Chapter 20: Ryan and Jasmine disappeared
The riddle had led them far from the comfort of the flickering firelight and the distant hum of Varnok's midnight lullabies. Ryan and Jasmine followed its trail through whispering woods, their boots crunching over frost-hardened soil and snowflakes falling like ghostly feathers from the heavens.
They said nothing to each other. There were no words for what they were walking into.
The trees grew thicker, darker. Then came a subtle sound—metal shifting against stone. A figure emerged, clad in black, face obscured behind a silver fox mask.
"This way," the masked figure whispered.
They followed.
Deeper into the snowy mountains, the trees opened up to reveal a colossal cavern mouth—jagged, ancient, and breathing mist as if the earth itself were alive. This was no ordinary cave. It was sacred. Secret. And forbidden.
Ryan's jaw tightened.
They passed through the veil of icy air into a hall of shadows. The walls dripped with condensation. Torches flickered blue with cold fire. And there—on a stone throne carved with skulls and thorns—sat the one they feared and once called family.
The Shade.
The leader of the Black Fang Assassins.
He rose slowly, dressed in dark armor layered like serpent scales, his voice like razors dragged across glass. "You were not summoned to return. And worse—you brought an outsider to our holy grounds that even you two are not supposed to know about this place."
Jasmine's eyes lowered.
Ryan forced himself to speak. "We didn't bring him here. He doesn't know this place. We made sure—"
"Silence!"
The Shade's voice struck like a whip. The assassins surrounding the chamber moved in like shadows themselves. The penalty for returning unbidden was death. But Ryan and Jasmine had committed a greater sin.
They had betrayed the order year ago.
Ordered to assassinate a threat—Adam—by King Malik himself, they had instead turned traitor, choosing to run, choosing to protect the man marked for death. And now they had dared return.
"Strip them," the Shade commanded.
Jasmine shuddered as their weapons were ripped away. Ryan didn't resist, though fury burned in his eyes.
"Ryan," the Shade began, stepping down from his throne, each footfall echoing like judgment. "You were raised among us. You were my finest shadow. But you made a choice. A soft, coward's choice. Do you remember the rules?"
"Yes," Ryan answered, voice hard.
"What separates us from the beasts?"
"Discipline."
The Shade nodded. "And discipline begins with pain."
What followed was brutal. Raw. Inhuman.
The punishment began.
A long whip, braided with steel thorns and shards of obsidian, sliced through the air—crack!—and lashed across Ryan's exposed back. A blood-curdling scream tore from his throat, echoing across the cave.
Again. And again.
CRACK!
The sound of flesh splitting. Of agony painted on stone.
Each strike came with cold silence from the shadows, the masked assassins unmoved. Jasmine trembled, forced to her knees, arms bound tightly behind her back.
They dipped the whip in salted water. Then lashed again.
CRACK!
Ryan's voice grew hoarse. Blood mixed with ice. His breaths came in shudders. The pain was no longer just pain—it was memory, betrayal, punishment, and truth.
Then came the needles.
Poisoned silver slivers, stabbed into his thighs, ribs, chest. Slowly. Carefully. They twisted each one until his muscles screamed with paralysis. Until he couldn't even cry out anymore.
Jasmine was dragged to her own punishment.
They tied iron weights to her wrists and made her kneel on shards of volcanic glass. Her breath hitched. Her lips bled from being bitten shut.
Then, the burning coals.
She was forced to crawl across them—again and again—until her knees turned raw and black, her hands trembling as blisters burst beneath her skin.
Then they dunked her in the ice trough. Again. Again. Her screams muffled beneath water, choking on the cold, emerging just long enough to take another desperate breath.
Above them, the Shade watched, unmoved on the outside.
But inside, he bled.
"I raised you both," he said, voice low. "You were my pride. My shadows. My children. But we are not animals. We live by order. We die by order. Rules are the only reason we survive."
He turned to the others.
"Leave them. Tied. Let the pain speak louder than my voice."
Ryan and Jasmine were hoisted upside down from jagged hooks, blood dripping from their wounds, breath shallow, eyes swollen.
The shadows left them hanging.
---
Back at the house…
Adam paced like a lion in a cage.
He hadn't slept. Not really. Every creak in the floor, every gust of wind—it all felt like an omen.
Where were they?
He lit a torch, stared into the flame.
Did they go back? Did they betray me? Were they taken?
Are they dead?
Maximus neighed softly outside. Adam could feel it. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
He slammed a fist against the table. "I can't sit here any longer."
Only one man could help. One man who knew secrets that should never be spoken.
Torvak.
---
Torvak's house was silent, old, and full of memories.
When the door opened, Torvak raised a brow. "It's the middle of the night. And yet here you are."
Adam's voice was low. "Ryan and Jasmine are missing. I think they've been taken by the Black Fang."
Torvak froze.
"You say their name like it's just a whisper. That name is death. It's not meant for the world to hear."
"I don't care. I need to find them. Now."
Torvak studied him. "You know what you're asking?"
"I do."
"What are they to you?"
"My children."
Silence stretched long.
Torvak sighed. "Then I'll help. But you'll owe me a truth."
Adam nodded. "Once they're safe… I'll tell you everything."
"No secrets?"
"Not one."
Torvak grabbed his axe. "Then let's see if your heart beats like your father's once did."
They mounted their horses and rode into the snowy woods, toward danger. Toward darkness.
Toward the cave where pain lived.
---
Far away, in a royal tower bathed in candlelight…
Queen Zephira stood in silence, gazing out her high window at the moonlit clouds.
A Spice agent knelt behind her. "My Queen. The new Guy that came to the town Adam and Torvak have made their move. Toward the snowy mountains."
Her eyes lit up. "Interesting… what business would they have in such a brutal wasteland?"
Another agent stepped forward. "We believe it has to do with his children. They never returned since last night."
A slow smile curved her lips. "Oh… things are getting spicy now."
She turned back toward her mirror.
"Keep following them. But from a distance. No one enters that cursed land lightly. Whatever lies there… it's not something you want following you home."
The Spices bowed and vanished into smoke.
Zephira's reflection stared back at her.
"So the boy walks into the den of monsters," she whispered. "Let's see if the monsters eat him… or crown him."