We appeared in the middle of a large hall and I feeling very dizzy.

The floor seemed to dance and my vision was blurring. After a ridiculously long time I hit something hard. Pain! My elbows hurt like hell. I screamed.

There were other screams, too. They sounded like Alessia and Gordon. Then I noticed huge humanoid silhouettes approaching and voices started to shout something I couldn’t understand. I tried to check my surroundings but moving my head seemed to be a bad idea.

After a while my head felt clearer and my vision sharpened.

Someone pulled me up ruggedly trying to put me back on my feet. I tried to keep upright, but I was reeling. Dark shadows appeared all around me

Suddenly it went dark and my arms were pinned to my side. A second later I felt something wrap tightly around my waist. Finally someone let me slide down to my knees.

Just after my dizziness faded away someone pulled me up to my legs again, yelling gibberish at me.

“I don’t understand and I am not deaf.” My voice was shaking.

The darkness was caused by cloth, because I could see some light shining through it. I heard the same yell twice more followed by an angry high pitched

“Fuck you!”

Then I was nudged around, feeling totally disorientated. I was more stumbling than walking. There were many voices around me and some were laughing.

Then the noise faded and I there were heavy footsteps all around me. A short knock was followed up by another nudge in my back. At least I could stand with wobbling legs at that point.

I stood there for a while trying to keep on my feet.

“I have to see their faces.” someone bellowed.

Someone grabbed the cloth above my head and some light poured down from above. Then the cloth was yanked downward.

The rough material nearly shaved of my ears and a whimper escaped my mouth. This room was brightly illuminated. I was dazzled.

The strap around my waist loosened for a moment while the cloth was pulled further down.

I stood in front of a gem encrusted, extensively engraved large desk.

Behind the desk sat an elderly man in ornate robes. He had a well groomed goatee and wore several rings sporting glittering gems. Finally there was a strange tall hat on his head.

On my left a burly man in chain mail pulled Alessia’s head out of a sack put over her head quite in the same way it was done to me. They had tied a rope around our waists to keep the thing in place.

I felt tears trickling down my cheeks while Gordon stood behind me, still covered by that dreaded sack.

The man behind the desk pointed at me.

“Come here!” he bellowed and pointed at the floor beside him.

I gulped and cautiously started to walk to the designed point. There was no point in resisting him at the moment.

“Faster!” he glared at me.

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I sped up and stopped in front of the old man. He opened a drawer and got a jewel encrusted stick from it. A wand?

“Do not move!” he touched my brow with the stick.

It started to glow in a pale green light and I started to feel light headed. He looked totally focused and it felt like he was somehow looking inside my head. A shiver ran down my spine.

I managed to keep my calm, tears running down my cheeks. I had no idea how long it lasted, but time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl.

“Over there!” He pulled back his wand and pointed at the guard by the wall.

Lacking options I wobbled over to the guard. He pulled a piece of rope out of a bag and tied it to the rope around my waist. The other end was fastened to a ring in the wall. Finally he connected my ankles with a short length of rope.

I swept the room. It was a fancy office, everything looked expensive.

Alessia stood next to the guy with the wand glaring daggers at him.

Gordon still waited in front of the desk, trembling.

Alessia was sent over to me and the chain mail guy tied her to me with another length of rope, tying her ankles together as well.

Gordon joined us a after a few moments. He was tied to Alessia.

The old man had set aside his wand and stared into empty space for a while. Measuring time without a watch wasn’t easy.

We looked at each other. Alessia was fuming, while Gordon radiated pure terror. I was tense.

The old man most probably had much influence on our fate.

“You are Solanas pawns! I see. Giving you pure mana but red mana.

Pathetic.

You can’t even use it for a few years because of your age.

You’re as troublesome like the patron of yours.” A sneer played around his lips.

“Well, I have an appropriate fate for you. You will have plenty of time to regret your impertinence.” I felt my heart skip as he was staring daggers at us.

He fetched a piece of paper out of a drawer and started to write. Then he signed it. After drying up the ink with some dust he rolled it up and finally sealed it with wax and a signet. He put into a small wooden tube and handed it to guard.

“Take them to Kashert for checking in!” he waved at the guard.

The guard nodded and untied the rope from the wall ring. He gave the rope a sharp tug and I started to follow him out of the room, nearly falling forward. Alessia and Gordon followed suit.

Walking with the ankles connected by a short length rope was hazardous in the beginning. I stumbled a few times and Gordon even went down as we followed the hallway outside the room.

The guard shouted angrily at us while Gordon tried to get back on his feet. He even whipped him with the tail of the rope! Gordon started crying.

The floor layout was confusing. The people we met all wore an expensive looking attire. Most of them simply ignored us.

The guard started to ramp up speed as we started to get used to ropes between our ankles. He frequently looked back and enjoyed yelling at everyone who lost his balance. To make it worse he clearly enjoyed it get me off balance tugging at the rope.

Many junctions and turns later, I didn’t bother to keep track of them, we reached a spiral staircase downwards!

The guard obviously enjoyed letting me crash into his fucking armor all the time tugging at the rope. Most of the time we all ended up in a heap at his feet shrieking.

He managed to keep his footing with ease though.

I got plenty of bruises all over. After passing about 5 doors we fortunately exited the staircase.

I was still weird that such high pitched sounds could escape my mouth. We were tugged along few corridors until we stopped in front of a heavy iron-reinforced door.

Our trusted guard knocked the door with an the iron ring that attached to the door. Then we waited for a few moments. The rope around my waist and the one between my ankles were chafed and hurt like hell

. I hoped I didn’t break something on this stairway to hell! The guard and all the other people around were just uncannily tall. Looking straight at the guard I was looking below his chest!

Alessia and Gordon looked seriously messed up as well. Alessia shot me a glace of despair, while Gordon seemed to be apathetic. I tried an encouraging glance back, not feeling that way though.

As soon as the door opened we were dragged in a hall. The guard handed the rope to the man who opened the door. He wore a dark leather jacket and pants. His face was concealed by a hood and a mask. His outfit was completed by sturdy leather boots and gloves.

He dragged us to a pillar near the center of the hall and tied to rope to a ring in the pillar. There was another similar clad man at the back of the hall.

The guard approached a figure wearing dark hooded robe. He presented the scroll case.

“They’re here for check-in.” he bowed deeply.

The robed man nodded and took the scroll case. He took out the scroll and waved with his other hand in a weird way as he examined the seal.

Then he waved in direction of the guard, who left the hall backward with his head lowered.

One of masked men closed the door behind him. Are there any normal people in this world? Maybe dying again would have been easier.

The robed man opened the seal and started reading the paper. After a few moments he nodded.