Chapter One Hundred Twenty Three

Ilyelanralo lounged upon his regal divan as he listened to the report from the guards he'd assigned to following the eccentric around. Ever since the eccentric had proved troublesome in hiding the bait-boy out in the jungle. Not really a boy… Ilyelanralo chuckled to himself. But… That had surprised him very unpleasantly. That the man had found some way to disrupt his plans despite knowing what was expected; to subvert the magic of the collar. It deeply disturbed him and Ilyelanralo's concern grew. Nor did the rushing nervousness of the latest guards offer any peace.

"You found concerns to report?"

"Yes, master."

"Begin," Ilyelanralo replied after taking a long sip from his mug, the soft red wine bleeding back down the inner sides of the mug.

"Yes, master. First, the eccentric is strong. Much stronger… faster than anything… he's a monster, master!"

The slave master's eyebrows knit slightly, finding the response peculiar, "He is an eccentric. Eccentrics are known to be incredibly strong. Only the strong would venture easily from their planes… the stronger or the desperate."

"Yes, master, but he is… too strong!'

The slave master sighed, "You do not know of the heights of the heavens. He is strong, yes, but no stronger than any average eccentric."

"But master, he moved faster than our eyes could see. Felled trees in a single strike, sometimes two. And easily lifted entire felled trees alone; many times over. He is beyond…"

"Enough. Such feats are common amongst the immortals. You may find them wild impossibilities… even rare, but for the immortal, such is the norm. Only that immortals are rare and you have no privilege of seeing such do you believe his strength bizarre. If that is all that concerns you, then you will find my patience quite thin."

"Master, there is more."

Ilyelanralo narrowed his eyes, "Waste not my time," he replied with flat softness.

"He made dozens more of his log piles scattered throughout the forest and…"

Ilyelanralo narrowed his eyes further, displeasure warping lips as well, but did not interrupt. The slave guard took the hint.

"Bu..b… but… that is not the main concern…"

"Then why did you waste my time with it, simpleton!"

"Apologies, master," the slave guard immediately replied before bowing quickly. He waited until Ilyelanralo sighed with annoyance and waved him on.

"No, of greater concern," the guard continued, "is the weapon he used to cut the trees."

Ilyelanralo's narrowed eyes widened in concern even as his eyebrows knit, "A weapon?"

"He has an axe?"

"An axe? How?"

"He has it hidden amongst his logs."

Ilyelanralo's eyes narrowed in thought, "You are certain?"

"We traveled to an old pile of logs he felled yesterday, we believe, and from there he retrieved his axe. He used it to form his piles of logs today before stashing it in the last pile of logs."

"Did you retrieve it?" Ilyelanralo asked with concern.

"We could not find it, master."

Ilyelanralo nostrils flared a bit, annoyance flickering through as he considered his incompetent guards, "you are certain it was stashed at the last pile of logs?"

The guard nodded quickly, "He used the axe to fell the logs and limb them. The axe disappeared while he was piling the logs into his piles. He hid it amongst the pile."

"You saw him do so?"

"I… he… where else could it be, master?"

Ilyelanralo stared at the man for a time, frustration welling. He was certain he knew where the axe was. An eccentric from a wealthy clan could easily have methods, several he knew of even if he'd never seen. Still, certainty demanded action and he returned his focus upon the guard before him.

"Return to the location and find the axe. The eccentric cannot have access to any weapons. Search the pile, destroy it even if you must, and return with it. Return only after you have thoroughly searched the site, include the logs! Is that understood!?"

"Yes, master. You wish this immediately?"

"Of course. Take several others to help you in the task. Finish it before the morrow."

"Yes, master," the slave guard bowed even deeper from his current bow then stood and retreated in a half bow until he'd exited the room.

Ilyelanralo watched on and considered. He was certain the axe was not at the site. In fact, a certain intuition burned within him that it wasn't, and greed burned bright, igniting hope. Stealing from a Patriarch was folly, but for this… such a thing would be worth it. Still, sending the guards to verify was a punishment in and of itself for the guards since they would find nothing.

He paused for a second before calling for his house slave, the soft bell chime enough to alert the slave. She came running then slowed to a bowed over shuffle to stand before him.

"Master?"

"Call for the eccentric's healer and torturer."

The succinct statement caught the slave girl slightly off guard but long years of training prepared her well, and she replied quickly enough for Ilyelanralo's current mood. He felt forgiving.

"Immediately, master."

He waited, thoughtful as he sipped his wine and daydreamed of impossible wealth. When the healer and torturer entered, Ilyelanralo had calmed some although the wild pumping in his heart did not.

"Tonight, search the eccentric thoroughly. He has something in his possession. Likely small; a ring, or jewel, perhaps. Search him. Thoroughly," Ilyelanralo hinted with poignant meaning with the last statement, a burning pause accentuating his demand.

The two slaves immediately bowed deeper, saying "Yes, master," then began to retreat almost immediately as he waved a hand, dismissing them.

Ilyelanralo played with his wine and sipped slowly, but agitated excitement robbed him of calm for the rest of the night. But he felt no irritation, only gleeful greed.

* * *

Joe woke in the middle of the night to his torture once more, pinned in place by the power of the tool the healer and daggerman used. The torture was as thorough as ever, fingers carefully, with precision and expertise, removed a knuckle at a time. Pain spiked, but was a dull ache more than anything else although Joe did not let that be shown, still bucking against the torture as much as he could, paralyzed and unmoving. Grunts of pain and roaring cries escaped his lips, but were now more theatre than actual reactions to the pain.

Things proceeded normally, for a time, until the torture ended. Then the men began to ransack his tent and searched him thoroughly, all clothing stripped from him and brutally searched. Seams were shredded and all clothing searched completely, even the buttons he had on his pants and shirt, The delicate wooden buttons shattered and searched. When they found nothing, the search grew more intimate and much more embarrassing. Joe went a bit wild at that, but the two slave guards proved just as disinterested in performing the search as Joe was in receiving it.

When they were done, burning rage coiled through him and almost caused him to break his image of insanity, frustration and humiliation scorching wildly through him. Thankfully, the paralysis saved him from both his raging anger and humiliation by keeping him from breaking his act and from coiling up in shame and fear. Forced to remain aware, he couldn't retreat in his humiliation and it was quickly burned away by his rage.

