My mind descended into blinding pain. I could not tell if my eyes were open, but I couldn't see as my vision was black with flashes of white. I dwelled in that state for what felt like years, years where I could do nothing but exist.

Eventually, the intensity of the turbulent sensations lessened, or I simply adapted to the agony. Whatever the reasons, I was able to focus on the internal energy raging inside me. My mental energy was surging back and forth across my body, causing muscle spasms and jabs of pain as it randomly interacted with my organism. Despite the problems it was causing, as I watched, the energy was calming down on its own, but it wasn't fast enough.

Hesitantly, I reached out with my mind, bracing myself to wrangle it back under control. The moment my will touched the mental energy, it stilled instantly and seemed… eager, as if it was waiting for a command like some rambunctious dog waiting for you to throw a ball. I hardly even had to exert my willpower upon it before I could pull it back to my head from all over my body, which was lucky because my will was not at its strongest currently.

Acting quickly, I pulled all the energy back into my mind and used the power to enhance my brain again. When the numb calmness enveloped me, my eyes popped open, and I could hear my surroundings again. "Fucking bitch," I muttered to the stifled laughing coming from the far end of the cage.

"Are you okay, Instructor?" Asked Sathera, leaning over me, her brown eyes filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Not sure what happened…" I said, eyeing the bars with suspicion.

"It's the cage," Celeste said, not quite getting her laughter under control as it filled her voice, "whenever one of us touches the bars or tries to reach past them with a hand or psy strand, it will disrupt their energy. The feeling is like when your limb falls asleep and becomes all tingly when the blood rushes back. The rest of us feel like that over our whole body, combined with a punch to the gut. It will knock us down for a moment, but it's not that big of a deal. With your head wound… well, I guess it's a little worse."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked her suspiciously, scooting a little farther from the bars. I knew her comment was a trap! She would never help me. But how could I know poking something could do me so wrong…

"We're in cages. And I overheard a pompous prick bragging about us increasing their power by using a 'forbidden spell,' whatever crows-begotten shit that means. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out it's nothing good for us. Killing you won't mean as much if I die right afterward; it would kind of defeat the point of waiting all this time. Not to mention that girl had been hovering over you while you slept, so I didn't have the chance to do anything." Celeste answered, then looked up at me with a cunning smile. "Besides, you seem to have a habit of surviving when you shouldn't. Sticking around you looks to be a good way to complete all my goals." I gave her as blank of a look as I could manage while I thought, well, you can never say the bitch isn't honest.

She smiled at me, and I would have called her cute if I didn't know her. Celeste's body was slim, but even with the armor on, you could see the hints of her figure underneath. Her brunette hair was cut short in a bob cut, and her nose was small and speckled with freckles. But her eyes were cold. Frigid, really, and in their depths, I could see a malicious hatred for me.

"Well, thanks for the honesty… I guess." I said.

"You're welcome," she replied, tilting her head as if she were giving me the greatest of gifts.

"…Okay. So, have you created a plan to get out of here… right? Do we have any knights in here with us? Or the other cages?" I asked, eyeing everyone to ensure I didn't miss anyone on my quick look over the other occupants.

"No, we don't have a plan to escape," answered Sathera, "Every time we talk or try anything, they come over and knock us all out. They can make the disruption of the bars flood the entire cage…"

"Makes me wonder why they haven't shown up," Celeste snickered, flashing a nasty smile at me before looking around. A shiver ran down my spine at the expectant look on her face.

I followed her example and looked around, finding none of the guards charging through the night at us. I turned back to her and found she was frowning in disappointment. I gave her a mocking smile on impulse, then froze. The beastkin guards weren't that far away. And if they had been coming over whenever someone talked, then they should be able to hear us from where they are right now… And we have been talking for a while…

"Are you there, Kanieta?" I asked the air, getting strange looks from both of the women. Nothing happened for a few long seconds, and my ears started to turn red from embarrassment. I saw Celeste open her mouth to no doubt mock me when a shadow detached itself from the wall and walked in between the two cages.

Stolen story; please report.

"You know… All the talking this whole time isn't making this any easier for me." Said the shadow in a monotone. I quickly looked at the two women and noticed a few of the others were stirring awake or already openly watching the events play out in astonishment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, in mock dismay, "How could I not think of the fact that learning of my dangerous situation or planning an escape could be inconvenient for you? I am so ashamed after our special night together."

