Few people know, but in the dungeon of the northern castle, an underground prison had been built. Since it had not been used for a long time, many had forgotten about its existence. This part of the castle had been abandoned for decades.

  But recently, for the first time in a long time, a prisoner had appeared here.

  From the farthest cell, a muffled voice sounded from time to time:

  "Oh, celestial lights. I beg you, save me."

  Inside the cell, it was very dark and damp. There was not a single window. The old man reached towards the only source of light — a torch on the wall outside — and prayed fervently:

  "As you know, I have devoted my entire life to you. I will give you the rest of my life. I beg you, take care of me."

  Padalio Xian clung to the cold iron bars like a bird trying to leave its cage. But it didn't have a single chance.

  In the current chief archivist of the Astrological Order, nothing of what he had been before could be discerned. Not a trace remained of his noble bearing.

  The dignitary's hair was disheveled. The rosary was broken and scattered around the prison cell. His majestic robe had fallen into disrepair and now resembled rags. Now the right hand of the Supreme Astrologer was no different from an ordinary street vagrant.

  And yet, hope flickered in his soul.

  "I am sure I can still be useful to you! Oh stars, give me just one chance!" finishing his sincere plea to the cosmic forces, the man folded his palms and rubbed them together.

  He slowly opened his eyes.

  Gray pupils contemptuously stared at the prison cell, which had not even a bedding to sleep on or any human comforts. He had been living here like an animal for quite some time.

  "I will remember this," the old man gritted his teeth. "When His Eminence releases me from here, the freaks who imprisoned me will not live a peaceful life." Padalio Xian closed his eyes and dreamed of the terrible revenge that would befall his captors.

  He did not lose hope that he would still manage to return. Surely right now Halias Alseid was searching for him with all his people. He just had to endure a little longer.

  At that moment, footsteps were heard in the ringing silence of the dungeon.

  Thud. Thud.

  Someone was descending the stairs.

  The old man tensed and opened his eyes. Without looking away, he watched as someone's figure slowly approached his cell. The light of the torches cast a small shadow on the walls. It was clearly a child. The archivist swallowed quietly.

  "You again?" he hissed contemptuously. "What do you want?"

  Ever since he had ended up in this prison, this little girl had periodically visited him. He didn't know who this child was. She did nothing to him and just watched from the side. It seemed she was interested in watching him like game caught in a cage.

  Today she came again. Judging by the fact that it was very quiet upstairs, the old man guessed that it was night now. Probably, the girl always came down here very late at night so that no one would notice her absence.

  In any case, the old man wasn't too interested in who this child was and why she came here. But the fact that she was connected to those who had kidnapped him was more than obvious. This infuriated him. The archivist looked at her and angrily ordered: "Hey you! Bring me something to eat."

  "…"

  Golden pupils watched him with slight interest. The girl was silent for a while.

  "Are you hungry?" she unexpectedly asked.

  The old man was a bit surprised.

  The only visitor to the cold dungeon had spoken to him for the first time. Her calm tone, so out of place in such a setting, sent a shiver down the old man's spine. But he quickly oriented himself and arrogantly threw out:

  "Since I ended up here, they haven't brought me even a crumb of bread. Do you think I'm hungry?!"

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  The girl slowly opened her mouth.

  "I see," she answered without much emotion.

  "You see?" the archivist was terribly angry. "What could you possibly understand, you brat?! Those freaks will pay for dragging me here. I'm giving you a chance to earn my favor while you still can. Otherwise, His Eminence certainly won't spare you."

  Even in such a critical situation, Padalio Xian had not lost the pride of a respected order dignitary. He unleashed a torrent of insults on the girl. But she didn't even bat an eyelid, looking at him with the same expression.

  "Ah... I see," she said again.

  Her identical indifferent reaction to everything made the old man's eye twitch.

  "So are you going to do something?!" the old man could no longer bear it.

  "Well... The bars are too narrow for me to give you food," the girl said thoughtfully.

  "First, we need to open the door."

  "Did you bring anything?!" the archivist quickly asked again.

  The girl nodded.

  "Yes," she answered. "I think you'll like it."

  She unlocked the door with the key she had. The old man was a bit surprised at this at first, but then quickly lost interest, as he had more important concerns.

  "Well? What did you bring? Give it here! I'm hungry!" he demanded.

  "...Now."

  The girl slowly approached him. Even through the semi-darkness prevailing in the cell, one could see that her golden eyes were filled with some strange gleam. Padalio felt strange and involuntarily shuddered, but tried not to pay attention to it. After all, it was just a child. What could happen?