He watched on as his entire tent was trashed, cloaks tossed carefully while his log bench and stool were shattered. Even his brazier was taken from him, leaving him cold and in the dark for a time. It didn't matter, only fueling his anger and offering a fortress against his humiliation. A few moments passed before he heard the sound of footsteps returning, overlaid by a soft muttering. Light grew at the entrance of his tent then flooded in as the tent flap opened. Joe stared up, helpless in his paralysis as the healer returned with a new brazier, settling it in the same place as where the last one was. It was a different one, the gleam of new metalwork and no scratches proved that. Searching… obviously… but what would be in the brazier? What would they expect to be there? Joe pondered as he lay paralyzed, but his eyes followed the healers retreat from the tent. Several minutes after the healer left, the paralysis released him and he clenched recently regrown fingers in quivering rage. The new coal burned the flame even brighter, lighting up the destroyed room and Joe grit his teeth. He cared little for his useless chair and desk, but somehow their destruction induced a rage that Joe struggled to dampen.

He panted, eyes wide and anger coiling like deadly poison through his bowels and he couldn't fight it. Suddenly, calm came to him and his panting settled, an absolute calm crushed through his mind. He closed his and took several deep breaths and felt peace return. A few moments later, he stared around the room and sighed with frustration, anger now well gone. He gathered up the cloaks and shook them out carefully before remaking his bed. The stool and desk he dismissed. They really didn't matter and he could clean them tomorrow.

Now, he needed calm, and so he retreated to it, settling into a kata and slowly, deliberately, flowed through the movement, aiming for perfection in position rather than power. Within, mana flowed, unnoticed.

* * *

Gwenvair woke with a panic, a towering rage flooding her connection and fear spiked. Joe's rages had grown ever more constant, a disturbing trend that burned a low fear within her. Just as disquieting, he rage seemed to grow more and more, a brilliance that, while she could quench, seemed to burn just as brightly, and sometimes even brighter, despite her efforts with every return. She fell into the family, calling upon all their strength and passing peace in return. His rage dampened quickly, and Gwenvair calmed in return as she felt Joe reply in kind, the overwhelming rage brought to heel. Kilniara and Xylarnae rushed into her room almost immediately, Kalia grumbling ever more as she petulantly stomped in shortly after them. All three's presence quickly swelled their strength. Replying to Joe's need, they fell into calm until Joe had recovered.

Kalia retreated immediately after their connection calmed, but Kilniara and Xylarnae proved chatty, joining Gwenvair in a midnight conversation until all three fell to exhaustion a short while later. The other two offered their farewells shortly after and retreated to their rooms.

* * *

As he planned, Joe returned to his normal activities by acting abnormally strange, wandering the camp and sitting for periods of time, creating odd and strange carvings. He no longer went out into the forests, but remained and watched on with increasing vigilance. And he also pondered ways to find a path to freedom, ever more certain it had to be in the slave master's house.

And his tent and body was continuously searched for over a week, even culminating with him being shoved into another tent and forced to settle there. He watched on with amusement as his previous tent was shredded completely, fabric, poles, and all. If that had been all, he would have taken that small victory with a bit of joyful humor, schadenfreude offering him some happiness at the slave masters frustration.

But, with the loss of his tents came the loss of his cloaks and he was soon forced to sleep on the floor. That necessitated him spending some time stripping the fields of long grass strands and straw to cover his floor although that only added to his irritation as the incredibly itchy straw left him finding sleep very difficult. He had cloaks left over, the ones he'd taken from the tree house, but the wild attempts to search him had him increasingly jumpy. He didn't know what they were looking for, but he was rather certain magically appearing cloaks would be something that would pique their attention. The previous cloaks hadn't garnered attention simply because he hadn't pulled them out where people could see them and by the time they started showing up in his tent torturing them, they'd long been on the ground, a dirtied pile of cloth seemingly long there. They likely didn't remember he'd arrived with mostly nothing.

He hadn't even considered that at the time, but felt only relief that they hadn't realized it. That thought suddenly sharpened his focus and sweat formed on his head even as fear and tension stretched his forehead tight. The axe! It's gotta be the axe… I fooled the guards… but the slave master isn't an idiot! Joe struggled to keep his gaze down and lazily carving his current piece but fear crawled up through him, driving him to look towards the villa and the slave master. He's watching… he's watching… he knows! He's gotta… Fear crawled over him for the entire week that the guards enforced their searches, and even after, he struggled to maintain a façade of calm.

It took him almost a day or two to finally relax, the nightly searches having already ratcheted up his tension to breaking. When he finally calmed, relief swept through him at that point, but his vigilance was now extreme. He felt his eyes constantly darting even has he kept his head down and kept his hair draped across his face.

After he had calmed down from the searches then added another week just for good measure, he quickly doubled down on seeking an entrance into the slave master's home. Frustratingly, his nights were rudely interrupted by a torturous duo. Despite that, he still had a good chunk of time after he had repaired his legs to spend on his efforts.

He'd been concerned about waiting long enough for his late night visitors to return to sleep but his lengthy effort to return his legs took long enough that the camp had settled again. After a short time, he shifted his jobs to take advantage of the stealth skills he had then waited until the soft snores of the slaves in the surrounding tents offered him comfort. A few moments later, he crept to the entrance.

He remained in the shadows of his tent, not opening the flap at all, and simply scoured his gaze across the small area he could view. It was dark, but much less than the depths of his tent, caution having driven him to dampen his brazier. He shuffled to the left and right inside of his tent, glancing through the gap for a good few minutes. Nothing stirred outside his tent and he felt his heart rate spike as he sidled forward and began pushing out the flap to glance further to the sides. Caution had him moving slowly, but he made sure to stick to the shadows as much as possible, taking advantage of his shadow stealth skill.

Staying on the shadow side of the tents, he was able to move quickly through the camp until he came upon the square leading to the villa. That proved a dead end when he arrived as no shadows covered the distance between him and the villa. There were a few trees that he often used as resting places but the wide field that served as a mustering yard held little but the enslavement station and a couple braziers occupied by a couple guards. The brilliant gas giant hung very low on the horizon, casting giant long shadows but was at his back so the shadows stretched away from him. He paused in the shadow of a tent, cautious, and stared around but found few options. He turned to looking for other options and ultimately had to settle with retreating. Gonna have to come to it from behind. If I want to check out this side of the villa… gonna have to do it early in the evening… before midnight.

Joe scowled with some frustration as he scuttled through the tents to the other side then slip across the field into the forests edge. Shadows abounded and he found himself easily flowing through the forest around the edge until he got to the far side of the villa. He smiled briefly when he got there, the long stretch of shadow from the villa almost reaching the forest edge. The small bit of brilliance that separated the shadows was easily traversed as he hid within the tall grass, moving slowly so as not to give away the presence of movement in the grass.

The shadows welcomed him after his slow slither across the open field and with it came a whisper of understanding. Flowing through tall grass suddenly seemed to be so much easier and his movements shifted, becoming more fluid and more confident until he easily came to the base of the villa wall. The change was instinctual, and Joe accepted it without thought.

