CHAPTER 3

CAPTIVE

(The Man’s POV)

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The piercing pain was slowly giving way to a much more subtle… Throbbing pain? From that moment on, it was as if my life was divided into two parts: before the piercing pain and after the piercing pain. What was there before the piercing pain? That… was… painful to remember?

 

Muscles that I didn't even know existed were aching. My whole body was sticky with sweat and blood, my eyelids were like a pair of iron ingots refusing to open. 

 

‘AWAKEN’

 

The cold metallic voice of the system in my mind sounded creeping me out and making my eyes shoot open. It felt like an electrical current ran through my body. I  restrained my urge to groan and cursed internally.

 

‘Damn you and your system, Reason. I hope you would give me a good explanation for all of these because I am going to demand one as soon as things settle down a little bit.’ 

 

I don't know how long later when I finally managed to focus my sight in front of me and she was there again. Her back was turned towards me, sitting close to what looked like a cave entrance.

 

Her thick braided hair was still disheveled and ungroomed, she was still wearing the same robe, so that was easy to recognize even from the back. The damned augmented reality engine was working properly, marking the woman as the target with a red arrow above her head and indicating the distance. 

 

Interestingly, my two sub-consciousness, one of which is now my system operator, were still bickering after all the things that happened as if I didn't exist. 

 

‘Losing consciousness behind enemy lines due to friendly fire? You are so useless that I can't find appropriate words to define. We are lucky to be alive and I hate leaving things to luck.’ Reason was berating Passion. If it wasn't for the augmented reality data on my peripheral vision I would have believed that he was the responsible one of the two. 

 

‘You know, I am the luckiest person alive. There is no surprise in that.’ Passion acknowledged easily. ‘Yeah, sadly Reason was the responsible one.’ I thought.

 

‘That is only because I never leave anything to luck.’ He retorted immediately and continued berating. ‘Now shut up and listen. Something is seriously wrong with this place. I told you to hold fire but you refused to listen and almost killed us.’ 

 

As much as I was angry at Reason, although inadvertently, Passion really almost got me killed which should never be repeated under any circumstances.  

 

‘You are demoted until a second order. You will not trigger anything unless we understand where we are and what is wrong with this place.’ Declared Reason his verdict on Passion.

 

As much as I wanted to think that it was unfair, I too did agree that Passion was still too inexperienced to cast a three-step will construct and too injudicious to know that he shouldn't try in the first place.

 

‘You know you can’t do that. You are not my superior.’ He opposed but in the end, I was the one to decide and I sure was not going to let him cast anything in the near future. Still, that didn't prevent Reason from throwing his weight around as he liked. 

 

‘Oh, I am. It's just you don’t know of it yet, and even if you refuse to accept my superiority, you must still obey me due to my seniority. Now, shut up, and let's get going.’ He said in my mind and concluded the argument prematurely, at least for now.

 

Despite all the pain, I tried to collect my thoughts, then started to prepare to cast my will without moving and talking, a silent still casting with image sharing while still ignoring all the system shenanigans in front of my eyes.

 

'It is too distracting.'

 

Reason channeled an appropriate amount of energy toward my ears while preparing the proper mental image that would increase the air density inside my ears. I simply murmured the trigger word that was going to enhance my hearing inside my mind. 

 

‘[Ezin]’

 

With this, I listened. Listened for a long time while also trying to understand the situation I am in. The system log already showed that there was no one except the woman and me inside the shelter for a long time but that didn't mean that there was no one outside. Things like these are always important while working around the system shenanigans. 

 

I was in a high ceiling low length cave, lying on an elevated, flat rock platform. My hands and feet were tied up with something that feels like a… leather rope?

 

I still didn't understand the reason for still being captured. Even if I was unconscious and taken captive, Reason and Passion were awake, and together they would have been more than enough to handle just one person. 

 

‘... too many unanswered questions, too little time to address them …’

 

I was facing the cave entrance with my hands tied at the back. The woman was right in front of me, facing towards the cave entrance too, engaged in something I can’t see.

 

My coat was thrown aside, my shirt was messy, my belt was unbuckled, and my boots and socks were nowhere to be seen. I was obviously undressed to be searched properly. Not that I had anything on me worthy of value except my clothes according to the inventory summarised by the system. 

 

'Now that is humiliating.' murmured Passion inside my mind. The image of being groped properly while still being unconscious may have been humiliating for Passion but for me, it was only infuriating. 

