Ticket to the Abyss and back

Imprisoned

Varian was locked down in one of the most secure prison cells the castle had. Deep underground. He had been throughoutly searched and stripped of everything but his clothes.
"For both his own and Coronas protection" they had said.

If it hadn't been for the guards coming and giving him food everyday he wouldn't had been able to keep track of the time. He used a small pebble to write down the number of days on the wall, aswell as doing the occasional equations every now and then , so that his brain would still stay sharp.
But for what use? He had failed, and he had lost everything. But Varian kept writing them anyway, but most of the time he slept. Ruddiger, his pet racoon, his only loyal friend was with him and kept him warm at night in the cold dark cell.

But not even in his sleep he could be happy, he had recurrent dreams about that night when everything went wrong, and dreams of his father when he got encased in the amber. They were the nightmares that haunted him, but worst of all was the one with the golden glowing hair.

He pulled Ruddiger closer to his body and thought of something his father used to say: "Kids and women cry. Men persevere."
So that was what he was going to do, persevere and wait patiently. Sooner or later they would have to make a decision, sooner or later they would need his help. He was sure of it.

After a time that had seemed like an eternity for the captured little boy , the first sign of their desperation came to show. One morning a cloaked person was nearing his cell, stopping right in front of the door.
A note was slipped in through the food-opening under the door.
Varian didn't move from his spot, he sat on the floor, leaning against the wall as usual.
He glanced at the paper that was only a few feet from him.
His head hung down, supported by his hands, with his eyes on the floor, suddenly Ruddiger made some noise... Varian looked up and saw the little critter playing with the paper. Varian got up on his feet and grabbed it from the racoon before he managed to destroyed it.

On the paper was nothing written, but drawn, different symbols.
"These are Alchemy symbols" he mumbled.
"But what does it mean, they are vompletely random...and who left this note..? "
The young boy started pacing in the small cell, back and forth, back and forth.
"What does it mean?"
Of course he knew the symbols but what was the meaning behind the note itself, that was the question.

When he heard the guards coming down the stairs for morning patrol, he quickly hid the note, he didn't want them to know about it.
Varian sat down on the floor again, pretending to not have made a single move since they last had left him.
They usually just walked by, glancing in through the peeping-hole, or slid in a tray with food through the narrow opening below the door.
But something was different today, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps, keys rattling and the unmistakenly sound of a locks clicking, it was followed by the doors squeaking when it opened.

Varian bareley raised his head when he looked up.
His lips formed a crooked smile before he said;
"Well, hello Your Majesty"