Limits

The Atol warriors no longer talked with me, they immediately attacked. Most of them had weapons with longer reach. Some of them had spears, while others had staves with an axe blade attached to the end of it. They weren't that strong though. All of them were still at their Outer Limits, and therefore not my opponents. I didn't kill them though, I just made them faint.

I left the few lying Atols behind, and headed towards Apium again. Something was off though. The other patrols didn't arrive, they just waited near the Apium's forest. 'Are they waiting for reinforcements?' I asked myself. I wasn't sure, but there was only one way to find out. I arrived in front of the Atols, yet no reinforcements arrived. The guards didn't speak either, this struck me as even more odd.

When I approached them, they just stood still. 'Were they poisoned?' I thought, and checked one of them out. 'He is dead!' I thought. His eyes were still open, as if looking at me, but he had no pulse, no signs of life. I decided to try another thing, and pushed that Atol backwards. He simply fell like a log. 'What the hell happened here? The first group was alright, but the rest is pretty much dead' I thought.

Then I heard a quiet voice saying "S… Stranger…". It was coming from the forest. I couldn't see the guy, but he was located somewhere towards north east. I headed there until I saw a wounded Atol. I asked him, "What the hell happened here?". He smiled, and replied "Got ya!". I was confused, until my instincts flared up. I jumped to the side, but the danger was everywhere. 'Illusion' I thought, and tried to use my Auras as well as the Mind Form, but I wasn't quick enough.

Hundreds of roots appeared around me. Before I could break the illusion, I was caught by the roots which wrapped around me. I don't know what happened later, as I fainted. I had no idea what amount of time passed, but I finally woke up. It was dark, and I couldn't move at all. I focused my sight a bit more, and noticed a sort of cave. I tried moving my legs, but besides hearing light metallic jiggle, I couldn't move at all.

My hands were in weird position too. I looked at my arms, and noticed large cuffs with chains running somewhere behind me. My legs were bound by chains as well. My armour was gone, my possessions… Probably too. I had no way of checking. I had no idea what that metal was, but when I tried to use my Power of Ice… I couldn't. It seemed to be sealed away.

'So I was caught. That whole Apium was an illusion. I knew something was wrong, but would never expect them to create a whole area just for me. They must've been hell bent on catching me' I thought. I tried brute force, but the chains were very strong. 'This is not Black Steel. It looks like Azurite, but a bit different' I thought. I wouldn't be able to break Black Steel chains... At least I assumed. Azurite was an overkill, but I guessed they had money, or just stole it.

I took a more detailed look at my surroundings, and found a table with a chair. Nothing else really. With the use of my Darkness Perception, I was able to peer further into the cave. A long corridor was in front of me. Metal bars were placed in the middle. The bars had doors, and they seemed to be made from the same metal. 'If I break free, I can just smash the walls or even freeze those bars' I thought. At the end of that corridors, there seemed to be two passages. One leading towards left, the other towards right. 'Yea… my guess is, this is a maze like camp' I thought.

Escaping was impossible at that stage. 'I can try to find out what they want from me, or perhaps discover something about their plans. If I get an opportunity, I will get out of here' I thought. I could do nothing but wait. That I did, I tried counting time just for fun, but I got bored after about half an hour. I don't know how much time passed, but I could finally hear someone coming. I used my Darkness Perception, and saw two guys walking towards me.

One seemed to be a Human, while the other was different. 'A Human.. And Eterian. So, Humans have a stake in this as well? I thought they hated each other' I thought. The two passed the metal bar gate, and arrived in my prison. "Well, well. It took us some effort to actually catch you". It was the Eterian who spoke first. I snorted, and replied "What do you want. If you wanted to kill me, I would be dead already. What's your purpose?".

He lifted his finger up, and shook it while saying "No, no. We are the ones who ask questions. You answer them". I replied "You can kiss my ass, how about that for an answer?". The surroundings changed, and we appeared in some sort of lava filled area. I no longer had my restrains on me, while the Eterian and Human stood opposite of me. "You want me to kill you over, and over inside your own illusion? Suit yourself Eterian" I said, and ran straight at them. I had no weapons, but my fists were enough.

The Eterian smiled, and simply swiped his hand downwards. "Booom!", I crashed into the ground, as if something very heavy just hit my from behind. The Eterian said "I think you got the wrong idea. Tell us, why did you head toward Atols?". I picked myself up, but then got crushed back down again.

The Eterian said "I didn't ask you to pick yourself up, I asked why did you want to visit Atols?". I replied, "If you don't know, why do you know I wanted to go there?". "Booom!", the force pressing my body increased, while I got buried deeper into the ground. 'Ugh… I will kill that bastard' I thought. He repeated the question, but this time lifted off the pressure so I could actually stand up.

"I will ki…", but before I could finish, I was smashed into the ground again. I tried releasing my Aura, but it didn't help. He smashed me into the ground a few more times, then asked again. I didn't reply, and simply endured. 'I will get out of here, believe me Eterian' I thought. It seemed like an eternity, before the Eterian said "We can do this all day you know. This is an illusion, the amount of time that passed outside is bare minutes. If you answer our questions, I will stop". I didn't reply, and simply stayed quiet. He said "Suit yourself", and resumed crashing me into the ground again.