The sound of banging metal woke him up. Gerald slowly moved his heavy aching head and opened his swollen eyes with difficulty. He was in a stone prison cell, locked onto a cold wall. The place was probably about two by three meters with enough space for five people. Only three of them were filled though.

"Wakey, wakey!" A guard shouted while banging on the metal bars of their cell. "It's lunchtime, you filthy pigs!" His figure was especially scary in the dim light of the lantern he was carrying, and the shadows dancing on his face gave him a demonic appearance.

He slowly unlocked the heavy metal doors and stepped inside. He only took a single step, however, and placed three wooden bowls of some sort of thick white slop on the ground and then kicked them toward the inmates. And of course, some of the contents spilled on the already filthy floor.

"Eat up, you animals!" he shouted and then turned around and walked out.

"How... can I reach it?" Gerald's quiet whisper came. He was currently so weak he could barely speak.

The guard turned around and gave him a mocking smile, "That isn't my problem, now is it?! Gahaha!" He then went on, banging on the next cell door, and repeated the process.

Murik Woods, chained between Gerald and the other cellmate, stretched his hands as far as he could, but the bowls were just out of his reach.

"Nyeaah!" He then used his legs, which were unchained, to bring the food closer. He then pushed one bowl to his neighbor to the left and the other towards Gerald and began to eat.

The lifeless guy, having the food before him, slowly took the bowl and started eating it in small sips with the same emotionless expression. It was as if his body worked, but his mind just wasn't there.

Murik finished his meal quickly and licked the bowl clean. He then looked at Gerald and back at the bowl on the floor.

"Want me to help you?" he offered. Gerald gave a small, barely noticeable nod in return. However, he regretted the decision soon after as the food touched his tongue.

"Mmmh! Pfft! what the fuck ma, that's disgusting!" He spat out the white goo and turned his head around. "Get that shit away from me."

"Come on, man!" Murik called out. "Look at you, you need to eat something! How are you going to heal otherwise?"

"No, no, no!" Gerald remained adamant. No way in hell he was ever going to eat that stuff. It was so disgusting that it completely woke him up. And the taste was most likely made purposefully bitter just to torture the inmates some more. "I'd rather starve than have another taste! You can have it if you want."

"Oh, are you sure?"

"YES!"

"Well, okay, don't mind if I do…" Murik Wood finished the bowl of questionable white goo rapidly in case Gerald changed his mind. He was so lucky! He got to eat two meals in a single day! However, Gerald just rolled his eyes and averted his gaze in disgust.

His throat also started hurting from speaking so loudly. He just quieted down and closed his eyes again, however this time he didn't sleep. Instead, his breathing steadied, and his heartbeat slowed down as he entered a state of mind suitable for meditation.

The guard came back and demanded the bowls be returned, before leaving them once more in the flickering light of a single Earthen Blood lamp.

Gerald was afraid to do that before when he was constantly being watched, however now they were alone. No guards left anywhere. Murik told him that much without questioning as to why he wanted to know.

Guards came at random times to do a quick check as well as deliver a meal once a day. But even then they barely spent a few seconds at each prison cell and never bothered to check on the prisoners up close. It has been decades since any problems arose after all, and they were quite confident nobody was going to try anything stupid.

Of course, Gerald became the unpredictable variable in this perfect system. One that would bring calamity to the Empire. After all, things that have never happened before, happen all the time…

"Hm-hm-hm…" Gerald quietly chuckled with closed eyes, an action which was so out of the norm, that both Murik and his lifeless neighbor, just had to take a look. Then Gerald slowly opened his eyes and spat something out of his mouth.

The thing bounced on the cold stone floor while producing some distinctly metallic noises.

"A ring?" Murik questioned with a raised brow. Then in the next second his jaw nearly dislocated as it hit the floor. "It- It's… it's…" he stammered, but no other words came out.

"Ssssh!" Gerald whispered with a wide toothy grin. His expression was extremely disturbing, especially in the low light where the shadows thrown by the tiny flame danced on his face.

Murik could have sworn he felt a gust of wind as the quiet word exploded in his ears. Then he watched, wide-eyed, as the ring flew up by itself and found its rightful place on a finger of Gerald's right hand.

"Who knew controlling Mana outside of my body would come in handy so quickly? Hee-hee…"

Mana was everywhere! In the air, in the rock, in the food, in the filth on the floor… The only place where it was not, was inside Gerald's body! But so what?! He just took control of a bit that was all around him and manipulated it to his will.

A piece of metal materialized in front of Gerald, and as the latter closed his eyelids, his Magic Eyes sprung to life.

The piece of iron became encased in a fire as the temperature in the room rose slightly while being bathed in yellow light.

It was the first time in months that his two companions had seen such intense light, and had to squint to mitigate the pain from the blinding radiance.

