What happened.
My mind is completely blank.
Everything is frozen and nothing stands still at the same time.
Was it a millennia or just a second?
I don't know… But finally the hands that cover my eyes are gone. Just for a small moment – not even a second – the ability to see was restored and with no one touching me anymore, my brain began to process information again.
Of course, or maybe as expected, some kind of bag made out of heavy cloth got put over my head and my sight was blocked again.
But this smallest amount of time was enough, to visually confirm my situation.
I am in a car.
It's the second time in my life, sitting in one of those things and the experience is completely different from the first time, even though, the interior looks quite the same.
The dashboard is made out of a dark grey material and has some green and red glowing buttons all over the place, the function of which I do not know. The seats have the same colour, but they are made out of a way softer material and even the windows are tainted in a darker tone than what should be normal.
Overall this car screams "suspicious".
But the most suspicious part are the four people inside. They all wear long coats in different shades of grey, all of them have dark gloves and shoes in the same colour and at least the one in the drivers seat wears a pair of shades, despite the inside of the car being quite dark already.
I couldn't confirm if anyone else wears shades, too.
\\Am I stupid? I could just [look].
//Oh, welcome back rational me.
\\Silly me… I'm way too carefree…
Actually I'm not.
I just can't cope with what's going on.
I get the Information, but I just don't understand…
My mind just feels like lagging behind.
What happened?
What's going on?
Why me?
Who are they?
Is this still within the city's speed limit?
Where are we going?
So many questions and no answer at all.
On top of that, I got touched by at least three strangers, so it's only natural that my brain is overwhelmed.
It has been one and a half seconds since I got the bag put on my head and not getting touched again massively helped in calming me down.
Okay, think you useless me, what is going on?
I was not in danger, so it's not a rescue mission. Also Nema was left behind and I don't know the people in the car, so the chance of this being some kind of rescue is pretty much 1,82 to 2,21 percent. That's too low.
The simple fact that Nema was left behind also dropped the chance to zero, that this is some kind of pick-up to bring us home.
So… it's that, right?
Kidnapping…
But what for?
Do they want to sell me? I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but I have little to no value at all.
So could you just let me go? You don't even need to stop the car for that. Just throw me out of the window and I will heal my … wounds … lat...er…
Wait a Minute!
…
...45
46
47
48
For fifteen's sake not now! I don't have the time for this right now.
But I made a shocking discovery; I indeed HAVE value.
Quite a lot actually…
Apparently there is no healing magic in this world… and well, I can heal…
Oh no…
So it really is that…
My body began to shake and my mind got dangerously close to being blank again.
//Don't loose it, rational me! They don't know me, so I can do it!
Huh?
Oh.
That's right.
Even though I have some kind of reputation, I am seemingly still just a child. A quite small and somewhat ill-looking one on top of that. But I'm not.
So whatever they had planned to keep me in check, they should have completely miscalculated it.
In this case it should be possible to escape whatever is waiting for me. The calculating me just threw a nice looking "74%" at me and for the small chance that we leave this city, it would go even higher.
With the odds so much in my favour, I stopped shaking.
Okay, but if the possibility is this high, then I should look at my captors, so I could hand them out to the guards later.
I expended my field of perception, that was only around myself due to the shock, so that I could [see] the insides of the car. If I stretch it further, I could overload my already unstable brain due to the car's speed, so I will refrain from that until I have a better grasp of everything.
The first thing I had to check was, if really everyone is wearing some kind of sunglasses and yes; they actually do.
\\Who cares?
//Well, I do.
\\Hmpf! Stupid me.
I let out a sigh in my mind and [look] closer at the people.
The driver is a young, very tall man, with a shaved head and a black moustache that looks like a broom under his nose. His standing size should be 202 centimetres and because of that he pushed his seat as far back, as the car allowed. At least that's what I assume.
Next to him sits a mountain of muscles, that seemingly tries to impersonate a human man, but his angular face made it hard to believe.
I got placed in the middle backseat and to my left is a strong looking woman with long, dark hair and a flower tattooed on her neck. I should remember how it looks, because this would be very easy to find later.
