Kingdom's Bloodline, page 466
Then, Thales stepped onto flat ground again. They had reached the next floor.
Ricky kicked away a piece of wood that blocked their path, and raised his torch.
They were still greeted by a stone pillar with the Alchemy Tower's symbol at the center of the floor, a familiar building structure, and nine prison cells with only pitiful skeletons left.
'Wait, nine?' Thales noticed that this room was a little bigger than the one on the previous floor.
"There's still no one." Ricky lowered the torch and shook his head in disappointment. "Let's keep going."
Thales stopped looking around curiously and suppressed his desire to carefully study this place when Marina shoved him from behind.
There was still no one on the third floor. Only skeletons were left. The fourth floor, the fifth floor, the sixth floor…
Every time they descended a floor, there were more and more prison cells—the number of cells would increase by one with each level they descended—and the rooms were bigger and bigger.
Thales said to himself, 'Black Prison is like a cone buried under the ground.'
As they failed to find their target, they were disappointed again and again, and had to face the same dark scenery over and over, Thales felt as though he was walking in the desert again. He also noticed that the people in the group were also gradually getting affected.
In the boundless darkness, the people talked lesser and lesser. Only the sound of footsteps echoed in their ears, and the atmosphere grew more and more depressing.
They reached another floor of prison cells.
"This is already the tenth floor." Klein exhaled. There was impatience on his face. "Ricky, if we still can't find what we're looking for, then we might need to think about our route of retreat."
The moment he said that, the Disaster Swords' faces darkened in unison.
"Hmm..." Lasalle looked at Stake who stood next to him. "Makes sense."
Stake did not answer him. Instead, he shot a glance at Ricky.
Ricky furrowed his eyebrows a little. He held his torch to illuminate the area around him. When he realized with disappointment that there were still only skeletons, he turned and said to Samel, "Perhaps we have to go further down, perhaps… Are you sure that he's still alive?"
Samel went to the front of the prison cells. Holding his torch, he bent down, and carefully studied the skeletons before his eyes.
His voice was a little stiff.
"I believe wholeheartedly that he's definitely alive."
'He?' Thales saw that Klein shrugged and gave Josef a disapproving look.
Josef understood what he meant. "You might believe that he's still alive… but do all of you know how much damage imprisonment can do to a person?"
Josef crossed his arms, his voice ringing in everyone's ears. "Especially in Black Prison. You can only spend your days in loneliness, live your days aimlessly, and die in misery. From the day you are locked up to the day you die, all your contact with the outside world will be cut off, and no one would be able to hear your wails and cries. Believe me, I've been imprisoned quite a few times… very few people can persevere for that long."
Samel froze for a moment and stood up. After a few seconds, he only shook his head resolutely. "If it's him, he can definitely hold on, no matter what kind of harm is inflicted upon him."
Thales' heart skipped a beat. 'Him?'
Josef smiled. "Do you know what the most frightening punishment for a human being is? It's not death, not pain, and not torture." Josef sighed softly, seemingly sentimental. "It's isolation."
Samel stood still on the ground and did not move. Thales could only see from behind that he was trembling slightly.
Josef walked slowly. "When you lose all channels of communication with the outside world, and are totally sealed off and isolated in an eternal darkness with no one to listen to you, talk to you, react to you, wait for your reaction, interact with you… You won't be able to see anything new, hear new voices, and experience new things. Everything around you, including yourself, will be the same. You will repeat every single day the same way forever…"
In the darkness, Josef raised his voice. There was a hint of hatred and a dispirited tone in his voice, making the others feel rather uncomfortable.
Thales saw that Samel had slowly clenched his fists.
"On the first day, it'll still be alright, you can still deal with it.
"On the third day, you will feel bad all over and become extremely agitated. You will jump around, hit the wall, and punch the floor.
"On the fifth day, you'll start thinking constantly about memories from the past. Good ones, bad ones, painful ones, pleasing ones… The images will be there, flashing back and forth, whether you want it or not.
"One week later, you will start talking to yourself. You will constantly look lifeless. You will do things your own way, like how a maniac would. But those memories, the past… they'll start to fade away. You'll feel them slip from your fingers, as if they're no longer yours."
As he talked, Josef seemed to become more absent-minded.
"In two weeks, the eventual despair and madness will come knocking, and you'll do everything you wouldn't have even thought of since you left your mother's womb, because you'll be at a point where you can't differentiate between the present and the past, between yourself and the you who exists in your memories."
Josef chuckled, and his gaze was distant, as if he remembered something.
"And when one month has passed, most people will become incoherent, and their minds will become confused. They'll often lack emotions, degrade intellectually, and their entire being will degenerate into a beast. It'll be useless even if you let them out now."
Josef's tone was downcast, as if he was narrating a story with a bad ending.
"They're forever lost in a lonely hollow, and will never be able to return. This is the effect imprisonment can have on a person, especially solitary confinement. No matter who you are, and no matter how powerful you are, once you are imprisoned for more than a certain period of time, you won't be able to come back."
Josef's voice slowly faded away. The people grew incredibly depressed.
