Ouch

 Millie groaned as she woke up, feeling like she’d gotten rammed into by a truck. She tried to remember where she was, last. World other than the human world, felt like she got hit by a truck.. Ugh, hell, did she die and get reincarnated into an isekai scenario…?

Wait, no. That wasn’t quite right. The isekai scenario was, but not the reincarnation, she reminded herself.

“Oh, yay, you’re not dead!” a voice cheered, causing Millie to groan at the sudden influx of sound.

Millie cracked her eyes open to see that she was in a jail cell. But thankfully, she wasn’t alone. Sara was standing right over her, as Amaia’s headless form gently pushed the drider aside.

“Give her some space,” they said, that soft Irish lilt bringing a little comfort to the witch.

Nibbles sniffed at her human’s shoulder, and she could tell that the dog was happy to see her. Millie reached out to pet her, pulling herself into a sitting position.

“The hell happened?” she muttered.

Amaia sighed. “You got brought in a couple hours ago.”

As she thought about it, the last thing Millie recalled was trying to run from a library with Nibbles, them finding themselves trapped. And then there was just that overwhelming sensation of rage that took over. Everything went pink, and got hot, and…

“I think it happened again…” said Millie, as Sara looked at her. “Know how I freaked out on you when we first met?”

“We may need a little more to go on,” Amaia said.

Millie told them about her questioning from Kristal, the walk around the city, getting back to her dog, and that encounter in the library.

Amaia scoffed. “So, you actually had to have a reason to get locked up…”

“Looks like,” Millie replied.

And that was when she got a better look at the dullahan’s face. There were some noticeable bruises and contusions, and that nose was probably broken. She winced.

“What happened?”

“Couldn’t reconcile the concept of a head and a body not being fully connected, I guess.”

Sara cringed. “Ugh, yeah, the people in charge around here are kinda the worst…”

She stepped, revealing that she no longer had eight legs. One of them had been ripped off. It was at that point that Millie definitely felt bad for the drider. But there was something else that started to sink in…

Where in the hell was Talia?

As if they could read her mind, Amaia patted Millie’s shoulder. “Not sure what they’re doing with Talia right now. They seemed especially upset about her.”

That tracked, given what Kristal mentioned earlier. And the eternal sunlight. This whole place, really, felt tailor-made to be as painful for those of the vampire persuasion as possible. She wasn’t sure how many real people there were around there, either. And above all else, she wanted to figure out just who was in charge and punt them clear over that front gate.

Right now, one thing was quite clear: they needed to get out of this cell, find their friend and their weapons, and make a straight beeline out of this freaky city. But the question hung in the air of just how they would accomplish even step one, let alone steps two through four.

“Alright, so how’re we getting out of here?” Sara asked. “Because this place is feeling a little cramped.”

Millie shrugged, unsure about that, herself. Amaia tried to think, as well, tossing their head up a bit. And promptly stopping because that was making them feel their facial injuries a bit more. Settling with just holding it under an arm for now, they began pacing instead.

Nibbles was scratching an itch, for her part. And then she noticed something just outside the cell, barking at it. Millie glanced over in that direction, squinting.

“Not seeing anything there…”

She then had a fairly simple idea: will a skeleton key into existence to unlock the cell. She started trying to tap into her magic, into intention…

Nothing. But a glyph outside of the cell, right where Nibbles had been watching, gave a brief grey glow. Okay, so they had a ward up. But it didn’t look like it was etched in the stone. Amaia soon had a thought.

“...Hey, Sara, do you think you can reach a leg out of that cell?” they asked.

Shrugging, the drider strode up to the bars, sticking a leg through with no issue.

“Millie, try another spell.”

Nodding, the witch began to focus, the glyph showing up again.

“Okay, now, can that be wiped away?” the dullahan asked.

Sara began to scrape at the glyph, and it began to fade. As it faded, that pink glow emanated from Millie’s eyes and hand. When that glow died down, a key sat in her hand.

Each of them then tried to put an arm through the bars to unlock the cell, but they were just narrow enough to make that difficult.

“I might have an idea!” Sara said, the others soon turning to her.

The drider set about creating a bit of webbing, handing that to Millie. “Okay, so, you take that and the key and stick them both to one of my legs, and I can go from there.”

Not the worst idea either of them had heard. In fact, it sounded like a pretty damn good one. Millie secured the key to one of Sara’s legs, the drider soon going to find the keyhole. It took some feeling around, but she eventually got the key in place and turned it.

The cell door opened, as the group stepped out of it. So that was phase one dealt with. So now it was on to figuring out where their weapons were stashed, or where Talia had been taken. Whichever they happened upon first.

Though admittedly, what they happened upon first, in this case, was the trio of guards that stood between the dungeons and freedom. And here they were without their weapons.

But that wasn’t to say that they were utterly defenseless. Millie was preparing to open up a big ol’ can of WILL on them, Nibbles was ready to bite, Amaia was getting into a defensive stance, and Sara turned around…

And blasted the guards with her webs, cocooning them instantly. With them immobilized, the group tried to figure out where to begin their search.

There were several rooms down there, and they checked each of them for anything weapon (or Talia) shaped. Some of them were empty, one looked to be a break room, one was just a full-blown (and thankfully empty) torture chamber.

They checked a supply closet at one point, out of which spilled a ginormous scythe that came very close to hitting Nibbles as it fell out. Millie grabbed the dog out of the way before realizing that that ginormous scythe was none other than Final Draft. Vertiwhip tumbled out after it, Amaia quickly picking that up. There was no sign of Shade’s Fang in that closet, but there was a very shiny sword that Sara felt needed a friend. And therefore, she picked that up for herself.

With all three of them armed (and Nibbles unharmed), they began to look for their missing companion. Millie held the scythe close as they walked along, having missed the weapon this whole time. She may have even started murmuring to it, causing Amaia to chuckle.

“Did you just tell it ‘Mama missed you?’” they asked.

“Well, I did…” she replied.

As they kept walking, more guards confronted them. These ones had the yellowish tint and inconsistent number of fingers, and were therefore cut down quickly and without remorse. Millie came very close to knocking herself down with a powerful enough swing, but she managed to keep her balance.

Their opponents downed, the trio (and dog) kept walking, soon finding themselves on the next level up. That next level had nothing on it. Nothing but a floor and walls. As such, it was disconcertingly empty.

As they traveled the blank white hallways, they came upon the one thing that told them this might not be a dead end, after all: There was a spiral staircase heading up, which they promptly began to climb. Amaia had taken the lead as they headed up, with Nibbles sniffing the air.

Reaching the next level, Nibbles began to run along, ears perked up. The others ran after her, eventually hearing something.

Screams.

Screams from behind what had to be a thick door hit their ears, and they were starting to reach the same conclusion.

They’d found Talia, and things were going just as badly as expected. Millie looked at Amaia.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked, voice low.

The dullahan chewed their lip. Urgent enough emergencies tended to make planning a little more difficult. Sara still had that key attached to one of her legs, holding it up.

“I unlock the door and we barge in?” she offered.

On the one hand, that might endanger their friend further. On the other, no better ideas were presenting themselves. And so, Millie and Amaia stepped aside to let Sara unlock the door.