The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Blue's Perspective)

The door was unlocked. They probably thought I was too weak to move. And if I was right, Azure did not know my mana had improved mostly because Cyan used something that he might not have told Azure about.

There was no doubt that Cyan hated Azure and was not with him. But I was not sure if Cyan was with me either.

Because Azure believed I would remain unconscious for sure for quite a while, he did not bother putting the bracelet on my wrist. I opened the door slowly and carefully. I could not walk properly, I was limping, forcing myself to take each step.

The place was as deserted as always. Azure was probably outside, in the garden, planning something. According to Cyan, whenever Azure needed to clear his mind, he would go to the garden. Since Azure was a deep thinker, he was almost always in the garden.

If only I could use teleportation here. Unfortunately, there was no way of using teleportation inside the mansion unless I had a special ring that the higher-ranked members of Azure's group could wear. There was no way he would give me one.

I limped my way across the hallway, making sure not to make a sound; I even started taking small breaths to make as less noise as possible.

But there was a twist. Even if I was left alone in this mansion, there was a high chance I would not be able to make my way out. It was a mansion full of riddles, illusions and, possibly, something more.

The stairwell was nearby. Although it was dark, it was one of my least concerns at the moment. I had my ears awake to catch even the slightest noise.

The distance was very little, but it felt like more than a mile. To my relief, I reached the stairwell without any problem.

Descending the stairs was hard with my weak body which trembled like a dry leaf on a windy day and my injured legs. Every step was like taking a death leap.

The steps had some writing on them. Even in the darkness, I could at least see the marks, just not sure what was written on them. I had never seen them before, or perhaps, they did not appear when the room was lit.

What some mere writing on the stairs could even mean? I shrugged and started climbing down the stairs, ignoring the writing. As if by the force of a sixth sense, I pulled my leg up on the second step again when I was just about to place it on the third step. There was barely any difference in the timing when a small arrow shot out of nowhere. It would have stabbed my ankle if I had not pulled back.

The arrow fell two steps below, bouncing on the tiles of the third step. I took a hasty breath in. I had no idea how I even managed to hold back my scream, or how I had sensed it beforehand. Something told me it was the result of the intense swordsmanship lessons from Perita and occasionally, from Dem.

Since there was no time to read the messages on the stairs and I did not possess enough intelligence to decipher a puzzle, I had to give up and use my magic to float in the air and using the air to get to the bottom. Explore more adventures at empire

It hurt my heart to use magic. Sometimes, I felt like I was having a heart attack. Since my body was weak, I should avoid using magic for a while. But, that was impossible at the moment.

Although I had never been to the dungeon, I knew how it looked, thanks to the unnecessarily realistic drawing Cyan brought. Apparently, he could draw rather well. Because I heard they had kept Reece and Abel there, I asked about it.

Thinking of the drawing really hard, I closed my eyes. It was my first-time trying teleportation. I heard it took a lot of energy, but I still needed to do it. Luc told me I need to think about the surroundings of the place where I was going to teleport. I had a good memory, so it was not too hard.

In my case, teleportation was very much different. When Luc teleported, there was a blue light of the same color as my eyes. For other mages, there was light too, and almost of the same color. Dem said there was a bit of difference, although I could not see it. When Cyan used teleportation, I could not see much of a thing because I was in pain.

But when I teleported and reached a far corner of the dungeon behind a huge pillar, there was no light. I just blinked and I had reached my destination already.

I felt tired, but I was also a bit excited about doing it perfectly on the first try.

I started looking around as I was reminded of the reality by the pain in my body. There was no sound coming from anywhere as if the dungeon was filled with dead people; if not physically, mentally.

The cells had doors, instead of iron bars like our palace. I preferred doors since I had the choice to choose to not see what was going on here. There was no one in here either. Once Cyan mentioned that this whole place had very less people unless summoned by Azure. Azure was an introvert, so he preferred fewer people around him and his house.

The whole place was secured with difficult magic. The writings on the stairs were to avoid intruders for sure, but to welcome people with a strong intellect.

Azure loved smart people. The reason why he did not kill Cyan although he was not a powerful dark mage was because Cyan was smart. His ideas were brilliant, yet simple. I heard this from Lloid, who did not like Cyan, but respected his intellect.

The doors of the cells had a square gap with iron bars. But I was shorter than the required height to see through it. I was of average height in my world, but in this world, it was considered quite short as most people were very tall. I considered Dem very tall, but in this world, he was considered just tall because there were a lot of taller people than him.

I made a weird decision. "Reece…," I whispered. "Abel… Can you hear me?"

There was a bit of noise suddenly in the cell on my left side, but then everything went quiet. After a good ten seconds, I heard a coarse voice. "Are you that so-called daughter of the lord?"

"N-No," I replied bluntly.

"Okay," he said. And it was quiet again.

I was sweating profusely, tensed. What kind of conversation was this? And it was the end? He did not argue, but it was clear he did not trust me.

I decided to move on. I whispered their names again.

*knock*

I abruptly turned my head towards the door where the knock was coming from. It hurt my neck, but it was alright.

Silence fell. And then, there it was again.

*knock* *knock*

I held my breath.

*knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock*

I should have opened the door with my magic the moment someone knocked for the first time. But I did not. Because, oddly, I found a rhythm.

I counted the times they knocked again, thinking they were trying to give me a message.

"One… Two… Three… Twelve… Abel. It says Abel!"

My throat hurt as I forced out the words. I should not have talked.

The alphabetic order of A, B, E, and L was the number of times they knocked. I was not that smart, but I could see possibilities.

When the other person finally stopped, I found an answer to a question that I had not asked yet.

'Abel needs help.'

And the person who answered was none other than Reece. At least, he was okay. Or, was he?

I walked up to that door and placed my palms on the door. I repeated Luc's words in my head.

To be a mage, you need strength, a lot of strength, or else, you are nothing. But this strength is different. You don't need to be way too strong physically to use your power. You need mental strength. Sometimes, it can be more powerful than physical strength. That's the advantage of a mage.

But mental strength was the thing I lacked. I did not have anything extraordinary. I was not even normal. At least, I should have the mentality of a normal person, but I did not. Yet, with all the mental strength I could muster, I gave it my all, to let my power out once again and break the barrier of the magic.