Samel was silent for a very long time. Ricky did not urge him to speak. Instead, he gazed at him quietly. A few seconds later, Samel inhaled deeply.
"No. He's definitely still of sound mind." Samel turned abruptly. "He is the most valiant fighter, the most honorable knight, and the most noble model for me to follow. He taught me how to fight, persevere, and… He can definitely make it through."
Cracking sounds came out from Samel's knuckles, and his eyes were fiery.
"Moreover, he is the only one who knows what that is. Only him."
Ricky nodded slowly and said nothing. Josef shrugged at Klein with an expression that said that he could do nothing else to this situation.
The prince furrowed his eyebrows. 'Who's the person they're looking for? What does he know?'
He was not the only one who had those questions.
"Who in the world are you looking for?" Lasalle heard their conversation and asked, displeased, "You should know that we are pressed for time."
"Is that so?" Samel pointed at the staircase and said with a cold snort. "No one will stop you if you want to go first "
For a moment, Lasalle was speechless.
Ricky looked at everyone and sighed. "Let's go on."
So, they began anew the cycle of advancing downwards.
'Darkness. Silence. Underground. The past. Mysteriousness.'
The words flashed through Thales' mind one after another, then repeated.
Step by step, floor by floor...
Finally, after passing by an unknown number of empty prison cells, they reached a room with more than ten prison cells. No, this room was so big that it can be called a hall.
Ricky stood still in the hall.
"What's wrong?" Klein walked forward in disgust, and raised his torch to illuminate his surroundings. It was the same as the other floors—there were many prison cells and skeletons
"It's still the same. Nothing other than dead people."
However, Thales noticed something different. Among the ten or so prison cells separated by metal railings, one prison cell was especially strange.
It was all black. No bars, skeletons, or anything could be seen in it. It was all darkness. Like… there was a dark curtain was draped outside the cell.
Soon, the others also noticed this. Ricky narrowed his eyes.
"The other prison cells only have bars." He slowly walked forward—stepping on the rubble—and steadily went near the room with the 'curtain' cover while he raised his torch. "But this—"
"Be careful." Samel approached from the other side and said with a frown, "You don't know how many things the Constellatiates inherited from the Alchemy Tower "
Ricky nodded. He raised his torch and carefully tapped the thick 'curtain' while he stood in front of that strange prison cell.
*Thud, thud.*
A dull and sonorous voice echoed in the small and narrow Black Prison. Everyone subconsciously placed their hands on their weapons, guarded against any possible danger.
However, a few second passed and nothing happened. It was still quiet in that prison cell.
This was when everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"It's made of iron, it either came from above or below the gap in the floor beyond the bars." Ricky crouched and carefully observed the point of contact between that iron curtain and the ground. "It's at least some kind of metal. I reckon that this thing separates this prison cell from the hall outside it."
He raised his head and asked Samel, "Is this the one?"
Samel stood beside the iron curtain, and looking at a sign made of unknown material.
"No." Samel carefully studied the text on it and said in a steady voice, "It's written on this sign that a lone thief who ran rampant in the southern part of the kingdom around twenty years ago is locked here."
Lasalle narrowed his eyes. "Thief?"
But the iron curtain suddenly shook!
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Everyone was startled and took a step back in unison.
In the extremely oppressing darkness, the frightening and dull sound rose suddenly.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
"Calm down." Ricky immediately drew out his sword and vigilantly watched the iron curtain which shook unceasingly along with the dull sound.
Klein's face went pale. "This is…"
The fearful group stared at each other, at a loss for what to do.
At this moment...
"Hic… AAAAHHHHHH!"
A faint and miserable cry rang from a spot dozens of meters away from them. It echoed in the darkness.
Chapter 409: Behind The Iron Curtain |
"Aahhhhhhh!..."
The strange wail lasted for a whole five or six seconds before it slowly faded away. Everyone's faces were pale.
Only the echoes were left. They floated in the dark and empty hall, barely discernible, and brought a chill to everyone's hearts.
"What's the matter?" Ricky furrowed his brow and barked out an order, "Report!"
The Disaster Swords turned their heads together as they nervously searched for the source of the scream. More than a dozen torches were raised to light up the surrounding area. The group members were like adventurers exploring and developing a wasteland. They were nervous while on the lookout for the unfamiliar, and the unknown.
The surprised and bewildered Thales stopped using hell's senses. Except for the dust, the old stone table, and the cells full of bones, he saw nothing else.
Ricky's command was passed down from person to person, from the hall to the heavily guarded stone steps.
"No." After a long while, Shawn spoke from behind them while huffing and puffing. "It's not from us. Everything at the rear is normal."
The worry on Ricky's face became more prominent.
Meanwhile, Stake spoke in low whispers with a subordinate who appeared out of nowhere before the latter retreated into the darkness. Then, Stake solemnly raised his head.
"It's also not us... it's something else."
Ricky turned to Samel and cast an inquisitive look at the former Constellatiate noble.
Samel seemed to have discovered something. He looked at the iron sign next to the iron curtain in slight surprise, then at a hanging ring next to the iron plate. "So this is—"
However, at that moment...
