Chapter 53: Falcon's Den [Free]

Allyria observed as Kaius skipped out of the dungeon. 

She couldn't believe what she's seeing right now. Even in her wildest dreams, she's never expected a thing like this could exist in their world. But what's there to be surprised about? Silas was an Ikigai, she might be too and a portal appearing in the air was just as weird as the former ones.

Kaius gasped as soon as he stepped out of the hole, "How could this happen?"

Allyria didn't answer and whirled around, trying to recognize where they were but nothing from her memory told her she's been here. The ceiling confirmed her guess when she said they were underground as specks of sunlight passed through the wooden floors.

"It's gone," she said when she realized the dungeon where they came from was no longer there. Instead, a thin king-sized foam settled on the floor - no steel bars, no cemented walls, no barricades. It was as normal as every other thing inside the cellar.

Did they just emerge from a portal? She asked to herself but even she knew she couldn't answer that question. Her eyes narrowed when she saw little remains of food stuck on the foam, so she walked towards it and grabbed a piece, "Didn't we eat rice the other day?"

Kaius trailed and looked at the thing between her fingers, "Why?"

"Didn't we?" she asked again as if he didn't hear her for the first time.

"Y-yes, we did. But that…"

Kaius stopped dead, the hesitation evident on his face but the look on Allyria told him it was the only answer behind their questions. "Did we really come from a dungeon or was it just an illusion?" he finally asked.

Allyria shrugged, "Who knows? It could be." There was a huge possibility it wasn't a portal but an idea planted in their heads. Which means they've been lying in the foam for days now. That was why there wasn't anything behind the walls because it was all made up. The picture of the dungeon was just from their imaginations.

But that was only her best guess.

"Do you think an Ikigai did this?" she asked.

"Possibly," he answered. "He or she could be an Illusioni."

Allyria remembered the moment when Dragunov asked her where they were. She kept saying the wrong answer not realizing they've been played as a fool all along. But who was she to tell they were just deceived? The dungeon looked believable enough to say they weren't being imprisoned.

There were stacks of dump placed on the corner, rusted steel armors, clothes, unused firewood and many other things. She strode towards it and rested a hand on the armor. It was familiar, something she'd seen before. When she turned the breastplate around, she was surprised to see the Cesparian country's sigil, the lion.

"Kaius, it's your Royal Guards' armors," she said.

"How did all these get here?" Kaius raised the breastplate. Most of them were old and damaged. Even a Royal Guard wouldn't dare to wear it anymore, "Do you think they're selling these junks for coins?"

Again, another question Allyria couldn't answer. 

She focused her eyes on the far end of the room. A large chest rested beside the table. She opened it and there were weapons of different kinds, mostly damaged and distorted. These have already been used, she realized.

"Allyria," she jerked her head towards Kaius, "Take a look at this." He said and showed her a rectangular steel plate. Allyria couldn't see the pattern clearly so she drew nearer.

"Locke…" she muttered under her breath, reading what was in the nameplate but halted when her eyes drifted to the next few letters.

The surname she could never forget during the attack at the woodlands and his daughter, that little angel whom she spoke to during Vysela's celebration. She knew them. Lockeheart.

Allyria shook her head. No, this can't be... They couldn't be...

But Kaius admitted it for her, "We're here," the words sounded heavy from his mouth, "We're in the falcon's den."

For once, Allyria never thought they could be in the Astrenmir's camp even after they were held captive by an unknown man. She thought they were going to be used for ransom or sold as slaves. This idea has never reached her mind.

And Dragunov.

It was him, the man she saw commanding the Astrenmirian army. She could still remember what his figure looked like. She couldn't be mistaken. It was him. 

The audacity of that man to play mind games on them. He was just as sick as the fallen king, Dmitri. Allyria never knew if the Astrenmirs had a son but for all she knew, there was no child mentioned in the books. His entire family was slaughtered, and no one was left to fight for his name. So, who is Dragunov? What role does he play?

The questions only made Allyria's mind churn. She just got out of a prison cell and now she has to face another discovery from the person who took them captive. She should have not hit him in the head for a deer if this is what will bring her here.

Allyria might have planned in being a spy back when they were in Silas' cabin, but sudden events have prompted her to change her mind. After Dragunov's men in Cesparian guard's armor attacked the cabin, they couldn't just gate crash the camp without a plan. And Silas told her they had to go back first. She was safer there.

But now she's here.

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Written and edited by ephemery.

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Allyria will hunt you down to the ends of Arde Terra and cast you out together with the Undying in the Islands of the Cursed. You've been warned.

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