Kane watched as the Prelate swung his arm out towards the other men, who silently watched Bauer's true intentions unfold, holding out a finger before pointing forward, issuing a silent command for them to handle Bauer.
What are they going to do to him? wondered Kane, tilting his head to get a better view, though there was only so much he could see from above through an opening as wide as himself. They're not going to kill him, right? Although he hoped the answer was no, the seeds of doubt settled in, and he realized that he was about to become a bystander of a murder unfolding before his eyes.
Kane pushed himself off the ground, adrenaline coursing through his veins, his ears and chest burned in fear for Bauer's life as he looked around the room, in search of any tools or weapons. He'd never met the man, nor knew his name, yet a call to justice awaited, and Kane was ready to answer. He scoured the area, finding nothing hiding in the flesh-like environment, letting his mind feed into his anxiety.
"There has to be something," he mumbled under his breath, approaching the opening in the wall further back. He peered side to side, finding a set of stairs that led up to his right, and down to his left. "There aren't any weapons down there, I think," he turned right, sneaking up. "There isn't much time left either... Shit, I better hurry up."
Kane quickly ascended the stairs, skipping a step each time, until he reached the top, where he scouted the room. Much like the room below, the environment took on a flesh-like appearance, with a weaker marble pattern of crimson, pink, and maroon on the floor and walls. Within it, however, laid several racks of black weapons ranging from swords, halberds, glaives, pikes, bows, and crossbows, along with several dark wood grain chests laid along the ground. Further ahead, another opening that he could only imagine were more stairs.
Okay, so what are we taking? he asked himself as he paced around, eyeing the black weapons, knowing that no matter what he picked up, he lacked the experience to wield it properly. Screw it, let's check what's in the chests first. He walked over to one of the chests, flipping open a latch attached to a floral design, opening it to find staves of all shapes and sizes.
Where's the fucking armour!? he yelled internally, quickly flipping open multiple chests, only to find more staves, books, rings, talismans, which had him wondering if he was in a museum instead. Worst of all, one chest even possessed a singular bag of beans. What the fuck are they keeping a bag of beans for?
Though, in his confused irritation, he still pocketed the bag of beans and continued searching through the chests, finding nothing but wands, quivers, and potions. At the very least, he took notice of some healing potions, swirling the red tincture within. Though, confused about where the armour was yet again, he picked up a twig he found in the chest of wands and grabbed a longsword, before hastily, yet silently, making way back down, not exactly ready to rush in heavily outnumbered.
Before heading all the way down, however, he decided to take one more look down the hole to observe the situation. This time, the Prelate was nowhere to be seen, while the others fixed Bauer onto a marble altar protruding up from the ground at the back, adorned with shadowy runes that pulsated, along with small, blood red, needles that pierced his arms and calves as he was dropped on. Bauer hissed in pain, transitioning into a yell that echoed across the area, feeling the needles poking through the other side of his impaled limbs.
Seeing that the Prelate had left the room, Kane ran over to the stairs, nearly falling as he ran down, thanks to the longsword colliding with the wall. Despite his clumsiness he made it to the bottom. Three archways laid along both the walls to his left and right, and directly up ahead, about fifty metres ahead, was the gathering of the robed men who split up into five rows of four. Each group theatrically stood on the left and right, leaving way for two men to pass between and stand before Bauer, each tightly gripping a jagged red crystal, with a tip as thin as needles. Kane snuck around, making sure not to make any noise, and that no one was near the archways, listening in on the exchange of words between the two men and Bauer.
"Why ya haf tuh ruin it, Bawa?" asked one of the two men, his speech barely comprehensible.
"You could've been like us," said another, who spoke clearly.
Bauer clenched his jaw, his eyes shut just as tight, while his head squirmed around. Slowly, he peeked through squinted eyes and looked at the two men who stood over him like surgeons. It went without saying that both faces had... some peculiarities? One the men's faces was severely disfigured, and him keeping his mouth open to reveal both his missing front teeth, along with a severe malocclusion, didn't help his appearance. The other one was missing patches of skin, revealing his back teeth, parts of his cheek bones, and missing eyelids.
Bauer wanted to laugh, though the pangs of pain lashed at his mind as well, putting him through an anguish that he wished he could get over with faster.
"Come on," said Bauer, hissing in pain, speaking through his clenched jaws, "just get it over with and coronate yourselves as deacons."
"Shuh ting, Bawa," said the man missing his teeth, raising his hand up, ready to stab, though he was stopped by the other who grabbed his arm.
"Why the fuck are you stopping him?" asked Bauer, his brows creasing so much so that the wrinkles around his face darkened just as much as his black robes. "Come on, coward. Let him finish the job."
"Nuh uh," said the man missing patches of skin.
Bauer, somehow feeling less pain, stared at the man through his squinted eyes, his mouth contorting into half a smirk, half a scowl, before saying, "The fuck you mean, nuh uh?"
"It's a fuck or get fucked world, Bauer," he continued, looking at the crystal as he dragged a finger along its jagged side, taking a moment to pause. "And you, my friend, are getting fucked."
"Nuh uh."
This time, it was the man's turn to stare through squinted eyes, his brows furrowing together as he lowered his head, getting his eyes closer to Bauer's face, before saying, "The fuck you mean, nuh uh?"
"Nuh uh, motherfucker!" yelled Kane as he leapt at the man and swung at his neck, expecting a clean decapitation, though the blade was left lodged in the neck, followed by a shriek of pain that could make one's ears bleed.
"Get it out, you piece of shit!" yelled the man in a high pitched, tremulous voice, flailing his arms.
Kane, using all his might, forced the man to the ground by pushing against the blade, until it eventually cut through, painting the marble floor in a new crimson varnish. He stood up once again, holding the sword with trembling hands and the tip pointed towards the men who slowly approached him, but still kept their distance.
"Listen to me, Bauer," said Kane, gritting his teeth as he slowly backed away from the angry men, "I'm getting you out of here."