“I will not die here”

“You will if anyone hears you saying that! Not just you, the two of us will be burnt to the stake.”

“Why? What are you talking about Creep” Javier turns around, looking at the source of the voice.

“Are you living under a rock? The church passed a decree years ago that anyone heard saying that will be killed instantly for blasphemy. ”

“Hmm I didn’t know that,” Javier sits down on the wet floor, “Tell me more.”

“There is nothing more to say, just don’t say that shit again…”

Javier gets up to his feet and starts walking around the prison while humming, searching for a means of escape.

“Are you serious about that God thingy?” The voice asked

“Yeah”

“So you are a magician?”

“Yep” Javier is now hanging on a wall like a spider trying to stick his head into a vent that was clearly too small for him.

“Then how did a magician like you end up in this place?”

“I dunno, the last thing I remember was falling asleep in a hotel.”

“And they brought you in as you were sleeping… HOW THE HELL DID YOU FALL FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!”

“I was tricked…”

“Bruh, the entire city has been taken over by mercenaries; did you think the hotel is some sort of safe space, free from any trouble?”

“This town was taken over by mercenaries?”

The person behind the voice slapped his head so hard; the echo of the slap vibrated the walls of the prison.

“You how did you end up here?” Javier asked.

“I was at my place of work when the mercenaries attacked a year ago, the people of this country are not fighters, and so the city was defeated with very little resistance. After they took over the city, the locked every single person in prison”

“If the locked up everyone, how come you are the only person here.”

“Let me finish”

“Okay”

“After a while, the mercenaries returned and started taking people one after another until they emptied the whole place, but for some reason, they never returned for me.”

“Or… maybe they forgot about you”
“That’s impossible, there is no way they forgot about me. But if they did, then we are stuck here till eternity.”

“Speaking of eternity, how the hell did you survive without food or water?”

  Suddenly, a fire lit on the wet floor illuminating the whole prison. The person speaking all this while turned out to be a boy of sixteen, he had a big, circular medicated glass on his round face, and his hair color was brown. He was lying down on his back, looking at the ceiling. His name is Kobi

Javier gasped on seeing the light, “How did you do that?!” He asked while staring into the light with a big smile on his face, “Are you a magician too?”

“No, I am not a magician.”

“Then how did you do that?”

“It’s a part of science called ‘alchemy’.”

“Alchemy? I thought that was another name for magic.”

“Alchemy is everything magic is not, the law of alchemy states that for you to get something, you have to give something of equal value. To get that fire, I gave a part of my cloth. But with magic, you can do whatever you want no repercussions whatsoever”

“Oh, so alchemy is the lamer version of magic.”

“Alchemy kept me alive for a year, I have been exchanging rocks for fruits all this while. Tell me can magic do that?”

“Nah, but magic is still cooler.” Javier starts whistling

“If magic is so great, then get us out of here with your magic.”

“I can’t use magic because I am very hungry right now”

Kobi bursts out into laughter, “The irony” Kobi then stands up to his feet, “Magic won’t feed you because it is from the devil, while Alchemy is a gift from God that follows the laws of nature.”

  Suddenly they start hearing footsteps and charter, these got louder with each passing time. Until trails of light started to creep up the ground and the walls, then they see two guards one had a fire torch, the other had a bunch of key in his hand.

 The two got to the prison Kobi and Javier was in, opened it, walked in, grabbed Javier, dragged him out and locked back the prison door.

“Was there someone else in the prison?” One guard asked the other as they were dragging Javier out of the building.

“I think I saw someone… Nah, I don’t think so.”

  The two guards dropped Javier on his knees, in the throne room, in front of the mercenary Maraki who is seated on the throne. Maraki is a seven feet tall huge man, his face is as pretty as a woman’s.

Maraki let out a big smile, “I was going to send you to the mines to work there with the other villagers, until my guards told me something interesting about you.” Maraki got up to his feet and started walking towards Javier. “Are you a magician?”

“Yeah” Javier nods

“Splendid, instead of sending you to the mines, I will hand you over to the church.” Maraki smiled.

“Eh? Why?” Javier asked, confused.

 Maraki grabbed Javier by the jaw and lifted him up into the sky, then he looked into his eyes, “The church pays good money for the head of magicians.”

“But, what does the church want with me?” Javier stared back at him unfazed.

“They want to roast you alive” Maraki loosed the grip he had on Javier’s neck, and Javier fell to the ground butt first. “Put him into one of the carriage and send him to the closest church at once, and bring me my reward.”

“Before I go, can I get some food?” Javier begged with puppy eyes.

“No.”

“I might die of starvation before I get to the church.”

“Your death will be a blessing to everyone.”

“But how will the church actually know that I am a magician if you brought me in dead.”

“That’s true.” Maraki rubbed his cheek, “Give him some food while you are transporting him.”

“Okay,” One of the mercenaries replied, “But, wouldn’t it be safer if we tied him up?” Another asked Maraki.

“No need for that, I have his staff, staffed magicians are useless without their staff. It’s like taking walking stick from an old man and still expect him to walk.”

“Okay sir.” Two of the mercenaries dragged Javier out of the throne room while another two followed them.

  Inside the carriage, Javier is gulping down a bowl of ramen. Two mercenary are seated beside him, while another two is seated opposite them, facing Javier. The carriage is being drawn by two horses.

“So what kind of magic do you specialize in?” One of the mercenary asked, “Personally I think magicians are cool, so I make a habit of asking every magician I meet this question.” The other mercenaries in the carriage stared at the one speaking with disgust.

“So, can you tell me?” The mercenary continued.

“Air…” Javier replied while slopping in the last strands of ramen in the bowl.

“Wow, pretty cool. If it’s air, then you can easily break out of here with your magic.”

“Yep,” Javier drinks the ramen sauce.

“Too bad you don’t have your staff, if you did we’ll be in trouble for sure”

“Actually that was not my staff, it was some stick I picked up in the forest.” Javier drops the bowl on the floor.

“Wha?!”

“Thanks for the food”

BOOM!

The carriage exploded.