Kidnapping

My knees gave up as the shock was too much for a young woman like me to handle. 

I kneeled on the ground as the bag of food in my hands fell. 

My mind started to think of the worst things that could have happened. 

Could they have gone back to our world? Did it get sent to some other unknown place? Are they in danger? Did someone kidnap them? 

It ran through so many possibilities, none of them positive. How was I supposed to think positively in a situation like this? 

A situation where we are separated from our parents. In a situation, we can barely make ends meet. In a situation where we are in a world much more dangerous than our own. 

What am I to do when I'm all alone? 

Tears started to well in my eyes. They slowly pooled until they could no longer pool. The drops of warmth slid down my cool face. 

No! I couldn't just sit here and cry. I have to move. I have to ask the neighbors. I have to scour the slum and scour the city. I won't rest until I'm sure they are out of my reach. 

I can't think of myself as alone until I'm sure that I'm alone. 

I pick up the cloth bag filled with food and stand up. I needed to keep these on me in case I found them. They would probably be hungry. 

I swing open the door and rush out in a hurry. The first place to check is the neighbors that live right across. 

They sometimes play together with the kid that lives here. 

The two entrances are only 5 steps apart so I get there instantly. Just as I was about to knock on the door, my arm stopped. 

On my forearm was a big hand covered with a black glove. It had trapped me tightly. 

My eyes wandered to the figure of the man who was holding my arm. It was a slightly muscular figure wearing tight black clothes underneath a flowing black robe. 

The hair was hidden by a black, tied up cloth. My eyes landed on the man's face. 

An oval, white mask with red glass is placed where the slits for the eyes should be.

I recognized this mask. There were rumors that people with such attire would often roam the city at night, killing or crippling random people.

My heart started to beat even louder. It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my throat or explode out of my chest. Sweat started to form on my forehead and my back felt cold. 

This was fear. Not only did I fear that they might have taken the remainder of my precious family but also feared for my own life. 

"Let go!" I said instinctively. The man just stood there, still as a statue. 

That's when I realized that the surroundings had changed. I was no longer in the slums. The dirt ground beneath me had turned to stone. The sky above went from dusk to complete darkness. There were no stars or the moon. 

Every direction I looked in, All I could see was an endless veil of darkness. 

"Wha..." Before I could ask the man anything, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my neck. 

My legs gave up once again as I started to fall. My vision turned blurry as my consciousness was lost. 

...

"What took you so long?" asked the masked man. He was looking at his colleague who had just knocked out the young woman. 

His college was wearing the same outfit as him but the figure was thinner and slightly curved. 

"The kids were awfully fussy. The boy also seemed to have a special power." replied his female colleague in a nonchalant manner. 

They were not using the illusion and voice-altering magic they usually did to hide their features. They weren't going up against enemies but rather folks without a drop of mana. 

"You could have just sent one the others. I was waiting here on my own. Do you know how bored I was?' the man complained. He kneeled down and picked up the unconscious girl in a princess carry. 

"I'm the one who's best at controlling my strength. Anyone else and they would break the poor girl's neck." the woman explained. 

"I forgot about that." the man says while shyly looking down. 

"Hmph. You're always too focused on improving this spatial isolation spell of yours." The woman sighed and took a look around the strange area of darkness they were in. 

"It has gotten significantly better. You must have been hard." Her tone changed from reprimanding him to being impressed. 

"Yeah. The boss praised me for it too." If one could see the man's face, they would surely see him blushing at the moment. 

"Hmm, let's go. The boss wants to get this done before his mother forces him to sleep." 

"Sure.' The man snapped and the stage area faded away. they were on the streets of the slum once again. 

Before anyone could see them, their figures disappeared, leaving a light breeze in their place. 

...

...

"As expected, your control is perfect. Good job Nora." I praised my subordinate who had just returned. They had completed their tasks perfectly. 

Nora is one of my masked soldiers. She is someone who practiced a technique that helped her control her superhuman strength to a tee. That's why I sent her to subdue the 3 siblings who had no cultivation. 

No one else in my maksed suad was capable of such precise control so she was the only option when such situations occurred. 

"I'm proud of you. You can take a one week break as a reward." I had to reward them when they did good. This is how you keep your workers motivated and always ready to put in the extra effort. 

I also liked to see their excited faces. After all, I grew up with them. They were not just subordinates but also dear friends. I had trained them all since we were kids. Our bond is hard to replace. 

"YAY!" Nora jumped for joy. Her short bobbed, brown hair bounced around as her dark brown eyes twinkled with excitement. 

Knowing her, she was probably going to spend the week eating at different restaurants for a week. She is the biggest foodie of the 77 masked unit. 

