Hidden passage

King Melian shouted out orders to the last line of defense holding firm at the royal treasury. "We have to protect this vault! No matter what, the invaders mustn't get in! The future of our great kingdom depends on it!" A small trickle of blood ran down his forehead and a drop fell free of his brows. 'I really wish I was doing paperwork right about now. To think after surviving all the assassination and coup attempts we would fail when we were so close. Damn that destroyer and damn these invaders.'

More attackers charged down the hallway wielding shields both mundane and magical in nature as the Gelian defenders launched a volley of attacks from arrows and spells to even hurling bits of rubble at the attackers. Again, they managed to push them back but the question on all the defender's minds was, for how much longer.

Watching as another wave of attackers charged forward to rush past the bodies of their fallen just to creep a few inches closer Melian whispered a silent prayer that Lemin would succeed. 'Old man, You and your vision had better be right.'

Pulled from his thoughts by a change in the sound of battle the king looked up and watched as a wall of light moved towards them. No attack, mundane or magical, managed to break through and soon it was past the line of fallen attackers. Melian squinted and could make out the outline of a number of individuals. "So, it's finally time."

**********

Larian guided them through the massive castle's maze of corridors as if he'd been there before despite having never set foot inside its walls before. Another group of foreign fighters appeared in the hall before them making Larian tsk as he released another readied blade of wind. Unlike before though a barrier shimmered blocking the attack.

With a hump, he placed his hands on his hips. "Now who do you think is blocking an attack from the Larian Skyfall, Arch Mage extraordinaire!" Pointing at the group of soldiers moving cautiously towards them behind the shimmering barrier Larian shouted out. "D I choose you!"

With a bored sigh, D rushed forward, his body growing in size to stretch his robe to the limits as scales rippled across his flesh. Dodging an attack by leaping up to run along the sidewall then even the ceiling he finally crashed into the barrier claws first before ripping it and the attackers apart. Rachel standing at the back holding Jane's shoulders gripped them hard enough to make the small girl cry out in pain.

"Stop that!" She shrugged free of the older woman's grip.

"But… He… a monster?" Rachel stuttered out witnessing D's true nature for the first time.

"If you lose it at just that, wait till he fully transforms." Pena smirked at the girl then held the side of her rib cage. "But, You have nothing to worry about, You're not his type."

D walked back shrinking back down to his normal size, his face, arms, and robes soaked in blood. "Well did you eat the magic-user like we discussed? How do you feel? Quick try and cast a simple spell?" Despite standing in the middle of a besieged castle on an important mission given to him by his former teacher at the cost of his very life… Larian was still Larian.

And D was still D. He tried to chant the short simple spell that would create a light wisp yet resulted in a flash of light so bright it blinded everyone for a moment. "Damn, maybe you need more. Perhaps the brain next time? You always go for the heart and lungs."

"They taste the best." His raspy response made Rachel's stomach turn and caused Pena to tighten her grip on the side of her chest.

Walking past the eviscerated corpses Rachel covered her mouth with one hand and hugged herself with the other before staring at the back of D's head. 'What am I doing here? Should I be here? I was so happy to see a friendly face. I just went along with them but… but what have I gotten myself into?' Still, despite her fear she had nowhere else to go so she reluctantly and fearfully followed the group. As they continued further along just as before Larian or D slaughtered any opposition they ran into. After watching the most recent fight her thoughts drifted to the two girls.

'How can they be so calm? Neither of them seems phased by this at all. Not by the killing or D being some sort of man eating monster. Is something wrong with them? Are they too monsters?' Again, she was filled with dread and fear. Yet it did nothing to change her situation.

Eventually, Larian stopped before a set of plain wooden doors. Throwing the doors open wide he struck a pose. "Tada! Welcome to the King of Gelian's personal chambers." The room was richly decorated with tapestries, paintings, rugs, and polished silver or gold glinted everywhere. As the group stepped into the room Larian closed the door behind them and with the whispers of a few arcane words sealed it. Turning from the doors he spotted Jane bundling up anything shiny in what looked like a pillow case. D doing much the same figuring that must be why Larian brought them there. Pena was admiring some of the paintings while Rachel was torn between her fear of the situation and wanting to scold the two children ransacking her monarch's personal quarters. Yet when she opened her mouth her mind pictured inky black scales and claws that shredded even magical barriers before closing it back.

