A Cold Entity-Chapter Four

We finally began walking down the stone corridor after our lengthy intermission. Tobias was walking slower than I would like. His eyes were darting all around the walls. He was taking his time, examining everything. Not that there was that much to look at, just torches and heavy, iron doors. He seemed both fascinated and horrified by his surroundings.

"I had no idea there were so many people being held down here," he said to me in awe.

He turned towards me. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

I shook my head. "Your guess is as good as mine."

He looked forward again, still walking at a slow pace. "What's going to happen to all of them?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.

"I don't know."

He stopped walking suddenly, grabbing me by the arm. I stopped abruptly.

"Can't you do anything to help them? You're an almighty entity, do something!"

"Tobias, stop right now." I sealed his lips shut, so he couldn't say anything while I chewed him out. "I want to make something very, very clear to you. Are you listening?"

He nodded, looking slightly surprised at what I had done to him. As if he thought I didn;t have the guts to do it.

"I am not some sort of being that can do whatever they want. I can't just wave my hand and cause anything to happen. I am not a Goddess yet. I'm just an entity. I'm not omnipotent, or anything like that. My powers are still limited. Yes, I could help all of these people escape, but not using my powers. It's because I have the keys." I jingled them in front of his frozen face, and then released him. "Do you understand?" I asked him. "Because I don't want you to always depend on me for help. I don't want you to think I can get us out of any situation just like that. You need to be able to think for yourself, understood?"

Tobias nodded, looking slightly shaken up. "I didn't know," he said finally. "I'm sorry if I misjudged you. And I would never hang on your shoulder or always depend on you. I can think for myself."

"Good," I said, beginning to walk again. "Just do't make assumptions, and don't think I can save you from whatever situation we may get into. And even if I did want to help all of these people escape, it would not be the wise thing to do. We have no idea where we or the Trodains are. We could be attacked if we try to break out with all of the prisoners. We need to escape first, and then we will go from there.

"Well, that should be easy enough. I mean, it isn't like there is anyone around to stop us." He said confidently. Too confidently.

"That could easily change. You should really be a bit more cautious."

No response from him, just a nod as we continued on with our uneventful walk, although our conversation had made it a little less dull. Eventually, we came across an open cell door. Tobias' old cell. As I expected, he stopped and stared into the empty room.

I quietly let out a sigh. "It just happened, do you really need to look back on it already?" I was not the type who wanted to waste time with minor things like this. Hadn't he had enough time to reflect on things while he was in there, or when I had healed him? Humans waste time on such frivolous things.

"I almost died in there, Arcuna. I didn't think I would ever get out of here. It doesn't matter how long ago it happened. I'm lucky to be alive. I'm about to leave this place forever. Of course I'm going to look back on it."

He looked at the open scars on his wrists (for the third time that night, I might mention). "I can't believe I nearly killed myself. I'm so glad you were there to save me, Arcuna." He beamed at me.

I just stared at the ground, feeling darkly embarassed. I decided it was best not to say anything.

"Come on. Let's go now."

Tobias started to walk again, increasing his pace significantly. It seemed that the brief time he spend reflecting gave him new inspiration, and now he really wanted to get out of this dark place. But if I had any excitement of leaving, I held it back. Excitement just leads to haste and recklessness, something that could cost us dearly in a situation like this.

Finally, we reached a dead end, a stone wall with a single torch lying dead in our path. To the right was our intended destination. The stairs, hopefully the ones that would take us out of here. More torches lined the walls leading up the stairway, casting its warm flickering light on the stairs and an iron door at the top. Even from this distance, I could see that there was no lock on it. Why bother, if the prisoners were held between heavy locked doors with no chance to escape?

Tobias began to walk up the stone stairway, eager to finally escape this dungeon. But when he stepped on the first step, I grabbed his collar, yanking him backwards towards me. "Have you no caution at all?" I let out an exasperated sigh. "There could be guards outside the door, waiting to ambush anyone who might try to escape. So next time, be more careful!"

I led us up the stairway slowly, one step at a time. Not a sound could be heard as I gently set down my feet on each step. Beads of sweat ran down the side of my head, the result of this nervewracking situation. I had a sharp icicle in my hand, in case I needed to use it (and to tell you the truth, hoping that I would have to use it). When I finally reached the top, I slowly pressed my ear against the cool door, listening for any sounds at all. I heard nothing, but that was no reason to drop my guard. I pushed open the door a crack, waiting for a reaction from the other side. There was none, so I pushed it all the way open.

We were met by a cold breeze as soon as we stepped outside. Being who I am, I found it rather refreshing, but Tobias shivered. As soon as I took a quick look around, I knew exactly where we were, and where we had been kept. We were standing on a crimson brown dirt road, lined with small huts, each with their own space, so they weren't cramped together. This was the exact same place town that the Trodains had just rampaged. In fact, the door we had just emerged from was its dungeon.

"Very clever, holding us captive in our own prison..." I muttered to myself. Tobias stood still, not quite sure of what to do while I took a quick look around. It was truly a horrifying scene. Corpses lie on the street, although not enough to create piles. They were strewn across the dirt road like tumbleweeds. Their blood had soaked into the ground and froze, turning it a dark reddish brown. Hardly any of the small huts were habitable anymore. Many had smashed walls or shattered windows, and some were destroyed outright.

But the strange thing was the fact that there was no one else around, not even any Trodains. I would have thought that maybe they would be patrolling the streets and be using the houses (damaged they may be) as quarters. But no, only silence was up above, broken by the icy howl of the wind. With everything broken and dead all around, it felt like I was in an eerie ghost town. Snow had fallen, blanketing all that had been laid to rest; it capped off the ghost town feeling. It was falling, many flakes dancing in the wind, even as I stood there in shock and terror.

Tobias began to slowly walk out into the street, but I gently grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?" I asked softly.

He slowly turned his head as he looked at all the bodies in the street. Then he looked at me with a sad and pleading look in his eyes. "I want to find my parents," he said, becoming slightly choked up. "I know they're out there. I want to find them, and be with them before they rot away." I could see his eyes become blurry as he held back tears.

I wanted to say that there might be disease in the streets, and he probably shouldn't be going through corpses on the street. It was in his best interests. But seeing how sad he was, and how much he wanted to see his parents, I just couldn't say no to him. I knew how important his parents must be to him. And besides, the cold probably kept the disease at bay, at least for now.

I let go of him without a sound, and he went off to search. "Thank you!" he said. Meanwhile, I slumped down and sat on the white ground, taking everything in. Everything suddenly hit me. How all of these people had died. Lives ended, and other broken. Family members crushed, just like Tobias. A peaceful town all by itself, brought to a bloody end by the Trodains. It was all because of those damn Trodains. They had caused this. They had destroyed this peaceful little town.

I clenched my fists. Why? Why did they do this? What did these people ever do to harm them? Why did the Trodains have to ruin life for everyone? I felt hatred bottle up inside of me. I had no idea who they were, only that they were blood thirsty savages tht took over everything for themselves. I didn't know how a human could possibly be so evil. I hated them all so much after I witnessed this afterscene. I was so oblivious to everything, but now it was all clear to me. But I wasn't completely helpless, oh no. I swore to myself right then and there that I would find out who the Trodains were, and I would stop their reign of tyranny. I had the ability. I could help people. I could makes things better. I just knew I had to do something.

I closed my eyes and felt tears well up on the inside of the lids.

This is a turning point for me.

To help the good and the weak, and to punish the evil.