The villa was dark, mostly. There was a single brazier, barely lit, glowing upon the open space in the bottom floor, badly illuminating it. That still proved enough for Joe to glance in through the window and find it empty. He didn't test the back door, first slithering from window to window to peak in and see what was there. Most revealed themselves easily enough, the brilliant glow of the moon on the other side of the villa flooding through to light the room from the other side. Each window dimmed hope as he found mundane rooms without any clue. Only one window proved intractable in revealing its secrets, vibrant in its darkness. Joe could see nothing inside, even with the window opened a small crack allowing him to glance directly into the room. Frustrated at being unable to see in, he still found the possible ingress a blessing and slithered closer to test how easily he could open the window further and climb in.

But when he pressed his face up to the window, he froze in surprise when he heard the soft snore. Ooh! Is this… He quickly went over the blue print of what he could see in the house on the bottom floor before frowning with some consternation. He slipped cautiously away and returned to the large downstairs waiting room to the right. He glanced in, easily see things with the brilliant glow of the gas giant on the other side of the house, shining in through windows of the far room and in through the doors between the far rooms and the room he was spying upon. His frown grew deeper. That… is a very short wall… Joe thought, looking at the wall that made up the black windowed room to his left housing someone snoring. Very small… room… at least, width wise… and… Joe glanced at the wall location then pulled his head back to guesstimate the length of the room from where he could see the wall end to where he now stood. He moved back towards the small room a bit to correctly guess. Very, very small… maybe one and a half… two meters square? That's… Realization came and he felt much more comfortable cautiously looking in. Not his room… his slave butler... probably? Or some kind of house servant… well… probably slave.

Joe frowned, saddened by the loss of an excellent hidden entrance. Man… if that had been a storage room… Joe stifled his sigh, remaining silent before turning back to consider the rest of his options. The rest of the bottom floor was a rather open plan, with the large open waiting area in the middle and kitchen only walled off from waiting room. There were several rooms on the other side of the villa, blocking most of the gas giant light but for their open doors. Tantalizing glimpses ultimately did not reveal enough to give him any hope of what he sought, so finally narrowed his options to two choices. The window in the kitchen was available, but it was closed, and still relatively open and in sight of the waiting area. The waiting area had an obvious sliding door, making it the simplest choice. Joe thought for a bit then settled on the door, the kitchen window was pointless given the kitchen had a rather large open connection to the waiting area as well and a large counter to climb across. It would be better to come in the door than risk folly and loud falls trying the kitchen window. He'd only prefer the small room because it was completely isolated.

Joe grit his teeth and turned to the door. Hope it's open. He paused to glance around once, first, to make sure no one was really watching before he slid across the ground to the door leading into the waiting room. He came up to it and reached out a soft and cautious hand, heart beating wildly even as he applied force to the door to slide it open.

Joe blinked. He frowned, glancing at the kitchen window, then the sliding door before him. Wasn't I over by the other smaller roooooo… Joe blinked, frowned, then blinked again. He grit his teeth then sighed and glanced over at the kitchen window, then back to the waiting room door in front of him. His frowned deepened before he nodded and made his choice. Better here… both basically lead to the same room… but a window is much more likely to cause problems. Joe reached out to grasp the handle, flexing to slide the door open.

Joe blinked. He blinked again. Joe frowned. He glanced around, wondering… Ooh! This… isn't good! Vague memories suddenly flashed back to him and poor memories wobbled before fading. Something… this… His thoughts pushed wildly against whatever it was, rioting with violent rejection. No… No! That… what was I? Uh… the door! His focus returned to the door and with it a deep caution. He reached out.

Joe blinked, stifling a deep moan then blinked again. This isn't… Soft fragments of memory bounced in his thoughts and then concern for his pounding head vanished before the realization of what was happening. The door… isn't… His hand shout out immediately and just before it touched the door, his head grew heavy, filled with numbing soft wool as thought and memory began to fade. A wild roaring rejection swelled, violently rebuffing the call to blank retreat and then he jerked his hand back violently, staring at the door with fear and no little wonder.

This… is so cool… and it sucks at the same time! Joe found himself desperately struggling to figure out what he could do with the door while fighting against the distraction of wonder, trying to figure how it all worked. A quiet ten or so minutes of contemplation left him with no options and he pulled back with bitter frustration.

He glanced up at the setting moon. He didn't know how soon the sun would rise after that, but knew it would be soon. He considered risking it, staying after the gas giant set would keep him hidden much better but worry about when the sun would soon rise drove him back to his tent. He rolled unhappily back onto his poor bed, but the late night and high tension had him quickly and easily collapsing into sleep, even after he had to hack off both his legs.

* * *

The next night, Joe headed back to his tent early, sitting in the flap itself and watched the sun set, barely ahead of the gas giant, night falling to brilliant moonlight. There wasn't much moonlight time left, the moon soon to set well before the sun rose the next morning. Days were rather odd here, the brightness of the day only marginally brighter than the brilliance of the massive gas giant as it beat down upon the surrounding moons. Joe wasn't sure of what was going on, physics wise, but there was something funky going on. The day seemed too bright given how dim the sun was and the night was too dark given how bright the gas giant was. Although… throw a couple scientists at this and they'll figure out the physics pretty quick… Joe blinked in consternation as an obvious thought hit. Unless… magic? He sighed with a bit of resignation, huffing softly. Maybe a team of scientists and magi-scientists? Magitist? Scimagician? Mana-ologist? Manatists? Maybe just magician… although… Sheesh… English is going to go nuts after they get a hold of all this!

Joe waited with patience, taking in the sunset. Darkness settled as the swell of light from the setting sun retreated, darkening to bruised purples then to velvet black. Joe waited, the moonlight arcing in at a hard angle. The shadows were now on the other side of the villa and tents, and Joe began to grow impatient as shadows grew shorter and shorter, but needing to wait till the camp quieted.

Soft snores began to rise from the camp and shortly after, Joe slipped out of the camp, shifting from shadow to shadow. He didn't even try to cut across the mustering yard again, knowing the few braziers scattered around the camp with guards huddled around them would make the wide open space very difficult to pass by.

That said, he almost stumbled upon another group of guards huddled around another brazier of burning coals deep within the formation of tents for the slaves. He had to back away cautiously but midnight's imminent arrival drove him to move quickly, weaving back around and through another set of tents before arriving at the dividing line between camp and the field it inhabited. Huddling in the shadow for a time, he studied things carefully while searching for any guards, stationed or meandering. After studying things for a while, he drove himself out into the field of tall grass and crouched through the grass.

