The shackles hung around his wrist and ankles as Manny was forced to walk through the town in chains, surrounded by five guards, and of course the man leading these guards was none other than the blonde guy with a manbun. Manny's gaze never left the back of the man who walked with such a sense of strength and confidence. This was something that could be easily noticed by other people at just first glance.

As they walked, Manny looked around the town seeing multiple brick buildings lining the streets, alleyways, stalls, bars, the ground they walked on switching between cobblestone and dirt at times, and pedestrians eyeing him, whispers escaping their lips. Manny wasn't necessarily surprised since he did look like a criminal since he was not only chained up but was being led through town by a pack of armed men in uniform or armour.

"Hey aren't the ankle shackles a little excessive, I only fight with my fists anyw-" Manny started until he was quickly cut off by the blond man upfront who turned back with his signature smile.

"It was highly necessary. You took out three of our specially trained guards with just your hands. You're very obviously trained, and therefore should be considered a threat to this city."

Manny pulled a frown and kissed his teeth, "Your 'specially trained' guards not only lost to me, but they ridiculed me and attacked me first. I was just defending myself."

The blond man stayed quiet as he walked in front of the group.

"You gonna respond?"

As Manny asked this, he was hit with the back end of a spear on his head by one of the guards behind him, "Silence! How arrogant can a peasant be to talk to the commander that way!"

Manny sighed and kept walking in the street, receiving stares and murmurs from the crowd. He was more interested in why the blond man gave off such an interesting and strong presence, his fighting instinct slightly taking over. After a long humiliating walk through the rather huge city streets, the group arrived in front of black gates, and beyond those gates which stretched far was a grey bricked building with many fenced windows and a large entrance. The gates slowly creaked open, as from first glance, Manny was able to quickly deduce that this was most likely a prison.

Dragged into the building, Manny was met with a grim sight. Multiple prison cells lined the walls, some vacant, and some containing people. At the end of the long hall of prison cells were wooden double doors, and once opened, there was a large stone staircase which led down towards more cells. Down here, Manny and the men escorting him could hear some faint yelling coming from a few of these cells, which got audibly more loud as they got closer and closer to the source.

"Hey, I said it wasn't me! Let me out or I'll blow your head off!"

"You could at least give me a drink you pigs!"

"...Flesh....flesh..."

"ARGH..AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

The now identified Blond Commander continued to walk with his hands behind his back, "This is the basement area where we keep some of the most notorious criminals we capture in this city. As you can tell, a few of them are a little...unhinged."

Manny could tell he was referring to the screaming individual and the woman whispering the word flesh over and over to herself. Eventually, they brought him to a vacant cell and he was pushed inside, his shackles around his wrists and ankles finally being taken off. With a slight grunt, Manny rubbed the parts of his body which had the shackles on them.

"Now. You'll be staying here for the night." The commander started, allowing Manny to peer around his surroundings. The cell was made of hard stone with a straw mat on the ground, a hole in the ground for relief, and a barred window which allowed some dim light into the cell thanks to the sun actually beginning to set.

"What terrible conditions. Serial killers have better conditions than this!"

"We execute serial killers, so I don't know where you're from." The Commander said with his signature, but almost sinister like smile.

"Plus, I'm just a kid! Locking me in the cells around a bunch of notorious people in your city is just..."

"Just what? To me and to my men, you are notorious. You attacked my men and badly injured them. This is deserving in my book."

Manny winced at the sound of that and looked down at the ground in slight regret of his actions, but then again, he was attacked first.

"Go to sleep, because tomorrow, your questioning begins." He begun to walk off with his men before he stopped and looked back at Manny who was behind bars, "I'm incredibly intrigued on how a magicless kid could be so strong as to punch through metal armour with such ease, and take down no less than three trained adult guards all on his own. Expect lots of questions."

As he left, Manny glared at where the Blond Commander had stood and eventually leaned on the cell wall, letting himself drop down on the straw mat once he heard the doors leading to the basement cells shut.

"Fuck. I really might be in another world...but how? This is just...way too vivid to be a dream. That fight at the city gate proved it.", he pondered in his thoughts.

Looking around a bit, he realised he had nothing else to do but work on his body a bit instead of thinking to himself about something he could possibly solve later. Nothing would change the fact he was stuck in this cell until the next morning. He dropped down to the floor, forcing himself to do two hundred push-ups in quick succession. If he failed, he would force him to do three-hundred sit-ups in quick succession, and if he failed that, he'd have to do four-hundred squats in quick succession. These were what Manny's trainer, a seventy-year-old scrawny, old, but loud man considered effective, and taught Manny to follow. Self-rules.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Self-rules were what his trainer called, 'A way of life', which supposedly helped push someone beyond their own limitations.

Manny stopped for a moment, panting and sweating a little before he stood up. He took a stance and begun to shadow box, sending a flurry of attacks flying in the air and dodging imaginary attacks. He considered shadow boxing as one of the perfect exercises to keep his flow of boxing in tact.

All of a sudden, the image of his imaginary begun to shape and form into the blond haired commander. Manny dropped his fists, taking a seat on the floor as his thoughts drifted back to that of the commander again. He wondered what specifically intrigued him about this man. He led those guards from before but it wasn't just the fact he was their leader. It was because of his aura, the way he spoke, and the way he carried himself that drew Manny to him with interest.

"I wonder...if he's good at fighting..."

Manny sighed, laying down on the straw mat, his back having to adjust to the rock solid floor, his eyes slowly closing.

