Print drive yourself crazy, I told myself. I shook the thoughts from my head. I had to worry about all that later. My first priority was getting the hell out of here.

            I had no weapons. My mother’s dai-blades were not with me. They better not have taken them. If I did not get them back, so help me, I will tear this place apart to get them.

            Without any weapon, I would have to rely on my magic to escape. This liquid I was in just might be enough to do the trick, assuming it was actually water. I focused on it and tested to see if I could control it.

I felt a faint current sweep through it, manipulated by my magic. I was pleased.

            The next part was tricky. I concentrated on the water and drew it around me, pressing it against my body. I felt the pressure increase as the water seemed to crush me, and my ears popped. I released the spell and pushed the water against the glass. The force sent webs of cracks across the surface of the glass. In numerous places, I could hear water trickling out of the container.

The ease of the spell came as a surprise to me. All magic users possessed an energy called ‘mana’. The greater amount of mana you possessed, the greater the spells you could cast. Normally, I could use up my entire mana supply to manipulate wind and water to suspend a gallon of water in the air for half a minute. A trained mage could accomplish this feat for hours, perhaps even a full day.

The spell I had just accomplished would usually deplete my mana supply greatly, leaving me weak and tired. But I didn’t feel that way at all. In fact, it felt like a mere drop of my magical energy was spent.

I looked deeper into my mana reserves and found an astounding amount present. I was shocked and baffled to find that I now possessed more than a hundred times more mana than before.

As confused as I was as to how I had acquired such an astounding mana supply, but I had to be grateful for it. I tried the spell again and applied twice the amount of energy to the water. I felt my ears pop again from the pressure, and a thin cloud of blood rose in the water from my nose. I released and hit the glass with the water again.

            The container shattered and the water spilled out, washing away the shards of glass. I fell to the bottom of the container and cried out in pain as the cables tore out from under my skin. I curled into a ball and tried to push the pain into the back of my head. It stung terribly, but it didn’t seem serious. I should have thought that through better.

I was bleeding, and I could smell it. Natural instincts sent flags of danger up in my mind. It added to my fear.

            As I lay there, fighting with pain and fear, I became aware of how lonely the room was. The only sounds were the faint trickle of water and my own heavy breathing. The silence was smothering. Slowly, I sat up and looked at my arms. The area where the cables had been was already starting to bruise. The bleeding was starting to slow, and I knew it would eventually stop on its own. The wounds were superficial.

            I grabbed one of the cables and looked at it. It was a hollow tube and ended in a wicked needle. I felt a wave of nausea at the thought of those needles inside me. I tossed the tube away in disgust.

            I surveyed the room and realized I was mistaken when I thought that the room was lightless. A small window near the ceiling poured a small amount of moonlight into the room. I was certain that if I was going to escape, that would be the quickest way.

            There