I had no clue how much time had passed since I arrived. I assumed it was about two weeks, since we had been in the room full of plants about fourteen times. We were both tired; we hadn't been getting much sleep at night. Zath and Alys had been waking us up early, at least we assumed it was early. It could've been late at night for all we knew, or even noon. Alys' demeanor was slowly deteriorating; he passed out more often, showed up late and generally looked more like a zombie than an elf. We all noticed, but didn't want to bring it up in a conversation just in case. At least we all talked more now. Instead of practicing in silence, all three taught me many of the elven words and basic things that I should know while I was there. I now know that Altium was the equivalent of a human Princess, and Altum was a Prince, and Altiorem and Altioreum were the King and Queen. They also taught me that eleven names had meanings, like Elaria means beautiful, and they changed depending on the elf's personality. So if someone was called flower for example, and actually loved to play sports they would change their name to a more fitting one. It was interesting to learn. I also taught then a few things about humans, just simple things that seemed natural to us, like our marriage and things like that. Turns out elves declare their love in special places dedicated to their goddess, buy something that is special to them, and don't take it off. The Goddess then blesses them, and it's over with. They don't celebrate it that much. It was interesting to learn about their culture and to compare it to ours. But that wasn't what happened on the fourteenth day, so it doesn't matter too much.
Instead of going to the plant room as we called it now, we were taken somewhere else. It was further away from the plant room, and seemed to take us deeper underground since we went down a load of stairs. We saw a few dwarves on the way down, and they all glared at us and Zath. I assumed they didn't like elves that much, since two of them mumbled something under their breath, what they said I didn't know since I didn't speak their language, but both elves seemed offended each time it happened.
Zath stopped after a long time of walking. In front of us was a large iron door. He placed his hand on the handle, taking a deep breath before turning to us.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, his face full of sorrow. "I'm so sorry,"
"Why?" Elaria asked, but he just shook his head in return, placing his finger on his lips and opening the door.
He stepped inside, leading us both into the new room. He paused just as he looked around, and we both soon spotted why. Lying in the corner, looking deader than dead, if it was even possible, was Alys, his arm in front of him, the black bracelet looking thicker than ever, and wires sticking out from it. I saw Zath's hands curl into tight balls, almost turning white with the pressure.
"What's wrong my dear?" The witch approached Zath, smiling like a giddy child.
"You never said he would be the energy source," Zath pointed at Alys, his voice full of rage.
"It won't be for that long," she cooed, looking over at her dying son. "Just until we're done,"
"Done doing what?" I asked, curiosity taking the better of me.
"Taking control of your minds," she practically pushed Zath out of the way, making him almost fall over as she walked towards us. The door slammed behind us. "It's unfair to force you to do something, but if we take control we don't have to force you to do anything, you'll do it for us with no complaints,"
"This… this isn't what… we agreed on," Alys mumbled, his voice breathy as he looked directly at his Mother, trying his best to sit up but falling straight back down again.
"We didn't agree on anything," she shot back, glaring at him. "Now shut up. Power sources aren't supposed to talk,"
He looked away, glaring as best he could. The witch smiled at us, looking more demented than joyful. She turned on her heels, and began walking. In front of her were two large glass cylinders, with a metal bottom. Each bottom had a computer screen and lots of multicoloured buttons. The wires in Alys' arm connected to both of them. The top didn't reach the ceiling, but had two large tubes protruding from the top connecting to it, the purpose of them I didn't know. She gestured for us to follow her to them. I felt my stomach churn at the sight of them, who knows what they could do. I looked back to Alys, and Zath was with him now, checking him over for any injuries. It looked like he had none, he just seemed extremely tired. As I looked away, he was lying his cape over him and making sure his head was on his knees to make him comfortable.
The witch stopped in between the two cylinders. She turned to us, her arms out and pointing to each of the cylinders. "Take your pick. They both do the same,"
We both stood still, cloaked in fear. It was written all over Elaria's face, and I assumed it was covering mine too. She crossed her arms, making herself look smaller and moved closer to me for protection. I think I did the same with her. After a while of silence the witch rolled her eyes, moving her hand in front of herself.
"If you won't choose, I will," she spat, glaring directly at the both of us.
Without any warning, we were both dragged to one of the cylinders by some strange force. I ended up falling over, and leaning on the glass that had just appeared. I looked to Elaria, and she was frantically banging on the glass, yelling even though I'm pretty sure nobody could hear her. The witch smiled at us both, walking to the cylinder I was in first. I felt myself visibly shake from fear. She smiled at me, and pressed one of the small pink buttons below me. I felt something at the bottom of the cylinder, something weird. I hesitantly looked down, and it began to fill with some kind of green sludgy water, and it was rising fast. I looked over to Elaria, and she was also panicking, banging on the glass like her life depended on it and crying out, even though nobody could hear her. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, and couldn't help the rest of them fall. It felt like I was going to die at that very moment, that I was going to drown in the green pool around my feet. It was rising fast, and was soon at my knees, soaking my already dirty jeans. I tried to break the glass as best I could, but I was too weak to do any damage to it at all, not even a scratch. It stayed perfectly intact, no breaking or cracking whatsoever The water rose to my waist. I became more frantic, crying out for someone to help me to evade the sludge. Nobody came. Nothing happened. It didn't leave. It kept rising. It was at my shoulders soon enough, climbing up my neck and close to my mouth. I pushed my head up in an attempt to keep the sludge from entering my mouth and body, but I don't think it worked too well. It was further down on Elaria, it was to her waist as opposed to my neck. I could see her frantically trying to help us both, but nobody came. Nothing happened. It soon passed above my head. I closed my eyes, not wanting it in them, and held my breath for as long as I could. There was no point to it though, my attempt was futile. I was quickly running out of air, trying my best to escape, but I couldn't. It felt like the end of my life. I didn't want my life to end that way; I wanted it to end with me accomplishing something great in the world after aiding people, not because a witch wanted my powers for some reason none of us know.
I don't really remember much of what happened after the sludge covered me. I remember a crash, and the sludge leaving, but at that point I was losing consciousness, and falling face-first into darkness.