8 Chapter 7 - Ratways.

The Princess stirs from her slumber, gaining consciousness as she slowly gazes around her surroundings, a room with a wooden door and a musky smell emanating from the walls, a wet film covered everything as rats sit comfortable eating scraps in their corners, a hole of darkness in the other wall as ankle deep-water covered the entire floor.

Her red hair was covered in muck and sewer water and she stunk heavily of feces and waste, her nose scrunches up as she angrily stands, walking over to the wooden door trying to open it, but it was locked, bashing her filthy hands on the door.

"Let me out!" she screams, but as she does movement in the water from the dark hole begins shifting towards her, her body stiffening up, but quickly releases as she take multiple deep breaths, calming her self focusing on what she wanted to do.

Slowly opening her mouth to a mere whisper.

"Lumium Spherexis"

The orb forms but flickers in her hands, focusing on just one emotion as she sees in shine brighter, lighting the hole with it showing something in the corner, a massive mound of hair that touched the floor covering the figure, shaking in the corner with trembling old hands, they gasp slightly when they see each other.

"Who are you?...TELL ME!" Camilla shouts as it cowers away from her, the rats following in suit. around her as they all cower away from her, to her surprise.

She notices this and lowers her voice, lifting her other hand in a slow calming manner.

"Hey...I'm sorry...but I have to get out of here I-"

"Woman!...Woman here!" it says in a female sounding voice, it croaked a lot with voice breaks often throwing her off.

"What? are y-"

"Come!...e-eat!" she stutters holding out a moldy orange to her, she declines it, throwing at one of her rats in anger, speaking a language Camilla didn't know or understand, muttering gibberish to her self as she stands, her figure was way taller than Camilla, maybe even Rodahn. grabbing a staff that leaned in the dark, multiple charms attached to the head.

Camilla backs away, noticing her arms were a pale white like Endar's, her finger nails stretching outwards like long rat claws, her face hidden by her graying hair. scurrying quickly to the door, pointing outside.

"Danger! NO OUT!" she screeches as Camilla's light goes out from fear, the room cloaked in darkness as she whimpers to herself.

"Please! my friends are out there!"

"No leave...stay...here, safe"

Her eyes flit around as she makes another orb or light, the brightness showing the Rat lady's face in hers, her eyes blacked out and her skin sprouting longer hairs, distorted skin with whiskers and long front teeth that were sharp, her pained groans heave as she panted, examining the princess closely.

"Stay..."

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The trio of men roam the tunnels behind Rodahn as he attempts to sniff out the princesses perfume, the time taking longer than anticipated as Major begins getting agitated. Sighing loudly as he looks behind them into total darkness.

"We're never gonna find her like this, we need a better strategy and we need it NOW!" He snarled frustrated as Endar turns around.

A severe look on his face like he was about to snap at him.

"I don't know Albert, if you hadn't of disrupted my spell we could've found her sooner...now I don't have enough energy for another type of spell like that!" He hissed, turning his back on the soldier as his light turns a bright red.

Turning the walls and the guys in a red hue, Rodahn looks behind to see the light as he stops. Grabbing Endar's shoulders softly, gazing into his eye.

"Calm yourself Shoka, we need light in worrying times"

He takes an immensely deep breath before his light begins to brighten into a solid white that grew much more brighter than before. A happy smile on the witches face as he looks on beyond his eyes, a content sigh leaves him before they continue on, Major scoffs and continues to listen to them.

Rodahn's axe begins humming with energy, a pulsing purple radiating off of it like it was holding a million souls in it, Major admired the craftsmanship on it. Rodahn notices this and hangs back letting Endar lead.

"Like whatcha see?" He says pulling his war axe from his back, showing it to Major as he chuckles.

"I do, whys it...humming like that?"

"Its readying for battle, its an enchantment I got given to me awhile back"

Endar swivels and walks backwards.

"You're welcome by the way" he snickers continuing forward. He hands the war axe to him as he holds it gratefully, weighing it out in his hands.

"Heavy, its made out of a fine metal too...what's this green here?" he points to the markings

"That's Orichalcum, mined in the mountains of Noreclya, my home"

"That's not in Aspendria" he mentions as Rodahn lifts his brow in confusion.

"You do not know much of the world you live in...there are many worlds other than this, Aspendria is the meeting point for everything" he goes on explaining the way the realm works.

Explaining a great deal of realm wars and conflicts that brought on his clan abandoning him.

