Jolted awake, a shock wave threw me out of bed. I was robbed of my hearing as my ears rang in protest. My head bounced off the ground barely hanging onto conscious. I opened my eyes, but everything blurred. After an excruciating second of my eyes refusing to work, I was able see a robed man stride into what was left of our main room. I glanced around the room to seeing the orphans sprawled on the ground holding their heads. It took my brain a moment to process what was happening.

Steel armored men with the emperor’s insignia passed by the man in robes who motioned towards the kids. The men continued forward grabbing the orphans.

Seeing them taking the kids away, I panicked. I urged my body to get up to do something, anything. All I managed to do was grunt in pain and shift my body slightly. The robed man noticed my feeble attempts to get up and looked right at me before smiling. He began to make his way over to me, through the rubble. I could only watch him come closer as the sphere continued to affect me, my body rigid like it was encased in stone. I could only lay there and pray for help.

Hope blossomed as I saw Herald slip from one of the armored men's grasp. Seeing my predicament he broke free to help. He grabbed a piece of wood as he sprinted towards me.

Herald rushed up from behind the robed man and raised the makeshift club above his head, poised to strike.

Right before Herald came within reach, the man turned towards him. His hand lit up before he thrusted it towards Herald. I saw the air ripple before it hit Herald in the chest, sending him flying across the room. I couldn't even scream out before Herald hit the wall across the room.

He crumbled to the floor, with his neck bent at an unnatural angle and blood seeping out of his mouth. In that moment everything felt like it was in slow motion as his body fell to the floor, unmoving.

I just lay there, staring at my best friend, unable to do anything. I didn't even notice his killer approaching me. Even as the robed man reached out, touching my head with his glowing hand, I couldn’t react, my mind in shock from what just happened. I could do nothing but stare at my dead friend’s eyes as my vision slid to black.

I came to as water dripped on my forehead. I opened my eyes and shifted my head to avoid the oncoming droplets. Darkness surrounded me, only a single torch lazily shone through the small slot in the bars allowing me to see my surroundings. I tried to move and heard clanking. I reached down and felt the cold metal shackles digging into my ankles.

At first I was confused, but then the memories came flooding back. The strange sphere, the robed man and finally Herald’s death.

It took a moment to process everything, but in the end all I could focus on was the image of the man thrusting his hand towards Herald. I sat in the cell going through the day’s events in over and over again. I was able to move again but it was useless, I was locked in a cell with nowhere to go.

The cell was empty besides a small hole that reeked. I curled up in the corner of the room, as far away from the hole as possible. I couldn’t believe that Herald was gone. I bit my lip and wept silently. I thought back to some of the happier times when we were together but the memories only made the grief sink deeper. Why couldn’t it have been me? He was going to use that money to make something of himself. Why didn't the robed man kill me instead? Why did he do any of this? The question made me grip my legs tighter until my fingernails dug red lines into them. I stopped weeping and lashing out at the wall next to me. I continued as the blood dripped from my knuckles and my hands became numb. Each hit became weaker until I collapsed back to the ground. I tried to clear my mind as I lay there, but I couldn’t stop seeing the image of Herald dead. I was interrupted from my stupor by the slot in the door opening up occasionally with food being thrown at me.

At first, I yelled and tried to get the guards to talk with me but they were silent. I then began to plead and bargain with than and offering anything just to hear another voice. Eventually bitterness completely took over and I just cursed at the men. I yelled awful insults and charged at the door until the chains jerked me back just to see if I could get a reaction from them, but they just delivered the food silently and moved on.

After a few days, I didn't have any physical or emotional energy left and just sat waiting for when my food would come. Curiosity began to set in. Why was all of this happening? What did I do to deserve this? It was driving me crazy. My whole life, everything was gone and I didn't even know why.

I spent what could have been days or weeks as time wasn’t marked by the complete isolation I felt, the I was moved. Guards came in while I was sleeping and grabbed me. They unlocked my ankle cuff and dragging me from the cell. I fought half-heartedly which earned me a punch to the stomach. I struggled to breathe and just dangled between them as they dragged me away.

They carried me through a maze of corridors and into a large circular room. Inside of it was a slanted stone table that they laid me down on. They restrained my wrists and ankles with rough leather strips to the stone slab and walked out. I looked around the room to try and figure out why they had brought me here. Directly across me was another contraption. Obscure characters were engraved into the ground. To my right was a table covered with a cloth. I began to panic as I noticed the large red spots that stained the cloth where different shapes protruded.

I heard the door open and my heart began to race. I turned my head to look at the door and saw the robed man walk through. I pulled at my restraints, cursing vehemently at him.

He examined me before walking closer with a sinister smile on his face.

“Oh, I am going to enjoy this.”