Broken Chains, Broken Adults

By the time Ashtin regained control of his magic, he found himself surrounded by three piles of chains, each concealing a person beneath its weight. Ginevra would survive, but Dr. Shreburn and Wincent could suffocate or be crushed under the weight.

Believing he had little chance of saving them both, he began to pull the chains off Dr. Shreburn, but he had only begun when something he never would have expected happened: the chains began to melt. His chains, tempered by his devotion to the council, were dissolving under an onslaught of anti-magical energy.

A dozen thoughts entered Ashtin’s mind, each fighting for his attention. Ultimately, the most immediate won out. Lives were at stake. He could sort out his own feelings later, but if he failed to act quickly, Dr. Shreburn and Wincent could die unnecessarily. In order to save them, however, he needed to be sure that he hadn’t been hypnotized.Considering how spellbreakers in the past had been frustrated by his chains, he had to consider the possibility that this was a hallucination. With a thick layer of chains between Dr. Shreburn and himself, it was possible her anti-magical energy wasn’t reaching him.

Snatching a chain off the ground, Ashtin raised it high and brought it crashing down upon his exposed left arm. The initial impact felt dull, but the chain wrapped around his arm, the end stinging him as it whipped his flesh. Satisfied that he wasn’t hallucinating, he began pulling the remaining chains from Dr. Shreburn’s pile with his bare hands. He cursed himself for never bothering to learn a levitation spell. Given that his staff constantly levitated, his magical energy was obviously capable of it.

Thankfully, reaching her didn’t take long. Although she was trying to apply pressure to the wound with her right hand, blood was pooling under her. With the last of his magical energy, Ashtin teleported in an emergency medical kit from his stash and began cleaning the wound.

“No.” Dr. Shreburn stopped him as he attempted to fit her with a tourniquet. “Use the sponges.”

“The tourniquet should be sufficient until you get to a hospital.”

“I won’t be safe in a hospital until we catch our culprit. Use the sponges.”

Ashtin hesitated, but he knew Dr. Shreburn was right. This mission had become a race against time for her. Releasing the tourniquet, he grabbed a sponge injector and filled her wound. Within seconds, the bleeding stopped.

“If we leave them in there too long, they might have to amputate,” Ashtin warned, wrapping hemostatic bandages around her arm and removing the tourniquet.

“It’s better than dying.” Dr. Shreburn sat up slowly and began to melt the chains covering Wincent. Ashtin assisted, and they quickly freed the older man.

“Fuck, that hurt,” Wincent groaned.

“Nice try,” Ashtin smirked. “Doctor?”

Dr. Shreburn put her hand on Wincent’s forehead and forced her anti-magical energy into him.

“I wasn’t lying,” Wincent muttered.

“What happened?” Dr. Shreburn asked.

“I returned to my office to rally the troops against the council. The moment I looked into one of my colonel’s eyes, it was like I couldn’t control my own thoughts. He turned me over to the gynoid, and I did the same to her.”

“I’m going to free R. Ginevra.” Ashtin pulled chains from the top of her pile. “Please don’t attempt to break her hypnosis before I say so.” Although Ginevra’s life was not imperiled, Ashtin worked quickly, aware that he needed to get Dr. Shreburn to a hospital as soon as possible. When he had removed around half the chains, Ginevra’s arms emerged from the pile and grabbed Ashtin’s robes. “Hand me the scalpel,” he shouted, thrusting his arm backward, “but stay back.”

“I’m not going to let you,” Ginevra taunted as Ashtin grabbed her hair with his left hand. She jerked her head in all directions, making it difficult for him to position the scalpel.

Ashtin held his free hand out, and his staff came to him. He used the magical energy stored in it to cast more chains, which held her head in place so he could cut a line across her forehead.

“You’re just making this harder on yourself, Ashtin Blackford,” Ginevra said in the emotionless voice all gynoids shared. “Oh yes, I know who you are. I know who your mother is. You are nothing compared to me. If you defy me, I will destroy you and everyone you hold dear.”

Ashtin was halfway finished with his incision when he felt a strange sensation begin to overtake him. He quickly retracted the scalpel and made a cut across his left arm to free himself from hypnosis. He then continued his work, staining Ginevra’s artificial skin with the blood left over on the scalpel. Once he had sliced through enough artificial skin, he was able to unlatch and open her head. He gently disconnected her electronic brain—a small black box encased in a Faraday cage—and removed it. Even with the brain removed, Ginevra continued to taunt and threaten him. It was then that he realized that instead of hypnotizing her, the mage had turned her into a mannequin and was controlling her directly.

Ashtin held the electronic brain above him, “OK, pump anti-magical energy into her body.”

Dr. Shreburn stumbled forward and put her hand on Ginevra’s chest. After a second, the gynoid fell silent. Ashtin pried her fingers from his robe with his free hand and let her arms down gently.

“What is that?” Dr. Shreburn asked, pointing to the electronic brain as Ashtin placed it in his satchel.

“Our ticket into the guild.” Ashtin placed it carefully in his satchel. “General, I know we’ve had our differences, but would you accompany us? If you remain close to Dr. Shreburn’s anti-magical energy, you should be safe from hypnosis.”

“I want revenge as badly as you do.”