Chapter Twenty-Six.

Eden sat in the chair, waiting patiently. Well, not quite patiently, but obediently. He wasn't sure where he was or what was going on, other than that the people around him seemed to want to sell him. The only reason he even knew his name was because they had called him by it a few times.

Something happened that removed his memories, from what he understood. He knew some things, like how to walk, talk, and such. But he didn't remember anything.

The only thing that seemed to stem from his past was one thought burned into his mind.

Help will come.

He wasn't sure why he thought that, but it was an absolute thought that failed to fade from his mind. Anytime he started to wonder if the people who had absolute control over his actions were the good guys, that thought would return.

Help will come.

The men and women who 'owned' him seemed to be frustrated by his lack of memories. They even brought in a mind mage to read his mind, and the mage was the one who said that his memories had been removed. Simply cut out of his head, it seemed.

They seemed to want to know where someone else was. Someone they called 'Cam', who seemed to be the 'big prize' for them. They wanted to know where Eden lived, but he couldn't even answer that.

One of them even struck him, after another response of "I don't know" from him. His cheek still stung from that, but it was the truth. He simply did not know.

Help will come.

The door to Eden's 'room' opened, and Eden's gaze flicked to the man who entered. Tall, intimidating. This was the one who owned his key.

"Get up," the man told Eden, who stood without thinking. The collar made him obey anything the man said. "We're leaving. This place has been compromised."

What does that mean? Eden wondered.

Help will come.

"Follow," the man ordered, and Eden began following him, his gaze firmly on the man's shoes. They were sneakers, not the fancy dress shoes of most of the people there. More comfortable for running in. Eden was wearing sneakers. They'd given him his shoes back when they gave him white pants and a white shirt to put on. They made him strip down so they could make sure he had nothing hidden on him or in him. His phone was apparently destroyed in an explosion before they realized it wasn't on him.

At least that can't help them find Cam, Eden thought. But why do they want him?

Help will come.

The man led Eden through several rooms, then out into a car, telling the teen to sit in the back seat. He did, and the man buckled him in before entering the driver's seat and buckling up.

"It seems some people are looking for you," the man told Eden as he turned on the car and backed out. "But they won't find you. There's no one staying behind, so no one will give any information."

Eden looked at the tall building they were fleeing. An apartment building of some sort, he thought. He wasn't sure how he knew that, just something he knew. The building seemed familiar to him. All of the ones around him did.

For three hours, the man drove, several other cars staying with them. For most of the trip, Eden kept his gaze forward, his eyes never wandering around. He was ordered to, after looking out the window every few seconds, taking in the things around him, almost as if he might be able to find a way out.

He had been ordered not to use any magic and not to attempt to escape, but they couldn't control his thoughts. It still seemed to make his owner nervous when he looked around and took everything in.

They arrived at an office building hours later, most people having long-since gone to bed by that point. The man ordered Eden to follow him, so the teen did. He didn't want to, but the collar around his neck forced him into obedience.

The man led Eden into an elevator, traveling to the sixth floor. When they arrived, a pair of people in their early twenties were waiting. A male and a female, the female's arm looped into the man's, who had his hands casually slipped into his front pockets. The man who owned Eden began to react, but the next thing Eden knew, the other man was standing in front of them, looking tired.

"No more," the new man said, his fist a blur as it struck Eden's owner in the gut.

Then, he grabbed Eden's owner's head and brought it down as he lifted up a knee. The two connected, and Eden's owner dropped to the ground.

"Jade," the young man said. "Destroy the collar. It's platinum."

Eden frowned. He wasn't able to talk, or he'd tell them that such a thing was impossible. His owner had informed him of that. Not even the key for it could release it.

The woman approached Eden, cupping his chin and tilting his head so that he was looking into her brown eyes.

"Eden," she said. "I need you to remain absolutely still. Fail to do so, and I may accidentally give you a serious injury. Blink three times in a row if you understand me."

Eden blinked three times. He would rather not receive a serious injury, though he wasn't sure how she would inflict it if he wasn't standing completely still.

Jade moved her hands down, and he felt her gripping the collar as the elevator doors closed. After a few moments, he gasped as the collar began to burn his neck. Then the sensation stopped, and she pulled her hands away, the collar dropping to the ground. There were two holes in it, Eden noticed, almost as if a cylinder of it was removed from the sides, with the barest tip of the rounded portion on the side of the collar against his neck.

"Sorry about the pain," she told him. "One of the many things to deter someone from trying to remove them. Thankfully, I was able to destroy that portion of the enchantment before it got too bad. The hold over you is gone, how do you feel?"

"Who are you?" Eden frowned, confirming the command to not speak after his last 'interrogation' no longer restrained him.

"I am Jade," she answered. "And this is Noah. We've been asked by different people to keep an eye on you. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to save you."

"Why?"

"We don't know," Jade answered. "Your friends seem to care about you, though."

"My friends?" Eden asked, then shook his head. "Sorry, but I don't remember anything past being in their van. My memories are… gone."

"Hm," Jade thought. "Did they erase them?"

"No," he answered. "They wanted information out of me. I could not provide it."

"It's probably intentional," Noah said, pressing the button for the elevator to take them down to the first floor. "You must have done something that erased your memories. I don't know of anything that could erase all of them, but there are definitely a few things that can erase memories up to a certain point. It would take a particularly powerful mind mage to restore them. It would also not be pleasant, either. For either of you."

