The Chronicles: Green Night

Acting Helps

"What was that? Did you hear it?" exclaimed a guard after a powerful explosion shook the tomb. Two guards rushed to the door where the rest of us were trapped.

"Can you open the door, please? Lucas hurt himself trying to open it," Anna called from the other side.

The two guards exchanged uncertain glances, debating whether to open the doors.

"Shouldn't we consult Daniel first?" one of the guards suggested, and the other nodded in agreement.

After a few minutes, Daniel arrived at the entrance and opened the door. He surveyed the scene and noticed Lucas with a burned hand while Anna and I tended to him.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked in a frustrated tone of voice.

"We were just following your instructions to open the gate, but Lucas got hurt," I replied in frustration.

"Fine. Have you discovered anything important?"

"It seems that we need to use symbols to open the door, but we'll have to explore the crypt for more clues," Anna informed me.

"You do realize that I put you here so that I could deal with the other witches first, right? I don't really care if you open it. In a week, our scholars will arrive and open the door themselves, so there's no need for you to wander around," Daniel said with a sinister grin and laughed.

"Don't you want to impress your superiors by having the door opened already? You could get a substantial reward for speeding up the excavation," I tried to persuade him.

"It's amusing how you try to convince me to let you out, but I'm not that gullible," Daniel chuckled and walked away.

I exchanged glances with Lucas, signaling him to proceed with our alternate plan since our first attempt had failed. However, just as he was about to snap his fingers and activate the traps, Daniel turned with a wicked smile and locked eyes with me.

"You know what? I've changed my mind. You can explore the crypt for more information, but only one of you can go, the rest stay here."

After exchanging quick nods with Lucas and Anna, I stood up and Daniel took my hand and pulled me out of the room. The door began to close behind me, but before it could seal, I motioned for Lucas to prepare.

They led me through the dark corridors of the crypt until I found myself in a library, finally alone - or so I thought. A presence lurked behind me.

"You know, I could easily use my knife to slit your throat and expose your beautiful organs to some fresh air," Daniel whispered in my ear, showing me his knife.

"Of course, and I could already be in your mind, and what you would experience could just be an illusion. In reality, you'd be lying on the floor as your brain slowly but painfully turns to goo," I replied, pushing his knife away from my throat and moving to the nearest bookcase.

"You're quite interesting. It's the first time I've ever gotten a reaction like that. You witches are a strange bunch. I've never really understood you; most of you aren't afraid to die," Daniel chuckled as he sat down at one of the reading tables.

"Well, vampires are a pretty peculiar bunch too, I'd say," I retorted as I examined a partially ruined book.

"Well done, witcher. I'm truly impressed by your intelligence. How did you find out I'm a vampire?" Daniel laughed as if I'd just told him the funniest joke in the world.

"At first, I thought you were just another hound because I couldn't discern any unique aura around you, but my suspicions grew when you started bossing us around. Also, it was pretty evident that you're a vampire from the way you treat us like children or mere pets to be discarded at your convenience. It's a common vampire trait: arrogance," I replied, opening the book I had found.