Chapter 14 : Chaos inside the Fortress.

In the middle of the night, in this cold prison filled with desperate souls, Armand had infiltrated. He had just freed a prisoner from the highest cells of the fortress, Bojan, a powerful man with electrical abilities.

Standing in front of the stairs leading to the lower floors from where the guard they'd knocked out had come, Bojan turned back to Armand, whose eyes were gradually returning to their natural gray hue.

"We must have to find Carolina before it's too late," he said.

"That's my intention, don't worry, but I intend to get everyone out of here. By the way, what's your name?" asked Armand.

"My name's Bojan, what's yours? And why are you wearing that crumpled tunic over your face? Didn't you say you had nothing to lose?" replied Bojan, smiling.

Armand was embarrassed by this question. Indeed, it wasn't very convincing to say such a thing while keeping his face hidden under a piece of cloth wrapped around his head. So he removed it long enough to introduce himself.

"I'm Armand. I came here because I couldn't stand what I'd been seeing in the city for the past few days," he replied.

Bojan was surprised by the revelation of Armand's face. He hadn't expected his savior to look so young, and he didn't look very strong judging by his build. However, he didn't judge him, since Armand had shown incredible strength in his hit on Saukel when he first arrived. Armand put the cloth back around his face and they began to descend the stairs discreetly.

With his yellow eyes, Armand noticed the magic surrounding the second guard, who seemed to be waiting for his colleague below. He signaled Bojan to stop.

"There's someone just at the exit," Armand whispered. "Let me handle it."

Bojan stopped, and Armand continued discreetly downstairs. He approached the half-open door and heard the creaking of the impatient guard's armor.

"What the hell is he doing taking so long? He was just supposed to take a look, Lady Octavia will kill us if she finds out," muttered the guard.

After a moment's thought, the guard decided to see what his colleague was up to. He passed through the door leading to the stairs. No sooner had he passed through the door than he tripped over a taut orange thread of magic, then fell on other threads that detached themselves from the wall under the pressure and came to coil him roughly, immobilizing him. Armand fell back from the ceiling where he'd been hiding and closed the door behind him to muffle the noise.

"What's going on? Who... who are...?!" shouted the guard as Bojan arrived and gave him a light electric shock to silence him.

The guard groaned in pain, almost losing consciousness. Bojan turned him over on his back like a bag.

"Listen to me," said Bojan, stooping so as not to have to speak too loudly, "you're going to tell us everything you know about Carolina, the White Wick, or else you'll end up like your two friends up there."

The guard, gradually coming to his senses, quickly understood what he meant by this and calmed down, although he was still frightened by his kidnappers. He'd never thought the prison would ever come under attack.

"The... the White Wick? I don't know who you're talking about..." The guard trembled, his voice cracking under the pressure.

Bojan wasn't fooled and inflicted another electric shock. "Don't play the fool," he said with cold determination.

Armand watched the scene, keeping a watchful eye on the door, ready to react in case of danger. After a few minutes, it became clear that the guard had no idea where Carolina might be. Seeing that, with this approach, they were getting nowhere, Armand moved towards them, looking for another method.

"What do you know about purgatory?" asked Armand, gesturing to Bojan to stop electrocuting.

The guard, visibly relieved by this brief truce, looked at Armand with eyes wide with surprise. Exhaustion and pain were evident on his face, and he finally yielded to questioning.

"It's, a corridor in the basement of the fortress. The prisoners there are either chosen randomly, or they're particularly dangerous criminals."

"Then the executioner decides whether the criminal stays inside to rot or is transferred to a cell in the fortress," Bojan added, his eyes closed, testifying to trauma.

Armand realized that Bojan had probably undergone this treatment in the past. He continued his interrogation and asked the guard how to access the purgatory. The guard, seeing he had no other choice, explained that to get there, you had to go down to the basement via the stairs at the end of the main corridor on the first floor of the prison.

"Is there anywhere even deeper than purgatory?" asked Bojan, bringing his electricity-charged fist close to the guard's face.

The guard swallowed his saliva with difficulty, clearly terrified. This reaction was enough for Bojan to confirm his doubts. Using his other hand, concealed from the guard's view, he administered an intense shock to the back of the guard's neck, knocking him unconscious instantly. He dragged the unconscious body into a corner, behind the door, to hide it.

"Armand, are you sure you want to go through with this? You can let me go alone. I'd do anything for her, she's like my daughter."

"I hate that kind of phrase," Armand replied, turning back to Bojan, who was a little shocked by the answer. "I haven't done all this so far to stop now just because you're worried."

"How do you plan to do it then? There's no way of going unnoticed here, between the guards, the cyanocrius and all those noisy prisoners."

Armand smiled before turning to the closed door. He placed his hands on the handles and prepared to open it.

