Realm Lord
Chapter 91: The Laboratory

Chapter 91: The Laboratory

Soon everyone awoke, it was quiet in the room, nothing except the yawns of the tired as they all sat and ate a measly breakfast before embarking back into the depths of the castle.

And so they searched again, methodically moving from room to room through the labyrinthine castle. Grand bedrooms with four-poster beds. Studies with shelves of crumbling books. Sitting rooms where dusty furniture stood like silent sentinels. Secret passages that led only to more disappointment. All day they searched, their movements becoming more mechanical with each empty chamber, their hopes dimming.

Then the next day brought the same routine. And the next. And the next...

The castle seemed to be mocking them, endless corridors stretching before them like a cruel joke, each empty room another blow to their dwindling optimism. Their footsteps echoed in the hollow spaces, and the sound of doors opening and closing became a disheartening rhythm that marked the passage of time.

On the fifth day, they found themselves in yet another bedroom.

Lara, who had maintained her composure up until now, finally reached her breaking point. Her cool, calm, and collected mask slipped as she grabbed a decorative box from a nearby table and hurled it against the stone wall. It shattered with a satisfying crash that echoed through the room.

"Damn it!!" The curse tore from her throat, raw and primal.

Arthur and Aziel exchanged alarmed glances before looking away, staying silent and still as statues, not wanting to incur her wrath. Kay busied himself with adjusting the straps on his pack, suddenly finding them fascinating. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a blade.

Jonas, ever the peacemaker it seems, moved cautiously toward Lara and placed a gentle hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her. His weathered face creased with concern as he spoke softly.

"Hey, it’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna make it out of here." His voice was steady, a calming anchor in the storm of her emotions. "Even if we don’t find anything of use in all these rooms, we’re surely gonna find something in one of the sheepman rooms."

She turned to him sharply, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, frustration radiating from her in waves. "And if we don’t?" The question hung in the air, giving voice to the fear they had all been too afraid to acknowledge.

Jonas smiled gently, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "We will."

The simple certainty in his voice seemed to only fuel her desperation. She slapped his hand away, a tear finally breaking free and tracing a path down her dust-smudged cheek. Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"How can you be so calm right now? You actually have something to go home to! You have a daughter, a wife, a life..." Her voice caught on the last word. "So how can you be so certain!?"

Something shifted in Jonas’s expression then. The gentle smile faded, replaced by something more serious—not anger, but a quiet intensity that commanded attention. His voice became more stern, each word deliberate and weighted.

"It’s because I have those two to make it back to that I’m so sure we’ll make it back." He held her gaze unflinchingly. "Because I have to. I can’t afford to die here..." His eyes swept over the entire group, including them all in his promise. "So I won’t. And neither will you... or any of you for that matter. I’ll make sure of it."

The conviction in his voice seemed to fill the dusty room, pushing back against the despair that had been growing within them. For a moment, they all believed him—how could they not, when he spoke with such unshakeable certainty?

Lara opened her mouth to retort, but the fight had left her. Nothing came out. She closed it again, looking away apologetically, her shoulders slumping in surrender. "Sorry... you’re right," she said in a quiet voice before walking over to the side of the room and taking a seat on the floor against the wall, her head bowed.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, punctuated only by the occasional creak of ancient timber as the castle settled around them. Everyone took some time to cool off, lost in their own thoughts.

After what felt like an eternity, Lara stood back up and made her way to the group, her spine straight and shoulders squared. A look of determination now masked her earlier worries, though the redness around her eyes betrayed her recent moment of vulnerability.

"Let’s go," she announced, her voice steady once more.

Everyone looked up in silence, exchanging uncertain glances.

"You sure?" Jonas asked, searching her face.

She simply nodded and picked up her pack before making her way to the door, her footsteps purposeful. The others watched her for a moment before following suit, gathering their equipment with renewed energy. Soon, like they had many times before, they were crossing the threshold into a new room.

But this time was different.

The moment they stepped through the doorway, a palpable change swept through the group. Arthur felt it immediately—a charge in the air, a tingling along his skin that had nothing to do with the draft that whispered through the corridor. They walked in and everyone looked around, taking in their surroundings with widening eyes.

Lara stood in front, a big smile breaking across her face like sunshine after a storm. "I was waiting to make it back here," she breathed, her earlier despair completely vanished.

They all currently stood in the castle’s magical laboratory—a room that held promise unlike any they had explored before. Lara explained, her voice animated with newfound hope, that during their first time exploring the castle, they didn’t get the chance to look through this room as they unfortunately were chased out by the monster of the halls. But now that thing was nowhere to be seen, and they could properly explore it.

This room held much promise, being most likely where the spell over the castle was originally built... or at least its framework. So Lara, as well as everyone else, was more than happy about finally making it here. Their exhaustion seemed to evaporate in the face of this new possibility.

The room wasn’t very big compared to the grand halls they had traversed. Bookshelves lined the walls, each one filled with ancient tomes bound in leather of various colors and textures, their spines embossed with symbols none of them recognized. Vials, tubes, and other apparatus filled different dusty and aged wooden tables that were arranged in a rough semicircle in the center of the chamber.

The room was darker than the others they had explored, shadows gathering in the corners like secrets waiting to be discovered. But there was one thing that made this room stand out from the rest right away, a detail that sent a collective shiver through the group: blue candle flames that dimly lit the room, burning steadily.

’Interesting,’ Arthur thought, watching how the otherworldly flames cast everything in an eerie cobalt glow, making the shadows seem deeper and the air itself feel charged with dormant power.

They all slowly began to disperse and explore the room, moving with renewed purpose. Some gravitated toward the books on the bookshelves, carefully pulling ancient volumes from their resting places and blowing dust from their covers before gingerly opening them. Others began inspecting the unknown liquids in different vials and jars, holding them up to the blue candlelight to observe their colors and consistencies.

But it wasn’t long before Lara’s loud voice echoed over the room, cutting through their individual explorations with electric excitement.

"Guys... I got something!"

Everyone’s heads whipped toward Lara as if pulled by invisible strings. They quickly made their way to her and the wooden desk she stood over, gathering around with held breath and racing hearts. The blue candlelight caught the gleam in her eyes as she looked up at them, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth for the first time in days.