 

‘I swear I am going to discipline both of you properly as soon as I get out of this.’ I thought, but interestingly, or maybe not so interestingly,  there was no answer from either of them.

 

I was not experienced enough with the augmented reality mode of the system to understand if it was courtesy of it or not, but  I also was not willing to experience it one more moment than what was necessary.  

 

From what I heard, there were no heartbeats other than the two of ours in the immediate vicinity, including outside of the cave. I didn’t know if she had any accomplices away, that would return sometime in the future, so I decided to act fast.

 

As far as I can sense, there was no energy-intensive or conductive object other than my own equipment, which made things much easier. Immediately, I planned my route of action.

 

The first thing to do was to get rid of the ties on my hands and feet respectively, without alarming my captor if possible. Then I was going to reach for my coat and energize the runes on its back to utilize the remote control.

 

The coats of the 5th Tactical Command were state-of-the-art gear that was designed not only to protect its wearer against elements of nature and supernature but also to act as low-level reactive armor. Moreover, even the basic coats of the initiates were adorned with multiple enchantments for survival and search and rescue purposes.

 

One of these functions was the remote control which literally helped the user puppet his coat from a distance. Originally integrated to allow trainers to restrain initiates easily in case they show aggression, this remote control function had many possible applications from wearing and removing without effort to division and diversion tactics. Thus getting my hands on my coat was the best way to capture someone alive. 

 

With my plan formed, I started with the first part, which was freeing myself from my restraints. I have chosen something created just for this kind of situation, a will-construct to tear fibers apart.

 

Again, Reason prepared the appropriate mental image for another silent and still casting and channeled the energy towards the ties through my wrists. 

 

‘Tearing individual strings of a thread’ was an easy and straightforward mental image that poses no threat to the user unless it was cast upon self, but was utterly devastating for inanimate objects as long as they were made of fibers. Without sight, this kind of will-constructs was often prone to miscast. However, touching the object was always a great help.

 

‘[Besk]’ I thought the trigger word which literally means tear in Imperial but may also mean split or elongate. Any of those meanings may be used for the same purpose thus making the trigger word easy to use even for novices such as Passion. Still, I was neither in the mode to train the unruly child nor undermine the authority of Reason despite being mad at him, thus I triggered it myself. 

 

As soon as I cast my will, I felt the ties weakening and loosening around my wrists. But when I tried to break the strings apart, to my surprise they made an abrupt, glass-like, breaking sound but hold.

 

'What the hell is this thing made of to make such a sound?' Passion cursed, but I didn't give any thought to it and immediately rip the ties on my hands with much more force this time, again with that abrupt breaking sound.

 

Once I freed my hands, I straightened myself from my lying position and grabbed my coat. But as I sat up, what greeted me was sweet dizziness and less than a moment of blackout.

 

It was like my body was sweet talking to me, ‘No need to stand up. Just pass out now, and everything will be much better.’ though nausea accompanying just didn't allow me to do so. My gaze involuntarily moved toward the head of the small human male icon in the top right corner of my peripheral vision. 

 

‘Must be the lingering effects of the mild concussion.’ I thought. Such a concussion may be the trigger for Reason to put me to sleep and activate the system, but even that still wasn’t enough to explain the situation I was in properly. Those two could have handled many things while I was asleep, even immobilized, but chose to do nothing. 

 

However, during that brief moment, I was trying to collect myself was all it took for Passion to start yelling stupid things in my mind. ‘What the hell! Eighth entrance of the side nut' Now what?' 

 

I couldn't help but get startled. ‘Really now…  Eighth entrance? Side nut?’. At any other time, I would have been amazed too even only if for his creativity, but now it only irritated me more and more. 

 

Reason wasn't taking this random burst of rage kindly either. ‘I swear I will smite you myself one of these days.’ he said. But Passion just wasn't aware of the possible consequences of such outbursts on himself and continued bickering. ‘Yes, yes. Just do your thing while I am pitying myself.'

 

‘One more time, and I am going to suspend that idiot for the foreseeable future.’ I thought while trying to stay awake and stabilize myself, but the moment was already lost. The woman was already facing me.

 

Reason was experienced enough to know what to do and fast enough to repeat the sequence himself alone almost in moments.

 

With another “[Besk]”, audibly this time, I tore the ties binding my feet this time, not caring about the breaking sound, and stood up with my coat in my hand. Stabilizing myself, trying to stay on foot, and braced myself against the cold stone wall while the woman watched me with shocked eyes.

