Devils Own ( Steampunk and Mystic ) 4.2

4.2

Kassius sat down in the ground hole dug earlier to hold the group of people. They were part of the Citadel and were named the Seekers. They were on their way out of the siege towards the open lands for medicine and other essentials which the earth could not give. They are also the ones who lead the others out of the Citadel, or back in. The lady who led the trio there sat across of Kassius. She was nursing her right wrist which was bruised in the last fight.

“Assassin, tell me of your last battle.” Derreen asked of him. Kassius had not disclosed their names and she did not ask for any. He was to reply when Lucas jumped in with the vivid version of the battle. Kassius intervened to stop the narration and asked why they are idling there.

“We have still another hour before we could leave. By then it will be sundown and the patrols will stop.” Derreen replied. “So tell me Assassin why do you come to the Citadel?’

“We …” Kassius was interjected by Irina who explained that she seek the Pawn Shop.

“The Pawn Shop?” Derreen frown her expression. She then stares into Irina before she asked.

“The Pawn Shop? I am ever curious as that is the place to seek asylum in the Citadel. Why would you want to come in there when we are all leaving?”

‘Leaving? Why are your people abandoning the Citadel?” Kassius asked. To his knowledge the Citadel is the stronghold of the mystic and was the bastion of resistance.

“So you did not know.” Derreen sighed. “The Citadel is in ruins from the constant bombing by the King’ dirigibles. Merlin himself had asked us to leave.”

“The Citadel in ruins?” Irina expressed her concerned. She had been there before the siege and wondered how the place was affected. She asked on some landmarks that she could recall.

“They are either close to ruins or piled with rubbles.” Derreen replied. “The bombing started some months back on the order of the King. He had sent his ships over the high wall of the Citadel. We had sent the dragons but they were no matched for the fire power of the cannons. We lost most of our dragons before they were asked to leave by Merlin.”

“Only Merlin’s citadel stood alone among the ruins.” Derreen continued on. “Merlin had constructed the new magical wall, but it was only to cover his own. He suffered daily in using the magical vibes to put up the wall.

Among some of us, we had adapted to the new world inventions, and this is one of them.”

Derreen striped off the armor pads to reveal her feminine frame. Without the padded clothing, she looked half her size, and was a match for Irina in beauty. She was dressed in a simple tunic that reached her knees while her feet were tucked into the high soft leather boots. Lucas, who was affected by the presence of the lady, renewed his keenness on the unfolded beauty.

“Can you take us in?” Kassius asked of the lady. She nodded and then smiled.

“First tell me your name.” Derreen asked of Kassius.

“Kassius and this is …” But the lady was past listening while she climbed out of the shallow hole. Irina walked up to Kassius and voiced her view.

“She is much too young for you.” Irina then huffed herself over and joined the departing lady. Kassius smiled at the words before he pulled himself up. Lucas followed suit and soon caught up with Derreen in the front.

After a short walk, they reached a stream and it was getting dark. Derreen asked them to take a drink there while she scouts the area. She soon appeared and told them to follow her. She led them to the edge of the stream and spoke out some incantations. The water in the stream weave up like a bridge and below it, an image of a staircase was seen. She stepped in and down the staircase which was wet but not slippery. It was made not of steel or sand but of a layer of water. On every step she took, the walls next to it will light up to show the next three steps. Derreen took the steps with the others following close. Kassius was last and after he stepped onto the water staircase, the doorway at the rear collapsed. They found themselves in a water cocoon, shaped like a staircase. Each step they took, three more steps get lighted up while behind, three steps will disappear. Kassius looked around but he could only see the soil of the ground as it unfolded layers of its silt. It was then he saw the faces in the soil. They were calling out as if in pain or for companionship.

“Ignore them.” Derreen replied. “They are the inter-dimensional souls that had been trapped in there.”

Kassius was to ask more but Derreen had motioned to him to keep quiet. They descended for another short distance, before they reached an underground cavern with a stream that the flowed by it. It was half circular in design with jagged ceiling and broken rocks for river bank. The water was greenish and it looked slimy, but then again, it radiates a bluish aura just above the surface.

“Step onto the water, and hold tight.” Derreen spoke up and led Kassius by the hand onto the flowing water. Instead of sinking into the water current, Kassius found him afloat and moving with the current. He looked back to see Irina having to step in by her own and then assisting the fumbling Lucas into the current. Once they stepped onto the current, their feet seem to stay glued to the current. The stream flow them past several caverns of similar designs, and some of it was inhabited by people as if waiting for their turn. The stream does not branch out to any smaller inlet or branches but was one long lonely stretch.

“The current flows in every hour and then out in the next hour. We are on time to have caught the current.” Derreen explained. She then warned them of the impending danger.

“Up ahead is the fun zone.” Derreen explained. “Hang on.” 

Without much of a warning, the four of them were soon hurled out of the stream current into open air; a long drop as the stream jets out of the wall side, and cascade down for over a hundred feet before they land on top of the joining stream current. Everyone landed on their feet except for Lucas who have landed on his rear haunches. Kassius looked back to Irina who was infuriated with rage for the last moment warning, but they were soon relieved when they find the current there was flat. More to it, they were not moving at all, as they were no moving current on the stream. Derreen then led them on a walk on the water surface to reach a jetty on the stream.

“Come on up.” Derreen climbed up onto the jetty. “We are near the Citadel.”

“No more river or stream?” Lucas voiced out. “No more falls?”

Derreen laughed at the statement. She shook her head and then continuing on the walk. Irina pushed Lucas forward, to join in with Derreen. After taking a few steps, she turned back and voiced the next statement.

“Buck up, guys. The Citadel is not what you may expect.”