"You should be," stated the shadow. "Now, would you like to know an interesting, perhaps relevant, fact? Doesn't matter; I'm going to tell you anyway. A few hundred years ago, a wolf clan was at war with a bear clan. The bear clan was winning, so the wolves were getting desperate. They needed a way to increase their power, but no one was willing to come to their aid. And then, one of the wolf mages had a thought, if we can refill the Olimpians' psy pools, why can't they refill ours." My eyes narrowed at the shadow in annoyance. Of everything she said, only a single word had any emotion. Think you're so funny, huh…

"With that one line of thought at the forefront of their minds," Kanieta continued as if she didn't notice my glare, "they began experimenting. Warbands scoured your lands, capturing everyone they found. Entire villages were taken and marched back to our homes. After thousands of experiments and several partial successes, they finally discovered something greater than they first dreamed of. Through a complex spell," a part of the shadow broke off to wave her arm at the courtyard, indicating the many lines of writing on the large stone plate.

"They found a method to suck your psy, willpower, and the outer layer of your soul from your bodies. The process is long, agonizing, and designed for you to fight back against it. Your willpower allows the spell to refine and reshape your psy, allowing for better transfer efficiency and storage of our mana. Once you are wrung dry, the outer layer of your soul is pulled out, wrapped around the compressed psy, mixed with mana, and compressed further. The result is a soul gem. A creation that can collect the ambient energy of the world independently or be injected with energy by a caster and hold it for an indefinite period of time. If enough soul gems are gathered, even the weakest of mages will have unlimited amounts of mana."

"Ancestor, save us," I murmured in horror. And I knew that I was not alone in my thoughts. The air inside the cage had shifted, and waves of disgust and anger were palpable without me even trying to feel them. Most of those inside the cage had woken up during the speech, and they all looked at the shadowy figure like they wanted to jump at it and attack it now. We were all legion, after all. It was our job to protect.

And she had just told us of one of the legion's greatest failures. One we didn't even know of. To make it worse, our deaths would aid their attempts to destroy our people. Anger was pretty reasonable in this situation.

"Ahh… there it is. And that is the reason the spell is forbidden."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Your reaction. The need to lash out at me despite me being a simple messenger. A messenger that is helping you. The power your people have is far more ingrained into your minds than you realize. Individuals among you might accept us using the spell. As a people, you will commit to a genocidal war to stop it. That spell will most likely lead to our mutual destruction if used. And the fact Jolten thinks he can get away with using it is madness…" She trailed off her head, looking to the side slightly before snapping around.

"The Elder is forcing my hand." Kanieta said, sneering at the word 'Elder' before sighing, "These cages have the weakness of only being able to contain so much psy before braking, and while you might not have enough to reach it normally, I have taken the liberty of lowering the limit considerably. Collectively, you should be able to break it now. I suggest doing it at noon and going over the bridge, but I couldn't care less. Though, do you hear that noise?" The oppressive silence that I didn't even notice was lifted for a moment, and a roar, like I was standing next to rapids, filled the air. And not a small one. "That's the warband preparing to march. Your time is running out. Whatever you do, don't get caught again."

For the first time, the shadow turned and seemed to fully face me, "I guess that the information I gave you won't reach the Triad in time?"

I gave her a cocky smile in reply and looked up into the dark night as I said, "Our capture might have just been a distraction."

"Oh," was all she said before vanishing, only for her voice to appear from nowhere, "that's good to know. I'll leave the spell up for a few minutes longer, enough for you all to have a short conversation."

**********

Kathren kept her eyes clamped shut. She hated this plan. The fact she had volunteered for it did not change her hatred. Probably only added self-loathing into the mixture.

Slowly, she sucked in a breath of air through the hollowed-out arrow shaft. Breathing too fast would make noise and get her caught if anyone was around. A genuine concern as someone had been moving above earlier, but that was hours ago, and they had to have been gone by now, or they would have been discovered. "How long have we been here? It has to be nearly time, right?" Kathren asked.

"I can still see light," Joxin sent back, his own mind filled with an irritated impatience. "probably half an hour."

Kathren slowly breathed in through the tube and kept her eyes shut from the grit that was always trying to get into her eyes despite her attempts to clear it with a tendril. An annoyance that didn't help with her efforts to calm her troubled thoughts during this unending wait.

"Now," Joxin finally sent after what felt like hours. Shifting the dirt and body above her with tendrils, Kathren moved upward until she broke out onto the surface. Night had fully settled onto the world, and she clawed her way out of the dirt and tried to smack off the bloody grime coating her.

From the hole, Joxin and Jim followed. None of them were smiling, and neither was she at finally getting out of the tomb. Her lips didn't even twitch as she looked at Jim and thought of his name. Instructor Green and the other trainees were probably dead, and they had to make it back as soon as possible to make their sacrifice worth a damn.

"Let's go," Kathren said in their union, and the other nodded in agreement.

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