"Done it before?" Jade asked him as they reached the first floor.

"No," Noah answered as they exited the elevator. "But I know someone who has and was there when their memories were returned to them. They only had a month's worth. Odds are, you did it to protect someone, Eden."

Eden pondered on that as they exited the building, entering a metallic red car. He wasn't comfortable in cars, but they promised that they'd be out of it soon after noticing his discomfort at it.

Did he erase his own memories? How? Was it to protect this 'Cam'? Why? And why is this Cam so important?

"Who is Cam?"

The two older mages turned and looked at Eden, who asked that question after buckling himself into the backseat.

"How do you know that name?" They asked in unison.

"It is who they wanted information on."

The two older mages looked at each other, then back to Eden.

"Cam," Jade said as Noah turned back around and started driving. "Is also called Ambrosius. He's highly-sought after right now by many parties. He's an extremely powerful mind mage whose father is a High God. You know what magic is?"

"Yes," Eden nodded. "They said I use spatial magic. Teleportation."

"That explains your hesitation at the car," she said. "Mind magic, space magic, void magic, shift magic, time magic – these are the five lone schools of magic. Learning them without an affinity for them is difficult to the point that of the millions of mages in the world, less than a thousand know a lone school of magic. Far, far fewer even possess an affinity for it.

"These are the five most powerful schools of magic," she continued. "You use space magic. This enables teleportation, spatial rending, dimensional creation, and many other potent things that can decimate a legion of mages. I use void magic, a magic that consumes anything it comes into contact with – it's how I broke your collar and why you needed to be absolutely still. If you weren't, I might have accidentally touched you with it, and it would've simply eaten whatever part of you entered it."

"I use time magic," Noah informed him. "I can slow down the area around me, or I can speed up my own time. Both have a similar effect, though the latter is a limited range. It enables me to evade nigh any spell. I can even freeze time, temporarily, which is how I arrived in front of you in the elevator."

"And mind magic?" Eden asked.

"Just as devastating," Jade answered. "You probably don't remember, but you were there when Ambrosius used one of its most potent spells, a mind wave, a ripple of mind magic that flowed out, bypassing walls and barriers and pressing directly into people's minds. It knocked them out in an instant. He can also go through minds, alter or erase memories, forcibly find someone's deepest secrets, and so on."

"The final lone school," Noah said. "Doesn't sound as exciting: shift. It lets you shift the properties or form of yourself or something you're in contact with. Not that exciting, right? Wrong. Skin that's harder than anything, the ability to turn into any animal or change your appearance, the ability to alter other matter. Imagine wielding an iron sword that's suddenly a sharper, mithril blade. Or turning bullets into foam."

"The five lone schools are truly terrifying," Jade said. "And normal mages don't stand a chance. We can even take on demigods, the children of gods."

"And that," Noah said. "Is where Ambrosius comes in. You were there when he used the attack, though it seems you knew him more than just as a fellow fighter in that underground mage arena."

"Ambrosius has killed a demigod?" Eden asked.

"No," Jade answered. "Ambrosius is a demigod. And the more powerful the godly parent, the more powerful the demigod is naturally."

"And Ambrosius's father is one of the oldest and most powerful of all the gods," Noah told Eden as he pulled into a hotel parking lot. "When he first awakened his divinity, the force of his aura brought several gods to their knees."

"If someone can put a platinum collar on him," Jade said. "They would have what amounts to the most powerful weapon in the world. Only a few mages would be able to contest him, and even then, it would be a stretch. It would require a High God like his father to counter him for guaranteed victory."

Noah told them he was going to see if they could get a room for the night, then exited the car, and Eden thought over what he was told. The people who captured him seemed to have been planning to want him – they mentioned to him that they had the trap in planning for two years.

So when did he meet Cam – Ambrosius – and what was their relationship? How did they know each other, and for how long? It seemed like it was known they were connected, even if these two mages weren't aware of that.

And if Ambroisus really was that powerful…

"If he's that powerful, why are they going after him?"

"Because he's only thirteen," Jade turned and looked at him again. "And isn't fully-trained in his powers, even if that means he's almost an adult in demigod years. From what little we were able to pick up while looking for you, it seems he's hesitant to use offensive magic ever since he was rescued from his last kidnapping. If they can grab him before he loses that reluctance, then it would be worth all the effort and trouble they go through to capture him."

"And people think I know where he is?" Eden asked.

"From the people we interrogated while looking for you," Jade told him. "You've been seen with him at the arena a number of times, and even have a set sparring schedule that works around and with each other's. Here comes Noah."

Noah returned and informed them he'd managed to rent a single room for them, handing Jade a key card. They entered through a side entrance and made their way up to the fifth floor, where Jade and Noah then argued about who was sleeping on the floor. There were two beds, and both agreed that Eden was sleeping on one of them.

The teen was unsure, but stepped out of his shoes and climbed onto the bed, quickly passing out as the two continued arguing.

"I just don't see why you couldn't rent two rooms!"

"Because it's my money," Noah told Jade. "You want your own room, go rent one yourself."

"I told you, I forgot my wallet at-"

"Not my problem," Noah climbed onto the other bed. "I rented the room, I get a bed. Good night."