Light flooded his vision once more as Yu woke up with a start. But instead of the warm glow of candles, he was faced with the obstructive white of daylight. Yu squinted through the oppressive glare of the morning sun through the uncovered window. He did not even try to disillusion himself from the reality that happened before he fell back asleep. The Vhysps had sent him to the neighboring kingdom for protection and he ended up as a prisoner. At some point he had screamed himself to sleep and it did not go unnoticed that someone had changed his clothes for him. He suddenly felt a wave of disgust wash over him at the thought of some unknown person touching him in his sleep. His wounds were properly dressed and over the bandages was a clean, oversized linen shirt that was left half open. The material felt rough compared to his usual silks. Whoever bothered to change him didn’t bother to try to slip pants on him. The clothes felt as foreign to him as the room itself, and every minute spent away from home was more time for Angiel to get exactly what he wants. Being less disoriented than he was earlier, Yu was able to muster the resolve and understanding of what he had to do next. He had to get back home.

Looking around the room, he contemplated his choices. Although Zephèl had given him free reign within the room itself, he was still chained to the bed by the ankle. Examining the shackle, it surprised Yu how simple the restraint was. There were no Vhyspian runes or any sort of limiters on it. It was a simple piece of iron with a keyhole of sorts that held the cuff together. Closing his eyes, Yu concentrated his mind on the cuff, clenching his fist and closing his eyes, he imagined the metal melting away into nothingness. It only took a few moments to perform an action that simple. Even so far away from the Vhysps, he could still manage the most basic of spells. When he opened his eyes again, he smiled at the site of the rusted and crumbling piece of iron.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Yu landed as softly on his feet, cringing slightly from the pain of his current wounds. He muted his footsteps as best he could by manipulating the sound in the air around his feet. He swiftly made his way to the door and quickly tested the door knob. It was cool to the touch and made from a similar metal as the shackle that held him to the bed. It was not heated nor did it inflict any sort of damage to his body such as poison darts or lightning.

‘Something is not right here…’

He turned the door knob, which was unlocked, and he pushed the door in, taking a step forward. As soon as he got to the other side of the door, he was met face to face with a guard. He immediately recognized the man as the man who was dismissed yesterday. He stood there, smiling down at the boy who glared sapphire daggers up into the man’s head. The man looked over his shoulder for a moment and then back at him and gave him an approving nod. Yu remembered to focus on the tongues magic again, or else this confrontation would not go well.

“I see you had no trouble getting this far. Zephèl told me there was a chance you would try to escape.” His voice was low, but smooth and still filled with youth despite his larger, more muscular build. The man unsheathed a sword at his belt as he spoke and casually pointed it at Yu as though it was a toy.

“You address your Prince by his first name?” Yu responded, rather nonchalantly, hiding his fear and raising his hands above his head to show that he recognized his situation.

“He is my friend, as I am his. Our kingdom works much differently than your empire.” He said, taking a step forward with the sword which obviously caused Yu to take a step back in turn.

“So I see. And aside from commoners addressing royalty as though they are equals, I see you also have a really horrible sense of security against our magic.”

“Do we now? Well, you are the first of your kind to be taken prisoner by us—usually we just kill your kind. Consider it an honor. We only know of your people and your sins, not much on how to stop you from committing them,” The man spoke as he backed Yu further into the room. “Are you curious as to how I knew you were going to open the door when you did? Our floor boards are built in a way that they make noise whenever someone walks on them. But the noise can only be heard by someone standing guard outside the room. It helps us spot intruders in closed rooms, but it also comes in handy for escaping prisoners,” The man was grinning triumphantly. When he had decided that he was far enough in to the room, he stopped, keeping a distinct distance from Yu.

The man’s mannerisms were confusing, and Yu could not read him at all. His nonchalant attitude in this dire situation reminded him very much of the prince who interrogated him earlier. Except this man was different in the way he carried himself. Yu noted the strong confidence in the man’s features, and it annoyed him. This entire situation annoyed him. He was getting tired of this stare down too. Taking a deep breath, Yu relaxed his entire body. He counted silently to himself,

‘Three, two…’

He jumped to the side of the man and let out a quick blast of weakened energy. He was starting to notice the limitations of his magic outside of the land of the Vhysps, but it was strong enough to give him some what of a head start, but not for long. The man’s confidence showed true. Yu felt a giant weight pull him to the ground as he hit his chin on the wooden boards. The man had grappled him to the ground within seconds, completely breaking his concentration, and had him pinned to the floor with him kicking and screaming under him.

“What was that about a lack of security around you? You may have magic, but all it takes is a slip in concentration and it becomes useless, right? Our prince figured that out during his exchange with you yesterday.” The man laughed whole heartedly as he pressed all of his weight into Yu’s small body. He was left gasping for air under the man.

“Who do you think you are, treating me like this!” He screamed, forcing himself to keep a hold on his tongues magic as his concentration involuntarily started to slip.

“The name is Mathias, I am captain of the prince’s personal guard as well as his friend and personal advisor.” The man laughed as Yu continued to kick and scream under him.

Pinioning his arms, Mathias pulled him up and forced him to sit in front of him as he patted his head like some sort of house pet. It was in no way supposed to be a comforting action as it was demeaning. “The Prince left me in charge of you since no maid would be willing to even go near you and your sin-infested body.”

Shrugging the man’s hand off his head, Yu turned over his shoulder and shot the man a dark look,

“You were the one who changed my clothes when I was asleep?”

The man shrugged and Yu’s expression quickly morphed into a mix of fear and disgust, “What is wrong with you? Barbarians! Uncultured pigs!”

“We are both men, so why does it matter?” Yu’s eyes went wide out of a strange, familiar fear and he started to pull away again when Mathias sighed deeply, “Stop that struggling and get ready to go out. Zephèl asked me to show you around the city.” He said, dropping the boy’s hands, causing him to fall forward from the suddenness off the action.

Yu scrambled to his feet and looked down at the Captain who remained seated on the floor.

“Excuse me?” He seemed genuinely confused by the statement and the man just shrugged it off,

“Zephèl has his ways. He says one thing, means another, suddenly loses his temper and then can be as happy as bee all at once. Just get ready to leave so we can get this over with.”

The man was impatient, but Yu nodded. Anywhere outside of this room was a welcoming. There would be more opportunities to escape outside of the castle too.