 

However, after only a few moments, she regained her composure or seemed to do so, holding her arms open to show her empty hands and with what would probably be an abashed smile, started to step back, slowly, towards the entrance of the cave.

 

Although she was showing her empty hands, probably to prove that she mean no harm, she was also slowly moving towards the cave entrance. 

 

‘No, you are not sneaking away from this. I am having the worst day of my life, and somebody has to pay for it.’ jabbed Passion in my head. There was almost no respite between his bickerings and mood swings.

 

While I was utterly furious with the young idiot, in a sense that idiot being a literal part of my own consciousness was frustrating. The things he threw out of the blue were often frighteningly close to what I was thinking but reluctant to say, which only made him more and more unnerving. 

 

‘Don’t kill her! We are going for the capture, and in one piece if possible. I want explanations.’ Reason reminded Passion as soon as he showed signs of taking initiative on the latter one’s part. 

 

‘Easier said than done.’ Passion answered. The speed of communication between these two often left me out of the actual decision-making process and kept me from interfering just like I couldn't interfere before Passion used the trigger word yesterday despite Reason’s warning. 'I couldn't but why Reason didn't stop the trigger though?'

 

I was already accustomed to faster-than-speech communication with Reason for years. However, from the moment I did awaken my mind the second time and Passion was born, the communication between these two was faster than almost thought, my thought at least.  Thus, here I was witnessing the jabbing match between Reason and Passion before the woman even took a second step backward. 

 

‘Let me handle this properly if you can’t do it.’ Reason retorted immediately. 

 

I couldn't help but think, ‘What happened to the -demoted until a second order is issued-’ stuff?’ Although energizing the runes on the coat couldn't be considered as casting one’s will, it still surprised me because Reason was anything but forgiving. 

 

‘Just another thing to ask questions about as soon as I took care of this system stuff.’ I thought while eyeing the information in my peripheral vision. On the bottom left, there was a minimap showing me as a flickering blue dot in the middle, only covering the interior of the cave for now. It was one of the privileges of having an awakened mind. Together with the global positioning runes on the coat, it was possible to determine my whereabouts only within a few periods of time. However, the coat should have Central Command Interference access for the runes to work which was going to be my first priority as soon as I neutralize the target.  

 

One of the best advantages of global positioning runes, apart from never getting lost obviously, was never getting flanked as long as the coat was worn. It was already toggled on as soon as I put my hands on the coat and now the woman was shown as a red dot in my minimap. 

 

‘I will do it. Shut up already. Just check the coat while I am handling this.’ Passion declared while I was roughly checking the integrity of the functions embroidered on the coat using the system interface. 

 

‘Already checked. The energy sigil is still intact and ready to use.’ Reason immediately answered him before I was halfway done. Within moments everything was almost ready. 

 

Probably sensing the atmosphere getting tenser by the moment, the woman tried to initiate communication but the language was unintelligible, just like the last time.'

 

“𐰸𐰆𐰺𐰴𐰢𐰣𐰀:𐰏𐰼𐰚:𐰖𐰸⸱ 𐰋𐰦𐰤:𐰽𐰭𐰀:𐰔𐰺𐰺:𐰏𐰠𐰢𐰔⸱”

 

Her voice was a little bit more high-pitched than before, probably due to sudden stress or excitement. But by no means, I wasn't naive enough to try to communicate with a hostile authority user while letting her slowly move away from me and do whatever she wants. Still, reluctant to attack immediately, I answered with a low voice hard to hear even for my own ears.

 

“Sorry, but I don’t speak your language.”  ‘Wait! Why was I reluctant in the first place?’

 

Maybe hearing my voice, probably for the first time if one doesn't count screaming in pain, or maybe seeing my lips move made the woman startle and stop her retreat. 

 

‘Probably she didn't think to get an actual answer in the first place.’ I thought, getting tense realizing the obvious changes in her body language. She answered without a pause as soon as she shook from the initial shock.

 

“𐰇𐰔𐰏𐰤𐰢:𐰢𐰀:𐰾𐰤𐰃:𐰭𐰞𐰢𐰖𐰆𐰺𐰢⸱”  

 

‘You don’t speak my language too? Well, that’s surprising.’ Passion mocked in my head and reprimanded me immediately. 

