A squidlike head atop a nearly human body, Ben would have recognized it anywhere, not just from what he’d seen in the dead god’s trial but from his eternity decoding languages within the archive too, making their appearance all too familiar to him as he took a breath.

I hate Galwax, I don’t hate his people. One of them even improved my enchanting by a mile. Be cool.

“Oh, not insane yet neighbour, just indulging in a touch of despair first. I think I’m done for now.”

He looked around his new environment as he said it, finding more and less than he would have hoped for. The room he was in was nearly entirely empty, save for a block about a foot by a foot in size, but he’d had more space to use than he would have hoped either.

His prison looked to be roughly three meters by three meters in all directions, giving him space to move at least, even if the neighbours left something to be desired.

Left, right, top, and bottom, all around him were more cells, each filled with a different race in varying states of wellness. Really, the galwaxian was the only one who seemed at all sane, with the rest either screaming in madness, shaking, or otherwise looking completely unresponsive.

Dead? No, it looks like that one’s breathing at least which is an okay sign, if something goes wrong my corpse isn’t going to be left here to rot. The issue is on the opposite end of the spectrum. I may not know when Galwax’s world fell, but it’s definitely been hundreds of years, maybe over a thousand and there’s no way they live so long. Our lifespans have to be being extended while we’re in here.

Since king of sacrilege didn’t suppress any beneficial effects the gods gave he was willing to bet he’d be covered by it too, for good or ill. If the one beside him meant he was right about him being there for decades or centuries then there could easily come a time where he’d want death as an escape or mercy.

But let's not worry about that. I will get out of here, the question is only a matter of how and… Oh. Oh, that’s not going to be good.

He hadn’t realized it immediately but as soon as he’d been sent to his new prison it had broken the effects of bind for him. It was too coincidental for him to believe that Thera had been killed at the same time, but she wouldn’t know that. The only thing she’d be aware of was that sometime after being dragged through the demon’s gate, their connection had broken, and she’d know he wouldn’t do that himself. That meant the only choice she had to go off of was to assume he’d been killed.

He didn’t know how she’d react to that but knew it was likely going to be bad for the demons at least, and with nothing he could do to change that where he currently was he did his best not to focus on it, knowing his only chance at correcting any assumptions made about his demise was to escape.

There were a lot of other things going through his head after having been dragged there too but what he focused on first was what laid directly outside his prison, the mysterious domes around the portals, each one pricking at his sacrilege in a way different from the barrier that held him.

His prison scratched at it due to the power of the god that filled it but the dome was different. Whatever it may have held gave him the same feeling he got any time he saw a person, with one potential implication coming to mind, something that could not only help him get home if he could only escape but would also explain the demon race’s power to conquer the stars as well.

But if they’re what I think they are… Oh boy, that’s going to get really complicated when I get back. Okay, ignoring it for now.

Reaching that was going to have to be the last step in a plan that didn’t have a single one before it figured out, he first needed to discover how to break the cage that held him and for that, he turned to the only conversation partner it seemed he’d be getting for a while.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Hey neighbour, I don’t suppose you’ve seen anyone escape in your time here, have you?”

The question was greeted with a mad cackling, the galwaxian getting what words out he could in between quick breaths.

“Oh, and now he wants to escape!” It cried out. “Oh, to still be so young, to still feel that touch of hope! That will end soon enough.”

“You could have just said no.”

“Of course not, there’s no escape so the sooner you accept the reality of the situation the better. You and I are in this for the long haul.”

“Okay, good talk but I’m not ready to give up quite that fast.”

“I take it you’re young for your kind?” He suddenly asked Ben. “You sound like it. Look around you. Do you really think nobody else here has attempted to free themselves? Don’t waste your time.”

“Well, seeing as how it looks like I’m going to have nothing but time until the asshole holding us gets bored and turns us into food for everything down below, I might as well be doing something instead of just giving up. So if you don’t mind.”

“Fool.”

The word was a mutter that Ben ignored, no longer looking at his neighbour and instead focusing on the wall before him. It would be tight, but if anything he was about to test worked then he’d have to risk the damage to his soul running through the crowd below, stealing what mana he could and hoping he wouldn’t lose too many limbs by the time he escaped that world.

But that only matters if I can get out. Okay, test one.

It was a barrier powered by the divine, something he’d actually managed to escape before in the earth tower. It was obvious the one in front of him was more powerful than that prior one had been, but then, so was he.

Trying to empower his material manipulation with king of sacrilege, he used that skill’s destructive aspects to try and break the barrier like he’d done in the past, burning nearly all of his mana only to feel it fail.

…Test one, failed.

He hadn’t really expected a success but the fact it hadn’t worked still ate at him as he waited for his mana to refill, still having the effects of his mana recovery potion before going onto his next attempt.

For the second test, it was another he’d had to do in a tower before, back when he’d been trapped between the floors of the dark one. Focusing on his sacrilege within himself, he tried to push through, hoping his body would slip through the divinity around him to freedom.

Again it failed, with his next few tests seeing if any combination of the first two would work, leaving him without success later as the entire time he ignored the giggles and snide comments from the cell beside him, watching him and waiting for him to give up.

Fine, test six then.

He materialized a hammer and quickly built what enchantments he could on it before striking the wall with all of his strength, feeling his arms shake but not getting so much of a dent.

Another failure, but one that got an unrelated change with the one beside him falling silent, leaving Ben to cast his eyes to him and finding the man in a bow, his fast pressed into the floor below.

“What are you doing?”

“I give my respect to the master magus,” He said, sounding almost reverent. He knew the meaning of what Ben had just done, not only materializing which was enough to earn him the title but doing it at such a quantity and detail, not making a small handful of metal, nor leaving it as an unshapened lump. What Ben had just displayed with a level of skill deserving all respect from someone who hailed from a race of warrior mages, even if Ben didn’t particularly care.

“Stop, I’m not a…”

Huh, I totally am a master mage though, that feels a little weird to think about.

It was even a job he’d taken and finished so it shouldn’t have felt weird to hear, but that just wasn’t how he thought of himself. As far as he was concerned, it was just another tool for his crafting, one he was able to put towards other things such as combat but still had its core use in making things.

“Anyway,” Ben went on, ignoring the thought. “Don’t bow to me.”

“Let it happen, this is the only bit of respect you’ll be getting from me till you give up.”

“...Okay, screw you then.”

He was only on his sixth test while only having spent a bit over an hour on it, there were still tons of things he could try, with his next act being more materializing and enchanting, making a gun and a mythril bullet, covering it with sacrilegious enchantments and anything else he thought might work before firing it off into the barrier, with that attempt not yielding any better results either.

…Test seven, failed. God, this is going to be a long day.