The sound of my breathing filled the air as I calmed my beating heart. There was no room for panic, or emotions. My mind focused solely on solutions to the problem at hand.

I had been taken prisoner.

My heartbeat steadied as my meditation took hold. There was no plan of escape forming in my thoughts. I needed more information to make one. My eyes opened and I analysed my surroundings.

Eli was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t sure if that’s because he was injured from the spell backfiring, or because he was waiting for me to make a move.

The bed I was in felt funny. It looked like a normal bed, a single blanket lying on the floor where I had thrown it, and I confirmed it was ordinary. This was the first time I’d slept on a real mattress. Mine was made out of dirt.

The rest of the room was bare, except for a single cupboard and a small table next to the bed. On top of the table was a framed picture with a single figure inside it. A baby.

That was strange.

The picture shimmered as I gazed at it. The baby slowly disappeared and was replaced by three figures, a woman, the baby, and Eli. They were all smiling happily as they posed.

It had to be his child. Eli had mentioned a son to me, I’m surprised he was telling the truth.

I moved closer to the picture, and the rattling of metal caught my attention. The restraints. I’d forgotten about them during my meditation. My hands and feet were linked together with cuffs and metal chains. It wasn’t so tight that I couldn’t move, but doing more than basic movements was tough.

That was a problem. My magic didn’t rely on movement, but if I wanted to escape then I needed to be able to move more than a few feet a minute.

Okay. I’d gotten a hold of my surroundings.

I sat as comfortably as I could and focused on the mana around me. I needed to escape, and magic was the way to do that.

My surroundings were filled with materials I could use. The walls around me were stones. I didn’t want to alert Eli if he was here. I placed my hands in my lap and focused on the wall behind me.

All I needed to do was test that I could influence my surroundings. No big movements were needed. Any other plans could come after I had more information.

I felt the stone warping under my guidance. A single brick, turning malleable on the inside. My progress was slow as I avoided causing a shift in the mana around me. Then, after a few seconds, a bright flash of yellow light appeared beside me.

My magic immediately stopped.

The light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The stone was no longer under my control. I hadn’t stopped my magic. It had been cut off.

My heartbeat quickened and I tried to understand what had happened. I had seen a similar light like this before. I’d been at the observatory and the yellow light had stopped my magic from working back then as well.

This wasn’t good. I didn’t know how to bypass this. No. I wouldn’t panic. My thoughts turned towards solutions. It had been a while since I’d gone to the observatory, but my magic had only stopped after a few seconds back then as well.

If I had a few seconds of earth manipulation each time, then I could still escape. I focused on the wall again and pulled.

Nothing happened.

My magic wasn’t activating. Once it had gotten used to my skill then it could block it. I didn’t like that I couldn’t use my earth manipulation anymore, but I still had a trick up my sleeve.

Earth creation.

Now that I knew I could only use my skills for a few seconds, I would need to save it for an opportune moment. I just hoped that all my skills hadn’t been blocked.

I only had one other active skill that I could use, mana manipulation. It didn’t work like earth manipulation, instead, it allowed me to connect to the mana around me and sense what it sensed. I’d used it in the fight against William to find his position at the beginning of the match.

I thought over the possibilities. Using mana manipulation now would allow me to test if all of my skills had been blocked, or if they only stopped working after the first time they were used.

That distinction would be the key to helping me escape.

I would have to risk it eventually. I couldn’t make any plans to escape if I didn’t know what tools I had.

That didn’t mean I had to use mana manipulation immediately. Eli was around here somewhere. He wouldn’t have left me here to rot.

I needed more information. Was he working with someone? Was William also here?

Saving my mana manipulation for later use was the smartest play. I laid back and felt a soft pillow underneath my head. I could reach the door if I wanted to, my chains allowed me that much movement.

This entire situation was strange.

Eli had seen my fight, and how much mana I had. It had been more than a child my age should be able to use. My skills were also above average. I’d thought that maybe he had been aiming for William and me.

Instead, he had apologised for bringing me along.

It was a faint memory, placed between a jumble of events, but I was certain it was real.

The other memories worried me. I had seen the purple world that we had travelled through to get from my home to the island. This trip had been longer than the one on the boat.

I think I was starting to get a handle on how teleportation worked. When Eli had teleported me to my room, I hadn’t seen the purple world, but when he’d teleported me to the arena, I had seen a glimpse of it. Then, when I had come to the island it had almost been an entire minute inside that strange space.

It had been dark at my house, but the sun was high above the sky at William’s island.

