Navigating the castle was like stepping on eggshells for Sune. His countless hours, days, weeks and months preparing for this moment had not included much stealth training. On the fly, he was forced to adapt. To dart and dive shadow to shadow. To gauge and subvert the gaze of the soldiers passing by.
However, for Sune, this didn't matter.
Stalking every dark corner and hidden crevice he could find, Sune located every downward staircase in sight. Each one serving as a checkpoint in his mind. A gnarled beacon of his progress.
As he traversed, he became more agile. Avoiding the guards was never east, nor was the balancing act between silence and speed.
But the sensation that came with hiding in the darkness, the feeling of torchlight flickering past his head as he noiselessly bound through dimly lit corridors and decadent ornaments...
It was becoming more familiar.
Sune was getting a feel for this.
At least, he thought he was.
'Surely I'm close now. This can't go on any damn longer.' he thought to himself as he descended through the next staircase.
'I don't see any dungeon. Did they close it off? Build a new one? It would make sense... it's been forever since I asked her...' at the thought of his absent accomplice, Sune's mind began to drift.
'...I wonder how she is--'
"Who the hell are you?"
"..."
A voice barked at his back. With no one else around besides him, there was only one conclusion to draw.
He was caught.
'Shit.'
"Hey! You, scarf-boy! I asked you a question!"
'Okay... I could either try and immobilise this guy right here... or explain my way out. But, out of every guard, he was the only one who spotted me...'
Although Sune had not yet turned around to look at this person, he still harboured a bad feeling. The feeling that even if he was able to take them in a fight. or even outrun them... he would waste much of his energy, not to mention his time.
And he had far more important things to spend both on.
'Gah...screw it.'
Sune hesitantly pivoted around. Trying to act natural. The target of his half-baked deception sauntered further towards him.
As Sune thought, not an average soldier.
In fact, it was a young man. Around his age, perhaps 18 or 19. His skin the colour of chestnut, and his hair a deep black. The defined and glossy coils and loops in his hair forming a loose afro-like style, with curls dangling above his forehead.
He wore a burgundy uniform, far contrast from the other soldiers Sune had just evaded. Complete with an assortment of golden ribbons, tassels, and a myriad of multicoloured, shining badges spread neatly upon the left of his chest. The outfit shimmered and glistened with extravagance and supposed prestige, but not taste. Not anything Sune cared for.
Sune avoided eye contact. Not out of fear, but only to hide his true intentions.
That was how these powers of his worked, after all.
'If he reads my soul I'll never make it to the dungeon. I'll barely make it out of this city alive.'
"Sorry, is there an issue?" Sune said. Trying to appear casual. Failing.
"The issue is that you still haven't answered my question, prick." the boy huffed at him. "I said, who are you, and what is your business here?"
Sune stayed silent. Still avoiding the boy's gaze. He was at least glad his attire was doing well to conceal him. If this boy knew he was a Gimen, he'd be fighting for his life right now.
"I--I'm a slaver. I've been instructed to head to the dungeons and deal with some sort of rebellion unfolding there,"
'Perhaps the excuse I prepared will come in handy after all.'
The fancily dressed teen simply stared at him in silence., Sune could not risk bringing up his eyes to read his expression.
"Oh... really?" the boy nodded satirically. It was clear he did not believe a word of this.
"In that case, how long have you been working here..." he droned the word 'here', waiting for a name.
"Sune. Elias Sune."
"Sune. How long have you been working here?"
"Oh, I'm fairly new. Only turned up this week." Sune lied, obviously.
"Oh yeah really? I can tell!" the teen agreed sarcastically, nodding his head still as if he were talking to a baby. "Considering you've no idea how to address royalty, and you're dressed in no kind of slaver uniform I've ever seen, it makes sense!"
With that, Sune's mask was slipping.
The mere mention of the idea that he now had to meet the senseless requirement of 'etiquette' and 'propriety' these pitiful humans were so obsessed over made his blood boil. All he wanted to do was bless this moron with a piece of reality.
'Tsk. Nothing special about you... why should I have to--'
'Wait, did he say royalty??'
