Xanum

Epilogue

Tony

I had been trapped in this cell for what felt like days, but I knew that it had to be only a few hours. There was no light down here, and the hole they'd tossed me into the cell from was covered by a lid of some sort. So it wasn't really a cell that I was trapped in, but more of a hole that I was tossed into. There was nothing down here other than a mattress made of some kind of fur, and it was on this mattress that I was resting. The hole was carved from stone, but there seemed to be a fair amount of dirt here as well. It was around ten feet wide, as I could lay and touch each of the curved walls if I stretched my arms above my head.

I wondered how Jax was going to take all this execution business, I knew him well enough to know that it wasn't going to go well. He would overreact and explode, causing a bunch of unnecessary drama, and he'd likely get himself killed. I didn't want that, but I truly didn't see any way out of this one. I didn't remember where I'd stuffed the sphere, so I couldn't teleport my way out of the hole, and I hadn't deemed it necessary to learn anything about magic, even when Jax had gone insane over his lightning and his fire.

The only spell I really knew was the one to open the portal to that place... the tree. I didn't even want to think about it, the feel of that... creature, and the way its teeth ripped into my chest, ignoring bone and muscle and simply slicing through me. As if that's all that I was: meat. I was lucky to be alive, that was the truth. And Jax, in all his ridiculousness, he had still risked his life by jumping into the darkness, the abyss. I didn't know what all he had done for me in there, but I didn't really have a chance to ask now, did I? I shook my head, this wasn't what I wanted to think about. I only had a few hours left to live, right? So I had to make them meaningful. What could I possibly do to make an impact? Oh, wait, absolutely nothing. All I could do was sit, and so I sat. I stared up into the darkness that was my entire world at the moment and tried to doze off, hopefully soon they would toss food down like they had a few hours earlier.

    With seemingly no warning, the lid to the opening of the hole opened, flooding it with light. I shielded my eyes and sat up while I adjusted to the light. "Is it time for me to die?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, Amplov has decided to spare you, this time. Anyway, climb up here, there's food waiting for you," a voice said.

"There's nothing to climb on," I said. Without a word, the faceless person kicked a rope down into the hole. It dangled down from above as if it were a vine. Feeling my stomach growl at the thought of food, I reached up and took the rope. I tugged on it to make sure it could support my weight, and once I was sure that it could, I pulled myself up. Once I was emerging from the hole, the speaker reached down and grabbed my arm, then violently yanked me from the depths.

"Do you guys always leave people down there? There's nowhere to take a piss," I said.

"There is always the floor," the guard said. I was disappointed to see that it was only a guard, I was hoping it would be someone I knew, like Fayne or even Jax. I wondered what he was doing at this moment, probably spending time with Quinn and the others, or maybe he was attempting to convince Amplov not to kill me, I didn't know. Did he know that Amplov was going to spare me? If not, I wasn't sure what he would do. I knew him, he was probably doing something horribly impulsive.

"But the floor is where I sleep, I don't want to be steeping in a pile of... y'know," I said.

"Enough, your food is there, you have an audience with the king the moment you're finished," the guard said. He pointed at a nearby plate of food, which I eagerly dove into. All they'd done to feed me while I was in the hole was throw food down, and with the information that prisoners defecated on the place I slept, and on the floor I ate from-it was enough to make me sick. The food was amazing, and the moment I was done eating, I dusted myself off and eagerly rushed up the stairs. I wasn't sure I remembered the way to the main hall, and the moment I stepped up from the last step, I realized I was lost. Ahead was a long hallway that seemed abnormally straight, and above me was another set of stairs. I wasn't exactly conscious when Amplov's guards had dragged me down here, so I didn't remember the way. I started my way up the stairs, moving cautiously as I didn't know the time and I didn't want to disturb anyone. This time, as I stepped up from the final step, I recognized where I was. I was next to Rhys' forge, and I saw the doors only a few feet away. They were slightly ajar, which I found interesting.