Kalena burst into tears and ran to him, but he sprang to his feet and pulled away as far as the chains would allow. His eyesight was wild with terror. He looked like a living corpse, emaciated, dirty, with dried blood behind his ear. His facial features were sharper and more elongated than she remembered, but it really was Galaspiael.

"Don't be afraid!" Kalena said softly, and a few warm tears ran down her cheeks again. "It's me! You don't recognize me? It's me, Kalena!"

He propped himself up on his left arm, but lost his balance and hit the floor with his shoulder. When she came over to help him, he started moving his lips to say something.

"Galaspiael, I'll get you out of here. Can you hear me? I came for you, do you understand what I'm saying?"

"He understands." A voice behind her made her almost jump. She cursed silently as she realized Washar had lured her into the trap. "I tried to speak to him in Kagolanian and he just pretends to not get anything."

"What did you do to him?!" She shouted, clenching her fingers on the hilt of am-shen.

"Me? Nothing. Before even putting his foot in that place, and he hit his head and lost memory." Washar replied, nonchalantly leaning against the wall. "Believe me, I also was disappointed. It was so much fun to humiliate him when he remembered that he was once a king. But now that he has no clue what his name is, that's fine too."

Galaspiael huddled behind Kalena as he heard Washar's footsteps heading towards them.

"But I must honestly admit that I am disappointed," he continued, "because how much more beautiful your greeting would have been if he had remembered! Just like in the play I watched as a child, but there it was a brave warrior who saved the princess." He kicked the clay pot, and Galaspiael jumped. "I stopped believing that anyone would come, and yet here is the savior who traveled the world in search of her king. If only you had come four months earlier so that I could torture you in front of him! He would cry out of despair." He smiled to himself. "Now I can only lock you up here together. I will have you chained so that you can look at each other, but not touch each other... or why not, maybe His Majesty misses female warmth?"

"I won't let you hurt him any longer," she said stiffly. "You will be punished for breaking the codex of war and raising your hand to the Kagolanian king."

The man laughed.

"Oh! You almost scared me!"

He held out his hand, and Kalena felt her body slowly failing to obey her. She quickly pulled one of the flames against her and sent a thin tongue of fire towards Washar, which struck him like a whip. He jumped back, wincing in pain and looked at her in surprise, but then smiled triumphantly.

"So Kagolania has its warriors! Where were you when that dog attacked me with its childlike enchanting skills? Why didn't you share your knowledge with your king?"

"I found the master very recently," she replied, "I'm learning fast!"

Flames entered the tunnel and formed a wall of fire. Washar had no way to dodge, he only managed to turn his back and cover his face. He attacked physically. His sabers were much wider than her am-shen. Fighting with them took a lot of strength, as well as resisting blows.

She had to lure him out of the cell. Galaspiael, handcuffed, and vulnerable, was a weak point. She leaped to Washar, risking a blow so strong that he almost broke her arm and managed to run towards the door. With each step, she sensed another source of the fire but also felt an impenetrable emptiness behind her. Fortunately, Washar decided to focus on her first and not involve Galaspiael in the fight.

After a while, with horror and anger, she realized that she was lost in the tunnel. She had no idea how it had happened, apparently, it must've had a third way out that she missed. When she turned back, she ran into Washar, who this time came close to breaking her defense. Furious that he hadn't defeated her as fast as he planned, he hit harder.

Suddenly, with one blow, he knocked the sword out of her left hand. Kalena had to duck to avoid hitting the head. Instead of attacking, she began to defend herself, and after exiting the tunnel, she was already fighting for her life. She desperately clung to each flame, but Washar, although he did not know the technique she used, still had an advantage.

"It always ends like this," he paused for a moment and wiped the sweat from his brow. "First you pretend to be heroes and then you die and nobody remembers you."

"I'm not dead yet! Kalena repelled another blow with one hand and used her free hand to attract the flames. It was hard to control the flow of power, but in the end, the fire obeyed. She gained a moment to get to the second shen. Just then, another guard attacked her. When he tried to knock her down, she pushed him away. The man slumped to the ground and stared blankly at the ceiling above him.

Kalena froze. She didn't push hard enough to kill him, Washar must have done it by accident.

"I won't let you get him out of here!" She heard from a distance. "Only after he dies, will he be free from these chains! Nobody leaves this place without permission!"

She hid but knew it would be useless. The black fog gradually absorbed more and more areas. Washar certainly couldn't see her anymore, so he planned to surround her, thus cutting off access to the fire. Kalena took some energy from the last source she sensed. But instead of releasing the flame, she tried to absorb it. Immediately she felt incredible heat radiating from her hand to the whole body. She felt so much power within her that she wasn't able to hold it for long, because it felt like it was about to burst her from the inside. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a step into the darkness. She felt as if time stood still. She moved slowly, as if in water. The more she tried to move, the more she got stuck. She paused and slowly moved her body in the direction she wanted to go.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Washar's furious and startled face in front of her. Even as a thin layer of black mist separated them, she slowly reached out to grab his throat. She stood on the ground and released the rest of the fire she had left.

