Captured

Hagan quickly summoned his list of Keepsakes and looked at the bottom of the list, there were five new items there.

'Two must have been from yesterday…'

[Snake], […], [Shiva's Key], [Shiva's Mantle], [Shiva's Greaves].

Hagan was about to read the description of the artifacts when he noticed something. At the top, beside his name, new words were hanging in the air.

"Return?"

Hagan stared at them, confused. It took him several seconds to realize that he was near a place where he could return home, and several more to realize what exactly that meant. He was… free. Free from the incessant slaughter, rage, and fear of this accursed Second Trial. He could finally see his own world again after nearly a year. Without thinking twice, he focused on the words and cleared everything else out of his mind.

He closed his eyes and suddenly was suspended in the air, surrounded by a azure abyss below him and a crimson one above him.

"Promised, congratulations on conquering the Second Trial. You did magnificent and your deeds will be awarded."

Hagan was floating in the air for quite a while before he was suddenly sucked into a vacuum like hole, he instinctively closed his eyes to try and combat the sickening movements his body was making. When he opened them again, he was once again sitting on a curb. However, the picture in front of him was vastly different, there was no ruined building near, all either being repaired or completely deconstructed. He looked around and noticed a few people walking towards him. Despite his extremely declined mental state, he ran over to them to ask what was going on. There were two girls and three guys, they seemed to be from the area considering their shabby clothes. As he neared however, the two girls let out a blood curtailing scream and two of the men moved in front of the girls. The third was backing up and pulling a phone out of his pocket, dialing someone. Hagan was confused so he simply continued forward, glancing back at them a couple times.

Hagan kept walking and wondering why everyone he saw would either turn and run away or simply call someone on their phone. Before he could discover the reason, multiple government vehicles were surrounding him with multiple Arcane Weilders joining them.

"Have you all been waiting on me or something? Wh- why are yo-"

"Put your hands behind your head! Now!"

Hagan was dumbfounded but did as he was told.

"On your knees!"

The next few minutes weren't anything new, he was cuffed, shoved in the back of the car, and taken away. They arrived at the police station without saying a word and he was escorted inside. He could have easily broken out of the cuffs but didn't as he would only be met with lead and the weapons of multiple Arcane Weilders. He was taken to an interrogation room and chained to the table, this time, he would've been unable to break the cuffs as they were a much tougher metal. A few minutes later, a detective walked in and sat across from him, slightly glaring but also had a bit of fear in his gaze.

"So. Do you care to explain why you look like that?"