218: Lair of Madness

He knows! He knows I’m the Akh Nara. Cold chills crept down Vir’s back. His grip on his katar tightened.

Saunak had known all along. And yet, the mad thaumaturge had said nothing. He’d revealed nothing. Was it because he simply didn’t care? Or was there more going on here than met the eye?

Vir turned around slowly, scanning his surroundings. Immediately, several smaller automatons caught his eye.

Were there this many just a few minutes ago?

“Well? Out with it!” Saunak said, his eyes full of anticipation. “What did it show you?”

“Oh, uh. Not much,” Vir said tersely, doing everything he could to maintain a calm voice. “Just scenes of some people I care about.”

“Ah, yes,” Saunak said, nodding. “This seems to be a common theme.”

“Um, Cirayus?” Vir called. He locked eyes with the demon. “I think we should leave.”

Saunak appeared mortified. “But why? You’re only just arrived! Why not stay longer? There’s no rush.”

Vir turned to Saunak, hoping to bluff his way out of this sticky situation. With as perceptive as the thaumaturge was, he’d have to put on his best act to have any hope of deceiving him. Even then, Vir didn’t hold out much hope. It’d have been best to minimize how much he said to the demon from here on out, but that was equally likely to raise his suspicions.

“I saw something in the Ink of Clarity just now,” he lied. “It showed me demons in the Demon Realm who were in danger. I think Cirayus and I should make haste to head there. Peoples’ lives might be in jeopardy.”

Saunak hung his shoulders. “Very well, then,” he said in a deflated voice. “If you’ll follow me, I can recalibrate your Artifact.”

He actually bought it? Vir thought incredulously. Vir’s shoulders sagged as the tension flowed out of him.

The thaumaturge continued, muttering something under his breath. Vir only caught bits and pieces of it. Such a shame…. So long… But what if? Oh yes! Yes, that could work!

Saunak perked up visibly after his conversation with himself—something that put Vir on edge.

Vir sidled up next to Cirayus, whispering. “We need to get out of here as soon as he fixes the orb.”

Cirayus nodded, sensing the urgency in Vir’s voice, while having the tact not to inquire any further, lest they be overheard.

Saunak hummed to himself as he led the two to another, smaller room. This, too, was constructed of pure white floors, walls, and ceiling, all of which emanated a cool glow.

“Artifact, please!” Saunak said, opening his palm to Cirayus. The demon handed over the orb, and the thaumaturge inspected it from every angle.

“Yes, this should be a simple affair,” Saunak said, placing the orb into a receptacle that looked designed for it. The moment he did, the black metal stand glowed white with life, illuminating the orb.

Several images popped up above the table, resembling the tables Ashani had used to craft Vir’s Artifact chakram. Saunak peered at them intently, muttering to himself.

“Cirayus, can you be a dear and lend me a hand?” he asked.

The four-armed demon approached reluctantly, but Saunak held a hand up. “Over there, if you please. You see that panel?”

Cirayus walked over as instructed. “Aye. What of it?”

“Push the black button on there, will you?”

“Can’t you do this yourself?”

“I am needed here,” Saunak said, staring at the diagrams that floated above the table.

Cirayus shrugged, then pushed the button.

The instant he did, he disappeared.

Vir spun on reflex, katar in hand, Prana Current flaring.

He found himself in a small, triangular shaped room. Had he been transported somewhere?

No, that’s not it, he realized. These are new walls!

Saunak had erected a series of walls, separating Vir from both Saunak and Cirayus. They’d risen so quickly, Vir hadn’t even noticed.

“Ahem, ahem.” The sound of Saunak clearing his throat reached Vir’s ears, though he couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from. It was as though his voice emanated from all the walls at once, throwing off Vir’s sense of direction.

“What is the meaning of this? Lad, where are you?”

To Vir’s surprise, it was Cirayus’ voice.

“Cirayus?” he shouted. “Can you hear me?”

“Aye, I can, lad,” the demon growled. “Saunak, may you burn in the Ash! Release us at once, damn you!”

“Now, now,” Saunak said in a patronizing voice. “Settle down, you brute. If I wished to simply imprison you, I assure you I have other, more interesting ways. Look! You can even talk to each other through my speaker system, hmm? Not a luxury most captors would afford their prisoners, yes?”

While true, they were still his prisoners, Vir reflected.

The sound of thumping came through Saunak’s ‘speakers’. It didn’t take much to guess that Cirayus was attempting to break himself out. The constant thumping showed he wasn’t finding much success.

“Cirayus, friend,” Saunak sneered, “you can strike that wall all day long, but I’m afraid the only thing you’ll break is Sikandar. Now, why don’t you two hear me out?”

“You expect us to believe anything you say? After this?” Cirayus raged.

Vir wondered why Cirayus hadn’t used Balancer of Scales, but guessed that the Imperium Metal was somehow blocking its effects from carrying beyond the prison Cirayus was in.

“Cirayus, he’s right,” Vir said. “This is Imperium metal, supported by preservation inscriptions. It’s invulnerable.”

“You should listen to the boy, Cirayus. He’s smarter than you.”

“Are you certain, lad?” Cirayus asked, ignoring the demon’s provocation.