There was a terrifying scream. The man fell to the ground and gasped, grunting loudly. He couldn't concentrate on enchanting anymore, so the terrifying phenomenon stopped. Kalena ran back into the tunnel as quickly as she could.

Galaspiael almost panicked when she forced him to lay his head on the ground to cut the chain.

"Don't be afraid. I'll explain everything, but we have to get out of here," Kalena said after she had freed him. "Can you get up?"

He did not answer. She didn't even know if he understood her. When she wanted to grab his hand, he jerked away. Then she noticed his horribly scarred hands. He has three fingers left on his left hand and only two on the right. The one wound had not yet healed.

"Get up," she said softly, "I promise we'll get away from here. I won't let anyone hurt you."

Galaspiael got up slowly, but he couldn't walk without her help. Kalena was afraid that he would faint on the way and she would have to carry him. Even though he had lost a lot of weight during the months of his captivity, he was still a head taller than her and much heavier than she had expected.

When he stopped, she started to pull him. She knew that doing this wouldn't help him gain trust, but at that point, she didn't care a bit. The most important thing was to get out of the mine as quickly as possible.

Along the way, she must have burned almost to death several guards and several prisoners, who begged her to release them as well. She didn't want to. But they blocked their path and caused Galaspiael to panic again.

As they passed through the group room, they saw another cloud of dark energy.

"Stop it," the girl picked him up quickly as Galaspiael huddled on the floor. "Looks like Washar is still alive. Get up, we have to get out of here!"

Kalena fully understood Galaspiael's reaction. She also began to fear this unnatural phenomenon in front of her. The awareness that Washar was still alive and that if they met him, would kill them both, it additionally influenced their imaginations, which started to play tricks on both of them. Each shadow appeared to be human in shape. The labyrinth of tunnels was even longer than when she entered it.

They reached the locked gate and hid behind the huge mechanism that opened it. Galaspiael's breathing grew shallow. When he closed his eyes and dropped his head limp on her lap, she wondered what she would do if he died in a moment.

"Hang on," she whispered, realizing that she wouldn't have had the strength to get out of the mine alone. "Just a little more. One moment more, I promise. Just give me a second!"

She began to look around, trying to understand how to open the gate, while hugging Galaspiael against her. He regained consciousness and stared at her intensely. She wanted to believe that maybe some memories had revived somewhere in his mind. It was easier to survive thinking about that.

They both froze hearing heavy footsteps. Washar knew where to find them. Seeing no one, he just looked around and sat down waiting for anyone coming out of the tunnel. He pulled the lever that opened the left wing of the gate. He wanted to lure them.

Galaspiael gritted his teeth and looked at her pleadingly. She was afraid that he would scream in fear or groan and reveal their hiding place. She was close to doing it herself. Washar waited patiently, peering from time to time towards the tunnel. Wounds from the fight weakened him, but he was still dangerous.

They couldn't wait any longer, and Kalena was painfully aware of it. Galaspiael needed immediate help. And her opponent was not going to give up, even if it meant sitting under the tunnel for several days.

She was about to leave when she suddenly hesitated. Even the weakened Washar was terrifying. Even though she had the desire to fight, she couldn't shake off one intrusive thought - what if she lost? What was this man capable of? Would he kill them right away, or would he torture them? As she looked at Galaspiael, she doubted their deaths would be quick.

He looked at her utterly terrified. She thought about how much he must have endured, how terrified and lonely he felt out there in the dark. The fear of pain, death, disgrace, and the dark emptiness persisted. And Kalena knew it would not relent. She couldn't wait to stop being afraid.

She went out.

Washar noticed her immediately and prepared to attack. Physically, not by enchanting. Kalena lunged quickly and blocked his blow. Then another. And one more. However, she did not notice that she had been trapped. Washar held out his hand, and then she felt the cold overwhelming her. She saw his triumphant smile as she fell involuntarily to her knees. And the look of complete surprise in his eyes as she pierced his heart with the last of her strength.

As life returned to her body, she felt a euphoria she did not want to feel. She looked at Washar, knowing that the sight would remain in her memory for a long time. Very long.

It was dawn outside. An unexpected joy appeared in the prince's fading eyes. A joy that she would not expect from a dying man. He stretched out his hand and began to whisper something in Madegaldian. His hoarse voice was barely audible. In the end, he only moved his lips, and after a while, he was completely silent.

Kalena walked over to Galaspiael, wanting to help him get up, and then she felt some unknown force block her, then cut her as deep as if she were cutting something out of her body. Galaspiael cringed and stared at her, paralyzed with fear. She bit her lip to keep from screaming and attracting the attention of the other guards. After a while, everything stopped. She quickly realized what she had just experienced.

Wan-Shi made sure she kept her promise. He took away her power to enchant fire.

"Listen," she moaned, "you have to get out of here. I can't, I don't have the strength. Go straight all the time and follow the road that leads to the mountains."

Their eyes met for a moment. Galaspiael turned quickly and then looked at the girl again. He needed her help. He couldn't do it alone, she had to get up. Even though she felt as weak as never before in her life, she couldn't give up if they wanted a chance to survive.