image [https://i.imgur.com/jpOYNWV.png]

Removing the cloth was the first thing I did. Taking a deep breath of non-sweaty cooled air, I took in my surroundings. I was standing in a rectangular room, that honestly surpassed my expectations. It was… quaint. When the old-fashioned guy had said to put me in a refurbished storage room I half expected it to still be filled with boxes, brooms and, I didn’t know, paint or something.

Instead, I was treated to a pleasantly lit white-painted room that looked like something you would find in a minimum-security prison. Roughly ten by fifteen feet, a steel toilet was situated in the upper left corner and a single bed ran parallel to the right side wall, with a TV mounted high on the left one. A small desk with a reading lamp and an office chair sat below the TV, and several books were stacked neatly on a shelf in the lower left corner. The shelf also held several bottles of water. They’d gone through a fair bit of trouble to make captivity as comfortable as possible, it seemed.

There was even a small plushie sitting on the bed. Whoever had arranged this room had apparently decided to give it a personal touch.

Turning around, I took a look at the door and realised I probably wouldn’t be getting out of here unless it was opened from the other side. Hardwood with a reinforced steel frame and a small handle greeted me. There was no hole on my side to signify a locking mechanism that I could try to pick—not that I knew how to do that. I tried the handle and found it locked, but I had to make sure. Then my frustration got the better of me and I hammered on the door a couple of times, screaming for help, but quickly cut myself off when it exacerbated my headache and I flinched.

Man, that stings.

Instead of continuing that particular fruitless endeavor I put my ear to the door and heard very faint steps and muted voices on the other side, but I couldn't make out any specifics. I did pick up a faint ticking noise. Angling my head up, I saw that a clock was mounted above the door and it read 1:35 PM. There were no wards or runes anywhere that I could see, but that made sense if this room wasn’t made specifically to hold a mage.

Sighing in defeat, I went over to the bed.

My situation notwithstanding I went and picked up the plushie. It was some sort of fairy character that I didn’t recognise. Large eyes, a small smile and mischievous eyebrows were framed by blue hair with a bow on top.

“Kind of cute, I guess,” I told the room.

Putting it on the shelf, I plopped down on the bed and lay down on my back, head swimming a little. Looking at the ceiling I idly wondered if Colson had seen my text and found out that we'd been taken. Maybe he'd be able to pick up our trail.

My mind then wandered to the others and I hoped their rooms were as comfortable as mine and I winced slightly as I thought of their prospect of getting fitted with collars. If my theory was correct, they were made to suppress and prevent the flow of aether. A fantasy series I’d read at one point had introduced something similar to restrain magic, making it painful and punitive to try and utilise it. Hopefully, I'd see them again soon.

“Well Ethan, it’s not like you haven’t tried being alone before,” I told myself sarcastically.

Things were a little different of course, but as long as the TV had some decent channels I wouldn’t be bored out of my mind.

Sitting back up, I decided I might as well take stock of what I had to work with. I had my ring and my necklace. Putting my hand in my right pocket I felt the pin that I’d fastened on the inside. They hadn’t taken that either. It seemed strange that they'd let the jewellery slide, but I wasn't going to complain. Not that it made that big of a difference, but on the off chance that I got out of here, I wouldn’t have to go looking for it or get a new pin. The bureaucratic side of the Board’s intricacies probably frowned on losing it, especially so early on.

I breathed out an amused sigh at the surrealism of that train of thought given my situation.

Priorities, Ethan.

Getting up, I walked around the room and knocked on all the walls in different places, but the sound was uniform and firm all around. It didn’t seem like there was a spot where the integrity was weak and I could force my way through. I looked under the bed, but nothing was there. Next, I removed the shelf but there was no grate or anything beneath it and lastly, for good measure, I pulled the desk out and checked around the toilet as well. Nothing. The place was locked down tight. As a last resort, I stood on the desk and knocked on the ceiling in different places, but it made the same noise as the walls.

Concrete all around, probably.

