I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to clear my mind. When the dizziness and disorientation faded away, I opened my eyes again and took a clearer look at my surroundings. Tower Master Katarina remained silent, no doubt content to let me realize the gravity of my situation.
As I noted when I first arrived, I found myself in a dim stone chamber. It was about the size of my bedroom back in Kaltbrand Castle, with a metal door serving as the sole entrance. There were no windows. The single source of light in the entire chamber was a mana crystal lamp, which was located just above the metal door.
The temperature inside the chamber was cool, suggesting that it was underground. I suspected that it was a holding cell of some kind. Magic circles were carved into the floor around my location. There were dozens of them, interacting and intersecting with each other in a complex and layered pattern. They were powered by several mana crystals. Given my current situation, it wasn’t difficult to guess the purpose of these magic circles. They were there to suppress me and keep me from using mana. It was the perfect trap to hold an Aura Master.
After inspecting the chamber, I looked back at Tower Master Katarina, who wore a smug smile on her face. She stood just outside of the magic circles keeping me suppressed. Valerie laid on the ground next to her, unconscious.
“I’m surprised.” I said. “I didn’t realize it was possible to use a warp scroll in order to warp someone against their will.”
Tower Master Katarina shrugged.
“Despite the difficulty in making warp scrolls,” she said, “Using them is rather simple. Everyone who is holding a warp scroll will be teleported when it is torn. They also all share in the cost of using it. However, not many people know this because of how rare warp scrolls are.”
Including myself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have touched the warp scroll in the first place. My ignorance was my downfall here.
“Is that why you gave the warp scroll to your disciple?” I asked. “In the hopes of catching one of us?”
Tower Master Katarina chuckled.
“It wasn’t difficult to figure out that the so-called auction was a trap.” She said. “Even a child would have realized it. When I heard that the journal of Grand Sage Lambert would be one of the items up for bid, I realized that it was a trap for Valerie. After that, it wasn’t difficult to figure out who was behind it all and why.” Her smug smile grew wider. “At first I considered forbidding Valerie from participating. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that it was the perfect chance to end the stalemate between the Tower of Magic and House Guld. I figured that either you or Duke Guld himself would try to subdue Valerie when you captured her. So, I tasked her with bringing one of you here.” She shrugged. “It didn’t matter to me which of you she brought. With either of you in my hands, I would have won.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“So, you used your own disciple as bait.” I said in a scornful tone. “What a loving master you are. What would have happened if neither of us had been there? Your plan would have failed.”
Tower Master Katarina scoffed.
“Then Valerie would have used the warp scroll to escape.” she said. “She had enough mana crystals on her for that much at least. No matter what happened, she would have been fine.” She looked down at her disciple. “Unfortunately, the fool girl decided not to use any when she brought you here. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be unconscious right now.”
I resisted the urge to curse. After everything we did, and all the preparations we made, we failed. We were… No, I was too arrogant, too complacent. Even though I knew we were up against the Tower of Magic, I thought I was invincible against anyone who wasn’t either a Grand Sage or an Aura Master themselves. This was the price of my hubris.
“What happens now, Tower Master Katarina?” I asked. “What is your grand plan? Tell me, I’m curious.”
Tower Master Katarina let out a derisive snort.
“All in good time, Lord Wulfe.” She said. “For now, just be a good boy and behave.” She nodded to the magic circles that kept me suppressed. “There are contingencies in place, to ensure that you don’t try anything funny. This includes using your divine power. Do as I say, and you’ll get out of this unscathed. I can promise you that much, Lord Wulfe.”
With that, Tower Master Katarina summoned silver chains to pick up her disciple and left the chamber. I remained silent as she left. Of course, I had no intention of waiting around and doing nothing. Tower Master Katarina had caught me in an elaborate and well-thought-out trap, but nothing was perfect. I was sure that with enough time, I could escape.
Unfortunately, that was the problem. I didn’t know how much time I had. With me as a hostage, Tower Master Katarina now had leverage over both House Kaltbrand and House Guld. This was a disaster, and it was all my fault. The auction was my idea, and it was my job to capture Valerie. Instead, I was the one who ended up being captured. Now, if I failed to escape, both of my families would have to pay a heavy price. Guilt and shame filled me.
