett
“… Let’s just fucking go.” – Alex
Right after finishing my sentence, I dash in the direction she pointed.
I’m running at max speed, I need to catch up to them as fast as possible.
I’m faster than Lett, but she’s able to keep up by using her specialty.
--- [Shin’s perspective]
Ughh…
My head…
I open my eyes and…
“Wait? What? Where am I?” – Shin
What’s going on?!
Am I in a…
Jail cell?
“Alex?! Lett?! Illian?! Hello?” – Shin
Where are they?
Alex jumped into the well, and now I’m suddenly in this place…
“Shin? Is that you?” – Illian
“Illian!” – Shin
He’s here too.
What about the rest?
“Do you know where Alex and Lett are?” – Shin
“No clue. I just woke up here a minute ago. What the hell is going on?” – Illian
I try to walk forwards, but I’m unable to.
I’m chained to the wall.
My head is so fuzzy I didn’t even notice…
“Let’s break out of here!” – Shin
“… It’s useless…” – Illian
“What?” – Shin
“I’ve already tried. These chains won’t break no matter how hard I try.” – Illian
“Well, I haven’t.” – Shin
I pull with all my strength, but…
Nothing…
“These can’t be normal chains… It must be a specialty.” – Shin
“Correct.” – ???
“Who’s there?!” – Illian
“It’s just little old me.” – ???
From what I can see, there is a large corridor with many cells in it.
Illian is in the one next to mine.
Whoever she is, she’s getting closer.
The echoes of her footsteps sound so ominous…
She continues to talk as she slowly approaches.
“It’s my specialty to be exact.” – ???
“Let us out of here, or you’ll regret it.” – Illian
“Oh my… I will? Do you really think you’re in a position to make demands?” – ???
“Our friends will definitely try to save us, and when they do, you’re done for!” – Illian
“Well duh! That’s the plan. Except for one little detail you got wrong… It’s you who will be done for.” – ???
She walks past my cell and stops at Illian’s.
I hear the sound of the metal bars bending, and she walks into his cell.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing with that?!” – Illian
Just moments later I hear him scream at the top of his lungs.
“AHHHHHHHHH!!! STOP!!!!” – Illian
“Hey! What are you doing to him?! Stop it!” – Shin
“Oh? Would you like to take his place instead?” – ???
“Don’t you dare hurt him!” – Illian
“Okay.” – ???
“GAAHHHHHH!!!!” – Illian
He continues to scream until we hear a familiar voice.
“Don’t kill him now, Cat.” – Edward
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m just having a little fun with him.” – Cat
“Alright, just be careful. We can’t let our bait die on us.” – Edward
“Okiiii.” – Cat
Is that…?
“Is that you, Edward?” – Shin
He walks over to my cell and stops.
He stares right at me with his hands in his pockets; so casually you might think he’s looking at a wall.
He’s wearing different clothes, but that’s unmistakably him.
“Yes.” – Edward
What’s going on here?
Is he the one that knocked us out?
Without saying another word, he walks away like nothing happened.
Wait a minute…
Did he say that we were bait?
And that woman, Cat…
She said that Alex and Lett coming to rescue us was part of their plan…
Shit.
This was all a trap.
They want something from one of us…
Wait…
Since Edward is in on it, the entire mission must be fake too…
If it was Me or Illian they wanted something from, then they would have taken it already.
So, it has to be either Lett or Alex they’re after.
But…
For them to set up all this, they must have some way to ensure that their target accepted the mission.
I don’t see how that could possibly be the case for Lett, but Alex however…
The mission was strangely perfect for him…
They must somehow know about his ability.
I don’t know how they could possibly know that though…
There’s only a handful of people who’ve ever seen it.
What’s going on here…?
--- [Alex’s perspective]
We’ve been running for a while now…
Luckily, Edward’s footprints are still clearly visible.
He should have been more careful and hidden them better.
He’s not getting away…!
We continue to follow the footprints, but suddenly they come to a stop.
“Wait, Alex. Look.” – Lett
She points to a boulder.
“It’s a bit strangely placed, don’t you think?” – Lett
She’s right…
I walk over to it and push it away.
“Lett, look.” – Alex
There’s a door under it!
I pull the latch and it opens right up.
Right under the door is a staircase.
“This must be where they are!” – Alex
We carefully and silently walk down the stairs.
As we reach the bottom of the stairs, we suddenly hear a voice.
“Welcome. We’ve been waiting for you.” – ???
What the-
“And yes, before you ask, this is where your friends are being held.” – ???
“You better not have hurt them…!” – Alex
“They’re fine. For now… But now that we have you, we don’t need them anymore.” – ???
“Alex, go save them. I’ll take care of her.” – Lett
“Got it.” – Alex