Abandoned Prison

Nadia felt excited and her heart was beating slightly faster than usual when they entered her experiment room. She was also nervous but she couldn't wait to start the experiment.

It was the first time that she was allowed to perform experiments on a human on her own. She didn't show any emotions on the outside as she was reciting the steps of the ritual in her mind.

The man they captured tried to look like he wasn't afraid but she knew that it won't help him to escape what is coming.

The only thing she wanted now was for Zanzara to leave. She was a good teacher, always had a lot of patience with her and she did like learning magic by her side but it was time for her to show that she can do this on her own after all the studying.

"So, I will leave you alone here. Just don't kill him," her teacher said. Nadia didn't felt the need to react in any way instead she opened the book that was lying on the desk. It was labeled The Everlasting Mysteries of Spirits, Ghosts, and Souls by Zoran Temnar.

The man was already dead for two decades but he was one of the first humans who explored these subjects and Nadia knew that his knowledge of souls was unsurpassed by anyone and even though his writings in the book were quite vague it was all that they had.

She heard the door close so it was only her with the man and the guard in the room. She opened the page where the ritual was described and she turned to the man.

"Go on, lie on the table," she said with her normal voice like nothing bad was going to happen to him. He was hesitating so she told him that there is nothing else he can do right now. It looked like he wanted to say something but the guard stepped right behind him so he chose not to resit and lie on the table.

The guard knew what to do. She bound his hands and legs to the table with tight iron cuffs so he couldn't escape and then she leaned on the wall next to the doors.

The first thing she needed was his blood. She picked up the small knife from the desk with the tools. She did feel sorry for him and she wouldn't want any of the things that she will do to him done to her but studying magic was the most important thing in her life. She also knew that men like him weren't usually good people.

She knew that he was the one who owned the settlement nearby so he must have been quite rich. He probably doesn't have anything to lose except his wealth and it is probably also the only thing that he cares about she thought. All that made what she is going to do to him a bit easier to justify.

She was thinking about what ritual to perform on him almost the whole night so she didn't have much sleep and she felt a little tired.

She could see that he was heavily breathing and he didn't seem very relaxed so he probably wasn't as fearless as he tried to look. Suddenly he started talking again. "What is this? What are you going to do with that knife?" There was suspicion in his voice but no fear.

She wasn't here to answer questions." I will bring your soul out of your body," she said with a calm and careless voice. She wasn't in the mood for talking. She just wanted to finish her experiment and send him back to his cell.

Without a warning, she sliced in the middle of the man's palm. He flinched, his face was twisted by pain and he clutched his fist. Nadia grabbed a small wooden bowl from the desk and put it under his hand so she could collect his blood in it.

She didn't care about his pain even though she did imagine how painful it was. She watched as the drips of blood quickly fell into the bowl and then she turned around to prepare the next ingredients.

She looked in the book at what was the next ingredient. There was a glass with fresh violet leaves on her desk. She took a handful of them and dropped them in the bowl with the blood.

"You know, I remember you," the man suddenly said.

"I don't think we have ever met," she replied as she didn't remember ever meeting him and she was getting annoyed with the conversation.

"I saw you in Grengrod, you were locked in the prison, dirty, head bowed down in shame and so pitiful in the chains. You didn't even bother to look up when an esteemed man in the city like myself was walking by your cell."

It was an insult and this man's arrogance started to make her furious, but she did what she could to remain calm because she needed to focus on the ritual.

"You are not in any position to say insults and you won't talk too much after I am finished with the ritual," she said as calmly as she could.

To her surprise, he didn't look upset by anything she said. " I know that you are young, almost still a girl and you haven't achieved much in life. But I could use the service of someone with magical talents. You could get far with my help, and even become someone important in Grengrod. I think it is a much better fate than living here in this dark, wretched ruin. I am a man with a lot of power and I can make it all happen."

For a second the deal sounded good, his voice was confident and sounded honest but she remembered why she was here. The only wretched place was Grengrod and its people. The dark streets stained by loads of coal flowing in the city every day, the criminals smuggling goods in the city under the veil of night, and the shining mansions of the merchants looking down at the miserable mess below.

It was truly hard to believe what the man just said. His arrogance and the memories of the time spent in the city made her furious.

She wanted to hold it in. Finishing this ritual successfully was so important for her but the fury inside her got unleashed and she couldn't do anything about it.

"What if I do this instead." Her voice was calm but the cold anger was visible in her face and in her eyes.

She didn't even know what was she doing it was almost like a reflex. Her frustration with this man reached its peak and she needed to let go of it.

He groaned in pain when she sliced his second palm. This time she made sure that the knife dived deeper into his flesh. He flinched again and there was a pained expression on his face. She felt a sense of relief when she heard his groan and when she felt his body tense under her knife.

She didn't pay attention to the blood that was flowing from his hand. It felt like she needs to inflict more pain to ease her anger.

