Van woke up with a start as a hot white flash seared into his mind. Trying to look around he found himself bound and gagged with his eyes covered. Whoever had kidnapped him was thorough…

He tried to replay the last few things he remembered, going back all the way to when everyone was struggling to get on the train out of the city. But his memories must be playing tricks on him because the last thing he could recall was falling into Arkina’s arms as something pinched into the back of his neck.

His first instinct was to cut Arkina out of the list of suspects. After all, he didn’t know who had drugged him from behind, for all he knew, Arkina was also a victim. But then when some of his memories came back, he noticed how she didn’t seem surprised by him falling onto her. Or at least not that surprised…

After blacking out he woke up to… Here… Wherever here was… By the sounds of it, as well as the constant shifting, he must be on a train. He kept his body unmoving and strained his ears the best he could, something a little difficult to do because they also put a bag over his head…

“Looks like he’s awake…” An unfamiliar voice said.

Van froze, he hadn’t moved from his spot but it seemed like whoever was set to guard him figured out he was awake anyway.

“We’ll fix that…” Another voice responded.

The next thing Van heard was a few footsteps coming his way and someone roughly grabbing him. He tried to struggle, but whatever drug they injected him with also seemed to do a number on his muscles because he couldn't move them at all. Like a rag doll he was forced upward and felt a painful sting pressed into his arm. He would have gasped out in pain if he wasn’t paralyzed.

The next thing he knew a thick wave of sleep crashed into his brain, like heavy sludge tidal waving through narrow pipes, the drug made its way through his veins and all out through his body. In just a few seconds he was drowned against his will under an ocean of unconsciousness…

---

“What are you two fools doing!” A cloaked figure hissed, stepping out of the shadows. “Are you trying to kill him!?” Her voice low but her anger palpable. “We are trying to bring him to the mistress alive, or have you forgotten?”

The two hooded figures set to guard the male looked to each other and back to their supposed leader.

“He had woken up sooner than expected…”

“We figured an extra dose was necessary in case he had resistance to the poison…”

The two figures didn’t sound apologetic in the least for their actions, if anything they were almost uncaring. As if one more death was nothing to them, if anything the only thing that got a rise of fear out of them was the thought that they would fail the mistress. Those who failed the mistress usually wished they died before returning empty handed.

Despite that, they couldn’t see why a male was held with such importance. Their mistress went through them quickly enough as is. They weren’t told anything more than necessary…

But that still didn’t mean their supposed leader wasn’t going to let them kill the male, even if it was by accident.

“Listen to me you fools.” She hissed a little louder now. “That product is worth more than anyone here. The mistress has set his priority to the highest!” Her eyes narrowed. “And you know what that means… Right?”

The two guards stiffened. Whenever their mistress set something to high priority it meant that any failure no matter how small will be punished in the most gruesome of ways. If they did not tread carefully… Well… Best not to think about it…

The two guards looked at each other one more time before looking back at their supposed leader. The message had gone through… “We’ll… Endeavour to make sure he is healthy when we arrive at our next drop off point…” One of them replied, her voice subdued.

Arkina nodded. “Yes, you best make sure.” She then walked over to where Van was tied up. Not only was his arms and legs manacled but he was also tied to a large wooden crate just to make doubly sure he wasn’t going anywhere.

She lifted the back of the bag on his head to check the seal and upon noticing it flickering she frowned. Placing a hand onto it, she poured her mana into the seal, paling as her reserves were quickly drained away from her. “His soul realm must be absurdly powerful if the seal is already like this, i’ll have to reapply a new one soon as well as periodically come by to repower them as necessary.”

She put the hood back down and gave a small sigh out of sight of the two guards, reaching out to him she put his hand into her own to check his pulse, though she was also wishing to simply hold his hands. “I’m so sorry Van… The truth is I really do love you… But no one crosses mother without suffering the consequences…”

She tried not to tear up. “I promise you I’ll try and figure a way out of this for the both of us. I just need to get in my mother’s good graces first.” Her hands tightened on his. “If everything goes to plan, we can both be free…”

Arkina then sensed that the two guards were slowly becoming suspicious of how long she was taking and got up. “His soul realm is a bit more powerful than expected, I’ll have to reapply a new seal soon and come by to repower them every so often. Make sure you don’t drug him up anymore as well, he hasn’t eaten anything in a while and I want to make sure he arrives healthy.”

