Aboveground, the cathedral was filled with light, incense, prayer and laughter. The main room was stocked with rows of red cushioned benches. From tall windows, the morning sun streamed through, taking on the many vibrant colours from the pictures in the glass. The mural of Mary embraced the most, turning her halo into a ring of flame. Candle chandeliers hung overhead and a sweet fragrance wafted down. To and fro the priests weaved between the crowds. The morning service had recently ended and now smaller groups broke out for prayer, confessions and guidance. How to repent? It often costs a penny of lifespan per offence; a small price for salvation. Belowground, the cathedral was not so joyous. Cold, wet and reeking of urine mixed with human flesh that slowly rotted alive. The air was dank, thick and oppressive. The walls were black and the cells were filled with dark corners that shifted nervously when the doctor's boots tapped by. Other than his steps, it was silent. The red guards stood vigil at their posts and said not a single word to Christopher and he preferred it that way. Anytime they had spoken it was cruel and the words came out broken, catching in their throats.

  The wooden pail bumped against the doctor’s leg as he stepped and the water inside sloshed, some splashing onto his brown pants above the knee. Holding the wire handle and a scrunched sponge in one hand he reached for his flask with the other. He found his coat pocket empty. I won't go back to the drink. I will look him in the eye, he reminded himself, but oh how sorely he missed the sweet forgetfulness.

  Then to break the silence came the symphony of a brawl. Screams, thuds and cracks, then a hissing explosion as the dark dungeon was filled with a sudden burst of orange light. Like a lightning strike in the night, it vanished as soon as it came, plunging them back into darkness.

  Inside Alek’s cell, with his shackles discarded on the ground, they danced. Elizabeth left her sword outside the bars. Clearly she was confident, but watching the frenzy Christopher could not place so much faith in her. If he was being honest, his eyes were struggling to keep up. Maybe my old age is starting to affect me, but they were just moving so fast. Like bullets ricocheting around a metal cage. Elizabeth mostly occupied the centre of the cell, but she too flowed with the rhythm of battle, ducking and sweeping when the loose animal darted at her, screaming as he flew. He, still smattered with dirt and clothed in torn rags moved with fury, flinging fireballs between his assaults. His hair was a brown smear that darted around Elizabeth who dressed in battle-worn leather armour. When they clashed there always came a snapping thunder strike and it was hard to tell who exactly hit who. They jousted and Alek was beginning to slow. The doctor saw Alek land a right hook on Elizabeth’s chin and in return she gave a scraping blow that barely connected, yet her jaw was left unbroken and he was sent sprawling, smashing against the black wall. It was over. Alek pushed himself up the wall and she leered above him. He raised a shaky hand and a spark appeared in front, but before the flame could grow she kicked his wrist, surely breaking his radius and ulna if the doctor had ever seen a clean snap in his life. Alek was about to collapse under his own weight when Elizabeth punched. She connected with nothing but the brick behind his head. Alek had vanished. Not like before when he jumped with inhuman speed, this was different. There was no blur, no flicker as he accelerated. He just disappeared and now he stood behind Elizabeth, swinging a heavy fist with his unbroken arm. Elizabeth spun wide-eyed, but it was too late. Square on the nose she copped it and this time she did fall, but before Alek could even take a breath of victory she swept his feet out from underneath and her next punch did connect, squishing his head between her fist and the brick floor. Alek did not rise.

  The keys to the cell were on the floor outside, finding the correct skeleton from the ring Christopher clicked the lock and stepped inside. Elizabeth stood over Alek and her chest heaved with victory. It had been close, the doctor concluded. She looked exhausted, but when he saw her face, she was grinning with every breath. She had bruises over her body, none looked deep and the cuts on her skin were also shallow, but her nose was completely crooked. Christopher put down the bucket and sponge.

  ‘Hello,’ he said, waving in front of her eyes.

  She blinked twice and shook her head. ‘Oh, doctor, it's you.’ A trickle of blood ran down from her nostril onto her lip. She absentmindedly wiped it away. ‘Do you want to heal his wrists and ankles again before I put the chains back on?’

  ‘I think I should heal you first, while he is unconscious.’

  ‘I’m fine really.’

  He stepped closer. ‘I’ll be quick.’

  Without a word, she nodded and let him touch her with that golden-green glow. His magic that healed almost any wound. If only we had this power back on earth. Maybe I would not have committed that sin, the one that surely sent me here. But as soon as the thought came, Christopher knew it was a sweet lie. He would have done it all again. He was a prideful man. While he healed Elizabeth she never took her eyes off Alek.

