Ascension: Nyx 19 (The Myriad book 1)

The moment I became conscious, I was annoyed. I was in a wooden chair, and I hated to sleep sitting up. It gave me neck cramps. I could feel bonds cutting into my arms, chest, and legs, and my gauntlet had been removed. Regarding how I arrived here, I had nothing more than a vague recollection of things going wrong when I tried to kill Corso.

I sat up straighter, producing a cacophony of cracks from my spine and peeled my eyes open. A dark haired boy of about fourteen sat in a chair placed facing me. His shaggy hair fell across his face, obscuring his brown eyes from view.

“This is a nice change of scenery,” I drawled.

“It’s a prison cell.”

“Is it? I thought it was a tree.” Of course, being bound to a chair made it seem more like a prison cell, but it was formed out of a tree. Elven magic had shaped the tree’s growth, giving them bubble like rooms in their trunks. The moss covered walls were made from a single piece of wood, with an intricate crosshatching of sticks forming windows. If I was in a prison, it hadn’t seen a lot of use. I was the sole prisoner, and I couldn’t see any defenses, and there were only two guards.

“Ah, Corso Ghostfire,” I greeted him. “Not dead, I see.” I had felt guilty about attempting to kill the boy when it was happening. Guilt was an emotion that I’d tried to obliterate, and the fact that the insolent child had attempted to set me on fire helped me overcome it.

“Why did you call me ‘Ghostfire?’” Corso asked me.

“No ‘who are you?’ No ‘why did you try to kill me?’ No ‘how do you know my name?’ You don’t know how to prioritize,” I intoned.

“Fine,” Corso said. “Are you going to answer any of those questions?” Either Corso was an inexperienced and interrogator or he was attempting a tactic that hadn’t been used on me before. If it was the latter, it wasn’t working very well, and I had a strong suspicion that it was the former.

“Not for free,” I said.

“You’re the prisoner. You don’t get paid for information.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no,” I said, drumming my fingers on the arm of the chair I was tied to. “You misunderstand me. I don’t need money. What I want is my gauntlet.”

A laugh that was more of a bark escaped Ghostfire’s lips. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Look,” he said. “I may not know a lot about magic, but even I know enough to not give you back the object that shoots fire and ice.”

“Oh, it’s not the gauntlet that does that.” This was a bold faced lie, but Corso had just said he didn’t know a lot about magic. He was a horrible interrogator. “That magic is my power and mine alone. I just keep the gauntlet around for nostalgic purposes.”

Corso didn’t look as worried as I’d hoped, but he wasn’t gloating, either. “You… You can’t do that. If you could, you would already have gotten out of here.”

That was the flaw in my pitiful escape attempt. Of course, I could just Flicker to another world and then Flicker back to Alaran to get my gauntlet, but that required a lot of energy, and it was hard to Flicker to specific locations. I’d been lucky to land in the forest when I Flickered here the first time. I would do it if I had to, but I would attempt to find an easier solution first.

“Okay, here’s my offer: I’ll answer two of your questions now. Then we can negotiate on the price for my gauntlet,” I said.

Corso glanced at the ceiling as he considered this. “Which questions?”

I shrugged, which isn’t easy when tied to a chair. “It’s up to you.”

Corso raked a hand through his hair. “What’s your name? Why did you call me Ghostfire?” he asked at last.

“Those are your questions?” I scoffed. “My name’s Nyx the Alchemist. And I call you Ghostfire because that’s what the Harbinger said your name was.”

Corso’s face adopted a glassy expression, his eyes misting over. “The… Harbinger…” he repeated to himself. “He… he sent you, didn’t he?”

“You get two questions!” I barked, worried that I’d given away more than I wanted to. I didn't like that Corso recognized the Harbinger's name.

Without another word, Corso rushed out of the room. “Hey! Wait! We need to talk about my gauntlet!” I called after him, but he didn’t come back.

Corso has connections to the Harbinger, too, I realized. This didn’t surprise me as much as it had surprised Corso. The Harbinger must have known about Corso somehow or he wouldn’t have wanted him dead. Still, I wanted my gauntlet back and I resolved not to divulge any more information until I received it.

After a few moments, someone else walked into my arborous excuse for a prison cell.

“Hello, Ice Cube,” I drawled, recognizing him as the one I had frozen when I attacked Corso. The silver bearded elf was unperturbed, and lowered himself into Corso’s seat. I stared at him. He stared back. His stare was unwavering, so I allowed myself a small, offsetting smile. It was a common interrogation tactic, attempting to build up an uncomfortable silence that I would be inclined to break. Corso was an amateur. In fact, I suspected that he had only been allowed to see me because I tried to kill him. This old elf man was the one in command.

Seconds ticked into minutes. After at least seventeen passed in silence, I cursed in my mind. Grix, I thought, when I realized I was going to speak first.

“Who are you supposed to be?” I asked, hoping that my tone was cutting enough to make up for my loss at the silent contest.

“My name is Taanyth,” the elf said. “But my name isn’t the one that matters. If I’m not mistaken, yours is Nyx the Alchemist. What are you doing on my world?”