"My clan were once a unit of brute strength...but everything changed..."

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Years ago, when Aspendria was under charge of the hunters, clans from all over the realms gathered to fight for their side. The humans against what they called monsters.

The hunters had grown in number and they had both Caspia and the Capitols soldiers, collecting numbers from civilian numbers while the monsters had their own set of horrors.

The Witches had raised an evil creature from pure magic, the wolves all at front line with the orcs and centaurs. Zombie archers and huge beasts roar from all ends. But something was amiss, the Orcs Clan leader was nowhere to be seen. And in the raging atmosphere of war, an orc wouldn't miss it for the world, Rodahn in the preparation stands there with his fists closed.

His war paint drying as he looks over at the opposite side of the war grounds, seeing the human forces in full swing, occupying ballista and catapults armed and aimed. At the head of it a man with a golden helmet, his golden armor resembles that of a stag, golden antlers from the top of it.

His hand lifting as 6 soldiers struggle to bring the biggest orc on the field to his knees in front of him, Rodahn taking a large sniff as he growls speaking in his own language.

"Rah ada gouraga qomakk!" he bellows to his can as they look forward with raging faces, the leader looking up at the hunter stag with hateful eyes, spitting on his feet, the king dropping his hand as the clans leader has his head chopped clean off, Rodahn's eyes widen in immediate anger and loss, feeling the sting in his heart.

His emotions overruling reason as he bellows a command.

"Chuckk ragm arkin!!!!!" the entire army charges forward, but the hunters side stood where they were, but he didn't care, his unbridled rage for the stags head kept him running in a berserker attitude, jumping high into the air ready to strike him, but even then he doesn't move...

Not seeing the blinding light approaching from the tower, then everything goes white...

Completely blind.

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Rodahn shakes his head, his short dreadlocks waving slightly as he sighs. Grabbing his axe back from Major and placing it on his back, walking in silence as Major eyes him curiously, feeling a tinge of guilt in the back of his head.

All three of them stay quiet so they could hear the princess in case she was close, the sound of dripping water coming from the end of the tunnel, approaching the end the three of them peer into what seems like another sewer chasm, slimed steps lead down to a lower floor with a few wooden doors in sight.

The trio cautiously make their way down, looking at the three wooden doors coated in filth and muck, all of them looking at one door each.

"So, which one?" Endar asks as Rodahn wastes no time, stepping up to one and crashing his boot into it, breaking it from its hinges making a loud booming sound throughout the space. Endar brings a hand to his face and sighs, feeling tired of the ratways already.

"That one I suppose" he says as Major chuckles, walking in with the witch to their dismay, webs coating the walls as Endar strokes his arms nervously, noticing they were only getting thicker and thicker as they go inside. his breath hitching as a shudder passes down his spine.

"Guys...I don't like this..."

"Its just cobwebs, don't think about it" Major says to him as he stays behind the witch, pushing him forward into the nest of spiraling webs, knowing there's no way these are just cobwebs, entering as the walls begin spreading out, a massive room coated in the sticky silk. Winding in through multiple holds in the walls and ceiling.

Endar stops in his tracks as Major bumps into his back, his panic attempting to back out.

"No no no no...we should leave now..."

"We cant just leave, we have to find her!"

"Stop your yelling, we aren't alone" Rodahn speaks over them as he looks to the ceiling of the roof, a massive leg sprouting from one of the holes, pushing itself as more legs push from the ceiling hole, a large red abdomen pokes out, twisting around as it peers its 16 eyes at the group, each one a jet black and shiny, before they turn snow white in a second.

Hissing as its fangs move, a substance dripping from them, assumed to be poison.

Rodahn and Major readying their weapons, Endar shakes in fear at the mere sight of it, a gargantuan cave spider, horns protruding from its exoskeleton as its hooked feet hang from the ceiling flawlessly, quickly scaling the wall as it creeps around them, figuring out its angle to attack while the group nervously circles.

"What do we do?" Major asks as Rodahn locks his eyes on the beast, it lifts its rear legs at him, looking back at Endar who is paralyzed in place. Taking a deep breath before swinging his axes weight around freely.

"Get Endar out, I can handle mama "

"Mama?" He says worriedly, as more tinier cave spiders leave the holes in the walls, corralling around their mother as security. Major grabs the witch and sprints from the nest, getting outside with him peering back into it.

Endar finally breaths after holding it for so long.

