Although it was by now safe to assume that the search for Lucius has already started, Lucius and Old Nigel didn't stumble upon any more patrols on the way to their destination. Maybe it was because all of the demons were searching the stables and around them, or maybe they were simply incredibly lucky. Either way, it seemed that nobody was around, and they freely ran through numerous corridors. Due to their speed, it wasn't long before they reached a staircase that didn't look all that different from the one they climbed while getting out of the dungeon. It was here that the Old Nigel stopped.
"Here we are. These stairs will lead you to the dark crystal." said Old Nigel while they were catching their breath after sprinting.
"This? Are you sure? It doesn't look all that special to me. It looks like any other staircase." said Lucius while looking at the staircase suspiciously.
"Why would it look like something special? So you or any other angel could find it easier and get to the dark crystal more quickly? It doesn't make any sense." asked Old Nigel, genuinely trying to find reason in Lucius's way of thinking.
"I don't know. When you put it like that, it does sound stupid. I guess I have a conception of demons as vain creatures that like to show off however and whenever they possibly can." Lucius replied, trying to explain his point of view.
"Well, you are not wrong, but that trait of ours rarely comes into play in official fortifications. Sometimes functionality is more important than style, and here you have the prime example of that. Who in their right mind would think that these stairs lead to somewhere important? If anything, they look like they lead to a dusty, old cellar and not to the most important room in the whole fortress. That's why it's so brilliant!"
Whether he wanted to or not, Lucius had to agree that Old Nigel had a point.
"Well, enough wasting time, Lucius. It's time for us to part ways. I'm not saying that I wouldn't be of much use to you down there, because that would be a lie, but I think it's time for me to disappear from here. I doubt I'll get another chance to slip out of here unnoticed like I could now. If the black knight ever finds out I helped you escape, he and the rest of my kind would capture me and skin me alive. In fact, that would be too merciful; I'm sure they would get far more creative. Anyway, it was a pleasure helping you, but the rest is up to you. I hope you understand, and I wish you luck in dealing with whatever's down there." said Old Nigel, offering Lucius a hand.
Lucius felt weird. These entire last few hours still felt so surreal to him, and he had a feeling he would soon wake up from this dream where weird and unusual things like good demons exist, either in the cell or maybe even back in Elysium. But he knew he wasn't dreaming. The burns he recently earned were not ignorable at all when it came to the pain they were causing him. Nevertheless, it was strangely emotional to say goodbye to Old Nigel. Lucius couldn't yet quite put a finger on it, so he just swallowed a lump and shook his hand.
"Thank you for everything, Old Nigel! I couldn't have made it out of that cell and all the way to here without you." he said.
"Well, you certainly couldn't. If you tried to escape without my knowledge of this place, you would have probably been on your way back to the torture room right about now. But you were lucky. You should really thank God for sending me on your way." he said, proud of his significance.
"If I ever manage to get out of here alive, I surely will. Also, although I know it's very unlikely, I would like it if our paths crossed again in the future. We're not that bad of a team, you know."
"Bah, I should hope not, Lucius. As much as it's entertaining to run around risking life with you, I much prefer my silent existential dread over that on any day of the week. You will find a lot better companions than me in the future, I'm sure of that! But enough of parting, young lad, we are wasting precious time that you already have so little of. Here!" he said as he went to the nearest torch that hung on the wall and took it in his hands, after which he handed it to Lucius. "You will need this. Or at least I think you will. I really don't know what's down there and on how much light you will be able to count on. Good luck and goodbye!"
"Goodbye and good luck to you too!" replied Lucius to the imp, who already began to run down the hall, waving to him.
He waved back, and then he bravely started descending the staircase with a sword in his right and a torch in his left hand. He was all alone now, and since he never experienced working in a team before this encounter with the Old Nigel, he just now understood what kind of disadvantage that put him in. Of course, the whole point of Hell Purgers was for them to serve as one-man armies, but he was still far away from that in terms of power and skills. He was just a little bit better than a regular soldier of Elysium, and currently even that was questionable, considering that his powers were taken away from him and he had to rely on the black knight's sword to serve him as a weapon and on a torch to illuminate the darkness for him.
Speaking of darkness, the staircase was expectedly unlit, and with every step taken, Lucius was descending deeper and deeper into the darkness, leaving the fortress's halls full of lit torches far above him. This unnerved him pretty much. He didn't even know what to expect to encounter down there, and he wasn't looking forward to finding it out either. He was at a serious disadvantage, and even that fight with the wolf was a close call, and that was with Old Nigel's assistance! Now that he was alone, even a simple groll looked more scary than it actually was, considering that he took out dozens of them himself while defending the Morning Star fortress. Trying to forget about his fears, Lucius focused his mind solely on the act of descending the staircase. Whatever is waiting for him down there, he first has to reach it. He'll worry about how to deal with it once he does.
After what seemed like solid ten minutes of walking down, Lucius finally reached his first obstacle. He noticed that he reached the end of the staircase and that the light was coming out of the room. Wherever there was light, there were certainly beings that needed it to see, and as he learned, grolls were one of them. It wasn't just a blind guess, because he could hear their voices, though he couldn't yet hear what they were saying. He put his torch out and left it lying on the steps. He sneaked down to the last steps, right next to the entrance to the room. He could now clearly hear their conversation. He carefully peeked around the corner. Four grolls were sitting at a table in a room with not much else than the aforementioned table, chairs they were sitting on, torches illuminating the room, which hanged on walls, and a stone object that served as a place on which the alarm bell hanged. This was a guard post, alright.
"I'm telling you people that that was the alarm drum from the battlements I heard! Something is happening up there; I'm sure of it." said the first groll.
"I'm telling you, it was your imagination. Besides, even if it was the alarm drum, it's no business of ours. Our job is to stay here and watch that someone who has no business being here doesn't pass through this room alive. The boys up there will take care of the rest." reminded the second one.
"He must have imagined it. Those stupid angels haven't attacked in centuries; what would make them attack today? Nothing special happened. They are not like us demons, who like to fight. They are a bunch of wusses that fight only when they have to." added the third one.
"Exactly! Persuading an angel to attack unprovoked is as hard as persuading a groll not to fight! That's why I'm telling him that he must have imagined it." said the second one again.
"But I'm telling you, I haven't imagined it! I woke up, and I could clearly hear the drum. That's why I woke all of you up so we could be ready for an attack. Somebody might be already coming down here to kill us all!" said the first one, persisting in his claim.
"There he goes again… Look, even if what you're saying is true, and I don't believe it is, why would anybody come down here? It's not like they have a map of the place to know that something important is down here, do they?" spoke the third one, ridiculing him.
The two others agreed, laughing at the first one, but the first one remained adamant that he was telling the truth, and that was seriously getting on the other's nerves.
"You know what? If you are so sure of what you're saying, why don't you grab a torch and go up the stairs to calm down your nerves? I'm sure you won't find a living soul, so you won't be in any danger, and you can leave us three alone to sleep in peace until the end of our shift, like we wanted to do in the first place. How does that sound to you?" asked the fourth, who had not spoken so far.
The first one wasn't that amazed by the idea, but the rest pressured him into agreeing with it because he was the one claiming that he heard the drum. After some more arguing, the first one reluctantly grabbed a torch of the wall and headed to the staircase where Lucius was hiding!