The Tower in the Shadows

"Fool, fool, fool!"

That's what she called herself in her mind as she was shaking in her prison. Atania was a pixie, a child of the wild and free magic, but now a prisoner. She could see her reflection on one of the walls, which was made of glass. She was trapped in a lantern specially designed to contain her people. Standing 5 inches tall, a female humanoid figure with six crystal-like butterfly wings sprouting from the back. She was pale pink in colour and had hard-to-define features as she had an aura of the same colour light surrounding her.

She was young and was out exploring against her elder's wishes when she was captured by the two humans that were imprisoning her. The elders had said not to go, to stay with the others and be safe. But she wanted to explore to see, hear and smell everything. She wanted to live!

They had trapped her in this enchanted glass and iron lantern with trickery, its enchantment draining her of her magic and weakening her. She was now coming to despair, knowing a terrible fate awaited her and rescue was not to be.

The lantern was strapped to the side of a donkey. She could hear the two humans who had taken her prisoner arguing as they had gotten lost in the valleys of the Shadowland Mountains. They were called the Shadowland because the great mountains cast shadows covering the deep valleys between them. The great mountains were covered in snow all year round and reflected the colour of the sky when the sun was setting like it was now.

The sky was a mixture of red, orange, and some purple as the sun set and it was a truly wondrous sight that she could not enjoy in her present confinement. She had been weeping and seeking to escape but knew she was now doomed, for she knew the fate that awaited her when these two men returned to their city.

However, they had gotten lost in the winding valleys and deep woods between the great mountains. They had found the river and were now following it, thinking that this would lead them from the mountain range and back to somewhere that they could identify.

"Aruss, you fool, I told you not to take that turning back 20 leagues ago!" One said.

"Shut up. You fool, this will get us out of the mountain range and back home faster." The other retorted.

She saw the two humans as poor examples of their kind; both men were dressed in rough outdoor clothing and had been travelling for many weeks or even months. From the equipment and supplies they had, it was clear that they were hunting her kind.

Both had long, stringy and greasy hair. They both had extensive beards; she expected they would smell horrific if she were not within this lantern. The donkey with them was mistreated and overburdened with supplies and equipment. She pitied the poor animal.

"Vadium, how much will we get for our little catch?" She had learned that the one speaking was named Aruss and was not the smarter of the two.

"For this one, 20 gold easy." Vadium smiled, showing his broken and rotting teeth.

"20 gold!" Aruss said dreamily.

"It's a Shame she's a young one. The older ones fetch a much better price, as they have had time to gather more magic."

"How much Hylonia's Kiss will they get from this one?"

"Who knows? I just want my gold. You know they will drain off her magic, cut off wings and grind them up to make the Kiss." Vadium shrugged as he walked on, following the river.

"Yet I know that! How much do you think they'll actually make, and how much will it make in gold?" He asked, looking over to the lantern. Atania shivered under that gaze and the hunger of greed it contained.

"Don't ask those questions!" Vadium snapped at him. "You know what they do to those who try to cut into the market."

This quiets the other man in fear, but he keeps looking at the lantern; the greed and hunger for wealth are still evident in his eyes. Vadium does not look back but keeps moving ahead.

The forest they are in follows through a broader valley than usual. The trees are thick and old. It is darker than expected as they are blocking out the light from the sun, which little is left of the day. The tree's leaves are turning but have not fallen from the branches yet. It is much darker here than it should be due to this and in the distance, the predators that live in this forest are beginning to stir with nightfall.

"We will need to camp soon." Vadium decides out loud.

"Look ahead!" Aruss exclaims, pointing to a building they can just make out on a hill some distance away. "What's that?"

Vadium squints, looking into the distance, trying to identify the building his friend had pointed out.

"Looks like a Cythian watchtower."

"Watchtower and it's still standing, even after all this time?" Aruss questions.

"Damned Cythian Empire knew how to build things, so a tower out here might not be disturbed and could still be standing enough for us to use." Vadium declares. "Either way, we will use it and it's not far."

The two men, buoyed by the discovery of possible shelter, quickly begin pushing the donkey to move faster. The poor beast is forced by both blow and threat to move quicker. It does not take them long to clear the small hill and discover that the building they are approaching seems whole.

"It seems to be intact. What luck!" Aruss exclaims with happiness, probably having the first roof over his head in weeks.

"You're right; let's get inside."

The two men and the donkey with Atania attached walk around the building and find the main door. They notice several old grave markers. They inspect them but, in the end, choose to ignore them.

They find that the door is open. They light a torch to see inside, as it is now extremely dark. Peering inside, the room still has furniture and the fireplace has wood.

"Quickly, Aruss, get the fire going. It is soon night, and the monsters will come with it." Vadium is looking back to the forest, his hand on a short sword at his side.

Aruss makes no argument and quickly shuffles into the building, dragging the donkey with him. The door is wide enough to accommodate the animal and he pulls it inside, but it is clear that the donkey does not wish to enter this building. As soon as she crosses the threshold, she understands why.

She senses being watched; she feels the hunger.

Aruss quickly starts a fire, and the room is bathed in a warm glow. Vadium closed the door and locked it. He quickly looked around, ensuring the shutters were all locked as they covered the windows. He walks across the room and looks through the back door leading into another part of the building that she cannot see. Looking around, he closes the door and goes over to the table, dragging one of the chairs and bracing it against it. He seems satisfied now that the room is secure, so he goes over and joins Aruss.

"We can stay tonight and set off in the morning; we are close to the exit of this God's damned mountain range. Odd that the building is in such good condition." He said as he warmed his hands next to the fire.

