Serpent, Yoked and Free

Finally we got the Serpent on our side! Now we can finally break free from this Prison! I turn towards my companions and declare to them, "Are you all ready to go?"

Shizuku and Shesh both nodded their heads, it was time to head out of here. As we started to walk off, Shesh raised her voice and spoke up, "Oh! Wait! I forgot something important."

Shizuku and I both looked at her and said simultaneously, "What is it?"

She raised her index finger to her mouth and said, "Well, there's a spell that's been binding me in here, I'm sure you saw it on your way here. Unless we deactivate that binding curse, I cannot leave."

She's right, we did encounter a spell on our way here, but didn't we destroy that door, shouldn't that have stopped it?

Shizuku steps forward and says, "It should be fine now! Jean had destroyed the entire door and ruined the Inscriptions. You should be able to leave now."

Shesh turned and looked at me, "You destroyed the Door? What the hell? What kind of a monster are you? Do you realize how dangerous that is?"

Dangerous? I give her a confused look, "What do you mean by dangerous? Was I not supposed to do that?"

She sighed deeply, "Ughhh~! Do I have to explain everything, YES you're not supposed to just break a door with a Binding Curse, there could've been a trap hiding amidst the Inscriptions and could've blown you both up!"

Shizuku spoke back, "It's okay! I used my Quick Analysis and read all the Inscriptions before he had destroyed the Sealed Door. It was completely safe."

Shesh then looked at Shizuku completely puzzled, "What? You read all the Inscriptions on the Seal? How long did it take you? That Binding Curse had to been at least a Tier 30 to keep me in! How did you manage to do that?"

Shizuku pointed at her eyes, then they began to glow bright red, "I have a special ability given to me by my Mother. It's called Quick Analysis, I can read 100 Inscriptions a second."

Shesh looked baffled, "My Lord! I wish my mom gave me something like that! That is amazing!"

Shizuku averted her eyes and they dimmed, "Yeah.. that is amazing... just like her.." Shizuku started to look kind of sad, I knew something was up with that. I shouldn't press her though, she will tell me one of these days, for now we must leave this place.

I spoke up to dissipate the heavy atmosphere, "Okay! We should all head off then! Let's regroup with the Rebels and free the rest of the Prisoners!"

They both looked at me and nodded, we began walking towards the Consuming Darkness. As we step before the threshold, Shizuku grabs my arm suddenly, "Ugh we have to go back in there, Jean you don't mind me holding a little closer right...?"

This request catches me off guard, "Aah, y-yeah! Of course, you can hold on as close as you like!"

Shesh then looks at me and says, "Do you two really need to hold onto each other? It's just a Blinding Fog, as long as you walk forward, you'll be fine!"

Shizuku speaks up back to her and says, "I'd feel safer holding onto him, I wouldn't want to be separated in there and lose my way." I simply nodded my head.

Shesh sighed again, "Ugh fine, have it your way, I on the other hand will be walking straight through there! My freedom lies at the other side, I don't want to waste another second!!"

Shesh seemed extremely happy, I'm sure she is over-thrilled that she is able to leave this accursed place, we shouldn't hold her back from this. I looked at Shesh and said, "Yeah! Go ahead Shesh, we'll catch up with you in a bit, just wait for us!"

Shizuku clutches me close, her chest pushes up against me and I feel a soft sensation swallow my whole arm, I gulped really loudly. Shizuku looks at me and says, "R-Ready to go?" I nodded my head, "Y-Yeah, let's go in." Shesh in a moments time glides straight into the Blinding Fog without a second thought. Shizuku and I tread carefully and closely. The moment we step inside of the Fog, we are instantly hit with pitch blackness again. Although I can feel her, I can't see her at all. We begin to walk at a steady pace while gripping each other tight. It' so strange to feel her there, but not see her. Almost like I truly went blind and deaf.

We kept walking through the Blinding Fog and soon after, we made it back to where we came from!

As we step through the threshold, we are greeted back with the broken door we came through! Shizuku shouts in joy, "We made it! Finally! You alright Jean?" I nodded my head and scratched the back of my neck, "Yeah! I'm all good!"

Shizuku sighed in relief, "Ah thank God! I always get anxious when I do stuff like that!"

From the far left of us, we heard another voice say sarcastically, "You alright Shesh? Yeah I'm alright, thanks for asking!"

We look over and see a pouting Shesh on the left, I apologized immediately, "S-Sorry Shesh, I'm glad you're alright!"

She simply turned her head and said, "Hmph, like I care anyways. C'mon show me this army of yours already!" I looked at Shizuku and she shrugged her shoulders, we then all headed towards the Destroyed Door. Shizuku and I step through just fine, but Shesh held back at the entrance.

I spoke up, "C'mon Shesh! We have to hurry! We got things to do"

Shesh traced the entrance with her foot, "You guys... this is a big moment for me.. I-I don't know what I'm feeling!"

I tilted my head, "Shesh?"

Shesh looked all around the Door, "I-I... I can't believe it.. After all these years.. Being bound in that room, and just like this I'm free? Is this some cruel joke?"

Shizuku ran towards Shesh in an instant, "Shesh, it's going to be okay, you're free now! C'mon!"

Shesh repsonded to her, "I-I know that! I'm not stupid, it's just... is this really it?"

Shesh paused and hesitated with her words, her face changed to something I haven't seen before. Shizuku then took her by the arm, "It's okay, you're not bound anymore. You're free! You won't have to see that place ever again!"

Shesh looked back at her and said, "I spent millenniums in this cell longing for freedom, I've planned escapes for centuries but they all failed miserably, I've gained hope, and lost hope. This was my home since forever, and now out of nowhere I can just leave like it never happened. I don't know how to feel about this! I can't wrap my head around it! I feel frustrated and happy! What am I supposed to do! This is hurting my head!!"

Shizuku tried to comfort her, "It's okay, I know how it feels trust me! I spent centuries as a Living Corpse inside a small cell unable to even move. I know how you feel right now, not even I know how to feel, but now we don't have time to think about it, we just have to escape! We can worry about these weird emotions later okay?"

Shesh gave Shizuku a worried look, "Is it really okay?"

Shizuku smiled wide to her, "Yes! I can assure you that it is okay! I'm sure we aren't the only ones who feel this way either. There's a whole army down there that probably feels just the way we do. We gotta get back to them now so we can all win our freedom okay?"

I walked up to the both of them and placed my hand on Shesh's shoulder, "We are in this together Shesh, we... no this whole rebellion, we all share in each others burdens, we are here for you, we are going to get through this together okay? No matter what, we are all going to get back our freedom by ANY means necessary with or without you."

Shizuku then gave a confident smile reached out her hand to Shesh,

"Allow me to say once more! Will you join us in this Rebellion Shesh?"