I noticed a small intake for ventilation that I’d take a closer look at later. At least it meant I wouldn’t suffocate in here. A single lamp was mounted in the middle of the ceiling, but it wasn't integrated into it. When I looked at the light my eyes hurt and I had to avert my gaze after a couple of seconds.

If we were far below ground, concrete seemed like a safe bet. Maybe it was an old bunker that had been sold privately.

I got down and absently registered that drowsiness was setting in. Recalling my lesson on concussions in biology class, our teacher had told us that people who had sustained one shouldn’t be left alone for the first couple of days, due to potential bleeding in the brain. I opted to try my damnedest to stay awake until I had someone to talk to and undid the seal on one of the bottles and emptied it in one, letting some of the room-temperature water spill over my face.

At this rate, it would perhaps be best if I used the ring sooner rather than later. I’d give it an hour, wait for the people on the outside to leave, and then I’d give it a go. If anyone felt the draw of aether and came to check, I could hopefully play it off as me tracing out my Sigil. I’d have to get around to that at some point anyway. Or actually, maybe I should do it the other way around.

I may have been a captive, but I figured it was no use to panic and shout myself hoarse, so I may as well use what time I had productively.

Coming to a decision I sat on the floor, took a calming breath, closed my eyes and centered myself. Instantly entering the tranquil mind I appeared in my soul space and took a look at my Sigil for the first time today.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

image [https://i.imgur.com/dFNxRYU.png]

The Sigil had advanced on its own again. A fair bit too. I frowned. It was strange how it always seemed to coincide with whenever I'd been in a fight or had some obstacle to overcome, but Colson hadn't mentioned anything about adversity being a trigger for growth. I'd take it though, it was a pleasant surprise and I'd have to ask him about it if I ever got the chance.

I set about absorbing a tiny amount of ambient aether, but instead of funnelling it to my foundation, I pooled it around my eyes and activated the sight. My real body protested and I decided against tracing my Sigil at the moment. I didn't want to strain myself too badly with how my body was acting up right now.

There were still a lot of blobs floating around, the faded light instantly recognisable, but not as many as there'd been when I was topside. Perhaps being far underground meant that it couldn't penetrate as well and it was finite down here. I hoped that wasn't the case. Mulling over the potential future trouble I could have traced out my Sigil using the ambient energy, I spotted the ball of life-aether.

What the hell...

What had previously been a walnut-sized green ball was now slightly larger than a baseball—larger than after I'd killed the empousa. That didn't make sense. I knew I'd killed two of the ghouls and that I'd absorbed some of their Sigils into me, but considering what I'd learned about them in the car, I hadn't expected any potential gains to be significant. They had been normal people at first, and even if they had gained the ability to manipulate a bit of aether, their Sigils should have had a much lower threshold.

It was another mystery that I'd have to talk to Colson about if I ever got the chance. That list would probably only get bigger as time went on. Dropping back out of my meditation I looked at the time again and thirty minutes had already passed. Another half hour and I'd try using the ring.

Deciding to keep my mind occupied I thought back on the past week and everything that had happened, once again.

Wait, has it only been a week?

I counted back the days and found that it had indeed only been seven days since Colson picked me up. Seven days and my world had been turned upside down. I'd been kept busy constantly since I left school. Between Colson's constant companionship, the monster confrontations, training, and the way I'd been wiped out every night, I'd barely had any time to myself. To really consider everything. To think.

Going through the days chronologically, I catalogued my encounters and the things I'd learned with clinical detachment.

I wondered if Hagen had powers like Colson and if he was just as strong as his brother. Perhaps he had an affinity for fire as well, or maybe he had something more suitable to his personality—discreet and resigned—or perhaps no powers at all. That could happen, but I had my doubts. Some of the things he'd done could have been magic for sure.

Moving along in my thought process, I only now realised that Colson had definitely done something to the lion in the park. Of course he had. And he'd pretended ignorance at the time, naturally. I shook my head incredulously and chuckled in morbid amusement.

That prick.

I reached the hunt for—and the ensuing fight with—the empousa and the subsequent introduction to Sigils and magic. As I thought back to the rush and short time frame in which I'd been introduced to the hidden aspects of the world, it seemed a little... off, how I'd so easily accepted everything at face value. Why was that?

