They knocked me out, and when I finally woke, I was in some kind of jail. There was nothing except for the walls and doors. Walls were made from cold and old stone bricks. The entrance was blocked by sturdy-looking steel doors. My hands were in some metallic shackles, and anger for my dead wolves still seared in mine hearth.

‘I will kill them all for this… Once my powers return.’

Some time passed, and the only thing that was there to do was to watch crack in the stone when the voice came from behind the doors.

“Your trial will be on tomorrow. Prepare to be judged for your sins”, it was the voice of a member of that party that caught me.

I ignored him and kept watching my favourite crack.

More time passed, and steps accompanied by clinging of metal echoed from behind doors. Soon small windows at doors opened with the creaking of old metal, and a wooden bowl slid inside.

I turned my head towards the bowl. A smile formed on my face when I spotted a piece of hard breath and some mushed potatoes.

‘Finally, some normal food… Quality is a little bit bad, but it’s breath and potatoes. Finally’

There was no spoon, so I started to eat with my hands. The portion was small, so I finished it in a few bites. Suddenly I felt something weird and hard in my mouth. I spat it out and saw a small piece of wood with writing.

Don’t worry. We will free you tomorrow after the trial.

Your fellow practitioners of dark arts.

‘I don’t think I need to be saved, but some backup will be helpful. Maybe I can use them.'

Few more hours passed, and I was super bored. The ground was hard and cold, basically the same as my first night in the cave, but that didn’t prevent me from sleeping.

I woke up. There was still the same old cell around me. I stretched as much as my shackles allowed it. Soon steps echoed in the hallway, and the doors of my cell flew open.

“Time for your trial. Here is some water. Clean yourself up.” said one of the guards and dropped a bucket of cold water.

I quickly washed my face. Two guards grabbed me, each from one side, and started to drag me. Soon we exited the old jail and arrived at the hallways from white marble. In front of me were massive wooden doors. We entered, there was a circular courtroom with a decorated tribune for the judge. Facing it was a small chair. They sat me into that chair.

“Stand up, head priest Sulivan of free city Nor arrived,” said voice before the man in a decorated white robe with silver symbols of a shining eye on them entered the room. He was old, as hinted by his grey hair and wrinkles covering his face. I ignored him and kept sitting to the outrage of everyone in the room.

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“Show some respect, you devil lover”, one of the guards reacted especially loudly.

Sulivan sat into his chair, looked into paper and said with a clear voice, “Such shame, that someone with such talents chosen a way of darkness… I will start with your questioning now. Why is the divine system showing you species as question marks? What are you?”

“If the system says that I am a question mark, that means my species is a legendary question mark lord.”

“Are you making fun out of this institution? Such nonsense doesn’t belong here. Now answer seriously.”

“I don’t know. I was already born like that.”

“As I see, I will not get any information about this topic. So I will go right to the next one. Why are your stats lower than they are supposed to be for a person with such insane talents.”

I decided to appease him “I was punished by gods for using of dark arts”

Sulivan froze for a few moments, probably thinking about what I just said before he said “This is proof of gods justice. Every sinner will be punished”

Time for my punchline came. “So why am I even having these trials when gods already punished me. Does it mean that you doubt the judgment of gods? Be ashamed of yourself.”

Sulivan showed his emotions for the first time as he started to shout at me “How dare you! Heretic accusing me, holy man, of doubting gods? I will teach you a lesson. I wanted to be merciful and kill you swiftly, but now I will rather let you suffer for years!...”

‘Wow, I wasn’t planning this, but it looks like I bought more than enough time to regain my powers and escape. Let’s finish him off.'

“Sorry, your holiness. But I just told a truth. It is not my fault that you are too stubborn to understand.”

Someone hit me from behind, causing pain in my back. “Throw her back to jail. Let her rot her there.” Sulivan angrily ordered his lackeys.

Guards grabbed me and dragged me violently back to my cell.

I spent the next few hours analysing spell patterns to improve my understanding of them. Suddenly the sound of a loud bang echoed. Then I heard sounds of fighting before my door opened. Few masked people in hooded cloaks entered my cell.

“We came to save you. Take this, it will mask miasma from your magic,” said one of them and threw me a ring from black metal with runic engravings.

‘This is suspicious as hell. Why would they save me? What is in for them?’

I pushed my though back as I stood up and walked out of the cell. Air was filled with dust and I could hear shouts in distance.

“Quickly, reinforcements will be here in few moments! Follow me!” one of my saviours hastened me.

We ran through the corridor until we arrived next to the hole in the wall. On the other side was a sewer tunnel. More shouts and steps come from behind us. Masked persons entered the hole, and I followed. One of them launched [Firebomb] and destroyed the ceiling blocking the path behind us.

The situation looked calmer, so I asked something I wanted to ask for a long time “Why are you helping me?”

“We are still not safe. This will hold them only for few minutes at the top.” he dodged my question and started to run as he continued, “, That is simple. You are the most talented user of illegal magic to be known. Your power will be our way to improve our standing in this world.”

“How did you know about my talents without ever meeting me?”I asked as we ran through the maze of tunnels.

One of them laughed, “Church is themself justice and purity, but they are taking bribes as everyone else. Now be quiet. It would be bad if they will hear us.”

That seated my hunger for answers, so I listened and remained quiet for the rest of our escape. Soon we reached the manhole and climbed the old rusty ladder up. Due to my strength is was easy even with shackles. We appeared in the backyard of a big house looking like one of the old houses in historical centres of European cities.