1 Kidnapped

"Someone help me, please!"

"I don't want to die here..."

"Please...."

Pressing firmly on the ground, Harry struggles to crawl while constantly screaming for help. In the end, he only managed to move a bit before his vision gradually blackened.

...

Engulfed in everlasting darkness, Harry felt his strength slowly drawn into nothingness, and his body rendered incapable of moving. Closing his eyes in desperation, Harry lets his body float freely, roaming through the darkness.

Suddenly, amidst the darkness, a faint light waved quietly, bringing Harry out of his slumber. Subconsciously, his hand began to move and he tried to seize the light like a desperate man eventually found his savior.

As if hearing Harry's plea, the faint light slowly moved in his direction, while simultaneously fasten its sparkling intensity, causing Harry had to narrow his eyes.

The light continued to increase its shimmering intensity until Harry's sight filled with nothing but violet light.

Drowning in the violet light of the sea, Harry now found himself in a position to move his limbs. Blinking his eyes, his surrounding suddenly changed. The darkness and purple-light of the sea were no longer within his sight. Instead, it was a murky stone-ceiling with a worn-out looking candlelight lamp hanging in the air thanks to the rusty chain connected to the ceiling that greeting his sight.

"My wounds!" Harry immediately rushed to sit and touch his back area. He didn't know whether it's real or a dream, but he finally tastes the feeling of getting stabbed in his back in a real sense, not in literal.

In his vague dream, he was on his way to the mini-marketplace when he felt acute pain coming from his back.

After checking his back was only drenched in sweat rather than blood, Harry breathed out relief and feeling slightly calmed down, "It was just a dream; it was just a dream."

"WHO DARES TO YELL AT THIS HOUR?!" A fierce shout suddenly echoed outside the room, causing Harry to flinch startlingly.

At this moment, he also realized he wasn't alone. Including him, there were six people in the same room. Those four people immediately jolted awake due to the previous yell. With candles' help illuminating their silhouettes, he could tell their body was so skinny and had features like a kid around age 14.

"Where am I?" Breaking his gaze, Harry mumbled in confusion. He felt puzzled and scared due to the unfamiliar surrounding he was in.

In response to Harry's question, the other kids immediately made a "hush" gesture to Harry.

However, it was too late because in the next seconds, the door burst out open, and a man with bulky-build entered, "Who screamed just now?"

His expression was angry and resembled a volcano about to explode as he looked at all six of them.

Feeling confused about what's happening, Harry casually asked the man, "Who are you? And where am I?"

The other kids immediately break into a frightened expression hearing Harry's question, while the bulky-man seems amused at Harry's action, "Huh? You don't remember me? Does a week of having no meal causing your brain damaged? Let me help you recall your memory then."

He starts to approach Harry and kicked his stomach before Harry able to react.

"Pfft!" Harry spurted out thick saliva the moment the man threw his leg over his stomach.

The man didn't stop and continued to stomp his feet upon Harry's back.

The torture lasted a minute before the man coarsely grabbed Harry's hair, "The next time you dare act like an ignorant child, I'll add your harsher penalty."

Without waiting for Harry's response, the man shoved Harry's head back to the floor harshly, and start walking out of the room and closed the door after saying, "If I heard another murmur came from this room, your fate wouldn't be much different from him."

Afterward, the entire room went silent, with only the brush winds of the night and a little cry of pain emitted from Harry sounded. Feeling irritated by Harry's grunt of pain, one of the boys said indignantly, "Can you stop acting like a mama's boy, Exia? We do want to sleep now! And please do not irritate Mister Braun anymore with your behavior. I do not wish for another punishment befall on us due to your fault!"

The other boys also silently agreed by nodding their heads simultaneously. With no slightest intention to help Harry, the five of them went to resume their sleep by adjusting their posture on the cold floor and covered their bodies using only tattered clothes as the blanket.

Harry was left alone by himself in a pitiful state where he clenched his mouth tightly to prevent the sound he made comes out as he didn't want to attract any more trouble.

After accustoming his body to the pain, Harry loosened all his tensed muscles and slowly relaxed his body while trying to catch some breath at the same time.

'Bloody Hell!' He couldn't help but cursed out loud inwardly due to the soreness the bulky-man left at him. He felt his limbs were aching badly and probably already in a bruised state.

'Where the fuck is this place, anyway? How come I'm here?' Harry thought to himself as he made his way weakly toward the warmer spot just below a carved hole with candlelight stood erect inside of it.

Leaning his back gently against the wall, Harry surveyed the room and could now perceive the interior of the room he stayed in. It was a square small room made of stone-walls with some parts of its slightly wet, making it looked dirty. A smelly odour of piss of animals and humans also stung his nostril throughout the time. Other than the candle-light lamp that slightly tilted to the side unbalanced, there is no other furniture inside the room.

Pressing his knees against his chest, Harry trying his best to endure the coldness and soreness his body currently experience. He felt so weak that a little poke should be sufficient to collapse him. Everything seemed strange to him. With no view of the outside world and a person to talk to, many negative feelings start to accumulate within his heart, along with many possibilities about how he ended up here.