Making it to the tree line washed away tension and he soon was moving quickly and silently around the camp back around to the villa. Arriving at the closest place, Joe frowned. The moon high in the sky left the shadows stunted and the stretch of the forest trees into the field towards the villa barely covered half the distance to the villa. Not only that, the shadows' placements were opposite, with the shadows stretching from the trees and leaving the most dangerous and closest approach to the villa bathed in brilliant moonlight.

But even as he watched, studying and wondering what and where to go next, he knew the shadows were shortening and he had little to no time left. By the time the shadows disappeared, even slightly before that, the healer and torturer would be arriving at his tent. Tension rose and finally he allowed it to drive him to slither across the field towards the villa. The brilliant moonlight from behind him showed little of the insides of the villa, the walls reflecting too much of the light and leaving the windows black holes revealing nothing.

He came to the end of the shadows and slowed, glancing around once more, before pushing on, crouching lower in the tall grass. He was able to get low enough that nothing but his dark hair peaked over the top of the long stalked grass. That, of course, wasn't good against the golden greenish grass. Still, he slithered cautiously closer, seeing nothing in the dark windows, although that was more likely the result of lighting. The roof remained blessedly free of any shifting shadows and Joe held his breath the entire way onwards until he was pressed up against the villa wall. After a quick glance back at the shadows, Joe breathed a sigh of relief to see it angled to the right, away from the main part of the camp. The villa was mostly centered, but the right side of the villa, as viewed from the forest behind him, had a low walled garden and cultured area of greenery for the slave master to enjoy. Joe had never really seen him use it because of the large privacy fence that blocked the view of it from the rest of the camp.

Without fear of being seen from the camp, he quickly passed the corner wall behind which was the kitchen and slid down the wall until he reached the long stretched shadows. Once there, his shadow skill slithered into power and he disappeared into them. The next corner was as easy to pass around, the privacy fence still stretched another few steps past the villa wall and he slid between the fence and the wall of the villa and soon was at the front of the villa, now fully in view of the rest of the camp.

He slowed, pausing and cautious as his eyes watched the rest of the camp with trepidation before gritting his teeth and coming out fully out from behind the walled fence. Please… shadow skill work! He came to the first window and glanced in, able to more easily see with the moon now shining in from the other side. Small office… no… more like a pantry… some food… ok… probably not… Joe slide further across to the next window next to the front entrance of the villa and his glance in proved what he thought he would see. Small entryway… ok… Passed the entryway, he was able to see into the larger waiting room in the back and if his poor memories could be trusted, the same place where he'd been interviewed by the visiting priests and ultimately had his Loki believer job ripped from him.

He dismissed it all and quickly whipped a head around back to the camp, just a cautionary look, before he froze with panic. Fear wildly spiked up through him as a guard meandered across the field glancing around. The guard's eyes passed over where Joe pressed against the wall and Joe's breath hitched for a second before calming as the guard walked on by without any concern. Joe remained unmoving until the guard passed him then relaxed slightly but still remained in place until the guard had moved out of sight. Where'd he come from… and how often?

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Joe moved quickly to the next window, the second to last, and paused to glance around again before jumping to peer in, the window way too high to look in. He glanced around the room, eyes darting then suddenly zeroing on a familiar small box. Is that… wait! A grin hit his face and he stared. Yes! The slave collars! Then… His eyes turned to examining everything else in the room but any hope that Joe might find something quickly fell flat as he all he saw was storage boxes. Gotta get in…

Joe flopped back to the ground with frustration. The window didn't have any way to open at all so he sidled over to the last window to look in just for completionist sake as well to see if the window could open. The window could and he smiled, then grew more excited to notice the small office he found inside as well. Ooh… office… probably his… good place. Joe's eyes wandered the room quickly before dismissing his search. I can look through it after I get in. Joe turned his focus to getting inside.

His hand reached up. Joe blinked, and soft numbing wool softened jagged memories of failed attempts past and Joe found himself staring up at the window unmoving. Confusion quickly was replaced by realization and he stifled a moan as the memories scraped painfully across his conscious. Not… good… this…

Finding even windows protected against his attempt at entering, Joe came to awareness with alarming concern over how few shadows were left. He cursed and scrambled back into the garden before coming to the edge of the villa and garden and staring out over the field of grass. The moon shown down brilliantly upon it and no cover was available. Joe grimaced, stifling a soft curse before scrambling out into the grass towards the tree line as quickly as possible. He didn't know how long he'd been staring up at the window but fear made him worry he had little time left.

The wild scramble back to his tent was a rush of terror that faded from memory as soon as he made it back, only grateful to have made it back before it was too late. The relief he felt was short lived, as the healer and torturer arrived shortly after. It was a long night.

* * *

Over the next week, Joe spent almost his entire time struggling to figure out how to enter the villa, so much so that his efforts to develop his skills took a pretty significant hit as he found himself distracted and worrying at the problem. Evenings were spent, either early or late, prowling around the villa and trying to find a way in. And nothing presented itself. Every door and window he attempted to open left him in a stupor that drove any attempt to failure. The only window he stayed away from was the one with the softly snoring slave.

So, he drove himself to explore, even spending one night at a hidden window so he wasn't easily found. He spent the entire time just pushing himself to break through the magical effect that was keeping him from being able to touch or move the window. He could now touch a window or door, but nothing more. Pushing it actually caused him to physically black out and he was lucky he'd chosen the window he'd done so because when he roused, it was to the sound of birds chirping and the sun just peaking over the edge of the horizon. The long shadows from the forest trees and the dark of false dawn was enough to get him back home, but that result ended any further thought of brute forcing his way through a window or a door.

And so he found himself sitting and lost in thought, struggling to find a way in. Two days of thought left him no closer to any option, and he grew ever more frustrated and fearful. And the more certain that his only option was the open window as he'd never approached it once he knew it was a room for someone. The window was small, and even as Joe pictured it, he feared being able to squeeze himself through. Still… my last option… although if the magic is so thorough… While it was a hope, there was a part of him that made him rather certain that it wouldn't really matter. Magic… just… magic! Joe grit his teeth and then released his frustrations. Gotta go tonight… just check it out…

Decision made, Joe was able to turn back to his exercising his pool stats and his various mana skills and spells that day. And night came quickly, soon finding him rising after his torturers had left with newly grown legs and ready for the night.

By now, Joe's journey to the villa and back had almost become mundane, but he did not lower his focus, remaining alert until he'd made it back to the villa, late after midnight. He made it to the villa wall and waited, taking stock of his surroundings before sidling along the wall to the open window. As he got closer, the sound of soft snoring reached his ears and he calmed as he got closer, knowing the person inside was sleeping, but felt tension beian tightening across his shoulders.

