[3K+] Stone Corridors

Their footsteps echoed in the stairwell that seemed only to get darker and darker the further down they went. The air was thicker down there—and cooler. Eventually, it got so dark that they had to put their hands on the stone wall to guide their uncertain steps, except for Monkey, who continued walking as he had always done.

"It baffles me that such darkness is even permitted inside of the Ursula quarters. Do they have no lights in these cellars?" said Soran in a hushed tone, though his voice still lept quietly from wall to wall.

Alice and Soran were both touching the wall to their right as they tread down the stairs, but after hearing what Soran said, Alice too became curious.

"There is no reason why such darkness should persist here," she said before moving over to the wall on her left and tracing it as she continued onward. As her fingers lightly grazed the cool stone, they eventually came to touch cold metal. A torch-holder it was.

"They must have snuffed out the lights before our arrival," said Alice worriedly.

"They knew we were coming, then," said Monkey.

"And if my suspicion serves me right, then we should not be surprised when a trap is revealed before us. But nevertheless, let us continue," said Soran, whose footsteps now echoed less than they had.

As Alice planted her foot on stone that finally did not descend any further, she turned around to inform the others that she had reached the bottom, but in doing so she managed to trip over her own feet, stumbling half a dozen feet or so forward and slamming into a frame of wood—a door—which flew open, creaking violently on its old hinges before she finally tumbled over and fell onto the floor with an array of surprisingly faint thuds. Both Soran and Monkey had stopped in their tracks as the echoing settled, before Soran finally spoke up from behind.

"What happened!?" he asked in as whispered of a shout as he could.

"Owww..." groaned Alice in a high-pitched but hushed type of voice before she slowly stood back up and dusted herself off.

"Did you trip over something?" asked Soran who began taking careful steps to avoid any unseen obstacles.

"Oh, yes, there was some, um, debris there. Be careful," said Alice.

"I don't see any debris here," said Monkey who stepped down onto the floor without care or problems. "You should train your horse stance, clumsy as you are," chuckled Monkey.

"Horse stance!? I'm not clumsy!" whisper-shouted Alice as she stomped lightly on the ground.

"Wait, Monkey, you can see in this dark?" asked Soran.

"Oh, well, not as well as I would like to, but I can tell apart the floor from the walls at least. Can't you do the same?" asked Monkey.

"Not a smidge. The darkness is like a relentless black fog."

"Did you not do your spatial training when you were younger? As a martial artist of your caliber, you should be able to sense things around you to an extent."

"Spatial training? Never heard of it."

"Ah, I get it! You showed such incredible skill during our battle I'd reckoned you were trained in the arts since birth, but I guess you must be what they call 'self-taught'. On the other hand, that explains how you managed to let such a tiny elven girl steal your coins earlier today."

"Hey, I was distracted!" said Soran raising the pitch of his voice.

"That's what I mean. I can teach you when we get some time to rest."

"I don't need-" began Soran, before considering what Monkey's offer really entailed: trained by someone who could be considered the strongest warrior on this earth. "Actually, I think I would appreciate that."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Alice. "But in this darkness, I don't think I will able to guide us. I'm not familiar enough with these corridors to know whereto we should go blindly.

"Don't worry about that, my friend," said Monkey, before putting his palms together, and soon their surroundings warmed up to the presence of light as Monkey's body began emitting a royal golden glow.

"You could do that this whole time!?" said Soran in complete astonishment.

"Light magic! What a boon!" said Alice as she clapped her hands delicately.

"It is not light magic. It is just, 'my', magic," said Monkey before winking at Alice. "Well, let us be guided by your grace!"

And guided they were. Alice noted the layout of the stone corridors and seemed to remember where they must head. Then she began walking briskly in her chosen direction through diverging paths and through doorways. Eventually, they arrived in front of a door with a gleaming outline of torchlight around it. From the room past the door could be heard vaguely the concise words of someone of bureaucratic intelligence communicating, but the words were not clear.

"Shush! There seems to be folk down here after all!" whispered Alice.

"This might be the trap I mentioned. Stay on your guard," whispered Soran as he readied his stance and slowly approached the door.

