Chapter 10:

It was cold. She tried to escape the cold by wrapping herself in her blankets, but that was hardly successful. The cold seeped into her bones, made her muscles twitch. She trembled. Fucking Prison, she thought. If only I could use magic. The prison obviously didn’t care for the wellbeing of its ‘customers’. It did not give them enough to live a decent live, but it did not let them die. It did not allow them to die. It was nothing Maria could not understand. It was said to be one of the worst prisons that existed. Oh what would she give for a pot of hot soup, a cup of fresh tea. She would probably even appreciate being burned on a stake.

If he had known, Hobbies Kraft would probably have laughed about it. The heat was now bearable, which did not mean that it was pleasant. The mind trap was still consistent, so at least his mind still worked properly. He sat down in the hot sand and let his magic flow. Expanding his senses he searched for errors, that would aid him in his escape. Errors that would reduce the amount of power he needed to destroy this illusion. Errors that would prevent him from using too much power and destroying his own mind. He did not find many, but he found some. Enough to let him be optimistic, but not enough to let him be sure. He did not know how long he had been trapped, but it was surely enough to be an annoying obstacle to his plans. “Well,” he said. “Let’s see if this can get me out.” He cancelled all his other magic and poured all his concentration in one big shockwave. The shockwave ripped through the illusion, like a sword through a cotton shirt and the twin suns shattered into a rain of a million sparkling shards.

As he began to feel the cold air in his lungs and the hard mattress under his body, he immediately missed the heat of the desert.  He looked at the grey walls and the meagre furniture in the small room. “Prison?” Hobbies stood up and walked towards the door. “Hey guards!” he shouted. “Bring me some food. I feel like I haven’t eaten in months.”