"Not yet."
"What does it do exactly?"
"Makes them go on a rampage until they die by a mage's hand or their own body."
"Is the potion complete?" Bastian asked, and the mage nodded. "When will they push it out?"
"After today."
"Anything else?" Silas crossed his arms.
"We've been experimenting with potions that nullify all powers for forty-eight hours instead of the twelve." His eyes turned to slits as he scanned his eyes over us. "Emperor and Empress Hayes will rule Hexarium. Their potions will be the ultimate weapon."
"Everything he's saying is in this journal," Jasper murmured, flipping through the journal of experimentations he'd taken from the office.
"What will you do if we let you go?" Silas chuckled, his runes glowing purple on his arms.
"Kill all of you and bring your bodies back to the empire," he stated--and that was the one statement he said with fire in his gaze.
Silas nodded, turning to the twins. "Feed him to the dementids."
The blood rushed from the mage's face. "You can't do that! That's completely inhumane! I thought you thought of yourselves as the heroes!Who would do this?"
"We're not heroes,"Jasper said with gleeful mirth, darkness curling around his biceps and arms before striking forward and wrapping around the bone mage. "We're just fighting for what we want--and like you, we'll do anything we can to get that. If you thought we would spare you, you're dumber than I expected."
All the mage could muster was a gurgled scream before being thrown backward into the cave where the light didn't reach.
A hard thump echoed through the cave before screeches from the dementids followed along with his screams.
I turned my back on the agonizing death happening behind me and faced the guys. I'd witnessed far too many mages being eaten alive by the dementids. I didn't want to witness another.
Silas waved a hand in front of us, and Emperor Lloyd appeared in the magical orb.
"Are you safe?" he asked immediately, brows knitted in worry. "We heard of the intruders being chased down into the Demented Caves."
"We're all safe." Silas let out a hefty sigh. "Are you and Emperor and Empress Lovington safe as well?"
"Yes. Emperor Hayes was not present, but Empress Hayes gave us an ultimatum. We have one month to decide to either surrender our empires to her or fight against her in a war. We were escorted out of their territory. The Allura and Lethium Empires are on the same page. We will fight. What did you find out?"
The group sucked in a sharp gasp. I didn't understand why she was giving them time, but I couldn't be mad about it either. More time meant more preparation time--for both sides.
"We found a lot of documents that are linking Emperor and Empress Hayes to a lot of crimes against Hexarium," Silas explained. "There are a lot of potion experiments being done. A rage potion for monsters, memory loss potions, and nullification potions for longer periods of time. All of them are detailed in the journal Jasper found."
"We managed to find some of the potions," Bastian murmured. "I'll send them your way."
"Thank you." Emperor Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you think you can infiltrate the palace again sometime before the war starts? We'll be able to prepare better if we know more."
"We can." Silas pursed his lips, glancing back at Aimon. "But we would need more time to prepare first."
"Okay. I'll contact Matthieu. He can help."
"No," I blurted out. "I don't think he can be trusted."
Emperor Lloyd's brows rose in surprise. "Really? Why do you think that?"
"He gives me a bad vibe." A shiver racked through me. "He's more involved with the Revivium Empire than I like."
"That's my doing," Emperor Lloyd admitted. "Matthieu is a lot more like you than you'd think. He is on our side. I'm the one that tasked him to get close to Empress Hayes. But I also didn't know she had gotten so delusional with her hunger for power. Matthieu didn't tell me just how crazy she is."
