Chapter 14: Caught
We are now heading towards either a detention facility to be held captive or to an execution ground to be killed. I have no idea, really. I checked on Max and he seemed fine. He didn’t get severely injured by the enemies. His wings are restrained so he couldn’t maneuver properly. I’m kind of nervous about what will happen to us, but the guards do not look battle-hardened, so it is possible we’re just going to jail.
After reading the latest compiled books on Max, I learned that sovereign elemental birds could form appendages with their mana. I helped with pointing out the flaws of Max’s way of controlling his mana. I decided to teach him how to control his mana in accordance with the Heavenly Way. He learned it easily enough, but he still needs practice. Right now, his abilities include changing the properties of his mana up to a minute and extending it outside his body to form additional appendages.
Soon enough, we arrived at this small detention facility. It is just one big holding cell. Inside, there is only one other person. We were informed that we will be held here for questioning wherein we will still be able to practice our rights.
The facilities look fine and reputable. With magic everywhere, everything looks exceptional. The holding facility looks like a prison from a sci-fi movie, with light circuits going around the rectangular building. There are only 3 cells on the first floor where I was placed. The other person with me here is a girl who is around 18 to 20 years old, wearing scrubs meant for a hospital but with runes etched on the sleeves. I copied the usual lines of characters on TV shows and asked, “What are you in for?” The girl replied with, “None of your business, man." The guard posted outside came and told me that she was caught pretending to be a medical staff. He told me more miscellaneous information and apparently, this girl with me is the daughter of a VIP.
Eventually, I got the girl to open up to me. She told me how the outside world remains a dangerous place, but some people managed to make Angono a self-contained kingdom which is where I am now. I wanted to ask how long it has been since this new haven was established because I didn’t know anything about it, but she was so engrossed in telling her story and just kept talking. She told me that she got caught because she was trying to reach her mom who works at a hospital. She couldn’t get to her mom because she's performing an operation, so she stole some scrubs and headed for her mom, but she got caught by the guards. I asked why she couldn’t wait until the operation finished but she didn’t answer and just changed the topic. I then told her about my life before everything changed. She seemed bored at first but eventually, she looked like she was just being entertained by stories of my work as an accountant. After a while, her mom came and when I saw her, she looked familiar. When our eyes met, her eyes looked like she went into shock and said, “Paul, is that you?”