Mantle of the Gods

I was chained to a desk.

It was the first thing that registered when I woke up. Next, was that I was alone in a small room with a single light source in the ceiling. It was a school desk, which made sense since there was a school on the premises.

I was only cuffed with my right hand to the arm of the desk on the right side. I could get up, but I couldn’t move far since the desk was bolted to the floor.

I felt stronger as I got up and moved around the front of the desk. The chain on the cuff was short, so I could get about an arm’s length away from the desk.

There was nothing else in the room. I thought about calling out, but if Trent had wanted to see me, then he would have woken me up, not waited for me to wake up on my own.

Which meant that they hadn’t contacted him. I didn’t see how he wouldn’t be here immediately if he knew what was happening. I decided that if they weren’t going to call Trent, I’d have to find a way to do it. I made a finger gun with my left hand and pointed it at the chain of the cuff.

“Pebble Shot.” I kept my voice low in case there was a guard. I knew that the projectiles colliding with chains were going to make some noise, but it’d buy me an extra second or two.

Nothing happened. I pointed at the chain again.

“Pebble shot!” This time I said it in a normal voice, but still nothing. I pointed at the desk, then the wall, then the door, and then the light.

“Pebble shot! Pebble shot! Pebble shot! Pebble shot!”

Still, nothing happened.

The cuffs must have a way to suppress my magic. I should have assumed since there were really strong Adventurers and there had to be a way to police them.

I sat back down in the chair and tried to pass the time. My sword was gone, but I was wearing a blue jumpsuit. Someone had put one on me because this one probably wasn’t mine. This one felt brand new and I would be willing to bet all my crystals that Edward tore mine apart out of spite.

I wasn’t sure how much time went by before the boredom finally got to me.

“HEY! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE!” I focused on the door and hoped the room wasn’t soundproof. "I’M IN HERE!”

I’d count to sixty and repeat the message, but I started counting faster, so I was yelling more often than once a minute.

I don’t know how long that went on, but after a while, my throat was hurting and I had lost hope in it working. My counting got slower and I found myself starting over sometimes without even yelling.

It didn’t take long before I stopped yelling and counting and just sat in the chair with my head on the desk and my arms covering my head.

I lost track of how long I was like that and was about to fall asleep when the door opened.

A woman in Enforcer’s armor with brown hair and brown eyes walked into the room.

“Where’s Trent?” I got out of the chair, only to stop midway when our eyes met. It was like looking at my death walking towards me. She had a glare that would have given the scariest nun at the temple I grew up in a run for her money. And this woman didn’t look like she’d even reached forty yet. I shuddered when I thought about what she could do in another forty years. I slowly eased myself back into the chair.

“Do you have any idea how disrespectful it is to call him by his first name?” She folded her arms in front of her.

“No?” I was confused. "Almost no one used their last names while I worked as a Porter for the last four years.” I held up a finger as I remembered the ones who did. "Except for the really uptight Nobles. And Trent doesn’t come across as one of those.”

She sighed and shook her head. "Do you know why you're here?”

“Did you find Rix?” I tried to squeeze that question in first.

“Answer the questions I ask. Do you know why you're here?”

“Have you talked to Trent? How is everyone else?” I didn’t care why they were detaining me, I just wanted to know if everyone, and I found myself including Edward in that, was okay.

She slammed her hands onto the desk. There was nowhere for me to run, but every nerve in my body was screaming at me to flee.

“You nearly killed a student, a Noble at that, used illegal means to level yourself and your team, used illegal stat-enhancing substances, made an unauthorized floor boss attempt, AND…” It felt like her glare pierced into my soul. "Killed a member of your team and tried to blame the Yellow team for it.”