"...yes sir. That's right. Negative, they have not been located thus far. Understood..." chanted Monkey with his eyes closed. It was clear to both Alice and Soran that these were the words of the man inside because both speeches matched in rhythm. Monkey then stopped chanting and said: "He's alone, let's get him!" before dashing forth and busting the door wide open. "Confirmative! They have been located!" shouted both Monkey and the hooded agent in unison before the agent hurriedly said: "requesting backup!" and promptly removed his gloves to reveal glowing and steaming ice-blue hands. The room they found themselves in was lit up by torches along the walls, and it was clear to tell by the rows of shelves, boxes, and chests that this was a room meant for storage.

"What happened with being secretive!" cried Alice as she ran into the room, followed shortly by Soran.

"Listen, I don't want to fight you," said the hooded agent as he raised his frosty hands slowly.

"Wait, I remember you," said Monkey. "You were the one that shot those icicles at me earlier today, what a coincidence we would meet here!"

"And I sincerely apologize for that. It was only business. Please don't take offense," pleaded the agent.

"Since when have our honor stooped so low to accept intelligence missions from the Jinho's!" said Soran raising his voice as he stomped forward. "Last I checked, we mercenaries were not cogs spinning in the shadows for the sake of evil!"

"I just want to make money, like all of us mercenaries. Don't take the moral high ground just because it suits you, Soran," said the agent calmy.

"Even thieves have morals, but I guess you new mercenaries have forsaken the code," hissed Soran.

"There never was a code, just a commandment of hinders," answered the agent before getting on his knees and putting his hand behind his head. "And be aware, I am now submitting to you. I can do you no harm, so please spare me of yours."

"If that is your wish, then I hope you're ready to cooperate," said Soran kneeling down to look the agent face to face. His eyes were steeled, but somewhere deep within his gray pupils hid a weakness. Something that may rather quail than stand. Something that may rather break than endure.

"Where is Arthur being held, and be clear in your description. I don't want you beating around any bushes, now," said Soran as he looked deep into the eyes of the agent. But the agent said nothing as he kept his gaze on Soran.

"Trust me, it will do you no good to remain silent as you are. You don't want to break our patience. We are in a hurry, you see," said Soran as he put his firm hand on of the agent's shoulder. However, the agent only averted his gaze and remained mute.

"Fine, have it your way," said Soran before standing up and preparing his chains. They clinked and clanked as they drooped down in segments and pooled on the floor. "Have you ever been choked by chains before?"

"Okay, I get it. I understand. I'll speak," said the agent who released the breath he had held bated in one big exhale. His breath was now labored.

"Well, that was easy," said Soran. "Speak, then. Where is Arthur."

"There's an area in this place with cells. He's being kept there. You just have to backtrack from here until you reach the first divergence of corridors. You came from the stairs down directly here, didn't you? Then you should follow the path that doesn't lead you back to the stairwell. When you walk along for perhaps two minutes or so, you'll see a door to the right. Follow that, and keep walking until you get to the-" explained the agent before being interrupted by Alice.

"He's lying. I'm not familiar enough with the layout of this place that I could navigate it in complete darkness, but that path is one I've gone before. There are no cells to be found there."

And as quickly as she had interrupted him, the agent now found a loop of chains tightening around his neck, slowly squeezing the life out of him. Each interval of the chain pinched his skin, and multiple small beads of blood leaving trails of red started flowing down his neck and underneath his clothes.

"You better say your prayers right now, because soon you may not have the chance to say anything ever again," hissed Soran who now crouched behind the agent with hands on his chains.

"I-, gah-" choked the agent who was desperately tugging at the dark chains and violently flailing his legs about.

"Oh, that's right. I guess you won't be able to say any prayers after all," said Soran in a tone much darker than usual.

"That's enough!" said Monkey stepping up, and Soran promptly loosened the chains. The agent heaved forward and coughed hoarsely as he caught what might have been his last breath. He grasped the floor with his hands before turning around and crawling away on his back.

"Alright, I'm sorry for lying," he coughed. "I'll tell you the truth, so just please, spare my life."

"Spit it out," cried Soran as he shot up and whipped his chains.

"He's being held in an area with cells, that much is true, and-"

"And!?" interrupted Soran.

"And he, I mean, the way you get there is by going the opposite way of where you went. You must go back to the entrance, and take the other corridor. Then it's just to follow that corridor. It's a one-way street kind of thing, I promise!" cried the agent.

"You're lying, aren't you," said Soran as he slowly walked up.

