It took a moment for Jason to fully process where he was when he woke up. There was bright sunlight from one of the gateways shining straight into the room, lighting up what turned out to be a luxurious bedroom.
The walls carried beautiful landscape paintings in frames nearly as incredible as the paintings themselves. Despite the ornate rug and wallpaper, it was much less gaudy than everything else he had seen.
Every wall, floor, and ceiling, all the way down to the servants' uniforms had been coated in the same bright shades of red and blue. He felt like he was walking into the castle of a clown king rather than the most powerful human kingdom in this world.
This room, however, was much better. The bed had massive curtains that swayed in the slight breeze that wafted in through the open window. It was covered in floral patterns, but like everything else, the colors were mostly white and pastels, giving it a more refined feel.
There was a door on either side of the bedroom. Jason figured one of them should lead into a walk-in closet or something while the other would lead outside, but they were both identically gilded in complex patterns over the intricately carved wood.
The only other furniture of note in the room was a large desk with nothing on it. It was austere compared to everything else, though it still looked sturdy. The chair that Jason was tied to looked to have come from it.
He pushed at the ropes that bound him, but they were too tight to pull himself out of. He managed to do nothing but get a small rope burn on his wrists.
His legs were tied to either leg of the chair so he could stand up awkwardly, body warped around the chair, but even with the strength that came with this body, he could break anything or pull free. This really was a sturdy chair.
He could still feel what little mana he had, maybe he could try…
"Don't try it," the sparrow said in his head. She sounded terrible. Had she been injured or something? Was that even possible?
"I'm not injured," she responded, still sounding weak and emotionless.
Jason waited for her to continue, but she didn't. She could read his thoughts, so she should know that he expected her to explain herself, but she didn't.
Well, at least they were still alive. A part of him had been completely convinced that he would never wake up again. But why couldn't he use magic?
"There are people watching you to see what you do," the sparrow said. "Not that it really matters."
"Have you given up?" Jason asked, dumbstruck at the thought. "This is hardly the time for moping."
Truthfully, Jason was terrified. If he was being watched then that meant that they expected him to do something. What would they do if he did try to escape? What would they do if he did nothing?
Regardless, he was probably about to be tortured and killed by the most evil person in this world. He had basically no chance of making it out of this situation alive without a massive miracle, and even then would he be able to save his friends?
He felt a sudden surge of…confidence? Maybe not confidence, but something. As awful as things were right now, he felt more sure of what he had to do than ever before. He had never thought about Vanya or Nora as his friends before, and they certainly wouldn't consider themselves as such, but who else did he have?
When you were alone in an unfamiliar world with nothing else, it seemed that he could even consider people who loathed him as friends. "Don't worry, I'm gonna figure something out," he told the sparrow.
That's what friends did when things seemed bleak. The first step to getting everyone out of here was to project confidence. He needed to…
"You know I can hear what you are thinking."
"Just pretend you can't," Jason replied, thinking furiously.
Of all the people that he could call friends, the sparrow was probably the closest he could find. Well, people or magical animals. She had never really gotten to the point of believing in him any more than the others, but that was just because he'd never given anyone much proof that he was worthy of it.
This was his chance. Do or die. Literally.
Jason scanned the room one more time, but there wasn't anything else he could do. The sparrow said he was being watched, so escaping right now wouldn't matter even if he could manage to do it somehow.
They were watching him to see what he would do. That had quite a few implications if the sparrow was right, and Jason trusted her. They didn't know what he was capable of, so they wanted to figure it out by giving him a chance to escape?
Jason was pretty sure he could get out of his bonds using the little power he did have, but he wouldn't have a chance after that. They must have been told that he could use illusion magic by that disgusting man Larak, but what would they do if he didn't try to escape?
It was an easy decision considering how few options he had. He didn't have the strength to fight them, but if they underestimated him then maybe…
He tried to lay his head back to get some rest. It was better than struggling the whole time anyway. The sparrow, he found, had curled up inside of his shirt to avoid detection. He had no idea when or how she had managed to do that, but it didn't really matter. She didn't seem inclined to talk to him regardless.
Jason was in and out of consciousness for some time before someone finally came through the door. He had guessed that the door he had been facing would be the one leading outside, but it was the door behind him that opened up, leaving him unable to see who approached.
"You're even more pathetic than I could have imagined," drawled a familiar voice. Jason fought the urge to struggle against the ropes. "I can't believe you have the audacity to wear his body."
There was an emphasis on 'his' that Jason couldn't have missed. A sort of reverence that felt wrong, surrounded as it was by smooth arrogance. "I don't know what else I could do," Jason said. "It isn't my fault I was born this ugly."
Larak slammed his fist into Jason's jaw from behind and he barely managed to clench his jaw and neck to keep from getting his neck broken. "I guess you do have a little fight in you," he said.
"Well, I'm not one to curl up in the corner whenever I encounter someone who can fight back." That earned him another strike, but he was ready for it this time.
The punch had cut his cheek on the inside so he could taste blood, and feel it beginning to swell already, but he didn't stop. "Yes, you're very good at hitting people who are tied up," Jason said, fighting through the pain.
The pain almost felt like an afterthought. He knew it was there, and he knew how much it hurt, but he was too angry to care. He refused to look weak in front of this pathetic excuse for a man.
"You being tied up hardly makes a difference I think," Larak said, though Jason was sure he could hear frustration in his voice. It really didn't take much to get under his skin.
"Why don't you untie me and see if you're so confident?"
"So that's where you're going with this ridiculous bravado," Larak said. "Were it up to me, I might just do so to make a point. Unfortunately, I have very strict orders this time."
Jason hadn't really expected much, but at least that gave him some information. "Fair enough," Jason said. "It must be nice having orders to hide behind when there's nothing else."
That earned him another blow to the cheek, but Larak didn't rise to his provocation anymore. He stepped in front of Jason for the first time holding a small wooden box of some kind. That was ominous, but the intimidation was ruined by the man's face.
The entire right side of his face was swollen and blotched with purple. Jason hadn't even seen Vanya strike his face, how had that…?
Larak put on a single leather glove, opening the box and reaching in to grab, and small stone of some kind. It was round and about the size of a marble, with a slight bluish glow that was visible despite the brightness of the room.
"It never hurts to be too cautious," Larak said with a smile.
Holding the marble like it had some kind of disease, he grabbed Jason's face, forcing it still. He knew that struggling wouldn't do any good, but his body fought Larak's arm anyway, for all the good it did.
He was strong and Jason was tied to a chair. Larak's smile widened as he pressed the marble against Jason's forehead.