Darkness. Han felt engulfed by darkness. A great white void that consumed everything, even his own body. He felt nothing; not his fingers, not a heart beating inside him, not even the weight of his own being. He had to clue which way was up or down, left or right. Was he standing or laying down? Was he dead? He thought that's what death must feel like.

The white light was overpowering, searing into his mind. He tried to close his eyes to shield himself from it, but the light remained there. Were his eyelids gone? No, he finally realized: the light did not reach him through his eyes, it was already fully formed in his mind. Turn your head left or right, cover your eyes, the light will be there, a fixed point in time and space.

He yelled, but no sound came out. Han started panicking. Then...

A black spot appeared, giving him the first sense of location. A coordinate in that white hell. Another spot then appeared, and another, and another... The spots grew, like mold, eating away at the white canvas. They grew so large they joined, and by the end of their expansion, only a few thousand tiny holes in their body allowed the light to shine through. Through those holes, the light flickered, now soothing and beautiful. Han realized that he was staring at the night sky.

He gasped for air, and the sound of his coarse voice materialized, both to his shock and joy. He was lying naked on a grassy field, the cold blades of dew-covered grass caressing his skin. He smiled, as hot tears started rolling from the edges of his eyes, down to his temples. Han raised his hands and looked at them, turning them over, moving the fingers, wanting to believe it was all real.

After a while, with great difficulty, he got up, groaning. Looking down, he saw that he was dressed in his usual clothes.

"Powerful thing, my compound, isn't it?", he heard from behind, and looking over the shoulder, he saw the masked man approaching him. "Name's Cesarion. Bona fide member of the bounty hunters, Naraka chapter"

"Ah...", Han said with a smile and a nod. "I was wondering how long it would take for you guys to find me"

"Given your reputation, I must say I'm a bit disappointed. You let your guard easier than I thought"

"Yeah. I was... distracted"

"Still, you had a good run. I respect that. I know of at least one high-profile hunter that hounded you for years"

"Yeah, maybe I just got sick of running, decided to come clean". Han got up and looked around; everything above the horizon was a starry sky, and everything below was a grassy field. "Where is this place, anyway? There's no field like this near Naraka"

"You are in a construct of your own mind", Cesarion explained. "I can communicate with you because your real body can hear me right now. You are currently in a prison cell in Naraka Penitentiary, ready to be sentenced to either death or life in the 88 Mine"

Han shook his head in disbelief.

"If they sentence me to work in 88, I'll hang myself the very next second"

"A sensible choice"

"Why are you here, anyway? Just to gloat that you caught me?"

Cesarion took a few steps closer.

"You were traveling with a companion", he said. "I have a third party that paid a hefty price for information on her"

"Can't find a stranger in your own city? Amateur"

Cesarion cracked his neck.

"I hate to say...", he pressed. "But there are worse experiences than the mine, and you won't even have to leave your cell to get them. You think about that, Han. I'll be back before your sentence"

Han sighed. He knew that, if he wanted to escape, he'd have to give Cesarion at least something to keep him occupied for a while.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Her suit jacket is ruined"

"So?"

"She's the type of girl that would rather walk around naked than with raggedy clothes"

"I see"

Cesarion turned around and walked away, fading into nothingness like a cloud of mist does when you approach it. Han sighed in relief, then fell and grabbed his shins, bringing his knees to his chin.

*

“The fabric is ruined, so there’s no sense in patching it. We have more exquisite materials in this color, so we should be able to recreate the jacket in two days tops”

The tailor, a posh man with pencil thin mustache, dressed in a black suit, held up Syndell's coat and gave it to his assistant, while another assistant served her cookies and tea inside their wood-furnished lounge. Syndell sat at a small table, munching on cookies and observing the servant pour tea into a cup while pressing her thumb hard against the teapot. Syndell saw many times before an assassin teapot, where pressure difference obtained by obscuring holes locks or unlocks different inner compartments of the teapot. Most likely, she was being served tea and poison, but she decided to play along and not make a fuss, on the off-chance that her suit would be fixed before she discovered the brains behind the plot.

"Would you like to change anything to it?", the tailor asked, while Syndell locked eyes with the servant, intimidating the young woman.

"Yeah... make it red", she said without breaking eye contact.

The sound of muffled rain, pounding on the store windows, and the tiny shadows of the raindrops moving on the opposite wall created a cozy atmosphere.

"You're not from around, are you, miss?", the tailor asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm just here to get a record from city hall. But I've seen Naraka before, and I...", she adjusted her voice. "I mean I've read about its history"

"Oh, yeah? Old city, it is"

"Yeah... Plague. Brimstone. Fire. That earthquake that chipped away half of the cliff it stands on... Yeah, this city had its fair share of hardship"

"Which is why we find ourselves lucky to be living in peace times", the tailor said, walking away to give instructions to his craftsmen.

"Yeah, peace... A confusion between two wars"

She took the teacup, her ring already Sun side up, then drank it all and slammed the cup down, groaning. As it burned her insides, tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, the ring's powers were healing her at the same time. In a few seconds, she was as good as new.

"These fuckers are not ready for a war with me"

*

Han woke up face first in a puddle of his own puke, inside a cramped cell. Looking out his tiny, barred window, he saw a raging storm and the sea getting restless. Naraka Penitentiary was built within the exterior wall; any convict that wanted to escape had to dive into the rocks below or, if lucky, straight into the sea, with currents leading him back to the rocks.

Pacing around the cell, Han tried to figure out a way to escape. He was dressed in prison rags and lacked all his belongings, his dagger, even his deck of cards.

"Chow time! Chow time!", a voice yelled across the hallway, and all the other prisoners got loud and restless. A guard in black uniform, pushing a cart full of metal plates, stopped in front of Han's cell and glanced at the puddle of puke on the floor. "You finish your last meal or you won't get the next, fish"

The guard walked away without giving Han anything, prompting the other inmates to laugh and yell Fish! over and over. Han reached the bars and grabbed them, looking down at the prison block: floors upon floors layered on a rectangular tunnel going down so deep it faded into darkness. Each floor was a narrow ledge around the walls, around six feet wide, with a railing to protect prisoners from jumping down. On one of the wide walls, an elevator was installed, its shaft exposed, but protected by a metal mesh cage. That elevator was used by the guards, and it was the only way to get from one floor to another. Prisoners were confined to their floors, and only allowed out of their cells once a day to walk the narrow corridors.

"Fish, I'm glad you got here, man!", Han heard a voice yell. "It's been a while since I've been with a woman". A choir of laughter erupted, and Han walked away from the bars.

For the rest of the day, everyone was confined to their cell, which gave Han breathing room to think without having to worry about the other prisoners. He knew that he was pressed for time, and any additional problem aside from his escape could be fatal. His first thought was to find a guard that he could bribe, but words alone could not convince them of an eventual payment, and he had nothing to give upfront. The next option was, naturally, to steal keys from a guard.

Easier said than done...