Chapter 4:

Flavio felt heavy in body and mind when he opened his eyes, finding himself in a room he did not immediately recognise. Looking around blearily, he was alarmed to realise that he could barely breathe. There was something covering his mouth. A cloth of some kind tied around his head and over his mouth.

...A gag? He was being gagged?

Crap, no, he...really had been kidnapped, hadn't he? Shit. How could he have let that happen? How did it come to this?

He wriggled his wrists and realised that his bindings had been changed slightly. They were far more restrictive. His arms where folded behind him, against his lower back. His right wrist was tied to his left elbow and visa-versa for the other side. Thick, coarse rope was looped around his chest and upper arms, preventing any possible movement there as well.

And his ankles; they were tied together, too.

When did they...Ah, right. He had blacked out somehow. Oh, wait...When Ascott used Ariadne Thread he heard a string of mutterings that he couldn't understand before everything went black. Was that a spell of some kind? A curse?

Whatever it was, it resulted in him possibly falling asleep (or simply unconscious) and he had no idea where he was. Was he still in High Lagaard? Did anyone see him? Did anyone care to notice?

As he idly, fruitlessly, tugged at his bindings, Flavio glanced around at his surroundings, hoping to recognise something. However, nothing looked even remotely familiar. He appeared to be in some kind of rickshaw shack, barely lived in. The windows were closed and barricaded shut with boards and nails. The air felt stuffy, as if the place had been abandoned for quite a few years.

He, however, appeared to also be lying on a bed in a small room. It wasn't the most comfortable thing he had ever laid upon, but it did somewhat ease the strain of his bindings on his body. Having his arms pinned behind him in such a restraining manner was becoming painful.

"You didn't mention natives."

"Natives? Truly? They were supposed to be legends."

Flavio became still when he heard voices. One he unfortunately recognise, the other a complete mystery. Shifting his head ever-so slightly, he quickly realised that he wasn't alone. He immediately saw Ascott through the doorway, the other man standing in the middle of what could have been once the kitchen area of the shack, his hands on his hips looking disgruntled.

And there were three more with him, all dressed in dark coloured cloaks that were tattered and worn, large chains wound tightly around their midsections, yet did nothing to hinder their movements. They almost appeared like Hexers. No, they had to be hexers.

Only one of them was talking, though. Communicating fully with Ascott. The other two were silently milling about in the background, idly flipping through books and seemed to be anointing black candles with some kind of oil.

"Fucking bird people. I didn't ask them what they were," Ascott continue, folding his arms crossly over his chest. "But they certainly weren't monsters."

Dressed in a dull, yet somehow ominously red cloak, the man that Ascott was talking too nodded his head idly, his faded green eyes not blinking as he gazed off airily into the air in front of him. "Intriguing."

"Like shit," Ascott all but growled. "What if they attacked as well?"

"Ah, I see your point," the other commented idly, sounding as vague as he looked. He then suddenly turned his faded green eyes over in Flavio's direction, making him abruptly shut his eyes and try to lay as still as possible. "No matter, we'll concentrate on another. He'll need to fast to ensure a success."

Fast? Wait, were they going to starve him? And ensure a success for what? What were they planning to do with him?!

"We'll focus on the third stratum," he continued.

"Yeah," Ascott agreed and Flavio peeked out through his eyelashes, noticing with relief that the hexer was focusing his attention back on Ascott. "While the ice is annoying, it's not as nearly as difficult as Petal Bridge to navigate."

They seemed to know so much about the labyrinth. Who were they really? How could they be so knowledgeable? What were they actually trying to gain?

And, most importantly, why the hell was he involved in it all?

The hexer hummed lightly as he revealed a book that he had been carrying in the nook of his arm and flipped it open. "If my theory is correct, this will work within an hour of being set up. The dragon's scale will be useful for when we return-"

"Keep your mumblings to yourself, Naboth," Ascott suddenly chided, as if remembering that Flavio was there as their hostage and would be able to eavesdrop on everything they were muttering. "We've got a job to do."

"No need to be rude," the hexer that must be named Naboth tisked in reply, but seemed to comply with what Ascott said as he grew quiet and turned his attention back to his book.

A job to do? They couldn't be working for someone else, could they? And all this trouble for a dragon's scale?

Wait a minute...a dragon's scale?! They were going to try and find a dragon?! With him as bait?!

Worst still, were they hoping that they would be able to rile Fafnir up enough to fight a dragon for them?!

Flavio felt a sense of true fear and helplessness wash over him as he tugged at his bindings again fruitlessly. He couldn't...get free. He couldn't do anything. Why? Why was he so useless?

Please, let Fafnir find him before the ritual was completed...

... ... ... ... ...