Ignoring the others Larian walked towards the currently cold fireplace. Standing before it for a moment he reached up and rapidly tapped a series of stones on it, imparting the faintest amount of mana. Too much and he would trigger defenses, too little and it wouldn't respond. His touch had to be perfect but for him it felt like he'd done this same thing hundreds of times. Within moments the fireplace split open revealing a path beyond.

"Alrighty, my little robbers. Time to collect the real treasure!" Larian was humming a cheery off key tone as he entered the darkened corridor that quickly turned into a steep set of spiral stairs. A golden wisp of light winked into existence lighting the path for himself and the group that followed behind, some more reluctantly than others.

**********

King Melian grinned when the wall of light walking towards them sparked against their final trap. Power welled up distorting the very space of the hallway twisting it slightly out of sync with reality, trapping the advancing forces. "Excellent!"

"But lord… now we are trapped here. With the vault behind us and that in front we have nowhere to go!" The commander of the home guard looked far less happy than the king.

"Don't worry. We will leave once…" A loud cracking sound interrupted his response and all turned to see a fracture form then spread through the very air in front of them. "Impossible… That ward was built with the combined power of ten of our finest mages…"

Turning back he nodded to a robed man who'd sat back resting during the entirety of the fight. "Kimbrem looks like you are up sooner than I'd hope." Standing up Gelian's one Arch Mage shook out the sleeves of his robe before stepping up.

"For now I'll repair the distortion prison." Lifting his arms the crack began to shrink as he muttered out words of power.

*********

Downward their descent continued seeming to go on forever as each step seemed identical to the last. In the golden light, the walls of the stairwell were perfectly bland, only making it harder to tell how long they'd been walking. Just as Rachel was about to lose her mind at the seemingly endless descent a landing came into view that opened up into a small room with a single door. "Finally, you Gelian's are so paranoid. Did you really have to bury it so deep?"

Practically skipping Larian moved to the door but hovered away from it squinting at it. "What do you think D?"

D moved up next to the Arch Mage and squinted as well, not because like Larian he had a hard time seeing the wards but because there were so many it almost blinded him. "Getting through will be a pain. Unless you happen to be a Gelian Noble."

"Hmm, no my lineage is purely Del Denote." Larian rubbed his chin while looking over the door. Glancing back his eyes fell on Pena but he shook his head instantly before looking down at Jane.

"You wouldn't be a bastard princess of the noble crown would you?" Jane blanched before giving him such a, are you an idiot look, that even Larian got the point.

Glancing up he found Rachel fidgeting slightly. "You wouldn't be of noble lineage would you?"

"No!" Rachel answered a little too quickly.

"I thought your father was a baron." D's raspy voice made Rachel flinch forgetting she'd shared a bit about her family with her student… back before she knew he was a man eating monster.

"Um, well yes.. But we are very very VERY distantly related to the crown. I doubt I can do whatever you need me to do….Please don't eat me!" Rachel felt hot tears running down her face yet again since all the madness of the invasion had started.

"Don't treat D like that!" Jane snapped at the pretty dorm mother, annoyed. "You act as if D is some kind of monster. He is the kindest most gentlest, nicest person I've ever met. He made sure I got good food and taught me to read n write. What did you ever do for anyone?" Jane started blushing halfway through her speech but couldn't stop feeling angry on D's behalf at the way the dorm mother had been acting recently.

Larian felt a bit giddy at the drama developing in front of him and glanced to see if D reacted at all. Yet was disappointed by finding the boy's expression to be unchanged. D for his part just debated on letting them know it wasn't kindness but convenience that caused him to do those things.

"The girl is right. D is still the same boy you've been teaching all this time. Think of all the times you were alone with him. Did he ever do anything to harm you?" Larian finally added in his own thoughts. For a moment his words seemed to be helping until he added. "Besides, if D wanted to eat you not many could have stopped him, right D?"

Rachel blanched at his words while Pena and Jane rolled their eyes at the mage's poor timing. "Will you just do what D needs so we can get out of here!" Jane pushed Rachel towards the door.

Stumbling some, she looked down at the boy who was nearly as tall as her now. "Um, well I guess."

D just pointed to the door. "Just open it." As Rachel stepped forward she didn't see D moving behind her and taking a defensive stance just in case he was wrong.