Veles wanted to groan in dissatisfaction but couldn’t let a single sound out. After regaining consciousness, he noticed that his mind-muscle connection was in shambles, having practically no connection at all.

Instead of immediately rushing into action, he calmed down and decided to start small.

First, he focused on moving his fingers. It took him a while, but he managed to move his right hand’s index finger ever so slightly. Following this great achievement, others came along. The rest of his fingers, then his wrist came, his elbow, and soon after even his shoulder.

Next, he nodded, both in satisfaction and to check another successful mark.

After came the lower part of his body. He moved his focus onto legs, toes, knees, and waist. Quickly gaining control over them, too.

Bracing himself, he gave his all to support himself using his hands. He slowly raised his upper body, getting the sensation of using his abdominal muscles. He then embarrassingly forced himself into a crawling position. Afterward, with much struggle, he shifted his weight toward his legs, trying to stand up.

Luckily, he didn’t trip and fall. Somehow, his shaky knees held strong and he pushed himself into a perfect standing position, giving his all to keep balance and save himself from another embarrassing situation…

Now came the most challenging part—or so he thought. Few little coughs and…

“Oh, that was easy.”

He’d expected to struggle with his first words but managed to surprise himself. This also reminded him of breathing, which came naturally, but just thinking about it made a switch from automatic to manual—making him chuckle.

Veles smiled. He can yet again feel a breeze caressing his skin, the warmth of the sunlight. Hear the real sounds coming from nature—something that was just a heartwarming memory not long ago.

Within this pleasant and welcomed change came also something Veles wasn’t very thrilled about. And it was a fact that his mind now worked much slower. For a person who spent who knows how many years alone with just his thoughts, this didn’t bode well. But he knew this could be a blessing in disguise.

Finally remembering that he wasn’t alone, Veles looked to the side and saw both Davis and Olivia sitting on the ground panting, but their gazes never left him.

They looked at him rather intensely... Why, tough?

Veles touched his face. When he felt his cheeks, he noticed what the problem was. The grin across his face was rather disturbing. It seems like he needed some more time to practice his muscle movements. Having his emotions worn on a sleeve wouldn’t do him any good.

“What, never saw someone being pleased after they’ve achieved their dream?” asked Veles. Having already switched to his casual expression, albeit obviously forced.

Receiving no answers from the two, Veles shrugged. With heavy steps, He walked towards the cave’s entrance. His movements proved to be sluggish and clumsy. He’d also made sure to stretch his hands on the way, intending to get used to these new sensations.

Making sure to stand a few steps away from the cave’s entrance, Veles paused.

“Come on, buddy. It’s time to go,” he said while stretching his left hand.

These words were followed by a gentle tremor escaping from within the depths of the crevice. The tremor kept increasing. Soon enough, visible cracks appeared on the walls supporting the opening. The cave slowly but surely collapsed, yet the rumbling of the earth didn’t stop until a huge hole started forming in the ground, swallowing the cave and releasing gusts of debris and dirt in the air.

After what took around three minutes, the tremors finally stopped—leaving an enormous gaping fissure with seemingly no end. Not batting an eye at this, Veles kept his left hand straight all this time.

Suddenly, from the hole, a small white flame floated toward him.

This flame gently landed on Veles’s ring finger, before it vanished, leaving behind a silver ring adorning his hand. Whoever landed their eyes on this ring could tell it was a true masterpiece, yet they would be confused about why something made of normal silver could cause such an effect. The ring had a hexagonal plate upfront and a small engraving to the side. This piece of jewelry wasn’t anything special. But if one looked closely, one could see chaotic drawings on this plate, the same ones as on a particular gate.

Veles started inspecting it. Both Olivia and Davis were already on their feet, practically next to him, eying his every move. They made no comments about the clouds that suddenly disappeared, nor what was actually going on…

“It’s the same artifact? Like the gate?” Davis suddenly asked. The picture of the dead tree on the ring was hard to miss.

“That’s right. Although the original form of the artifact was this ring, the gate was just one of the abilities it has,” replied Veles. He doubts the ring would be of any use as it is now. It always had been dependent on him for energy to be able to work. Most likely, it would serve as a good storage ring, which was enough for Veles’s taste.

“And you should stop thinking about useless stuff. We have more pressing issues to focus on right now,” advised Veles. Even without saying anything, it was clear Davis had a barrage of questions he wanted answers to. And Veles would answer them, eventually.

