The Lightning Mage

39 | The Treasure Hunt, Part III

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The cave was dead silent. Everyone held their breath as their eyes darted between Han and Cydney. One perched on top of the metal bird, the other affixed on solid ground, Han and Cydney were staring each other down as if in a face-off.

A strange mixture of emotions ran across Han's face: a sharp gasp, followed by a slight tremor in the lips, a grimace, and then a smile—the kind of smile that sent shivers down Lyn's spine.

"Oh. You." Han looked at Cydney without even lowering his pointy chin.

"Yes. Me." Cydney glanced around the cave before glaring back at Han. "These patterns on the wall... What are you intending to do?"

Han's mouth twitched. A fog of amused lull clouded his eyes. "What do you think I'm doing, Sīn-Sīn? I'm helping the old man with his lifelong quest, of course, after you refused to help."

"Hasn't he killed enough people already?" Cydney's voice was trembling as much as her clenched fists. "Why is he still doing this?"

"Oh, you know it never worked again after us, silly, and he's been trying for years. It's probably because of the common folks he kept getting, you know?" Han combed his oily, black hair back with his fingers as he widened his grin. "To get the elites like us, we need the sacrifice of the elites too."

"Sacrifice?" Lyn could not help but mutter.

Was this blood magic? Was that what the runes were for? The sense of dread that had been brewing inside her heart exploded into a frenzy.

"Like this group," Han continued, spreading his hands out, as though he was a proud, eccentric collector, and everyone else was his eclectic selection of trinkets. "Honestly, I'm very pleased with this group here. These people are so much more powerful than the usual treasure-hunting folks I see. Perhaps I have a talent for advertising, eh? Maybe I should've done that in Uni instead."

"You are not sacrificing anybody except yourself today," Cydney said with an uncharacteristic snarl. She crouched and slammed her hands on the ground.

Once again, tremors filled the entire floor. Lyn barely maintained her balance as Emily lost balance and fell into her arms. A trail of crumbling rocks encircled Cydney and the metal bird as if a bunch of moles had decided to surround the two Asians. Slabs of stone protruded out from the circle of decayed ground, enclosing Cydney and Han in a makeshift caged arena. Lyn, and the rest of the questers, were stuck outside. They could not even see anything beyond the opaque stone fence.

"Oh no, Cinna..." Lyn looked around frantically. She noticed a tiny gap in between two slabs of boulder that she could squeeze through, but before she could make her way there, a hand held her back.

"Lyn, isn't that..." Emily was still leaning on Lyn, her feet seemed to have lost all strength. She stared at Lyn as realization dawned on her; the expression on her face was one that Lyn had gotten so used to right before they broke up. "You came here to meet her? You know she's wanted by the QA, right? Lyn, why would you—"

"Sit here and stay back, Em." Lyn gently pushed Emily off from her. "You're hurt."

"You risked your career for her, and now you want to risk your life too?" Emily's hand refused to let go. "Do you actually love her or are you just reckless as hell?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Why does it... Do you know just how much everyone's worried—"

"Lyn, Emily!" Irene had found them. She was running towards the two of them, next to a frowning Neil. Waving her hands about in the vague direction of Cydney, she sputtered, "Is that- Is that who I think it is?"