Voyage Of The Villainess

In a dark and swamp underground, several people were dragged into the corner. Some were unconscious and those that were not were crying in anguish begging for their lives.

They were surrounded by people wearing dark clothes. Red and black candles were lighted everywhere in the place.

The massive stone brick door began to split in two. As soon as the door was wide open, it revealed Oliver, the witch, and Edas in the midst.

Two people walked towards them and gave their salutations. 

"Greetings to Milord." they bowed in unison. "Greetings to our queen."

"Charrio, the preparations?" The witch asked.

"They are now complete."

A malicious grin escaped the witch\'s mouth as she turned around towards Oliver. "Milord, all has been prepared."

"I see..." Oliver glanced towards the people who were trembling. His expressions were unreadable.

["Oliver, I have something to tell you. About your real father."]

"Begin the ceremony," Oliver said. 

"Yes, Milord." The witch raised her hands and black energy started to erupt from it. The fire from the candles intensified and a huge magic circle began to emerge below the people.

The cloaked people also began to chant some incomprehensible words.

"Please, we beg you, don\'t kill us! Please have mercy on us." 

The people were greatly horrified as they kept screaming and begging. They tried to run but spears were aimed at them whenever they moved.

Soon the magic circle started to glow with deep red light. And the ground started shaking. The ceiling above began to break into two.

Oliver glanced up. The thick and dark clouds covering the skies began to split in two as well. And the full white moon was revealed. 

The sight might be beautiful to anyone looking above the night sky right now. But to those people in the ground, right now, the soft and milky glow of the moon gave an even more ominous sensation on the ground. And as soon as the ray hit the people below...

"Ahhhh!!!" 

The people who were inside the magic circle began to writhe in pain. "Please, have mercy on us!"

Blood started to spurt out from their eyes as they clutched their heads.

"Argh! My head!" They felt like their heads right now were being hammered by something.

Their cries of pain intensified, and the chant of the cloaked people around them intensified as well. It becomes louder and more aggressive.

Callan who was behind Charrio glanced up to the people who were now screaming like some madmen. They were of different ages and genders. Men, women, children, and the elderly. He clenched his fist and bowed down once again to not look at the people being sacrificed right now.

"Ah," The witch\'s voice echoed. "This screams of agony, hopelessness, and pain. How delightful. This is what makes my soul alive. Hahaha!" She cackled even loudly. The dark lifa the witch was releasing intensified. "Delightful creatures, cry even more! Give us the power that stems from your sufferings hahaha!"

The blood of the people that dropped on the magic circle made it glow even more. It was like the circle was sucking the blood out of these people.

"Mama!"

"Don\'t be afraid, I\'ll protect you." 

Multiple people who have their loved ones and children hugged each other.  There was fear in the children\'s eyes and hopelessness in the adults as they kept reassuring their children. But in fact, they were now given up.

Callan closed his eyes. 

[\'Callan,\'

\'Callan, I\'m happy that I have you in this world.\'

\'When we grow up, we\'ll become extremely rich where we can spoil ourselves and those people like us. We will give them food. Share the things we will have with them. No one will starve anymore.\']

"Nesha..." Callan clenched his fists. "Forgive me."

A small swirl of wind started to emerge in his hands but then he felt a small tap on his right shoulder.

When he looked up, Charrio was looking at him intently. "Don\'t do anything reckless." He said in a low voice that only Callan could hear. "If you want to see her again, keep still and do not act recklessly. Even I will not be able to do anything if you do something here now."

The magic circle and the chanting were already at their peak.

The people were no longer screaming as well. And it could be seen that their colors had become paler.

"It\'s almost over," Oliver said as he started to walk towards the people. 

"Oliver! Release them!"

Oliver smirked when he heard that very familiar voice. He glanced up to see a woman flying high above the skies.

Her black hair was fluttering along with her flowy white dress. She looked like an angel descended from the heavens.

"You\'re here." Oliver stated."It seems as though we have an unexpected guest today."

"I, Cheong, Hyun Jae, the Saintess will stop you." Pain flashed towards Hyun Jae\'s eyes as she glanced down towards Oliver.

{ Dear Hyun Jae,

I apologize if I lie to you. But in truth, Oliver had already gained the advantage of us. I can\'t tell you what I really plan since there is a spy he already planted on us.

Read carefully what the things I need to tell you and after this burn the letter and don\'t let anyone read its contents including the crown prince or Sir Theodore. But you can tell them the basic details that I would tell you.

Now to the main point, the first thing to defeat Oliver is to choose carefully whom you will trust. }

Hyun Jae inhaled deeply. She glanced down at Oliver, who was also looking also at her with an unreadable expression. Without saying anything again, she folded both her hands into a prayer. She closed her eyes and started chanting. Light particles started to surround her.

---⚓⚓⚓---

"Bring them all out!" 

*Clank!*

Rhyme slowly opened his eyes when he heard sounds of clanking of metals.

A foul smell of something decaying assaulted Rhyme\'s nose. \'What\'s with that smell?\' Rhyme blinked a few more times to clear his vision.

The first thing Rhyme saw was...

Skeleton. Skeletons and more skeletons...

Rhyme backed off when he saw multiple skeletons hanging above him. 

\' Where the hell am I? And what is this?\'

He held his mouth and began to vomit. He stayed like that for a few minutes. 

"Ah! Please spare us!" Rhyme woke up from his stupor when he heard multiple sounds of metal being unlocked and the cries of different people.

"What in the world is this place?" His voice was full of curiosity.

*Clang!* Rhyme looked down and saw that both his ankles had rust metals chained that attach on them.

Though he couldn\'t stop himself from not trembling due to the skeletons. He started to walk closer to the hall that had the only light from the torches. There were shadows of people playing there.

\'This place? Am I in prison of sorts?\' he said as he started to observe his surroundings.

"Argh..." Rhyme tensed when he heard a groan behind him. As he turned around to see what could be, he heard more groans. As he narrowed his gaze, his line of sight spotted someone in the corner of the cell.

"That is..." His eyes widened when he realized who it was. On the left side of the cell, there was Maru. He was chained upside down on the wall. Since there were those skeletons hanging, Rhyme didn\'t see him right away due to curiosity. "Sir Maru!" 

Rhyme immediately rushed to his side. "Sir Maru!" He whispered out loud and tried to shake him off to wake him. But Maru wasn\'t waking up at all. "Hey! Can you hear me? It\'s me Rhyme" 

That\'s when Rhyme noticed that Maru was covered with bruises. He checked his pulse and his gaze narrowed when he heard something different.

"There is something in his heartbeat. For sure they probably  poisoned him." Once again, Rhyme was startled when he heard another voice. Rhyme turned around with great caution. Under the light of the torch, On the right corner of the room, there was an old man, whose eyes didn\'t contain irises nor pupils walked out and stared at Rhyme. He had a long white beard and his body was bone and skin.

"I saw them feed that unconscious man a black vial. He was shouting a while ago like he was in enormous pain. Poor guy, I can totally feel all his pain due to the sounds he made. But just a few moments before you wake up, he suddenly stopped screaming and become motionless."

"You are?" Rhyme unconsciously stepped back. 

"Don\'t be wary of me young man, I\'m just another prisoner like you here." The old man said. Then he glanced outside the cell. "And it seems there will probably be great chaos tonight." The old man looked at Rhyme seriously and directly in his eyes.. "I have an offer to you that would be an advantage to us.  To escape this chaos, are you willing to cooperate with me, young man?"