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Chapter 18 (Picture of Adonis!)

James woke again with a start, he could no longer feel the momentum of moving. His head pounded and he groaned. He was sitting somewhere, he still could not see anything, the presence of the sack was still over him. He felt cold metal around his wrists and ankles, tying him firmly to what ever he was sitting on, his arms were behind, fastened at the wrists. He remembered being brought to consciousness, the sack off his head and shoulders, but a blindfold around his eyes. He was fed some food roughly and a cup of odd tasting water. He tried spitting the water out but received a cuff across the face. What ever had been in the water had made his head spin and it knocked him out. He figured that some of the headache was attributed to what ever had been in the water, and also attributed to the blows he had received across the head. 

“Hello?” he called. His voice was thick and echoed strangely and he heard some one coming. Their footsteps echoed around him and he couldn’t pin point where they were coming from. He swallowed hard, trying to clear his voice. 

“Who is there?” he cried out, afraid. 

He heard a chuckle. 

“Your new master,” came a cold voice. 

James took a deep breath.  He heard more footsteps as a few more people joined whom ever was currently around him. James moved his head back and forth, wanting to be able to see through the sack. With out being able to calm himself, his breath came fast. James felt a presence right near him. He flinched away from them, but all they did was loosen the sack and take it off his head roughly. James closed his eyes against the sudden light. His eyes were too adjusted to the darkness and the sudden bright light hurt his eyes. He tried to open his eyes to see who was in the room but his vision was still blurry and he blinked hard, trying to clear his eyes. Once his vision was cleared he looked around at the people in the room. 

Three well built young men stood in the shadows, one of them holding the sack that had been over James’ head. The fourth person in the room was standing in front of a fire, back lit, he was facing James but James couldn’t make out who he was. 

“Welcome to my fortress,” the man said. 

“Why am I here?” James asked, jerking on the bindings around his wrist. They clanked ominously. 

“What’s your name?” the man asked, moving over towards the desk and pulling across a piece of paper, dipping a quill into an inkwell, he held the quill over the parchment, waiting for James to answer him. He completely ignored James’ question. 

James hesitated. 

“It is pointless to hold out against me,” Adonis clarified.                                

“James,” James answered. “Why am I here?” he asked again.

“You are just one of the many I brought here. The reason, you are here is to be a part of a greater plan,” the man replied, his quill scratching something on the paper. 

“What do you mean?” James asked. 

The man snapped his fingers and one of the men came forward, holding a vial in his hand. James eyed the vial distrustfully, wondering what was in it. 

The man moved over and took the vial, holding it up. The light from the fire hit the crystal and sent glimmers all over the room. 

“I made an drug concoction called Optian Risiden, I have used it to drug all the young men and women I have kidnapped over the years. It represses the individuals memory completely, then I train them my own way. I have a force of elite soldiers at my command,” he said triumphantly.