Damon was dragged down to the basement, the men taking him were extra harsh and he suffered many bruises even before going into the torture chamber. When they got there Damon was surprised to see the basement clean, no torture devices were hanging from a wall, no blood splattered in the corner somewhere. It seemed they had someone who cleaned the place after it's been used.
They tied him spread-eagled in between two pillars before leaving him alone in the dark. Damon slumped his head and sighed, his mind was blank, and his eyes were dull. He couldn't see how he was going to escape from there. After all, no one had before.
The pitch-black darkness was unnerving, he also had many itches he couldn't scratch. The only thing that kept him happy was the knowledge that Jasmine wasn't here with him. He closed his eyes and recited a prayer for her safety. Unlike Jasmine, he was quite religious. He wasn't pious, but he held a hope in his heart. That hope kept him praying for a better life every night, Jasmine would argue that the gods don't give a shit about them, but what else was he supposed to do. He wasn't born into a rich family, nor was he born with magic affinity, the only thing he had was Jasmine and hope, that one day they gods would take pity on them.
"To the gods above, I humbly request; please keep Jasmine safe." He sent his prayer, hoping one of the gods would accept it.
Luckily, there was one god who was watching and waiting for him to say a prayer.
[Ding! The God of Origins has seen your plight and blessed you with his power!]
'What?'
While he was processing the new information that appeared in his head the door of the basement swung open and he heard footsteps, five men walked in with torches, the sudden light made Damon's eyes squint. They kept the torches in their holders and stood aside like they were waiting for someone. Then Laker walked down with a box in his hand.
"Leave, all of you," he said, "I want to do him myself."
He waited for the men to leave before turning towards Damon. He dropped the box and opened it; it was filled with different sharp tools which were obviously used in torturing people. Laker picked up a small dagger and slowly walked up to Damon.
"Damon, Damon, "He smiled sardonically, "Finally you're in my grasp. You know, I still remember the disgusted look you gave me when you were leaving here that day. You'd just finished sleeping with the viscount for pocket change, and still had the audacity and pride to refuse me." His face contorted into one of anger, "You whored yourself to a viscount, so you thought it was beneath you to whore yourself to a mere guard, right?!"
He removed his clothes on by one as he came closer, "I'd like to see how you'll walk away now after I cut off your tendons."
Damon didn't respond to his words, in fact, he wasn't listening at all. Since the time Laker entered his mind had been working rapidly as he browsed through the classes that were floating in his vision. The Archer and The Warrior wouldn't help since he was tied up, The Cleric was great but useless in his situation, and he didn't know what a Rune Mage or a Tamer did, so he went with Mage.
He waited for Laker to get closer before attacking. He had run a scenario in his head, if he used magic to cut the ropes on his wrist Laker would kill him before he could remove the ones that bind his legs. No matter what he thought of him, Laker was still a trained guard, one of the best under Viscount Victor. So, Damon needed a way to distract him and attack him at the same time.
Since he was still level zero his mp was limited, he said a silent prayer to the God of Origins before taking action.
He used the telekinesis of the Neutral Element on the box, spilling the contents on the ground.
"What?!" Startled, Laker turned back, he growled when he saw the box, "Dammed rats, one day I'm going to – urgh!"
When his back faced him, Damon supplied every mp he had into the Shadow Element, he extended a part of Laker's shadow and made it stab him in the throat. When his mp finished the shadow went back to normal, but there was still a hole in Laker's neck. Laker used his hand to cover the hole, but the blood flowed through his fingers. He wheezed as he turned around and glared at Damon, he tried to say something but only blood came out of his mouth.
He took unsteady steps toward Damon, on his other hand was the dagger he was going to use to torture him. It seemed that he wanted to kill Damon before he died. Damon pulled on his restrains, trying to free himself. His mp was empty, he had no way to defend himself.
Through sheer will, Laker reached Damon. He swayed on his feet as he glared at Damon with bloodshot eyes, he abandoned the hole on his neck the blood spilled down his chest. He looked horrific.
He raised his arm and kept the tip of the dagger on Damon's chest, right above his heart, but his energy depleted before he could push it in. Damon watched as he stood still for a moment before collapsing. As he fell the tip of the blade drew a bloody line on Damon's body, making him hiss in pain.
But the pain couldn't stop his excitement, after all he had succeeded! There was a warm feeling coursing through his veins which indicated that he had leveled up. With his recharged mp he burned his restraints and grabbed the dagger from Laker's hands. He also noticed a bulge in Laker's discarded trousers, he checked what was in there and brought out the sack of money Jasmine stole; since the viscount wasn't around, he hadn't returned it yet!
Damon pocketed the money then he ran up to the door. He was lucky that Laker asked the other guards to leave the basement, he probably didn't want them to hear how he had wanted him. He pushed the door slightly and it opened, those idiots didn't even lock the door. But he didn't think them overly self-confident, after all how could they have known he'd be blessed by a god?