“Understood,” replied Davis, “I figured out you lost all your powers. Not to be rude or anything, but you can barely walk straight…”

“You are right,” confirmed Veles without missing a beat. “I’m nothing more than a normal mana-less person. At least for now.”

“So that’s what those contracts were about, huh?” mumbled Davis.

Veles briefly glanced at him before turning his attention to the hole. “We must leave this place as fast as possible. Previous events attracted a lot of attention. Most likely, someone is already on their way here. And as you can see-” Veles pointed at himself “-I currently have no means to face anyone directly.”

After a couple of seconds of silence. Davis pointed out, “Yet you seem rather calm about it.”

“That’s why I said not directly. I already have precautions prepared for this exact moment. I didn’t spend all the time lazing around when stuck in that place.” said Veles. Truthfully, he was pretty lazy. Not like he would tell that to these two.

“Tell me, how long was I out?” Asked Veles as he rubbed his ring.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“Barely a minute,” Davis replied.

“That’s good,” said Veles. “Now, onto the most important part.” This alerted Davis and Olivia, thinking that they would witness something unbelievable, but what Veles did left them dumbfounded.

Waving his hand, an item appeared out of thin air—also confirming that the ring worked as intended. It landed gently into Veles’s hand. It was a mirror. He held it by the handle and checked the most important part of his change.

Looking at his reflection, Veles took notice of the most important detail after experiencing the Rite. His looks were as good as before. Nothing changed at all.

He was about to store the mirror back at his ring when he noticed something alarming. Snapping his gaze to the east, even without having any type of energy supporting his body, he could feel it. A massive Spatial fluctuation appeared not far from them.

In a serious tone, he warned. “They are fast. Get ready. We must leave this place immediately.”

Instead of breaking into a run. Veles’s hand hosting the ring was extended. A small spatial crack appeared right on top of the enormous hole. From it, countless artifacts started pouring, vanishing into the never-ending darkness.

Davis and Olivia were watching what he was doing. And by their reaction, he could tell they were extremely shocked. The sheer number of weapons, armor, and other powerful trinkets pouring down the hole was truly mind-blowing.

“They are unusable,” informed Veles. “Every single artifact I crafted during my imprisonment is just a prototype I trained on. I had no ability to harness the mana of this world, which made all the materials mostly useless. And it’s hard to salvage them after everything I’ve put them through. This way, they at least have some purpose. Which is to buy us some time.”

Veles was never materialistic. His long life taught him that plants or metals themselves would eventually perish in the current of time. But the knowledge he could gain about their use stayed permanent. So, no matter how hard it was to get his hands on the materials he’d gathered during his time in that prison. He chose to learn how to use them instead of senselessly hoarding them. After all, if he would eventually leave that place, having a chunk of metal you have no idea how to use properly would be pointless.

Having already emptied all the useless stuff from his ring, he took one final item and placed it next to him. It was a barrel-like device reaching his hip. But when his hand was about to reach it, doubt settled in, making him stop.

“Is it too early for this? It’s kind of a gamble to use it.” Veles debated himself out loud. Then he looked at Davis and Olivia, who were observing his every action.

“Well, I hope we can deal with wherever is coming our way,” he told them. The confusion they showed was clear. But Veles had already decided he would proceed.

He grabbed the handle on the top of the device and pulled it outwards, exposing the small cylindric mechanism right below. It had three rings hugging the pipe, reaching for the core of this device. Each of the rings showed the number 0 on them. Veles just rolled the topmost ring until the number reached 24. He pushed the handle down once again, setting it back in place. Then turned the handle to the side, which resounded with a noticeable click.

“Come. Help me push this down,” Veles gestured for Davis to help him toss this thing into the hole, which they both struggled to do.

“Heavy…” complained Davis as he watched the device disappear into the darkness of the hole.

“Can we leave?” asked Olivia. While her voice was quiet, a trace of anxiety was hard to miss.

Both Veles and Davis wondered what the hell had happened to her all of a sudden. Her reaction was strange… especially with her current emotionless face.

“I think we are good to go,” said Veles after peering once more down the hole.

He abruptly turned around, looked at the sun visible from this small clearing, and started walking south. Considering his knowledge of the forest, this should be the safest route.

Olivia didn’t need to hear that twice. She, without hesitation, started following. The confused Davis could probably tell something was wrong with her behavior. Nonetheless, he soon followed.

They left a clearing where the cave was, entering a dense and dark forest. Veles kept checking the contents of his ring. It was filled with a lot of herbs, raw metals, books, and food. He had no gadgets that could be of significant use other than classic survival ones. Tough, it would be enough.

