Chapter 41: The Boy in the Dark
Mini Arc: Gasper's Rescue
The silence in the lower levels of the Vladi estate was unnatural. It wasn't the silence of emptiness—it was the silence of muffled screams, of sound devoured by magic, of lives meant to be forgotten.
Volundr moved through the shadows like a ghost, his cloak woven with sensory-nullifying threads, his breath controlled, steps synchronized with the periodic flicker of the ward runes above.
He was deep now—three floors beneath the upper halls, in the territory not even most Tepes guards dared to tread.
The ancient stone corridor stretched before him, narrow and suffocating. Carved into the walls were runes—old vampire dialects mixed with demon script.
Seals to suppress power. To weaken will. To imprison not just body, but soul.
He stopped at a heavy door bound in crimson sigils.
This is it.
Volundr placed his hand gently against the surface. The sigils flared in warning. But he didn't brute-force them. Instead, he whispered.
"Agares command: time-lapse breach. Fracture at the seam."
His ring pulsed. Time twisted.
The sigils cracked. The locks groaned. The door clicked open.
The Caged Boy
The chamber beyond was dim, lit only by the pale blue of suppression crystals embedded in the ceiling. Shackles of silver and obsidian hung from the walls, some still stained with old blood.
And in the center of the room, inside a reinforced stasis cage, floated a boy—no older than seven or eight. Pale, small, and trembling.
He wore a torn white robe and nothing else. His eyes were wide and red from crying, though he no longer made sound.
The cage was rigged with seals from every faction Volundr recognized—vampire, church, even stolen Norse spellcraft.
Gasper Vladi.
He floated in suspended magic, his Sacred Gear flickering faintly—a ghostly golden hourglass tattooed on the back of his right hand.
Volundr stepped forward slowly, arms raised.
"Gasper."
The boy didn't respond. His eyes locked on Volundr, then widened in fear. His mouth opened, but no sound came. Panic surged in his limbs, though the cage kept him immobile.
Volundr stopped just short of the outer seal ring.
"I'm not here to hurt you," he said calmly. "I'm here to take you away from this place."
Still no response—just trembling.
Volundr crouched and placed his hand against the seal.
"My name is Volundr. I know what they've done to you. And I know it's not your fault. That power inside you—it isn't evil. They made it seem that way. But I've seen children turned into monsters by men who call themselves heroes."
He looked Gasper in the eye.
"I won't let them do that to you."
Something shifted in the boy's expression—fear still lingered, but now confusion joined it. A flicker of hope.
Volundr pulled a vial from his pouch—a Holy-Laced Purity Elixir—one of the few items that could neutralize unholy bindings without triggering violent backlash.
He uncorked it and poured the glowing liquid into the seal's release basin. Light shimmered. Runes sizzled.
CRACK.
The stasis shell shattered.
Gasper dropped like a leaf, but Volundr caught him gently in his arms.
The boy trembled. His mouth moved.
"S-s-save… me?"
Volundr nodded, voice soft but resolute. "I already am."
Escape Triggered
No sooner had the words left his lips than the alarms began.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—
A pulse of crimson magic erupted through the estate. Wards reactivated. Detection barriers lit up like wildfire.
Darius's voice crackled in Volundr's earpiece: "They found the decoy! We're compromised!"
Lilith: "South wall breached. We're falling back to Extraction Point Echo!"
Volundr stood, clutching Gasper tightly against his chest. "Understood. I'm going to Phase Gate Theta."
He flicked a scroll open with his teeth. Time magic wrapped around him like a cloak. Shadows curled around their feet. Behind him, the chamber doors burst open as vampire guards rushed in, weapons raised.
But Volundr had already moved—slipping through reality, phasing into the shadow path.
Final Scene
They emerged in a glade lit by moonlight—far from the estate, near the foothills of the old dragon graves where teleportation magic could safely anchor.
Seraphina was waiting, arms outstretched. "We're clear."
Volundr gently passed Gasper to her. The boy was crying silently now, clutching Volundr's sleeve with a frail grip.
"W-who… are you?" Gasper asked one last time.
Volundr gave a faint smile.
"Someone who sees the worth in the forgotten."
He turned, cloak billowing behind him as the portal shimmered open.
Phase Two: Complete.