He arrived to find the window almost entirely open. Nice… just push it the rest of the way and sneak in… maybe? His hand reached up to push against the window. Joe blinked, then groaned even as numbing wool slithered through his mind and time slowed with memory fracturing. He didn't know how long he stood there, hand raised to the window before finally falling back to his side even as he wondered what he was doing. The wonder was quickly swept aside by the realization of what had happened and Joe stared at the window with some despair. Magic! His mind roiled with anger, cutting short the curse that would have slipped his lips and likely woken the person inside. The snoring continued so he calmed.

He considered for a time, despair slithering and continuing to eat at his ever eroding hope, held together ever more and more by bands of rage with no small amount of hate beginning to taint the brilliant glowing chains of anger. His breathing grew ragged and harsh, panting until he heard the snoring hitch and his thoughts screeched to a halt, the massive train of his thoughts and emotions shuddering into a pile of twisted wreckage.

Joe snapped his mouth shut and held his breath, frozen in place. A few moments later, he heard clothing shift and a bed creaking a bit, then the sounds settled, fading. Joe froze even more, then calmed almost immediately when the snores began again. His following sigh was a bit loud and he quickly silenced it as he stared at the window. So now what… no way that they put magic on the window to keep people from messing with it but didn't put anything to stop people from coming in, right? That would…

Joe stepped forward and cautiously put his arm through then blinked in surprise when his hand went in easily without any concern nor any obvious memory hiccups. He pulled his arm out and just kind of stared at the obvious hole in security. He then winced, cursing slightly. Wait! Magical alarms? Joe suddenly crouched and pressed against the wall before grimacing and scuttling away. Smart… stay right under where the alarm would be!

He pushed out into the field a bit, taking the path he'd already long pushed through the grass the several times he'd come to the villa. No matter how careful he had been, the trail grew more obvious each day, although he'd taken pains to make the path appear rather meandering before finally coming to the villa. Traveling back into the grass a half a dozen steps or so, he then turned to the side and very cautiously pushed another half a dozen steps away before settling into the grass, working carefully to not press too many stalks down.

He waited for a time, but no alarm seemed to have been sounded and he slithered back to the window then poked a head inside to find a small very bare room with only a single matt on the floor for the slave to sleep on and a small bin to hold clothing. He stared in, struggling to see and slowly his eyes adjusted. It became pretty clear after a bit and Joe turned back to a small chair that sat in the garden area which he pulled back to set under the window. Joe then climbed up it and used it to slither into the window which was barely wide enough to allow his body to slide in. Caution had him be very wary of pressing against the open window since touching it with his hand and attempting to move it or open it had him frozen in place with some kind of stunning effect. He really didn't want to find out what happened if he bumped it now.

An excruciatingly slow effort that took way too long later, Joe finally got a hand on the floor and was able to pull in his legs. Moments later, he stood in the room and stared down at the snoring figure on the floor matt to his side. He couldn't distinguish much, only a tangle of arms and legs splayed out akimbo everywhere. A very light blanket, from what Joe could tell, only covered the lower belly and just past the hips. Most of the thighs and all the legs were bare to the air, and most of the limbs seemed to be pressed against the cool hard stone floor. A slight shifting had Joe notice a slight gleam of sweat and Joe pulled back, realization hitting him. Whoever they are… they're hot! The room didn't seem too hot to him. It was just about perfect, if Joe was going to choose a temperature. Maybe he would have taken it slightly hotter for his preference, but otherwise the house seemed nicely climate controlled. When he slid to the door to the room and opened it, sliding through, the temperature on the other side proved just that little bit warmer and Joe glanced back at the sleeping figure. Must be way too hot for them… if even the window's not enough…

Joe dismissed all that, now focused on why he was here and quickly slithered across the room to the one room he'd found the slave collars in, excitement and hope driving him forward quickly. Half way across, he paused, then grumbled as he realized he needed to double check the room and even the bottom floor, at least, and so twisted towards the rest of the room. He flitted through the bottom rooms, checking the pantry, kitchen, and main hall quickly. He then moved to the last room which had been beside the slave collar room and had had a window which could open.

It was the office and he paused, letting a small grin form even as he struggled to keep his hopes down. This… this could be it! Maybe… A very good place to search. Joe took stock for a moment then began searching through the office but a half an hour of searching revealed almost nothing useful. He did find several odd things which Joe felt pretty certain seemed important but honestly couldn't comprehend them at all. He considered stealing them for a time but then decided leaving evidence of his stay would be way too obvious, the pieces unique and specific, some even holding places of purpose or meaning within the various drawers or in obvious places of purpose on the desk.

He played with them for a bit, but honestly they all appeared to be simple statues or other pieces of art. Nothing he did to them seemed to make any sense, especially in light of the control artifact that he'd seen used against him. Buttons were buttons and dials were dials, obvious in their design and revealing a functional purpose. These did nothing beyond exist as strange abstract constructions. He even bathed them in mana, attempting to interact with them in some way, but nothing occurred, the devices inert. Joe finally sighed, cutting his efforts much shorter than he wanted, time causing him to be concerned and there were more important things to take into account.

He quickly settled everything back into place on the desk and in their various places. Shifting everything into place only took a few moments. Once all was perfectly in place again, Joe slid from the room with quiet stealth into the other storage like room. Despite the bitter failure of the previous room, Joe still urged himself on.

Looking through the storage containers, however, left Joe falling into despair as he quickly found them full, not with obvious tools of the slave trade, but simple accruements necessary for any household. Sheets, towels, obvious tools for cleaning and household repairs, devices that proved alien to him but responded to his mana and became immediately obvious in their uses such as for cleaning or dusting. It was a storage room, and the storage room for the necessities of running a home. And it became more and more evident to him that Joe was looking in the wrong place and room for what he hoped to find.

His fear swelled even as his despair swamped him and only the last few boxes surrounding the three obvious control artifacts and the box of slave collar balls gave him any hope. Hope which ended abruptly and utterly. The only thing related to slavery in this place were the control artifacts and the box of slave collars in ball form.

Joe clenched his fists even as he struggled, finding himself at a dead end and without option to continue forward. He wallowed in it, allowing himself to feel it for a time, but while he was normally able to pull himself back from disappointment and despair, he found himself struggling. Tears welled in his eyes as he felt his own helplessness until he finally closed his eyes and grit his teeth, Fists clenched even tighter, fingernails digging into palms even as he panted slightly and then released a heavy sigh.

