Chapter 10

With Novius and Darius

Novius and Darius swam throught the castle halls and kept going up.

On their way up, they started to feel out of breath.. "Five left after we eat one.." Darius said, stopping at the stairs with Novius, looking down at the flower in his hand. "Let's hope for the best.." Novius said as they both ate their petals, resuming their mission.

They stopped by the next floor, checking on each room. They eventually stumble upon a rather odd room.. The room was similar to an auditorium, but the stage was at the center..

"I wonder what this room is for.." Novius asked, stepping into the room, followed by Darius. Novius was looking around while Darius went on the stage in the center. "There's some sort of dish here.. It's pretty deep..." Darius said as he ran his finger inside of the dish. His eyes widened slightly.. "Warm?..." Darius said, confused. "What? Warm? How can that be? There's no magma in this ocean for another few miles.. and the room is submerged in water so there's no way there was a fire.." Novius said, swimming up to Darius. "Unless.." Darius looked around the room before swimming up to sticks on the walls.

"It's been freshly burned.. " Darius said, grazing his fingers on the charcoal. "So.. There was a fire?.. How can that be?.." Novius thought for a moment. Novius then started to swim around the room, trying to find clues.. "Darius!" Novius yelled as he swam behind some seats. Darius immediately swam over. "Look" Novius pointed at water drains under the seats. "That would explain it if the water drains.. then they would be able to light the fire.." Darius spoke.. "The only issue is how to activate it.." He followed up. "What if.. We're thinking to hard?" Novius said, looking up at Darius. "What are you implying?" Darius asked.

Novius swam to the torches on the wall and started tracing his fingers on it.. After looking at the room again, he spoke up. "This one is off.. It's loose.. The placement is off too.." Novius mumbled. He inspected the torch and pulled it. There were sounds of gears shifting as the room rumbled.

The drains then opened and pulled the water out of the room.

As the water finished draining, the two of them took a better look at the room. "Hey.. Doesn't this look liked..." Novius said. "A ritual room.. This isn't regular magic we're dealing with.. Its demonic sorcery.." Darius continued.. They walked to the center of the room. The bowl was displayed on a pedestal in the center.. It was some sort of sea marble... Water was trapped in the bowl. Novius poured the water out an inspected the inside of the bowl. There was some sort of dried stuff stuck at the bottom of the bowl..

"What is that?.." Novius asked.. Darius used one of his spells to identify the substance. Novius started looking around again... It took a few minutes for Darius to identify the substance. "Dried human blood..." Darius mumbled, stunned.. "Human blood?? I thought I was the only human in this entire world.." Novius was stunned. "Me too.." Darius followed..

They both continued looking around the room.

Under another seat, Novius found a lever hidden under a loose floorboard.. Novius pulled the lever.

Suddenly, the wall facing the door started to open. It made the room shake and loud grumbles cold be heard. "What did you do?? We're going to be caught!!" Darius exclaimed. "There was an old lever under this seat!" Novius replied. "New lesson. Don't touch old things anymore!! Let alone pull old levers!!" Darius yelled.

The wall opened up to reveal a sort of shrine.. The two stared in shock and horror as they saw a decapitated head hanging as an offering in the shrine.. "Oh nope. We are getting out of here." Darius said before turning to leave. "Wait... Isn't it.. Kaia?.." Novius said, frozen in the realization.. Darius froze, looking back at the decapitated head..

Suddenly, there was loud banging outside the door. "Who's in there?? You're not supposed to be in there!!" a voice yelled outside. Darius looked at the door, concerned. "Help me with the shrine! There's a stairwell behind it!" Novius yelled, pushing the shrine on the side. Darius came over to help.

Once they got it moved, they went inside and pulled the shrine shut again before running down the stairwell.

"Do you even know where this leads??" Darius asked. "No, but there's nothing worse than being trapped in a room with two angry guards after you." Novius said. They were soon submerged in water once more.

After a while, they pushed open a door. "Now all we have to do is find the source and-" Before Novius could finish, they opened the door and it led them to a room full of guards.. They were both silent.. "I am never letting you lead me without a map." Darius said. The guards charged at them just after they shut the passage. They ran back up the stairs. "We are going to fight those TWO guards. BETTER THAN A ROOM FULL OF THEM." Darius yelled angrily.

They ran back into that offering room and quickly dealt with the two guards in the room. Soon they swam out of that room and started swimming around. But it wasn't long until the king and a few guards were behind them. Darius decided to contact Aine and Veda through a plant bracelet Darius had made back at the cells.

The Igrade vine. The vines allow the user to vocally contact other plants by imbuing a certain amount of magic.

The vine bloomed two flowers, indicating the signal had reached the others. "Where are you guys??" Darius asked, swimming quickly through the castle halls with Novius. "Kinda busy here!! Ah!-" Aine's voice replied. "Well we are busy too! But we have no other time! The king and his guards are chasing us!" Novius said. "Wait- What?? What are you talking about?? I have the king unconscious in my grip" Veda replied. "You are all going crazy. I'm fighting the king as we speak!" Aine replied again. "What is going on???" Novius and Darius asked, truly cconfused.