Amadeus felt groggy and light-headed when he regained consciousness. His mouth felt dry and he could both smell and taste metal. It probably didn't help that he was locked in a steel cage either. Once his vision started to clear, he looked around the room. The room was rather large, and its floor was made of cold gray stone, which was cold to the touch. Flaming torches hung out from the walls on all four sides of the room, illuminating the room in yellowish light and casting shadows in all directions. All manner of torture devices were scattered around the dimly lit room. Some had spikes, some had ropes, but they all had one thing in common - all of them were used to inflict great pain on people without bringing death quickly. Amadeus shuddered at the thought of having one of those devices used on him.

His cage was placed right in the middle of the room, and swayed gently as it hung from the ceiling amidst the clutter and dust. There were blood stains on the floor and walls which served as a silent memorial to the pain that had been inflicted in this room before he arrived. They made him feel queasy in his stomach. A row of prison cells with steel doors were built into on the side of the room.

Each prison cell was not equipped with any basic amenities aside from a wooden stool for prisoners to sit on. They did however, have a clear view of all the torturing that was going on in the room. All the cells were empty except for two which housed two white-haired individuals whom were unconscious – Rei and his daughter.

After Amadeus had surveyed the room, he came to the conclusion that he was in a prison of sorts; held captive by Waldo. He could hear sounds of laughing and eating outside - Waldo and his lackeys were celebrating. From the sounds of the merry-making, it would be some time before they would come to check up on us, he thought.

He held two of the cage's bars in his hands and pulled with all his might. He attempted to pry them apart to create an opening in the cage. He was somewhat hoping that he would suddenly be imbued with divine strength, only to find out that he was just as weak as he always was. He shook the cage's door in frustration but it did not budge and remained locked securely by a large and heavy padlock. Amadeus breathed heavily, trying to compose himself – was there no way to escape the cage?

The Lighvel suddenly glowed brightly with power instinctively, as though it was responding to his thoughts.

Are you trying to tell me something? He hesitated for a moment. The waves upon the Lighvel's surface were weak, and would probably be consumed entirely if he used it now.

Looks like I have no choice, here goes nothing. Seeing no other way, he reluctantly pressed the Lighvel against the cold metal padlock which kept the cage secure. The Lighvel sparked to life and the padlock almost instantaneously melted away from the door, as though it had been made of butter. The remains of the padlock fell to the ground with a clang. He then nudged the steel cage door lightly, which swung open with a creak. Amadeus dropped down from the cage as softly as he could and landed on the floor below. Without wasting any time, he made his way to what appeared to be the main door of the prison room.

For a moment, he toyed with the idea of escaping and leaving the two Exiles behind. Why did he risk his life to save me? No one ever did that for me before. How can I leave him now? Amadeus looked across the room at the two unconscious Exiles in the prison cells and another wave of guilt swept over him. Why did pain and misfortune always come to people around him? He felt like the fabled angel of death, whom brought about harm where ever he went.

I can't bring myself to do it. I just can't. He gripped his hands with resolve and determined in his heart to help the Exiles escape. No matter what the odds were, he would have to do it. After all, they would not have been captured if it were not for him. At the very least, he would fulfill Rei's wish to save his daughter.

The main door of the room was made of solid wood, and did not appear to be locked. There was a grilled window built into the door at eye level, allowing anyone to peer out or in. He looked cautiously through the grill window which was built into the main prison door. Good, no guard had been stationed outside the room, and no one had been alerted yet. He still had time to make a speedy escape.

He would need to devise a plan to enable him to escape with the two Exiles in tow. Both Exiles were unconscious and he had no idea when they would regain consciousness. If they did not wake up, Amadeus would probably have to carry them off the camp without alerting the Nobles.

Next to the door was a rack with all sorts of tools used for torture. Amadeus spotted a whip made of leather which split into three ends and had a metal hook on each end. There was also a sickle that looked like the ones which commoners used to harvest wheat, and knives of all shapes and sizes. A hook was mounted on the wall, upon which hung a key-ring with various keys - they must be used to access the prison cells.

First things first, thought Amadeus. He would try to wake the prisoners up. That would make things a lot simpler. He walked over to Rei's prison cell and started calling out to him.

"Rei, Rei!" he called out in an urgent and hushed tone. No response. He reached in through the gap in the prison cell bars and grabbed Rei by arm. He shook Rei forcefully and called out his name several more times, trying to wake him up. No response either.

Just my luck. Try as he might, he was unable to wake Rei up. Amadeus had no other choice. He would need another plan. He quickly grabbed the prison cell keys from the hook on the wall and returned to Rei's prison cell.

He hurriedly started going through all the keys, trying to find out which ones would successfully open the prison cell which held Rei. After some time, he finally heard a click as the lock to Rei's prison cell finally yielded to one of the keys. He removed that particular key from the key ring and locked Rei's cell before pocketing it. He would not actually open the cells until he could find a way to escape from Waldo's camp safely with both of the prisoners. He repeated the process with Rei's daughter's prison cell and pocketed that key as well.

Now that he had a way to get them out of the cells, he would need to find a way to escape the camp without alerting the Nobles. His eyes scanned the room and found that on the far end of the room, which faced the outside of the house; there was a single window. He had not noticed it before as it was rather small and barely let any sunlight into the room.

The most obvious option was to escape through the window. The sun shone onto his face as he stuck his head out the window. He squinted to avoid the sun's glare. From the position of the window, he could determine that the prison room was located on the first floor of the mansion, and it was not very far from the ground outside. There was even a clear path from the window towards the clearing. If he could just lower both the Exiles down the window, he could carry them off into the clearing......

Oh No! The magical wards! He had forgotten about the magical wards! They would pose a problem if they were etched to keep prisoners from escaping. Many a time in the commoner camp of White Harrow, commoners have tried to escape the commoner camp and bypass the magical wards; only to end up being severely wounded by the wards. He would need to first test the wards before making any attempt to go through them. He looked around the room for something to throw. He picked up the piece of metal on the floor, which was all that remained of the padlock he had melted earlier. It still felt warm as he held it in his hand.

He swung it a few times before flinging it out the window. As it passed the boundary of magical wards in the distance, it burst into flames. Amadeus sighed in frustration. Even if he could lower both Exiles down the window, he could not carry them past the magical wards. Any unauthorized object or person who passed these particular wards would be set aflame.

Looking away from the window, he examined the Lighvel on his palm. The Lighvel glowed softly but there were no waves moving across its surface. There was no more energy in the stone. There were no signs of rain or lightning either and the sun was shining brightly in the sky.

He began to regret using the Lighvel before its time to escape the steel cage. The Lighvel was now useless for the time being and there was no way to charge it with lightning energy in this sunny weather. He briefly considered a doing a rain dance to attempt to make it rain but decided against it. Everything seemed to be stacked against him. He leaned his back against the nearest wall and slumped onto the floor, feeling defeated.

Amadeus remained in that position for a few minutes before managing to muster the remaining fragments of his morale. The intensity of his eyes deepened as he focused all his attention on the situation at hand, trying not to panic. During those moments, Amadeus seemed to be oblivious to his surroundings and was deeply lost in thought.

Slowly, Amadeus stood up. He had a new plan, a plan that had a slim margin of success. Nevertheless, it was the only plan he had, and he had no other choice. The plan required significant risk on his part, and without proper execution it could cost him his life. He looked around the room and began to carefully gather the tools he would need.

Author's Note: Amadeus has been pushed around by others all his life. What Rei did for him was an eye-opener for him and this should be the turning point for him to see that there is merit in looking out for others aside from yourself. Was there any turning point in your life that really changed you? Would love to hear about it. Comment away :)