Several more deep breaths allowed him some semblance of control and his eyes fell on the three control artifacts. He took several heavy breaths, then grimaced. Might as well figure out how these work. Maybe. He reached out for one and grasped it easily enough. As soon as it touched his hand, he winced, eyes frowning with some confusion as he felt something uncomfortable; a feeling of something ripped from him against his will. He huffed slightly, staring at it with some confusion before realization hit. It took a bit of messing with his frame of reference but he was able to see mana flowing from his hands into the artifact, pulled from his hand. He flipped open his status and saw his mana dropping, then filling again, before glancing back down at it with wonder.

Staring at it for a time, Joe considered, worry and fear gnawing at him until he was finally able to force himself to act. He pushed one of the two buttons he knew that either caused pain or paralysis then sighed with relief when nothing happened. He set it down then grabbed the next, this time rapidly and without overthinking, he pressed the same button quickly. Again, nothing happened and Joe stared at the last one, trepidation worming through him. Gotta be this one, right? Joe closed his eyes then reached out. His hand came towards it then slowed, then came to a shivering stop. Joe grimaced, and pushed forward even harder, but his hand just didn't seem to want to move. Only millimeters of air separated him, and Joe pushed as wildly as possible, but nothing worked. He just could not touch it. Frustration welled again and he took a step back, anger flowing through him

How am… Joe blinked, then smiled. Maybe? Joe shuffled through the various boxes until he found one with some stick like carved things he wasn't sure of, but their length was all he needed. He pulled it out and rapidly returned to what he was more and more certain was his control artifact. He pressed forward with the stick and then grimaced as he froze in place one more, unable to move. Joe grimaced in sour frustration. Couldn't be easy, could it! Bleh! His satisfaction at finding his artifact quickly faded before his frustration. Then… oh! An idea quickly came to him and now fear settled in as he prepared. Joe took a step back and considered carefully on how to pull this off until noticed the towels and sheets again and he quickly ransacked several of the towels and lay them on the ground beneath his control artifact before taking the stick and dangling it above the first button.

He took a deep breath before dropping the stick down on the first button. Pain, massive and overwhelming, shuddered through him, then seemed to fade to the background as if it was distant, and not related to him. He still shivered before it, wincing and struggling to hold in his cry even as he waited for the stick to fall. Torturously, the stick ever so slowly titled then fell to the ground, landing on the towels placed there. Joe wheezed in relief when it fell off. Right… first button is the pain button… makes sense! At his neck, his collar writhed, twisting slightly before settling once more. Joe noticed nothing.

Joe took time to step back and shake off the pain, although he froze after the first full body shake when he realized he was making a bit of noise. Instead, he turned it to a slow deliberate stretches to be quieter then turned back to the artifact. The next one's gotta be the freeze button. Quick check. The certainty of what was next allowed Joe to be rather quick, no longer worried about any pain. Just the freeze button.

Joe reached forward with his stick, then froze. Ooh! I'll be frozen… pushing the button… that's... not good! Joe wasn't certain what would happened, but no small amount of fear slithered through him as he considered what would happen if he pressed the paralysis button, then was paralyzed while the button was pushed. That's… not good! So… I know that's paralysis… we can skip that one… check out the next one. Joe thought to himself with some grim humor.

So then… the third button? Wonder… Joe cut off his thoughts and simply turned to continue the test, moving the stick over the third button. Joe repeated his efforts, dropping the stick directly on the third button. It hit with little fanfare and absolute pleasure swamped through him and he shivered in place, his body reacting immediately to it. His eyes lost focus and only his strongest efforts to remain silent kept the moan soft. He shivered and struggled to focus on the stick through unfocused eyes until it finally fell. To his horror, it fell back towards the artifact and towards the other two buttons as well, and any pleasure he was feeling vanished beneath a panic as he struggled to reach a hand forward.

He didn't move fast enough, nor did he have control as his hand wavered like a drunken snake. The stick fell, bounced, then landed on all three buttons. Pain warred with pleasure even as he remained frozen in place. The only thing he was grateful for was the fact that the paralysis kept him from being able to cry out with any meaningful noise. The stick remained in place, not leaving at all and despair welled through Joe as the stick settled in place, all three buttons rocking pleasure and pain through him even as he remained frozen in place.

Time moved on, and panic rapidly set in until Joe noticed the pain and pleasure rapidly declining until they disappeared altogether. Shortly after, Joe noticed the paralysis growing weaker as he found himself able to move slightly until all of a sudden, the paralysis broke and Joe found himself huffing in delayed reaction to the pleasure, pain, and terror. With trepidation, he reached out to pick up the stick, then froze in reconsideration before picking up another stick to flick the first off. No chances! But… what's …

The stick fell to the ground and Joe shivered in relief. OK… that was… terrifying… but good to know! Joe calmed himself but his mind raced, trying to understand how he'd gotten free. If all I gotta do is just… weather it… does it run out after too long? Or is it… He picked up a stick and very cautiously lined it up, this time to fall forward off the artifact to the floor. He picked the pain button, the pleasure button leaving him too terrified to try that again. The stick fell once again, and he tensed when it hit the button, but nothing occurred, the stick falling forward to the cloth below. Joe frowned, eyebrows knitting.

Then they immediately smoothed as realization hit. It draws mana… straight from the wielder… I must have drained it dry! Is that… Fear and anxiety wormed through him, but then he ultimately pushed through. I gotta test it… need to know! His hand reached forward to touch his artifact and Joe struggled to bring his hand in to touch it, not because the artifact was keeping him from touching it, but simply because of his terror of it. He took another deep breath, the sigh long and slow, before pressing forward with his hand, only to find it frozen like before. Joe frowned. Need to charge… its empty. Needs a recharge. Almost, his hand wavered, his collar slithering slightly on his neck, shifting, but then froze again, just as his hand did. Nothing else happened, remaining in place until Joe gave up and he pulled back.

Joe turned from his control artifact with healthy fear laced with immense relief as he picked up another one of the other control artifacts instead, examining it carefully. However, he found it devoid of any other meaningful uses, even as it sucked mana from him, before he put it back on the shelf carefully. He then stopped and stared at his artifact and considered. Probably can rig something up to take it… pretty easy actually! Take one of these towels, strip it to something like a rope… or… just cup it in a towel and tie it up like a bag… that would be much easier… then suck it into my inventory… maybe… His collar shifted, then coiled, then began to writhe, but Joe's thoughts were to focused on his options. But… Should I?

