I stood buck naked, surrounded by a group of no less than twenty observers. Each one pushed past another to get a better view of my exposed frame but struggled to get closer than a foot to my person before hitting some magical barrier.

It was about an hour or two past Berthold's betrayal and the separation of Nev and myself. I was locked in place for more than fifteen minutes before they finally unfroze me, just to run a series of medical tests. Despite my protest, they drew blood, plucked hairs, and magically swabbed every single one of my orifices. After that, I was transported to what could only be described as an interrogation room.

Bright lights pointed down at me from every direction above. While voices surrounding me took their turns shouting out questions ability based and those slightly more personal. It took an hour of me asking to leave as a response to every question before they realized they couldn't squeeze any blood from this particular stone. Once they finally retired, I was brought 'here' to be gawked at by what I prayed were medical professionals.

"Make way, make way!" A stout woman called out from behind the crowd.

The mass split in response but clambered over each other to peep at me from different parts of the circle.

"Mersault Star?" The short woman asked.

"Who?" I looked around as if pretending she was talking to someone else.

"Good one," she nodded to a corner of the room, and the circular walls enclosing me shimmered for a second before disappearing completely.

"Neat," I replied.

"Follow now. Trust me, you don't want one of these others scooping you up."

I exited the circle hesitantly as the crowd parted for my departure. I reached out to the closest person to me and gripped onto their robes, leaving them standing dumbfounded and almost as naked as I was. Quickly I reformed the fabric into pants and a loose-fitting tunic, leaving my former observer in their solitary nudity.

"Oh, wonderful," the short woman called back. "It's just as they said."

She was walking quickly, but I still hadn't followed. None of my observers even tried to touch me. I had a feeling this was due to my short savior's influence. Thoughts of fleeing and fighting my way to freedom overcame my mind.

"Mersault, come." The woman said one final time.

My body moved without my consent in the direction of the woman.

"What the?"

"I know, I know it must be terribly frightening." She continued with her back turned to me. "Come for lunch, and I'll explain everything. I know you'll love it."

I didn't love it.

Lunch was fine. Decadent pastries, fresh juicy cuts of meat, and better beer than I had tried in my former modern world. What I didn't love was my new status.

"So, I'm a slave?"

"Slave is such an ugly term. We use the phrase 'bondservant' instead." She said in between bites of a massive eclair. "Plus, slaves work for nothing while you work for everything."

"As in?"

"Freedom, of course. Citizenship to our magnificent city, and with a gift like yours, you should be able to attain it in no time."

"Where are my friends?" I asked, quickly remembering our entry into the city. "Friend, I mean. The one who controls the plants."

"I haven't got a clue, sorry. An associate of mine told me about your gifts, and I knew I couldn't risk losing you to any other factions here."

Pheralynn, or Lynn as she asked me to call her, didn't seem like a liar. But, of course, that also didn't mean I could trust everything she said, either. I only know that my escape will be impossible until I figure out how she's manipulating me so effortlessly.

"Well, that's enough of that," Pheralynn said, setting half her massive eclair down in front of her. "Are you ready to see your new home?"

I stared daggers back at her, but I think she thought that meant yes.

The outside of the city was framed by walls thousands of feet high, preventing any unwanted visitors from causally climbing or flying past the city's borders. The inside of this massive city was nowhere near as simple.

Towers and skyscrapers dotted the city's landscape. The tops of some buildings occasionally floated off and fixed themselves to different bases. This created a Rubix cube-like aesthetic throughout Dulcrois, where non-matching paints and stonework fuzed to form a messy but intentional appearance. But, of course, buildings weren't the only thing that floated throughout these borders. In addition to birds, humans and other normally terrestrial-bound creatures found themselves floating through the air without difficulty. A cat meandered toward us, Pheralynn petting it for a moment before it chased off after a bird.

"Duck your head down, sweetie." She suggested.

"Wha-" I started to reply.

WHOOM

A metal cart whizzed by on invisible tracks skirting only several inches from my face. It hung a sharp right and rolled out of sight behind several buildings.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Oh, just some mail. You learn to look out for it, or you don't." She laughed. "I guess there is a reason they call it 'The Guillotine.'"

"Okay?" I replied. "Or I guess you could just have someone deliver the mail, right?"

She shrugged as we continued our walk. In the distance, one of the tallest buildings in the city caught my eye. Dozens of these 'guillotines' poured out of it, sailing away on invisible tracks. This building stood out not only because of its height but also because it was one of the few that looked as if it was made of one solid piece. A gold paint spread across the entirety of the tower's surface, and at the very top, the symbol of a nine-pointed star.

Pheralynn had not specified, but I knew this was what she meant by home.