They took Joseph and others to a dungeon underneath the palace. Their weapons were taken, and they had to stay there until the next day as it was the day to decide their fates.
"There are rats in here," Kyther said as he kicked away a rat.
Joseph and Tyler sat down on the ground. "What if he cheats tomorrow?" Joseph asked Tyler.
The dungeon looked ancient. The iron bars were rusty, the walls had cracks in multiple places, and there were insects and rats everywhere.
"Let him do it," responded Tyler. "It will be proven that he is a dishonorable man." He yawned. "I have to get some sleep now. I feel exhausted from all that fighting."
"Yeah, I am exhausted too," Joseph said and looked at Kyther who jumped here and there as he could not stand rats.
"Hey, do not come near me." He jumped and ran to a corner. He then ran to another corner as he found some rats there too. "Joseph, Tyler, do something. I hate rats."
"You are one of Rakhtars and you are frightened of rats," Joseph said. "How would you explain to someone that you are a warrior if they see you like this?"
"Well, I would just beat them up. That would explain it," Kyther said and ran to Joseph and Tyler. "I will stay with you." He looked at the rats. "I do not want to sleep with them."
They laid down and made the ground their bed. Tyler and Kyther were in deep sleep in a few minutes but Joseph remained awake.
"Where are you, Mogu?" He had tried to communicate with Mogu every night in hope to hear his voice again. He wanted to reach out to him as soon as possible. He was sleeping in the middle, so he looked at both his sides to check if the others were sleeping or not. He sighed and closed his eyes when he confirmed they were in deep sleep.
As he went deep into the world of dreams, he began to see faces and hear noises. "Joseph." He saw Master George calling out his name. "My blue-eyed boy." He saw his father calling him with a smile. He lifted his hand and tried to touch his two fathers, but they disappeared before he could do so.
"Father? Master?" He called out to them and searched around. Suddenly, his surroundings changed, and he found himself in the middle of the burning tribe. He saw a corpse and a young boy crying near it. The young boy was him and the corpse was his father's. He went near it and got reminded of that horrible moment of his life. That lifeless face still haunted him every day.
He turned his head and saw Master George on his knees, bleeding from his whole body. Before he knew it, his cheeks were wet with tears. Master George opened his mouth to speak something.
"Joseph, can you hear me?"
"What?" Joseph could not understand what just happened. His master did speak, but it was not his voice. What he heard was Mogu's voice. "Mogu?"
The lips of his father's corpse moved to speak too. "Joseph, can you hear me?" It was the same voice.
Even his younger self looked at him and said the same. "Joseph, can you hear me?"
"Mogu? What is happening?" Before he could comprehend anything, he opened his eyes. "Mogu?" The first thing he could see with his blurred vision was some shadowy figure.
When his vision got cleared, he got shocked to see a black zombie raising a sword with its tip pointed to Tyler. Tyler was about to get stabbed.
"Tyler!" He jumped up and grabbed his arms. Tyler and Kyther both woke up and saw Joseph struggling with an assassin.
"What the hell?" Kyther reacted and stood up. Tyler quickly clutched the assassin's head and twisted it, making him drop on the spot.
Joseph removed the cover from the dead face. They saw the assassin was a young man around their age. "Thank you, Joseph," Tyler said. Joseph nodded slowly.
"Umm… guys?" Kyther said with a shaky voice while looking outside their cell. "I think we have got into some trouble." Joseph and Tyler followed his eyes and got shocked to see the place swarming with assassins. There were at least more than a dozen eyeing them across the bars.
All the three had a tensed face now. Joseph quickly picked up the blade of the dead assassin. Tyler searched the body while Joseph stood in guard for him. Fortunately, he found a dagger. "Hey, what about me?" Kyther asked as he was barehanded.
"You are a weapon by yourself," Joseph responded before a black zombie slowly entered the cell through the open door followed by other black zombies as well. The three were surrounded by the assassins from one side and walls from the others.
"Is somebody here!?" Kyther shouted. "Help!" He got no response.
