35 | Royal Capital and Locked up(2)|
[General PoV]
"Let's sit and talk," Merlin said, as he approached Ava's bed, an act to show that he's willing to listen and help. "Tell me what happened."
Ava nodded and moved, making a little for Merlin to sit beside her.
Merlin listened as she poured out her story.
Her story goes back to when she's buying food ingredients for her mom who owns a small restaurant.
She explained that she was falsely accused of stealing because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had been walking through a marketplace, and a stall owner noticed that some of his merchandise was missing. The owner quickly accused her of theft, and the town guard appeared out of nowhere, instantly arresting her without further investigation.
"...Out of nowhere?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, his name is Carlos. Also, Mom doesn't like him and she told me to stay away from him..." Ava stated.
"..."
She then continued with her story...
She was then thrown into the prison with no specific duration that indicate her stay here. And she's here...
Merlin listened to her story, nodding and empathizing with her every step of the way. He understood what it was like to be accused of a crime you didn't commit and left to suffer the consequences. As he listened, his face turn dark before asking.
"About the guard, what's his position?"
"...Patrolling?" She thought for a moment before answering.
'This is...' Merlin anger slowly rises before he ask one thing he's curious about.
"Ava, why do you think you mom doesn't like that guard?"
"He ask for protection money? Mom denied to pay his ridiculous amount, and he even threaten her. But that's just adult problem, I don't know much." Ava explained.
'I knew it...' Merlin found this guard disgusting...Another bug it seemed.
"What about you Merlin? Why are you here? You seemed to be around my age, 11. Did you also get false accused?" Ava asked, looking at Merlin.
"Firstly, I'm 9." Merlin smiled cheekily, looking at Ava.
"W-What?!" Ava is even more shocked, seeing someone younger than her being in this horrible place.
"You don't need to know what 'crime' I did to have me locked up in here." Merlin said, showing his cuff.
"C-Come on, tell me!" Ava shook Merlin's shoulder.
"Should I?" Merlin asked, teasingly.
"Yes!" Ava confirmed.
Merlin did successfully lifts Ava's mood, which is his reason for teasing her.
"Ahem...Listen carefully..." Merlin said, getting serious.
"You see why I have this cuff on and you don't?" Merlin asked to which Ava nodded, listening intently.
"You see, I just beat up a guard that's it." Merlin finished.
"..." Ava had this blank face.
"HAhahaha, did you expect a long story? You are such a baby~" Merlin laughed.
"W-Who?! You are younger than me!" Ava yelled, her face is red from embarrassment.
With this, both Merlin and Ava got to know each.
They got close quickly due to them being under the same situation.
.
.
As the sun set and the sky turned a deep shade of blue, the prison was cast into darkness. The fluorescent lights flickered to life, casting a pale, sickly glow over the cell blocks. The sound of shuffling feet echoed through the corridors as the inmates retreated to their cells from the washroom for the night.
In the cell where our protagonist and Ava resided, the darkness crept in slowly, like a creeping fog. Shadows danced on the walls, the only movement in the stillness of the night. The bars of the cell window glinted in the dim light, casting long, spindly shadows across the floor.
The air was thick with the smell of sweat, despair, and loneliness. A reminder of the harsh reality of life inside the prison walls. The distant sound of muffled voices carried on the breeze, a constant reminder of the other inmates locked up in their own cells.
As the night wore on, the darkness deepened, swallowing everything in its path. The hum of the fluorescent lights filled the air, the only sound in the stillness of the night. The prisoners slept fitfully, their dreams haunted by the memories of their past and the uncertainty of their future.
The night had arrived, bringing with it a sense of dread and unease. The prison was silent, the only movement coming from the occasional shifting of an inmate in their cell. The night had a way of amplifying the isolation and loneliness of prison life, leaving the inmates to confront their own demons in the quiet of their own cells.
In the midst of this night, Merlin can be seen sitting cross-legged on his bed, meditating silently. Ava is peacefully asleep on her bed.
