Fearless

Chapter 31

That night, Kiara found herself mindlessly walking around. She hadn't been able to fall asleep so she thought that a short walk around the inn would get rid of the excess energy she had, that and since most of the others were asleep, the fear that had hung around her most of the day had finally come to a halt, leaving her in a peaceful silence. Though, just like most times, the peace was short-lived.

She had turned to walk up a stairwell, seeing that Bon was crouching by the top of the steps, looking to be listening in on a conversation. She slowly crept up the stairs, crouching a few steps behind Bon and listening to hear any voices.

"Excuse me, sir?" Someone asked.

"Yes?" Kiara recognized Juzo's voice.

"We heard about the meeting earlier this afternoon with the elders. Is something going on we should know about?"

"No, why? Did someone tell you there was?"

"The thing is... we thought something came up in the meeting you were at because all the senior exorcists in charge of the keep security were told the director wanted to see them asap."

"And this is happening now?"

"Yes sir."

"Where?"

"I don't know. But after what happened the other day down there, it's kinda odd to leave the keep's defenses so thin. Don't you think?"

"Yeah. I'll go find the director and talk to him."

From where Kiara was, she spotted Juzo walking to a nearby door and— after looking to see that nobody was around— pleaded a key in the handle and opened the door, quickly walking inside and shutting it behind him. Just as the door shut, Kiara watched as Bon got out from his spot and started heading down the hall. Kiara got up from where she was and followed him, slightly surprised that Bon hadn't noticed her presence yet.

"So, what do you think is happening?" She asked, watching as Bon jumped and turned to look at Kiara.

"W-what the hell! When did you get here?" He asked in a panic.

"Mmm, about... five minutes ago? Now, I think we'd better go after Juzo to make sure everything is alright wherever he went," she narrowed her eyes, staring at the door, "because the moment he opened that door I could sense large amounts of fear coming from wherever it lead to."

Bon recovered from the shock of seeing Kiara, and just nodded, grabbing a key from a key ring and placing it in the handle. He opened the door and the both of them stepped through, letting it shut behind them. They had walked into an elevator, and Kiara watched as Bon pressed one of the buttons and stepped back as the elevator slowly went down. To say the ride down was a little awkward was an understatement. There was a small ding and the doors opened, revealing what looked to be either a group slumber party or a surprise ambush.

Kiara stepped off the elevator and watched as Bon rushed forwards towards one of the men on the ground. He placed a hand on the man's back and tried to shake him awake.

"Hey, what happened here?"

The only response he got was a groan.

Ahead of the two, Kiara noticed a door was slowly swinging back and forth. She glanced at Bon, their eyes meeting before they gave each other a small nod and walked through the door. Their footsteps echoing as they walked through the dark hallway. Kiara followed Bon into a large room, that seemed to be lit up by multiple flames. In the middle of the room there was a tall pedestal with a jar on top. A jar that contained the other eye of the Imperial King. The two of them crouched down next to each other peeking into the room through the railings. Kiara saw two people standing near the middle— Mamushi and Juzo. Mamushi was closer to the pedestal, with her back towards Juzo who wasn't too far behind her.