Joe reconsidered the idea then immediately dismissed it. Doesn't make sense right now. His collar twisted another single time then settled, pulling back to a simple ring. Besides, he- I need to search through the house more, and possibly reconsider the office, even the upstairs despite how dangerous it was. Taking the control artifact would be really obvious. Even if h- I took it, I couldn't leave the area and they had two more easily ready to key into my collar. They were obvious backups, and I would have to take all three to make it worthwhile. Even then, the question would be whether I could find a way to escape the area from an obviously well trained slave master who would never give me an opened ended enough command to allow me my freedom. And they can just get more artifacts. I would have to leave before the brought more. This is a very, very dumb idea! I should leave the artifact…

Joe sighed, looking at the artifact. Man… so close… so… Joe sighed with a grimace. Such an… easy thing… If I… No… what about… Hmm… but that would be… Well, maybe… yeah… maybe… OK! An idea hit and his hand reached for a towel before it slowed and a thought formed. This would be a very dumb idea because the slave master would know immediately and could find y-- me and then would be stuck in a worse place. I do not think I should do this. I think I should let this go. I still do not have an adequate plan to be able to flee this location and exit the camp!

Joe sighed in the disappointment, but paused, a sense of déjà vu settling in before his mind cleared and he shook his head. Course not… He finally turned away even as his collar settled once more, its writhing for the last few moments calming. Besides… still not sure…. How'd I even get out? He still had no ideas of any kind. Seeing no clear path or use to stealing the control artifacts, Joe reluctantly dismissed them but promised himself to try to get one when he finally got free of this mess.

* * *

One slave woke with a quick grunt, pain snapping through her and she sat up, looking around wildly. Who… why? The pain had come from the collar, something she was intimately aware of, and looked to see if the slave master or one of his guards were around.

"I hear. What is your will?"

No sound came of any kind, and the slave narrowed her eyes, fingers flittering as they tried to play with some daggers before stilling in response. She crawled to her tent door and looked out, finding the whole area empty of any, suddenly she heard a grunt from a slave nearby. A few moments later, a soft call came out.

"I hear. What is your will?"

She blinked in surprise then watched as another man stepped out. Another one siding with the eccentric. She calmed to see him, both nodding in camaraderie before looking around.

"You were called as well?" she asked.

He blinked, "You, too?"

"Yes, with pain… as you."

He nodded. The two fell silent and waited, but no orders came, and soon the two fell into friendly conversation, quickly turning to considering the eccentric. She, as he had, found strength in joining the eccentric's rebellion. She found his strength inspiring, and could only hope that his efforts would prove fruitful and he would remember her feeble attempts to stand at his side.

They did not stay long, returning to bed fairly quickly when it became obvious their calls had been mistakes.

* * *

Turning to the last box that might prove useful, he stared into it with fascinated dread, his focus and thoughts tightening and growing incredibly clear. The pieces were intricate and obviously well created artifacts. Joe clenched teeth to see them, a sense of respect for excellent craftsmanship warring with disgust, rage, and hatred due to their purpose. The box had a lot more slave collar balls in it than he realized, as it seemed full with at least a thousand, if not a good two or three thousand. Their amount made them impossible to count, even in estimate. He didn't want to pick it up to shake it or shove a hand in to check depth more easily due to any noise.

Each piece was uniquely different but appeared, somehow, to be the same. His thoughts quite clear and easily noticing each piece. There was a similarity to them all, and Joe found himself picking one up and examining one with fascination, his loathing falling to the wayside. He took several minutes to play with it, but nothing happened as he examined it, poking at it physically and with mana. Nothing of any meaning occurred and Joe finally set it back down in the box carefully and with a sigh. Nothing… not sure …. well, of anything. This… His mind raced through possibilities, but found nothing bed dead ends before grimacing.

He glanced up and out the window and frowned. The light had shifted quite a bit, and he turned to look out the larger windows leading to the back of the villa and his path out. He bit back a frustrated curse when he saw the shadows so short and realized he was at the limit of his time. Gotta get back in time for my nightly torture session! Yay! Bitter humor twisted his lips into a macabre smile before he wiped it from his face and turned his thoughts to his last option. So… can't take the control artifact… would be kinda dumb. Yes, I have no realized that would be very dumb and must accept that realization. It is wise to accept this. Joe sat, staring at the box for a time, thoughts fading away even as he stared before blinking and coming to again, glancing out the window once more before biting off a curse. How's the time flying by so fast! Right… what can I salvage from this … umm… He'd been staring into space, through the box of collar balls before they registered and an idea formed. Way too many balls… should… I could take one, right?

Joe peered into the box carefully, struggling to find a way to bring his face closer without blocking the light from the windows. He got in close enough and glanced through all the balls even as he considered whether he could take one or not. His thoughts returned to how the guards had used them, the slave master's attitude, and how the guards had previously acted with the balls and the more he thought back on their attitude and interaction with the slave collar balls, the more certain he was that there was little concern for them. The guards never kept record… not that I saw… no artifact… or some kind of control thing. No watching records keeper nor any kind of thing … device that might be a recorder… only thing I can think of is if it's some kind of job? Maybe? Although… didn't notice anyone… all the guards there had weapons… so… they'd be combat jobs… right? So… not really knowledge… or record keeping…

For all that he remembered, he was quite certain no record keeping had taken place. The other guards, however, had watched on very carefully, unusually attentive during the process, but none seemed to be counting. They were all watching the slaves' neck and the guard's hands. The slave collar balls? Why? Seems… what's he going to do with them? Or… maybe… worried he won't collar them? Or free them? Or… something? The incongruity left him a little unsettled but he was unable to really understand what was making him focus on it. A quick glance to the outside reminded him of his current situation and he quickly dismissed his thoughts on what had happened and turned back to whether he should take one or not. He returned to considering what had happened and grew ever more certain that no one would notice one or two missing. He reached in and grabbed two, then thought carefully and grabbed another two. Gonna want to take one apart… maybe… backups would be nice!

He sucked the four into his inventory then turned his thoughts to returning everything in the room to its exact place, carefully folding up the blanket slash towel thing he'd used and returned the sticks he'd used back to the box. One last glance around verified everything was back as he remembered it and he got back to where he'd snuck into the house when he came upon his first hiccup in his breaking and entering plan. While normally he would have been impressed things went so well so far, he wasn't happy to find himself a bit stuck. How am I getting out? Joe mused with frustration as he carefully slid the slave room's door closed.

He'd used a small chair for help to climb in, but he didn't have anything he could climb to get out. And if I bring anything here… how do I get it back? His thoughts roamed and the more he considered the more he realized he was going to have to get out without leaving anything behind to help him get out. I'm… gonna have to jump out of this Jackie Chan style, aren't I? Joe sighed, frustration and excitement mingling with a tense fear that he would royally screw this up.

