The Prison of Deviants

Chapter 26: Theo Visits Dagur

The evening has come. I walk towards the feline district, staring at the card Dagur's given me. Through all of the districts I had to cross, it was an ultimate passage - I had barely taken it out of my pocket when the guards would already open the gates for me, shivering in fear as they did.

How come Dagur has had such a mighty card at hand? I still can't find an answer - even if an old-timer, he's still a prisoner. How come the warden's given him such privileges? As I've said before, only Knut and Bob are in possession of the golden cards, apart from the warden. Bob doesn't really give it to anyone, and Knut would only give me the one when I visited him directly in his chamber. How come Dagur had a golden card given by the warden? And why did he hand it to me so casually, without even the slightest fear for the warden's possible rage?

"Hey, who's passing?"

The guards of the feline district are frowning at me. It's no surprise - it's not a free hour yet. I've been authorized by Rufus to leave my district only after I presented my new card to him and explained that I needed to meet up with the "official" to whom it belonged (of course, I told him nothing about a prisoner's possessing this card because it would sound really bizarre). These guards are probably suspicious of my walking around here when no prisoner is allowed to get out of their cells, at this hour.

Well, might as well show them my trump card.

"Ah, my goodness!" One of the guards - a lion deviant - steps back in fear once he sees my card. "H-How come you have that?"

"I've received it from a feline named Dagur."

Since these are felines, I must tell them the truth. After all, Dagur resides here. These guards must know why he's been in the possession of this card. If he gets in trouble because of me, it'll be purely his fault, not mine. So, either way, I'm not losing anything.

"Dagur? Wait, you don't mean_"

The other guard, who is a cheetah deviant, grabs the lion on the shoulder and shakes his head, giving him a sign to stop. He opens the gates and invites me in:

"Come. I'll escort you to him."

"Wow, okay..."

I follow the cheetah into the district. The lion closes the gates behind us. I still can't figure out why they're escorting me to a mere prisoner. If the old-timers have begun to terrorize even the guards so much, I guess they do have a basis to be so prideful.

As Rufus has once told me, the infected deviants turn out stronger than the inborn ones, so, the old-timers, who are completely-turned, must surely be more powerful than any of these guards. I guess that is the main reason why Dagur's name brings so much terror to these guys.

The cheetah leads me through different corridors up to a metal door. He opens it and conducts me in.

We arrive in a large gym, full of metal posts that reach up to the ceiling and are connected by metal ropes. A lot of feline administrators - overseers, guards, and Bob van Irbisen's retinues - are jumping around those ropes and climbing the posts. Some elementals are even battling each other to hone their skills. Apparently, this is their training ground.

Bob is here too, sitting on one of the ropes like a true panther, exercising with a dumbbell. His muscles and scars are clearly visible on his bare chest now. They make me shudder - they're big cuts, scratches, and even burn-marks. I wonder who's beaten him up so hard, in his past. I guess it should be the same guy who's made him lose his eye.

Once we enter, all the eyes set on us. Bob notices me and snarls so hard that I figure if he had the right he'd devour me right away. He jumps off the ropes, walks up to us, and straightly addresses me: