Interrogation

Zane awoke in a large cave, the wide opening not too far in front of him lighting up the inside. He was currently tied to a chair, next to the injured cultist from earlier who was similarly bound, still asleep. He noticed that someone had healed her previous injury.

"Enjoy your sleep?"

A man with black hair and eyes walked in front of him, blocking his view with a black and red robe. Zane looked up at him and smiled.

"I did, Benjamin. That was a fun way to leave the area."

"I learnt it from Gunther." Benjamin moved behind Zane, quickly untying him. "How did you like my performance, Lord Zane? I tried to dial up the smugness."

"I liked it, actually." Zane stood up and rubbed his wrists, looking around to see a familiar face. By the sleeping cultist stood a man with brown hair and eyes. "Harry? You came here too?"

As Zane noticed he smelled of steak, the man excitedly approached him and offered a handshake.

"Actually, Lord Zane, my name is Barry, so honored to meet you. Harry is my twin brother." His face lit up when Zane shook his hand. "Sorry for the smell, I had to carry a few steaks on my person in order to secure our transportation."

"How long have you guys been here?" Zane turned to the sleeping Child of Namek, dragging his chair to face hers.

"We arrived shortly after you did, my lord." Benjamin took a stand behind him. "I sensed the Children of Namek exploring the downstairs of the mansion and managed to nick this one with my shadows." 

"Hmm…" Zane looked at the woman while stroking his chin. 

'What do I do to spice things up…' Zane wondered. He was definitely going to squeeze information out of her, but he wanted to be able to send a message to the Children of Namek, just to confuse everyone…

His gaze wandered to Barry, who was looking quite relaxed. 

"I got an idea…"

******

"Keep going!"

"What about Zane?!"

"We have no way to rescue him, not while master isn't back yet!"

"They're getting closer!" 

"Blast them!" 

Lisa and Lanius were currently running through the town, the Blood of Syne cultists giving chase. One cultist was right on Lanius' heels, pulling out a dagger…

"Mana Wave!" 

Lanius' spellbook flew into the air beside him as a wide wall of mana appeared behind him before rapidly moving towards the cultist, sending them crashing into a nearby building. Lisa stuck her hands out behind her as her own spellbook appeared beside her.

"Mana Web!" 

Thin, blue strings of mana shot out from her fingers, sticking to any nearby surface, acting as a sort of tripwire that electrocutes anyone unfortunate enough to run into them. She heard a few cries of pain from unlucky cultists behind her.

"Where are we going?" 

"We have to find our master. Our best bet is the carriage we got off on!"

Lisa gulped as she remembered the pitch black creature that had taken their master away from the scene. They turned corners and ran through alleys before finally reaching the entrance of the town where they got off, coming to a stop as they were horrified at what they saw.

"Shit!" Lanius cursed, while Lisa placed a hand over her mouth in shock.

They had found their carriage, but the driver had his throat cut, and the horses were nowhere to be found. 

"What are you gonna do now?" A voice mocked them. The duo turned to the carriage to see a cultist step out from behind it, grinning at them.

Without responding, Lanius grabbed Lisa's wrist and the two continued to run through the town, looking for Vincent or a way to escape the cultists.

"Just keep going!" 

******

"Wakey wakey…"

Back in the cave, the woman was beginning to awaken. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes, she saw Zane in front of her, bound to a chair. She tried to move her arms only to feel that she was bound as well.

"They got us…" Zane dramatically sighed as Benjamin walked into view. 

"What… who…" The woman tried to look around.

"...Just kidding!" Zane cackled, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees to show he wasn't bound. He placed his fists on his cheeks before smiling at her.

"What's your name, Child of Namek?" 

The woman narrowed her eyes at Zane. "...Petra."

"Well, Petra, do you know who I am?" 

"No. Should I?" 

Zane suddenly threw his head back and laughed, leaning against the chair. "Man, if only you guys did your research." He looked her in her eyes.

"Do you have a way of contacting your team? Or the rest of the Children? I want them to hear this directly."

"I don't." Of course, Petra was lying. She quickly tapped a tattoo on her wrist with her bound hands.

"Well, my name is Zane Syne. Your enemies are the Blood of Syne. Seeing a connection here?" 

Petra raised an eyebrow, trying to show as little emotion as possible. She was surprised, but she didn't want to let the enemy know that. She just hoped that the Priests from one of their bases were listening in on her signal.

"I recognize your family name. It was in the newspaper years ago, a public execution of a pair of Dark Mages." She remembered when it happened. Anything related to Dark Mages was worth taking note of, especially in this kingdom. "I suppose that explains the name. The 'Blood' of Syne. You're trying to avenge your parents, aren't you?"

Zane nodded as if she had given the right answer to a question. "I'm glad that you're familiar. You're not entirely wrong, but I won't bother to correct you."

Zane slapped his knees before standing up and flashing a wide smile, looking down on Petra as he slammed his thumb into his chest. 

"Anyway, here's what I want all of the Children of Namek to know! My name is Zane Syne, and you can try and kill me anytime! After all, it's because I'm the boss of this cult-!" 

"So loud."

Before Zane could continue, he was harshly kicked in the side by someone Petra couldn't see. He fell to the floor, moving aside as he rubbed the part where he was kicked. "Ow…"

Petra tensed up and watched as an intense aura appeared, suffocating her and everyone in the room. The one who kicked Zane slowly walked into view, and it was obvious to all that they were the owner of the intense aura.

'This is at least… A Grandmaster Mage!' Petra thought as she quickly tapped a code into her wrist tattoo. The owner of the aura slowly retracted their aura, allowing her to breathe as they sat down in the chair Zane previously occupied.

She looked at the person's face before her eyes widened in surprise.

"You're-!"

"I am the real leader of the Blood of Syne." A smooth, cold voice spoke to Petra. "And we are going to come after you, Children of Namek."

Petra shook as the figure let out a bloodthirsty grin. "I always was the spitting image of father. My annoying little brother was right about one thing, though."

The same black hair, the same skin, the same mouth and nose. She was currently looking at a man that looked older but identical to Zane, except instead of a purple right eye, he had a black eye. 

"My name is Sebastian Syne…" A glint appeared in his eyes. "And you can try to kill me anytime!"