 

‘Stop wasting time and get going. We don’t have all day. She is obviously buying time for something and I don’t want to wait to find out what it is.’ Reason said -thought- interrupting his fun. 

 

While those two were bickering again, the woman slowly lowered her hands and continued to speak.

 

“𐰾𐰤𐰃:𐰭𐰞𐰢𐰖𐰆𐰺𐰢⸱ 𐰤𐰓𐰤:𐰸𐰆𐱃𐰲𐰀:𐰸𐰆𐰭𐱁𐰢𐰖𐰺𐰽𐰣”

 

‘Thank you for not cutting my throat while I was still unconscious beauty. I think you want to be friends too, but the boring guy just won’t let us do what we want. Look, you've already lowered your hands and I am going to be scolded again if we keep talking.’ Passion continued his mocking spree.

 

Now that she didn't see any hostile action, although her hands were still slightly away from her body, the woman seemed relaxed and continued talking.

 

 “𐰢𐰼𐰴𐰉𐰀:𐰋𐰤𐰃:𐰣𐰞𐰖𐰆𐰺:𐰢𐰆𐰽𐰣⸱”

 

Even being reluctant had a limit, and as she continued talking, not only me but also Reason too started to grow more and more restless. It was the Passion that broke the stalemate at last and started to take action as expected from the restless infant. 

 

‘Yes, yes. I agree that we need to talk but not on equal terms. Thanks for removing my cloak by the way. That is always the most vulnerable part of this trick. You could have folded it properly but I still appreciate the effort. I'm sorry for what is going to happen next. Now let's see…’ He continued talking in my mind but this time he was working together with Reason to alleviate my worries permanently. 

 

Reason acted as the planner, and coordinator as I expected him to be and provided the mental image required while warning Passion immediately before he took any action. ‘At least one knife was hidden in her sleeves…’

 

‘Which arm was it?’ Passion tried to remember but it was obvious that his mental faculties were not as advanced as Reason’s, at least not yet.  ‘Well, it doesn't matter.’ 

 

‘...in time…’ I thought bitterly. ‘He would fare better, far better in time.’

 

Regardless of Passion’s passing comments, Reason continued to command him into proper actions. ‘First, you must distract her. Take a deep breath through your nose.’ He said without wasting any time, and I inhaled.

 

“ShShShShSh.”

 

‘Now, I am going to charge it with energy.’

 

‘Wind that gently blows through the woods’ was an easy and harmless mental image even for Passion. The delicate part of the will construct was to energize the air that one inhales without harming the lungs and conducting it after exhaling. Still, Reason left neither energizing the air nor the mental image forming to Passion as he was staying true to his previous statement. 

 

‘Exhale silently while using the trigger.’ He ordered and Passion obeyed without objection. 

 

“FhFhFh [Asvat’ul-Gayb] FhFhFh” I murmured the rather crude trigger word slowly while exhaling. Let alone being one syllable, it was not even one word with the meaning of ‘sounds from the unknown-unseen realm’. It was one of the longest trigger words in my arsenal which I was planning to change as soon as possible before all of these started.

 

The energy-rich air slowly left my lungs as I exhaled through my mouth and nose then started spreading towards the cave entrance.

 

“𐰚𐰘⸱ 𐰤𐰀:𐰖𐰯𐱃𐰍𐰣𐰃:𐰽𐰣𐰖𐰆𐰺𐰽𐰣⸱”  The woman was still talking, a little bit more restless this time, but it only took a few moments for the effects to start.

 

‘Yes, noises are coming from outside. Something moving in the bushes? Someone whispering?’ Passion talked into my mind as if he was talking to the woman despite Reason, who was still focused on his analysis.  

 

‘Interesting… She can't sense the energy in our breath by the way.’  he immediately informed both of us of his curious findings. 

 

Passion’s focus too was on the woman completely but in an entirely different way which made me more conscious of the different affinities between the two.

 

‘Now follow my eyes. I don't look at you anymore.’ he chimed expectantly which caught the attention of Reason this time. 

 

‘Please tell me that you are not doing it.  No one falls for that one.’ he belittled, but Passion was confident in his way of doing things. 'Well,  too confident for someone five days old.  Wait, Is it six now?' 

 

‘But it just did and not long ago.’ The former jabbed playfully, only to be retorted immediately ‘It was only you, not we.’