As he bounced in place, readying himself to run, he suddenly froze and realized he had a better option, and he turned inward to his mana. But… He glanced up at the sky and saw the time incredibly close to midnight, and fear spiked through him. His mana broke under the worry and Joe grimaced. Gotta do this… I can't… Joe tried to focus on the mana again, but his fear and worry was so great he could do little to settle and develop the mana construct he knew was necessary, his anxiety scattering his thoughts too much to develop and form his intent to guide and construct the mana. A flick of eyes had him looking at the small slave sleeping on the floor bed beside him and that simply increased his pressure.

He struggled then finally succumbed to the immediate need of the moment, choosing to simply form his infusion using intent and allow the mana to do as he intended instead of by careful deliberate construction. His mana evaporated to almost nothing before the incredibly vague demand, but the mana flowed quickly, and soon time slowed to frozen stillness. A single breath emptied then slowly filled, an eternity in that moment, then it crystalized. Certainty and precision married in clarity and Joe stepped forward with ease, barely putting any power into his calves.

It wasn't even a jump, barely a hop, but he took to the air in a perfect javelin. His arms pressed forward over his head, then settled on the sides of the window sill to guide him through. He didn't even need it, but his fingers settled against them like butterfly wings brushing a leaf; barely the wisp of a touch and even less of a sound as his entire body sailed up and through the window. His arms swept down, maintaining contact with the window sill for as long as possible before fingers flicked lightly, mana erupting out from his fingertips to stagger jaggedly out into the sill and surrounding structure, then shrinking back as fast as it went out when he was done flipping himself around. His entire body turned in the air, the twist and flip coming easily to him as muscle memory just felt it right except for a small twinge from his inner ear as he twisted.

Too much twist… adjust back foot on landing… His thoughts came lazily and easily even as he glided through the air too long and with too much control. Once he was certain of his landing, time sped up and he hit the ground with a soft crunch. The snoring coming through the open window hiccupped and paused. So did Joe. A few moments later, the bedding shifted and the snoring returned and Joe slithered closer to the wall cautiously before waiting another few moments to make sure she fell asleep completely. A quick return of the chair he'd used and Joe felt his anxiety evaporate. Easy part now… Joe allowed a soft smile to come even as he enacted his stealth, but then frowned when his shadow stealth formed then immediately faded. Joe tried again, but nothing happened. Why… Joe instinctively flipped open his status then blinked in surprise to see his MP basically empty, slowly refilling. That… Joe glanced back at the window and then to his status, seeing his MP empty. That's… Joe stood stunned, amazed that a simply jump through the window had emptied his over ten thousand MP in what felt like a second. But… ok… The experience only reinforced his desire and need to develop his infusion preparation so as to allow himself to use it at a moment's notice and for much lower MP costs. He sighed and settled in, taking a few moments to allow his MP to refill a bit before trying to enact all his stealth skills once again.

He kept his status up, staring at his MP with some trepidation and jolted quickly into action when he saw how quickly it was dropping. He slid from the shadows and out into the field, then sped up even further as the bright light of the gas giant made his MP's previous drop look like a leisurely stroll. He didn't even make it to the middle of the field, the bright moonlight overwhelming his MP and he grunted hard even as he forced his personal MP to take over. He barely made it to the shadows of the forest where he collapsed against a tree trunk for a bit before pushing himself up to continue. The MP cost had slowed by a lot deep in the shadows of the forest, but he was too afraid to let it go in an attempt to recover his MP, his status MP still glaring a red empty. Donno if I can start it again with my personal MP… just… Joe pushed of and slithered through the forest, struggling to move quietly even as his mind was pressed hard to focus on maintaining all his stealth skills.

Getting to the other side and staring at the wide open field back to his tent gave him pause, but he took two deep breaths and pressed out into the grass. No time… no time! The trip was a bit of a blur, but it felt like only a few moments before he found himself back home.

Despite his worry for the lateness of his return, he had enough time to even prepare for bed, including amputating his legs, and then managed to fall asleep, amazingly, before his own screams and pain awoke him, his torturers returned and his situation reinforced. The torture was overwhelming at first but his mind quickly came to grips and the pain faded away, a distance to it that allowed him to distract himself in other ways. The most helpful, he found, was simply to look away. The crushing pinches on each knuckle could almost be ignored as just the crushing grip of a man, and not the loss of fingers. Almost.

Joe spent the time in pain, cursing the people who would do this, and fighting the raging hatred that grew, volcanic and overwhelming. When the others finally left, turning to re-growing his legs allowed him to place the event firmly into his past and ignore it as something that was distant, even disconnected. And when the task of re-growing his legs was done, he turned to his katas to distract. And when the katas were finally done, his exhaustion would allow him to sleep. But tonight, he had another distraction, and he pulled one of the slave balls from his inventory.

He studied it for a long time, putting most of his efforts into trying various things, but nothing really happened. No poking or mana did anything to it. And there was no option to open one up at all, the thing seeming to be of a solid piece. Huh… so then how does it become a collar to… Joe's thoughts blanked when the ball shifted in his grip then formed into a collar. It was a very strange slave collar, not because Joe had never seen such before. He had. It looked much like the brutal crude iron slave implements used back on Earth. That was why it was so odd. He'd never seen a collar like that on any other slave here. All of the collars he'd seen, bland or beautiful, were thin delicate pieces. This was a brutal heavy thing and utterly alien to this place.

Joe dropped the thing, and it thumped softly to the ground, morphing back into a ball as soon as he let it go. Huh? Joe's curiosity soared. Soon, he was playing with a strangely responsive morphing object. It pretty much could take any form as long as he could both visualize it and somehow link it, no matter how tenuous, to its primary purpose: slavery. But for that last aspect, Joe found the thing incredibly fascinating and was soon distracted into exploring it. Despite the reaction to his thoughts to take on almost any form he could picture, the slave ball did not react in any other way, whether to touch or mana. He tried with as many things as possible, playing with it for some time before sighing and moving on to find what he really needed: his freedom.

Only one last thing to check… and… Joe grit his teeth, worry coiling through him for a bit before he sighed. Gotta test… though… so… Joe raised his hand and slid the ball up to his collar. The ball slithered into his collar with ease, melding with it and disappearing.

* * *

Ilyelanralo woke. Something… what? A feeling of strange 'offness' settled over him and he frowned. Something the likes he'd never experienced before coiled through his thoughts. Something's wrong. This isn't… He quickly rose to from his bed and whipped the soft silky bathrobe around him as he strode rapidly from the room. House security… failures or breaches? Anything… His thoughts poked at the security measures that were in place for his home, focusing on anything that might reveal some form of breach or a circumvention, but the mana and spirit reported all was as it should be. He wandered into his reception room, peering around cautiously but walking straight through and heading to his office. He searched the room but found nothing off. Why…