“Quite. It’s the same stuff the tower’s made of, Not even the Prana Swarm got past that,” Vir replied, though he let a Katar Launch out just to be sure. As expected, there wasn’t even a trace of a dent in the wall. “Besides, if he can summon up these walls at will, who’s to say he won’t just conjure another if we do break it?”

“Very good! Yes, you are quite correct, Vir. Or should I say, Akh Nara?”

Vir gritted his teeth while the thumping sound coming from Cirayus’ prison halted.

“What did you say?” Cirayus asked.

“Can we skip the drama?” Saunak asked. “You’ll deny that young Vir is the Akh Nara, then I’ll furnish proof, then you’ll hurl threats at me, swearing to kill me. Yes? Now that we’ve summarized the exchange, how about we just skip it and move on?”

Cirayus fell silent, pondering his words.

“He knows, Cirayus. I saw it in the Ink of Clarity. The Ink showed him the mark on my chest. He’s known from the very beginning.”

“I… see,” Cirayus replied coldly. Vir could almost hear the giant gnashing his teeth.

“What do you want from me?” Vir asked.

“What do I want?” Saunak exclaimed. “Why, that should be obvious.”

“Uh… not really?”

Saunak sighed exaggeratedly. “I wish for you to become my test subject, boy! You are The Akh Nara! The only demon alive to carry Ash Prana in his veins! Can you even imagine how special you are? You’re easily the most unique test subject I’ve ever had! I spent weeks thinking up tests to perform! What breakthroughs will we make together?”

Vir almost laughed. Of all the things…

He’d suspected Saunak of secretly being in collusion with the Chitran. He worried Saunak would deliver Vir to them in return for great riches. Or perhaps a pardon, allowing him to return to the Demon Realm.

But no. Saunak was incredibly intelligent… Yet he was also simple. For him, research was all that mattered. Vir suspected no coin in the world would tempt him over the opportunity to study someone like Vir.

And that gave him leverage. Knowing the mad thaumaturge’s motives allowed Vir to predict his actions.

“Why would I let you do this?” Vir asked. “What’s in this for me? And before you tell me I have no choice, you should reconsider. I’ve been to the Mahādi Realm. I understand Imperium magic, to a degree. While I might not be able to escape, I am quite confident I can ruin your little tower here.”

It was only partially a lie. Vir did have some knowledge of Imperium magic, both thanks to Ashani’s memory transfer and from his own experience. Using that to bring down the tower, though? That was altogether different.

“Oh, really, now?” Saunak said with bemusement. “Why don’t you show us, then. Hmm?”

Vir’s expression hardened. He’d figured Saunak would want some proof. As a bluff, it was incredibly easy to call. But if he could somehow back it up… well, that’d allow a more even bargaining field.

Saunak waited patiently, a smug smirk plastered across his face.

But Vir hadn’t been idle. He’d been studying the inscriptions covering the Imperium metal walls that had slid into place, and found them similar to the ones at Mahādi, albeit on a much smaller scale. The runes were different, too. In fact, they more closely resembled something he’d seen before. Something familiar.

The box in the Yaksha vault.

For whatever reason, the inscription patterns on Saunak’s wall were nearly identical to the rune ribbons covering that box.

I wonder…

Vir extended a hand to the wall, placing his fingers on its script. He reversed Prana Current, purging his body’s dense prana into the surroundings, leaving him dry and empty.

Ignoring the wave of weakness that passed over him, Vir spun up a Current loop in his fingers, pulling Ash prana from the section of wall.

Energy steadily flowed into him, but after a few moments, Vir could tell it wasn’t enough. The vault box’s inscriptions were both smaller, and had been on the verge of failing. To trigger the same effect here, he’d need to pull more.

A lot more.

Vir pressed his other hand to the wall and doubled the current loops in his fingers and palms.

“It’ll take more than pushing on the wall to defeat it, I’m afraid,” Saunak quipped.

Vir ignored him. Still, the current amount of pull wasn’t sufficient, so he created a Current loop that coursed through his whole body. Its pulling potential was immense, but as it stood, it’d pull prana from everywhere, not just the wall.

To counter this, Vir formed Prana Dam near his skin, saturating his blood cells everywhere except for his hands.

The effect was an almighty pulling pressure that sucked prana only through his fingers.

The inscription grew dimmer and dimmer… until it flickered and finally died.

Vir stepped away, anticipating what would happen next.

Sure enough, the Imperium metal began to rust visibly, crumbling in on itself in just moments.

“W-what!?” Saunak’s panicked voice came through the speaker.

Vir calmly extended his prana claws and slashed. His strike passed right through. He struck again with his other hand, forming an X.

Finally, he kicked through the wall, revealing a panic-stricken Saunak on the other side.

Vir Blinked to the demon, smashing his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him.

“What did you say about pushing, again?” he asked innocently.

Saunak’s mouth opened and closed, but no words came.

Grabbing his waist, Vir sunk into the shadows.

Saunak screamed for mercy. He screamed for the help of his automatons. But he was too late.

“You showed me a prison of light. Now let me show you what a real prison looks like. A prison where you cannot breathe or move or feel. Welcome to my prison of darkness,” Vir whispered theatrically, sinking into the Shadow Realm along with Saunak.

The mad thaumaturge’s screams crescendoed before silencing. The darkness had swallowed him whole.