Chapter 8

The four of them quietly devised a plan.

Two more hours passed

A guard came to check on the prisoners. The guard's eyes widened at the scene of empty cells.. The guard was about to yell out, but was immediately knocked unconscious by an unknown force..

Darius released his spell and the three of them reappeared in their cells. Aine shifted back into her regular size outside of her cell. "Well hey, turns out you can use an illusion spell underwater" Darius said, looking at his hands. "Yeah, and to think you almost cracked at the thought of it" Aine joked. Darius glared at Aine while Veda and Novius sighed. "Great job Aine.. But can you not poke the angry wizard with a stick?.. I'm the one in the same cell as him.." Novius said. Aine just started laughing. "Just get the keys already!" Veda exclaimed. Aine grabbed the keys from the guard and unlocked the cells.

The four of them ran out of the dungeon.

"Does everyone know what they need to do?" Novius asked. "My job is to discreetly warn the people about the plan" Aine said. "My job is to find the king" Veda said. "While me and Darius find the source behind the magic contracts" Novius said. The four of them nodded before swimming in different directions, ready to do their part.

With Aine

Aine ran out of the castle and ran into an alleyway. She ran to the back door of a clothing shop before shifting into a tiny size and making her way through the lock, into the clothing shop.

"I just need to find a way to warn the citizens about the plan without actually saying anything..." Aine thought to herself..

She took a cloak from the storage of the store and started looking around for anything she can use. She then found lots of papers in a cabinet.. as if a candle lit up in her head, an idea sparked. She could pass notes to everyone in the crowd and warn them this way. "I'm a genius!!" She thought to herself.

And so, she went through with her plan. The note read:

"This message is for the anti-Aexetans. Those who have received this note, please pass it to others to share the news. This is a warning. There will be many disasters happening soon. Please act shocked and scared. If you can, please bring the attention of the guards on the citizens during the disasters. Do not fret about anything else, the disasters are all under control. You are all going to be free once more.."

She wrote a couple of notes and put the cloak on before making her way out of the shop and into the crowd..

She kept her head down as she discreetly passed notes to people in the crowd.

Then, someone grabbed her shoulder.. She turned around to see a man not much older than her.. "What do you mean by this?..." The man asked, unsure. "This is not my plan, but an ally of mine.. I'm merely doing my part.. all I can do is trust my allies.. but I have faith.. you should too." Aine whispered. The man looked at her for a second.. "Let me help.. It's the least I can do for someone breaking us out of this hell.." The man whispered. Aine smiled at him as the man started spreading notes.

Aine started to feel out of breath.. The flower was wearing off.. Aine swam into an alleyway and looked at her Akros flower.. She was already down to six petals.. She was worried for everyones safety.. But like she said earlier, all she could do was trust her allies.. She plucked off one petal before eating it, quickly resuming her plan.

The man was waiting for her at a bench near the road. "All done?.." Aine asked. "Yeah.. So.. Now we just wait?.." The man asked. Aine nodded with a smile before sitting beside the man. "Oh wait, I haven't gotten your name yet" Aine said, looking at the man. "Ah, my name is Lorsan" He replied. "Nice to meet you Lorsan, my name is Aine" She replied with a smile. "Nice to meet you too miss Aine" Lorsan said. "I really hope your ally's plan works.. I've ben stuck in this hell for way to long.. I want to feel the fresh air of the surface once more.." Lorsan said with a solemn look.. Aine could hear a tint of longing in his voice.. "How long has it been since you've been to the surface?.." Aine asked. "It was 4 years ago.. if I knew it would've been my last year to visit the surface, I would've visited more often.." Lorsan replied sadly.. "Don't worry.. me and my allies will set this place free." Aine said, trying to make him feel better.

Half an hour passes

Aine and Lorsan were walking around in the crowd, waiting for the others when suddenly.. a guard threw Lorsan to the wall and picked Aine up by her collar. "You both are under arrest for treason! Punishment by death!!" The guard said sternly. Aine shifted to a smaller size, allowing her to slip out of the guards grasp. She swum to Lorsan and quickly started swimming away. The guard was following close behind them. They were pushing through the crowd. Lorsan was holding the back of his head in pain. "You okay??" Aine said while frantically swimming, pulling him with her by his left arm. "My head hurts.." Lorsan replied groggily.. "Well thanks for the comment, but do you mind swimming??? The guard is on your tail! Literally!!" Aine yelled, panicked as the guard was about to grab Lorsan by his tail.

Lorsan quickly pulled his tail away and did his best to swim beside Aine.. They both swam to a more empty place, heading to an abandoned temple.

They both swam inside the abandoned temple, the guard catching up to them from the crowd.

In the temple, the guard lost sight of them.. The guard went deeper into the temple to look for them.. In reality, they were hiding above the archway. "That was close.." Aine whispered before the both of them quietly made their way out.