4 Aftermath

The warden, standing there in the fading glow, collapsed, he had after all sustained grave injuries. The twins just lay there, in the pools of their own blood and for moments no one moved or talked.

"So he really killed them this time. Now we're once again the only captives in this godforsaken place."

Aurelia broke the silence. In one swift motion Aurelia, Rose, Red, and I stood up and proceeded to leave, not wanting to get involved in the chaos that would follow without fail.

The sirens had already been ringing when the twins began their jailbreak, but now they were going into overdrive. The Warden needed immediate medical attention and the whole matter needed to be reported to the higher-ups. The next two days were filled with turmoil and panic. The higher-ups had ordered Aia, the female deputy warden to bring the twins' corpses to their headquarters on the mainland while Ken would lead the facility until the Warden had somewhat recovered.

And that was how the whole catastrophe began.

Two weeks later the steel cruiser returned, the warden on it. The ship had not yet anchored for 5 minutes and the Warden was already standing in my room demanding answers.

"Why are you refusing to do your work? That's against our contract."

"No, it's not. The contract clearly states that we are to be rewarded for our own work with luxuries of our own choosing and that the workload may not be increased."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, how about you take a look around. See any of my luxuries? Cause I sure don't. First, your deputy increased our workload until we didn't have any free time left, he even demanded I make him a new weapon, the cheek. When we refused to spend all our time working he simply took all our luxury goods and set up some ridiculous demands for their return. So we refuse to work until we have received all the compensation for the overwork we have done."

"But the production must go on. You have yet to finish all the weapons for the ceremony."

"No luxuries, no work!"

I couldn't care less about the timely completion of those weapons. To me, they were nothing more than practice and a way to get luxuries without trouble. The warden, knowing that if I couldn't be convinced the others surely couldn't be either stormed off, heading for his office.

Wardens office:

"What have you done Ken. Do you have any idea about the consequences of a total stop in production? If the weapons aren't ready by the time of the graduation ceremony the government will lose its credibility and fewer mages will sign up for the magic academy. Return all the things you took from them this instant!"

"That's not possible."

Ken answered with a frown on his face. He just kept standing there with a defiant look in his eyes, not saying a word.

"Warden, it's really bad. I just talked to some guards and heard that Ken had all the prisoners belongings burnt and thrown into the sea."

Aia came running into the room, worry written across her face, shuddering whenever she remembered the warden's warnings. The Warden's head snapped around to Ken, filled with fury.

"You did what? The next shipment will take at least three days and they also want compensation for their overwork."

"With all due respect Warden, why are you making such a fuss over some prisoners? Just tell them to resume their work. They are prisoners and you're the Warden."

"You don't get it, they-"

The sirens began blaring.

"No, they wouldn't. Dammit, Ken, Aia, follow me."

The Warden broke into a run and went straight for the gardens, leaving cracks in the cement floor wherever he touched the ground.

The gardens:

The full moon had fully risen and the gardens were clearly illuminated, it's astonishing what an illusion can do, considering there was another hurricane outside. We six were standing there exchanging one last look of confirmation, this was going to be big.

I could easily spot the Warden bursting out of the building his office was located in and charge towards us.

"You're not allowed to leave your rooms during night time, return immediately."

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen. We have decided to leave this island and return to the outside world."

"You cannot do that. The contra-"

"Enough of this contract. We made a promise with the old fox. We would stay here to while we digest all the knowledge and materials we had obtained and in return, we wouldn't be disturbed. The guards we're only here for decoration."

I felt a little astonished when her Majesty took the word herself. She had rarely interacted with anyone besides her game reviews. Her saying something now meant that she was in a very foul mood. Not being able to game apparently put her on edge.

"You want to leave? This is a high-security prison in the middle of the ocean! You can't ever leave!"

And there you went again. Ken had made the slightly irritated queen furious. Belittling was just something she couldn't take.

"We are leaving."

Her voice was cold as a glacier and carried a regal pressure that made people want to kneel before her. A simple and concise order was all we needed, the plan had already been made and now it would be carried out.

Rose touched the ground and sent a staggering amount of magic into it. The earth trembled and broke in certain places as a large tree grew within seconds, reached the top of the barriers, and shattered them all. They hadn't even withstood a single spell... How bothersome... I dropped the spell I had been about to unleash and pushed off the ground. My body gave of crackling noises as my bones shifted, expanded, and transformed. I took on my dragon form becoming a giant, winged lizard of 100 meters. It wasn't my full size but I wasn't feeling like creating tsunamis for the mainland by just beating my wings.

Next to me a mechanic dragon of similar proportions as me ascended with Yellow, her Majesty, and Rose on its back. Behind me, Red followed on a skeleton dragon while Aurelia had turned into a glittering azure dragon.

The storm was tearing at my wings, a welcome change to the lethargy of my usual days. Once we reached a certain altitude the blaring sirens on the island couldn't be heard anymore and we were well concealed by the storm.

"Dark wind that chases the gods, Typhoon passage!"

Through the power of my spell, the winds around us turned dark and formed a circular passage that sucked us in and transported us towards the direction the ships came from at blistering speeds. Simultaneously, thousands of magic spells blasted off into every direction. This way no one would be able to tell where we were headed by tracking our magic signature.