Meanwhile:
*
A while had passed in the dungeon, and after Ikko repeatedly refused to show an emotion of pain on his face, or so much as a scream, Dagger was starting to get restless. Both Arine and Ikko were brused and cut from head to toe, blood leaking from every gash, and smearing their bodies with a mixture of blood and dirt. Arine was now tied to a large dart board against the back wall with a knife wedged deep in his stomach and upper arm.
As the other guards continued to throw weapons at him, Dagger had chained Ikko to a slightly horizontal vertical board facing towards him, while an axe was hanging in Daggers hand. He looked at Ikko in annoyance and swung the axe to crack the wood beside his face. "What the hell is wrong with you?! I've tortured you for hours with the most excruciatingly painful methods I know, and you haven't let out so much as a whimper let alone a painful wince!!!!"
Ikko looked back into Daggers eyes, emotionless. Dagger's glare intensified, and he pulled the axe out of the wood next to him, lifting it to Ikko's neck. "It's as if the more I torture you, the less painful it gets! When you said that you've been tortured before, I assumed it was only once or twice by an amateur, but that's not the case, is it malfunction?!" Ikko gave him an annoyed look but still didn't answer. Dagger then pulled away, raising one of Ikko's wings against the board tightly.
"Let's see if tearing these disgusting pieces of filth off of your worthless body gets you to give me a scream you useless scum!!" He then raised the axe over his head, and aimed the blade to sever the closest bone of the wing to his back. Ikko's expression started to falter, and he closed his eyes bracing himself for the pain.
A smirk appeared on Dagger's face as he was about to strike, and he laughed. "It will take more than one hit to break the bone here. Heh, this I will enjoy." But just as he was about to swing, Arine screamed from across the room. "No!! Don't do it! Don't take his wings! Please! Take my wings instead!!"
Both Ikko and Dagger turned their heads with surprise on their faces. Ikko stared in shock. "Arine..." But Dagger rolled his eyes a second later.
"How sweet. But I don't think that you are in any position to demand things from me. I think I'll have to cut the wings off both of you now!!" He laughed again and raised the axe. Arine yelled, but Dagger swung down with no hesitation. Suddenly, before the blade could even hit Ikko, the metal shattered into a million pieces. All of them froze.
*
I was walking with Sythyon through the corridors of the dungeon with Lothor walking ahead of us. I looked closer at the chains secured around him and saw that they had purple cracks of magic carved into them like an enchantment. but I didn't bother thinking of them any more than that. 'I wish he would walk faster! We have no time to lose!' I thought as I looked to the floor.
Suddenly, I heard a scream from a door up ahead, and I recognized the voice. Without thinking, I sprinted passed Lothor and pushed the door open as fast as I could, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Dagger was standing in front of Ikko with an axe above his wing, already moving too fast to react. 'No...!' In that moment, I felt a flash of heat in my forehead, and before I knew it, the axe had shattered just before it hit Ikko.
It all happened in a millisecond, but it felt like time had slowed to a halt. Everyone was still trying to process what happened including me when Sythyon ran in the room next to me, immediately imprisoning Dagger and the other guards inside his magic. The lightning turned into chains and Dagger fell to the floor against the wall. "Hey!"
I then ran to Ikko, tears starting to well up in my eyes. 'Did... I do that...?' That was the only thing I could think as I wrapped my arms around Ikko. "Ikko! Are you okay?! What-?!" I stopped, realizing that as soon as I pulled away I was covered in blood. I looked at Ikko in horror seeing that every part of his body had either been brused, burned, or cut.
His face was dirty, and his wings were damaged. I could feel my tears escaping my eyes in floods at the sight of it. I managed to move my head up, to see Arine in the same state as Ikko, with knives sticking out of him, blood trickling down his face, and hundreds of holes punctured in his wings. My body then felt heavy.
I started to shake, and I moved without my consent, running to hug Arine quickly. I started to sob, and I heard Sythyon cut Ikko's chains off. But instead of standing, Ikko fell to his knees, then fully to the ground.
I turned around, struggling to see through the blurr that had permanently covered my eyes with water. 'Ikko...' Sythyon shot some more magic out of his hands from where he was standing, and cut the ropes that were restraining Arine. He did the same as Ikko and didn't bother trying to hold himself up as he fell to the hard floor. I didn't let go of him though. My body couldn't.
All I wanted was to have my boys wrapped safely in my arms forever. I wiped my tears as best I could and was about to reassure Arine who had collapsed in my arms, but before I could, I froze to the horrifying look on his face. His eyes were open, but his gaze was dead. No expression or color appeared on his face, his lips were dried to the point of cracking, and his breathing was heavy.
It was like the life was sucked right out of him, and he had become an emotionless living corpse. I looked back again to see that Ikko had the same expression. I couldn't stop myself from sobbing again and covered my mouth with my palm as I hugged Arine tightly. "I-It's okay... E-Everything's going- to be... Okay. I'm here. I'm here. You're g-going to be..."
My sobbing wouldn't let me finish my sentence. I took short breaths in response to so much crying, and found myself having trouble breathing, but I didn't care. Then, I stopped, looking up and around the room impatiently.
I saw that Sythyon had sat Ikko up against the board he was tied to, but Ikko had already passed out, his eyes closed. I then layed Arine down gently, and stood up. I wiped my tears away, a feeling of anger starting to rise inside me.
When I took my first step toward the door, I saw Dagger in the corner of my eye giving Lothor a confused look, and Lothor responded with a quick glance. I was too angry to think of that now, and approached Lothor who was standing by the wall. I tried my best to hold in my angry screams and sorrow cries as I stopped in front of him with a glare. "Where... Is... Cienar...?"