Karla opened her eyes, she was still alive but her whole body was aching and she was barely capable of movement. She looked around her and found herself in a cage. She was captured and imprisoned by that beast that was more than capable of finishing her back there. She cursed her luck and tried to stand up. Death would have been mercy and an escape from this dreadful place. Instead she was in a cage, sitting on a cold and dirty floor. The area was dark and the only light that reached the place emanated from the ceiling. The prison had numerous s.p.a.cious cages with metallic bars that were supposed to keep prisoners from escaping the place. However, the cages looked old and decrepit. The very high ceiling was composed of bars too. They replaced the skylight and covered the entire surface of the upper part of the floor. Faint light got in between the thick bars and Karla could barely see what was around her. After a while, her eyes got used to the darkness and she started noticing more details within the dark cages and beyond. She was thrown in a large cell. There were two bodies next to her. On inspecting the first, she noticed that it used to belong to a hunter. Judging from his attire and the pistol he was carrying, he must have sustained too much damage to survive the trip to this prison. As for the second, it was all bones and tatters, save for a strange long cage that was placed on the skull. It looked like inmates used to be tortured in the prison too. The cage didn"t seem to only hold the head still but it was long enough for the torturer to insert other object from above to enc.u.mber it and torture the poor souls even further.Karla wasn"t willing to stay imprisoned for long. The cages appeared to be fragile and she thought it possible to break through some bars and escape. She was too weak however, and every movement cost her too much energy. She went to the bars in front of her and tried shaking them in order to see how much strength would be required of her to break free. The bars were st.u.r.dy though and she needed to strike them with all her force if she wanted to budge them even a little. After kicking at one of them long enough, Karla was out of breath and too dizzy to stand still. The bar didn"t move at all and she felt discouraged. She leaned on the door of the cage to catch her breath and fell backwards on her back. The cage was open and Karla didn"t even try the obvious choice before she used force. She was lying on her back, her bones aching and some veins on her head felt like they were going to explode soon. She was bound to encounter some enemies soon and she knew that her chances at survival were close to nil. She had a blood vial in her pocket and she hesitated to use it. She really didn"t like the use of those things and if it weren"t for Surgit who had snuck it in her coat"s pocket, she would have never taken it. She decided not to use it even if her entire body begged from some relief from the pain she was experiencing.
She stood up with extreme difficulty and looked at the bars high above in the ceiling. There was another floor on top and she could see the shadows of some creating moving in there. She had no torch to help her have a better look at her surroundings but her eyes were well accustomed to darkness at that point. Against some wall, she could see big mirrors that were covered with a long piece of cloth. The cloth was wrapped in chains and the chains had numerous padlocks sealing them. "Why would anyone bother sealing up mirrors?" Karla was puzzled at what she saw but the splitting headache didn"t allow her to give the matter too much thought. Next to one of the mirrors, Karla saw another skeleton. The body looked shorter than any normal human being but the skeleton was definitely human. The previous owner of the body died sitting on a chair with the same long cage attached to its head. What Karla found inconsistent with her theory of torture was that the person sat on the chair unbound. She inspected the skull and she couldn"t see any sign of injury that could"ve been inflicted to it. "What a strange city we"ve found ourselves in. I"m trapped here and I don"t even know where I am at the moment. Beasts roam the streets and humans are scarce. What in the world have you dragged us into Francis?" Karla was worried about Francis but at that moment, she was more worried about herself than anyone else. Her legs shook from exhaustion. She hadn"t had anything to eat in a while. She was sure that at least one of her ribs had been broken by that giant man"s attack. She was bleeding from her head and if she couldn"t find a way to mend her wounds, she would soon lose consciousness. She walked through the corridor, between the cages and found some stairs leading further down into the dungeon. As she approached the chairs, she heard voices. They belonged to three men and a woman, and they appeared to be arguing about something. Karla hid behind one of the sealed mirrors and started eavesdropping on their conversation.
- "But we can"t just venture out there, you know how dangerous it is." Said one of the men"s voices.
- "Sitting idly in here means our death. You know that as much as I do. Movement is life, the moment we stop is the moment we forfeit our lives." Another man said.
- "I agree with him Arthur" said the third one, "I know that those beasts had almost killed us and we faced only two of them. But we need to find a way out of here. Isn"t it our duty as church doctors to rid the streets of abnormalities such as these?"
- "Let us pray to the G.o.ds, they"ll keep us safe." Intervened the woman, her voice clearly showed fear.
- "Oh would you stop it Adela?" Said the first man, "no one can help us here but ourselves. I"m moving out of here, I can"t wait for death."
- "I"m going with you Arnold," said the second man "I really don"t see how we can survive by just sitting here."
- "I guess I"ll go too." Said the man called Arthur with a sigh. "As much as this place scares me, the thought of what those creatures could do to us if they come back chills my bones."
- "This is folly!" exclaimed Adela "You go on ahead, I"ll stay here and pray for safety. The G.o.ds have always been sympathetic and merciful."
Karla was observing the scene from above. The four people were standing in a circle. Two of them held torches that illuminated the area around them. Karla couldn"t help but notice how many sealed mirrors were scattered all around the place. It seemed that that floor was a storage place of some sort. No cages were to be seen, just mirrors and four people. They were all clothed in black and had white shawls around their necks which extended to the lower portion of their backs. They seemed to originate from the church as the woman named Adela spoke of prayer and the G.o.ds to which Karla couldn"t help but snuff out her laughter. She decided it was time to show herself to them before they confused her with an enemy and attack. In her state, she was in dire need of some a.s.sistance. She walked down the stairs, and at the sound of her footsteps, the four stopped their conversations and turned towards the source of the sound, unsheathing their weapons.
- "Relax, I"m no enemy" said Karla as she moved towards them with her hands held above her head, showing that she held no weapons. "I"m merely looking for people to team up with in order to leave this place."
- "Good G.o.d! Look at the state she"s in!" one of the church doctors cried out.