A Fate Worse Than Death

"Stay here and wait in line, I will go purchase passes towards our destination"

"Gramps, where are we even going?"

"..."

"Yeah, yeah. We will find out when we get there…"

Alin smirked but just as he was going to walk off Uriel stopped him once again

"...b-but can you at least tell us why we are going?"

Alin stopped in his tracks and thought about it for a moment.

"There are certain reasons as to why I can not inform you of our business and why we are going where we are going."

'Sigh'

"I can tell you one thing. You should remember this one word as in the future it will become a pivotal point in your life. Depending on how you deal with the situation your life could become filled with riches or end soon after"

As she heard what Alin was saying Hari jumped up in the air and appeared on Alin's back holding tightly around his neck.

"What is it? What is it Alin? Tell me I want to know, sounds fun. You know how much I like exciting new things. What is it?"

Hari suddenly started to rapidly throw questions at Alin. 'I might have left her too long with Expor… Alas, what is done is done"

He patted the top of Hari's head and spoke in a voice that sounded warm and inviting, unlike the tone he used earlier.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, you can calm down, I will tell you so you do not need to worry" Alin laughed, he found Hari's behaviour entertaining albeit a bit irritating due to having known someone similar for a very long time.

"You need to remember the word 'Hatchery' I will not tell you why this word is important, but remember this word, if you ever hear it from another individual do not do anything stupid and listen to them. Your life will depend on it..."

"Listen to them? Listen to who? Are we going to go and meet someone? Are they a bird? Are we going to a hatchery for pets?"

"The less you know the better."

Hari pouted but said no more. She jumped off Alin's back and went to stand next to Uriel and Leo in line.

Alin walked towards a specific counter and stood in line for quite some time. After roughly around an hour Alin had finally reached the counter that belonged to the kingdom they planned on travelling to.

He walked up to it and took out some coins from a pouch. Uriel looked at his Grandfather eagerly and with great interest but couldn't tell from this far how much the tickets cost or how they even looked like.

.

.

.

Alin leisurely walked back with something firmly gripped by his hands. It looked like 4 thin bracelets with some strange writing engraved on them.

"Put out your hands" commanded Alin, as they heard it the 3 children eagerly put out their hands, they would never refuse something from Alin as it would bound to be something fascinating.

Alin proceeded to place a thin flat bracelet in each of the children's hands. The bracelet was silver with weird engravings.

Alin took notice of the children trying to figure out what the bracelets were for. He made sure to look at each of their expressions. Leo didn't look as if he cared too much about it although he was happy as always that he had received something from the grandfather he respects and looks up.

Hari looked hyper as always and kept turning and looking all over the bracelet. Last but not least he had looked at Uriel who appeared to have figured out what the bracelets were used for and how they worked.

"Boy, have you figured it out?" Alin gazed down at Uriel from the corner of his eyes.

"Hmm…" Uriel looked slightly unsure if his answer was the correct one. "I think these are passes of some sort. A bit like the tickets you had purchased for our bus journey"

"Hoh, and what makes you say that?"

"Well, everyone in line has one and you can only get it from the counters that belong to specific kingdoms so I believe the two are connected. Also while I haven't had a good look at them, many of the bracelets look to differ slightly"

"And have you figured out how they work?" Alin's eyes focused on Uriel.

"I… I think the engraving is an inscription or an enchantment of sorts. It tells the formation of the location you want to go to. I couldn't help but observe that people who walk up the platform all have bracelets, while those who walk down it don't"

Alin nodded in agreement, "and what do you think the reason for that is?"

"..." Uriel pondered the question for a short time. "Is it because they are single-use?"

"Ha, Ha, Ha" Alin's laughter roared throughout the building drawing the attention of many bystanders towards the group.

"YES! YES! That is correct. These are single-use passes that you must have on your wrist when travelling through teleportation formations.

If you do not have a bracelet then in the best-case scenario, you will be teleported to a random kingdom..."

Alin stopped talking but Leo heard his least favourite string of words. 'Best-case scenario' This means that there is a 'worst-case scenario'.

He swallowed his saliva and spoke up "B-best-case scenario? D-does that mean there is a w-w-worst-case scenario?" Leo looked at the ground nervously while fidgeting with the bracelet in his fingers.

Alin then spoke in a low voice so only the kids could hear him "The worst-case scenario is a fate worse than death. Your whole body and being will be torn to shreds. Your body will be split apart bit by bit while you are fully conscious until it ceases to exist and your mind and consciousness will be left within the void that you travel through when you use the formations, doomed to look at travellers for all eternity…"

The sibling trio was stunned silent by the revelation. "Gramps, which is more likely to happen?"

"You should know the answer to this question already." scoffed Alin

"The worst-case scenario…" Leo's face turned extremely gloomy at the words of his brother.

"..." Alin kept his gaze on Uriel who took this as a sign to continue talking.

"I believe that is the reason for no guards being around. If someone tried to sneak on odds are higher than not that they will be eternally imprisoned."

Alin put his hand towards his mouth to hide the smile that was forming on his face.

"As your brother had correctly stated that is another reason as to why there are no guards around. I am honestly impressed with your observational skills and your deduction. Good job boy" Alin patted Uriel on the head.

"Even so, I wonder if you have figured out the true nature of this location"

That's when Leo spoke up in a barely audible voice, "I-is it a prison?"

Alin's face remained expressionless but extreme pride could be seen glowing deep within his eyes.

"You are correct my young lionheart. This is the worlds most secure prison. It is theoretically impossible to escape. At the very least you would need a powerful archmage to help you on the outside. To make things harder you would also need to keep your sanity but time flows differently there. Days can feel like years…" There was a hint of melancholy in the air around him but also regret and anger.