“What are you talking about?” Cael hadn’t been able to stop his question out of complete disbelief at the accusation. He paused briefly to assess what he’d said. The collar hadn’t activated.

That kind of made sense. A question wasn’t a true or false statement. If he was right about that, then this conversation was about to turn into a completely unhinged game of Jeopardy.

“Don’t play dumb. Everyone knows how changelings take their forms.” Macera clearly didn’t know how to play Jeopardy, but that gave him a much better idea.

“Assume for a moment that not everyone does.” No pain. He felt happier about being able to say that than he probably should have.

“Fine, I’ll say it. I’m accusing you of killing a kid and eating his soul.” And there went that happy feeling. Cael gaped at her but recovered quickly.

“Well, what if I told you there was another way?”

“I’d tell you you’re full of shit.”

“But don’t you think I would know better?”

Macera shrugged. “I think you would say whatever it took to survive.” Survive. That meant they were probably going to kill him if he didn’t get this right.

“She’s got you there, kid.” The lizard finally joined the conversation. And they were right. If Cael had to and was able, he would lie his way out of this. He didn’t want to die so soon into his second chance at life.

“Then aren’t you saying that there’s nothing I can do to prove my innocence?”

Neither responded. That in itself was all the confirmation Cael needed. Wonderful. “Then what happens next?”

“Didn’t I already tell you?” Macera asked.

Cael didn’t think so, but it was possible he had just forgotten. “We’re putting you in a cell and waiting for a colleague. She’s busy right now, but when she returns, she will ensure you are punished for all of your crimes.”

Hopefully, that meant their colleague would be using magic to determine Cael’s innocence and would not be torturing him into false confessions. That would really suck.

“Alright Enken, I’m heading back out.” Macera turned to do exactly that, “Take care of this for me?”

“Transfer him over before you go.” he tossed her a coin which she caught without turning around. What was up with that? Cael could swear they were just showing off at this point.

She shut the door behind her, letting in a cold draft of air.

Cael turned to watch Enken, the blood-red lizard as he filled out paperwork. After a minute filled only by the scratching of a pen— a genuine modern-looking pen. Cael had almost expected a quill and inkwell— Enken stood.

He was tall too. At least as tall as Rocaren and built like a tank, though not as tall as Macera nor as muscular.

Being smaller than everyone was getting old really fast.

“Did Macera reset your collar commands?”

The changeling blinked at the lizard. What was he supposed to say?

"What do you think?" That maybe sounded a bit belligerent, but it was the best he could do under his current conditions.

The big lizard sighed so that probably meant Cael had said enough.

“Of course not. Okay, clear all previous commands.” Cael had no idea how to tell if this was working, so he just stared at the glittery red scales while the overgrown receptionist did his thing “New commands: You may not lie or harm others in any way.” Hmm, back to default settings apparently.

“What if they attack me first?”

“Still no.” Enken narrowed his eyes at him.

Cael shrugged, this wasn’t worth the argument. He followed his new captor into a door on the left side of the room. Based on Cael’s mental map, it ran underneath the town’s wall. The door opened into a descending staircase.

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“Tell me what Skills you have,” Enken commanded.

“Uh, just [Read].”

The lizard gave him a look but didn’t press any further. They both knew he couldn't lie. They walked down a few more flights of badly lit stairs. There was only a single floating light for each flight, which left almost half the entire staircase treacherous to navigate.

He brought that up with Enken, but he just chuckled and kept going. Two for two badly lit areas with unsure footing and a generally unresponsive person he was supposed to follow. Well, two for three. Between the moon and the streetlights, the city outside was reasonably lit.

At the bottom of the stairs, Enken opened a heavy metal door. It wasn’t that large, but it was thick enough that Cael could probably fit inside it if it were hollow. He doubted it was.

The door moved to reveal a long hallway with similar metal doors lining either side. Cael assumed they were cells for other labeled criminals. Enken stopped in front of one, partway down the hall.