He closed the door gently and walked away softly. While he was moving, he checked the skills of the elements to find one that would help him escape without alerting anyone. [Shadow Movement] did just that but it needed three skill points to unlock, and he only had two.
He had been in the manor before, but just once so he was using a very vague memory as he moved around stealthily. The viscount had left for a party a few hours ago and took most of his guards with him – that was the only reason why Jasmine was able to sneak into his room and steal his gold – so Damon decided he was going to use the viscount's room to escape. The viscount slept apart from his wife, they had separated themselves to two parts of the manor, the viscount took one part while his wife and children took the other. Thankfully, the basement wasn't that far from the viscount's bedroom, Damon could almost taste his freedom and silently ran along the corridor. He poked his head out of a corner and saw the bedroom door; there were no guards there.
'Yes!' He ran towards the door and was about to open it when he heard giggles and footsteps. He quickly rushed back to the corner and hid his body with the wall. Soon the footsteps reached the bedroom door, Damon could hear kisses and moans, he slowly checked what was happening and saw a guard kissing Caterina, the viscount's daughter.
Caterina moaned as he grabbed one of her legs and humped her through her nightgown. She used one hand to open the bedroom door and they both slipped in.
Were they going to sleep with each other on the viscount's bed? 'How bold!' Damon thought, but now his escape route had been blocked, he had to find another way out.
When he came here before he wasn't sneaked in, he had walked through the front door and was taken straight to the viscount's room. He didn't know any other path to take, and he couldn't wander around aimlessly because that would get him caught faster.
Suddenly, a loud bell startled him.
"Intruder! Intruder!" Someone was screaming. Damon quickly bolted away from his position before the guards ran by. Someone had broken into the manor, the bell ringing meant they knew where the person was. So, all he had to do was hide, watch where the guards go to, then run in the opposite direction.
As he was running, he came across the dining room. The dining table had a satin cloth that covered it from top to bottom, he quickly slid under it and waited for footsteps. Soon, heavy feet passed by and ran towards a direction he was familiar with.
'They're going to the main door' Damon waited for the footsteps to subside before crawling out from under the table. He was about to rush to another direction when he heard a voice scream loudly.
"Laker, bring Damon out this instance!"
"Jasmine?!" Damon recognized the voice immediately. 'Why is she here?! God, how many surprises am I going to get this night?' He took off running in the direction of her voice, "She's going to get herself killed!" He could hear the yells of the numerous guards even from where he was. Even if she could fight, she was outnumbered.
He left the dining room and came out to witness a massacre.
Jasmine stood in the middle of the parlor and was swinging her arm around, and the guards around her fell with deep, bloody cuts on various parts of their body. Because of the bad lightning it took a while for Damon to realize that she was holding something in her hand, and it was until she paused before he saw that it was a whip, which had three blades joined at the tip that were dripping with blood.
The guards around her were cautiously surrounding her, each of them was waiting for the person who would take the first step forward. Jasmine didn't cower but glared straight at them.
"I will say this one more time, bring Damon out!" She spoke.
'Is that really Jasmine?' Damon stared with his mouth open. Even though her voice and face were the same, he wasn't so sure. Everything else about her has changed, be it her clothes or her demeanor. And where did she learn how to fight with a whip?
If it wasn't for the fact that she was obviously here for him, he would have though she was someone else entirely.
"Shit, are you looking down on us?! Everyone, attack all at once!" one guard riled up the rest and they all threw themselves at her.
Jasmine sneered as they came closer, "It seems you won't understand my words until I beat them into you. Fine, come into my [Whip Dance]."
She spun around and the whip followed her, then she began moving with complicated footwork, almost like she was dancing, but instead of a partner she held a dangerous whip. The whip whizzed around so fast it looked like it was everywhere at once. She seemed to have created a small domain of whips. The guards around her dropped like flies, some of them lost their limbs, other had gashes on their necks, stomachs… everywhere!
She finished with a twirl and the whip carefully stopped beside her. She glared around to see if anyone was still alive, the one that were she killed with a quick flick of her wrist. When she was done, she looked around the room, pondering where she should start her search. The bell was still ringing, which meant that there were still a lot of guards around. She needed to find Damon quickly. As she was searching, she noticed a figure standing ahead.
"Who's there?!" She went on alert. She could have used [Elongate] to drag the person closer but she didn't really want to kill people unless necessary.
The person walked forward into the barely illuminated parlor, when she saw their face, her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
"Damon!" She ran to him, his face – which was filled with shock – softened as he opened his arms wide. She slammed into his chest and hugged him close, her tears stained his shirt, but he didn't mind. He gently patted her back and waited until she was done.
But she didn't cry for long, even though she would like nothing more than to cry until she passed out on his chest, they were in enemy territory. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes.
"How did you escape?"