The last person to my right, who put the bag over my face, is a young man, just barely counting as an adult. He is nearly as pale as I am, has his long, brown hair tied up and just stares at me with his dark eyes that look as if he is awake for a few days already.
My [sight] focuses on their recognizable features over and over again, so that I could easily share them, when the time comes. But because he just stares at me, I refrain from looking at the man next to me as much as possible.
Doesn't he know that this is impolite?
I won't throw a fit, you know? There is no chance for me to escape right now, so you can reduce your observation a bit.
"Something is off…", He murmured loud enough that everyone could hear it, "I think she stopped breathing…"
Eh?
"WHAT?! No!"
Three more pairs of eyes got locked onto me and I started to slightly breathe just in time, so it wouldn't be too obvious.
The Driver was the first who looked away again. Good, eyes on the road you numb eleven! If we crash, I won't help you, just so we're clear.
"Must have been your imagination, because of the driving." The woman now constantly looked at me, too, but her voice was relaxed, so I hope this won't be the case for too long.
But now that she mentions it… The driver really is going for a weird path.
We turn at nearly every corner and even though I still didn't stretch out my field of perception too far, I'm quite sure that we are going in circles every now and then.
Are we lost?
Probably.
You know that you could just ask for the correct way, right? I'm not the biggest fan of this situation and its already going for 54 minutes, so I would appreciate it, if we could end this soon.
Sadly we didn't stop and asked for the way.
Because of that I slowly expanded my field of perception to [see] the outside, too. We still drove for another hour and seven minutes until the car finally took a sharp turn and drove into the underground car park of a tall building.
Even though the car park was mostly empty, the driver took a while to find the perfect parking spot. One as good as every other one, but as close to an elevator as possible.
The moment the car stopped, both men in the front jumped out and carefully observed the area for a few minutes. If they had asked, I could have told them that there is no one besides us here. Or I wouldn't…
The muscular man stuck his head back into the car for a moment to look at the tall woman.
"You carry her. Quick now."
What?
No.
Please don't carry me. I will behave and walk by myself, so please just stay away-
She didn't.
She grabbed me a lot softer than before, as her strong arms lifted me out of the car without a problem, but of course I still froze up and my breathing got faster. The bag over my head probably prevented me from hyperventilating.
The woman seemingly didn't notice, as she just hurried over to the already open lift, where the driver was waiting.
The muscular man was right behind us, but the other one wasn't. I just barely noticed, that he was now in the car's driver seat and started it again, while the elevator's doors closed already.
The elevators movement made me feels sick again and so my stiffened body was forced to loosen up, so that I just hang in the woman's arms like a wet towel. This led to her tightening her grip so I wouldn't fall.
"Seto is right,", she declared, "something is wrong. She is way too light and alarmingly cold."
The driver made a weird hissing sound, while the mountain of muscles answered her.
"No names, are you stupid? It's probably the shock."
Blood rushed into the woman's face and made her turn red as reaction to the scolding and she opened her mouth to answer, but because of the elevator's doors opening again, she didn't and instead just rushed out.
I got carried through a long corridor with a thick carped and dim lights that got brighter when people get closer. There are many luxurious looking doors in a symmetrical order on both sides of the corridor and we stopped in front of the fourteenth door on the left side.
The driver opened the door and we entered a big room that gave me the impression of a living room and a study at the same time and everything in it seemed to be made out of high quality material.
The woman quickly walked through that room, aiming for an open door in the back.
There was a much smaller room, that reminded me of Nema's room in the city hall. It's kept in bright colours, has a big bed and way too many toys that seem to be just thrown in here. In the middle of the room was a chair and the woman gently put me down on it. I immediately calmed down, as she took a few steps back.
The muscular man threw a very soft blanket over my body and the driver used some kind of elastic rope to tie me and the blanket to the chair, while the muscular one leaned down in front of me to take away the bag.
For a moment there was a pair of dark shades about fifteen centimetres in front of me. Then the bag got pulled down in a mechanical movement again and my normal sight was blocked once more.
The man hurriedly stood up and rushed out of the room. Slamming the door shut behind him I couldn't hear anything, while a very colourful selection of swearwords filled my field of perception.