“Well, not really the fresh start I hoped for. But the expected one nonetheless,” mumbled Veles. Focusing on his steps, he made sure not to trip. The ground was tricky and uneven, making it hard to navigate.

“What was that?” asked from behind Davis, not hearing what he said.

“Nothing…” Veles replied, then broke into a light jog. His balance was slightly off, but he persistently tried to keep it steady.

After gaining enough confidence in his movements, he glanced one last time behind.

He’d prepared for numerous scenarios that could happen after his release, from powerful individuals immediately appearing to the whole armies setting their sights on this place. These were all within the scope of possibility he predicted. And he’d prepared to face them accordingly, even if it meant he would be humiliated—he wasn’t going to allow himself yet again to be caged by some strangers.

And if everything goes according to the plan. These unfortunate souls that just appeared would be the first to experience the tiny scope of what he was capable of.

***

Not even a half hour later, around a hundred or so fully-geared men stood next to the giant hole. Each and every one of them had fierce and heavy auras. The discipline and years of experience that oozed from their very bone were hard to miss. They were so on point that no sane man would dare challenge any of them…

However, not everyone in this group was the same. At least the third of them who took the lead were different, easily noticeable by the heavy white-plated armor they wore. Their frames were huge, capable of bearing the heaviness of the metal quite easily.

At the head of those white-plated knights stood an imposing figure of a man who was clearly a leader. He gazed down the hole. After a couple of seconds, he took his heavy helmet off, displaying the chiseled face of a middle-aged man with fiery orange eyes.

Looking down the hole, he ordered. “Inform the extraction team to get ready! We must hurry before beasts get attracted here.”

“Yes, sir!” The soldier next to him saluted before turning around to fulfill his orders.

He leaned further to observe the perforation. It was man-made, not the work of nature. “Get your mages to check if this place was a dungeon or not.” He addressed the old man wearing long scholarly robes next to him.

“Done,” said the old man after he sent a strand of mana back to the group. “What’s with the caution Lucius? You never reacted like this.”

Lucius, the leader of this expedition, sighed. “You felt it too, Mardus. Whatever earned heaven’s wrath could very well be still here, lingering amidst the shadows.”

The old mage Mardus snorted at his ridiculous claim. “Nothing can survive that. Nothing!”

“If you say so,” Lucius replied, his gaze snapping at the edge of this small grassland, noticing a few shiny metallic pieces glistering in the grass. Before going to check, he yelled orders for his men to set camp here and prepare for their mission.

He neared the shiny metal, crouched down, and carefully picked a tiny caltrop between his fingers.

“Poisoned trap. Interesting.” He sniffed the metal, then used his finger to scoop a tiny bit of poison on it. He brought it to his lips and tasted it. “Never saw this mixture before. Can barely kill the Fifth Stage.”

“Someone reached here before us?” asked Mardus. He, too, picked one in his hand and casually inspected it.

“That or they were here even before the events occurred,” replied Lucius.

“Commander, urgent report,” exclaimed one soldier loudly.

“Speak,” urged Lucius.

“First Covert Squad said to inform you that they’ve found traces of human activity leaving this field and going deep into the forest, with the tracks being no older than an hour.”

“Pass my order,” said Lucius sternly. “All their Covert personnel should spread accordingly and scout the surroundings. Just one team is enough to follow the tracks. And if they find a human contact, let them assess whether it is possible to capture the target. If not, eliminate them,” Ordered Lucius, then sent the soldier away.

“Do we have the same thought?” asked Mardus. His eyes followed the retreating soldier.

“About the people beyond the forest. The Forgotten ones?” said Lucius. “If so, then yes.”

“You think the speculations about them all possessing Heavenly Restriction and being abandoned by the gods were true?”

“I don’t care what they are or what our side believes. I’m not taking any chances. You should be aware that the moment of carelessness can be fatal in this place.” Lucius warned. “You, as a Mage especially. You felt it when you used mana back there right? The energy lingering inside this forest can be catastrophic.”

Mardus stroked his grey beard. Not admitting to his previous mistake when he used his mana to contact his subordinates out of habit. “Yes, you are right. We should be more careful.”

Not wanting to waste any more time, Mardus turned around and went his way to support a research team.

Lucius stood alone and stared at the ancient trees. They made an unnatural boundary set by nature. He then scanned every direction. There was nothing except those tall trees making a perfect circle around him and his men. This sight was truly unsavory. Somehow, he felt caged here.