Hearing this, Cormac Terrence turned and looked at Ais — rubbing her eyes, slightly tired:
"It sounds like you're not especially excited about Beklund."
Ais shook her head:
"Just not setting my expectations too high."
And so they made their way back, exchanging occasional words, until all three returned to Saint Anjelka Cathedral.
Ais, growing progressively more drowsy, noticed that Terrence was leading her steadily downward with no sign of stopping — and something felt off. The drowsiness cleared a little.
After parting with Blake, Terrence led Ais all the way to the duty room outside the Chanis Gate. After briefing the current guard — Alec Howard — on the intelligence, Howard, far more familiar with Moen's situation, moved immediately on his findings. Terrence stayed behind to take over watch duties for him.
He dropped into the chair Howard had just vacated and addressed Ais:
"Miss Ais — you can catch up on some sleep. I won't disturb you before the sun rises."
You obviously will… Ais argued back inwardly. Understanding this was part of the examination, she didn't drag her feet. She pulled a chair over, put her arms on the table, and dropped her head onto them — surrounded by newspapers, magazines, and books — and was in the dream almost immediately.
Remarkably efficient. There's still an hour until sunrise… The small clear fraction of Ais still admired the Watcher's efficiency.
After living through her own and the big idiot's history in the dream, she watched Terrence disappear from it. The still-aware fragment of her gradually subsided as well, and she fell into a complete, genuine sleep.
"Quite the unusual person." Terrence murmured silently to himself after finishing the "interrogation." Even after encountering a remarkable variety of people, he still couldn't find a precise word to describe Ais.
Calling her honest and good-natured seemed off — she killed people the way most people swatted insects. Calling her cold-blooded seemed equally wrong — her criteria for choosing who to target were fairly strict, and she did factor in whether her actions were justified.
But whatever else could be said, after learning Ais's history, one thing Terrence could confirm was this: from her perspective, she was not a dangerous person.
And that was enough. The question of why she'd been so little affected by the Pleasure Witch's charm — that could be left for his superiors to puzzle over.
He withdrew the spiritual entity that had been resting on Ais's left wrist, and passed the time reading a magazine and drinking tea with no sign of fatigue.
Shortly after sunrise, Ais was woken by the groan of a heavy iron door being pushed open.
"Come along, Miss Ais — time for you to serve your sentence." Terrence said plainly.
Still blinking and not quite awake, Ais immediately snapped alert, staring at the door now slightly ajar outside the duty room:
"Sir — please tell me you're not saying I'm going to be put behind that door."
Turning to hide the upward pull of his mouth, Terrence walked toward the door and replied as a matter of course:
"Of course. What — the regular prison? If the sun weren't still dangerous for living things inside the Chanis Gate before it rose, you'd have gone in the moment we returned to the cathedral. And if not for you, I certainly wouldn't be sitting here with nothing to do in front of the Chanis Gate."
"But once I'm in — what about at night? Can you really wrap everything up in a single daytime?" Ais followed him out, asking as she went.
Even if she couldn't fight her way out and couldn't escape, the thought was there.
Howard, stationed by the Chanis Gate, explained:
"Don't worry — there are protections on the room. At night, as long as you don't leave the room, you'll be fine."
Warren, the bespectacled young man, held out a bag to Ais as she emerged and said quietly:
"Ma'am — your breakfast."
"So you did think about the fact that I haven't eaten. Thank you, Warren."
I don't actually know your surname — that really isn't my fault… Having thanked only Warren — the one who'd brought her food — Ais noticed his face turning slightly red.
The somewhat still-green Watcher retreated quickly into the duty room.
Looking at the slightly awkward Ais, Terrence indicated the elderly figure standing beside Howard — wearing a black robe, hair thinning, carrying a lantern:
"This gentleman is the internal warden of the Chanis Gate. You've briefed him on everything, Alec?"
Howard added:
"Just follow this warden. Your supervision level is the minimum. As long as you're not trying to cause damage or leave the cell, you may do whatever you like inside — including using your supernatural abilities.
Food isn't a concern — we'll bring it to you, and it won't be bad. Other comforts — make do for now. Once we have a free hand in two or three days, we'll start looking into your situation. Once the Nighthawks here confirm everything you've told us is accurate, you're free."
Given that they've even thought about my meals… The last of Ais's lingering worry vanished.
She noticed the warden turning to look at her. Something about the old man was unusual: his face had no expression, and his color was pallid in a way that didn't look like a living person's.
Her heightened inspiration also registered a subtle difference between this old man and any ordinary living person — though she couldn't specify exactly what.
The old man turned wordlessly back and passed through the narrow gap in the great door.
Ais looked at the two Nighthawks still outside, then followed.
It's cold… The instant she stepped through the Chanis Gate, she shuddered — which was remarkable, given that deep nights and underground chill hadn't affected her at all.
The cold resistance the Witch potion granted didn't extend to this clearly unusual chill. Her heightened inspiration gave her the strange impression that even her intangible spiritual energy was in danger of being frozen solid.
With no visible action from the thin-haired warden, the Chanis Gate behind her closed slowly.
The warden carried the lantern and walked steadily down a broad stone corridor. Ais didn't dare speak to this figure who already made her feel uneasy, and simply followed in careful silence.
After a few steps, once she'd adjusted to the cold behind the gate, she noticed it was eerily quiet — quiet enough to be frightening. And the silent old man walking ahead of her seemed to merge with the atmosphere itself, giving her the impression of a guide through a world of the dead. Everything together put her in mind of the Evernight Goddess 's full name:
Lady of Sleep and Silence. Empress of Doom and Fear.
That really is appropriate… She reflected on it.
After passing stone doors labeled with words like "potions," "materials," and "documents," she could sense living people in the stone cells ahead — but all of them were completely still, neither moving nor speaking.
Is the silence itself that reaches a frightening pitch some expression of power? People affected by it seem to have lost even the desire to move… Ais was starting to understand how the Chanis Gate kept Extraordinaries from escaping.
The old man stopped in front of a room still a short distance from the cells holding the others and opened the stone door.
Seeing she'd arrived, Ais took out the toast from her breakfast bag, began eating as she walked in.
The old man showed no reaction, only silently closing the door behind her once she was inside, then departing without a word.
This old man seems only marginally better off than the people being held in the cells… Ais felt a sudden and surprising pang of respect and sympathy. Looking at the narrow room — nothing but a flat stone slab for a bed — she murmured quietly to herself:
"Look at me. Ended up in prison."
Author's Note (this chapter): "Look at me. Ended up in prison."
雨书春秋 · Tianjin · 04-13 02:04 Mom always said this day would come.
书友20250930295_Ba Prison, but make it beautiful.