  ‘This will hurt a bit,’ he told her as he laid his hands on her nose. Then without further warning he palmed it, roughly pushing it back into the rough correct position and as he did it the healing light swam into her, fixing it in place.

  Elizabeth grunted, but didn’t cry out. She rubbed her nose, checking it then snatched the ring of keys from Christopher’s hands. ‘Let’s get on with it,’ she said, motioning towards Alek.

  Christopher bent down and went straight for Alek’s skull. Despite Elizabeth’s finishing blow it seemed very intact – it could wait. He moved onto the broken arm as he would not be able to touch that once the noctra absorbing shackles were slapped back on. Alek’s hand was flopping in the wrong direction at an acute angle. ‘You did a number on him.’ She made some non-verbal approving sound and Christopher began to wonder which of them the real animal was. ‘But he almost got you at the end there.’

  ‘He just took me by surprise,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know he was a full-fledged cryptic-knight.’

  ‘It is a long march to Carandiru, I guess you will need a sparring partner.’

  ‘Sparring partner? Make no mistake doctor, he isn’t on my level. Like I said he just caught me off guard. He never used warping before.’

  Christopher looked at the several empty cans of food lying outside the cell. Alek’s arms and legs were already looking fuller, his face less gaunt and Christopher thought that… warping was likely because he finally had the strength to move properly. The doctor put down the now mended wrist and moved onto the next. As he moved he noticed that Alek’s breathing rhythm was irregular for someone unconscious. Possibly a broken rib, I will have to check that next.

  Elizabeth continued, ‘They told me he had only been in purgatory for two months, but now that I know the truth, he will never catch me off guard again.’

  ‘What makes you think he hasn’t been dead for two months?’

  ‘No one could learn a hidden technique of any discipline in two months. No one.’

  ‘Maybe he is a bit of a prodigy huh? He might even surpass you soon.’ Christopher meant it as a joke, but a vein popped on Elizabeth’s neck.

  ‘No. I knew a prodigy once. He was incredible at everything he did. Stronger than me and he had only been at the Honour Village for a year when I had been there for two.’

  ‘Who is this?’ Christopher asked, not really interested in the conversation as he moved onto the first ankle.

  ‘It doesn’t matter. I won't ever see him again. He is in Capernaum now and probably running the place already.’ She smiled looking towards the dark ceiling. ‘I bet he has already grown so much.’

  Elizabeth slapped the first shackle onto Alek’s ankle.

  ‘That good huh?’

  ‘Honourable too. He was always a gentleman and looking back, I wish I was kinder to him. Unlike this scrub,’ she said, giving Alek a light kick. ‘Some demon spawn, always calling me names from behind the bars, taunting me. And he is so weak! I mean he hits me over and over again, but he has no coating so it doesn't even hurt.’

  The doctor looked up to her freshly healed nose and wondered about that.

  A loud crash sounded down the dungeon’s hall. Angry shouts and fighting followed by the wordless barks of the Crimson Clergy echoed down the hall. Probably some new prisoner. The poor thing hasn’t been broken yet.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Elizabeth’s head turned towards the crashes and she looked eager, as if this fight was not enough for her. As far as Christopher was aware, it was the first time she took her eyes off of Alek. His muscles twitched and his eyes snapped open. He planted his hands behind his head and flipped up. In the same movement without wasting an ounce of energy he spun his body, leveraging off the chain on his left ankle. The kick would land. Unfortunately for Alek’s the doctor was within reach. Christopher sent in his healing magic. The thing about healing magic is that it doesn’t just blanket heal any wound. It required the user's intimate knowledge of the human body. The medical practitioner was the surgeon and the lifespan was the scalpel. With his golden-green knife, Christopher pinched a cervical nerve just below Alek’s brain, paralysing him completely then physically yanked him back down to the ground. Christopher was the best doctor in Purgatory because he was the best on Earth.

  ‘What was that?’ Elizabeth asked.

  ‘Just a little chiropractic medicine,’ Christopher said, patting Alek’s chest.

  ‘Why are his eyes open? And why is he grimacing like that?’

  ‘Ah, I was just checking pupil dilation.’ The doctor slapped Alek’s face on both sides. He didn’t respond. ‘But look, fast asleep.’

  The crashing and shouts continued down the hall.

  ‘Whatever,’ she said. ‘Help me re-shackle him.’

  They put on the chains and as soon as it was done Elizabeth ran out of the cell and down the hall. Her footfalls faded in with the general chaos and Christopher used his lifespan to repair Alek’s nerve-flow. Alek gasped for air.

  ‘What the fuck was that for?’ Alek asked.

  ‘I should ask you the same thing. Trying to kick a distracted girl.’