The driver seemingly had forgotten what he was just doing, as I didn't get tied up completely and he and the woman just stared at the bag on my head with a mixture of shock and confusion.
I doubt that this is the best moment for an attempted escape.
…
6404
6405
640- oh
There is a change.
I'm alone in the room right now and because not much is happening, I concentrated on the passing seconds.
Seeing me seemed to shock the weird kidnappers, so even though they took away the bag after a few minutes, they left the room and just locked me in here.
Now the strong woman and the driver are in the big adjoining room. They sit on the comfy looking couch and turned on the TV, but no one pays much attention to it, as the door to my room apparently is more interesting to stare at.
The muscular man was ranting for quite some time and then just left with a phone in his hand. In his stead Seto came back. He peeked in my room about an hour ago and after confirming that I was still in here, he took position on a chair as far away as possible from me.
All three of them decided to be boring, but finally there is change.
The entrance door got opened again and all people in the room jumped up, just to bow down in a submissive manner again, as a semi-old man entered.
The newcomer is in his early fifties, a bit shorter than the Seto guy and wears an expensive looking suit. Behind him was the mountain of muscles.
I know this man. He works in the city hall, but because he doesn't work in the kitchen or has anything to do with the bread, I have no idea what he does.
He ignored the bowing people, aimed straight for the couch and sat down with a huge sigh.
The muscular man followed him and took a guarding position behind the couch, where he just pointed at a cupboard next to Seto for a moment.
The young man immediately reacted, took a weirdly formed bottle with some golden liquid in it and a glass out of the cupboard and hurried over to the muscular man who took the glass, so that Seto could fill it with some of the golden liquid. A weird smell entered my field of perception. A mix of wood, fire and some unknown chemical stench, that somehow seems familiar, but I can't remember from where.
After filling the glass, the young man took a step back to bow again, while the muscular man leaned forward to hand over the glass to the newcomer.
He took it and immediately drank half of the liquid with one sip. Then he let out a sigh again.
For a minute nothing happened expect the newcomer holding up the glass, so that he could see the ceiling light shining through the liquid.
He then let out a third sigh.
"Don't say anything, I know already… The whole city knows and neighbouring higher ups are expected tomorrow." He quickly took another, smaller sip. "To say that I am disappointed is an understatement… You couldn't manage to simply capture that stupid bastard's daughter and instead kidnapped the great Pura R'lar. Can you even imagine what hell you have just released?"
No one answered and a cold feeling began to creep into me.
I was just an accident, they wanted Nema.
The poor little Nema. Just imagining her in this situation made me feel nauseous. At the same time a wave of relief hit me.
Because it is I who is tied to this chair and not Nema, her safety is guaranteed. She is probably sad right now, maybe even worried about me, but at the same time her security must be something unimaginable strict at the moment. I'm glad.
A weird chuckle brought my attention back to the drinking man and I could [see], that I'm not the only one dumbfolded by this.
"I wanted a pawn and you brought me the queen." A big, disgusting grin formed on his lips. "She is in that bastards care right now. Only for one day and everything goes wrong! Hehe. This will ruin him, his career is over!"
He drank the last sip and put the glass on a small table in front of the couch with one single, fluent movement. Then he jumped up, seemingly full of energy.
"My men will 'find' her in a few days.", he declared while walking towards the exit and his grin got wider. "Of course we need an escape route for you… Droy, Seto, with me, we can't make any more mistakes now."
He left the room and the mountain of muscles – apparently Droy – followed him. Seto had a face that showed absolute zero enthusiasm for the situation, as he gave the bottle to the driver and walked to the door with sluggish movements.
Weird.
//I don't understand, rational me.
\\Same here, silly me. Sure Nema's dad will get some blame and is in a lot of trouble, but how does that man intend to keep me from sharing what information I got here?
I shrugged my shoulders.
Even if he has an escape for the kidnappers, I know them, so they could be caught and then tell about him.
Meh, there are too many unknown variables in this calculation. I shouldn't wait until his men find me and instead escape as soon as possible.