Flavio hated the cold. Did he mention that before? Because, yeah, the cold sucked. Even more so now that he wasn't wearing his warm, trusty jacket and was being strung up like a piece of meat between two stony cold monuments in the middle of a field of ice and snow!

Standing between a frozen lake of ice and an open field of pristine snow, Flavio shivered as an icy cold wind breezed over him. He was situated between two stone monuments that were a natural feature of the third stratum, one wrist tied with rope to one pillar, the other tied to the other monument. His arms were pulled out to his sides, position slightly upwards in a completely submissive and exposed manner.

Ascott was pacing around him, constantly check and re-checking his bindings while the three hexers, Naboth seemingly the leader, were busying themselves with dark candles, weathered parchments and bundles of dried herbs.

Flavio knew what they were doing. They were preparing for a ritual. He hadn't the faintest idea what the ritual was going to contain, but was fairly certain that it was either going to be painful on his part or exceedingly mentally and spiritually destructive.

He was way beyond nervous now. He was terrified.

And he did the only thing he could really do. And that was to talk. Maybe his voice, like he had hoped for last time, would gain someone's attention. Someone human, yeah? N-not a dragon or something similar.

"Let me get this straight," Flavio said as Ascott ensured that the rope around his right wrist wasn't tight enough to cut off circulation (wasn't he thoughtful?) but tight enough that he couldn't wiggle his way free. "You want to lure out a legendary ice dragon so you can take one of it scales?"

Ascott rolled his eyes as he snorted lightly. "Figured that out by yourself, did you?"

Flavio determinately ignored that question. "And I'm here as bait?"

"No shit."

He didn't have to be so blunt. "Why do you need the scale?"

"Personal reasons."

"Then why couldn't you be a normal person and put up a quest or something?!"

Ascott snorted harshly again as he moved away from Flavio's right side to secure the rope around his left wrist. "And get a bunch of weaklings killed? Yeah, that would put an even bigger price on our heads."

...They've already got a price on their heads? What have they done?

After ensuring that his right wrist was also tightly secure, Ascott moved to stand directly in front of Flavio and patted him on the cheek. "Sit tight, Beautiful. This may take an hour or two."

"Don't call me that," Flavio hissed as he turned away from Ascott's hand, swallowing back the wave of nausea such an unwanted touch induced. "Does that fake charm of yours actually work?"

"Of course it does," Ascott said with a scoff as he pulled his hand back before shrugging nonchalantly. "Just not here, for some reason."

Flavio couldn't help but snort lightly. "Let me guess; I'm the first to defy you, which is why I'm the bait? To soothe your bruised ego?"

"I'm tempted to fucking gag you," Ascott suddenly growled at him, looking annoyed while Naboth was heard snorting with amusement a few feet away. "For a hostage, you're way too talkative."

Well, who could blame him? He always prattled incoherently whenever he was nervous. And the situation he found himself in currently was pretty anxiety producing!

"Besides, you're not the first we chose, you know?" Ascott unexpected admitted.

Flavio raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Ascott shrugged casually again before smirking and folding his arms over his chest. "Initially, we wanted a medic, a rather beloved one, from the hospital. Orange-hair, violet eyes. Rather pretty, I must admit."

There was a rather...perverted expression on his face as he took a moment to recall the one he was talking about. He, however, soon winced from another memory and uttered an exasperated sigh.

"However, we soon realised that he's surrounded by several weapon-toting guilds that are more than willing to engage in bloody and destructive violence to protect him," he admitted with a scowl, once again wincing. "I mean, shit, if we tried this with him, those guilds would tear this labyrinth to pieces looking for him. No way in hell could we make a clean getaway in that situation."

Flavio couldn't help but wonder what kind of person that medic was to have more than one guild acting protectively toward him. He, however, didn't muse about for long as his attention was drawn to Naboth who lugged a large bag into the clearing a few feet in front of him.

Opening up the sack, Naboth reached his hand in and pulled out powdery substance that was the colour of grey and black. He then proceeded to scatter it atop of the snow. It took Flavio a second or two to realise that he was creating a pattern on the snow. And he was doing it in a circle around where Flavio was strung up. And he realised with a sense of dread that he was in the middle. The centrepiece.

The offering...

"I-is this really necessary?" Flavio stuttered from both the cold and the fear that was growing stronger inside of him.

"Dust to dust, ash to ash," Naboth murmured as he proceeded to empty the bag with a few précised flicks of his hands. "Life and death, white and black. To ground and to surrender. Pierce the veils of two worlds."

...Flavio hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but he certainly didn't like it!

Flavio swallowed thickly. "Next you'll be telling me you'll need a virgin sacrifice to appease some god," he muttered, hoping that he was being sarcastic and not being a prophet.

