Page 7 of Bright Blinding Ruin

Groaning, I labor to get to my feet, though I don’t bother in dusting myself off. That vision with Morimento was… weird. It was weird, right? I don’t have any other words to describe it. She was vague. Said something about the undercrofts.

And something about bringing someone back to Laconia, but she never said who.

Since I can’t move forward, I need to turn around and hope there’s another exit somewhere. My feet shuffle along the ground as I turn and start walking. My entire body is sore, like that blast really took all of my energy.

Is Invictis still up there, somewhere? Does he think I’m dead? Probably.

I groan as I shuffle along, wondering why my luck has to be so shitty. First I’m transported to this freaking world, and then I’m sent off to kill one of their empresses, and now some big, ancient baddie whose only purpose is to destroy Laconia wants to make sure he kills me, first.

The worst luck ever, no joke.

I follow the hall. My eyes adjust to the lack of light. Wherever I am, it must be underground. Smells earthy in here. The hall abruptly ends and turns right, so that’s where I go. I keep walking, focused on only one thing: the way forward, but then something out of the corner of my eye stops me.

I pass a jail cell, similar to the one I was thrown into in Laconia, only there aren’t any windows, which makes these way gloomier. Empress Morimento’s words ring in my head, but I push them away as I keep walking.

It doesn’t even occur to me that she meant I have to take someone in these cells back to Laconia. I’m too frazzled to put two and two together to get four. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no way anyone could be alive here.

But then I pass a cell that has someone in it, and I freeze.

Did I just imagine that, or is there really someone in that cell block?

I move back to the jail cell and let my eyes focus on the man huddled in the corner of it. He’s in the fetal position, though he rocks on his feet. His arms hug his legs to his chest, his face leaning down on his knees.

“Hello?” I’m almost too speechless to speak, but I do, and the moment I say that word, his head snaps up.

“You—” His voice comes out dry. Too many shadows and not enough light; I can’t see his face. “—my lady said you would come, but I thought my lady was wrong. I should’ve known better. My lady is never wrong. Never wrong. Always right, even if it takes time—” He rambles, talking fast, and he comes across as a madman.

“Who are you?” I ask as I step toward the metal bars. “How are you alive down here?”

“The threads. My lady protected me, like she protected you. My lady’s sister did what she could but she… she was already lost when I arrived.” He crawls to the bars, on his knees as his dirty,bony fingers cling to them. “The madness whispers, trying to get in your head. It would’ve gotten inside me, but my lady kept me safe.”

Through the darkness, I can see a middle-aged man. His face is gaunt but familiar, a mop of unkempt dark hair on his head, an unshaven beard on his cheeks. That’s when it hits me. I know exactly who this man is.

“Fred?” I breathe out his name. “Frederick LaRoe?”

His brown gaze widens in the darkness. “You know? Of course you know. You know everything.”

“I don’t know about that, but… I do know your son. He sent me here looking for your research.”

“Confiscated by my lady’s sister.” Fred’s eyes squeeze shut, and he bangs his head against the metal bars. “I should’ve stopped her, should’ve known—” He’s about to bang his head again, but I reach through the bars and stop him, and the moment I grab hold of his filthy tunic, he trembles and sighs. “I’m sorry. I… I suppose, perhaps, the madness did creep inside me after all. A man can only be so strong, even with his lady’s will behind him.”

I move away from the bars. “I’m supposed to get you out of here. Would you like to see your son again?” That’s assuming he and I could make it back to Laconia before Invictis destroys it all. At this point, who knows?

He gets to his feet, though he sways as he does so, as if his legs are not used to carrying any weight. “My son. My… my boy. You know him? How is he?”

I try the cell door. It’s locked, but it rattles and shakes. I bet with a hard kick I could knock it open. “He’s not a boy anymore, Fred. He’s a man.” A man that I kissed when I was feeling lonely, but Fred doesn’t need to know that much.

“A man? But, no. He can’t be—he was a boy. My boy is a boy.”

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?”

“A year. Or two. Maybe… maybe two.” Fred’s answer comes swiftly, and based on how fast he says it I have to assume he believes it. “He can’t be a man. If he’s a man, then… then maybe I have gone mad. Maybe you’re not real.” He steps back in his cell, his trembling hands reaching for his hair, like he wants to yank some of it out.

Okay, the man has definitely lost his mind.

“I’m real,” I say. “And I’m going to get you out of here.” He probably won’t believe me until he’s face-to-face with his son, and only then will he accept the fact that he’s been trapped here a hell of a lot longer than a year or two.

How is he still alive? Did Morimento keep him alive with magic, or was it from Krotas? Was it leftover effects from Invictis being stuck here since he wasn’t whole until recently, putting the entire castle in a frozen state of time? I don’t know, but right now it doesn’t matter.

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