"What happened to you?"
They both asked at the same time, but before they could say anything, [Inspection] answered the question for them.
"I see now…" Damon nodded.
"You're a follower of the God of Origins? Since when?!" Jasmine asked.
"Since today, I – "Damon heard footsteps coming towards them and stopped his explanation, "I'll tell you later, we have to leave this place!"
"We can take them!" Jasmine said stubbornly.
"Really? They have crossbows you know; can your whip protect you from that?"
"Not now it can't," Jasmine gulped, "You're right, let's go!"
Damon grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dining room, "We can't escape through the front door again, they'd shoot at us, even though its dark and their aim wouldn't be the best, there's still a chance that they would hit us."
"Where are we going then?" Jasmine asked.
"To the viscount's wife part of the house."
"What?" They passed the viscount's room and ran into the opposite hallway, "The viscount and his wife live in separate parts of the house?"
"Yes. But I've not been to this part of the house before. Let's hope we're lucky and find a perfect exit."
As they were running, they came across Caterina who was sneaking back into her room.
"Who are you?!" She said, "How dare you break into a viscount's house –! "
Damon elbowed her out of the way. Her head slammed on the edge of a small table carrying a vase filled with flowers and she immediately fainted.
"Damon!" Jasmine said in feigned admonition, "How could you do such a thing to a lady? I thought you a gentleman, guess I was wrong."
"Yeah, right." Damon rolled his eyes, "You think I didn't see you raising your whip? If I didn't hit her, she would be dead by now."
"Hmph!"
They ran down a flight of steps, where they found two guards who were coming up. Before they could alert the others Damon set one and fire and tossed the dagger he had been holding at the other one. The dagger flew into the guard's eye socket, killing him instantly. The other guard screamed really loudly and tried to put out the fire by patting his body. His voice was leading the other guards to them, so Damon kicked him. He fell down the remaining steps and landed with his head facing his back.
Damon felt himself level up.
"You chose Mage?!" Jasmine said in awe.
"Yes. And I've just unlocked a skill that can get us out of here!" Killing the two guards gave him five skill points, giving him seven points in total, which he used to unlock [Shadow Movement] and [Shadow Hub].
The flame on the still burning dead body created shadows of them. Damon grabbed Jasmine and sunk them into his shadow. When the guards got there, they saw two dead bodies but no culprit.
In the Shadow Realm, Damon and Jasmine slipped past the guards while trying not to tough them. some of the guards looked clear while some were hazy, some appeared with only half their bodies.
"Why are they like that?" Jasmine asked.
"It's their shadows," Damon read off the information given to him when he unlocked the skill, "In the Shadow Realm we are able to move through solid things, as long as their shadows aren't projecting our way in the real world. The flame on the burning guard is barely bright so the number of shadows the guards can cast is limited."
Thanks to the Shadow Realm they soon reached the fence of the manor. The moon was shining brightly outside so they couldn't pass through the wall, they had to come out of the shadows. Jasmine used the blade on her whip to hook the top of the fence and they both climbed over it.
"You know what you did was very reckless." Damon said when they dropped to the ground.
"I know." Jasmine surprisingly didn't argue with him.
Damon smiled and pulled her hair.
"Ow! Why?!"
"Thanks for coming for me." Damon said.
"That's not how you thank people…" Jasmine grumbled then suddenly got excited, "Hey, check out the Map feature on the system!"
Damon did, and saw the entire layout of the Manor in there, "What? This was here this whole time? Why didn't you tell me? We could have used it instead of running about aimlessly."
"No, I don't think that's how the map works. I mean, the manor wasn't there when I first checked it. It seems the map only draws a place when we've visited there. But that's not what I asked you to check! Don't you see that red line? Follow it and see where it goes."
Damon checked the red line she was talking about, and with a thought the map zoomed to a destination, there were a lot of incomplete places in the map, but Damon didn't focus on them. He traced the red line until it stopped on a place that was shining with golden light.
"It seems we're supposed to go there." Damon said.
"Yes!" Jasmine grabbed his arm, "Oh, Damon I don't know why but that place feels safe. Can we go there?"
Damon chuckled, "Sure, Jas. Besides, I don't think we can stay here anymore after we've killed people."
Jasmine face fell when he said that, "We killed people… I killed people…" She whispered as the realization dawned on her.
Damon grasped her hand tight, "It was in self-defense, don't take it to heart. Come one, we have a long journey ahead of us, so we best get going."
"Right, we have a long walk to get to." She tried to smile.
"Walk? Who said anything about walking? Look what I snagged off Laker." He brought out the money and bounced it on his palm.
"The money!" She cheered, this time with a genuine smile, "Let's go, let's go, there's no time to waste." She pulled him forward.
He looked back at the manor for a few seconds before nodding, "Yeah," He swung his arm over her shoulder, "Let's get out of this fucking country."