Ahhhhh! Seir, please don't send us off! Give us a chance!
We can do it! Send us out to them.
Let the people leave Seir!
Crash!
A sudden bang sounded, shaking the entire prison. Every inhabitant roused from their slumber. The lights flicked on, and the alarms sounded, piercing people's eardrums.
Before Seir could even process what was happening around her, the wall on the back end of her cell shook and crumbled. A black figure stepped through the smoke and dust, illuminated by the dingy overhead fluorescent light.
A man in a mask.
Hoisted up roughly over the man's shoulders, she couldn't even scream before being shuttled through a thick tunnel. They were heading up.
"—L-let me down! Send me back!" She struggled and began digging into him with her elbows as hard as she could.
"..."
"Listen to me!—Aphan grab— Hu—"
"Shut up, hell spawn!"
Seir was squeezed tightly, her ribs creaking under the pressure. She could almost hear the grinding of molars under the mask as the man continued to run in silence.
"Seir~"
Looking back, she saw Ephanuel standing by the entrance as she moved farther away. He blocked what seemed to be the last traces of light in the long, artificial tunnel.
A finger was placed over his lips, signaling her to keep quiet. The wall sealed up behind him.
They ran through endless darkness, the sound of breathing and the beat of their steps on the floor being the only things telling Seir that what was happening was real.
She questioned Ephanuel's actions in closing the route behind them, thinking it might be his escape plan. But why not tell her first? And why so rough?
Was it like the mischievous Abyss Demon to make plans and not inform her? Jostling her around?
Seir was beginning to wonder if it was a great idea to summon him. A shoulder dug uncomfortably into her left rib as they trotted along at an inhuman speed.
A chill fell over her skin 3 minutes in.
It was only when snow began to wet her back that she even realized where she was.
Within five minutes, they reached the outside. Five minutes. Miles of tunnel covered on foot in five minutes. Miles of indestructible, reinforced walls dug through.
Seir realized that it was slung over the shoulder of a beast in human clothing.
Her body was thrown roughly into the snow once they reached some distance away.
Shards of ice filled her mouth and nose. She struggled to stand while coughing and spitting up water.
"Pathetic."
The man in the mask seemed disgusted at her disheveled visage, but more than that, it appeared that he had a personal grudge against her.
But when Seir considered how many people might harbor a personal grudge against her, she felt almost numb. There probably weren't enough hands with fingers in the Imperial city to count how many people would like to have her head.
The masked man spoke over the howling winds.
"The Death Cheppard. Seir Callahan."
Ephanuel, dressed in a new robe, appeared behind the masked man and gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
"The culprit behind the Massacre of Leihiel Square, and the worst power holder in the fourth generation."
Seir shivered in the snow. The thin prison uniform did absolutely nothing to guard her from the elements.
A specialized heavy-duty mobile hunkered towards them, once again choking her with more ice shards.
"You're mine."
-
Seir's shoulder hit the wall as she was thrown in the back of the truck, causing her to curl up into herself. The cold hardened her skin, only making the pain worse.
She stared deeply as Ephanuel stepped onto the truck. He locked eyes with her with a look that seemed to scream, "Didn't I do well? Praise me."
Fucking piece of shit demon.
"I advise you to keep your thoughts quieter so they don't leak." He squatted down in front of her with a fake smile.
Seir could only grimace in pain.
"Leak?" Seir spat, her breath pluming into thick white clouds in the freezing air of the cargo hold. "I'm projecting them into your skull on purpose."
Ephanuel chuckled, a smooth, velvet sound that clashed violently with the harsh, mechanical roar of the truck's engine firing to life. The heavy-duty mobile lurched forward, throwing Seir against the icy corrugated steel of the floor. Up front, the masked man had evidently taken the driver's seat, sealed away behind a thick pane of reinforced glass, leaving the prisoner and her summoned demon alone in the uninsulated box.
Seir pulled her knees to her chest, her teeth chattering so hard they felt loose. Her thin prison uniform was soaked through with melted snow. "Who... who is he? And why didn't you just..." She trailed off to cough, her lungs burning. "Just teleport us out?"
Ephanuel gracefully sat down on a supply crate, seemingly entirely unaffected by the sub-zero temperatures. He reached out and brushed a nonexistent speck of dust from his pristine, dark robes.
"Teleportation leaves behind a signature," Ephanuel explained, his tone dripping with patronizing patience. "A very loud, very traceable signature that the Imperial Specialists would follow straight to our destination. Our brutish friend driving us, however, relies purely on delightfully absurd physical trauma. You can't track a spell that was never cast, nor the person who never cast it."
"He wants me dead," she stated, shivering violently as the metal beneath her absorbed her remaining body heat. "He called me... the worst power holder."
"Oh, he absolutely despises you," Ephanuel agreed cheerfully, resting his chin in his hand. "He thinks he has purchased your miserable life for his own vengeance. It was a necessary transaction, you see. I needed someone strong enough to shatter the anti-magic wards of the inner cell block with raw, unadulterated force."
Seir glared up at him, her vision blurring at the edges. "You used him to break me out... and now I'm his prisoner?"
"Technically, you're mine, but we don't need to hurt his feelings just yet," the demon smiled, a flash of mischievous fangs gleaming in the dim light of the hold.
The truck hit a massive snowdrift, sending Seir sliding across the floor. She gasped as her bruised ribs flared with agony. The cold was moving past pain and settling into a dangerous, lethargic numbness.
"I'm... going to freeze to death before he even gets the chance to kill me," she whispered, her eyelids drooping.
Ephanuel sighed, the picture of a long-suffering caretaker. He stepped off the crate, closing the distance between them. Crouching down, he pressed a single, gloved finger against her forehead. Instantly, a wave of dry, suffocating heat washed over her body—like standing too close to a raging bonfire. Her wet clothes steamed, and the ice in her hair melted into warm water that trickled down her neck.
"We can't have that," Ephanuel murmured, his golden eyes glowing in the shadows. "You still have a debt to pay me, Seir. And I intend to collect every last drop. Now, rest. When the brute stops the truck, the real fun begins."