The Rebel’s Key (Hiroshi)

The Orcs had separated Ryuu from us and put us in a large enchanted dungeon. Despite being surrounded by iron bars, no one could use any power or weapon due to the magic it contained. Nothing worked against the dungeon for the time being.

Lezlie, who was the most skilled in magic among us, was the first one we asked for help.

"Lezlie, can you get us out of here?" we asked.

"Unfortunately, I can't," she replied. "This spell was cast on an outside object, and the object is spreading magic in the dungeon. I can't break it, especially without my powers."

Mila put her hand on the floor, looking for an escape plan. "The ground is a little worn," she said. "If we push it, we might be able to get out through the underground."

We could have followed Mila's suggestion, but it didn't make much sense considering the castle's location.

"No," Lezlie said. "Unfortunately, we can't do that either. The castle is surrounded by lava. I'm sure we'll sink into it if we dig."

While everyone was deep in thought and silence, Rose approached me. She seemed more concerned about Ryuu's well-being than about escaping from here. Even though I couldn't read her thoughts and mind, I could understand what she was saying.

"Where do you think they might have taken Ryuu, Hiroshi?" she asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "But I don't think anything good is waiting for him."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"When Lezlie and I got to Ryuu," I explained, "he was quite different. Not the same Ryuu we knew. I'm not saying he had changed completely, but there was a coldness in his eyes. He seemed to want to kill the Orcs more than just hurt them. And if I remember correctly, Orcs have no mercy on their enemies in such situations."

Wedan sat on the floor with his back against the railing and joined the conversation. "I knew it would eventually come to this," he said.

Babu objected to Wedan's statement, saying that he didn't know Ryuu as well as we did and that he was wrong about him. Lezlie agreed with Babu. "Watch your mouth," she said. "Ryuu is our friend, and he's not like that."

"Sad but true," Wedan replied. "He is a wolf, and wolves only live to kill."

Rose, like the rest of us, knew about Wedan's lineage. She wanted to remind him of what he had done and where he came from, to show him that he was no better. "Don't forget your past, Wedan," she said. "Remember that you are a descendant of the apocalypse, and that lineage is not exactly honorable."

Mila agreed that Ryuu was a good person, but she also knew that Wedan wasn't a bad person either. So she defended him. "We know Ryuu isn't a bad person," she said. "That's why we went on this adventure with him. But Wedan isn't like that anymore, right Wedan?"

Without answering Mila, Wedan stood up with a huff. He didn't want to be left unanswered by what Rose had said. I could tell by the look on his face that he was about to say something harsh to her.

"Yeah," he said. "What about you, Rose? Do you think we don't know who you are? Everyone here knows you're a princess and that you're related to the fourth epic. You're as bad as they are."

"Don't you dare mention my family name," Rose replied.

"Or what?" Wedan challenged her. "Are you going to arrest me?"

"You don't even want to know," Rose said.

I had to take action before the situation got worse. Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to escape. I turned towards them with a stern scowl. "Stop it, both of you. If we want to get out of here, we need to work together. If not, don't stop me from thinking."

When I finished speaking, the dungeon fell silent again. I knew Ryuu and everyone here were good people, but it wasn't my job to interpret them. We didn't come here to interpret each other; we had one thing in common: to finish off the Epics.

For now, I didn't care about anyone's background or ancestry. All I cared about was making a plan to escape. Soon, I heard a sound coming from the stairs. It was only a pair of footsteps, but they were slowly approaching. I knew something strange was happening.

Lifting my head, I wanted to understand the situation. "Who's there?" An unknown voice spoke back to us. "Your freedom."

After his words, an orc appeared from the end of the staircase and approached us. He was a little excited but in a hurry, trying to open our door with the key in his hand.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here, but we have to hurry."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" I said.

"My name is Hor. I am one of the rebels and I also know who you are. But we can't talk for long; we need to rescue your friend and return to the rebel headquarters as soon as possible."

"Our friend? Do you know where he is?" "He's on the top floor. He's about to be tried by the king. If we hurry, we can rescue him before anything happens to him."

Hor had done as he said and had indeed freed us. Although I was undecided about whether to trust him or not, we had no choice but to listen to him. So we followed Hor and quickly made our way up the stairs toward Ryuu.

After a few steps, we were impossible to miss and soon all the orcs in the castle were on high alert. We had to move fast and strike back before the alarm reached the hill.

As we thought, the castle was full of orcs, and we were moving quickly up the steps, fighting back as a team against the orc army that kept coming and coming, and the rebel was ahead of us, showing us the way.