The guard looked at me in shock. "Your Majesty..." the guard glanced at me nervously.

"Speak."

"Well, this boy here... he was found to be the thief. However..."

She glanced up nervously as if walking on a fine line of what could be said. The king silently permitted her to continue. "Well, Lord Tern said this boy was also the one who suggested we do a search."

"Hm. Suspicious," the King said dully.

"Yes, but more than that... we found something else."

The King raised his eyebrow, sincerely interested. In the guard's hands was a book. "A book?" the King questioned.

"Well, yes. But it's... it's a book about magic. I don't know how he got his hands on such a thing, but we..."

"I won't punish you, so speak."

"Well," she cleared her throat. "We all agree that the Calli kid was quite young, and if this boy here has already committed multiple crimes today... we think even though his actions are suspicious, it's reasonable to replace Calli's cell with this boy."

"You intend to free Calli and lock Rey up instead?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"For how long? Rey's committed 3 crimes, so surely more than a year, yes?"

"We thought the same, Your Majesty. After a quick discussion... we thought 3 years would suffice. Duke Vale excused his earlier actions... but crimes have still piled up."

"Very well. I leave this to the guard. Do what you will," the King said, waving his hand as if to rid of us. Thus, the guard gave a polite nod and roughly pulled me out of the room. 

She said, "Well, you already heard your sentence. If you behave, it'll only be 3 years. I feel we are too merciful, letting the both of you lot out..."

I let myself be pulled along. Her insulting words continued to spill, but a vague satisfaction protected me from any hurt. I hadn't thought of the book. I nearly made a fool of myself, attempting to take the blame, when my actions were so clearly motivated by that intention. If it weren't for the book I would've gotten away with mere feelings of pity. 'He must've given up, trying to sacrifice himself like that,' they would say.

If a tomb became a place for a live person, I would name the dungeons as such. They housed the dead, the bodies rotting in cells, their stench blowing through the air. The moment the gate opened, my stomach seemed to rise straight to my throat. The guards were lucky enough to have masks. 

I was lucky enough, too, though. In front of me was the boy I had rashly saved. The crazed eyes looked at me in shock and even terror. "Why?" he gasped, his voice raw from years of silence. My eyes widened. I had thought he was mute. "Why are you doing this? Why would you do this?"

Does he know what's out there? The disease and death-filled streets? "I'm sorry," I stammered. 

What had I done? 

The boy had begun fighting the guards escorting him. "Let me talk to him!" he shouted.

Bam!

The sword's handle clashed with his forehead, and the boy's body instantly softened. I exhaled sharply, turning my head away. As they carried him out, the guard dragged me away and into a cell. It was smaller than the servant rooms, and far colder, too. Three years in this room and nowhere else. I could've laughed. It was impossible not to die in this place. 

The door closed behind me with a clang, and the guard left without a word. She had left my hands tied in the ropes. "Fuck," I muttered. I sat on the lousy bed, which felt as hard as the ground. It was just as dirty, too. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

I took a deep breath. I'd rather die than live here, but I thought it was better for me than the kid. I wouldn't give up after making a sacrifice. I'd see it through. I looked around for something sharp to cut the ropes around my wrists. However, the room was empty except for the bed. I sighed and began to gnaw at the ropes. Better now than later, when they'd be beyond dirty.

I spent hours-- at least I think-- gnawing. I didn't make significant progress, only a quarter inch of it was cut through, but I thought this could keep me sane. They say boredom can drive a man mad. I pushed away thoughts of the future ahead of me. The idea of a three-year sentence began to cave in on me.

I don't know when I got the ropes off. Did it take a day? Or more? Maybe less. Having no track of time was worse than I'd expected. The cuts on my back had begun to grow more irritated, though, and I found myself wishing I had let the King treat them. Yet, I'm glad I didn't. They'd probably kill me off, far quicker than three years. I slept more than ever before, finding solace in dreams and my thoughts, but the more I slept, the more I felt crushed under an unliftable weight. 

An infection had surely festered. With no forms of sanitation, it was unavoidable. The idea that people die here from starvation was a lie. It was certainly due to poor hygiene. Isn't that hilarious? I've never felt so disgusting. I'm afraid to move because every speck of dirt will stay with me for three years. Yet, of course, I have to move to life. For food, water, and other bodily functions that only add to the dirt.

I was surprised that I never cried. Before coming in here, I had dreamed of the prospects of freedom. I even expected the Princess or the King to visit me, at least once. I regretted sleeping all day because I could have tried to use that as some form of time-telling. But now I'd lost it, and I had no way of getting it back. The food delivery was certainly not timed, either. There were times I seemed to be served at least 10 times in one day, and others when I'd go 5 days without. All estimations, of course. 

A fever had settled in. I couldn't move. The days felt longer than before, somehow. The cuts. I think they were spreading. I think they somehow moved inside me, cutting open my skin to my bones and the organs found through them. 

Is he dead? Did I kill him? Will he kill me when I get out? I don't think I did the right thing.

"You're dying."

A voice. Is it coming from the cell by mine? If I looked hard enough, I'm sure I could see them.

"I'll save you if you promise to do something for me. When you're free."

I could've laughed. If I survived till then. If the fever didn't kill me, hunger or this bacteria-filled cell would. 

"Do you want to live?"

Do I? I opened my mouth, but my voice was too weak. 

"Okay," she smiled.

How did I know that? I can't see her. 

I don't know how, but when I opened my eyes, I could see. I could see clearly into the cells near me. My back didn't hurt and the heat that had scorched my skin settled. I felt my back, and only painless lumps of scars remained. "Sorry," someone said. "I can't heal scars."

