The tunnels beneath the mansion rumbled as the battle above scorched the ground. Danavan dragged his hand across the wall, leaving a trail of blood from his illness. “What an irony of fate. The drugs that made me ill are currently the only thing keeping me alive and going… If I stop taking them, I might die. If I take too much, I will die. Well… I just need to hold on for a bit longer. By the sound of it, my first step had been achieved. Agonizing death for Belver and the fall of his family.”
Danavan always had an eye out for Belver, thus the reason why he became a baron in the first place. To get closer to the man he despised and gather much needed information. Matilda was the first to accept him since his drugs got attention in the city and outside when it came down to enhanced drugs.
Matilda tried to replicate those drugs and make her own factory to control the market of enhancing drugs, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t achieve that. No bribe spoke to Danavan, no threat budged him.
In the past, Matilda, after a meeting, had a saber pressed to his chest, “You think you’re that special that I will keep you alive forever? I only need your drugs, not you. You’re only trouble with the information you got and the many times we had to save you. Call me merciful because I might not only let you leave but pay you in advance for the recipe.” Even in such a position, she tried to speak like they were on the same height, without one blade to the other’s heart. It was a simple negotiation.
Danavan looked around the room before even clearing his throat from the reflux left after the acid drug. “I don’t think I am special, I just know I am. The reason you couldn’t replicate my drugs was simple. Only those hands can make them…”
“How… How only you can make those drugs? How my people, brilliant people, the ones who taught in the Golden Zone and in Beronia, weren’t able to reproduce a drug made by a child of the Red Zone, a bum from the street?!” Matilda cursed as she tried to look for the missing piece of the drug production.
“Like I said, only those hands can make them… Only I can make those drugs because I am the only one with a gate that allows me to meddle with alchemy. You looked for a way to become stronger…” Danavan looked down at the blade near his chest and continued, “While I found a different way to survive.”
On that day, Matilda made a special deal with Danavan and kept his power a secret. In the group of well-established barons, Danavan, a bum from the street, became the one most respected and valued by Matilda.
He did tell her about his powers, but he didn’t tell her about an important detail. To create those drugs, he had to pay with his life. Using his own blood and fluids to change them into different elements. Some of them regenerated too slowly, damaging his organs over time as they didn’t have much nourishment to continue working.
Danavan took out another pill and was about to swallow it until he felt a pulsing pain in his stomach. “That won’t be enough…” He then reached under his coat and took out a syringe. With no hesitation, he stabbed it into his abdomen and inserted the liquid. The fluids he used for those drugs could come back to his body and replace the missing nourishment.
The wide smile appeared on his face as he saw a larger pool of blood and beside it an open hidden door that looked like a wall of the tunnel. “So that’s how you always vanished. Simple but clever, I must say.” Once he went through the door, he could smell the blood and rot. Without ever seeing the place, he quickly realized that it was the “cage”. His smile faded away as he moved forward, taking a look at each cell.
The first to his left had a chair and chains by it attached to the ground, as well as one set of chains at the wall behind it. Inside a wall was a furnace with a set of iron tools for branding set beside it on a wall. The room on the other side had a wooden stool with drains placed all around the cell. In a corner, there was a sink with a hose under it. Another cell had chains attached to the ceiling. Many wooden tools and many different whips were attached to the hooks on the wall. Each room was prepared for a different kind of torture.
Danavan stopped in front of each cell, staring at the room silently as in his mind he played those tortures. He didn’t feel a thing until he thought of a specific person being tortured in there. One cell only had walls and one iron door leading inside it. There was a single window in it, but it was fogged. Using his sleeve, Danavan wiped the window and saw a dead person inside, his body pale and covered in hoarfrost. He didn’t recognize the person inside, so he didn’t pay much attention.
Another room also had a single door and a window with a small shutter. Moving it to the side, he saw a very tight, dark room. With his height, he had to kneel inside to avoid hitting the ceiling, but there wasn’t much space for him to fully kneel as he would get stuck between the walls. “Not only physical torture, but mental too…” Noted to himself, Danavan.