At this, the assassins looked at each other and laughed. "Do you really think they could hear you?" One of them said. "This dungeon was built a long time ago to keep traitors and enemies of the state. They built it in such a way that your cries could not reach outside."
They could see the dead soldiers who stood guard outside their cell through the iron bars. The masked assassin at the center signaled the others to attack them. "Do not spare any of them."
The black zombies attacked them. Joseph blocked one of their attacks and slashed their neck. Tyler dodged while doing flips, crouches, and jumps, and stabbed and cut them. Kyther grabbed one of their heads and banged them to the wall. Both the wall and the skull cracked. He picked up the blade the knocked-out assassin had carried.
Joseph's wounds still hurt which he had got during fighting the royal soldiers earlier. It was difficult for him to fight for long. Kyther too faced the same issue. Their wounds bled from extensive movement and it hindered their fight.
Kyther panted as he blocked a blade and kicked a black zombie. "We can not hold for long. We have to escape."
"Yeah, we need to find an opening," Joseph said as he cut the belly of one of them. Tyler stabbed a chest and gave an axe kick to the head to knock them out completely.
"I will create an opening." Kyther lifted an assassin over his shoulders and threw him on others. They could not balance themselves and hit the ground. "Let's go!" Kyther said as they pushed the remaining assassins and passed through them to reach the exit.
Joseph sliced one of their chests before they all ran out of the cell. The remaining assassins followed them. They ran and reached a large metal door that connected to somewhere in the palace. "See if the door opens. We will try to gain some time," Tyler said to Joseph before he and Kyther engaged with the assassins.
Joseph tried to open the door, but it was not opening. He searched for some key or something like it but found nothing. "It is not opening!" He said before he tried to take the fire torch beside the door to have a look properly. Just at the moment he picked up the fire torch, he heard some noise. It was as if someone dragged a large piece of rock on a marble floor.
Suddenly, the walls beside the metal door parted, and a secret passage appeared for them to escape now. "It must be the way through which these assassins entered here," Joseph said.
"Go out and escape. We will come after you," Tyler said as he fought the assassins.
"But..." Joseph hesitated to leave them behind, but he knew his friends would handle the situation. So, he ran outside hesitatingly.
Tyler stabbed the neck of an assassin, but received a cut on his arm near his biceps. "Ah!" He winced before an assassin kicked him in the chest. He hit the metal door, but somehow managed to stay standing. An assassin swung his blade, but he ducked and dodged the attack. He gave a back kick to make the assassin fly away.
Kyther's wounds were bleeding now, especially the one on his back. He struggled to fend them off.
"Kyther, go out!" Tyler shouted and pushed him inside the passage. Kyther lost his balance and fell in.
"Tyler, what are you…" Kyther was shocked when he saw Tyler alone fighting those black zombies. He saw the walls closing in. "Tyler! Get inside!" He stood up and ran towards Tyler, but the walls closed in before he could reach him.
The last thing he saw was the smile Tyler gave. The last thing he heard was his last words "Get out of here" before the walls fully closed in.
"No, Tyler!" He tried to push and kick the wall to break it, but it was of no use. He brought his ear to the wall and tried to listen in, but he could hear nothing. "Tyler! Can you hear me!?" He called but got no response. He punched the walls multiple times while having tears in his eyes. "No, no, no, no, this can not be happening."
Suddenly, he realized Joseph was nowhere to be found. "Wait, where is Joseph?" He looked ahead in the pathway. "Oye, Joseph!" He shouted but got no response. He ran ahead to find him. He ran for a quarter of an hour and finally saw an exit.
"Did he walk out of there?" He ran and exited out. "I am outside." He looked around and found himself somewhere in a jungle. It was night and he could see nothing but dark shadowy trees. "Oye, Joseph!" He called, but got no response again.
Tyler had received cuts and wounds at multiple places in his body, especially his shoulders, arms, and legs. He was barely standing against the metal door. "Damn it. I guess this is the end for real now." Although, he had killed most of the assassins, and only four to five had remained, he barely had the energy left to fight those armed enemies.
As he closed his eyes to accept his tragic end, something unexpected happened. The metal door was opened.