"Uwaaaahhhh!!"
The heart-breaking, blood-curdling, and pained scream traveled faintly from the darkness again. Everyone's hearts tensed once more!
This time, the horrible 'ghostly wail' was accompanied by a piercing and unbearable screech, formed by someone scratching on something.
*Screeeeeech..!.*
Almost everyone subconsciously frowned, and some even covered their ears with their hands.
"What the hell?!" Lasalle face's twitched. "What's going on?!"
While the harsh and unpleasant noise continued, Ricky grabbed his sword hilt tightly and suppressed his annoyance before he asked Samel, "Do you think this is related to the Alchemy Tower?"
"Ahhhhhh!!"
*Screeeeech…!*
Thales gritted his teeth tightly, and felt that this sound made him incredibly nervous. It was similar to a sound he remembered in his past life, of someone scratching the blackboard with their fingernails.
When he thought of this, he was suddenly stunned. 'Scratching a blackboard?'
At this point, the contemplating Samel suddenly said, "I know what this is!" Samel turned his head around and looked delighted, like a lost traveler who found a water source in the desert.
"This is is the scratching of nails on the surface of rough metal!" Samel touched the surface of the iron curtain and said excitedly, "It's coming from behind this curtain!"
Everyone was stunned! Countless pairs of eyes looked at the heavy and strange iron curtain. Thales looked at the iron plate next to the iron curtain and used hell's senses.
[Angelo, male, born Year 622 in Walla Hill]
[Imprisoned in Year 653. Crimes: Murder, robbery, theft, murder of nobles, unlawful assembly]
[Adjudicator: Johnny Brennan, Judge of Jade City]
[Warden: Joshua Covendier, Viscount of Arch Sea City]
[Warden: Garrett Luhmann, Baron of Blade Fangs Camp]
'Imprisoned in Year 653...' Thales wrinkled his brow slightly. There was another name on the iron plate:
[Fowler, male, born Year 613, somewhere in the Eastern Peninsula]
[Imprisoned in Year 653. Crimes: Smuggling, theft, tax evasion]
[Adjudicator: Johnny Brennan, Judge of Jade City]
[Warden: Joshua Covendier, Viscount of Arch Sea City]
[Warden: Garrett Luhmann, Baron of Blade Fangs Camp]
[Note: Died in Year 672]
Ricky seemed to have figured something out. He looked at the iron curtain, then at the iron plate next to him. Surprise appeared on his face. "So, the lone thief written on the plate is still alive?"
The pained wailing and scratching sounds gradually weakened. It then turned into a low-pitched whine.
"Wuuu..."
This time, Thales recognized the sound. This was someone sobbing, but when it went through the thick iron curtain, the pitch changed.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the iron curtain and whatever that was behind it.
"I understand now." Before everyone's eyes, Samel walked to the middle of the iron curtain. Under the light, he scrutinized the special room covered by the iron curtain.
"This is the switch for the Black Prison. I don't know whether it was built with the Alchemy Tower, or whether it was modified by the Constellatiates.
"The cells we saw earlier are full of bones, but those are all empty cells. This one with the iron curtain is the only cell with anyone alive." Samel looked at the hanging ring on the wall carefully. His voice was a little grave. "This ring is the switch that controls the opening and closing of this iron curtain."
The distorted sobs behind the iron curtain continued to linger in the air.
As he listened to Samel's words, Thales looked at everything in the hall with complex feelings. His eyes swept over the thick dust, and over the workmanship in the hall that was inconspicuous but unique, and might have been made one thousand years ago...
"Beldin. He's a veteran of the Royal Guards, and the chief penal officer after Zakriel was promoted. He was responsible for bringing criminals sentenced by the royal family to the Prison of Bones. He told me many years ago that the felons in Black Prison suffered from the pain of dying and living at the same time. I never understood what he meant until today."
Samel's hand gently stroked the ring, and swept off a layer of dust. His tone was airy.
"The living prisoners are locked inside the cell. The iron curtains then rise and isolate them from the light and the hall. The supplies are thrown down through holes above them, but they will only land behind the iron curtain, into the hands of the cells with the living inside them."
He looked incredulously at the other empty cells around him. Then, he swept his gaze over the dried skeletons behind the bars.
"By doing so, the despair of being isolated from the world descends on the prisoners, but the hope of dragging out their miserable existences is also given to them. Two kinds of suffering," said Samel dully. His face was very unpleasant. Everyone fell silent.
The former Baron Lasalle had a grave look on his face. "Why isn't this prisoner behind the iron curtain talking or calling for help? Why is he only wailing like a ghost and scratching the curtain?"
Stake shrugged, and did not speak. The one who answered him was Josef, whom was rescued by the Disaster Swords.
"Because he can't." Josef shook his head. It startled Lasalle slightly.
"It's just like practicing with the sword. If you don't practice it for one day, your skills will become rusty. As I have said, when you are isolated from the world, and stay in a lonely cell with no other people for too long, so long that it exceeds your imagination..." The Disaster Sword whom had just been released from the Prison of Bones looked at each person, and those who met his eyes felt a chill.
