Chapter Two

While protecting the core of what he deemed to be his spirit, a small corner of his mind was guarded by the powerful presence of his companions, the names of his family forming a shield to protect his true self. Then strange things started happening. He felt Kolstum next to him, felt his emotions, his being, then he felt Valana who was closest after Kolstum, Then Strem, Sumi ,Yinta, Jer and finally Fliít. No longer were they simply a mantra to protect him from the evil that was outside his cage, he felt an actual connection to them. Then, suddenly, he felt a tug on his very essence his soul was being pulled, dragged out of his own body.

Three looked around the strangely endless white room. What shocked him more than the vibrant white room itself was the fact he wasn’t alone, the others were staring right back at him. Sumi tried to speak but no sound came out, she grabbed at her throat in confusion, her cloth skin rippling with yellow before returning to its normal skin tone. Yinta stepped over to her and put her hand on Sumi’s shoulder. Or rather, she tried to, but the hand passed right through. She stared at her hand and started waving it back and forth through Sumi, who in turn jumped out of Yinta’s reach and wiggled her arms at her.

[Stop doing that, it feels weird!] Sumi signed, her skin rippling a dark blue this time.

[Sorry, I could not help myself.] Yinta answered. She stared around, looking at the others, eyebrow raised.

Jer stepped forward. [I think the connection between us is deeper than any of us thought. It’s likely that we did not just feel connected to each other, we ARE connected.]

Three scratched his chin. [Whatever it is, I'm glad we get a break from the torture.]

Although the kids didn’t actually know the word torture, they had a sign for what the hags were doing to them. The sign was basically holding the index finger with the thumb and extending the three others.

Klostum nodded. [We finally get to talk to each other again, I missed our conversations.]

The rest nodded in agreement. Jer was scratching his chin, still deep in thought. [What I want to know] he signed [is if we can use this to our advantage.]

Fliít answered [I doubt we can do much with this except protect our sanity, we can't interact with anything, the only thing we can do is talk to each other.]

Jer shook his head [We have gained something very important... time to think!]

Three sat down and the others followed his lead, except Fliít who was content running around and stretching her legs. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t been able to move like that in years or ever really, if his memory was to be trusted. He got up as well and starting jogging around a bit, before breaking into a full sprint with a wild grin on his face. The others lost all semblance of order as they started sprinting around, enjoying the movement they otherwise couldn’t. They started playing a game of tag, some people cheated due to the fact that they couldn't actually be touched. Acrobatic spins and jumps, various silly looking manouvers, anything they could think of. Spirits were lifted due to the moment of childish freedom. After what felt like hours, they finally calmed down and took a seat in a circle.

Strem flopped down, his face losing the grin and turning serious. [How long have we been in those cages? I lost count…]

[Same.] Three responded, the others answering in kind.

[If we judge by how much Klostum has grown we are at least 70 years old!] Fliít quipped, grinning.

The others laughed as they looked at Klostum, who was easily half again as tall as the rest, and twice as broad.

[I’m not THAT big.] Klostum signed, frowning.

[I doubt you can even fit through a normal door!] Valana retorted.

Jer clapped his hands, the sound surprising everyone as they stared at him. He looked at his hands before nodding to himself. [I figured out why we can't hear eachothers’ voices. We have no idea what the others sound like, so this room, whatever it is, can’t replicate the sound. Everyone has heard a clap before in their lives however, so it CAN replicate that]

The rest nodded, his theory did make sense. [I also found out more about the runes that they placed on the floor, they use our own Mana to fuel the enchantments trapping us.]

Everyone started signing about that angrily but Jer clapped his hands once more to ask for their attention. [I think I also found a weakness.]

Now that REALLY caught everyone’s attention, they scooted closer. [The height of the enchantment is its weakness, it has to cover up at least fourteen feet up to the tall ceiling. If we cut off the Mana supply, it will lower slightly after a while ,and we might be able to crawl out the top. Once someone is out it will be easy to free the rest, the runes can be changed from the outside of the cage, you could just wipe them away. The question is who will do it. They will need to shut off their Mana, pulling it all inside to deny the enchantments access to the energy. The problem is that whoever does it will also turn off the Mana Sustenance perk, meaning they will go hungry. They might even starve before enough Mana has been depleted. Nor will you regenerate from your wounds.]

Three didn’t even hesitate. [I’ll do it.]

Sumi stared at him, biting her lip. [Are you sure?]

Three nodded. [Someone has to, and I have been able to feel the Mana inside me for a while now, I just haven't figured out how to touch it yet. I think that gives me a head start on learning how to shut it off. If I do it, we will probably be able to get out of here faster.]

Sumi reluctantly nodded and accepted his answer.

Three signed. [This is where I step out, the sooner I get started the better.]

The rest waved goodbye as Three cut off the connection. It was easier than he had expected, he simply had to imagine stepping out of the room.

He lay on the ground, aware of the closed off area around him, he closed his eyes and focused his attention inward. He spoke truly when he told them he could feel the mana, he could almost see the blue lines of energy coursing through his body, writhing around in their own chaotic patterns. Now that he payed more attention to it, he could see the enchantments absorbing small parts of his mana. He took a breath and started trying to force the energy to stop flowing out of his body. It was difficult to suppress the flow, the energy had a mind of its own and did not want to cease. Still, he kept trying to press and mould the energy into a ball. That was when he noticed the black, coiling energy near his heart.