"What do you mean, royalty?" Sune asked. Not even bothering to keep up the pretence. Even after beginning to realise who was potentially in front of him, Sune did not particularly care. Despite everything, he was warming to the idea of fighting this person.
The teen paused. Taken aback. Despite not looking at his face. Sune could make out the motion of his head recoiling back in surprise.
"You mean... you don't know who I am?"
Sune simply shrugged. This loosened his shoulders. By intention.
"...Am I supposed to?"
The teen glared at Sune, who was still avoiding his gaze, while before he may have suspected Sune was merely bowing his head before royalty, now he was almost certain of something else.
"I am Prince Regent Adriel Usman. Heir to the throne of Amandla. Son of the Gale King, Vikram Usman. You would do well to address me as such, worm."
The teen clearly expected Sune to instantly shudder at those titles. To kneel and beg for mercy, perhaps even kiss his spotless leather boot.
But. to his absolute bewilderment, Sune simply stood there, unmoved. His lack of care slowly stripping those words of all their supposed meaning.
"Okay... my lord... if you could direct me to the dungeons, I'll be on my way." Sune replied. Acknowledging nothing.
Adriel froze in place for a moment. Sune was unsure if he was enraged, or if he found it funny.
He knew full well how much humans adored dividing each other in such meaningless, trivial ways. He knew how much easier it would have been to pretend these grand names held any weight to him at all.
But still, he chose not to. In his mind, he had no reason to.
'This guy will either direct me to the dungeon, or die. I don't care what his last name is.'
Adriel burst out into a loud chuckle.
'Ah, guess he thinks this is just a funny story to tell later. There won't be a later.' Sune thought to himself.
Adriel's laughter settled down. He sighed with a smile.
"Ahh, okay. I'll tell you what, Sune. I'll direct you to the dungeons, and I'll even promise never to bother you again..."
Sune's ears pricked up.
"As long as you finally look me in the eye. Right this second."
Sune's head remained tilted down. The silence deafening. Eyes locked steadfast on the carpet.
'He knows. He knows I have Assurance. If he's asking me to look him in the eye, that must mean he does too...
This could get ugly.'
Sune still did not yet make a move.
'I suppose it was always going to be this way, right?'
Sune's head shot up. Finally meeting Adriel's gaze square with his own. Finally getting a decent look at his face. His features were sharp and well-balanced, yet his mouth was contoured into an everlasting sneer.
But his eyes were all Sune cared about. After all, he too could read a person's soul.
Both studied each other's irises intensely. Sifting through the useless pretence, the ego. The parts of a person they want others to see. Trying to find each other's truth.
But, almost simultaneously, their demeanours changed as they continued. Adriel's was first. What had first appeared to Sune as ego, as arrogance, as pure conceit, now was destroyed. At first, his soul read as nothing at all. As though he had none. Merely a dark abyss, staring back at him.
But before Sune's very eyes, the void blossomed into something entirely different. His soul read of genuine awe, admiration, and honourable determination, all of which were completely uncharacteristic of the person he was just talking to.
Observing this drastic change was also what shifted Sune. What was once a newfound hatred now simply morphed into curiosity.
'What is he so damn happy about all of a sudden?'
Then it finally struck him.
'Is it... me? He knows what I want to do... and he's glad about it...? This makes no sense--'
"Hey." Adriel murmured. In a far different tone than before.
"You wanna know where the dungeons are, right?"
Sune stayed silent, not lowering his gaze any longer.
"The corridor behind you. Take a right, third door on the left, take the winding stairs down."
'What just happened?'
"Uh, thank you, Adriel?"
"No problem."
Sune slowly started walking backward. Adriel's eyes stayed locked onto him. His condescending smirk of a mouth trying to contort into a friendly smile. It was as if he didn't know how to.
Completely puzzled, Sune gave up and turned to the right of the corridor, leaving Adriel behind.
'Guy must hate his dad as much as I do...'
Sune smirked beneath his scarf.
'I could use that.'
Sune darted to the third door on the left, cracking it open.
Now, it was time for the dungeon.
It was time to free all the Gimen slaves.