However, I didn’t have the luxury of wallowing in self pity. If I didn’t want my families to pay for my mistakes, then I needed to escape and rectify things. Even so, it wouldn’t be easy. Because of the pressure on me, it took all of my strength just to remain on my hands and knees. Moving wasn’t an option. That meant that I had to rely on the coldfire if I wanted to escape.
Still, I needed to be careful. Recklessness wouldn’t serve me here. I didn’t know what contingencies Tower Master Katarina put in place, but they were no doubt formidable. She wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate divine power. However, that didn’t mean she knew what the coldfire was capable of.
I studied the multitude of magic circles, to see if I could glean anything from them, but soon gave up. I was an Aura user, not a magician. I knew almost nothing about magic. This meant that if I wanted to escape Tower Master Katarina’s trap, I would have to go through some trial and error. By some miracle, she hadn’t posted any guards to watch over me. She must have had great faith in these magic circles. I wasn’t going to complain. Her arrogance worked in my favor.
I took a deep breath. When I exhaled, I imbued my breath with coldfire. Little blue sparks emerged from my mouth. The moment they appeared, flames burst out of the magic circles and filled the chamber with fire. Heat washed over me. However, none of the flames touched me. They remained far enough away to avoid hurting me. Even so, the heat felt unpleasant.
To my relief, the sparks of coldfire remain unaffected. I grinned when I saw this. The flames from the magic circles weren’t enough to melt the coldfire. In fact, I wasn’t sure if the coldfire could be melted. After all, it wasn’t ice magic. It was a divine power gifted to House Kaltbrand by the God of Darkness himself.
I dispersed the coldfire and the flames from the magic circles faded away, though the heat still lingered. Sweat coated my body. I felt exuberant at the fact that my coldfire wasn’t affected by the flames from the magic circles. However, I didn’t let that exuberance go to my head. Tower Master Katarina mentioned contingencies, as in plural. The flames were just the first layer. Given the number of magic circles that I could see, there were likely dozens of contingencies that I would need to get through if I wanted to free myself.
Worst of all, I didn’t have too much time. Not only did I have to worry about the Tower of Magic using me as leverage against House Kaltbrand and House Guld, but I also needed to keep my body’s condition in mind. While I could maintain my current position for now, it was just a matter of time before I grew tired. I had a lot of stamina, but I had my limits. Sooner or later, I would succumb to the pressure. After that, it would be difficult to push myself back up again.
Using the coldfire to fight through the magic circles wouldn’t help in that regard. I would exhaust myself trying. The coldfire was powerful, but it wasn’t unbeatable. Rather than waste my energy, I needed to fight smarter. Using brute force wasn’t the solution in this situation. I needed to destroy these magic circles and break through them, while conserving as much of my energy as possible.
After all, once I freed myself from this chamber, I still needed to escape. I didn’t know where this place was, but I assumed it was tied to the Tower of Magic somehow. In fact, this chamber might even be located within the Tower of Magic itself. In that case, I would have to deal with a large number of magicians in order to escape. Even if the chamber wasn’t located within the Tower of Magic, I had to assume there were guards outside. Tower Master Katarina was arrogant, yes, but she wasn’t stupid.
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I studied the magic circles again. However, instead of trying to decipher their purpose, I focused on the mana crystals that powered them. These were the magic circles’ biggest weakness. If I destroyed the mana crystals, then the magic circles would no longer work. The problem was, how would I go about destroying them? Could my coldfire reach them?
As a test, I spat out a bolt of coldfire towards one of the mana crystals. Once again, flames erupted out of the magic circle. The bolt of coldfire remained unaffected. The moment it reached the inner boundary of the magic circles, a magical barrier formed and blocked its path. The two collided and the bolt of coldfire started to freeze the magical barrier; a crackling sound filled the air. I blinked in surprise when I saw this. Interesting. I hadn’t realized that the coldfire could freeze magic. It never occurred to me to try. Maybe I could brute force my way out of this.