"Please, no more, I yield!" cried the agent whose eyes had begun tearing up.

"Soran, that's enough. Control yourself," said Monkey as he grasped Soran's shoulder. Monkey stood quite a bit taller than Soran, and the dim torchlight cast quite a looming shadow over the wall, which may have partly helped sedate Soran's ill will for now.

"Fine, but if he's lying I'm putting it on you," said Soran as he reeled back his chains behind his cloak.

"There are lines you should never cross, and you have a habit of sitting right in the middle of that line, you know," said Monkey in quite a serious tone.

"I don't know if he's lying or not, but I guess it's more probable than his first answer," said Alice as she looked at Soran and Monkey, who were looking at each other intensely without saying a word. The seconds seemed to drag on as the room fell silent for but only a moment, before Monkey broke that silence with his usual cheer.

"Well, no matter. We got what we came for! Let's go save that Arthur fellow before it's too late!"

"Yes, let's do that. We've been quite slow about it all, so let's step up our pace," said Soran as he adjusted his off-set cloak before moving to find his equipment. "Help me out, will you?"

"Don't tell me you can't see through this level of light either," said Monkey raising his eyebrow and smirking at Soran.

"Oh, please," scoffed Soran. "I need only one single ray of light to see the whole world. That's why you hired me as your world-guide!"

"I sure hope you're right!" laughed Monkey.

Alice looked at the two still, before being taken out of her daze when Soran called across the room: "could you give us a hand here?". She quickly stepped forth to help them search for his equipment, but she could not help but think back to the short but intimidating sort of stare-out that had taken place just now. It was only a single moment. One instance. A blink of an eye. But somehow she felt nervous looking at the two of them staring at each other in that way. She kept her arms closer to her body as she sheepishly searched around the room.

"You'll recognize my stuff mostly as a bunch of gadgets: bombs, knives, and such. The most important is a very large, pistol kind of thing. Keep an eye out for that!" called Soran.

Together they rummaged around the room until but a moment when Soran called out once more: "oh, I found them! Well, most of them, but we have no more time to spare," and strapped himself with his now returned equipment. Alice peered over a box she was by and saw Soran through a hole in a shelf equipping himself. She saw him shove a large iron bulk that fit snuggly over his hand behind his bulging cloak with a click. The cloak now seemed to bulge more smoothly, as if the design was made with the so-called 'pistol' in mind.

"Alright, I'm ready. Let us go," said Soran as he ushered Monkey to walk in front of him. Alice took the lead as their guide, but looked back at the agent who sat leaning against the back of a shelf.

"Should we just leave him here?" she asked nonchalantly. The agent's eyes shot up wide open as he swung his head toward Alice. Soran looked back at the agent.

"I guess... he suffered enough already," he said, before turning toward Alice. "Let's go, shall we?"

"Yes, follow me!" she smiled.

They followed the description that the agent had given them, and when they reached the stairwell, they moved onward through the other corridor. It seemed to go on for an awfully long while without any doors or deviations.

"I guess he was truthful when he said 'one-way street'. There really is nothing noteworthy in this direction," said Soran as he touched the stone walls.

"I wasn't allowed by order of the executives to go in this direction, and if I'm honest, to find Arthur I'd probably take us here whether that man told us to or not. It just seemed plausible," said Alice.

"I guess I was too harsh on him," said Soran as he crossed his arms and looked down.

"I think you did well," said Alice as she twirled around to smile at her newfound allies.

"Don't encourage him," sighed Monkey. Soran just chuckled.

Suddenly, the corridor finally took a sharp turn to the left, and peaking past the corner they could see more torchlight in the distance.

"Finally," exclaimed Soran.

"Maybe that trap you talked about will be over there instead," noted Alice before shushing the two. "Let's keep it down here. I think we must be getting close to the cell area."

Monkey and Soran nodded before following her lead. As they sneaked forward, the origin of the torchlight became clearer to see. An archway without doors or hinges was at the far end of the corridor. Past it was a room that was lit up by this light. Moving closer, they could not hear any commotion coming from there. They slowed down just a bit as they made their way to the front of the archway. Whatever this room was, now that they could peer inside, it certainly wasn't housing any prison cells. They stopped sneaking and simply walked into the room which was quite expansive with wooden beams supporting the roof. Tables and boxes were dotted around, but it was relatively unremarkable.

