Before long I was escorted to the neglected shop, my joints healing somewhat. Ittisk and Thrack seemed unaffected by the tremendous amount of running and as a result, I could barely keep up with them.
"Okay, here we are," Ittisk announced, one out of very few pieces of dialogue he had uttered throughout the whole journey. "We'll leave you alone for the most part, but we will check in on you from time to time. Are you ready?"
I nodded, my heart pounding inside my chest not just from the exercise that I had endured but also excitement. This was when my plan was going to finally be set into action when I would either get kidnapped forcefully by Ittisk and Thrack once more or successfully return to the safety and comfort of the school's regulated bubble of experiences. "Yes, more or less."
"More or less," the alien repeated as he led me back towards the desk. I sat down and the wooden structure was actually somewhat comfortable. I hoped the feeling would last, but I knew that it would get uncomfortable before long. "Alright, see you soon."
With that, the two left me alone for the first time. I waited around until they turned the corner, then some more after that. I didn't doubt the possibility that they would still keep tabs on me to test my loyalty, so I figured that I would minimize any risk that was involved with the plan.
What felt like several minutes later I stood up. My legs declared that I stood, and so I complied. Stretching, I started to prepare myself. Looking and listening to my surroundings, I decided that they had not come back yet. There was no sign of movement anywhere.
I stepped outside. If the creatures decided to spy on me now, they would most likely think I was briefly relieving myself. That or they could get suspicious. I descended into the city, pretending to look around for an enclosed area. One that would force Ittisk and Thrack to show themselves if they wanted to conduct some surveillance. I eventually found a spot that was on the corner of an alleyway, giving me both a path to escape and the seclusion I needed.
Slowly, I began to sneak my way away from the shop, also avoiding the locations the three of us spotted by during our period of "exercise". It seemed like it was going well, with nobody in my line of sight turn after turn.
However, I did get spotted by one alien that was slumped against a wall. Nearly instantly, an expression that clearly signalled shock spread across his face and one of his arms came up to point towards me. His mouth quivered, but words failed to come out of his mouth.
The encounter caused me to pick up my speed, rushing to get away from the alien before he could scream for help, not as if he had much motivation to do so, of course. I had no intention of harming anyone on my journey back to school.
The next street over housed more people. The one after that had even more. My heart dropped as I realized that I was getting into the heart of the city, but my feelings were stifled; the hotel was getting closer.
With a sigh, I finally worked up the courage to face the crowds of people. Electing to speedwalk, hordes of citizens had their eyes glued onto my indigo skin, something they have likely never seen before. Even if I had acquired some clothes somehow, too much separated me from everyone else. I realized that blending in was not going to be an option.
I still carried on, though, through the increasingly populated streets. I had also begun to recognize some of the landmarks our tour group had passed more than once, which gave me vague directions on where I should turn next.
The eyes that burned into my soul had begun to wear off until I was confident enough to simply stride through the numerous walkways. After all, these people seemed to be less threatening and simply examined my relatively unfamiliar body.
A few moments later, I could finally see the hotel's large and exquisite architecture. Immediately, I began to pick up my pace, laughing aloud as I slowly approached the building. This was it; I was close to finally escaping my brief imprisonment.
I was rounding the last few turns as I was stopped once again. Ittisk and Thrack made themselves visible both in front of and behind me, causing me to halt in my tracks.
"You thought you could run to your master just like that, huh?" Ittisk shook his head. "Sorry, but we really need that shop up and running."
Out of pure desperation, I called out at the top of my lungs for any shred of help but was quickly interrupted by a swift punch to the face. Due to his surprising amount of strength, Thrack was able to knock me out.
A bag was pulled off my face and I found myself in a familiar location; I was back at the shop, but whenever I attempted to move I only found that the chair and my body were roped to it. I still had control of my arms, most likely to flip the pages of the notebook detailing each of the items that were being sold.
"I trusted you, Acabio." Ittisk pulled at my ropes, ensuring that they were securely fastened, before taking a few steps back. "You seemed genuine when we first met you. We thought that you were our sincere friend."
Instead of a neutral expression, I found myself snarling at the two aliens. "You should abduct one of your own people instead of a student that simply wants a peaceful life."
Thrack spoke up for the first time in a lengthy period. "Oh? Well, that sucks. Creatures like yourself do not have any impact on this world. If we got one of our own kin their families and friends would avidly search for them, but you? You're nothing."
I decided to stick it out. I still had one more trick up my sleeve. "I am not nothing." At this point my teeth were in plain view, air passing between them every breath I took. "You are. You're nothing but scum."
Ittisk approached me, and I instantly recoiled. Afraid that I was going to become a punching bag once again, I quickly burnt the ropes using a fireball. From there I was able to push myself away from the kidnapper, falling into the cold, hard floor below me. A cracking sound echoed through the small room as my head but the floor, but the amount of shock I was in helped to nullify the sharp bout of pain.
Ittisk was now running towards me, but I luckily recovered fast enough to use another spell: telekinesis. It was weak, but I managed to trip the rapidly approaching alien.
Now we were both on the floor, but I was already beginning to push myself off the ground. Thrack had now started to advance towards me, but instead of blindly charging as his companion had done, he grabbed what would suffice as a weapon, which was a small wooden board. From there, he exercised caution as he approached, ensuring that he was not in my effective range.
Unfortunately for him, I was not that weak. I quickly cast another fireball, hurtling it towards him. He intercepted it with his stick, causing it to be set ablaze. A second later, he threw this projectile towards me.