The theory formed in my mind; The further away someone moved during teleportation, the longer they had to spend inside the purple world. I didn’t know how long I had been there with Eli, but it hadn’t been a quick journey.

That meant I could be anywhere in the world.

Eli had also done something to the nexus. The giant building, I had seen during my tour of the purple world.

What purpose had that served?

A footstep landed outside my door and my thoughts came to a screeching halt. The door handle twitched, and then turned. My eyes were glued to the entrance as the door creaked open. A single head poked through and stared at me. Eli.

The old man was smiling.

“Hello there youngling, it’s time for breakfast.”

His head disappeared and I was left staring at an empty entrance.

Was the old man insane?

My stomach grumbled and I frowned. I’d just eaten at the party. I think. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

The chains rattled as I sat up. The hunger wasn’t driving me outside, but my need for information was. I couldn’t learn anything while I was stuck inside this room. Eli had the answers.

Now I needed to get them from him.

My feet touched the ground and I saw that my shoes were tucked under the bed. I put them on and frowned. I was in my suit from the party, but something was missing.

My inventory had been taken out of my pocket.

I shook my head, of course he had taken one of my biggest advantages away from me. I made my way through the door and stopped at the sight before me.

It was an ordinary kitchen. It was also big. There was an area for eating, with a dining table set up. The smell of eggs filled the air and I saw that food had already been placed on the table, in front of two chairs.

William was already sitting and eating. Eli hummed to himself as he moved from the kitchen to the table. He was carrying a small bowl of spices.

I moved towards the table cautiously, and I could see that William had chains around his hands and legs as well. I pulled back the chair and sat in it. It was built low, as though for a child.

I stared at the food in front of me. There was a fork placed next to it. It wasn’t metal. It folded under my touch, soft and pliable.

“Go ahead, the food isn’t poisoned.” William spoke.

I looked at him, and then back at my food.

“This… Is very strange.” My expectations of being taken prisoner were very different from this reality.

William had [wisdom], but I couldn’t bring myself to trust the food. I pushed it back and faced Eli.

“I’d make a joke about making dinner conversation, but this is a serious situation. What’s going on here?”

The elderly man had seemed so kind the two times I’d seen him before. When he’d appeared on the battlefield, I hadn’t questioned it.

Eli sighed. “I’m afraid there was a slight disturbance in my plans. I only intended to take young master William.”

Right. My attack had disturbed his spell. I remembered his words after I’d done that, and his anger.

“Those words don’t make me feel any more comfortable.” I kept my tone neutral.

If he didn’t want to capture me, that meant my life wasn’t as valuable to him. I didn’t want to risk angering him.

“I see you are worried. There is no need to be, I saved your life.” Eli smiled.

“Oh?” I leaned forward. “Do tell.”

“When you disturbed my teleportation spell you were flung into the depths of the nexus world. I had William, but I also went out of my way to secure you.”

That agreed with my memories of the event. It did nothing to ease my emotions, and I didn’t hide it from my expression.

He raised his hand to stop my questions. “Do not worry. I will return both of you alive, and unharmed, in due time.”

I was expecting a catch.

“So long as you give me what I want.”

There it is.

William was quiet by my side. He was playing it cool, but I saw his hand tremble as he lowered his fork.

“That depends on what you want. You’re in the inner circle of a country spanning organisation.” William’s words were slow and deliberate. “I know personally how much wealth and influence that grants you. How much you’ve lost today because of your actions.”

“Material possessions are of no interest to me.” Eli placed an object on the table as he spoke. It was his staff. “There are many things I want from you. We shall get to them in time. For now, I would like you to tell me how to unlock [wisdom].”

William didn’t budge. He’d been expecting this. I had as well, from the moment I’d seen William being targeted. It was the obvious goal.

It concerned me that it wasn’t the only goal.

“That’s an interesting topic.” William’s expression was grim. “One that I don’t believe we have enough time to go through. After all, you do not have a monopoly on teleportation.”

He was right. Eli had attacked multiple nobles, and Master Wilhelm himself. I had seen the damage done to Eli’s forces. I don’t think they had the power to take out William’s dad.

I’d seen how much Master Wilhelm cared for William. He was likely charging here with an army.

“I’m afraid I will have to put down those hopes. I did not act without planning. I have destroyed the nexus, and it is no longer possible to teleport without becoming lost.”

Eli placed a hand on his staff, and I saw that the purple crystal was inert. There were no swirls of purple mist, or inky blackness that slithered underneath the furnace.

“What I mean to say…”

He leaned towards William and me.

“… Is that I have all the time in the world.”