Page 32 of Crimson Skies

“Let us see what else is inside this fortress,” Bostrof said darkly.

Eden took a shaky breath and nodded. She bound the alchemist with shackles of magic and headed inside the mountain with Woody and the others.

Elios’s stronghold was an austere shell of bleak corridors and gloomy rooms that stretched for a quarter of a mile into the mountain. It wasn’t until they entered a hallway in the west wing that Eden picked up on a trace of magic. Her gaze locked on the wall to her right.

“Woody?”

It’s an illusion. There is a passage behind it.The devilwood staff vibrated in her grasp.I smell strong magic coming from beyond.

Bostrof frowned. “What is it?”

“That wall is fake.”

Eden called upon her bloodcursed soul core. Crimson sparks erupted from her right hand. She pressed her fingers against the rock.

Izaran’s eyes widened as her power ate away at the illusion magic that had been cast, revealing another long, dark corridor. This one ended in a staircase that spiraled down into the bowels of the fortress.

The reek of death greeted them as they descended the stairs, the red globe in Eden’s hand their only illumination. A pair of metal doors imbued with runes appeared in the scarlet light when they reached the bottom. A chill crawled across her flesh.

The place felt like a tomb. One that had seen many horrors.

“Open it,” Bostrof said, his voice so quiet she barely heard it above the pounding of her heart.

Eden swallowed. She raised a crimson spell bomb and blasted the doors open.

The scene that met them when they crossed the threshold made Izaran gasp and Bostrof freeze. Loki’s eyes flared in horror.

Bile burned the back of Eden’s throat.

The alchemists’ dungeon was lined with dozens of cells stretching over three floors. Scores of Lucifugous demons and other creatures that had dwelled in the Shadow Empire rotted inside them. Their remains had been heaped haphazardly, as if their deaths meant nothing.

Their fates were etched starkly on the stone slabs where the last of their brethren still lay shackled.

Bostrof started slowly across the chamber. His footsteps echoed on the rock floor as he passed dark blocks stained with blood and gore, every line of his body radiating a fury so fierce it made the shadows hiss and recoil around him. They followed, their gazes dancing over the evidence of the alchemists’ dark deeds.

Every single corpse had been mutilated beyond recognition, their organs ripped from their insides while they were still alive, their flesh and bones carved open while they screamed until their bodies locked in spasms of pure agony.

The stench of putrefaction rose from oubliettes in the ground, where the buzz of flies hinted at the corpses that lay beneath their feet. From the bone fragments poking through the ash inside the cold furnaces, the alchemists had fled the fortress without bothering to dispose of the evidence of their gruesome experiments.

Tears welled in Eden’s eyes. Woody trembled in her hold as her emotions echoed those of his core.

A warm hand grasped hers.

Loki’s pupils blazed crimson with sorrow and rage beside her. She clenched his fingers tightly.

Bostrof stopped by a stone table. He hesitated before touching the face of the child who lay upon it. She was about the same age as Phebei, and younger still than the Lucifugous children Woody had played with mere hours ago.

“I’m sorry I failed you.” Wetness stained Bostrof’s cheeks. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against the dead girl’s brow. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to protect you.”

An animal sound escaped Izaran. The demon roared and swung his battle-axe. Glass smashed and metal bounced against the walls of the dungeon as he destroyed the alchemists’ tools.

A golden glow drew Eden’s gaze as she listened to the destruction. She headed over to a stone vat sitting in a hollow at the far end of the chamber. Magic brushed against her skin. She stopped and studied the floor.

Scorch marks were carved into the flagstones around the depression.

Eden frowned.They were guarding this area.

It took but a moment for her to dispel the invisible spells the alchemists had erected. Her heart thumped when the essence of what was inside the receptacle resonated fully with her and Woody’s cores.

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