"Perhaps he lied after all," said Monkey. "I guess it's my fault, then," he laughed heartily.

"Perhaps not," said Alice. "Look, another archway."

She pointed toward the far right of the room where another identical archway could be seen, but past it was only darkness.

"Wait, do you hear that?" asked Monkey who cupped his hand to his ear.

"Hear what?" asked Soran and Alice in unison, but it did not take long for them to notice a flickering yellow light gradually appear in the darkness of that archway. From the archway and into the room came three individuals. Two butlers flanked a tall muscular man. It was Tok himself! Upon noticing Soran and the rest, one of the butlers shouted "there they are!", before both of them stepped forth and pulled out two pistols. However, as fast as the wind, Tok managed to grab ahold of both their heads and proceeded to slam them into each other, sending their bodies recoiling in opposite directions and falling limp to the floor.

"Finally! I've been waiting for your arrival! Thank the Fair Lady that you made it out alive!" cheered Tok as he walked to meet the group. However, they didn't have time to properly greet each other, as once more from the archway came a figure who looked like a cold shadow in the darkness of the archway. Entering the room, the figure's dark form was dimly illuminated by the yellow flickering light from the fire of the torches. His form was masculine and seemed well-trained, but he did not stand much taller than Alice. His clothes were of dark thin cloth that wrapped his whole body—even his eyes—and drooped down like drapery. His shadows seemed to move like fire, and it was clear that he meant for combat when he readied his battle stance.

"Who the hell are you!?" demanded Tok to know in a rough and intimidating voice, but the unknown man said nothing. "I'll take care of this guy," he continued as he cracked his neck and approached the figure. Tok sprang suddenly from a brisk walk to a sprint and threw himself at the small man who stood still even as Tok's fist was but mere inches from his face. But as Tok thought that he'd land his furious haymaker, the man flickered like his own fiery black shadows and seemed to flow into the floor before appearing behind Tok and touching his back with a hand wreathed in blackness.

At this moment, nothing in particular happened, and Tok quickly turned around to face the shadow-warrior, but when the man proceeded to make a sweeping movement with his whole upper body and arms, Tok was sent flying in the same direction as the shadowy man swept. From Tok's back came a licking shadow that seeped into his ears, eyes, and even into his nostrils. His skin seemed to grow grayer, and even though he was clearly fighting against the dark magic, he found himself barely able to move. Soran shot forward in an attempt to stop the shadowy man, but suddenly the shadow man spoke.

"Stop, fool, or I'll kill this man right now, this instance," growled the shadow man in a voice even darker than his appearance. One of his hands was directed at Soran, and the other was pointing at Tok who began twitching and moving in a way that was not natural for the human body. Soon Tok had both his hands at his throat, squeezing it tight, but not tight enough to strangle him completely. "It wouldn't be the first time I've ruptured someone's throat. Take a step forward, and see what happens to your friend."

Soran stopped in his tracks. He was not about to let Arthur's bodyguard die on him. Alice stood frozen in her place, yet Monkey was relaxed.

"What do you want?" hissed Soran. The shadow man laughed despicably.

"First, you shall kneel. Then, I will give you orders-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a powerful blast of wind caused by immense pressure sent everyone reeling backward as Monkey launched forward with a golden fist straight into the shadow man's stomach, sending a shockwave of magical energy spiraling backward. The man had no time to react, and neither did anyone else, and he simply fell over limply onto the floor. Cracks were left in the stone floor where Monkey had just stood. The shadow that had inhabited Tok's body quickly seeped out of him and he regained power over his own body again.

"What in the seven existences was that!?" cried Tok as he coughed.

"A shadowmancer," answered Soran. "A powerful mage with dark powers. They're able to slink in and out of shadows, as well as control things they were not supposed to have power over. Good thing you're here, Monkey."

"Of course," said Monkey with a wide grin.

"Wow," exhaled Alice. "You're like, really strong."

"The strongest," said Monkey proudly. "Anyway, let's get going. I suppose the cells are thataway."

Soran helped Tok stand up and brushed some dust off of his clothes.

"Do you know the way?" asked Soran.

"I was just there. Follow me," said Tok before walking through the archway and down the dark corridor. On the cold floor they left the unmoving shadowmancer, but only Monkey could hear that he still drew breath. And without saying anything further, they all followed Tok's lead down the corridor.