It didn't take a genius to understand the Stal's intentions, but they were still surprising. Imprisoning those humans made no sense from a tactical standpoint since none of them had any political value. Most of the soldiers on Ecoruta were even outcasts who had caused problems inside their families.
'What do they even want to do with us?' Khan wondered as the Stal wielding handcuffs and sacks approached both human groups.
Khan couldn't find answers to his doubts. His paranoia made him think that his mana core had something to do with it, but he didn't dare to consider the possibility of such a complicated ploy when he had yet to decide how to act.
His risky escape paths slowly vanished as the Stal grew closer. Khan knew that his chances were less than slim, but they only worsened as the aliens approached the humans without breaking the encirclement. Each second spent hesitating put him into more danger, but he couldn't make a decision, especially when death didn't appear impending. He would remain alive as a prisoner, while the rifles would probably kill him if he tried to run away.
The hesitation ended up making that decision for Khan. Only a few seconds had to pass before his chances to escape vanished completely. Still, he immediately switched his mindset to prepare for an eventual jailbreak. When a Stal approached him, he raised his hands forward to make sure that it didn't tie them behind his back.
The Stal didn't seem to care about that detail. It handcuffed Khan's hands with those heavy tools before covering his head with the black sack. He felt unable to see anything afterward, but his sensitivity to mana still worked perfectly, and he could clearly sense the alien taking away his knife.
Khan had to force himself to remain still when he sensed two thick arms wrapping themselves around his waist and lifting him. The Stal barely felt his weight as it carried him toward the platform where the other aliens were gathering the prisoners. Khan could notice the entirety of his team around him, but his focus was on the mana inside his body. Everything worked perfectly, so he had to come up with a plan.
The entirety of his knowledge ran through his mind as the platform began to descend. Khan heard the ground closing above him, the Stal's random grunts and growls flew toward his ears, and their strong smell filled his nostrils, but he remained focused on his thoughts.
Khan didn't experience any fear. An alien species had taken him prisoner, and he didn't know what would become of him, but he didn't panic. Actually, his mind seemed to work faster under those terrible conditions. It was something similar to the mindset that he obtained during battles. The tragedies were his home.
'I can't become a prisoner if the Nak have already trapped me for years,' Khan joked in his mind before suppressing those thoughts and going back to his situation.
Many details of his imprisonment were still unclear. His best bet would normally be Lieutenant Pouille, but he didn't know if they would end up in the same cage. The Stal might commit that mistake, but that event felt unlikely with a Guko leading them.
Khan could also put his hopes on his companions. Some of them were first-level mages, which hinted at the possibility of destructive spells. However, he put those thoughts on hold for now. He would consider them only after studying the eventual underground cages.
After clearing those topics, Khan dived deeply into everything he had learnt throughout the years. He had spent too little on Ecoruta to realize that his expertise already differed deeply from regular humans.
Khan's power came from two worlds. His core was still human since he mostly relied on his martial arts while fighting. Yet, the Niqols' way had become an important part of his being. He didn't approach the mana through the teachings of the Global Army anymore.
Still, his expertise with the Niqols' arts had yet to reach decent levels. His sensitivity to mana was great, and his control was above average, but his manipulation couldn't touch Liiza's realm. He was vaguely successful when it came to adding sharpness to his energy, but that was it.
The [Blood Shield] was a defensive technique that would obviously prove itself useful during an eventual escape, but it couldn't break him free of his shackles. Khan could only think about his martial arts after excluding everything else, but he found only disappointment there.
The Stal had taken away his first-grade knife. Khan couldn't rely on the deadly Divine Reaper, and the Lightning-demon style couldn't help against those aliens due to their incredible physical prowess. He could still hope that his jailer would be weak, but he didn't dare to bet everything on unclear information.
Khan found himself lost. All his power felt useless when the Stal could outnumber him or limit his offensive. A mere alien species with incredible physical strength had been enough to put him into that awful situation.
'Am I really so weak?' Khan wondered when the platform stopped moving and the Stal began to march forward.
The Stal had rendered Khan useless by taking away his knife. He cursed himself for having such an evident weakness. The situation would be different if he could launch his spell, but that wasn't the case. His only option seemed to kick his way out of that prison, which was obviously unfeasible.
Khan tried to wrap his mind around his problem while keeping track of his movements. The Stal were far from graceful. He could understand whenever his jailer turned or walked in a straight line, and his senses inevitably brought another wave of worries. The aliens kept marching for entire hours, which only shattered every vague plan he had developed.
'I'll only end up in the middle of the enemy territory if I take the first available elevator,' Khan concluded in his mind as he started to repeat in his mind the turns that the Stal had taken.
A series of "left" and "right" resounded in Khan's mind in an endless cycle that took complete control of his mental faculties. He added a new direction to that silent prayer every time the Stal took another turn, but he didn't dare to lose focus. His ability to find the elevator near the river depended on how much he could memorize.
The worries that accompanied that idea never managed to appear in Khan's mind. He knew that the Stal would probably advance now that Lieutenant Pouille's team had lost its claim on the territories past the river, but Khan didn't care. A lot could go wrong in that situation, so he focused on what was within his power.