I turned my head. A woman was inside the cell, talking to me, and looking straight at me. Her hair was short, and she had thick muscles. A warrior? She appeared to be from the south, similar to Calli. It was common for southern people to be taken prisoner without cause.  "I can see," I said. 

"Hm?"

"Why can I see?"

"Oh," she laughed. "You must have magic, then. All the better for me."

"What? Magic?"

I saw her face smirk sinisterly, but it wasn't targeted at me. "Indeed. Do you believe in it? I'll teach you."

"...Teach me? Why?"

"I need your help," she said. "I told you that was the condition for me saving you."

"Right. Sorry. Help with what?" My mind was racing. Nothing about this seemed right.

Declaring magical abilities was a gateway to death. Why did she say it so confidently in this cell where voices echo?

"There's a war coming. Since you freed that boy. I want you to go to a temple when you get out of here and find a stone. It has a jewel in it. You'll know when you see it."

How vague. "War-- Well, alright. I promised I would," I agreed. 

"Good, thank you. I awakened the magic inside you, so all you have to do is sense it. I can't help you do that."

"What?" Why did she even offer to help me?

"I'm joking. That's how I was taught and it drove me mad, hahah. I'll ignite the magic in you, and you must focus on the feeling. Eventually, you'll learn to ignite it yourself. Then I'll teach you to use it."

Suddenly, something seemed to gush out of my heart. It flowed through my bloodstream and seemed to slip out of it. I heard her whistle. "You'd have been a prodigy if it weren't for the prophet boy."

I clung to the feeling, even as it faded away. She told me to try to do it myself. I focused on my heart, where the feeling had arisen. Gushing...overflowing...something like that. It seemed to warm my body, yet cool it at the same time. It mixed with my blood until it overtook it. I clicked my tongue in frustration. "Do it again," I told her.

She did.

Again.

Again, and again, and again. There was no progress to mark it. Was I closer? I didn't know. Each time, I was sure I'd get it. I knew the feeling. "Feel how it comes about," she'd say. 

"I am," I'd reply. 

How it comes about...

Perhaps before I feel the magic gush out of my heart. "Again," I said.

From nothing to something shifting. A particularly loud and powerful heartbeat, and then the magic. A shift...

"Again," I said.

As if my heart turned a switch on. 

"Again."

A switch. I focused on my heart, so deeply that I didn't hear the bangs and screams outside. Turn it on... like a click. I felt the powerful beat, and the magic flow and rush through me, as if it would overflow out of my blood. 

"Ahh! Stop! You can't let the magic pour out. Build a dam or something!" she shouted at me. 
"What?" I shouted back. Ah, I think it really was overflowing out of me. My skin was basked in a golden light that continued to grow stronger. 

"Shit, nobody has been this idiotic before!" she yelled. "Let it out! Make an explosion or something! Wait, don't do that, we'll get caught..."

Other prisoners in the dungeon began to shout, and I heard vague voices addressing the light they saw. Shit. Make something? Does she mean to use the magic? A clean cell would be nice. "Uhm..." 

When I felt a large amount of magic spill out, the exponential increase seemed to slow, making it easier for me to stop the flow completely. I panted heavily, clenching my racing heart. It was beating so fast I thought it would explode, or something. I looked around my cell.

The dirt, shit covered floor was clean. Even the bed I sat on was clean. I was clean. I could've cried. Really, I may have shed a few tears. "Oh my..." I mumbled.

"Haha! Incredible! I see why my master had so many students, now!" the woman shouted.

"I'm going to teach you so many things. Talk about potential! Isn't this too much, though? I'm surprised you're not the prophet boy!"

"Why do you keep saying that? What do you mean by prophet boy?" I asked, still panting and calming my heart.

"The boy you saved. He's destined to destroy the world. That's why they locked him up, trying to stop him. Then you came along... I suppose fate can never be avoided."

"Destroy...destroy the world?" I asked. "Don't say something like that so casually. What do you mean?"

"Just that. I had a vision. That boy created beasts that will bring a war, one on such a grand scale that we'll see destruction never known before."

"Why... why would he do that?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't speak to me. That's why they locked me up here. They wanted more visions, or for me to get information out of him. Like I'd give it to them when I'm in this shitty place," she seethed.

I furrowed my eyebrows. First, she declares a war is coming. Then, she says that the boy I saved would cause the end of the world? She says it so lightheartedly. "...But that means he lived," I muttered.

"Haha! Is that what you care about, boy? Every single life is going to end, including his, because you let him out."

I clenched my jaw. "Everyone was dying, anyway."

"Were they?"

"They weren't?" I asked in shock. The disease, the dying earth, the weather that grew colder each day. The animals fled and the crops failed. Eventually, it would reach even the rich.
"They were. But don't you think we could've saved it? You know, don't you? Magic. The earth needed magic."

"But nobody wants magic. Even us... we'd be killed if they found out."

"Would we? You were caught with a book on magic, and yet here you are, alive and well."
Her carefree tone was serious. Scrutinizing. "Don't say that," I said. I didn't know. I clenched my hair, my face scrunched up. "I could save the boy, so I did."

"How righteous of you. That righteousness is going to bring the destruction of everyone else."

"I..."

"But maybe you have the power to stop him. Promise me you'll go to that temple. That's how you'll save the world."

Ha. I caused the end of the world, yet I'll be the one to save it. "I promise," I said. "I already did."

"Then, I'm going to teach you defense and offense magic."