Aruss nods and begins setting up to cook one of their meagre meals. The two men quickly fell into a well-worn routine she had seen them do every night since they captured her eight days ago. Neither man seemed to be aware of their terrible danger and she found that she was in no mood to warn them. The lantern was removed from the donkey and placed on the table in the clear eye line of the two men.

She looked around with enhanced senses, seeing the thicker essence in the air. She knew she was within a dungeon from what she was told when she was younger in story and song. And with this knowledge came a strange sense of calmness, knowing that she would die here and not be used in the way they planned. She could see the magical power invested in the stone and wood around her. She could feel the dungeon's intelligence looking at her; the hunger was blatant. She knew she could not escape, so she just sat down and accepted her fate.

The two men continued oblivious, making idle conversation and wondering about the state of the building they were now in. They thought it was fortunate they had come across it and the weather and time had not eroded the structure.

They had pulled up two chairs to the fire and enjoyed the warmth. Neither seems too interested in doing much more; the days and nights are getting colder as autumn makes its presence known.

"You think there's anything left here?" Aruss asks.

"Doubtful. It looks like it's been abandoned for a while," Vadium replies lazily, his eyes closed and hands folded before him, enjoying the fire.

"I think I'll have a little look." Vadium grunts as Aruss gets up and begins rummaging through the few cupboards in the room. He opens them, finding nothing in most, a few odds and ends in others, until the last one.

"Vadium, look!" He exclaims in joy and runs over to Vadium. Who is now awake and looking at him curiously at what he has found.

Aruss's hands hold a small leather pouch and a bottle of wine. He's clearly happy to have discovered them in his little search around the room. He pours the contents of the leather pouch onto the table and four copper coins roll out. Vadium snatchers one up and begins to inspect it in the firelight. He takes his time looking at the coin and then bites it just to make sure.

"Cythian coppers!" Exclaims surprise.

"Cythian coppers!" Aruss echoes the other man, becoming even happier. "Truly a day that the God of luck smiles upon us."

"That is true; what else have you found?" Aruss indicated to the bottle. Aruss handed it to him and he looked it over. The bottle has a label, but he seems to ignore it, inspecting the wax seal over its cork. He shrugs, breaks the seal, and quickly pulls the cork out, smelling the bottle's contents. "Wine!"

Both men quickly laugh and begin drinking from the bottleneck, toasting their good fortune this day. They talk about their plans to do with the money they will earn from this trip and the pleasures they seek. But as Atania watched, she realised fate had another plan for these men.

Within minutes, both were dead.

They didn’t have time to react as both slumped in the chairs, clearly dead as they had suddenly fallen asleep, twitched and finally gone still. She could feel the dungeon around feasting on their essence, knowing she would be next and then probably the donkey.

The chair that Vadium had braced against the back door was still there and the front door was locked. She wondered where death would come from and didn't have long until she saw it.

From the rafters came a creature that quickly scaled down the walls. Her death was coming for her. She noticed it was a sharoon, a local animal that had changed due to exposure to the large amounts of shadow mana in the valleys. A normal inquisitive but shy creature, she thought it was odd being here until she got a good look at it. She then understood it was a dungeon monster. Its magical signature was far stronger than average and matched closely to the one in the wood and stone around her.

"Cometh my death." Atania speaks for the first time in days in her language.

The sharoon approached the two dead humans and sniffed their bodies. Satisfied that they were dead, it then went to the donkey. The donkey was so scared that it did not move as the sharoon walked around it. The behaviour was odd; Atania expected the sharoon to attack and kill the donkey immediately, but it did not.

However, the sharoon did start to do something that surprised her. It went up to the donkey and chewed through its pack harnesses. It took several minutes, but with an audible thud, the packs slid off the donkey to the floor. The donkey moved away from the packs and sharoon as far as it could go in the confines of the room, but it was still afraid.

The sharoon then scampers over to the main door and climbs up it. Demonstrating a level of intelligence and dexterity, she had never seen before from its kind; it unlocks the door's deadbolt. Returning to the ground with some effort, he opens the door wide enough for the donkey to get out; the sharoon promptly chases the donkey from the building with aggressive hissing.

Atania watches this with fascination, forgetting her fear for the moment.

"What is this?" She asks herself. The story and songs are clear: entering a dungeon means it will try to kill you unless you are strong enough to survive; she is not.

The sharoon climbs up onto the table and casually approaches her lantern prison. She can see that it is dark outside now and it pains her to know that freedom is so close! Atania cannot help but watch as it approaches. It circles her, as it did with the donkey sniffing at her container, examining it from all angles.

Suddenly, both stop as they hear the donkey that had just fled the building screaming in distress. Wolf howls were carried in on the air into the room and Atania knew the animal was being killed nearby. Some ear twitching was all the sharoon did to acknowledge the donkey's death.

After what seemed like an eternity to her, the sharoon reached out and began to unbolt her lanterns side. It was designed like a door with a series of bolts keeping her in and required all to be undone before it would open. This prevented an accidental release through the lantern bolts catching on to something. The bolts were released within less than a minute, and the door popped open.

Atania was tense, terrified and hopeful. Freedom was right there; with the lantern open, the magic suppression field was no longer working and she could feel her magic returning. The sharoon was blocking her escape; patience just a little longer!

The sharoon moved to the side and a gap opened up. She does not hesitate and flies forward with all her strength. She shoots past the sharoon and flies at her best speed across the room, escaping through the open door.

She flies as fast as she can into the night, revelling in her freedom.