In the slumps of Destin an old tavern stood. It had existed for decades and would probably exist for some more. Even though it looked very run down from the outside, the inside told a different story. Even though the tavern didn’t look like much, it was more than meets the eye.

When a normal customer enters, they see but a part of the whole building, the rest being protected by a strong illusion spell that low level wizards or magicians couldn’t decipher, if they could even identify it. And the better ones weren’t a worry for the owners of the place, because they either were on their side, or they wouldn’t go into such a building in such sector of the city.

It wasn’t that they were afraid of getting mugged or killed, but rather that they had an image to maintain and other things in life were more important for them. And that is where Kupi got in. He wasn’t a good magician or wizard, but for these people another method of entering the rest of the building existed.

- Hello barkeep, can I have the menu, please? – If Kupi remembered correctly, the code changed according to the menu, with a pattern mixing the order of the products and the prices of these.

The day of the week in which you were also mattered, to try to increase security. This made entering the secret section of the building a bit tedious and hard to remember, but the business that they were dealing with here required a good memory and patience, so it was also a way to measure the worthiness of the clients.

- Can I have a cold Smuggler’s Beer with a side of a Rich Rum. – After waiting more or less five seconds, Kupi continued. – Oh, and also a Bloody Mary, with three ice cubes. And finally, a Margarita with two lime sheets, pretty please. – Most of the words were part of the code, but some of them were just filler to trick people that wanted to steal the code. It was a secretive society, after all.

- Alright, wait here. – The bartender said and went to the backroom to “get the alcohol”. Before he got into the room, he checked whether Kupi followed the normal procedure. It was simple, he’d go to the bathroom and enter a specific stall. Then, the bartender would let him through and after a while the stall used for transport would magically change from “occupied” to “free”.

- Good afternoon, Poco. – Kupi greeted his contact carefully. It had been a few years since they last saw each other and Kupi wasn’t sure how much she’d remember. – How have these last few years been? – He asked openly as he slowly got closer to her.

The woman he was talking to used to be a spy that took information and sold it herself, but with time and some investments her operation grew, with now two digits of people peeping throughout the city to get valuable information and sell it for income.

- Kupi, Kupi, Kupi. I knew you’d come. – Poco said as a few guards surrounded Kupi out of nowhere. – You don’t believe that I’ve forgotten how you left the last time, do you? I’m not that old and you best believe that I won’t forget something like that.

Nervous laughter came from Kupi’s mouth as he was forced to sit onto a chair on the other side of the table of Poco. She had been reading reports of what was happening in the city and thought of people they could sell that information to.

- Haha, did you now? I guess you’re still as sharp as ever. Or your organization. You know what I mean, you can read people well. And you probably also know why I’m here and what I’ll do to get it. That’s why you’ll never get married.

- Hey! I am still pretty young and I’m just waiting for the right one! And of course, I have what you want, but before we can talk of that… let’s play a game. – Poco moved her hands in a manner so that a servant left and reentered the room with a deck of playing cards. – Now, to make this game fairer I’ll play blindfolded – Poco smiled at the thought and continued. – Let’s do… the best of three?

- I think that I’ll take you on the challenge, but it should be the first to three wins. What do you think? We’ll have more time to talk that way… - Kupi sneered as he also wanted to win, because knowing Poco the winner would gain something, as “life was like a game” so winning in games should have a positive effect as is winning in life. Or that’s what she believed, at least.

Inside a lord’s castle dungeon, two kids were chained up. Their limbs were stretched to form an X-shape and they could barely move. The hands of both children were also covered by a special metal that could absorb mana to prevent them from using spells to escape.

It had been a few hours since they had been left there and Gabriel had made multiple attempts at escaping, alas he was still there. He also tried communicating with his sister, but she gave emotionless, golem-like replies.

After an unknown amount of time later, late at night, nearing dawn, actually, a group of ten well trained warriors and a child came close to a mansion in Destin. It was the rescue group that Kupi managed to hire almost for free after beating Poco not only three times in a row while she was blinded, but he also managed to beat her two more times with her skills in use.

Kupi only needed to pay his debts to Poco which weren’t much but also not so small. What Kupi used to do to keep his contacts was lend a single coin of the smallest value and then let the debt slowly increase to an amount that wasn’t so big, but it was still useful to get. And Kupi always paid and left a single coin of the smallest value left in the debt to keep the relationship alive.

Now he was being guided to a secret entrance to the building where Gabriel and Arabelle were being held captive, according to Poco’s information agency. Kupi trusted them and he had ended the games on a positive note, having fun with Poco, so he didn’t worry of being left behind or betrayed by the ten people that accompanied him which were supposedly going to help him.

Inside the dungeon, a few hours prior, the unknown lord was talking with Gabriel once more. Now he was treated less as a wild monster and more as a curiosity for the unchained man. He was also willing to converse with this reddish-skinned man.

- Greetings, my prisoner. I know that our relationship hasn’t started on the best tracks, but I believe that after that useful conversation we had before and a few more switches we can come onto a positive relationship for the both of us. – The lord greeted Gabriel as he entered his cell.

- I think that’s good and all but how can I trust someone that is controlling other people’s brain to do what you want. – Gabriel critiqued. – Relieve her from your control and we can see how our relationship goes. – Gabriel gave the man an ultimatum.

- Aha, I see it must be very important to you… Well, I’m afraid that it’s not something I can do just like that, it must be done slowly and step by step. – He explained. – It goes both ways, it can’t be rushed, or it will sustain permanent damage, at least with my current technology. With the spells it had before getting to me, you may be able to instantly recover its original state, but none of us have those spells... – The man glared at Gabriel shortly to see how he’d react and then continued. – So, in the end we have to start slowly. I can start now, if you so prefer, but we’ll have to meet again and again, to share our mind-bending interests and to release it from my spells.

As Gabriel heard these news, he felt useless, angry and helpless. He didn’t really want to meet this man who left him trapped within his mind games, he’d much rather escape, but with the current situation there wasn’t much of a choice.

- Ok, I’ll start telling you what I’ve found out tomorrow if you clear at least a section of the spells in her mind now. – Gabriel resigned the fight on the surface, but he’d try his best to exit the building he was in on the next 24 hours to prevent him from meeting this dangerous man.

- Gladly. – The man mimicked a bow and started working. Gabriel carefully observed how this man controlled the energies and the spells he used to try to do the same when he escaped with his sister. When Gabriel confirmed that the spells occupied less space on Arabelle’s brain, he spoke.

- Thank you. I need to speak with her now, if you could please leave? – Gabriel begged, but didn’t expect the man to comply. He left the room and didn’t leave any guards looking at them or close enough.

However, as the man was already exiting his dungeon, he spoke to the captain of his guards.

- Guard them and make sure that they don’t escape between today and tomorrow. They can NOT escape! After that I’ll give you a whole month of pay. If they manage to escape, however… you won’t like it.

- Sir yes sir! – The guard simply answered and started ordering the other guards.