The long march changed pace as grunts and vague cries seeped past the black sack to reach Khan's ears. He tried to understand what was happening through his sensitivity to mana, but the Stal gave him answers before he could find them on his own.
The Stal removed the sack on Khan's head before throwing him away. He tried to inspect his surroundings, but the impact with a metal wall made his consciousness go dark for a few seconds. When his vision stabilized, he found himself inside a small black cell illuminated by dim light.
Khan immediately snapped out of his stupor and straightened his position to move forward. The cell appeared open, and he could even see the back of the group of Stal marching through the corridors right outside the entrance. However, something suddenly appeared on his path and forced him to halt his track.
Nothing had appeared in his vision, but Khan knew that a dense layer of mana had covered the entrance. The mass of energy was transparent, so he could see everything happening in the corridor, but he didn't feel confident enough to touch it.
A crackling noise followed by a painful cry resounded in the area while Khan tried to study the barrier. Those sounds came from his right, while the Stal were moving toward his left, so he could link them to another prisoner. It didn't take him long to understand that someone had tried to touch the dense mass of mana and had suffered because of that.
Khan disregarded the barrier to focus on his situation at that point. The cell was large, and its advanced technology stated how the Guko had probably built it to contain Stal. The corridor had similar architecture. It was large and tall, completely made of dark metal, and dim white lights came out of its corners to illuminate the area.
The Stal continued to throw humans inside cells without stopping marching through the large corridor. Khan couldn't understand their intentions, but he could confirm that he would remain alive for the time being.
Khan stopped inspecting the area after the Stal disappeared and noises stopped echoing throughout the corridors. The structure didn't have much else to study, so he sat on the floor and repeated the turns taken by the aliens in his mind before focusing on coming up with an escape plan.
"Is Lieutenant Pouille here?" A voice suddenly resounded from his right.
"Lieutenant Pouille?" Another voice came out from the cell to his left.
"Is the Lieutenant here?" A third prisoner shouted, and Khan recognized Clara's voice even if a series of cells divided him from her.
"I'm here," Lieutenant Pouille eventually shouted, and his voice came from a distant spot on Khan's left. "Stop crying and shut up! They might come to beat us up."
"What should we do now?" A soldier asked, completely disregarding the previous orders.
"What's the plan, Lieutenant?" Another voice resounded.
"Is the Global Army aware of our position?" A third soldier shouted.
"HQ knows about these underground structures," Lieutenant Pouille explained, "But they can't study them from space. We have even gotten far away from our initial position, so you can forget about reinforcements."
"What do you mean, Lieutenant Pouille?" Clara cried in a pleading tone. "Why was a Guko working with the Stal? Why did they even take us prisoner? Do they want to trade us with HQ?"
"How the fuck would I even know that?!" Lieutenant Pouille shouted in an angry voice. "I'm only a Lieutenant. HQ gives orders, and I follow them. Still, let me break it down for you. No one is coming to save us."
More pleads resounded from the various cells, but Lieutenant Pouille didn't answer anymore. Khan could only hear as the many voices quieted down before turning into occasional cries and sobs.
'Is this a way to get rid of troublesome soldiers?' Khan wondered after sorting out his thoughts. 'Is the Global Army really unaware that some Guko are working with the Stal?'
Khan's paranoia affected his thoughts, but he tried to suppress them to avoid developing biases about the situation. Nothing told him that the Global Army had something to do with his imprisonment. The cooperation between the two alien species was still suspicious, but he couldn't find anything that involved the humans in the matter.
Khan went back to his planning. He repeated the left-right prayer in his mind before trying to develop a tactic that could allow him to escape. He still didn't know much about his situation or the Stal's intentions, but he had to solve a major problem first.
In the current state, Khan would be unable to deal with a single first-level warrior from the alien species. His experience could give him a chance against those strong beings, but he didn't know it would take to win in a direct clash when relying only on his kicks.
Saving time was mandatory while deep inside an enemy structure. Khan couldn't give the Stal the chance to alert their companions in the eventuality of a battle, but he couldn't perform his deadliest techniques right now.
His thoughts didn't lead anywhere, and they eventually turned into desperation. Khan couldn't find any solution, and Liiza's face appeared in his vision as he started to accept that his life was in the Stal's hands.
Khan almost couldn't believe how intense his feelings for Liiza were. He had said goodbye and tried not to think about her, but she always reappeared whenever he let his mind wander. It felt almost funny to compare his current state to his life on Nitis. He had left that dark planet mere days ago, but that time already felt like an eternity.
A surge of anger made Khan slam his arms on the wall to his right. The thick handcuffs didn't even leave a mark on the dark metal, and the impact didn't damage their structure either. They also seemed meant for a stronger species, which only removed any idea of breaking free through brute force from his mind.
'Liiza would have frozen these things with a simple thought,' Khan smiled while thinking about his talented ex-girlfriend. 'Zalpa could have turned them into dust by blowing on them. Even items resistant to mana can't do much when someone forces their very nature to change.'
Khan had initially desired to blame his ineptitude, but an odd idea formed in his mind as he continued to think about the Niqols. He raised his hands and stretched his fingers before tilting his head to inspect them from a different angle. He had to admit that they could look like short blades.
Author's notes: I need a couple of hours for the second chapter.
