Vitae Memorandum

76-Mesmerizing Betrayal

The trap was finally set, all that remained was for all the pieces to play their part. Khaexyn continued on his efforts, focusing on the world's veil, as his greatest weapon ever went on the prowl.

Mhyl found herself in yet another familiar area. This would be the place where they had rested on the first night, narrowly escaping from capture. Recalling such thoughts, she wasn't very inclined to rest there, but was going over her thoughts to see if she could get her bearings. However, at this point, she couldn't even recall if they had made a right or left after exiting the room. All of this had felt so long ago, the details were so fleeting for her. The fact that things were so run down wasn't helping jog her memory either.

As she pondered the answer, a small sphere floated towards her. Mhyl set her guard out of reflex, before recognizing it. This was one of Lwyn's things, Lwyn did this? It hovered over her head for a moment as she pondered its design. Then, as programmed, it set off again. Mhyl ran after it, knowing that Lwyn expected her to follow it. If she was lucky, it would lead her right to Lwyn. She carefully followed it along the halls, which had grown especially quiet. She glanced around, wondering why there weren't any more defenses all of a sudden. Easily keeping pace, she followed the sphere until it led her to another familiar location. This was the place they had first found Sxeiva, outside where they were basically keeping people captive. She remembered when they had passed here, searching for Lwyn. The sphere continued inside.

Mhyl followed it until she found Lwyn, tied up with strange shackles in one of the cells, looking very tired. "Lwyn!" Mhyl's shout alerted Lwyn, who hid her excitement at her plan coming together. Instead, Yhse used the short smirk she couldn't hide to bluff her excitement at being rescued. "Mhyl! Thank goodness that worked. They.. took me captive. These cuffs, they stop me from using my gift, but I managed to get that one sphere out there. Don't get too close to them, just drop something on the chain or something, if the chain breaks the effects will wear off." Yhse of course was making all of this up. The chains binding her were completely natural, she could easily break free on her own at any time if she wanted. Mhyl however followed instructions, cautiously setting Yhse free. Mhyl gave some idle thought just how come Lwyn might have been aware exactly how such shackles worked, but knew Lwyn was pretty smart, so that probably explained it.

With that done, it was time for the next step. Yhse summoned two spheres, with instructions to find the other two, follow them, and to flash brightly if it returned too close to her. It was like setting an alarm for their approach. After Mhyl was taken care of, she could try to restart the whole process with Thanrie, repeating the whole thing another time for Qheria as well. She knew the spheres would prompt the two to search for her instead of her father, which would also give him the time he needed to finish his work. Mhyl however looked at the two spheres in confusion, wondering what that was about. Yhse caught on to the confusion, and gave an explanation. "Oh, I'm still looking for Qheria, but I actually found Thanrie. She's in trouble, we have to go save her!" Yhse built urgency to encourage Mhyl to keep going.

Mhyl however still felt confused, something wasn't right. "Lwyn, what about you? You were weakened a lot there, are you sure you're alright?" "Oh, I'm doing fine, don't worry. Lets just hurry." Mhyl noticed the return of Lwyn's plastic smile, that fake smile that showed she was being kept from something, which just caused her to worry even more. Even Yhse was not aware to what degree Mhyl had grown capable of detecting this of her best friend. She followed along anyway, keeping an eye on Lwyn the entire time. Eventually, they arrived at a tunnel going down, a faint dark glow humming from below.

"Thanrie and I had gone down there, when suddenly the lights went dim like this. Thanrie had suddenly freaked out, and we got ambushed. I had stayed behind as Thanrie had fled through the room into the area beyond it. I heard the guards saying they were going to lock the place down, because there was no other escape. Thanrie would be trapped in here, we have to save her!" Yhse marvelled at how well this story worked, how inviting it was. From here, it would only get better. Mhyl looked down, not seeing much of anything in the darkness, not even being aware that the room was mostly flooded at this distance. Two weaknesses in one setup, it was perfect. When Yhse brought Thanrie here, she would just need to turn the lights back on and comment about Mhyl and the water. Yhse could then just get the lights to fail again, putting Thanrie in this eerie darkness.