Ascott turned to look at him, trailing his eyes up and down over him before smirking. "How do you know we're not doing that now?"

Flavio blushed and bristled at the same time. "Shut up!"

"Once this is done, we won't be using you again," Naboth suddenly said. His words, however, were not even remotely reassuring. "That is, of course, if this attempt is successful."

"W-what's so special about this ice dragon?" Flavio found himself asking as talking was the only way to distract himself from the cold and his fear.

"Hm, just the scale," Naboth replied airily as he continued to focus his attention on the arcane circle and the offerings within. "Three elemental dragons possess quite powerful items that are highly useful."

...Three elemental dragons? Yeah, he had heard about them.

"Wait, you're going to try this two more times?" Flavio asked with wide eyes.

"No, one more time," Naboth responded, again with a casual air that was rather infuriating. "We already retrieved the Fire Scale."

Flavio's mouth dropped open in surprise. They've already battled against the Great Dragon? "When did you-?"

"Etria has dragons too, you know?" Ascott said, cutting him off and sending him a satisfied, smug smirk as he folded his arms across his chest.

Etria...?

"B-but...this is ludicrous!" Flavio spluttered, unable to hold back his fear any longer. "You can't go around kidnapping people and using them as sacrificial lambs like this!"

Ascott shrugged. "It's the only way."

"Only way for what?" Flavio asked desperately. "Why are you doing this?"

For the first time since Flavio met him, Ascott blatantly refused to look at him. "We have our reasons."

Out of sheer fear and nerves, Flavio was about to bombard Ascott with more questions and demands but he abruptly fell silent when Naboth appeared before him, staring unblinkingly at him with his faded, dull green eyes.

"Your curiosity seems to know no bounds, young one," he remarked idly.

Young one? How old was this guy really?

"A trait that is both a blessing and a curse," Naboth continued before unexpectedly tilting his head to the side to simply gaze at Flavio, almost as if he was sizing him up in a manner that was completely different to the way Ascott looked at him.

In all honesty, he'd rather deal with Ascott staring at him instead of Naboth.

"Very well," Naboth once again startled Flavio by simply speaking. "If you fill a reflective object, such as the Blizzard Scale, with negative emotions, such as fear, dread, panic, and concern, it in turn will become reflective toward those darken emotions. A magical shield, in a way."

Flavio opened and closed his mouth a couple of times in a desperate attempt to think of a way to respond. "...I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Why would you need such a thing?"

"You don't need to know what we mean," Naboth said as he took a single step closer, pushing his face toward his so that they were nearly nose to nose. "You are just the offering."

Flavio immediately and desperately tugged at his bindings as he tried to pull back, to put distance between them. He shivered from both the fear and cold when Naboth slipped a finger under his chin, tilting his head toward him.

"Now," he murmured hauntingly. "Give into those dark emotions that hide inside of us all and fear for your life."

"H-huh?"

... ... ... ... ...

As time ticked closer to 6pm, Fafnir's adrenaline and anxiety grew substantially. Getting to the fourteenth floor was easy compared to the restraint he had to put upon himself not to recklessly charge in. The wait was killing him. He had to know if Flavio was ok. He had to see him for himself.

If anything...

"This is the floor," Fafnir said as he subconsciously reached for his sword, continuously flexing his hand around the hilt.

"The shortcut they mentioned in the letter should be easy to get to," Bertrand commented as he turned his gaze toward Fafnir, eying him cautiously before sighing loudly and folding his arms over his chest. "And I doubt the monsters would be any trouble."

Not with the mood Fafnir was in.

"Why would they keep Sir Flavio is such a place?" Arianna asked as she gazed out over the snow and ice, a frown upon her lips.

Fafnir didn't know, but he was going to find out. One way or another.

Tugging her coat tighter around her, Chloe also looked out upon the snow with an expression of distain. "Without his armour and jacket he could get frostbite."

They had to get to him before that happened.

"This will be as far as I will go," the red-haired protector who had accompanied them stated as he stood within the archway of the stair case. He then motion to the onyx wolf beside him with a curl of his wrist. "Wulfgar will silently make his way to the other stair case and set up guard there while I shall remain here."

Fafnir turned his attention to Hrothgar and nodded his head in gratitude. "We appreciate the assurance," he said.

The last thing he wanted was another guild stumbling across the ransom site and unintentionally interfere. He also didn't want...witnesses, as it were.

"No," Hrothgar said as he shook his head once before offering him a forced smile. "I wish you luck and I will pray for Flavio's safety."

Fafnir nodded his head again before turning to his reminding party members. "Let's go."

Without hesitation from anyone, they rushed out onto the fourteenth floor, set with determination to find Flavio and rescue him to safety.

No matter who or what they face.

-

AN: Oh what fun the next chapter will be~