The Flame Keeper

Chapter 17

I killed him. I couldn't rid myself of the thought as I stood there, frozen, unable to move a limb in fear that I would suddenly lash out.

"Goddamn!" The water mage kicked at the man's ashen form, never able to move a limb ever again.

"Wallace!" Ken's voice broke through the angry cloud that hovered over me, casting gloomy rain. "We need to get going before more come."

"Nah, we gotcha covered. But do make haste." The water mage walked over and patted him on the shoulder, then winked at Matilda. "Now we're even."

"Hey! Are you two coming?" He jerked his head at the two prisoners but they shook their heads.

"Anywhere but there. I'm goin' home," one said in a clipped accent.

He stared at the prisoner for a moment, as if to intimitatde him to say otherwise, but they could not meet the tired eyes of the other.

"Your call," He shrugged, dropping his gaze.. He gestured toward the two others and they stalked off down the corridor, leaving the buzzing with a strange energy as Matilda blinked. Her mouth twitched, as if stuck in a loop of... denial? No, something else.

Beads of sweat trickled down Ken's brow and he stood shakily, using whatever energy he had left to speak to the remaining two prisoners. "Do any of you know a way out here?"

I looked over and my heart quelched as I realized the boy was not among them—instead among the unrecognizible bodies strewn across the bloodied floor. One of them spoke up, their hair ruffled and their blood-stained clothes formed unique splatters that almost looked like an intentional design. "Yes, there should be a garbage chute that way. It's a tight squeeze, but one does have to pay a price for freedom."

He pointed a crooked finger down the corridor, opposite where the old man had led us previously—quite curious indeed. I looked over at Matilda and Ken, who wore similar looks of confusion on their faces, but began following the two prisoners down the corridor.

A turn left, and then right a while later led us to a corridor adorned with the same cobblestone walls, the same wooden ceiling, and the same wooden floorboards—only that embedded into the walls was a rusted metal chute, bits of rotten food and tattered clothes strewn over the edge. It seemed as if the chute was too tight of a squeeze, but the first prisoner climbed in feet-first, and with a crazed grin, he disappeared into the depths of the darkness.

The other followed suit after carefully counting to ten, tucking in his chin and arms as he went down the slide to freedom.

"Well, let's get out of this hellhole," Matilda said before she vanished as well.

Ken next, and then a glance down the corridor: my last look at the sickening atmosphere, faint footsteps that thumped in cue with my heart, and the mournful cries that pounded against my ears, coaxing my heart one more time to shed a drop of pity.

"S-sorry," I muttered into the darkness, getting only a grim silence in response.

I turned, my heart thumping in an uncontrollable pain. To have killed someone with your bare hands... it takes a part of you and done enough times, leaves a frozen soul impossible to thaw.

I just wished I didn't.

Extending my arms cautiously, I latched onto the top of the chute, cringing at the grime climbing like mold onto my hands, and slipped down with the filth, revolting smells assailing my nose and gooey substances streaking my face and clothes.

After what seemed to be an eternity in the chute awash with only stinking waste and pitch blackness, a vertical drop sent me plummeting into a dumpster filled with black clouds of bulging bags, fruit peels and frayed rags littered amongst them like raindrops from otherworldly rain clouds.