  Besides, his thoughts were completely distracted by the smell that wafted through the prison cell the next moment.

  The little visitor took out and unwrapped a bundle containing a piece of meat. It was well-fried and smelled appetizing. The old man's eyes gleamed greedily at the mere sight of it. Swallowing his saliva, he snatched the piece from the girl's hands and immediately pounced on it.

  Sitting in the corner of the dark cell, the archivist gnawed on the meat like a starving animal. The girl silently watched him. After a while, she asked:

  "Tasty?"

  The old man didn't answer as he was too absorbed in the food.

  Then the girl slightly opened her mouth, as if laughing, and shook her head:

  "It seems your daughter's meat is indeed very tasty."

  "…"

  After these words from the girl, the archivist dropped the meat from his hands.

  "What... What did you say?"

  "You yourself complained that you were hungry," the other shrugged. "However, some deer or vulture is clearly not worthy of you, great archivist. That would be inhospitable on my part. So I tried to get you the best treats. I'm glad you're satisfied."

  Padalio Xian stared at the child who had just said this. Her tone was frighteningly indifferent. As if the conversation really was just about some roasted animal. The eyes looking down at the old man were abnormal, and he trembled.

  The old man couldn't believe it. He sat on the cold floor, trembling and clutching his neck with shackles, covered in sweat and horror.

  His only daughter, Sevia, lived in the center of the capital in a well-guarded estate. They had seen each other quite recently, shortly before Padalio Xian left for the Imperial Palace to accompany the head of the order to the council. The woman was alive and well. It couldn't be her.

  "You... You're lying!!! How dare you say such vile things to me, you nobody!!!"

  The archivist paled, and the finger he pointed at her trembled.

  "Hmm... I don't think I was mistaken," the girl shook her head. "But you can check. Since it was your daughter, I should have shown respect, and I tried to preserve the body in its original state. So something should have remained."

  "…"

  After listening to her, the old man warily stared at the piece of meat he had thrown aside. Since he was very weak, it was hard for him to walk. The old man crawled on his knees, moving his arms and legs on all fours like a wild animal. He tried to overcome his fear.

  All this time, the girl watched him.

  With trembling hands, the old man dared to pick up the meat he had just tasted, and after a short search among the scraps of fried flesh, he found an earring. The archivist himself had given these earrings to his daughter on her last birthday. And he himself had almost just swallowed them.

  "Aaaaa!"

  Padalio Xian screamed and recoiled. He grabbed his hair and began ruthlessly tearing it out. He immediately started vomiting. It seemed the man was rapidly losing his mind.

  "No! It's not her! I couldn't have... I couldn't have done this!" he continued screaming like a madman.

  The chief archivist of the Astrological Order resembled a cornered deer. Terror seized his entire being, and he could no longer resist. It seemed the old man was alone in a terrible nightmare.

  The girl was still watching him. Padalio rolled on the floor, scratching and tearing his hair. At some point, he fell into a hysterical fit and began to laugh.

  "Ha-ha-ha!"

  For a while, she found it amusing to watch this performance, but then she quickly lost interest. Her thin lips stretched, but her eyes still emitted only darkness, hopelessly stuck in her bones.

  "Have you had enough?"

  The girl approached the old man, who was lying on the dusty ground laughing. He had clearly lost his mind. She was a bit disappointed that everything had happened so quickly.

  She crouched down, finding herself next to him. Her lips twisted into something resembling a smile.

  At that moment, the archivist's expression suddenly cleared. He seemed to come to his senses for an instant. His face contorted into a grimace of terror.

  "You... You are a monster. A real monster..." he desperately muttered, in a semiconscious state.

  Asil couldn't help but laugh.

  "I'm only interested in one thing right now. Tell me. What are your stars telling you now?" she asked in a whisper.

  "…"

  "Have they answered you anything?"

  "…"

  "It seems not."

  Asil Nara Ashelot smirked, looking at the frozen despair in his eyes.

  For him, this was the end. And it seemed the old man was fully aware of it. Left alone in a cage with a monster, calling for help was useless.

  He didn't have time to make a sound. Asil ruthlessly grabbed him by the upper and lower jaws and began tearing them apart. Bones and ligaments cracked at the seams.

  The old man's skull was split in two. It was a completely inhuman way of killing. Crimson blood gushed onto the girl.

  The frantic screams coming from the cell for the first few moments soon died down. But even without that, no one would have heard them. After a short pause, the sounds of chewing and the crunch of flesh were heard in the cell.