I was still chained up against the wall. And tough all my wounds had healed by now. I felt miserable.
Tough I only thought of it as selfish. Because the people in the cell I was facing were having it a lot worse. They looked terrible. The dark and the cold was slowly starting to have an impact on them. the fact that they barely had enough to eat also did not help.
And most of them were here for no reason at all. It was one thing if I really did know them. then they would be dubbed a traitor, and this would be a just action in the eyes of Atlantis. But I had never even seen a lot of them before this.
They were probably just picked off the streets and thrown into a cell close to a demon that if not put under control soon would escape.
And now that my body was relatively stabilized I probably could. I just wanted to wait until after the daily visit of that woman. So that I could free these humans as well while ensuring that they would have the least amount of risk of being discovered.
And as I suspected she came relatively soon.
Despite her breaking down the last time she was here, she seemed quite calm.
She carelessly leaned against the bars of the cell with the people in it and faced me. "So, it is true that you demons always keep changing. I see that you have an extra pair of wings now." she tiredly rubbed her forehead. "Those will be a pain to restrain now tat you are awake again. well, it seems that those spears work quite well. Maybe I can convince those assholes up there to hand me another one."
Suddenly she was partially pulled into the cell on her arm by Leonor. "Keep this up and soon I will no longer be the only one here with just one arm."
Her voice was cold and determined. Behind her Noah and Beatrice lined up to help her with the job if necessary.
Her companion tried to reach trough the bars to interfere but was soon also held down by Allenya and Alex.
"Sure, he is capable of great destruction and will probably burn everything down if he does not agree with what you do. But he does not deserve this. Even if it did not turn out well in the end, he helped my people. After that he saved my life and literally opened up a new world for me. I can't stan it just to watch while you keep torturing him just because you suck at your job!"
The woman started to laugh. "Don't you understand? This is why I make you watch! I want to show you that he is not all powerful. That he can be overwon and can be tamed. If I get him under control, not only will we have a great weapon and a source of information about the demon horde. But by breaking his illusion of power you will also have the chance to break free from the grasp he has on your mind! I am setting all of you free! After this you can go back to your homes and lead normal lives. No, you will be heroes. You will be symbols of hope and prove that we can win from these monsters!"
Leonor pulled on the arm of the woman and with the help of the bars of the cell dislocated the joint. The woman screamed and tried to break free from her grasp but to no avail.
"Let this be a warning. Next time I will rip it off and shove it down your throat. You understand?"
She let go of the woman's arm while her companion was also set free. Despite the woman's anger she still needed to find either a doctor or a healer as soon as possible to not leave permanent damage. Therefore, they had no choice but to leave again immediately.
As soon as the woman ran out along with her companion, my father who had been sitting at the back of the cell moved forward.
"Gustave we really need to talk."
I bared my teeth and growled. Even when he knew that I did not like it if complete strangers heard my original name. he still used it in front of them.
"No, none of that. I want to talk to you like a person. I can't have you showing your fangs and growling like an animal."
While Leonor was mainly confused about the usage of a different name, the others wondered why my father knew it in the first place as they had never properly met.
"Look I am aware that it is none of my business what you do while I am not with you. But even she is convinced that you would burn everything in your way. So, I just need to know. What did you do?"
I did not answer and merely looked down.
"Gustave, I want you to answer me! I was so glad I finally got you back, but now it feels like I am losing you again."
"I have killed. I have killed a lot. Not just for food and not just monsters. But all that I felt that the world would be a better place without. A stranger offered me help when I was hunting Oni's. A day later he was executed. So, I slaughtered the entire village. after I had helped Leonor, her people tried to attack me and in the prosses harmed her. So, I burned the entire camp. And those were not the only times. "
"The you I knew would even apologise after you hit someone, not go on a fucking massacre! Don't you realise that your own brutality and callousness have led you to become a monster? You can't just send pure destructive cruelty after those you feel wronged by. Thake that pile of bones in your cell for example. He was just doing his job. Sure, he could have handled things differently, but he did not deserve what you did to him!"
It felt like time stopped. Was this really how my own father thought about me? A monster? Had he ever believed me in the first place? I knew he had said something similar before. But now he just confirmed what he said back then. The man that had raised me now only tough of me as a monster.
I decided to stick with the plan. I could finally break my chains and so I did. The chains still burned my scales and skin when I applied enough pressure on them to finally break them. there was even some of my blood left one it. I just hoped that, that woman would get it in her eye or something later.
It actually surprised me how much the chains had hindered my magic without me even noticing.
After this the steel bars did not pose any hinders at all.
When I was out of my own cell, I ripped out some of the bars from the one that held the humans. then I busted trough the roof while making sure that there was enough rubble for the humans to make it up there.
Now that I was on the surface again, I needed to make sure that I would be the top priority of Atlantis so that they had a chance to escape. After this I would probably hide myself somewhere so that I could think things through without seeing my father's fate in me disappear in his eyes.