Just as that thought occurred to me, silver chains shot out of the magic circles that surrounded me. They weren’t affected by the flames and passed through the magical barrier with ease. The chains wrapped themselves around my limbs and pulled, trying to throw me off balance. It was difficult to resist both them and the pressure pressing down on me.
I dispersed the bolt of coldfire, hoping that would make the chains stop. The flames burned themselves out and the magical barrier faded from view; except for the bit that had been frozen by my coldfire. That part fell to the ground with a clatter. To my relief, the chains stopped pulling me. However, they remained wrapped around my limbs.
I took a moment to catch my breath, before I considered my situation. The chains were a big problem. If they succeeded in forcing me to the ground, then I would be helpless. Not only would the pressure keep me down, but it would be difficult to survey my surroundings. At that point, I would have no option other than to brute force my way out of this trap. I could break the silver chains using my coldfire, but I didn’t want to do that.
While the silver chains were a hindrance, they were also a blessing. I could use them as a medium to spread my coldfire throughout the magic circles. After all, they were made from magic and as I just witnessed, my coldfire could freeze magic. From there, it wouldn’t be too difficult to freeze the mana crystals and destroy them. In fact, I could even freeze the magic circles as well. While I didn’t know much about magic, I knew that destroying magic circles was a good way to stop them. The problem was the magic barrier. While the silver chains passed through it with ease, that didn’t mean my coldfire would. Still, it was worth a try.
For the third time tonight, I summoned my coldfire. However, instead of spitting it out of my mouth, I willed it to emerge near where the silver chains wrapped around my limbs. The flames from the magic circles erupted to life once again. I spread my coldfire along the silver chains, taking care not to freeze them all the way through. Thankfully, they remained slack for now.
When the coldfire reached the inner edge of the magic circles, the magic barrier sprang to life again; except for the part that I had frozen earlier. It seemed that the coldfire could cause permanent damage to magical constructs. I grinned when I saw this. Perfect.
To my disappointment, the magic barrier stopped the coldfire from spreading further. It appeared that using the silver chains wouldn’t help in this regard. That said, I wasn’t too disappointed. I could just freeze the parts of the magic barrier that touched the silver chains and remove them. And I proceeded to do just that. This caused the silver chains to grow taut and start pulling on my limbs again, but I managed to resist them long enough to freeze the parts of the magic barrier that impeded me.
Afterwards, I dispersed my coldfire and everything grew still again. I took a moment to catch my breath. Continuous use of my coldfire, the heat from the flames, resisting both the pressure and the silver chains. All of these obstacles took their toll on me and sapped my strength. However, I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t let my families suffer for my mistakes.
When I caught my breath again, I studied the magic circles once more. I was making slow progress in my escape, but I was making progress. Now I had reached the point where I could start attacking the magic circles themselves. However, I needed to be quick about it. Given what I’ve seen so far, it was likely that Tower Master Katarina put in place some kind of contingency to prevent the destruction of the magic circles. I needed to freeze them, or destroy the mana crystals, before that happened.
There was another factor I needed to take into consideration. So far, the contingencies had impeded me, but not harmed me. However, I didn’t know how long that trend would last. I doubted that Tower Master Katarina wanted to kill me, since that would lead to war with both House Kaltbrand and House Guld, but she could injure me to the point where I couldn’t escape. Once I started freezing the magic circles, there would be no going back. I would either escape, or fail trying.
I took a moment to center myself, before I summoned my coldfire for the fourth and final time. This time, instead of taking it slow and steady, I willed it to race along the silver chains. The fire, the magic barrier, and the other contingencies Tower Master Katarina put into place all sprang to life. However, none of them could stop the coldfire. It bypassed the magic barrier, which now had holes in it, and soon reached the magic circle from which the silver chains emerged. They grew taut and tried to pull me down again. I took special care not to freeze them all the way through, since I didn’t want them to snap.
From the magic circle that summoned the silver chains, my coldfire spread to the rest of the magic circles that kept me trapped. More and more of Tower Master Katarina’s contingencies sprang to life, though they were all centered on me. This allowed my coldfire to spread unimpeded and freeze the magic circles. Spells of all kinds hit me, all of them designed to incapacitate and subdue rather than injure or kill. In the end, I couldn’t maintain my position and fell to the ground face first. However, it didn’t matter at this point. My coldfire continued to run rampant, freezing the magic circles. A loud crackling sound filled the air. Soon, the spells keeping me in place started to die out one by one.