Another target was chosen to be a relief for her emotions. She leaned over him and made a big slice over his breast and chest. Tears of pain were coming from his eyes and this time it wasn't only relief that she felt but also a strange sense of pleasure that she had never felt before.

His muscles tensed and his warm body tried to rise up as it struggled against the tight cuffs but there was nothing that he could do.

"Stop you bitch!" the man yelled. It was the first time that she could hear how he sounded when he was angry. She thought that he probably wanted to show power and that he is not afraid of her. But she didn't want him to get what he wants because she is the one who is supposed to be in control here.

Without thinking, she leaned over his head and started slicing across his cheek up to his eye with her knife. He tried to pull away from her but she held his head with her other hand.

Nadia curiously observed the fear in the man's eyes as the knife was slowly nearing his eye. She realized that the man was completely in her control and she could do anything with him.

The strange sense of pleasure arrived again from the power that she had but it was time to focus on the ritual again.

The knife stopped right below his eye and it looked like he was ready to stop getting in her way with his constant talking.

"If you ever say something like that again, the knife will end up in your eye next time." Her voice wasn't upset it was just calm and threatening.

He looked into her eyes. She saw fear in them but it looked like he wavered for a moment and he was deciding if he should say what she wants to hear.

"I won't do it again, I promise," he quickly said. She wasn't sure how long he would keep that promise but she hoped that he will stop talking at least for now. Then she lifted the knife and he let out a relieved sigh.

There was enough blood in the bowl that she put under his hand so she took it and put it on her desk. Then she took a glass with red powder dumped some of it in her hand and poured it over the man's wounds on his hands. A pained expression flew across his face as the powder burned his flesh but it stopped the bleeding and prevented infection.

The last ingredient was a handful of dead Grave Bugs that she took from the basement where they kept the dead bodies. The bugs often came to feed on them through the holes in the walls so someone always had to go down there and catch them. It was often her job to do it so she had the largest reserve of them and other witches often asked her for them to use in their own experiments.

She dropped the bugs in the bowl with the blood and violet leaves. Then she took a bone from a dead boar and she mushed and mixed all the ingredients until there was a dark blood concoction in the bowl. It smelled like a mix of blood with rotten flesh. The smell of the violet leaves got completely lost.

Then she took the bowl and she drew a circle on the ground from the blood with her fingers. Everything was ready.

"What is your name?" she asked him. "Kass, what is yours?" he said. She didn't like that he was asking questions again but she knew that he won't talk much when the ritual starts so she answered.

She took a deep breath. It was time to start with magic. She put her hand with the remains of the blood on the man's chest right above his heart. She felt how his chest was moving up and down when he was breathing and she closed her eyes.

She slowed down her breath with short inhales and long exhales and focused on the magic around her. After a couple of seconds she was standing in a dark blue ocean. The sky was black and there was nothing on the horizon just endless darkness.

The magical energy reached just to her shoulders. The ocean was calm but a couple waves touched her neck. She was glad that the waters were calm it made it easier to cast spells.

She imagined being filled with the magical water and connecting with it. She felt the arcane energy inside her. It wasn't cold or warm but she felt pleasant and calming vibrations running through her body.

She focused on the vibrations going through her arms and she felt itching in her fingertips. She imagined the magic flowing from her hand and imbuing the blood circle on the ground with the energy.

Suddenly the circle started glowing with weak purple light and created a dim aura that surrounded the table and reached above her head.

The circle was supposed to stop the soul from escaping but the ingredients she used for it weren't the best according to the book. Luckily it also said that this concoction should be able to hold the soul for at least a couple of seconds which was enough for her.

She imagined the vibrations in her right hand flowing into the man. He must have felt them as well. She said the name Kass in her mind and the magic started searching for his soul. After a couple of seconds, the soul was found. She saw blue threads of magic slowly wrapping around a ball made of dark orange light.

His soul was finally in her tight grasp. There was just one last step she had to do. She imagined the threads of magic pulling the soul up, ripping it from the body.

Dabbling with souls was forbidden in the Kingdom of Oriel by the laws of God of Justice. It was a darker side of magic that they never taught in the boring fire mage guild where she used to study.

Nadia noticed that the vibrations became colder and they slowed down. Suddenly the soul was lifted up by the magic and she opened her eyes. The ball of orange light was flying above Kass but it was locked in the magical barrier.

She noticed that he was unconscious and he stopped breathing. Suddenly the vibrations were getting stronger and a lot more magic than she wanted started flowing through her. The magical threads tried to hold down the soul but it was resisting too much.

The vibrations became so strong and cold that they overwhelmed her senses and it slowly started to overtake her mind. She was afraid that the overflow of magic could kill her or hurt her so she quickly let go of it and let it flow out of her.

Once the threads of magic got weekend the soul immediately jumped back in the body and the circle on the ground had gone dark. She felt weakness in her legs and fell exhausted to the ground. The magic was slowly leaving her body and she started to feel the world around her again.