“Try opening the door.”

It was a command, so Cael grabbed the handle and pushed.

“Is it a pull or a push door?”

“Pull.”

Cael was pretty sure that was a violation of the fire code, but he felt like they didn’t have that here. He tried again anyway. The door refused to budge.

“You can stop now.” Enken pulled the door open without any noticeable strain.

“What was that about?” Cael asked, bewildered.

“Lock’s broken. Needed to make sure you couldn’t get out.”

Cael decided not to tell Enken that a simple order to remain here would halt any escape plan preemptively.

“Wha-.”

“Oh yeah. Don’t mind the structural damage.”

Cael wondered if that counted as a command because that would be a bit difficult. A large chunk of the opposite wall had seemingly exploded outward, complete with twisted metal and scorch marks across the entire room.

“What happened here?” he wondered aloud.

“Someone escaped. That reminds me. Don’t try to escape.”

So much for there not being a command stopping him from escaping. Cael was quite sure that one counted as far as the collar was concerned. He wandered toward the hole in the wall, intrigued by the light shining in through it.

A sprawling multi-level city sprawled across an impossibly large underground cavern. From his position in a cell hanging from the roof of the cavern, the city was fully visible, as if illuminated by daylight.

“How is it so bright?” Cael pulled away from the hole. It was a really long way down. He shivered at the thought of falling that far. Even if he could escape at this point, it would not be that way.

“Hmm? Oh, most of the roof is covered in a solar array powered by moon crystals.”

“What?” That explained literally nothing.

“Means it shines like the sun when the moon is out and the light fades out in the daytime.”

“So the day and night cycle is opposite that of the surface?”

Enken nodded in confirmation.

“That’s pretty cool, but why?”

“Do you really not know, or are you just trying to keep me here while you plan to escape?”

“Genuinely interested.”

Enken looked at Cael skeptically, but to his credit, he did answer. “With a proper schedule, it is possible to always be operating within daylight hours. Individuals without the need to sleep find it more convenient.”

“Who doesn’t sleep?” That was absurd. Supposedly everything required sleep to survive. That’s something Cael was pretty sure of, at least.

“A few select species and everyone above level five hundred.”

“People can level?” It made sense in retrospect. The ever-present System seemed to allow a lot of room for personal growth if the magic he'd seen was anything to go by.

“Now I know you’re just stalling.” Enken chuckled and made for the door. “If you need anything, just shout. Someone will hear. And please try not to throw anything out the wall hole.” Enken closed the heavy door with a resounding thud. Overall, Cael figured that Enken was a pretty cool dude. The fact that he was a lizard person definitely helped to ramp up that cool score though, so Cael was biased. Either way, he was still the best person he had met in his life. Rank two, that is. He still owed Arx for this second chance.

Cael surveyed the rest of the room. There was a mostly unburnt bed and an operating toilet. He’d flushed it to check. It was kind of interesting to see what items were more advanced and which remained at the medieval standard. He was sure there was a reason for each, but he wasn’t an anthropologist. Hmm. Mental note; not a biologist, zoologist, or anthropologist.

Anyway, if he ever got around to eating or drinking anything before something ended up killing him, then he would eventually see just how well the plumbing worked in his new world.

He turned to inspect the door. From this side, Cael noted that the lock really was broken. It almost looked like a miniature clone of the gaping wall hole. A remnant of an explosion that had bored through the lock, but not through the rest of the door.

He wondered idly if that meant the door was made of stronger metal than the walls…

Whatever, he had an active command preventing him from getting out anyway, so he’d just have to wait and see what prison life had in store for him.

Until something happened, though, he finally had a moment to himself. Maybe he could go over the System boxes again and see if he couldn’t figure out how to use magic. And there was the whole ‘reaching out to the magic of your soul’ thing that Arx had made him figure out.

Honestly, there was so much to do that Cael doubted his luck would let him finish it all before something bad happened.