[Tobias POV]
I couldn't shake the weight pressing on my shoulders. Something was wrong. Solfira wasn't there for our trial—and no matter how I tried to reason it away, the thought kept clawing at me. Was she… in danger?
There I saw it, Solfira, screaming for help through the bars of our cells outside the castle. A Drago man was kidnapping her, and Akira and I cried for help, but no one could hear us.
I began to panic, I shouted, but my voice wasn't loud enough, so I had to take matters into my own hands...
"Akira, I could use your help to rescue Solfira", I said
An odd look, Akira said, "How do you think you could save her? You literally can't use any magic"
Akira's words hit me like a punch. He's right. I can't use magic to save her life. If only I could do something… she needs help.
Maybe I should keep shouting...pointless, I could go for hours, and no one would hear me.
I looked back at Akira with a smirk. "Akiraaaa," I said, my voice teasing.
Akira sighed, "What now? We can't do anything about it, idiot"
"Come on, why are you so hopeless? I just need your help to pull this off, and why did you lose hope? You literally promised your dad, who most probably died, to work hard and unite our regions," I said, staring at him dead in the eyes.
Angrily, Akira came up to me and grabbed my shirt. "What's your problem? Can't you shut up, dumbass? You can clearly see that I am going through a lot, Tobias!"
Akira glared at me, his grip on my shirt tightening. "You're just a lousy friend who can't even be sensitive towards my emotions," he said
My chest tightened. He didn't get it—he never did. I shoved his hand off me and snapped, "You always talk about magic this, magic that, but you forget that I don't have it. Do you know how much that hurts me, too?"
Before I could stop myself, my hand moved on its own. Smack! The sound of my palm meeting his cheek echoed in the cell.
The sound of the slap echoed louder than I expected. Everyone froze. For a moment, the world went silent—only the pounding of my own heart filled the air.
Akira's eyes widened in disbelief as his hand slowly loosened its grip on my shirt. The silence dragged, heavy and unbearable.
"...Dude, what's your problem? Can't you see how stupid you're being right now?" Akira finally said, his voice low but sharp.
I took some time to think about my actions and reflect on what I had done. I had never really been this impatient in my life. The weight of that moment—the slap, the silence, the look in Akira's eyes—pressed heavily on my chest.
I finally walked up to him."Hey man," I said quietly, avoiding his eyes at first, "I wanted to say… I'm really sorry for all that."
Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel that he was looking at me intensely.
"Sorry?" Akira said quietly, disappointment heavy in his voice. "You really think that's enough after what you said?"
Akira didn't say a word to me for the next two hours. Every glance I tried to steal, every word I wanted to speak, died on my lips. The silence between us was heavy, suffocating… like a wall I couldn't break through.
We were trapped in our cell, and I knew that even if I wanted to, there was no one to turn to for help. Mother and the twins were locked away in another cell, and Solfira… God, I couldn't even imagine what had happened to her. Every sound in the dungeon—the distant clank of chains, the muffled cries from other prisoners—made the emptiness around us feel heavier.
I could feel the weight of Akira's disappointment pressing down on me, and no matter how much I wanted to speak, the words caught in my throat.
The next day...
The first light of day hadn't even fully touched the dungeon when the guards came to check on the prisoners. One of them sneered as he stopped in front of our cell, his boots scraping the stone floor.
"Filthy humans," he spat, leaning close to the bars. "Remember… you will die. Three days left, ha ha!"
His laughter echoed through the hall, bouncing off the stone walls and settling in my chest like a weight. Akira was enraged, and he tried to attack the guard, but the bars held him back and nullified his magic "You don't deserve to live in the same world as us", the guard said
We went back to our silent hours until...
Just as I thought all hope was lost, Akira stood up and walked towards me.
"Hey," he said, his voice low but firm, "I know we're not on equal terms right now, but Solfira was kidnapped. Something has to be done about it."
"I'm sorry about before," I said, my voice cracking.
"Well, it's in the past now. You may wish to change it, but it's already been done," Akira replied with a faint smile.
That smile lit up the dark cell, warming the cold hopelessness I'd been drowning in.
We dapped up, the clap echoing through the cell. I couldn't help but grin. "Man, that was solid."Akira smirked back. "Loudest one yet."
We spent the whole day piecing together our escape plan. By the end of it, we were both convinced nothing would go wrong.
Two days left until the execution. Our plan was ready, but it was not yet the right time to put it into action.
And then came the next day—one day left until the execution. None of us knew it yet, but we were in for a surprise.
Akira, his mother, the twins and I were summoned by the king. We questioned why we were summoned, but it allowed to execute our plan.
The guards shackled us with a heavy chain, leaving us unable to run, but they had no idea we still had two trump cards up our sleeves.
So we played along, pretending to be restrained, as they led us into the great hall.
We eventually arrived, and the king proclaimed, "My daughter has been kidnapped. Do you have any knowledge of this?"and the kidnapper asked for 100,00 Rand ransom
We lied through our teeth, concealing the truth, ready to set our plan into motion.
And so we began. Akira attempted to use his Ice magic to freeze the chains, but I noticed he was struggling. That's when it hit me—the chains must be made of the same magic nullifying material as the ones in the prison.
Time for Plan B. I summoned every ounce of strength I possessed. I slammed my body against the chains, leaning every bit of my weight into them. But I didn't stop. I slammed again and again, each strike shaking the floor beneath us. Finally, with a resounding crack, the chains shattered, flying apart like brittle twigs.
Freedom was at hand. But the guards reacted instantly, lunging to capture me. Akira's reaction shocked me, as he moved with lightning speed, intercepting them and giving me the chance to sprint.
I bolted out of the great hall, adrenaline surging through every vein. Guards appeared on all sides—left, right, behind me—but I didn't slow. I pushed my legs harder and harder, sprinting with a speed that blurred the world around me. My body screamed in protest, muscles burning and numb, yet I refused to stop. The gates ahead, and I dashed with every ounce of strength, moving so fast it felt as if my body was melting into motion itself.
And as soon as I got to the gates, I took a sharp turn to where I saw her get kidnapped, so I followed the direction the kidnapper flew.
I managed to lose the guards on the way, but I was lost...
To be continued...