Cupcakes acquired, Soral returned to his room to try contacting Ruena. He had to turn the tooth to the right, but from which direction? Was he supposed to face the wolf head on? That seemed like a good place to start, and if he got Oasis instead, he would just figure out how to stop it.

He closed his door and carefully twisted the tooth until he heard a soft click. There was a pause of awkward silence where Soral thought he had messed something up, but then he heard Ruena’s voice.

“Soral? Is that you?”

“It worked!” Soral exclaimed excitedly, “I thought he was lying or trying to pull some elaborate trick.”

“He? Actually, are you all right? I heard you were sold as a slave after you were taken,” Ruena queried, her voice filled with concern.

“I was,” Soral confirmed, “More importantly, is Jazz alright? They didn’t get my vest, did they?”

“He is fine. I got him out of the pocket, too,” Ruena assured, “I was in such a panic I almost forgot about him.”

Well, as long as he was fine now. Relieved, Soral began to explain everything that had happened since he was kidnapped. The collars, how he could break them, Janon, and the assassins. It was all a bit out of order, but she listened all the same.

“Actually, I have some bad news. My benefactor wants you to stay there and learn,” Ruena admitted, ashamed, “but now we can contact each other, we can at least figure out some sort of plan to get you out.”

“There are a couple ways Oasis offered,” Soral told her, “I can buy my freedom, or do Oasis a great service. The great service just happens to be extremely dangerous, though.”

Ruena thought about the options. “In that case, why don’t you try to learn skills for both? If it’s too much, drop whichever one is harder. Since he is going to offer you resources, I say you take advantage of everything. Bleed him dry.”

Soral liked that idea. It was the rebellion he so desperately desired, while also being productive. “I might be here a while, then,” he said, “but once I leave, I will definitely be stronger.”

“And I will work hard on my end too,” Ruena promised, “but we have to keep in touch, alright?”

“Of course. We have to keep track of our progress,” Soral agreed, “And I might need more advice now and then.”

“Advice, huh? Well, what do you plan on learning first?” she asked.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“A way to defend myself so this never happens again,” Soral replied without hesitation, “I just really don’t want to ask Oasis where I need to go to find people to learn from. Or however he does things.”

“Then do it behind his back and learn from someone there. You said the place was full of talents, right?” Ruena suggested.

This was true. He was living in the red house too, meaning someone here was dangerous in just the right way to teach him. Hopefully he would meet someone here who wasn’t an assassin. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to learn that kind of fighting.

They talked for a while longer, leaving the more serious matters to discuss other things. How she didn’t know what she should eat without him there, but she couldn’t go back to her old menu either. About how the Belleas Guild was currently sponsoring her as the protector of the kitica until he returned.

Soral, in turn, talked about the cupcakes and the other things he had noticed. He even begrudgingly admitted that he thought the barrier around The Oasis was pretty cool. Ruena scolded him for not sleeping the whole time. Apparently it had been three, almost four days. After promising to take a nap, Soral said goodbye. His empty room suddenly felt lonely, but he made good on his promise.

The nap lasted maybe ten minutes. Falling asleep wasn’t so hard but the nightmare’s ferocity forced him awake almost immediately. It was as if the nightmares grew worse the more he tried to avoid it. Not that he had any intention of appeasing them to make them calm down.

Once he stepped outside the red building, the sun was rising. Maybe his nap had been more than ten minutes after all. He chose to ignore that thought and immediately headed back inside. No one would be up at this time.

He headed to the common area from earlier with a couple cupcakes and relaxed. No one was there yet. It gave him some time to think. Should he stay there and search for someone to teach him fighting and defense, or should he explore some more and find out what talents there were he could try out?

As he finished his third and last cupcake he had brought with him, a woman entered the room. She was tall, with smooth dark skin that reminded him of the cupcake he just ate, and white hair with a pearlescent sheen. He glanced down to her wrist to see her band was solid red.

She returned the action by looking at his wrist, but only raised an eyebrow on seeing its colors. “Isn’t it early for a young one such as yourself to be up?” she asked.

“You’re up,” Soral pointed out.

“My sleep schedule is none of your concern,” she told him.

“Likewise,” Soral replied.

There was a silence as they watched each other. If she didn’t want to be around him she could just leave, but she didn’t move a muscle.

“What are you?” she asked, “I have never seen a being like you before.”

“No idea,” Soral replied honestly, “Why are you red? Can you fight?”

“Isn’t that a dangerous question to ask?”

“Maybe, but I need to learn to fight and you don’t seem like an assassin,” he answered. He really hoped she wasn’t an assassin. Assassins would definitely have black mixed in, right?

“I am not an assassin,” she confirmed, “but my fighting style is not something I can teach just anyone. Are you certain you wish to learn?”

Soral wasn’t sure what that meant, but it made it sound mysterious and cool. “Yeah, if you think I can do it.”

“You might be able to,” she said, looking him up and down, “but I will not go easy on you.”

“Perfect,” Soral agreed, “Oh yeah, I’m Soral.”

“Zinela. I will give you a chance, at least.”

“When do we start?” Soral asked.

“I am not yet prepared for a pupil. First, clean up your crumbs. Meet me here again tomorrow at daybreak.”

Soral looked down to find he had left cupcake crumbs all over himself and the chair. He hadn’t really been being careful, but he didn’t think he was being this messy. When he looked up again she was gone. He hadn’t heard a single footstep. She really, definitely, wasn’t an assassin, right?

He cleaned up his cupcake mess the best he could with just his hands before he got an idea. If he could summon items from his pocket, could he disappear crumbs into the trash as well? It took a few tries, but he succeeded.

Feeling proud of himself, and with a combat teacher secured, he decided to spend the day exploring the talents and places The Oasis had to offer. This time, he knew more of what he was looking for.