Far from Riften, Aurelia could be seen walking alongside Lun until they reached a group of people waiting by a carriage.
"Lady Aurelia. What a relief to see you are well."
She ignored them and climbed into the carriage, leaving Lun standing still.
"Load him up. And you better make sure he doesn't fall ill, or you'll face the consequences."
"Yes, Lady Aurelia!"
The men quickly placed Lun inside the carriage, where one of them handed him a potion.
"Drink this. It's for curing illnesses."
They gave him the potion, which he drank without any issue.
Once everything was prepared, they set off.
The carriage shook quite a bit due to the storm, but they pressed on, determined to reach their destination as soon as possible.
They left Riften via the road, passing by an abandoned watchtower where a torch was lit and extinguished as a signal for the carriage, prompting them to continue.
After nearly an hour, they arrived at a mine guarded by several individuals.
The carriage began to slow until it stopped at the entrance. One of the men stepped forward to help Aurelia down, but as soon as he touched her, she recoiled in pain.
"Lady Aurelia!"
The men quickly rushed to see what had happened.
"You fool! You have silver on you!"
The men stared at the one who had injured her.
"Slaves! Kill him!" Aurelia commanded.
The slaves lunged at him, killing him instantly.
"That cursed bastard," she muttered, clutching her wounded hand, which was already healing. "Make sure none of you carry any silver, or you'll suffer the same fate."
"Yes, Lady Aurelia!" they all responded.
"And bring the new one."
They took Lun out of the carriage and made him follow Aurelia into the mine.
Inside, the mine was well-organized, with slaves mining iron while others rested.
The entire area was brightly lit with torches, leaving no corner in darkness.
They continued deeper until they reached a steel door, which two slaves opened, revealing a spiral staircase leading downward. Aurelia and Lun descended.
As they went down, the torches gradually gave way to glowing mushrooms, which illuminated the surroundings with a soft light.
At the bottom, they arrived at a large chamber with a long table where several human corpses lay, while three vampiresses fed on them.
"Well, it's about time you arrived, Aurelia. It's unusual for you to be this late," one of the vampires remarked.
"Shut up, Liv. It's those slaves' fault for delaying my journey," Aurelia retorted.
A slave approached Aurelia, offering her a goblet of blood, which she accepted.
"At least some of you know how to behave."
The slave stepped back, joining others standing motionless at the edges of the chamber.
"Is this the new acquisition?" Liv asked.
"Yes, it wasn't too hard to take him, especially with so many Riften guards as our slaves. It's much easier than barging in and taking people by force," Aurelia complained.
"That's less fun," said another vampire, Kaela, standing up from the table.
"That's why you almost got caught, Kaela, and we had to create a mess in Riften with the children," Aurelia scolded.
"Minor details," Kaela replied nonchalantly. "But looking closer, this little one is quite intriguing."
Kaela examined Lun, touching his horns and sensing his essence, licking her lips as she did.
"He looks quite delicious."
"Step back, Kaela. That boy isn't food," said the third vampire, Yrsa.
"Alright, alright, calm down, Yrsa. I won't do anything. I wouldn't want to ruin your experiment," Kaela said, stepping away.
"Remember, none of you are to touch the children. Whether they live or die will depend on them. You two..." Yrsa addressed the slaves. "Take him to the back room and change his clothes so he's ready for the experiments."
"Yes, Lady Yrsa."
The slaves obeyed, leading Lun to the back room to prepare him.
"Stay still while we change your clothes," one of the slaves instructed.
Lun didn't respond but complied, making their job easier.
As they began removing his wet clothes, they discovered a scroll.
"Is that a magic scroll?"
"It seems so. He must have brought it from where Lady Aurelia found him."
"Let's leave it with the others."
They placed the Scroll of Scattershock aside and continued undressing him.
After drying his body with luxurious cloths, one of them retrieved a black robe.
They dressed him in the robe without resistance from Lun.
After a few minutes, he was fully dressed in a black tunic that covered most of his body, paired with a golden crown adorned with garnets.
"Finally, he's ready."
They brought him some food and placed it on a small table.
"Eat. It's an order from Lady Yrsa."
Lun glanced at them, then at the food, and began eating.
Once he finished, the slaves led him back to the giant chamber.
"You better not ruin Lady Yrsa's experiment," one of the slaves warned.
When he entered the large chamber, the vampiresses had finished feeding.
"At last, you're ready."
From the other side of the chamber, a slave emerged, carrying a crystal goblet filled with a strange red liquid.
"Drink this concoction completely, leaving nothing in the goblet. Do you understand?"
Yrsa ordered as the slave handed the goblet to Lun.
Lun didn't respond, simply staring at the goblet before carefully taking it.
"Did you hear me? I asked if you understood."
Lun remained silent.
"Aurelia, the hypnosis?" Yrsa inquired.
"Of course. But it was extremely odd. When I hypnotized him, I felt a strange sensation," Aurelia explained, recalling Lun's eyes.
"It could be due to the amount of magic he has. It's quite impressive that he almost matches ours," Liv speculated.
"You might be right. Tomorrow, we'll try hypnotizing him again," Yrsa decided. "But if he obeyed us now, it means he should follow our orders. Drink the concoction."
Lun gripped the goblet tightly and drank the concoction in one go.
"Perfect. Now, take him to a cell and lock it. I won't risk a failed hypnosis, letting such a rare specimen escape."
The slaves obediently escorted Lun down a dim corridor lit only by glowing mushrooms.
At the end of the hallway, they arrived at a small room with several empty cells. They placed Lun in one of them, locked it with a key, and checked the lock before leaving to report to their mistresses.
--
--
[Lun's POV]
'This situation couldn't be worse. I'm trapped in a vampire lair.'
Seeing that vampiress caught me off guard, allowing her to use that vampire power to manipulate people. But for some reason, I regained consciousness as we walked through their lair.
From what I could see, there were more than 20 vampire slaves and the four vampiresses, who seemed to be the only ones in charge.
Since I wasn't under hypnosis, the only thing I could do was pretend I was, staying silent even though they might try to hypnotize me again.
'How am I going to escape? In this situation, I see no way out. Everything I've practiced is useless here.'
I thought for a moment about the situation but couldn't understand one thing.
'What do they want with me?'
They cleaned me, fed me, and made me drink that strange liquid. For a moment, I thought it was blood, but it had no scent or taste—it was like drinking water.
'I'll have to wait and see how I can escape... or pray to the Divines for help, even though they don't just appear and save someone because they ask. This is truly going to be difficult.'