Lock Up

I awoke in a completely unfamiliar place, the thick stench of filthy water and forgotten trash quickly overwhelmed my senses. I gagged, the smell far too much to handle. My vision grew blurry, and I couldn’t make out where exactly I was.

I had passed out twice, and now I was trapped in a disgustingly-dark room. I had truly reached the lowest of lows here.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the murky darkness, and a faint glimmer of sunlight provided just enough light to get a look at my surroundings. I appeared to be in some kind of cell: thick iron bars lined the wall in front of me. There did not appear to be any guards in this dark dungeon, but I could hear the faint noise of chatter above my head.

My first reaction was to throw my hands at the iron bars, and begin shouting. I wasn’t sure what I should be shouting, but cries for help were all I could muster. That was when I noticed my own hands were cuffed: iron gauntlets fastened around my wrists and hands with a glowing orb embedded on the back of the palm, shining brilliantly like sapphire.

The sound of iron against iron was deafening.

“Hey!” I heard a voice shout behind me, “Knock it off!”

My body immediately tensed up, in fear of encountering that voice again. I quickly stopped my shouting and turned my head to confront the voice. To my relief, this voice was different. It belonged to a young woman sitting behind me, her hands chained up and tied together, her face bloodied and bruised. She appeared to be around my age and had physical characteristics that resembled a fierce fighter, specifically the large scars gashed across her face and body: wounds that had healed long ago but never fully went away.

“I’m sorry, it's just the stench. It’s awful!” I immediately apologized.

“No kidding. We’re locked up in the village jail, after all. The kingdom could give a damn about our condition.”

I noticed behind her a tall, young man, also around my age. He sat unmoving, almost like a statue, and there was little-to-nothing I could gather about his character or appearance, other than the fact that he seemed quite distant.

Somehow, I hadn’t noticed these two people in here with me, so I looked around for other prisoners. There were no others, and it appeared this cell was the only one in the jail.

I took a seat on the ground, which was thankfully a solid, dry surface. I was not sure where the smell of sewage was coming from, but my nose was still having trouble adjusting to the terrible stink.

“So… what did you do?” The woman asked me, “Or are you a disgraced hero, like we are?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

She frowned. I turned to see how the man behind her reacted, but his face remained blank and unmoving.

“Oh really? You’re telling me you’re actually an innocent little man?”

“Yes!” I pleaded, “I’m not a criminal!”

“Well you’re wrong!” the young woman snapped, “Once you’re caught by the kingdom, you're guilty until proven innocent. That's the cruel nature of this very world.”

Her cold words made me recoil slightly, but I could not help but feel a sense of familiarity from her tone. Why was everything about this world so familiar to me?

These two were my only shot of escaping this prison, so I had to get a bit closer to them, somehow.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Huh?”

“Your name… something I can call you by,” I stupidly repeated, as if she didn’t understand what a name meant. Clearly angered, she turned her head away and remained unresponsive.

Giving up, I turned to the other man in the cell to get his name. Before I could even ask, however, he turned away from me and stared idly at the wall next to us, his eyes empty and devoid of emotion. That look in his eyes sent chills throughout my body, and I quickly surrendered in my efforts to get his name.

A mean, unresponsive woman and a quiet, emotionless man. I wondered, under different circumstances and conditions, if we would have gotten along. I couldn’t possibly imagine that happening in this world, however.

I silently sat for a few minutes, reflecting on the last couple hours. There was just too much to process: the unknown familiarity of this world, the mystery around my ‘wanted’ status, and that damned voice I heard before passing out. There was so much to think about, it felt like I was forgetting something important…

Oh, right! My strange power: the one that warped my mind and made me pass out instantly! I tried to call upon the flow of mana again. It seemed stupid of me, but I had no way of knowing if the source of that pain and anguish was from my own body, or some surprise attack I never saw. To my utter surprise, however, I felt nothing. It was as if the blood pumping through my veins had ceased to exist. There was no flow of energy to call upon, and no power surging throughout my body. Thankfully, I did not hear the voices or experience that chaotic pain in my skull again.

From next to me, I suddenly noticed the young woman shaking, and upon closer inspection I realized she was shivering. I had not even noticed the chilly temperature inside the jail, and I was never bothered by cold weather to begin with. The man was dressed head-to-toe in what appeared to be winter clothing, but the woman’s clothing was more lightweight and loose-fitting. Of course she would be feeling the more severe effects of the cold.

I sighed, and reluctantly searched around the cell for anything that could resemble a blanket. I felt obligated to help her considering we were both locked up in this place, but I hoped to keep our future interactions to a minimum. I really did not want to see her angry.

After a minute of searching, I found a large blanket in the corner of the cell. It was nearly torn to shreds, but its fabric was thick and would trap enough heat to warm her up. I managed to grab the cloth by pinching it with the two gauntlets, and I carried over to the woman and gently placed the blanket around her shoulders. She momentarily flinched, but let the blanket gently drape itself around her body.

“...thank you,” she muttered, almost too softly to hear.

I was nearly taken aback. Perhaps I was wrong in my initial assessment?

“You’re… welcome, I guess.”

The three of us sat quietly for a few minutes. Each passing second in complete silence felt like an eternity. Finally, the woman broke the silence with a whisper:

“Kat.”

“I’m sorry?”

“That’s my name,” she said louder, “Kat Verity, former hero of this world, and now just a rejected fool.”

“Tempest,” the man behind Kat added, “Former hero.”

“I’m Blake, Blake Seer,” I grinned, “Glad we’re on the same page here.”

Kat turned to me, blinking once as she intently locked eyes with me. Tempest was just as surprised.

“...Blake?”

“Yeah?”

Kat drew closer and scrutinized each and every corner of my face, then let out a small gasp.

“It’s you? You're… back?”