Chapter 3 : The Verdaneth Vault

The Verdaneth Vault was created under the Hostel after Orvell captured the previous head warden.

Kade said,"This must be where the lost kids and Elric must be"

That is when i remembered that many students had been promoted to train under the Emperor. They were most probably not sent to the underground.

As we walked, we noticed that it was getting darker and darker.

Casper murmured,"This place is scary."

Kade mumbled,"There are blood stains all over the floor".

Kade tried to rub a blood stain off the floor and it was not a stain yet, it was blood. The blood of someone who had been dragged to the place we were heading to. We followed the blood. We were in absolute dread as we saw a door with light flashing out of it's gaps. We reached the door and opened it.

It was an extremely big hall. We saw several stakes each with a corpse of mutilated student. We were not sure if all of them were dead.....but we knew most of them were. Their eyes were white and their hairs had fallen off. They looked like skin and bones. Everyone of us started throwing up after we saw many corpses which had bursted from inside. We were afraid if Elric would be in the same condition as these people.

After searching for an hour, we had only covered less than half of the hall.

Kade breathed,"Elric is no ordinary Erythian. He is something beyond that, he cannot be killed that easily".

I asked,"What do you mean?"

Kade asked,"Do you know about the 'Severance'?".

I replied."No".

He continued,"It is an event perforned by royal families. During the severance a normal person is selected from the nearby village and is taken to the hall. In the hall, they will be tormented and harrassed to death,no matter their sex and age. Orvell performs Severance in our Hostel. Orvell did it with Varkos for the first time,but he did not kill him. It was before this underground compartment was built.

I inquired,"How do you know that?"

He replied," I and Elric witnessed all the terrifying acts committed by the people who had been taking care of us. Orvell found out we were hiding there. Elric gave me a chance to escape but he got caught. Elric started attacking Orvell. That is when Elrics arms twisted and started merging with each other. I was terrified.Orvell poured a weird liquid most likely wine into Elric's mouth.Elric was screaming in pain but before i could even realise he was dead."

Casper interrupted,"W....w....what.....Elric is d....d..dead?"

Kade answered,"No. They threw Elric's corpse away and continued the Severance. I took his corpse from there when they did not notice. I took Elric to the forest, the place we used to play. I was crying beside Elric's body as the sun rose. I burried Elric's body there. And then i returned. During the next full moon when i went to visit Elric's grave,someone had dug up his corpse. I was confused and scared. That is when i heard a voice that was very familiar. Elric was bathing in a lake that was near there. When i went near him, he pulled me into the water. He still had the memories of what had happened that night.He was alive"

Casper asked,"Why did you leave Elric?"

Kade replied,"Elric distanced himself from me because Orvell knew there were two people there that night. Elric never talked to me about the how he came back from dead".

As we were all searching separately, I saw Elric. Elric's body was covered in blood, the tears from his eyes had dried. His eyes told me he was in pain. His hands were purple from hanging for too long. I could not fathom the view of my friend in a miserable condition. I felt dizzy and got on my knees. A ray of sunlight shined towards Elric. I saw movement in Elric. I went and took his body. I called out Casper to heal Elric, but he did not come. I wanted to heal Elric as soon as possible. When i was crying i heard Elric say,"I knew you would come" and even in all that pain smiled at me. I stepped back and decided to heal him myself. Elric's body started to levitate and glow. After a few seconds his body landed. Elric's body had been healed but he had passed out.I cleaned the blood off his body only to discover all the wounds he had lreviously had gone.

After seeing the light Casper and Kade cane to us, but it took them a lot of time. Kade held Elric and covered his body with some clothes.

Kade asked me,"Why are your clothes covered in blood?".

I muttered,"The blood is not mine, its Elric's".

Casper used the netherflares to wake Elric. Casper inquired Elric,"Where is he?". Elric replied,"Under".

And Elric continued,"There is another entrance in this hall".