南瓜影院

***

Cold.

Henry woke up shivering and confused.

"Hmm, where is this?" He mumbled as his hands roamed the \'ground\' he was lying on,

"This is metal."

Henry stood up suddenly and winced when his head smacked a metal ceiling;

"Ahh!" He cried out, "Where is this."

Only now did he properly observe where he was. It was clearly some kind of metal cage with enough space on the ground for him to lie on curled up but not high enough to support his height fully extended.

Henry\'s eyes easily found the only source of light in the cage; A barred window that didn\'t have nearly enough space to accommodate a human head not less fit a whole body in an attempt to escape.

On his knees, Henry moved over to the window and pressed his face as hard as he could through the iron bars as he called out,

"Oi! What the hell is going on? Where am I?!"

A laugh sounded and a horse trotted over to the side of the cage. The rider was a bearded man who gave Henry a crooked grin,

"So you\'re finally awake. Whew, The lungs on you. You must be well rested after sleeping for Four days. You were out like a log, you lazy bum," the man said with a cackle before adding,

"Good to know you\'re viable cargo."

Because the horse was trotting to keep pace with his cage, Henry realized for the first time that he was moving. How he had missed the blurring landscape was a mystery.

"Cargo?" Henry repeated the word, confused,

"What are you talking about?"

The man raised a brow,

"What\'s not clear?" He asked and pointed at Henry as he spoke slowly with each word almost spelled out,

"You. Are. Cargo."

The man dropped his hand then while still smiling at Henry whose eyes had grown wide between the bars,

"Maude Aleric had to do a lot of convincing to assert your viability. Even went as far as saying you were playing dead."

"Wait, Maude Aleric… Lord of the Black Manor?" Henry asked.

"If you know the name, then you know there\'s only one person who goes by it."

"He sold me to you?"

The Man nodded,

"Indeed, he did."

"Why?" Henry asked.

If Maude Aleric had gotten to him at the Hadron Mansion, why hadn\'t he just killed him? Not that Henry was complaining about not being dead, of course. Just his curious mind wondering.

The man shrugged,

"He said something about making up for losses and what-not but I don\'t know what that\'s all about and I don\'t care."

\'The Vinculum,\' Henry realized, \'He must have meant the losses from the damaged Vinculum.\'

Henry cracked a smile at that. Not a happy smile, mind you. More of a self-deprecating one as he knew there was no way he had fetched a high enough price to make up for a powerful Magical Item like that.

The man continued,

"Anyway," he said, "From what I know, Maude Aleric, being a Wizard, is all about making Vykers. But people like you and I can\'t be made into Vykers—"

"Wait, people like us?" Henry asked, "What does that mean?"

The man rolled his eyes,

"You\'re Awakened, aren\'t you? You\'ve got Mana, don\'t you?"

"Well—" Henry started to say not sure if it was wise to admit it.

The man interrupted,

"I know you do. It\'s why my employer \'bought\' you. You\'ll be useless to him without it.

You\'ll be doing the work he would have paid Mercenaries to do but you\'ll be doing it for a lot less. You\'ll be doing it for free."

The man ended his words with a chuckle of admiration most likely directed at his Employer\'s business savvy.

"Who\'s your employer?" Henry asked.

"Never you mind." The man said and with a clicking sound from his mouth, he urged his horse to ride ahead.

"Hey!" Henry called, "Hey, get back here!"

Henry called out as loud as he could but if the man heard —and Henry was sure he did—, he did very well to ignore him.

"Fuck!" Henry let out as he slumped to the base of the cage,

"I have to get away from here," he mumbled with a scrambling tone to his words,

"I have to— Argh!"

All thoughts of escape were put on immediate hold as pain shot from Henry\'s wrist into his brain. It felt like all his nerve endings were hit with the multiple heavy jolts of electricity that ultimately messed with his mental synapses and had him spasming on the cold metal base of his cage.

When the pain passed, Henry\'s eyes widened in horror as he raised his right hand and noticed a metal cuff was snapped around his Wrist.

The cuff glowed with Arcane symbols and only now began to dim.

"What is this?" Henry asked and grabbed it with his left hand to attempt to pull at it.

"Arrrghhhh!!!"

The pain from before returned even stronger and lasted a full minute with Henry writhing and twisting as much as he could in the confined space of the cage.

"Having fun?"

The voice of the man caused Henry to pull himself off the Cage\'s metal base as he struggled to the small window and pressed the metal cuff on his wrist through the bars as he yelled,

"What the hell is this thing?"

The man smiled,

"That is a \'Control-Cuff\'. Might be on your wrist but it\'s far more connected to your brain.

You come up with thoughts of escape? You hurt."

The man took one hand off his horse\'s reins and held it up to show he had a cuff on his wrist as well,

"You get too far away from this? You hurt.

You come up with thoughts to attack me? You hurt.

So, now that you know, the next time you hurt, you\'ll know it\'s all your fault."

"My fault?!" Henry yelled through the bars as he pulled his hand back,

"You bastard—"

Reaching into his Inventory, Henry pulled out \'The Hydra\'s Sting\' but before he could even get to aim, pain shot through him sending the gun to clatter against the cage\'s metal base at the same time he fell with a thud.

"ARGH!!!" Henry yelled with even more hurt in his voice.

The man cackled,

"Told ya," he said and with a clicking sound from his mouth, he had his horse ride ahead.

When the pain passed, Henry got an idea, and knowing dwelling on it would only hurt him more, he just acted.

Elminster\'s brand appeared in his right palm and burned bright. An Oval portal appeared. It wasn\'t as tall as it usually was and appeared to have condensed to fit into the cage.

Henry didn\'t mind, he pulled himself toward it but he had barely moved an inch when the pain returned and had him yelling as he spasmed.

When the pain passed, Henry remained on the ground, his body twitching at sporadic intervals. He was wondering if his brain was still functioning properly when a screen projected in front of his eyes as he received an alert that was now all too familiar;

[Grand Quest Updated!]

[Main Quest: Escape.

Quest details: Sold by a scorned Lord and facing an uncertain future… Things don\'t seem to be looking up for you.

-Break free of the shackles (Cuff) that bind you and escape captivity.

Reward: Level +2]

Henry raised a brow as he read through the screen. The Quest detail was pretty ordinary. After all, it wasn\'t like he wanted or planned to remain in capture. He would have tried to get away whether there was a Quest to do so or not.

The reward, however, was what truly caught Henry\'s eye.

\'Level +2?\' He thought,

\'Interesting new Reward Format. And very welcome too.\'

[Your Reward for achieving the Extraordinary feat of binding a Third Party to the System, has been decided…]

\'Oh?\' Henry thought and the memory of Hell, its flames, and the Demonic Patron he met, came rushing back as his hairs stood on end in fear.

[You were warned but you disobeyed and bound yourself and the System to an Infernal Spawn and have thus, opened yourself and the System to possible unfavorable compromises…]

\'Is this my reward? To be told I was wrong?\' Henry asked with his lips twitching.

The message continued,

[… Nevertheless, regardless of the eventual consequences of your unwise actions, you achieved a feat the System did not think or expect you to achieve.

As a Reward, you have been granted the Skill: ~Arcane Tapestry~.

May it serve you well against the troubles to come.

Good Luck!]