"The same goes for you, Marc. You have only been practicing. Now that the fruits of your labor have sprouted, you deserve a reward for all the hard work." I said to the man who was beside Nora. 

Unlike Nora who is serious during work and playful afterward, he is a quiet man all the time. 

"Thank you. What is the reward," he asked while looking down and embarrassingly rubbing the back of his head. His expression was also embarrassed. 

Marc is a man who has done nothing but train his spells all day. As a mage with the rare element of space, it is all he could do. Space spells are notoriously hard to master so he has to put in much more effort than other mages. I respect him deeply for how hard he works. 

For all this, he deserves to take some breaks. It's good to relax the mind once in a while to allow it to perform smoothly. 

"Same as Nora. You get a one week break. And no training during this week. That's an order." I say with authority. I can't have him burning out. 

"But...no I have to..." Marc tried to deny the reward.I want to let him have his workaholic way. 

"Nora, take this guy with you. Make sure he doesn't train. Get him to enjoy what the city has to offer." Nora's expression brightened even more when I said this. 

She became as bright as the sun and grabbed Marc's arm with both of hers. 

"Yes sir!' she declared while dragging Marc out of the room. 

"Huh! What? Nooo!!!" Marc was extremely flustered as he could overpower Nora. 

Does he really think no one sees how fond he is of Nora? That idiot lacks the courage to openly spend time with Nora so he buries himself in work. 

Even if he might hate it for a little bit, it had to be done. He had to spend time with Nora. I am sure Nora feels the same. She isn't even trying to hide. I hope she can knock some sense into this guy during this week. 

Now that the 2 were gone. I walk towards the door behind me. I stop right in front of it and take a look at my clothes. 

I had to make sure that the outfit was as it should be. The pants, the sneakers, the jacket. 

Everything is perfect. Time to see how they react. 

...

...

...

The back of my neck stings. 

Why do I have to wake up in pain? Why is it that the world seems so cruel to me? 

The dark thoughts come back as soon as I wake up. It was difficult to control. I shake hard to calm myself down but it hurts my neck even more. 

"Ugh!" I groan. I take a look around. Where am I? 

It is a room with gray, stone brick walls. There are tall lamps powered by some sort of crystal in every corner of the rectangular space. 

"Hina! Akio!" I yell. next to me, in a chair were my two little siblings. Their legs and arms were loosely tied to their chairs. It seems our kidnappers were somewhat considerate to them. 

I try to nudge out my bindings but they inetensly tight. They weren't so nice to me. 

"Big sister!" my siblings yell when they see me. We had somehow awoken at the same time. 

Tears start to steam from all of our eyes. "I'm glad you guys are fine." I say while sobbing. 

I would run up to them and give them a big hug if I could. 

"Wah! Big sister!" Hina and Akio cried just as much as me.

They must have been shocked. Being taken from one home and dropped to another. And then being kidnapped from the new home and tied up on a chair. 

This wasn't something a 5 and 7-year-old should have to face. But this is the reality and I understand. Still, I can't help but cry in joy but also in frustration for what has happened to us. 

I cry in anger from whoever that is that took us from our small yet warm home. 

It takes 2 or 3 minutes but we stop crying. We were still sniffling but no tears came from our sockets. It probably had been a couple of hours since we drank water

 My face, eyes, throat, and mouth felt so dry

Squeak!

Just as our emotions were starting to settle, the door in front of us slowly opened. All 3 three of us were stunned as soon as we saw his appearance. 

A young man is standing there. He is a tall man. Silky black hair, mesmerizing purple eyes, and a white, handsome face. His jaw is very defined and his skin is exceedingly smooth. 

He is like those Hollywood models and actors I often saw on TV, except for the fact that his purple eyes weren't something natural in my world.

But this isn't what stunned us. 

"Those clothes..." I loosely muttered. My mind is a jumbled mess. 

Black jeans, black graphic tee with a dragon image on the pocket. A low top, black and white sneakers with a check mark from a brand very popular among boys. 

These were all pieces from my world, something I had never seen since being dropped into Sofenia. Everyone here wore medieval or early modern European style outfits. 

I had even seen some people wearing ancient asian clothing but no one with such familiar clothes. 

"Good. Just as I expected." he said with a smile and in a tone that was self-assuring. 

His voice was deep and full of confidence. 

He dragged in a chair from outside the room and closed the door behind him. He sat down in front of us and snapped his fingers. 

The walls began to glow a faint shade of white and a faint hum was heard. 

"Now, no one can eavesdrop." he said while looking around and nodding in satisfaction. 

He then turned to some as his smile got wider. He me look friendly and approachable but right now, he was giving me the chills. It was like I was not facing humans. 

"You must have many questions. Let's get started since I don't have much time. 

First things first, welcome to Sofenia my fellow earthlings."