“Luckily, I also knew that Azith would need lots of people to continue his experiments.” Owl said. “So, I disguised myself as a healthy orphan and planted a fake patient file in all the flesh mines I knew about.

“My trick worked way better than I expected. This is the fifteenth facility I’ve been dragged into. The other fourteen were just perverts or lunatics holding slave auctions. Security was minimal, and it took me a second to blow them to smithereens.”

“Did you save the people from those fourteen places before blowing them up?” Lilax stared at the small boy, finding his words hard to believe despite what she had just seen with her own eyes.

“Yes.” Owl revealed another complex structure of magical formations locking the next door, but he unraveled them in an instant.

“Are you going to save us as well?” The young girl’s heart beat faster with hope.

“No.” Owl’s deadpan tone stopped Aryk and Lilax in their tracks. “At least not until I find the person I’m looking for.”

“Why? How is this place different from the others?” Aryk looked around nervously, expecting another warden or someone even more dangerous to jump out of the shadows at any moment.