A new day dawned, at least Adán and Quincy had slept. It had been more of a state of unconsciousness than a restful sleep, considering the stench in the cell, it was a wonder they could sleep on the damp, cold stone at all.
When they woke up, the cell door was already open and eight guards, as well as the cell guard and his colleague, entered the cell. With a cryptic hand gesture, they loosened the chains and grabbed the two prisoners by their arms and legs.
Together they marched down the dungeon, past burning torches, through a dark corridor up the stairs, until finally a steel door revealed itself in front of them, letting in some sunlight.
The cell guard's colleague opened the steel door and they entered one by one. Once inside, the guards threw their prisoners to the ground.
Quincy tried to get up immediately, but a magical force field pulled him down too strongly, rendering his efforts useless.
"What do you intend to do with us? Isn't there a trial? Do you want to kill us here?" Quincy asked his surroundings, a little grumpily.
But the guards remained silent and picked up a kind of staff that they had summoned from nowhere with a strange murmuring, and struck the ground forcefully five times with it. As a result, a magical portal opened opposite the steel door.
And out came the executioner. He was a bulky man with arms and legs bigger than Quincy's full stature. He was a creature of pure muscle strength. His face was covered with a goat mask and his clothing was all black, but of noble nature. His massive two-handed sword was fixed to a buckle on his back.
"Guards? You have the orders! Execute them now!" he commanded the guards with a thundering tone, and with the sound of his voice, the gravel on the ground shook, and a small but visible crack appeared at the feet of the executioner.
"At your command!" came the chorus response from the mouths of the guards. At the same time, the prison warden turned around and walked back through the steel door, followed by his colleague.
The guards each took hold of the doomed prisoners, who were held down by a magical force field, two by the sides, while the remaining four guards marched in synchronized harmony with them towards the portal, through which the executioner had already stepped seconds before.
It felt like wading through a vat of thick slime, without anything sticking to you or the air getting thicker; according to the expressions on Quincy's and Adán's faces, they agreed!
However, the joyful event lasted only 3 seconds and 2 more, if you calculate the after-effect of the event.
On the other side of the portal was a sandstone altar surrounded by nothing but the desert sand of Goltans. But someone was standing at the altar. And when it became clear that it was the oracle Wendeline, who was an exact replica of Yasmin herself, that same person spoke the following words in her melodious, beautiful voice: "Quincy and Adán, you have been accused of harassing, coercing, and stalking an innocent resident of Goltans. The punishment that awaits you, if you are indeed guilty, is death by the sword of the executioner."
Then she stepped away from the altar, and the guards released Quincy and Adán, with one guard pushing each of them forward with one hand. The two stumbled forward a few steps as a result of the push.
"Now, come forward so that I can place my hands on your heads!" commanded the Oracle to the two stumbling individuals. One could only follow this friendly instruction, with the help of magical attraction, though not in a romantic sense, being only secondary.
As the Oracle placed her hands on their heads, many clouds quickly formed and condensed into a black stormy sky without rain. She closed her eyes.
And as she opened them again, the stormy sky had given way to the beautiful daytime sky.
"The accusations are not true. But you are still too dangerous to live. Therefore, I now pronounce my decision: Death by sword!" exclaimed the Oracle, crossing her arms in front of her face.
Quincy looked over at Adán with a questioning gaze, and he nodded in agreement. Then Adán began to glow in a lilac hue and he roared:
"BOGANDURAL! I CALL UPON YOU!"
But before his eyes, he saw the system window and it didn't look good.
[SKILL BLOCKED]
[Analyzing alternatives...]
[Searching...]
[Search completed.]
[No alternatives found.]
[Initiating time stop.]
[Time stop failed.]
[Good luck!]
And with that, the system window disappeared from his field of view.
"Useless system!" Adán thought angrily, but didn't show it outwardly.
However, the Oracle Wendeline had noticed something. As a result, she walked away from the altar and approached the guards.
"My dear guards of Goltans, protectors of justice, bear witness to the justice of Goltans! Executioner, be the hangman and fulfill your duty!"
The executioner tensed his muscles, stood with his legs wide apart, and drew his sword with one hand. Then he took his other hand and held the sword tightly in his grip. Around him, sand whirled up and all the guards turned towards him.
At the same time, a new magical portal of lilac light opened above the altar and the Oracle Yasmin, no, rather a kind of transparent, colorful shadow that represented the Oracle Yasmin, emerged.
Yasmin let out a piercing scream and the sand around her swirled up in a vortex, but Quincy and Adán remained unscathed, as if they were protected by something.
The executioner rushed towards Quincy and Adán with great force, swinging his sword widely. When he reached the two condemned men, he let his momentum carry him forward - but he missed their heads by a hair's breadth as Quincy and Adán sent Shadow Yasmin flying with a quick hand gesture at the last moment.
Then she spoke in her beautiful voice, but with an eerie undertone directed towards Wendeline: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Wendeline looked shocked at her own reflection, but resolute in the belief that her actions were right, she responded just as loudly: "THEY ARE DANGEROUS! THEY WILL DESTROY OUR ENTIRE WORLD!"
"THAT'S NONSENSE! THEY WILL SAVE OUR WORLD!"
"NO! I CAN SEE THE FUTURE AND I KNOW THAT THEY ARE THE ONES WHO WILL SAVE THE WORLD! HE WILL SAVE THE WORLD!"
Wendeline and Yasmin were so preoccupied with each other that Wendeline did not notice the magic spell that restricted the movement of Quincy and Adán no longer worked, and the two carefully attempted to escape. However, one of the guards noticed their attempt and informed the executioner. He nodded and with a malicious grin bared his teeth, and ran with a roar towards the condemned men.
At that moment, Yasmin became aware of his intention and teleported directly in front of him. Her shadow body entered his, taking control for a brief moment before allowing him to lynch himself with his own sword. It all took just seven seconds.
"NOOOOOOO!" Wendeline screamed and collapsed on her knees. "What have you done?"
Before Quincy's eyes, his system window opened.
[QUEST!]
"Not now, please..." Quincy whispered to the system.
[OKAY.]
Before Adán's eyes, his system window opened.
[QUEST!]
"No," Adán replied to the system.
Meanwhile, Yasmin gave Wendeline an answer: "I saved our only hope!"
But Wendeline did not hear this answer. She wept bitterly and ran with tears streaming down her face to the executioner's body. When she arrived, she removed the goat mask and kissed him on the forehead.
Under the mask was the face of young Adán.
"Adán... why..." she mourned the executioner, who was also named Adán.
Quincy had observed everything closely and looked at the corpse and then at Adán, but he paid him no attention. Instead, Adán exclaimed, "Absorption!"
[SKILL ACTIVATED!]
And it was as if an essence of indescribable energy left the executioner's body, and this very essence flowed into Adán's body.
Shocked by this absorption event, Wendeline stared at Adán in disbelief, but she could not move any longer, so she simply remained on her knees in front of the body.
"Quincy," Yasmin spoke to Quincy as she suddenly stood in front of him. "You will be able to find me. But I will get you both out of here quickly."
Then another portal opened under Quincy and Adán, and they fell through it.