Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – Arbitrary Justice

After many years the great horde started their journey across the vast Untouched seas, unmolested by the scaled leviathans of the deep. The dragons had negotiated their safe passage, securing it in the ancient way of their kind. The serpents of the sky and sea were to be bound together once more.

- On the Cataclysm by an unknown Quassian Scholar circa 103 AC

I wasn’t in any immediate danger, but the monotony of life stuck behind bars, unable to enjoy the wider world, was taking its toll. I wanted to be free, but for the time being I had to content myself with a little experimentation and training. It seemed that magical healing, as testing with robust exercise indicated, relieved the body of muscle fatigue when cast at full Health. As long as I had the Stamina, the Mana, and the will, I could engage in a torturous loop of self-improvement. But it seemed that fate would have other designs in store for me.

On the third day of my incarceration, instead of one of the guards, a boy just on the cusp of adulthood appeared to deliver my first meal. Exhausted after a strenuous bout of exercise, I was sitting cross-legged in the corner of my cell when the sound of the meal tray disturbed me. As I stirred from my meditations on the nature of the state’s responsibility to the people, my eyes met his and he suddenly backed away from the bars of my cell like he had been presented with a dangerous snake. Short cropped hair between a dark brown and true black, a button nose slightly set in a round face with a weak jaw, and panicked brown eyes that had opened in surprise like wide saucers. He wore a brown ill-fitting woolen tunic two sizes too big for him with large buttons made of horn, and dark linen trousers of a coarse design. The overall impression was like a startled mouse that had been surprised by a cat.

Feigning calm, I cast Identify on the boy.

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