Acting Helps

"What was that? Did you hear it?" exclaimed a guard after a powerful explosion shook the tomb. Two guards rushed to the door where the rest of us were trapped.

"Can you open the door, please? Lucas hurt himself trying to open it," Anna called from the other side.

The two guards exchanged uncertain glances, debating whether to open the doors.

"Shouldn't we consult Daniel first?" one of the guards suggested, and the other nodded in agreement.

After a few minutes, Daniel arrived at the entrance and opened the door. He surveyed the scene and noticed Lucas with a burned hand while Anna and I tended to him.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked in a frustrated tone of voice.

"We were just following your instructions to open the gate, but Lucas got hurt," I replied in frustration.

"Fine. Have you discovered anything important?"

"It seems that we need to use symbols to open the door, but we'll have to explore the crypt for more clues," Anna informed me.

"You do realize that I put you here so that I could deal with the other witches first, right? I don't really care if you open it. In a week, our scholars will arrive and open the door themselves, so there's no need for you to wander around," Daniel said with a sinister grin and laughed.

"Don't you want to impress your superiors by having the door opened already? You could get a substantial reward for speeding up the excavation," I tried to persuade him.

"It's amusing how you try to convince me to let you out, but I'm not that gullible," Daniel chuckled and walked away.

I exchanged glances with Lucas, signaling him to proceed with our alternate plan since our first attempt had failed. However, just as he was about to snap his fingers and activate the traps, Daniel turned with a wicked smile and locked eyes with me.

"You know what? I've changed my mind. You can explore the crypt for more information, but only one of you can go, the rest stay here."

After exchanging quick nods with Lucas and Anna, I stood up and Daniel took my hand and pulled me out of the room. The door began to close behind me, but before it could seal, I motioned for Lucas to prepare.

They led me through the dark corridors of the crypt until I found myself in a library, finally alone - or so I thought. A presence lurked behind me.

"You know, I could easily use my knife to slit your throat and expose your beautiful organs to some fresh air," Daniel whispered in my ear, showing me his knife.

"Of course, and I could already be in your mind, and what you would experience could just be an illusion. In reality, you'd be lying on the floor as your brain slowly but painfully turns to goo," I replied, pushing his knife away from my throat and moving to the nearest bookcase.

"You're quite interesting. It's the first time I've ever gotten a reaction like that. You witches are a strange bunch. I've never really understood you; most of you aren't afraid to die," Daniel chuckled as he sat down at one of the reading tables.

"Well, vampires are a pretty peculiar bunch too, I'd say," I retorted as I examined a partially ruined book.

"Well done, witcher. I'm truly impressed by your intelligence. How did you find out I'm a vampire?" Daniel laughed as if I'd just told him the funniest joke in the world.

"At first, I thought you were just another hound because I couldn't discern any unique aura around you, but my suspicions grew when you started bossing us around. Also, it was pretty evident that you're a vampire from the way you treat us like children or mere pets to be discarded at your convenience. It's a common vampire trait: arrogance," I replied, opening the book I had found.

"Amusing. I don't consider it arrogance; it's simply the truth. You're just three kids, after all. And how do you think I managed to conceal my magical presence from you?" Daniel responded in a monotone voice.

"I assume you belong to a large vampire clan, and it's known that you employ or enslave witches to serve you. I assumed you used a magical item to hide your true identity," I said, trying not to display the intense loathing I felt when I saw his repulsive grin.

"You're impressing me more and more. You remind me of a fox. I'd suggest you start seeking help now, or is that not why you're here?" He showed me his ruby-encrusted necklace, radiating a crimson enchantment.

I rolled my eyes and continued searching the library's bookshelves. Most of the books were so deteriorated that they disintegrated upon touch, and the few that remained were written in an untranslatable language, rendering the search futile.

The only other lead was the pictures hanging in the library. Most depicted the same story as in the previous room, but one showed a fierce battle among various animals.

The symbols on the gate corresponded to the animals in the painting. However, one detail stood out - the butterfly placed in the center, simply watching the carnage. The butterfly's wings bore the shapes of two lotus flowers.

I thought I'd identified the first two symbols in the sequence.