My eyes were hurting and my pulse sped up.

Of course, fighting and witnessing several monsters in action helped cement the fact that such creatures existed and roamed around in our world. Necessity had demanded a practical approach. But the willing acceptance of everything else had come quickly.

The pounding in my head increased a little.

What kind of rational person willingly accepted that it was all real when all the evidence of the mundane world suggested that such things weren't possible? When people I hadn't known explained what sounded like fairy tale wonders to me?

No. I cut myself some slack and the pressure eased a little. I'd seen my formation. I'd felt the touch of aether through healing magic and tracing my Sigil. A secluded seventeen-year-old who'd worked his ass off for ten years and wished for a different life would probably have accepted Colson and Imara's explanations, even without compelling evidence.

If Colson had handed me a letter with green flowing handwriting, sent me to London and told me to get on a certain train, I'd probably have boarded a plane with no questions asked. An intrusive thought poked at me, wondering if there was a magic school out there somewhere.

My mouth felt dry. Should I have had some more water?

My brows furrowed while I considered how I probably should have protested a little more. Asked more questions. While I definitely wanted to learn about magic, wouldn't that have been the sensible thing to do? Time had been of the essence before my block got removed, but the aftermath had been unintentionally hectic as well. Not that it had been anyone's fault. We'd kept on the move and I'd followed Colson's lead because he was my mentor.

Colson had my best interest at heart. No matter what I'd gone through, I truly believed that. But my introduction to—and development of magic—would certainly have played out differently if we hadn't landed in El-Reno when we did.

A pop sounded in my ears leaving a loud ringing noise in its wake.

Now that I had some time to review my decisions, the way I'd agreed to everything seemed plausible given my circumstances. I'd simply gone along with it because it was the easiest path to take at the time. Perhaps a fast and hard approach had been the best way to handle things.

I wasn't sure what the normal procedure was when teaching young people about magic, but the way Imara had explained it, a foundation usually formed in the early teenage years, so I was already behind in my teachings when we'd met. I had some catching up to do.

It still felt like I was overlooking something vital, but I couldn't for the life of me put a finger on it. I felt my puzzled focus drift when the different unpleasant sensations increased again, but didn't react to them. Instead, I tried to rally my thoughts when suddenly an image burst into the forefront of my mind.

*Blink*

Me sitting next to my mom, at home in our living room, leafing through a large book that looked centuries old. A tome of some kind. The image flickered and was replaced by another.

*Blink*

My mom, beside an opened chest in what looked like our attic, filled with various vials and papers.

*Blink*

My father standing next to a whiteboard, gesturing at a circular object, with hastily drawn clouds around it and arrows that pointed to its centre.

*Blink*

My small hands grasping fur and riding through our house on a larger-than-life dog.

*Blink*

Immaculately dressed figures, standing all around me.

*Blink-blink-blink*

The images overlapped and blended together, impossible to tell apart.

What the hell is going on?!

I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was seeing and my headache worsened quickly, the pounding rush of blood audible in my ears. I grasped my face with both hands when my vision blurred and I started seeing two of everything.

The pain turned the nozzle up to eleven and I screamed wordlessly. Blurriness was replaced by gradually dimming tunnel vision, my brain feeling like it was about to split in two. Half-formed images assaulted me relentlessly.

Blood started seeping from my nose and ears, and I shook violently, losing control of my extremities like I was having some kind of seizure. Rapid hyperventilation came in ragged breaths when my jaw suddenly locked and my teeth ground forcibly against each other.

The pain and lack of oxygen threatened to knock me out and I panicked. Trying to enter the tranquil mind didn't work, and my meditation slipped away from me instantly. Gathering my fragmented thoughts I did the only other thing I could think of and used the ring.

A feeling of bliss and relief washed over me. The pain lessened and my breathing eased.

Why was I on the floor again? Had someone slapped me? Why did my legs and arms feel like they were on fire?

My pulse raced and confusion mounted. I was having a hard time keeping my thoughts coherent when my eyes drifted shut of their own volition and I drifted off.