Merlin was in the midst of condensing his second mana core when…
>DOOM!<
A sudden head-splitting headache and pain from his solar plexus hits him
"Ugh..."
Merlin groaned as the pain intensified, his hands gripping his head tightly. He could feel something happening to him, something beyond his control.
Unknown to Merlin, runes letter started forming on his body as it glowed brighter, pulsing with purplish energy.
Ava woke up, startled, her eyes widening as she saw Merlin writhing in pain. She jumped up from her bed and rushed over to him, trying to help him.
"What's happening to you?" she asked, concern etched on her face.
Merlin could barely speak through the pain, but he managed to gasp out a few words.
"guh...I don't know...I can't control it..."
Suddenly, the runes on his body flared up even brighter, illuminating the entire cell. Merlin felt like he was being torn apart from the inside out, his very being consumed by the surge of mana.
"MMMPH!" Merlin wanted to scream but he forcefully clenched his teeth.
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. The pain receded, leaving Merlin panting and sweating on his bed. The runes on his body faded away, and he looked around, dazed.
"What...what just happened?" Merlin muttered, still trying to make sense of it all. He felt more fatigued than energized.
Ava, who's on his bed, looked at him, her expression filled with curiosity and worry.
"I don't know," she said.
'Did I successfully forme--' Before Merlin could finish his thought, his body's strength left him.
>Pomph<
Merlin fell face first into Ava's lap, asleep.
"!!" Ava was startled at first before checking if Merlin is still breathing.
After confirming that he's breathing and is just sleeping, she placed him on his pillow before tucking him in.
***
Merlin's eyes fluttered open, and he groaned as he sat up on his hard, uncomfortable bed. His head throbbed with a dull ache, and his thoughts were jumbled and confused. He looked around his cell, trying to remember where he was and how he had gotten there.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, memories slowly started to flood back to him. The prison cell and his cellmate Ava. But even with these memories, Merlin still felt like he was missing something important.
He stood up from his bed, his legs wobbling slightly as he tried to gain his balance. The cell was silent, the only sounds coming from the distant shuffling of footsteps and the faint hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.
Merlin rubbed his temples, trying to clear his foggy mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, that he was missing a key piece of information. He paced back and forth, his footsteps echoing on the hard, cold floor.
"What's going on?" he muttered to himself, frustration evident in his voice.
Ava stirred in her own bed, her eyes flickering open as she noticed Merlin's restlessness.
"You're awake! Are you okay?" she asked, concern etched on her face.
Merlin shook his head, a sense of unease settling in the pit of his stomach.
"No, I don't think so," he said. "I feel like there's something I'm forgetting, something important..."
Ava nodded, understanding in her eyes.
"...Maybe you just need some rest," she said, trying to reassure him. "Things will look clearer in the morning. It has probably been just a few hours after you fell unconscious."
Merlin nodded, not convinced. He crawled back into bed, hoping that sleep would bring some clarity to his scattered thoughts. But as he lay there, his mind still racing, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.
'Fell unconscious?' Ava's word clicked in his mind.
"AH!" Merlin yelled out in realization before he sit up on his bed and start meditating, checking something.
He entered his consciousness where he sensed his Light Yellow core with a Silver tinge, he disregarded that core and deepened his focus into that core...
"..." Sweat trickled his face.
Entering into his main core, he saw a lone core and it's Red in color.
"YES! A SUCCESS!" Merlin was sucked out of his consciousness and celebrated.
Merlin proved his theory to be a success. This theory is based on the time when Merlin saw a soap bubble in another soap bubble. He utilized that, and here he is, a mage with 2 mana core.
"?" Ava just looked at Merlin and smiled, seeing her friend accomplishing something.
"Hmm...Congratulation for successfully changing your hair color." Ava congratulated Merlin, this confuses Merlin as he turned and tilted his head.
"Hair...Color?"
***
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