Breaking Free: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 13: Imprisoned

"Ugh..." Virgo groaned and opened her eyes. The room was rather dark, and she seemed to be pressed against... a wall?

Virgo shifted slightly and realised she was lying on the floor. She made an attempt to get up, but her wrists and ankles were wrapped in some sort of rope. There was also an armband on her left wrist that glowed faintly.

Virgo frowned at the wristband; she'd never seen technology like it before, but she was pretty sure it disabled their abilities. To test her theory, she tried to allow a small amount of earth energy to flow to her fingertips.

Her wristband gave her a small shock. She winced slightly, but tried to summon more earth energy. The shock intensified when she tried to do so: she assumed that the wristband would reflect her power back at her in some sort of way. Interesting.

She managed to sit up. The room was small and made up of stone walls on every side, aside from one - bars glowing with earth magic created her one and only exit, and without her powers, she couldn't unlock them.

She refused to let anger cloud her thoughts and took a good look around her cell. She'd never seen them before, mainly because the king insisted on maintaining a good reputation for Earthia.

There was a wooden bench on one side of the room, which was absolutely useless since she could hardly get up, never mind walk. There was also a sink embedded in the wall.

Virgo shuffled over to the bars of her cell. From where she was, she could only see rows and rows of similar cells stretching across the hallway. Her eyes widened as she realised there were people in the cells, and they were unconscious as well.

She squinted at the person in the opposite cell and managed to make out a tuft of brown hair. "Taurus?" she called softly.

The figure didn't move, but she heard shuffling noises from the cell to her right.

"Ugh..." someone mumbled. Virgo raised an eyebrow at the sound of the voice. "Capricorn?"

"Mm?" The person muttered in response. "I'm awake..."

Virgo sighed. "Capricorn. It's me, Virgo. I'm to your left."

There were more noises, then there was a loud thud. "Ow!" Capricorn complained.

"What happened?" Virgo asked, slightly worried for her friend. Knowing him, he probably fell over or something.

"I tripped. Did they have to tie us up so tightly...?"

Guessed it. Virgo shrugged, even though Capricorn couldn't see her. "I'm not sure about you, but... do you have a wristband around your arm?"

There was silence for a few seconds. "Yes, I do... Oh. You mean..."

Virgo nodded and felt a small smile creep across her face. Between the two of her closest friends, Capricorn was closest to her - it was as if they could read each other's thoughts. "Apparently they reflect your power back at you if you use magic. I ran several tests and found that the more magic you attempt to channel, the more painful the shock."

"I see." Capricorn replied. "By the way, is that... Taurus? You know, the lump in the opposite cell?"

Virgo nodded. "Yep. Since you've woken up, I'll assume he'll wake up next... since he was hit third. Are the other... elementals to your right?"

"I... think so. It's not very clear, but I'm pretty sure I see that talkative... air elemental over there." Capricorn said.

"It's dinnertime, isn't it?" The sudden voice across Virgo's cell startled her. "My inner clock is telling me it's night."