The hall descended for hundreds of feet in a gradual twisting path. The souls that James had first felt under the city the other day were now gone, apart from those making the drugs. Slowly the path leveled out, once they were well under the city. When they came to an open metal door, they paused.

"This looks like old world technology," Luna stated as she stepped up to the palm scanner.

James couldn't help but agree. The door was already open and nearly off its hinges as he ran his hand over the metal. Scratch marks pitted the metal, leaving traces of blood behind. "How long were they trapped in here?"

"The blood is still fresh." Touching the scratch marks, Luna came away with tinged fingers.

Amber joined them and started sniffing the air. "There's more blood further in. That and what smells like mold."

Entering the room, James found himself in a bunker of some kind. Thick concrete walls and floor gave space to an entrance twenty feet wide by thirty feet long. Dirty footprints covered the floor, while traces of melted ice or plain water lingered in spots. Chips of concrete were missing from the walls and ceiling, leaving behind a dusty layer over the dry areas.

Tian stepped up to him as James knelt in the middle, touching a few wet footprints. "Where are we?"

Glancing at the man, James shook his head. "An old world bunker by the looks of it." Pointing out the broken door and hall leading further in, he added, "the question I have is, what are we going to find down there?"

Luna stepped up to the door and started sniffing the air. "The blood and mold is coming from further in."

"The door looks freshly broken," Jamie stated. "The Forsaken weren't in this room for very long."

James moved to the next hall and followed the low light further into the complex. When he came across his first body, he waved everyone over. What he found was a human, dressed in rags, or what was left of rags after the Forsaken was done with him.

Blood coated the area, while an arm lay ten feet away with the appearance that it was ripped off. Holes littered the man's body, while shards of stone lay around him.

"Tortured, by the looks of it." Picking up a stone, James tossed it to Luna. "How old is the blood?"

Sniffing the blood, she gingerly touched it. It was sticky, and still damp, but mostly dried. "An hour, maybe two."

"When we killed the albino?" James questioned.

"Albino?" Tian asked.

Amber answered for them. "The King of the Night that ruled the slums and demi-human district. James killed him so I could take over. For all the good that did."

Standing, James started down the hall again. "We're still taking over, and we have the goodwill of the people."

"Why are you taking over?" Tian questioned.

Not stopping, James glanced over his shoulder at the man. "We need the peoples' help in order to strike at the sect. They attacked Settling Stone, and in turn targeted my friends and family. We are here to pay them back."

"You know I'm part of the sect, right?"

Chuckling, James nodded. "We do, but we could also kill you in an instant if we needed to. After the sect didn't help with the monsters, I don't see why I shouldn't wipe most of you out."

"I lost a lot of good enchanters today, fighting them off. Don't say that I didn't help."

Turning away from the man and his anger, James asked, "why didn't the sect descend from the mountain? I thought the purpose of the sect was to protect the people in times like this. Yet, I had to step in."

"Why did you?" Tian asked.

Amber jumped in. "One reason is that they killed three of our friends that were in the slums when it started. We tried to save them…"

James stopped and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I should have known. I shouldn't have left them alone."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Luna tried to soothe him. "There was no way to know, James. We all would have given the same orders, so why are you the one that gets to take the blame?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Sighing, he opened his arms to her, and she gladly stepped into the hug. "I'm sorry. I just wish I knew why killing that man triggered this."

"Should I yell at you to let him go, like you did to me?" Amber teased.

Growling, Luna held him tighter.

Holding up her hands, Amber laughed. "Okay, okay! I get the message."

"Can we continue now?" Jamie asked. "We all know James is horny and will take any woman at this point. Even if I wouldn't mind watching."

Luna let him go and shook her head. "You just want to watch so you can see our tails waving in the air."

"Guilty!"

Rolling his eyes, James continued down the hall until they came to a much larger room. Easily one hundred feet by one hundred, the large space was filled with rows of cells and cages. They were so cramped and small that hundreds of people could be housed.

"Well, we found where they were stored," James muttered.

"By the heavens…" Tian stepped into the room and panned his gaze over the dimly lit area.

"If they took them as children, why were there adults with them?" Jamie questioned.

They all turned to her before turning to Tian. "How long have children been going missing?" James asked.