After examining the other images with no further insight, I returned to Daniel. Keeping a neutral expression so as not to arouse suspicion, I approached him. He watched my every move, as if he expected me to suddenly attack him with a dagger. When he realized that I had no such intentions, at least not yet, he maintained his eerie grin and rose from his chair.

"Did you find something, witch?" he inquired as he approached.

"I found something interesting," I replied, looking at the cracked image on the wall.

"It's a shepherd and his flock, right?" he asked curiously.

I nodded. "Yes, and I think I've identified the next two symbols: a book and a butterfly. We still have to find the right order."

"We'll see," Daniel said and left me and the room.

As I inspected the nearly melted body of the vampire, I noticed something through the crack he had made in the wall. It appeared to be another image, larger and etched in stone, unlike the paintings in the room.

Before exploring the mysterious mural, I set some traps, hoping to keep the vampires from interfering. A few wind runes should be enough to incapacitate most of them instantly.

I turned my attention to Daniel's lifeless body and noticed the necklace he'd used to hide his supernatural nature lying amidst the gruesome remains. It was a disgusting sight, and I couldn't help but feel disgusted for using the curse.

Ignoring the necklace for the moment, I began to dismantle the dilapidated wall to reveal the mural. The image showed a shepherd with his sheep, reading a book under a tree while the sheep grazed around him.

"I think I've found another symbol," I muttered to myself. "But how does it fit into the sequence?"

While I examined the rest of the room, I took Daniel's dagger and made a small cut on my finger. Using my blood, I painted the Gebo rune to send a message to Lucas and Anna. Beneath the rune I wrote 'Begin the Escape'.

I rearranged the bookshelves to form a barrier across the entrance and prepared my spirit stone for any possible confrontations. Marking the stone with my blood, I enhanced my blood magic, a style I'd been teaching myself for the past month as it was not commonly practiced within our coven.

"Help! Your boss is down!" I broke the silence spell and braced myself for the oncoming enemies.

Voices outside the room indicated that someone had heard my call for help. As a few men entered, I activated my traps. Two of them were thrown over the bookshelves and landed on the floor. Unfortunately, they appeared to be alive, their auras still visible.

With a snap of my fingers, I ruptured their lungs. It was a cruel but effective tactic.

Leaving the protection of the bookshelves, I was confronted by a burly, bearded man who wasted no time in attempting to strangle me. My weak arms couldn't offer much resistance.

As I was slowly strangled, I focused on his eyes, using my Spirit Stone to channel my energy.

"What's happening? What's going on?" he began to scream, clutching his eyes. I watched as blood oozed from them, blinding him completely.

As he collapsed to the ground, I focused on his legs and used a blood spell powered by my own blood to shatter them.

"I'm going to join my friends, and you be a good puppy and stay put, okay?" I left the room. Behind me was a room filled with eight lifeless bodies and a man with broken bones and bleeding eyes.

As I walked through the corridors of the crypt, I heard screams and the sound of cracking bones. I quickened my pace, worried that Anna or Lucas might need help. As I rounded a corner, I encountered numerous lifeless bodies and my friends in the midst of the chaos.

"Francis, you wouldn't believe it, but Lucas turned into a kung fu master and didn't even need magic to handle those thugs. It was amazing!" Anna exclaimed, running up to me and hugging my exhausted form.

"Really, Lucas? You don't strike me as the athletic type," I laughed, returning the hug.

"You'd be surprised, Francis. Suho and I take weekly martial arts classes, and with a little magic, we're progressing quickly," Lucas giggled as he joined the hug.

"I'm relieved you're okay," I said with a smile.

"Did you find anything?" Anna inquired, her hopeful gaze fixed on me.

"Yes, I think I've figured out how to open the door, but we still have to find the correct sequence for the symbols," I answered with a sigh.

"On our way to you, we came across another room where they're probably keeping the witches. We should check there first and maybe one of them knows more about the symbols," Lucas suggested, inspecting my neck.

"Francis, what happened?" he asked, his concern evident as he noticed the blue markings on my neck.

"It's nothing, just a run-in with one of the henchmen. Nothing to worry about," I reassured them, gently removing their hands from my neck.

"Let's go, but carefully," Robert advised as he surveyed the gruesome scene before us, his face clouded with uncertainty.

I nodded in agreement. "We should use some light spells to explore the crypt carefully."

"So who's going in first?" Lucas joked, the tension still in his voice.