The metal piece elongated as it became softer and then formed a complex shape, like that of a key. Gerald then willed the flames to go out and let the key cool, before Telekinetically bringing it to one of his Void Cuffs.

Ka-cha!

The first blue ring fell to the floor with a crisp thud and rattled for a few seconds before going silent.

Ka-cha!

The second one fell to the ground, and Gerald immediately felt Mana rushing back into his body.

Ka-cha!

The third and final Void Cuff fell to the floor, and a torrent of magical energy drowned Gerald's cells as they were slowly getting filled back to the brim. He then took a deep breath of freedom and absorbed the Mana under his control into his body to speed up the recovery.

Casting Recovery on himself, he felt a warm feeling wash over his aching muscles and swollen skin as his wounds started tingling while closing back up.

Despite getting back his magic, he was still in chains, and so he quickly solved that problem with a bit of forceful Telekinesis. Too bad he couldn't do that on the Void Cuffs directly or getting free would have been much easier.

When he could finally freely move again, he first stretched his sore legs and back and made a few movements to get the blood flowing. This place was so damn cold, and he hated the cold! But, for the sake of laying low, he couldn't afford to change anything.

If he wanted to bring this place down, he had to plan carefully and stay vigilant, lest he gets himself foolishly killed.

Murik Wood watched slack-jawed as the new guy utilized magic in spite of three Void Cuffs constantly draining him. Three fucking Void Cuffs! Murik's mind was currently on fire. He couldn't bring himself to even blink as he stared at the man casually tossing away all the restraints holding him prisoner.

The guy then extended his hand, and the piss-soaked straw on the floor beneath him gathered into a pile and then, under Murik's trembling gaze, separated from the filth and returned to its warm and dry natural state. The shit stains then moved into a far corner of the cell where they were then swallowed by the wall itself.

The man then took a chunk of rock, straight out of the wall, floated in front of his face, and crushed it into powder! Actually, more accurately it would be to say that the stone disintegrated into dust on its own because that's pretty much what happened. Then, with the addition of some water, he formed a ball of mud and smeared it over his body in some places to hide his healing.

He then sat down, still mostly naked, and an iron pot appeared out of nowhere. And with it, heavenly fragrances.

Gulp!

Gerald summoned some bone broth and drank in big gulps to satiate his thirst and hunger. He hadn't eaten in more than a week and he was positively starving! But some flavored water wasn't enough to satiate him. He took a chunk of roasted bear out of his storage Ring and devoured it like a hungry wolf. Then he took a smoked leg of a wild boar and ate that as well.

Well, not entirely, that was too much, even for him.

But then he noticed the other two guys, practically dripping with saliva while staring at him. They were completely quiet though since they understood they weren't dealing with a normal human anymore.

"Here you go, eat up!" Gerald said and tossed them the leg. Despite eating his fill, there was still plenty of meat left on the bone. More than enough for two starving grown men to quiet their rumbling stomachs.

They, quite literally, devoured the meal. Even the bone marrow inside was taken out as they broke the bone by smashing it with the iron shackles. How long was it since they last ate meat? They couldn't even remember.

Burp!

"I'm so full! That was delicious," Murik admitted as he laid back with a full stomach. "See, Zeph? I told you we're going to make it, just keep at it," he encouraged the guy to his left.

Zeph nodded absentmindedly and just continued to stare at Gerald with significantly brighter eyes than the day before. It almost seemed like his heart was slowly allowed to hope again.

"Righ, so, Zeph and…?"

"Murik! My name is Murik Woods," Murik quickly introduced himself.

"Right, listen," Gerald began. "I'll need you to do me a favor, alright?"

Murik nodded immediately, even putting some bobbleheads to shame, while Zeph was much more reserved and nodded slowly only once.

"Good." Gerald moved his hand and the bone pieces rose up and gathered in one place, before getting crushed into dust and spread across the entire prison cell, effectively wiping away any evidence of a feast.

"I'm going to need you to keep quiet and pretend you don't see or hear anything. If you do that, you might actually have a chance of getting out of this place… alive."

Despite him not knowing the ghastly reputation this place had, he wasn't stupid enough to think people here would be released. It didn't matter who they were before coming here, because a dungeon like this was made for one purpose. Pain.

And those that experienced pain on this scale by the state usually weren't let back out into society.

Instead of replying to his request verbally, the two men nodded once more.

"Good. Then I'm going to get some more sleep… Hopefully."

Gerald then placed the Void Cuffs back on and kept them locked with a tiny piece of thread. Unless examined from up close, you would think they were firmly locked on.

He placed the iron chains on as well and locked them securely, even the one around his neck. The Mana then rapidly drained from him, and less than half an hour later his body was empty again.

He then moved his head to one side, and soon fell asleep, only waking up the next day, during which he had some interesting conversations with his new friends.