"I don't know," Tian admitted. "I didn't hear about it until Zenaria told me the other day."

Rubbing his chin, James proceeded to search the room. Splitting up, they all searched, hoping for some sort of answers to the riddles of the Forsaken. When James found enchantments on the cell doors, he called Jamie over.

"They look to be runes that were triggers and tied to a person," Jamie stated.

Running his fingers over them, James agreed. "I can tell that as well. Were they all tied to the albino?"

"That's likely. It would make sense that killing him, let all of them out."

Taking a deep breath, James said, "we have so much to learn about enchanting still. If they can do stuff like this, how long until we can?"

"A while. This can only be done if the material agrees with you. A Master Enchanter did this."

Calling Tian over, James asked, "do you have anyone that can do something like this?"

"Yeah, I do." Running his fingers over the runes, Tian's frown grew. "Only a few if I'm being honest."

Touching the runes again, James pushed his soul against them, trying to understand them more. A slight connection was still present in the runes and ideas came to him about how the metal accepted the enchantment. What he wasn't ready for was a notification.

Enchanting: Level 3/10

"Did…did you just level up?" Jamie questioned with a growing frown.

"I did." Winking, he added, "I'm going to pass you any day now. Then I will be your master."

Grumbling, she stood and walked away. "I'll show you…"

Tian chuckled at them. "I'll keep looking for more enchantments. I'll also have Zenaria help me put a list together of the people that could create them."

"Thank you." Stretching out his arms, James stepped into one of the cells. The bed was filthy and took up almost the entire space. What he also found was enchantments on the mattress. "Odd."

Tian joined him. "Those enchantments are used at the hospitals to help people rest."

Not wanting to touch them, James reached out with his soul instead. A sense of recovery and sleep pressed against him, letting him know what they possibly did. "I see."

"They help keep people asleep for surgeries and healing," Tian stated. "They were likely keeping the Forsaken asleep at most times."

"What caused them to wake up then?" James knew he would likely get the answer if he searched a body of one of the Forsaken. He would need to do that when he left the bunker.

"I can't say," Tian answered after a moment. "The bars are also reinforced by quite a large margin. To the point that core cultivators wouldn't be able to get out."

Grabbing one of the bars, James flexed his strength and broke it clean off, crumbling part of the ceiling and floor. "Maybe I should take this with and study it." Before he could savor Tian gawking at him, he added it to his storage.

"Found another body!" Amber shouted from further into the complex.

Leaving the cell, he hurried over with Tian. This time, it was a dwarf that had been working in the bunker. His ragged clothes were severely damaged, and he had a stack of papers that were ruined in his hands.

Grabbing them, James tried to read what was written, but they had been soaked in water and illegible. "Damn."

"That's what I said," Amber muttered. "I was hoping they would have answers."

"I think we all were," Luna stated before kneeling by the man. "His blood is as fresh as the previous one if not a tad older. The Forsaken clearly didn't like the man."

"They didn't like any of the living," James pointed out. "They were torturing people for sport. What twisted them so badly?"

"Besides being experiments?" Amber asked.

Rubbing his eyes, James nodded. "I don't think they were sane anymore."

"I need to study one," Tian voiced. "Jamie, can you help if we can recover one?"

"Gladly."

James turned to the back of the bunker. "There should be a room they did experiments in. Let's find it."

Taking the lead, James led the group to a large sliding door at the back of the bunker. It was the only door they could find, and once he pressed his palm to the reader and stepped inside, he frowned.

Dozens of tables filled the room with cowering workers huddled in the back, staring at the entrance in fear.

"Don't let them leave," James growled.

Luna stepped forward and pressed down on them with her soul, freezing them in place before they could move. They ranged from humans to demi-humans, all dressed in rags while some of them held scalpels and hammers as weapons.

"We need to question them," Tian said. "Maybe we can learn a thing or two."

Cracking her knuckles, Amber stepped forward. "I'll take over here. All of you out. I'll get our answers."

"Why you?" Tian asked.

"Because people love to tell me the truth." Smiling, Amber shooed them away.

Luna let the people go and Amber took over. Once James was sure she was fine, he pulled everyone from the room and walked them back to the entrance of the bunker.

"Will she be okay?" Tian asked.

"She'll be fine," James assured him. "She has a special skill that makes people tell her the truth."

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