"It's never been my goal to be discreet. I intend to make this world understand that this kind of place is intolerable."

"Don't tell me that you..."

Armand then opened the door leading to the corridor on the top floor of the fortress's main building. Their hearts beating a thousand miles an hour, Armand took his first step into the corridor, where there were no guards, only cells filled with sleeping prisoners, surely due to the late hour. Bojan followed. One of the prisoners, recognizing Bojan's silhouette, panicked over the bars and began imploring them to release him, waking up the majority of the other prisoners.

"Well... I think the whole prison will soon know," said Armand. He aimed at the cell locks with his finger charged with reddish magic, but Bojan held him back by the arm.

"Wait! The majority of the people here deserve to be here, they're criminals! Do you really intend to set them free without exception?"

"They'll just have to caught them again. That's not my problem," Armand replied, determined. "My problem is this place and what it represents."

Bojan didn't seem to agree with his intentions, but there was nothing more he could do. He knew Armand was sure of what he was doing, regardless of whether it was right or wrong. He let go of his arm and Armand fired condensed rays of magic at the cells around him, opening them one by one.

The prisoners emerged from their cages, waking up those who hadn't yet. They all clumped together in the corridor, and one of them advanced towards Armand and Bojan before turning back to the crowd to speak.

"Guys!" he shouted, "this day has finally come, when we can regain our freedom! These two have come to deliver us!"

He then turned back to the duo and asked them, on behalf of all the prisoners, what they wanted them to do to thank them.

Armand felt a little embarrassed and intimidated by all these people in front of him, expecting something from him. Suddenly, near the staircase leading to the lower floor, he heard several footsteps mixed with the creaking of armor. There was no time to lose, he thought. He simply ordered them to spread chaos throughout the prison and free as many people as possible, now that they were free of their magic-depriving bonds.

The crowd erupted in cheers, as if this was what they'd wanted to hear all along. They turned and ran towards the exit, where guards appeared, not understanding what was happening inside the fortress. The prisoners, outnumbered, began to fight against the guards who, despite their equipment, could do nothing. Armand and Bojan followed the group, quickly reaching the second floor where new prisoners were already being freed by those at the front of the group.

Some fell in front of the guards, but they were soon caught off guard by the crowd, who didn't hesitate to trample them once they were down.

"What the hell?!" cried a guard on the second floor.

"There's no sign of any infraction and none of the cyanocrius have raised any alarm!" replied another guard running towards the first floor. "We absolutely must warn the warden and Octavia, they're surely..."

Suddenly, lightning flashed from the second-floor staircase, striking all the guards there. It was Bojan, having taken the lead, sensing that it was becoming increasingly risky to go down to the first floor. Armand went down the stairs and found him after he had launched his surprise attack.

"I thought you were reticent about going on a rampage here," he told him with a smile.

"It's surprising, yes, but I've taken a liking to this group effect."

They continued their progress through the prison, the group growing larger as more prisoners were freed. Some even attacked each other to settle their differences, while others fell to the guards. They finally reached the first floor. Armand took Bojan's arm, who didn't know what he was going to do, and his eyes turned blue. He then began to run quickly, leaving the guards to the prisoners.

They then detached themselves from the group of prisoners, leaving them to spread chaos. Armand stopped when he reached the main corridor and saw a door at the end of it.

"Warn me next time you do that, please... my head's spinning," said Bojan, a little shaken by the speed he'd just been through.

Armand excused himself, scratching his head, and they continued towards the door at the end of the corridor. As they walked, Bojan made a remark to Armand.

"Since the second floor, there's been a kind of unusual haze here.""

"Isn't that normal? As I'm not familiar with the place, I must admit that I didn't pay much attention to it."

"No, it's not normal, and it's getting thicker and thicker here, as if it's coming out of this door."

They arrived in front of the famous door, double-locked and decorated with chains. Armand asked Bojan to step aside slightly, then wrapped himself in his red aura before surrounding his fist with a large amount of magic to destroy the door.

Bojan's mind was focused on Carolina, sensing that she was lower down. Armand finished concentrating and threw his fist against the door, striking it with exceptional force. The door exploded, detaching itself from the wall and crashing against the wall on the other side. Suddenly, a violent gust of wind hit them, coming out of the antechamber leading to the basement, accompanied by the famous haze that escaped and dispersed throughout the first floor. As the wind blew, Armand lost the tunic that was hiding his face.

Armand came to his senses with a strange feeling that the door had drained energy from him during the impact. He then looked behind him to see if Bojan was all right. He was up and had turned back towards the corridor, intrigued by the enigmatic haze.

"Bojan, it's time! We've got no time to lose!" he exclaimed as he entered the room, quickly joined by Bojan.

End of chapter 14.