“Understood…”

“We’ll watch over him…”

Arkina gave them one last look before turning and disappearing into the shadows.

---

Van felt something calling him in the distance. Or was it close? He wasn’t sure. He was under an ocean of blackness so thick he couldn’t move. Yet the voice kept calling out to him, trying to pull him closer to it. All of a sudden it felt like he was hooked and being reeled away to somewhere else. It was the strangest feeling…

The voice grew louder and louder until it felt like it was right above him. Then it yelled, startling him. He gasped for air as if he was a man drowning in the deep sea. His body flailing around and his heart beating a million miles a second. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see… Light?

He blinked and realized he was in the throne room of his soul realm.

“Van!” Ren said loudly, his voice filled with concern. “Van! Are you alright.” Reaching out and putting a hand on Van’s shoulder.

Van looked around like a wild animal, confused and terrified, until he realized he wasn’t in danger and began to finally calm down. “Ren? W-what's happening?” Blinking his eyes and slowly sitting up trying to make sense of everything.

“You’ve been drugged pretty heavily. If it weren’t for how strong your body was you’d probably be sleeping for days if not weeks.” Ren answered. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while now. Even if you're knocked unconscious, there are ways to access your soul realm. After all, while the spirit and mind are linked, that doesn’t mean you still can’t enter your own soul realm.”

“Is that why I feel so light headed?” Van asked. “I kinda feel… Like… I’m not as smart anymore?”

Ren nodded. “At the moment you're only here in spirit. You might be experiencing some dissonance soon, which might make you feel dizzy. But it should pass as you get used to it, just make sure you don’t overexert yourself. Otherwise you’ll black out again.”

“I see…” Van said, waiting for the room to stop spinning. “What happened?” Not sure what he was asking about specifically or just everything in general.

“Well…” Ren tried to think about how he was going to break the news to Van. “It seems like… Arkina was a spy… And she… Kidnapped you…”

Van just sat there for a long while before closing his eyes and giving a small nod. “Yeah…”

Ren scratched the back of his head. “Umm… Look, if it's any consolation it didn’t seem like she wanted to… Uh… Don’t worry about it too much, we’ll figure something out before you wake up again. Just rest up until then.” Trying to cheer Van up and instill some hope as well, but clearing not doing a good job at it.

Van sighed and slowly got up on wobbly feet. The only thing he could think about right now was walking over to his throne and sitting down to relax a bit while he tried to figure things out. But when he turned he blinked wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him as the throne was glitching the fuck out…

“Uh… Ren?”

Ren looked at the direction Van was looking at. “Oh… Yeah… That's been doing that for a while. Ever since we had that little intrusion…”

Van blinked. “Intrusion?”

Ren nodded. “Do you remember a white hot flash of light? Seemed someone did something to Luna that reached all the way over here.”

Van looked panicked. “Is she okay!?”

“As far as I can sense…” Ren frowned. “She’s doing better than okay…” As if annoyed that someone did something better than him at what he was good at.

Van just looked at Ren confused as to what had gotten into him all of a sudden then shook his head with another sigh, wondering what else could go wrong. “What do we do now?” He instead asked, still feeling a little lightheaded.

“Well… Right now you just rest up while I fix what I can over here.” Ren replied. “After that we can work together on improving your soul realm. I have a feeling you’ll be spending a lot of time here. Whether you like it or not…”

Van looked at Ren, then at the glitching throne and then the empty hall around him, wondering where everyone else was. But he supposed just getting some quick rest would do him some good and decided to go to his bedroom for a quick nap. He was feeling a severe headache and needed to acclimate himself a bit before he could do any work around here.

But there was one thing he did know…

He was going to make whoever did this to him pay…