Karayan looked at Alessa, who looked back at him with a bitter smile.
Karayan looked at the man who grabbed Alessa's arm and spoke – How much does he owe you?
Before the man could answer, another one appeared, staring Alessa down with a death glare – Bastard, do you know how much I lost because of you? Return my jewels, filthy thief.
Karayan looked at the other stunned, Alessa ran to hide behind him, and then, more and more people came to charge him.
Karayan snorted coldly – I'll pay all he owes, but first, have any of you gentlemen seen a man dressed in green, carrying a child from the far east?
The men who had been shouting earlier began to whisper among themselves and look around, first surprised that Karayan was going to pay off Alessa's debts and then wondering if they had seen this man.
– Are you talking about me, my lord? – The man appeared pushing the crowd, Long, chained to his side, pulled and tried to escape in every way, but without any success.
Karayan smiled – Sorry for the inconvenience sir, but could you sell me this child?
The man was a bit surprised, shifting his gaze between Long and Karayan – my lord, this child is not for me…
– So why are you still stopped, hand over the child.
Seeing the superior tone Alessa used, the others who were just watching became very irritated.
– Who do you think you are?
– Does he really think he has power here?
– And he still has the nerve to show off.
Karayan looked at Alessa as if he was going to kill him, trying to calm the crowd but to no avail.
Izrun took advantage of the distraction to approach Long.
As soon as he saw him, Long smirked, making no noise and still moving as before. As soon as Izrun got close enough, Long lightly extended his hands towards him, which froze the chain with all the strength he had.
As soon as Long was free, Izrun grabbed him and followed the path he knew was the exit, apparently no one had noticed that the irritating sound of chain moving had suddenly stopped.
As he watched the chaos ensue, Alessa smiled to see that the boys had already run.
Alessa tried to continue the discussion so that no one would be aware of the boy's disappearance.
As the argument ensued, Izrun took Long to safety.
Izrun was leading the way when he noticed that Long wasn't following him, he was standing in front of a cage in the lobby.
Inside the cage, a man with stark black eyes stared at them intently.
Long looked at Izrun – Release him.
Izrun alternated his gaze between the two, hesitating for a brief moment he nodded, hurriedly walked over to the padlock, and made a great effort for it to freeze and break.
The man, seeing himself free, suddenly advanced towards Long, who backed away in fright.
Tugging at his wrist, the man stared, smiling in relief, he faced him – Long live your majesty.
Long held his breath for a moment, then, nodding, he replied — Help free others.
The man bowed down — As Your Highness commands.
His speed was frightening, it seemed that he was crawling quickly. Going towards the other cages, unsuccessful in opening the cages, he destroyed them with all the strength he had, and as soon as he freed another creature, both began to release the others.
Seeing the chaos that would arise with all these creatures, Izrun rushed to pull Long, the boy was amazed at what was happening before his eyes.
Screams began to erupt as more creatures were released.
The men who were arguing earlier noticed the strange sounds and fell silent, trying to see where the screams were coming from. And as soon as they saw the hundreds of creatures advancing toward them, terror spread across their faces.
– Shit! Those brats! – Alessa grabbed Karayan's arm and quickly pulled him towards an exit.
Karayan looked around – Where is the boy?!
– Forget the boy, he caused all this.
– What?
– Weren't you that stupid, did the west winds get into your brain?
Karayan frowned as he ran alongside Alessa, huffing.
It was a mess as the creatures attacked and others fled, Alessa guided Karayan a little disoriented by despair.
Alessa muttered as he looked around and dodged some attacks that ended up coming towards him – I can't die today, I haven't made my name yet…
Karayan rolled his eyes, raising a shield to protect them from a projectile that suddenly appeared – We'll not die, you're too dramatic.
Karayan jumped up while holding Alessa, taking him to one of the floors above. With no creatures to attack them where they were, they looked down on the war below with indifferent gazes. Alessa shrugged – Looks like the fun is over.
Karayan pursed his lips – Let's get out of here.
In the hall to the rooms, Izrun looked at the exit expectantly. The exit was just a few feet away.
Approaching, he suddenly felt a strange sense of danger. Stopping quickly he looked towards the exit from afar.
Long breathed hard, looking at Izrun and then at the door – Let's go.
Long advanced in front of Izrun, and seeing his movement, Izrun caught him.
Long looked at him confused – What is it?
Izrun shook his head silently.
They stared at each other for a moment, noting his expression worried and a little scared, Long caught his breath when he finally felt something behind him.
Looking back, he watched as a strange creature crawled out of the shadow. It had no eyes but seemed to be watching them curiously.
Suddenly, from the strange creature's body, hundreds of mouths emerged, teeth of different sizes appeared, and a horrible odor spread through the hall.
Long was the first to react, and pulling Izrun, they went back the same way they came, the creature, although it had no eyes, as if seeing something amusing, smiled, all the mouths in its body smiled.
Long ran as fast as he could, Izrun tried to keep up with him, luckily the tiredness hadn't overcome them yet. Looking back, his eyes widened as he saw the creature suddenly catch up with them.
They ran along the corridor, which was continuous, making it easier for the creature to get closer and closer.
They were at a disadvantage, but finally reaching the end of the corridor, Long veered sharply to the left, causing the creature to crash and lose speed.
Dismissing it for a few seconds, they were back in the mess of completely destroyed cages. Huge cages torn apart, there was hardly any room to walk or run.
Climbing up onto the wreckage, they continued trying to get away from where they came from.
Hiding behind one of the rubble, they looked to where the creature should be.
The room was eerily silent.
A few minutes passed before they breathed with relief. Unfortunately, that wasn't the best time for even a sigh, several smiles appeared again as the creature watched the children from the top of the cave. Hanging, it excitedly watched the pure hearts of the boys beat fast. Hungry.
Sensing danger again, Izrun squeezed Long's arm, who glared at him. Long was completely lost without his gifts, too weak to even use his perception.
Izrun motioned with his eyes, indicating the creature's position.
Long froze, his eyes darting around, thinking of what he could do, looking at Izrun, he realized how cold his hands were.
Izrun could use his power to scare the creature, the only problem was that Long couldn't help him, after all, at that moment he was completely useless.
They didn't know if the creature could understand them, but they still took the risk.
– Izrun...
Quickly noticing what Long was planning, Izrun shook his head desperately – No... I can't...
With a hand on his shoulder, Long nodded – You can do it.
Izrun kept denying – I don't have enough strength…
Long pursed his lips.
– Without you, I can't...
– Of course you can, before me, how did you do?
Izrun stared at him with wide eyes – I didn't do anything!
Long froze at his low cry.
The creature enjoyed listening, although it didn't understand, feeling the tremor in their voices delighted it.
Hungry, it decided that had waited enough.
Jumping towards them.
Long saw the sudden movement overhead and pushed Izrun, which sent him falling backward as well.
The creature, realizing it hadn't caught its prey, growled dissatisfied, turning around, it searched for a while. Finally turning slowly to Izrun, who was breathing hard.
Tears began to roll down the boy's face as he watched the creature slowly walk toward him.
The creature smiled eerily, almost getting close enough to swallow Izrun with one of its mouths when it was hit by an object that, even insignificant, still caught its attention and made it irritated by the audacity of being attacked by such a small thing.
Long picked up another small piece of rubble, and threw it at it. The creature didn't even turn around, there were no eyes, no mouths that seemed to be watching them. It suddenly advanced towards him.
Long quickly ran, almost skidding through the rubble as he tried to push the creature away from Izrun.
– Izrun, I need you!