Twisted Wonderland Book 6: The Watchman of the Underworld

Chapter 56: Plan Taking Shape

Shortly after defeating the Charon Soldier.

Azul lets out a sigh, "Phew... We managed to take them down."

But then, Jamil notices, "Look. No one's inside this armor."

The others look to see that Jamil is right. There's no one in the armor.

"It's empty," Briar says. Then turns to Jamil, "Do you think it was moving by itself?"

"Maybe, or perhaps, someone is controlling it remotely," Jamily says.

And then Leona says, "This was nothing like the attack at school. They were clearly out for blood this time...I've got a real bad feeling about this."

"Me too," Briar says, worried.

"I suppose we don't have time for a leisurely chat. Let's head to the control room before matters get worse. I believe the 'boss' should be there," Vil says.

With that, everyone begins to walk down the hall, but Briar also looks at the room and wonders who could have been in the room and strong enough to destroy the door.

Just then, Vil says, "Oh, wait, one moment. I almost forgot."

"What?" Vil questions,

"My special serum. I certainly can't leave this behind," Vil says.

Leona says in a smug remark, "Everything's goin' haywire, and you're worried about dry skin? Supermodels must have it tough."

"Heh. Call it what you like. But this is my good luck serum," Vil replies.

Briar sighs and rolls her eyes in response.

Meanwhile, in the Hecate Sector Training Facility. The power has gone out from there as well.

"What in the world? The power just went out," Epel asks.

Jasper taps on the tablet, "No good, this tablet is dead."

"And I have been trying the light switch, nothing seems to be happening," Seria says.

Rook also says, "The intercom isn't responding either, so we can't reach HQ.

Tanzanite tries to open the door, "And the door's lock isn't budging either."

"So we're trapped in here?" Epel asks.

But then, Rook shushes everyone, "...Shh. I hear something outside."

Trinket covers her mouth, looking worried.

Sereia softly asks, "Um, what is it?

Rook listens carefully and says, "From what I can gather.... The residents here are just as surprised by the power outage as we are. All the staff are heading to HQ.

"What should we do? Would it be better to wait until Ortho comes to get us?" Epel asks.

"Hmm... Just a moment, if you please," Rook says. "Come, see if you can flee from me." and casts his magic, "Arrow Afar."

Soon, everyone looks to see the map of the building. A path appears and it's leading a trail to a different part of the building, and the path slowly continues on.

"Vil's group has left their rooms. They're moving through HQ right now," Rook says.

Everyone is surprised to see it.

Epel questions in shock, "Wait, what? But you didn't get to see them earlier. How did you cast your signature spell?"

Rook chuckles, "Heh heh..." and explains, "Truth be told, I cast it on one of the products in Vil's care package."

Epel yelps in shock, "Bwha?! Y'mean it don't just work on people? You can cast it on THINGS too?!

"Heh heh heh," Rook giggles with a smile and says, "My prey is hardly limited to humans. I thought they might scan it to identify its exact effect, but it seems they did not. The spell isn't aggressive and contains no toxicity. It appears to have no point and no effect at first glance. You see, cosmetics are commonly imbued with cantrip- level spells. For example, there's a store that sells enchanted nail polishes made by this one makeup artist who's also a mage. I imagine that to Idia and Ortho, my signature 'cantrip' was no different from that kind of thing, so they let it be.

"Whoa, that's amazin'!" Epel says, amazed, Then says, "Gotta say, though, that spell's even scarier than thought. If he put his mark on someone, they wouldn't even know it was there, would they?"

And then Rook says, "There's been an unexpected power outage, in a place with the very best technology... And Vil's on the move, even though all his tests are over and he's supposed to be waiting in his room. I would wager there's some trouble at HQ."

"Oh no," Sereia says, worried.

Even Trinket shows some concern.

"This is not good," Jasper says.

"I hope Briar, Grim and the others are okay..." Tanzanite adds concern.

Then Rook says, "Ortho said this was a training facility for Styx personnel. In which case...

Roon then walks to the door as he moves his hands around, touching the door. Everyone else is confused and wonders what Rook is doing as he feels around the door frame.

Epepl asks, "Rook? Why are you feeling around the door frame?"

Just then, Rook what he's looking for, "Here we are! An emergency door release. Simply give it a pull and..." He pulls on it and the door opens.

"Wow! The door opened right up!" Epel says.

They wouldn't need to limit people's movements in a training facility. It's not like there are research subjects running around," Rook says. "Hence, I surmised there would be a way to open the door from the inside in case of an emergency... and it appears I was right. Let's head over to HQ as well. 1 do hope I'm wrong, but I have a terrible sinking feeling about this.

Then says to the group, "Epel, Sereia, Tanzanite, Jasper, Trinket -follow me and stay close."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone responds.

With that, everyone follows Rook.

Later on, after searching around the Island of Woe, they soon find the Styx HQ

Epel looks amazing, "Tarnation... I thought this buildin' looked big before, but it's a whole 'nother story up close."

It was almost a letdown how easily we made it here. No one so much as questioned our presence," Rook says. "How do we get inside, though?"

"I'm guessing we're going to need a key or something," Tanzanite says.

"And where are we supposed to get that?" Jasper questions.

Suddenly, someone lets out a scream, "HEEELP! SOMEONE, ANYONE!"

Sereia turns her head and gasps, "Guys, look over there!"

The group turns to where Sereia is pointing to see one of the Technicians is being attacked by the Charon soldiers.

"Those armored soldiers are attackin' an islander! Ain't they on the same side?!" Epel says, shocked.

"I'm not certain. But regardless, we must save him!" Rook says.

"Right," Jasper says.

And with that, the gang rush to the rescue and begin to cast their magic to attack the soldiers and rescue the technician from harm.