Seeking Refuge In The Future

While the ritual was happening inside the Cronus chamber, the crusaders were just outside beating down the large doors with their battering rams to gain entry.

“Pound it down, men! Those witches are hiding like rats behind these doors. They have nowhere else to escape! We’ve already conquered this cursed mountain!”

The crusaders received added stamina to increase the power of their bettering rams.

‘Ram! Ram! Ram!’

Within the chamber, the dark monolith started giving off an audible frequency that was causing a low-magnitude earthquake. This was a sign of something specific.

“The Cronus monolith is ready for transportation.” The Supreme Magus peered through the vertical stream of light oscillating the magic circle at Silvia and Amich. “Our kind’s survival depends on you. You’ll know what to do when the time is right.” Her voice sounded solemn but with a tinge of assurance.

Seconds later, the Cronus monolith shattered into numerous fragments that formed a cylindrical swerving vacuum transcending time and space. Amich and Silvia were getting sucked into the eye of the swerving void.

“No! I don’t like the feeling of this! I want to stay!” The Vaud siblings were putting up a resistance, however, futile it was. Moments flashed by and they were gone completely into the void, leaving behind the swerving fragments of the Cronus monolith which was still producing a quaking storm phenomenon.

“Supreme Magus, are you certain this was the right call?” Alicia and Tiffaun came along and whispered their worries into the elder’s ear. They were both staring at the shrinking void.

“Will they even survive the jump?” Inquired Tiffaun. She still didn’t understand how sending the Vaud siblings to another timeline would ensure that their kind wasn’t erased from history.

The Supreme Magus reassured them, “Those 2 will make it through the void safely. Though this is the first time using the Cronus monolith, I have fate that they will survive. After all, they both carry within them the Cursed Treasures of Immortalis.”

“You mean the Black Liver and Silver Fangs?” Before Tiffaun’s question could be properly answered, the doors to the chamber came crashing to the floor after a loud bang reverberated throughout the sanctuary. At the same time, the remaining fragments of the Cronus monolith got absorbed into the void before it vanished out of sight.

“Go! Go!”

The crusaders started dashing into the chamber in droves with their threatening weapons aimed at their enemies.

“We surrender! Please don’t hurt us!” The witches had their arms raised in a surrendering gesture. The Supreme Magus had informed them beforehand to lay down their arms and relinquish the means of their escape for the time being.

“Detain those witches!”

Receiving the order from their respective Commanding Knights, the loyal crusaders sheathed their swords and swung forth their ropes to tie up their captives.

“Get down!” They handled the witches roughly by knocking a few of them to the ground; pressing their boots in their backs and even spitefully breaking their wrists before they tied them up.

“Well, well, I’ve finally caught up to you.” Commander Dreylude came into the chamber and quickly located Tiffaun kneeling on the ground while staring back at him with her gaze of vengeance.

“You don’t look like a witch who’s willing to surrender.” Commander Dreylude rested the tip of his blade on Tiffaun’s shoulder with the side pressing firmly against her neck. It slit her skin slightly. “Try something stupid and see what happens.”

“You…” Tiffaun wanted desperately to use that same sword and cut Commander Dreylude in half but she calmed herself after receiving multiple glances from Alicia and the others.

“Fhm-ha-ha-ha! Not so tough now are you, little witch?” Commander Dreylude lowered his head to Tiffaun’s level and told her, “If the Grand Inquisitor wasn’t on his way here, your innards would have already been dancing on my sword, you disgusting wench.” He spat his stinking saliva in her face for added disrespect before he forced her face on the ground and bound her arms in ropes.

Looking around the chamber at the captured witches and their acolytes, Commander Dreylude posed a general question, “Is that all of them?”

“There is still one who hasn’t been lynched yet, sir!” One of the crusaders pointed out someone from the back who was giving off an eerie vibe that had everyone avoiding her. This person was the Supreme Magus who was standing slightly hunched with her staff keeping her balance.

“Why isn’t that old hag roped yet? Do I have to do everything myself?” Commander Dreylude got up from where Tiffaun was and went over to where the Supreme Magus was situated. Unlike the foot soldiers, he wasn’t scared to approach the elder. He already had his rope equipped.

“Turn around, you skeleton hag!” Just as Commander Dreylude was about to tie the Supreme Magus’s arms, he heard a respectable voice of holy authority telling him--

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Huh…!” Looking over at the chamber’s entrance, he confirmed who issued the command. “Grand Inquisitor!”

Commander Dreylude accompanied by the other Commanding Knights and crusaders bowed respectfully when they identified the dignified presence of their holiness, Ezeus V. Teppesh.

Tiffaun bent her neck upwards until she laid eyes on the source of her misery. “So he is the Grand Inquisitor, the old man responsible for all this uproar across Astasia?” She was thinking to herself that if she got rid of him right there then all the atrocity against her people would end. But she didn’t get a chance to exploit that theory due to the Supreme Magus’s next step.