"Please...go help him..."

"But-"

"Ill be fine! go!" he ushers him back inside as Major races back into the nest bravely, his sword at the ready.

Breaking through the mass of webs as he watches Rodahn steps on the smaller spiders with ease, grunting with each stomp as they over whelm him, Major jumps in, slicing the ones on his back, looking at him thankfully before the Mother Spider roars with rage, watching her babies die at the hands of the two warriors.

Finally entering the battle, smashing into the orc with its powerful head as Major focuses the smaller ones, knowing he's no match for that thing with just his sword. Rodahn stands as he chuckles to himself.

"Now this is a fight!"

Charging the Mother with his axe at the ready, it cleanly glides along the floor creating purple sparks, lifting to chop at her leg, lodging into it as the hue brightens and the purple seeps into her body, she weeps in pain as her leg rises to strike him. Blocking it deftly and rolling to her side, with her size she struggles to turn in time as Rodahn drives his axe into her underbelly.

Striking right at the base of the abdomen, chopping the entire thing off in a clean cut. The babies around her fall from the holes and her body dropping dead along side her as she hisses lightly, drifting into deaths embrace. Rodahn wipes his face of navy spider blood and walks over to Major with a smirk.

"Thanks for the help human" He pats him on the back as Major scoffs in good faith.

"Don't mention it Orc"

The two of them leaving the nest and meeting with Endar, rushing over, checking Rodahn for bites or injuries. but retreats when he doesn't find anything, the orc wraps his big arm over his shoulder.

"I like it when you worry about me"

"You could've been poisoned, forgive me for wanting you alive"

Major hold his arms up in offence.

"Oh sure, I'll just die from poisoning, that's fine" He mutters as Endar walks over, turning the man 360 degrees, barely looking at him with his condescending eyes.

"You'll live"

"LET ME OUT!"

The groups ear all perk up when they hear shouting from a nearby room, not sure which direction it was in.

"Where is that?"

"Hold on, I got something" Endar says, making a symbol with his fingers before saying a small incantation, expanding the invisible spell between the three of them, all of their hearing suddenly increasing as they start hearing the princess muttering to herself, another person was with her and they were close by.

The group wasting no time, pinpointing exactly where the sounds were coming from, weaving through more doors and tunnels, finally coming across the one she was behind, Major tries the lock but it doesn't budge, Rodahn goes to kick it down but he stops him.

"Stop! what if she's directly on the other side!"

"...Good point" he admits, putting his foot down as they look amongst themselves.

"Do none of us know how to pick a lock?" Endar asks.

The other two stay quiet as he sighs, knowing he's the only one who can open the door safely out of all of them.

Stepping forward and his silver hand morphs into a small cylinder, fitting into the lock with ease as he jams it around a little, getting impatient when he pulls it out and its twisted and crooked, his eyes flit towards the lock with hate.

"Fucking hate locks" he sneers, his other hand reaches out and a blue jet flame emits from his hand, holding it against the lock as it melts fairly quickly, allowing the door to be opened. but it starts slowly catching fire, the trio charging in ready for a fight.

Camilla sits there shocked in the murky water, the Rat Lady sat next to her with a frightful face, her deformed features shone to the group as they gasp at her , Major goes to attack her, but Endar's hand stops him, Rodahn stays back as he waits outside in the tunnels, Endar approaching the woman with sad eyes.

"I'm so sorry..." He whispers, feeling her hands as she gazes into his eyes, they widen at his voice, as if she recognizes him. Jumping up with him as she cackles loudly.

"En! EN !" She screeches with happiness, hugging him tightly.

He was took aback by this, still unsure who she was.

"Who did this to you, what's your name?" he tries asking as she calms, thinking for a moment before shaping something out with her hands, he looks at her confused until Camilla stands.

"She means the tower" she says lightly, Major moves to her quickly startling the woman as she cowers from him, lashing her hand out as rats from the shadow pounce at him.

Endar places his thumb on her fore head, speaking in tongues as she goes limp in his arms.

Camilla rushes over to the group, hugging Major tightly along with Rodahn, then to Endar who simply puts his hand up.

"Not a hugger, I'm glad you're back Princess" he says with a smile, looking back down at her.

Moving the hair from her face and examining her features, noticing a tattoo on the side of her neck...a symbol or crest of sorts, then it finally hits him, recognizing her through her deformed face. A gasp leaving his mouth.

"Oh my gods...Cyren?!"

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