Maya marched into the castle. Walking past the guards, straight into the throne room. Her eyes had a defiant glint in them. She got inside without a question.
Medea was sitting on the throne had a mock smile on her face. "Ah, welcome, high rank soldier Emberhold," the royal said.
"Why did your highness discontinue the legalization of my research?" Maya said, her expression still blank, although her eyes betrayed her with a hint of uncentainty.
"Embercallers are dangerous, child. You should focus more on transferring the prisoners to Darkeast island," Medea said, her tone becoming almost too soft.
"Darkeast? The island known for being full of fog and low returning rate?" Maya said, her eyes widening slightly.
Without caring about Maya's concern, Medea continued. "The highest intensity side should be leaving by two days. It consists of 065, 121 and 086. I've already approved the move for them all," she said, her voice cold as ice.
"Before I get to that, tell me everything that you are trying to hide. I know you know the Embercallers, and I want an answer," Maya said defiantly, her tone leaving no room for bullshit.
"Brave of you to think you can defy me and get information out of the most powerful person in this island. Brave, but also really naive," Medea said.
Maya's gaze hardened into a full on glare. "Answer. This is for the future of your goddamn precious island," she snapped.
Medea's gaze hardened. "You have nothing you can do about the Embercaller. Just let it go," she responded.
At the same time, the Ashborn was planning their attack against the crown. Aatos had taken the the lead and planned out the attack.
"First, Aurora throws a rock at the bushes near the castle. While they are distracted, me, Remy and Hazel sneak in and attack the queen. Aurora can keep the guards busy by throwing more rocks, and Ocean can look after her," Aatos said, clearly proud of his own plan.
Hazel spoke up, evidently happy about the fact they were going to actually get revenge on them. "I volunteer to sneak up from behind with a knife," she said. Her expression was blank with no hint of sarcasm, so she was probably being serious.
"You want to? Alright. But don't kill her off quick. Maybe we can get benefits out of blackmail," Remy said, the gleam of rebellition in their eyes never leaving.
"What a pity. I really despise her," Hazel replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We'll get to the killing part. But after we shake her down a bit," Remy said.
At the same time, Maya finally gave up and walked down to the dungeon. She was given the keys to unlock the cells of the inmates she was supposed to transfer.
The halls of Blacklight prison felt rather empty. No more prisoners to shout all day and her unknown weapon. The silence was quite calming, but also unsettling in a way.
Hexa's hallucinations got stronger as the noise of other prisoners wore out and time passed. Peace and quiet were having a negative effect on her. Just three more prisoners remained, and she was one of them.
Maya didn't care about the other cells. The only one who could know something about her reserach subject was Hexa, labeled as 086 and put behind the bars. She walked straight that cell.
Hexa was sitting all curled up in the floor. She heard the footsteps of the other woman and lifted her head. She looked at her for a while before finally speaking.
"Oh.. You? Are you real?" Hexa said, her voice soft and quiet.
Maya rolled her eyes. "What do you mean? Ugh.. Yes, I'm real. Now, are you willing to help me?" she replied.
"I'd love to help you," Hexa said, her happiness evident in her eyes.
"Good. I'll show you what you need to do when I get you out," Maya said, already unlocking the cell door to let Hexa out.
She immediadly took Hexa's hand and started walking her out of the dungeon from the path that didn't go past the throne room. They passed a lot of other Nullbounders who thought it was a call of duty Maya was fullfilling.