.

.

.

They weren't closed for long as they shot open to the sound of screaming and arguing from deep within the basement. Manny hurried over to the bars of his cell, trying to peer over and witness the chaos occurring. From one of the end cells it was practically impossible for Manny to see, but he could very clearly hear what was happening.

"Let me go!" A deep voice yelled before it was muffled out to groans and grunts.

"He's moving too much!" Another voice yelled, seemingly sounding like he was struggling.

"Well he's one of our biggest prisoners. He's been chosen for this specific reason." A calmer voice said, but still sounded like it was struggling as well, "I'd be disappointed if he didn't put up a fight!" The calm voice yelled before grunting, the sound of a thud following.

It sounded as though both men sighed before the sound of dragging followed shortly after their light break of catching their breath. As the basement doors opened, light shined through all the way to the end of the basement where Manny was located. Along with that, the sounds of protest from prisoners both in the basement and the cells upstairs.

"Let him go you stinkin' pigs!"

"Their taking another one?"

"AGH AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Stop screaming you deranged bastard!"

"F-flesh...flesh..."

"What're they doing with us..."

Manny moved back from the bars of his cell, sitting back down on the straw mat, quickly gathering what was going on. It seemed as though prisoners within this building were regularly being taken away by the guards of the city to some unknown place.

"Psst. You."

Manny looked up and moved to his bars as he heard a female voice whispering.

"Yeah, you at the bars. I'm in the cell across from you.", she whispered.

Manny considered ignoring them before deciding against it since he had no reason to do so, "Uuuh yeah?"

"Is it true you beat up a bunch of guards all on your own? Without magic as well?", she spoke with interest and glee in her voice.

"Yes it's true. I remember the Commander saying stuff about me being 'magicless', and now you say the same. Is there magic in this world?"

She stopped talking for a while before he could see a flame flicker from across him. He could now see that she was wearing a black robe with a hoodie that covered her eyes. He couldn't see much of the rest of her close but what truly caught his eyes was that she didn't have a lighter or any source of the fire at all. It just flickered at her finger tips.

"I assume that's magic?"

She seemingly nodded and kept the flame lit, "This is magic and yet it wouldn't be effective against the guards of this city since its only low level. They are well trained and I'd know that."

"Did you fight them too?" Manny asked.

She nodded again, "I was kind of sort of robbing a bar and I struggled to fight off even one, and yet here I am with the one who took down three while shirtless and magicless."

He winced at the word shirtless, forgetting he had been hanging around in this new world with just his ring shoes and boxing shorts, "Well when I came to the gate. They asked if I had a passport. I said no, they called me a bunch of names, attacked me first, and then I beat them up. Though...something was off..."

He heard her stand up and walk to the bars of her cell across from him, the fire still flickering and lit in her index finger, "What?"

"Well. I'm not necessarily strong enough to punch through metal and cause damage. Matter of fact, no one should be able to do that with such ease. I barely even felt it." He looked down at his own hand for a bit before the light in her cell went out.

"They're gonna question you tomorrow right?" She sat back down, "Get some rest then."

"What about you?" He asked with slight concern to what happens to prisoners in this place.

"What about me? You've only just met me right?"

He couldn't argue with her logic. After all, they had only just met each other. He wanted to say something like goodnight but she'd probably find him creepy if he did. Manny winced at thought of her cringing at him before he quickly laid back down, lost in his thoughts so he could sleep.

The cell was dimly lit with the light of the moon shining through the small barred window of the cell. The floor was cold and hard on his body, but this somehow created the perfect setting for Manny's mind to drift off into deep thinking.

"Why am I here?"

"Am I ever gonna get back home to my family?"

"Magic, carriages, guards, fantasy like towns...this has to be another world."

"I wanna go home...this is bullshit..."

He drifted off asleep, these questions bouncing around his brain, the next thing he felt being cold water splashed over his body, forcing him to wake up panting and gasping for air as a familiar voice spoke.

"Wake up sunshine. Questioning time." The Commander said as he looked down at Manny, two guards at his side who quickly cuffed his hands. It was day time so now there was a good amount of light in the basement.

Manny was cuffed and pushed out of his cell, his body and boxing shorts drenched in cold water. He looked over to the cell in front of him which housed the girl from last night. She wasn't looking their way, her body rolled over so they could only see her back. As he saw before, Manny was able to confirm again her black hood over her head and upper back. She wore brown pants, dark brown boots and white sleeved shirt.

He was pushed forward and up the basement steps, this time, the only voice he could hear being the crazed woman, "Flesh...flesh..."

After a walking up from the basement, there were three paths that could be taken. A straight shot to the exit, and two corridors on the left and right which led to doors and cells alike. Manny was taken down the left path and into the last room. It was a dull empty room with a wooden table in the centre with one chair on either side of it, and one window showing the grassy area side of the building which was of course fenced off to the streets of the city.

"You guys leave. Don't forget to uncuff him." The commander ordered.

The two men hesitated to uncuff the boy who rapidly took down three guards until the Commander provided some words of assurance, "Don't worry about him acting up. He can't do anything with me around after all."

Manny noticed the men's faces ease as they uncuffed him, shoving him into the room and closing the door, leaving him alone with the Commander who took a seat at the table that now had a pen and paper that weren't present at all before. Manny wondered whether or not it was magic since the Commander was not carrying anything at all on the way out of the basement and to this room.

"Sit. I'm gonna be asking you questions now."

Manny inhaled and sighed, sitting down.