'Is it not a dream?'

'Am I getting kidnapped now?'

Various thoughts were revolved around his mind, muddling his head. Realizing thinking would lead him nowhere and only causing his head to hurt, Harry forcefully stopped his mind from wandering and quickly suppressed the doubt, anxiety, panic, terrified, and many kinds of negative emotions to the depth of his heart, and tried to catch some sleep because he knew sleep was the best medicine and solution for the current weird situation he faced.

"I hope next time I open my eyes, I can wake up from this nightmare."

...

In the middle of the red ocean, one could see a slender, pale-skinned figure floating above the water. His eyes are currently in shut, while his lips occasionally mutter inaudible words.

As if disturbed in his sleep, the lashes of the figure trembled gently before a pair of golden eyes was revealed on the view. Startled by the scenery he saw, the man repeatedly blinking his eyes and sensed his vision went blurry for a second before the view ahead of him changed into the familiar ceiling with five people already sat up straight.

"What was that just now? And it's still the same room! Am I really got kidnapped?" Harry mumbled under his breath while rubbing his messy hair.

While straightening his hair that curled up due to the messy sleeping posture he had, Harry feels someone's eyes glued at him. Shifting his eyes, Harry realized it was the same boy who talked harshly to him yesterday night.

Having no good impression of the boy, Harry asked without a tone of politeness, "What?"

The boy was also younger than him by a few years, so he didn't see a point in being courteous to such a crude boy.

"Hah! It seems like the punishment you received from Mister Braun still didn't tame you enough, huh?" The boy mockingly said and grinned, showing his yellowish-teeth.

"Let him be, Luke. It seems he still imagined a magician would actually pick him up as that elder of magician said." Another boy with his hair covered his eyes said in a hint of ridicule.

"Haha, I think that's impossible. Lilith was chosen because her talent at magic looked promising, but Exia? He couldn't even do his job right. What do you expect from a loser? Hahaha..." Luke laughed out loud, followed by another, causing the room full of ridicule chuckle.

Nevertheless, Harry didn't slightest feel insulted by being the subject of their making fun of. Rather, he was entirely confused and puzzled about what they're trying to tell. Lilith? Magician? Exia?

"What are you talking about? Lilith? Exia? Who are they?" Harry asked with question marks plastered over his face.

Hearing Harry's inquiry, Luke and the other boys exchanged glances with each other before burst out laughing simultaneously.

Wiping the tears on the corner of his eyes, Luke said after recovering from his laugh, "Are your brain really damaged? Anyway, your name is Exia Glide, and Lilith was a girl that always stayed on your side 24/7. Does that information help your recovery?"

Even without scrutinizing much, Harry could easily tell from their scornful expression that they didn't consider his amnesia was a real deal and thought it was only a joke.

Forget about their looks. Harry was more concerned about the things they talked about. They said his name was Exia Glide, and Lilith was a girl that accompanied him. But, his name wasn't even close to Exia, and he had no idea who Lilith was.

At this moment, the door suddenly opened, with the same bulky-man from yesterday entered, "As usual, today's exchange rate was the same. 20 coppers for one crusty bread, 50 coppers for one soft bread. I hope you know the consequences if you dare to make a transaction other from me."

"We wouldn't dare!" Said the five-boys in chorus.

"Good!" Mister Braun nodded his head and hauled his eyes toward Harry's motionless figure, "And for you, your ban is lifted now."

"Here, catch it." Mister Braun threw a loaf of bread in Harry's direction before adding, "Eat this to regain your stamina. You have 5 minutes to finish that bread."

After passing the bread to Harry, Mister Braun stormed out of the room without closing the door, resulting in a bit of sunlight landed on the room's cold floor.

Grabbing the bread that was stiff as a log, Harry mused silently, 'Is this could even be considered as food?'

The bread had a rough texture that Harry found it hard to imagine him taking a bite of it. Would his teeth remain to survive?

"Shitty Ass! Quickly eat it, or else, we couldn't depart in time." Luke's voice reached onto his ears.

Heaved a sigh, Harry surrender to his fate and pushed his own body to eat the hard bread.

*Crunch*

*Crunch*

In the end, he managed to eat the whole bread, considering how his stomach kept letting out a rumbling sound.

Wiping the remaining bread on the corner of his mouth, Harry dusted his hands off and said, "Let's go."

He didn't know where these boys would bring him onto, but staying at this place is not a good choice either. Not only would he probably get beaten again by Mister Braun, but he would remain oblivious to his current whereabouts.

Standing up, Harry creased his forehead after noticing the extreme soreness he felt yesterday seems reducing a lot after only sleeping for one night. If it were in the past, he would surely need a week's recovery after receiving a rough beating like that. But now, he detected no trouble moving as a normal person does.

'I wonder what happens to my body last night. Did someone applying cream on my wounds?' Harry wondered as he followed Luke and the other boys out of the room.