45 C45 Heart of Death

Azo felt his back sticking to his shirt, the robe over it heating him up, even more, he was surprised when he looked to both the twins and Bull who seemed to be keeping the sweating to a limit as he waited to hear the response.

Aelina stared at them for a moment, eyes adjusting as she took a moment to think, her eyes slowly closing as she made her choice.

"I trust you all; I have little to no other choice now."

Azo felt a stinging pain in his mind, a voice penetrating deep within his soul.

'I'm speaking to you directly. The church can't hear me now. I'm giving you something, you will find it inside the bag that was provided to you before. Ask no more questions and play along. My survival depends on you, Azeth Kenth."

Azo felt his face flush, the words fading as he kept his composure, his pocket suddenly feeling slightly heavy as he looked up towards the woman, he swore he could see a small light glow briefly inside the woman's chest before fading.

"What words do you want to deliver."

Azo spoke those few words, trying to play along as best he could.

"Find the man to the east. He is easy enough to find as his legend will grow. His power is that similar to the heavens. When you find him, tell him I'm stuck here trapped, please."

Azo nodded his head, understanding the message. The deal was changing rapidly in just a few minutes as he felt the weight of the stone inside his pocket, panic running wild inside him as he looked to his friends.

"We best head out, if we don't leave now then it's going to be a problem."

"One last thing, On the tenth floor you will find a small exit that is at the bottom of the ravine. The location of all the dead who have been tossed off. Use that to escape the city as they will be looking for you above and it will take to long to climb."

Azo nodded again as he quickly moved away, his team following him as they rushed back eastwards towards the escape, running along the corridor as they began to flee and start the new mission they had received.

Putting the stone to the secret entrance, the door sliding open as the team began to retreat, Azo sending a silent prayer to the woman in chains. He knew that while it may be only a few more months or years at maximum to get her out, he still felt the guilt rising in him as he sprinted away with his allies.

Several Minutes Later

The rhythmic tapping as the northern doors opened, several members of the Dusk Order rushing inside with blades drawn, only to find nothing changed, a larger gentleman with a massive white beard, his age getting close to his seventies, body supported by a crutch as he hobbled inside. It was clear that he looked somewhat annoyed as his dull brown eyes looked up at those massive green eyes.

"Aelina, what did you do. It's pointless to try and tell people you are here. We will kill them."

The old man moved up the steps, his eyes looking to the entire book as he just laughed, happy that they had not taken the tomb with them.

"You are such a small old man, placing his trust in magic he does not understand..." Unlike before, Aelina's voice was not steady and pained, this time it was soft and raspy the same life energy stopping her from dying was gone as it sounded like she was on death's bed.

"What did you do."

The old man hissed, clearly annoyed that this undead monster was enjoying herself.

"Simple, I know it takes nearly thirty minutes between teleports. Since you are here, the clairvoyance must have worn off by now. So I can say this without any rapid response going out. I've waited so many years to destroy that smug face, and when you finally die, I will play with you oh so well."

She said as her smile grew, body starting to sag on the chains as she let a sigh of relief.

"What did you do you wretched undead beast!"

He would continue to scream to no avail as Aelina sank against the chains, body refusing to move now as she finally had passed along her heart stone. Her eyes were slowly closing as she let out her final breath and her final prayer.

'Father, save me... Please'

"Hey! Are you listing you undead monster!"

He would continue to shout before he felt one his acolytes moving up next to him.

"Father Andris. She is no longer admitting death energy, the chains of all father have also stopped admitting light."

Andris felt his heart pounding as he stared at the woman, his eyes grew wild as he clenched his jaw tight. Whatever the woman had secretly done with the group of adventurers had caused her to allow herself to die, after hundreds of years she had placed her faith in four people.

"Fuck! That bitch tricked us, waiting for us to arrive. Quickly send a message upstairs to the rapid response team, tell them to mobilise the sand Izuaz's to track them down. I want them brought back alive!"

Azo, Bull and the twins finally managed to pull themselves free from the stonework, having pushed aside the entrance, secretly hidden against one of the side walls. Luck had fallen on them as they had managed to find the opening due to the skills of Renade as she noticed the slight crack and the mechanism to open the door.

As they pushed themselves outside, the sunlight bathing them as Bull let out a sigh of relief with the sunbathing his face. Azo turned to the group and would shake his head.

"I'm sorry everyone. I dragged us into this; If I rejected this visit, we could have saved ourselves some trouble."

Bull moved up to the man, his hand grasping his shoulder. "Well, we won't be getting paid now with the church on our ass. You owe a shit load of money. We won't let you go till you have paid us back!"

The twins nodding as Azo felt tears coming into his eyes, a laugh escaping his lips as he bowed.

"Thank you, everyone."