In a sudden burst of inspiration, Three started sending the mana into the black core. It sucked up the energy like a sponge, expanding, swirling. The mana was being sucked out of him, turning into a vortex. Soon, not only the mana inside his body, but the mana outside of it was being sucked into the core as well. He roared in pain as the energy started spreading through his body. He started spasming, clutching and clawing at the floor, then his sight went black.

-—Kolstum POV——

Kolstum returned to his body, feeling satisfied with the conversation they had, hope had found its way into his heart after a long absence. He had faith in Eltoo, he would find a way to cut of his mana, survive long enough to climb out his cage and free the rest. Eltoo had always been the mentally strongest of the group, or perhaps simply the most stubborn. He smiled slightly as he remembered him trying to attack the hag every single chance he got, even though his torture worsened every time because of it. He glanced over to the side, then he backed away into the wall, his eyes glued to the scene before him. Black energy was swirling around what was supposed to be his friend Eltoo. The boy looked nothing like he used to, the normal stubborn gaze, dark eyes and even darker hair were nothing like before. His eyes were a pit, deeper and darker than anything he could have imagined, his hair was floating around his head as if underwater, but the biggest change by far was his musculature. Kolstum was the tallest and broadest of the group by far, but Eltoo had turned into something else entirely. His muscles were bulging, writhing, growing. It was... frightening.

There was a madness in his eyes that had not been there before. Eltoo smashed his fists, which had grown to the size of a dinner plate, into the invisible wall. He could almost feel the enchantments shaking under the pressure. It didn’t take long for the hags to run into the room, pointing their fingers at Eltoo. The agony they set upon him only caused his fury to blow out of proportion. He smashed his fists against the barrier repeatedly, and even the hags could feel the enchantment giving way. A few of them dropped on their knees, brows dripping with sweat as they poured energy in the enchantments to maintain them. And then he heard the hag that had been torturing them from the start scream at Eltoo. Her hair unkempt as the panic on her face made her voice crack.

“Calm down my son! This is not the WAY! Have patience! I will make you stronger, I will make you the strongest! CALM DOWN! Remember that you chose!” she yelled at the hulking monstrosity that used to be his friend. The words only seemed to outrage it even more as it pounded and smashed against the barrier. Visible cracks were appearing in the enchanted stone now.

“I order you to stop! YOU WILL LISTEN TO MY COMMANDS, I AM YOUR MOTHER!” the woman shrieked, spittle flying from her lips as she pointed at Eltoo in brows drawn in concentration, teeth clenched.

Eltoo roared in rage, and this time the enchantments could no longer suppress his voice.The vibrations shook the very foundations of the building, he folded his hands together and took one huge overhead swing at the barrier with both hands. The barrier smashed into pieces, the hags screamed in panic as they summoned all sorts of magic to deal with the monster they had created. Some of the magic looked strong enough to level a village yet it was simply absorbed by the monstrosity cloaked in it's terribly dark inky aura, factoring in the torture they had put all of them through had given them strong regeneration, the pain had become a lot easier to bear from the experience. As a result, he took the powerful magic head-on, disregarding it as they had been throwing pebbles.

The shallow wounds that they had created were visibly healing. For some reason the physical attacks that summoned spears of ice or earth did manage to penetrate his skin. Eltoo’s fist smashed into the the nearest hag, A barrier bursting into shards as she flew through room and straight out the door. Valana stood up, eyes glimmering in excitement as the hags were overwhelmed by their brother's sheer power, even Kolstum himself could barely contain the excitement and the sheer joy he felt as he saw those who had harmed them being thrown around like ragdolls. Eltoo did exactly that, he smashed through barriers and other protective magics that the group had desperately summoned to slow him down, then he smashed into the group, Throwing them around. His mother and three of the other hags sprinted for the door, mumbling magic that slowed the giant and picked up their unconscious compatriots. Eltoo grabbed the nearest one by the foot and smashed him, against the wall, turning him into paste. The rest off the hags that were still conscious summoned a stone wall from the floor, blocking off the door as they sprinted through to whatever lay beyond.

Eltoo glared around the room in blind rage looking, for anything he could tear apart. His gaze fell on who happened to be closest at the time. Sumi was the one nearest him, and she stared back, her skin rippling white, then blue , then white again. Eltoo started smashing her barrier, cracks appearing far sooner than on his own barrier. He tore the enchantments out of the floor and slung the bricks at the stone wall, shattering them, the debris exploding through the room. Then Sumi did something that Kolstum was sure he would never forget. She stepped forward. His jaw dropped as he stared at her. He had not expected the tamest out of the group to show such raw bravery/ He saw her hand trembling in fear, no matter how one looked at it, this monstrousity was not the same person they knew and loved. Then she whispered in a voice barely audible above the falling dust and debris.

“You did good.” she gently placed her hand on the hulking brute's cheek. “Leave the rest to us.”

The hulking creature froze, then shivered. It put its hand over Sumi’s it's muscles reverting shrinking, pulling themselves back into his body., transforming the monster into the boy. Eltoo collapsed onto the floor, body back to its tall yet reassuringly human form. White shimmered through Sumi’s skin as she took a deep, shaky breath and she sunk to the floor.