I Steal The System

Chapter 9: Dream

"Aaaaaa!"

A sharp, jagged scream ripped through the silence of the cell block. Lucius bolted upright, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon through deep mud. Sweat drenched his clothes, sticking the fabric to his skin in the humid air. His breath came in ragged, desperate gasps that echoed off the damp stone walls.

It looked like the aftermath of a soul-crushing nightmare. The guard on duty didn't hesitate. He dropped his casual stance and rushed toward the bars, his eyes wide with a frantic sort of hunger rather than genuine worry. This was the moment he had been waiting for. Every word Lucius uttered was a potential step up the military ladder.

"What happened? Talk to me!" the man demanded, his voice trembling with excitement.

"I saw it. The red lightning. It appeared again," Lucius wheezed, clutching his head as if trying to hold the vision inside.

The guard pressed his face against the iron bars, peering into the shadows of the cell. "Appeared? Where? I don't see anything!"

"No, not here. I saw it in a dream," Lucius replied, his voice shaking.

"A dream? Are you sure you aren't just losing your mind?" the guard asked, but Lucius shook his head violently. His face was a mask of pure terror, and his labored breathing sounded too real to be faked.

"What did you see in there?" the guard pressed, leaning in closer.

"The red flashes were getting brighter, more real. And then, suddenly, I heard it. A voice," Lucius said. He stopped abruptly, hanging his head to let the silence build the tension.

"Then what? What did the voice say?"

"The voice told me how to get it," Lucius whispered. "It told me how to claim the power."

The guard almost screamed with joy. He bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud. This was better than a pile of gold. If he delivered this secret to the General, he would be a hero. He would finally leave this rotting sewer and take a seat at the high table. He composed himself, trying to look like a professional soldier again, though his eyes were dancing with greed.

It was as if the stars had finally aligned. He had spent years in this hole, and now a trembling boy was handing him the key to the kingdom.

---

"Is this the truth?" General Nefion asked, his voice tight with suppressed energy.

He had arrived in the cell block only minutes after the guard's report. The luck was staggering. After years of dead ends and failed excavations, the captive youth was claiming to have the map to the treasure. Lucius simply nodded, his body still trembling slightly as he tried to calm his nerves.

"Is this boy really the key?" Nefion thought, his gaze boring into Lucius. "I have waited a lifetime to understand the red lightning. I will not let this chance slip through my fingers."

"Your name is Lucius, right?" the General asked. His voice was suddenly soft, almost polite.

"Yes, sir," Lucius replied quietly.

"Lucius, listen to me. I can give you a new life. You don't have to be a pawn of the government or a dog in a cage. I can provide you with a new identity, a clean slate, and total freedom. But you have to help me first."

"What can I do for you, sir?" Lucius asked with a look of wide-eyed innocence.

Nefion shook his head slowly. "It won't be easy. You have no family, which makes things simpler. I will give you a name and a future you never dreamed of. Do we have a deal?"

"I promise to assist you in retrieving the red lightning artifact, master," Lucius said, bowing his head.

"Good. Call the shadow guards," the General ordered, turning toward the door. "Remove his chains. Give him a decent meal. I want him fed and rested."

Nefion paused at the threshold, his shadow stretching long across the floor. He looked back at the cell with a cold, piercing stare.

"We leave tomorrow at dawn. Do nothing stupid before then," the General warned. It was a promise and a death threat wrapped into one. He was telling Lucius to be a good boy, or there wouldn't be a tomorrow to see.

---

Lucius let out a long, satisfied sigh.

"If I knew they would serve food this good, I should have started this act a long time ago," he thought. His stomach was full for the first time in days. The military steak was a massive improvement over the prison slop.

He leaned back against the wall, his mind sharp and focused. "Nefion is obsessed. That makes him predictable. In the future I remember, he never got his hands on the artifact. In fact, I never even heard his name in the history books. He was a failure."

"They should be here by now," Lucius muttered, counting the seconds in his head.

Right on cue, several soldiers in full tactical gear approached his cell in a hurry. They looked ready for war. Nefion was at the front, looking more impatient than ever. The General stared at Lucius, whose clothes were still damp with the sweat of his staged nightmare.

"Are you absolutely serious about what you told the guards?" Nefion asked, his eyes searching for any sign of a lie.

"I am ready, sir," Lucius answered, standing up with feigned resolve.

"Then let's move."

They traveled fast. When they finally arrived at the location, Lucius felt a genuine surge of awe. They were standing at the edge of a colossal, yawning chasm. The hole was tens of kilometers wide, a jagged wound in the earth that seemed to have no bottom. From high above, a person would look like a single grain of sand against the vastness of the pit.

"This is a government mine, Lucius. But we aren't digging for gold," the General said, a dark laugh bubbling in his throat.

Nefion turned to him, his face hardening. "Rule one: you touch nothing unless I tell you to. If you break that rule, I will smash your head in myself."

Lucius nodded, acting as if the threat had chilled his blood.

"Rule two: do not even think about running. The consequences of betrayal are far more painful than a quick death. Rule three: do not speak to anyone we meet down there. Do you understand?"

Lucius nodded again, his face pale with simulated fear. But deep inside, he was grinning. There were secrets buried in the dark of this mine, and he was about to walk right into the heart of them.

"If you understand the risks, then we leave now," the General said.

Without another word, Nefion stepped off the edge and plunged into the abyss. Lucius gasped, his eyes bulging. He hadn't expected the General to be capable of something so suicidal.

"Is he really that strong?" Lucius wondered, his heart skipping a beat. He had underestimated the man's raw physical power. This was going to be much more difficult than he had planned.

"Damn it," he hissed internally.

He didn't have time to complain. Two guards grabbed him by the arms, strapped a high-velocity parachute and safety harness to his chest, and shoved him over the edge. Lucius felt the stomach-turning pull of gravity as he followed the General down into the black heart of the world.