 

Still, Passion continued having his fun, focusing his -my- gaze right behind the woman’s back without giving her a second glance. ‘What’s it? Is there something behind you?’ He timed the eye feint perfectly, synchronizing with the phantom sounds that started to be heard outside. ‘Yes… Yes... There is something outside… Turn your head. Pretty please? … Finally!'

 

‘I can’t believe she fell for it.’ Reason stated incredulously. ‘ It is official, you are both idiots.’

 

‘Now, now... Don’t be mean. Eye feints are legit.’ Passion mused happily.

 

Maybe with the help of the eye feint too, but probably not, while the duo continued bickering, the woman turned her head towards the back for just a brief moment to see the source of the sounds and this was all that I needed. 

 

‘Energize the sigil and roll the coat to a ball. But first, take a breath. ... Inhale!’ ordered Reason immediately, resuming the original plan.

 

“ShShSh”

 

I inhaled and let Passion energize the sigil consisting of three silver-colored intersecting lines with a sphere on their point of intersection embroidered into the fabric of the inner side of the back of the coat. 

 

‘Then, exhale!’ Reason continued coordinating all of our actions.

 

“FhFhFh [Lu’bet] FhFhFh '' I exhaled murmuring aloud. The trigger word literally meant ‘something that plays or is being played’ in a broader sense but ‘puppet’ in a narrower sense which was perfect to puppet the coat remotely. 

 

The woman turned her head and fixed her eyes on me again, and continued talking with a clear tension and not-so-clear question, “𐰚𐰘⸱ 𐰆:𐰑𐰀:𐰤𐰘𐰓𐰃:𐰇𐰘𐰠𐰀⸱”  but it was already too late.

 

‘Yes, there is no one behind you. But it's too late for that now, beauty.' Passion mocked her one last time before the showdown.

 

At that moment, the not-so-vicious heap of coat flew toward the woman. Although surprised, she just took a step sideways to evade the nonlethal improvised weapon, which proved to be the wrong action.

 

The coat suddenly spread and threw itself towards the woman like it was alive. Surprised and angry, she tried to evade and failed, then tried to wrestle with it and failed that too. It wasn't that surprising though as I was the one moving my hands and arms like a puppeteer that controls the strings of his puppet.

 

‘Yes, the coat moves by itself. No, don't look at me like that, I'm not doing anything. It's all the coat’s fault.' Mused Passion and continued. 'Arms first...' while I was orchestrating the coat against the woman’s resistance. ‘...aaand there goes the first one, then the the second.’

 

The miraculous flying coat clothed itself, its back against the woman's chest, and spread her arms wide while she continued to lash and trash without stopping her screams. 

 

“𐰣𐰣𐰚𐰇𐰼:𐰚𐰇𐰯𐰚⸱ 𐰆𐰖𐰺𐰚𐰤:𐰉𐰆𐰍𐰔𐰣𐰃:𐰚𐰾𐰢𐰢:𐰏𐰼𐰚𐰼𐰓𐰃⸱”

 

Alas, Passion continued mocking. ‘Those sleeves are a little too big for you arent they? Let me adjust them.’ 

 

‘Yes, It isn't me the one that was mocking her, it is Passion.’ I wanted to think but couldn't. 'Was I this vindictive before Passion?'  

 

Just like that, the sleeves wrapped themselves tightly around the woman's wrists, then the coat itself followed to tighten around her body. The arms of the woman were joined behind her back and the coat turned her body towards the cave entrance.

 

Only then did I bolt and grab her arms with one of my own to sweep her feet while pressing her head hard. She lost her balance and fell on her chest immediately knocking the air out of her lungs. I sat on her back and started to tie a knot to the long sleeves of my coat while starting to prepare the mental image for my next casting. 

 

This one was something that I must do myself from mental imaging to trigger, without the help of my two unconsciousness.

 

Not because of the physical and metaphysical requirements of the will construct but because of the requirements of my own conscience.

 

'Sharing minds! Sharing hearts!’ Passion threw a passing comment in between, a literal explanation of the mental image I was forming in my mind. 

 

Even Reason was reluctant to cast this type of will projection and not so unexpectedly. ‘This one is disgusting, you know that right?’ he commented addressing no one in particular. 

 

‘No choice on it thus, I am not sorry.’ Passion answered in my stead, again stealing words just from the tip of my tongue.

 

‘You are going to be.' Reason answered and I knew that I was going to be, just like he said. Still, I completed the sequence with the appropriate trigger word.

 

“[Hemdil]”

 

Thus, started a different session of first-class nightmare fuel production.