Chapter 71 An Enigma In The Cell

He kept his shirt over his mouth and noise as to not breath in the miasmic air that hung in the stale air, slowly making his way down the hall.

Rattle.

“–!”

Nearly jumping out of his skin, he was startled as his boot kicked into something by accident–looking down to find bones just laying in the corridor.

Such a sight made his stomach drop as a cold shiver ran throughout his body. It was beginning to seem like much more than he narrowly imagined.

…Is this place really just a place where they abduct and sell people? That’s bad enough, really–but what’s the deal with there being skeletons around here?!…What the hell is this place?! What’s wrong with this world–!? He questioned.

That’s when he began to realize that he was only aware of the “child trafficking” side of this criminal hideout, not considering the possibility that this fell under a more general description: a hideout for criminals in general–not just one facet of crime, but abduction, murder, thievery–it was like all of those.

It was something beyond what he experienced before with Rubert and the others; there were bodies decomposing in the cells he walked by, some strung up by chains, carved up, burned, and being fed on by vermin.

Keep it together, Emilio. You’re here for a reason. Reno is here. You came here to help, didn’t you? You know what it’s like, right?…But, at the end of the day, I’m just a kid, right? So…shouldn’t I leave this to adults? Wait, no…! Stop it, he thought.

He couldn’t help but tremble as he clutched his staff close to his body, slowly walking as he felt the air swirling around him like the paranormal.

It was too quiet; such a realization made him more uneasy than anything as the absence of sound made him unaware of what he should be ready for.

Most of the cells seemed to inhabit either dead prisoners or people who looked close to it, or at least hoping they would die already. These people didn’t even ask him for help, and most didn’t even look at him.

They were sacks of skin and bone, malnourished and already decomposing despite being alive–there was no fire in their eyes, no ambition for life–they looked already past the threshold of death, simply waiting for their physical bodies to catch up.

“–” He breathed heavily.

BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP.

Inside of his chest, his heart thumped wildly, filling his ears with its percussion as he soon found himself at another staircase, leading even further downward.

There’s multiple levels…? He thought.

It definitely didn’t seem like Reno wasn’t on this floor, as he didn’t hear the burly man responsible for imprisoning her on that floor. In fact, he didn’t notice any children imprisoned on the current floor–only adults.

As he gathered himself the best he could, he descended to the next floor of the abhorrent hideout as his instincts flared up for him to leave, but he pushed on anyway.

…If it comes to it, I’ll just find Reno and get out of here. I’ll come back with Vandread…yeah, that’ll work, right? Right? He questioned.

Finding himself on the next floor, it was noticeably darker, with lanterns being few and far between now. He was hesitant to conjure his own light as he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, but the thought of aimlessly exploring the horrific setting was enough to deter that thought.

“–“

He conjured a small orb of flame at the end of his staff, using it as a source of light as he began exploring the labyrinth of depravity.

It was more of the same from the initial floor: bones, lifeless prisoners, more vermin.

As he was passing by a cell, he nearly had his heart burst from his chest–

“Hey, boy.”

The voice came so unexpectedly that he’d thought his blood turned to ice in his veins. It was a surprisingly smooth voice, though there was a certain playfulness to it despite the atmosphere.

As he slowly looked to the left, he looked into the grimy cell where the voice originated from, finding the one who called him.

It was a man with skin as pale as snow; it was a complexion that bordered inhuman with how white it was. He had wavy, bright-orange hair that seemed only possible to have such a style by being gelled, but it was natural by the looks of it.

“Hello there! You aren’t one of them, are you? Would you do me a kind favor and let me out? Pretty please?”

With his complexion, hair, and scarlet eyes paired with an odd smile, accentuated by his alluring style of speaking, the man resembled a clown.

“–” He was still frozen.

“Don’t worry. I’m a friend,” the man said.

As if supporting this idea, the pale-skinned man, dressed only in ragged, dark-blue breeches, raised his wrists, revealing the cuffs that bound him to the wall.

“See? I’m not one of those monsters,” the peculiar man told him, “I’m a friend.”

Though every part of him felt as if somebody claiming to be a “friend’ was anything but so, he couldn’t deny that the man didn’t seem to be affiliated with the criminals.

“…Who are you?” He asked.

The clown-resembling man held a smile, despite his body being bruised from what looked like painful beatings, “I am a traveling bestower of joy–Lawrence; though I believe I am better known as an ‘adventurer.'”

“Adventurer? How’d you end up here, then…?” He asked.

Just as he asked the question, the sound of distant, but definitely imminent footsteps were heard somewhere on the same floor–stomping about.

That sound made his blood run to a chill as he glanced back.

Noticing both this noise and the cloud of fear around the boy, Lawrence smiled, standing himself up as his wrists were still bound to the wall, “I can aid you if you free me from my bindings.”

“–” Emilio gulped, listening as the footsteps seemed to grow closer.

This Lawrence guy gives me the creeps…There’s this weird air about him. Sure, he’s a captive here, but…He thought.

Lawrence was still smiling at him, “What’ll it be? The people running this establishment are quite boarish, I’m afraid. Rough fellows that can’t take a joke. I won’t be able to help you if I’m bound here.”

“–“

In this environment, he was a deer in the headlights, stuck at an impasse of decisions as those ominous, heavy footsteps drew closer and closer. There was little time to decide if he’d free the man or not, and there was no telling if he’d have the opportunity again. More than that, the idea of an ally while stuck in this dreadful situation was extremely alluring to him.

“Tick-tock, my friend,” Lawrence smiled, “Time waits for nobody, I’m afraid.”