Each movement he took was excruciating, and as he assessed the full state of damage over his body he could not believe how much of him was injured. It seemed that he had been kept alive after taking some serious injuries from the group. Someone was looking after him, which was surprising. He had killed a lot of the Lupe chasing him, even if it had been in self defence there should have been many Lupe who still wanted his blood. He was just lucky that none of them realised that Yun was a Tigerwolf, else he would not have gotten off with just a beating.
Sitting up, Laurence leant against the wall and closed his eyes. The mana around him seemed so faint in comparison to anything he had felt in a long time. It was almost at the levels that he felt when he was a child with his parents, which was as close to nothing as one could get in those odd minor dimensions around the tower. He could not help but wonder if he was in such a situation, or whether it was something else entirely. With each intake of breath he noticed something new about the room. At first it was just the dearth of mana, but then the odd lightsource that dimly lit the room shot into focus from him. Somehow it was lighting everywhere evenly as if it was either behind everything or within the middle of the room, yet no matter where he looked he could not see an origin for the light. The next thing he noticed was the room itself. It was beautifully crafted, and with his truesight Laurence could see that the entire thing was made by a person who understood Creation intimately. The rune-work on each brick was consummate, perfect and intricate. It was art in a way that only someone like Laurence could really appreciate. He could feel that this room could have been someone's Machination if they had built upon it more. Instead it was a masterclass on the process of creating a prison for Challengers.
From what Laurence could glean from the runes and sigils, he could tell that the room was made to keep its inhabitant alive at all costs; to the point that any injuries they had, like Laurence did, would heal over a much shorter period of time than normal, even if they were on their dying breath. The inhabitant would not even need to eat or drink while inside the room, they would simply be sustained by the power of the room itself. That, however, was where the good things about the room ended. The more Laurence looked at the glyphs he was horrified by their simplicity as to what they allowed the room to do.
The glyphs were split into three rings, one inside the other. The first ring dealt with the healing and sustenance of the inhabitant, the second dealt with the general functions of the room like lighting and reinforcement to stop anyone breaking out. The third ring was what scared Laurence as it was a creation that he thought was impossible. First, the third ring muted the mana in his surroundings, sucking it up into the aether to power the processes of the room. Second, it forced ‘false mana’ into the air, inhibiting the inhabitant’s capability to absorb power from his surroundings by making their mana reservoir incapable of actually absorbing mana into themself as the ‘false mana’ that was surrounding them had all the characteristics of mana bar the ability to be absorbed into the body, making it virtually indistinguishable. Third, and the part that scared Laurence the most, was the blockage of the inhabitant from any and all books that they practiced. It would not remove their ability to use their skills, like Laurence’s truesight, but it would make them incapable of summoning it or using the inherent capabilities they gained by reading the book in the first place like his trueforming. It shackled him in place and severed him from the world he knew, which was a far greater punishment than any beating could deal. For the first time in ten years he was truly alone, and he had no idea what he should do about it.
He stood up and walked over to the door in what he arbitrarily decided was the north side of the room. It was as good any without being able to see the sun, so he decided that his exit would be north. Grabbing the door, he shook at the grate that allowed him to look outside and stopped. There was something wrong, but he could not place what it was. It was so other to him that it took him a moment to realise that even though he felt like his hands were touching the wrought iron bars of the door he could only see one hand there. He looked down at his body and cried out in shock as he noticed a stump where his left arm should have been. There was something other about it, something he was entirely not prepared for as he reached out and touched it at the edges. He flinched as he touched the stump. It was raw, tender, and surprisingly smooth against his fingers. He stopped and breathed in deeply before yelling out loud in frustration. His fist smacked into the door before he slumped onto the ground and grabbed his stump.
He moaned incoherently as he sat by the door, incapable of moving or even lifting his head. There was nothing he could do about his arm, but he still felt the loss of his arm dearly. It impacted almost every facet of his life, and the fact that he was not complete just added insult to injury. Even though he knew there was nothing there he could still feel a tingling sensation that came up from his left hand, it was a persistent throbbing that he could not ignore, even when his palm covered the edge of his stump he could still feel his left hand move to his will. His breathing quickened and he felt like he was about to black out when he heard someone’s voice. From nearby he heard someone talking. He could hear them asking him something. He tried to focus on what they were saying but everything was so far away. He was dizzy, but the longer he focussed on the voice, the more he could feel his breathing come back under control. He could feel his breath pattern fall back into the Inner Flame formation that had been core to him for so long. His senses gradually became clearer and soon enough he felt like he was in control again.
“... hear me? Kid, are you okay?”
Laurence blinked, his vision was still pink and everything seemed to be breathing at the same pace as his Inner Flame. Groaning, he sat up and looked out of the grating, but either way he looked he could not see anyone.
“Who’s there?”
“Oh my. He's woken,” said a second voice, one that seemed eerily familiar to Laurence, but the who and the where escaped him.
“It's fine,” said the first voice. “You're just stuck in a cell in this Lupe compound like me. What's your name?”
“I'm...” Laurence focused as he placed his forehead against a wall. “My name is Law. Law. I need to get out of here. People are waiting for me”. He stopped before slamming his fist into the door once more. “I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” He screamed into the empty hallway.
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