  ‘She hits me all the time.’

  ‘It isn’t right to hit her, not from behind.’

  ‘How does that make any sense?’

  ‘If it were the red guards you hit that would have been one thing, but she has been good to you.’

  ‘Good to me? She beats me daily.’

  ‘And would you prefer things go back to how they were?’

  He didn’t respond so Christopher continued.

  ‘She has done more for you than she had to. Do you think she deserves to be kicked in the back of the head?’

  Alek looked away.

  ‘I mean really, do you think she deserves that?’

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘but I don’t care anyway. I just need to get out of here.’

  ‘To see Charlotte?’

  Alek reacted violently. He thrashed in his chains and the purple shackles glowed brighter. ‘How do you know that name?’

  Christopher took a step back. The chains should hold, but it was difficult to believe after watching him move earlier. ‘You said it in your sleep. Who is she?’

  ‘None of your business.’

  The doctor nodded, it wasn’t his business. He should get on with his work. Christopher worked his way over Alek’s body. From fractured shins to a twisted shoulder and so many bruises. He healed them all and methodically checked for internal injuries. There was a broken rib on the left lung, but it hadn’t punctured anything. Cuts lined his body from head to toe, primarily the head where the old blood mixed with the new and Christopher had a hard time finding them so he brought over the bucket and the sponge.

  ‘It will be cold, sorry for that,’ Christopher said as he soaked up water into the soft, yellow brick. Alek didn’t respond, he looked lost in thought, or memory.

  He winced when the wet sponge first made contact and he hissed whenever it brushed an open cut the doctor had missed, but the doctor went on healing as he cleaned. Five minutes later and the prisoner looked like a whole new boy. He still wore those torn rags and had the awkward lankiness of a young teenager - who in truth was much younger - but his face was clean and his hair was de-clumped. His skin was clean, but there were deep scars all over his body, some from before Christopher became his doctor and some from before Alek had arrived in Kerioth. If a deep wound starts to heal naturally before magic is applied then sometimes a scar remains.

  The yelling that echoed down the hall was fading when Alek spoke again.

  ‘She is my sister.’

  ‘Who sorry?’

  ‘Charlotte. She… was my sister, but she died with me. I have to find her. It’s the only way I can set things right.’

  ‘And you think she is out there somewhere?’

  ‘I don’t know. Someone told me she is in Hell.’

  ‘You don’t sound like you believe him.’

  ‘How could I believe him? He is the one who killed her. He murdered Mother and Father too.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘A demon.’

  A chill went down Christopher’s spine. So the Church was telling the truth, he does hear the whispers. Trying not to look too fazed he put the sponge into the bucket and picked up the wire handle. He does hear whispers, but at the same time it didn't sound like he enjoyed them. If anything he sounded tormented.

  ‘That’s why I need to get out of here. I don’t know why these freaks want to keep me here so badly, but whatever their reasons I will escape and I will find her.’

  ‘How do you plan to find her?’

  ‘The plate of Bael.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘When I saw the demon the third time, he told me that I can find anyone in Proto from an apostle plate. The plate of Bael is apparently upstairs. Sal- the demon also told me I wouldn’t find her, because she isn’t in Proto at all, she is in Hell.’

  Proto? Bael? Does he mean Purgatory and the plate of Iscariot?

  ‘And you trust this?’

  ‘It’s all I have.’

  Christopher nodded softly, but at the end of the day it was none of his business. With the healing finished and the cleaning done he went to turn around, but there was one more thing he wanted to say. He told himself he wouldn’t say it, it would only give him false hope, but his heart was aching and he couldn’t help but give some comfort.

  ‘Don’t, don’t worry about trying to escape. I believe you are a good kid, Alek, I do. Despite the whispers and you walking under the angel I think you don’t deserve to be down here.’

  Alek laughed sarcastically. ‘Thanks doc.’

  But Christopher wasn’t done. ‘Don’t try to escape, it will only make things worse. I am trying to get you out of here. I have a friend in the Church who is going to petition for your freedom. I will testify too so I don’t see why they wouldn’t come to their senses.’

  He wore a sad expression. He doesn’t believe.

  ‘Don’t lose hope,’ Christopher said, but Alek was back into his meek silence.

  When Christopher left the cell he found Elizabeth sitting across the bars leaning against the far war. The doctor didn’t notice her coming and wondered how long she had been there. He gave her a smile that wasn’t returned.

  Walking back through the dungeon, he found it harder to ignore the misbegotten fades in the other cells. Those shallow things that barely resembled humans. Were they in here unjustly too? It wasn’t his job to worry about it and he never had trouble with it before, but now for some reason he did worry.