The next cell looked more like a lab with many vials and syringes scattered around the shelves and desks. Unlike other rooms, he stepped inside and lifted a vial. Opening it, he sniffed the contents of it, and it was a drug. At first, it brought him pleasure and excited moans, but after a moment, it hit him. He felt better after sniffing it, the drug inside was made by him. “You… You used my own creation to torture him!” He snapped in rage and pushed all the vials to the ground, grabbing a shelf and bringing it down to the ground. The loud noise of breaking glass and wood echoed through the basement. The rage slowly faded as the mixed smells entered his nose, bringing back some of the missing nourishments.
“Maybe the death you received was too merciful for what you had done… I should’ve hanged you and kept you alive on a hook for the rest of your life!” Danavan clenched his fists as he left the room, moving forward for what he was looking for.
A gasp left his lungs as he saw a man on a table. The man had missing nails and bits of flesh on his face. All over his body were burn marks and scars left by knives. His legs and arms were in shambles after being broken many times and badly fused over time. Physically, the man would need assistance with everything and every daily task. Left alone, the man would die. He was breathing, showing signs of life, but just one look at his eyes was enough to tell that it was just a living body, not a living person.
Danavan barely had the strength to pull the doors; each step felt heavy, and it got heavier with each step he had to take toward the man. “I expected you to be in such a state… But to see it with my own eyes…” Instead of true tears, running down his face were pink tears with bits of his own blood. As he touched the man’s hand, it flinched but didn’t make any other movements. “It’s okay, brother… It’s me… Danavan…” He gently whispered, but the man didn’t react. Not a single flash of life in his eyes.
“It’s been so long you might not remember me… Nor recognize me. I too… Changed a lot…” Danavan looked at his hands stained with his own blood, burned and melted after many chemicals he had made. “But no matter how much time has passed, I will always recognize my little brother…” He gently patted his brother on the head, but the man didn’t budge, only continued to silently breathe.
“It took me some time, some suffering, and some sacrifices, but in the end, I was able to reach you. You won’t have to worry about Belver anymore. First was his wife, since she was the first to torture you. Her death wasn’t as painful as I hoped it to be… Three men beat her up with the help of my drugs… But she didn’t last long. Belver’s death was much better, but I feel like something was missing… Ekh… Too late since he is dead… Ah. If you’re wondering about their daughter, I won’t touch her. I know you don’t like hurting innocent people, and she is pure compared to the rest of the family. She won’t continue the business. At least I hope so. I’ll be there to watch her for a bit more time… Sorry if I talk too much. It’s just I missed you a lot… And I will miss you forever.” Danavan was glad to tell his brother about the death of the two Markiz, but he knew he didn’t have much more time as the battle went silent.
The tears slowly turned more and more red. “I’d like to talk a bit longer, but I don’t have much time left… Farewell, brother.” He lifted his brother and embraced him in a tight hug. “Rest well… For eternity…” With a quick move, a knife went through the back of the man’s head, killing him almost instantly. Danavan gently placed his brother’s body on the table and closed his eyes.
“Unfortunately… Burials aren’t for the people of the Red Zone…” Whispered Danavan, reaching for something in his pocket. The clicking noise was quick as Danavan took the item out of the pocket. “All I can do is cremation…” He threw a lit lighter and a vial full of fuel toward the mansion for the fire to spread. “Good thing the boy wonder has a fire ability.” The fire quickly spread around thanks to the fuel and wooden pillars of the basement. He went toward the tunnels and closed the doors before the smoke could reach him.
“Now to watch the girl’s next steps and prepare some drugs in advance for Matilda… As an apology for the lost arm.” Whispered to himself, Danavan, wobbling to the sides as he barely had any strength left, and adding to the exhaustion were the drugs he had inhaled in the “cage”, making him feel dizzy.
Above the ground, the mansion was quick to catch up on fire. Aguero took both girls out of the building to wait for support from the Golden Zone. Charlotte was about to run back into the burning building for the body of her father, but Aguero grabbed her. “You’ll die if you go there! No need to risk it for the dead.” The girl cried and tried to get free, completely ignoring the dangers ahead. She surrendered as she saw her struggles were pointless, dropping to her knees and crying over everything she lost in a single day.