After a while, the pressure keeping me down disappeared. I pushed myself up and looked around. By this point, most of the magic circles were frozen solid. I tried using my mana and found that I could. I grinned. However, I didn’t stop there. I kept spreading my coldfire, until a layer of ice and frost covered the entire chamber. It even froze the fire and the silver chains summoned by the magic circles. The mana crystal lamp above the metal door was also frozen over. Thankfully, that didn’t affect its ability to illuminate the stone chamber, otherwise I would have plunged into darkness.
I let out a chuckle and snapped the silver chains to free myself, before dispersing the coldfire. Afterwards, I tried to stand, but a wave of exhaustion and dizziness washed over me. I sat back down. It looked like I had used most of my energy in order to break free from the magic circles. By some miracle, no one heard the crackling sound as my coldfire froze everything in this chamber. Destroying the magic circles hadn’t alerted Tower Master Katarina either, which was something that worried me.
Still, I couldn’t stop here. Sooner or later, someone would come in to check up on me. I was a precious hostage, after all. They couldn’t let anything happen to me. Also, it was freezing cold inside the stone chamber. While I wasn’t affected by my coldfire itself, that didn’t mean I was immune to the effects of it. I needed to get out of here before the cold sapped my strength even further.
Despite how tired I felt, I pushed myself to my feet. Once again, exhaustion and dizziness remained washed over me, but I pushed through it. I used mana to enhance my strength, which helped a little. Afterwards, I walked over to the metal door. It was locked, of course, but I used my coldfire to freeze it. I then drew my sword, which Tower Master Katarina hadn’t taken away from me, and used it to break open the door.
Unfortunately, a loud sound rang out when I did this. If there was anyone keeping guard, that would have alerted them. Rather than wait for them to come to me, I burst out of the stone chamber with my sword at the ready. However, I didn’t see anyone.
On the other side of the metal door was a narrow corridor, lined with metal doors on both sides. This must have been a dungeon of some kind. Mana crystal lamps hung from the ceiling, illuminating everything. One end of the corridor was a dead end, while the other led to a set of stairs that went up.
With my sword in front of me, I headed towards the stairs. When I reached them, I looked up. At the top was a wooden door that looked thick and solid. Despite this, I heard muffled noises coming from the other side of the wooden door, thanks to my sharper senses. Taking care not to make a sound, I walked up the steps and pressed my ear to the wooden door. It took me a moment to identify the noises. It sounded like people fighting.
All of a sudden, the noises stopped. When this happened, I stepped back and readied myself. Perhaps the people fighting on the other side were my allies, or perhaps they were my enemies. Either way, I was ready. If they opened the wooden door, then I would use that to my advantage. If not, then I would wait until they left and then open the door myself.
However, I didn’t have to wait long. After a few moments, I heard the sound of a key turning a lock and the wooden door opened, swinging outward. The moment this happened, I sprang forward and slammed my shoulder into the door. I heard a yelp as the person on the other side was knocked back. Beyond the wooden door was a well-lit stone chamber. It looked like a guard station of some kind, filled with rough wooden furniture.
There were five people inside, all of whom were magicians. Two were laying on the ground. They wore the robes of the Tower of Magic. I couldn’t tell if they were dead, or just unconscious. The other three wore hooded cloaks that hid their features; two were standing while the third was sitting on the ground. I presumed the last one was the person who I knocked back. It appeared that these three were enemies of the Tower of Magic. However, I didn’t let my guard down. Just because they were enemies of the Tower of Magic didn’t mean they were my allies.
I pointed my sword at them. The two figures still standing summoned spells.
“Wait, stop!” The figure on the ground said in a familiar voice. “That’s Wulfram! He’s the one we’re here to rescue!”
I stared as the figure on the ground stood up and pulled back his hood, revealing Emmerich. He grinned at me.
“Hey, Wulfram.” He said.