Adam leaned his back against the cold wall coated with Octane powder, his mental veins buzzing with endless questions. Time passed agonizingly slowly in the Crying Stone Cell, and he had only three days left—three days to prove the innocence of a dead man and save a world he hadn't even known existed a few days ago.
Adam began to make a more serious effort to summon any fragment of Kays' past. This time, it wasn't just flashes, but flowing emotions: the weight of responsibility, the smell of gunpowder and burnt magic in battles, and the warmth of a specific room in the castle. Yet, whenever he approached a pivotal memory—such as the moment of encountering the demons or details of opening the gate—his mind hit a painful barrier.
The memories were like an old manuscript scorched by fire; crucial parts were missing or distorted. This was not a natural memory. Adam thought: "Was it magically erased? Or did Kays himself deliberately split it before his death so that it remained a secret that could not be stolen?" This last possibility deepened the mystery of the original knight, making him a more complex adversary—or ally—than he seemed.
Adam focused on his shackled hand, repeating the experiment with Aetheric magic. He realized his magic was not destructive fire magic but the power to manipulate the Aetheric bonds of matter. The shackles began to glow with a soft silver flash around the lock. He didn't break the metal, but subtly altered the fine structure of the Octane, making it less resistant to magic. This power wasn't enough to free him outright, but it was enough to prepare the shackles for weakness. This magic was more like "hacking" than combat, perfectly suited to his mindset as a game developer.
Adam drew on the knowledge of Kays flowing into him. He remembered that Kays had a special skill for dismantling mechanical mechanisms. If he weakened the lock with Aetheric magic, he could use the strength of his new body to break the shackles at the crucial moment.
He began formulating an escape plan based on two seemingly contradictory pieces of information:
Lia the elf's message: "Seek the Lost Book of Shadows beneath the ancient Djinn monument."
The guard's will: "The sword is made of pure Aether glass, buried in the Elvina grave beside the ancient monument."
The common point was the ancient Djinn monument, a structure outside the city walls that had once served as a meeting place between humans and elves.
Through fragments of Kays' memory, Adam remembered that the cell's guards were not changed at midnight, and that they became more lax between two and three in the morning—the time when the castle's Aetheric magic weakened as part of an ancient magical cycle.
At that moment, the sound of heavy, confident footsteps echoed along the stone stairs. It was not a guard, but a figure of authority.
Elsewhere, in a luxurious office overlooking the castle courtyard, Lord Falcon flipped through a handwritten report, then slowly, maliciously smiled.
"The detained knight is still alive, my lord. He is in the Crying Stone Cell," said Falcon's advisor, a sharp-eyed man with a polished appearance.
"Keep him alive," Falcon replied, setting the report aside.
"His being alive for two more days serves my plan better than his immediate death. The demons want Kays to be accused, and the traitor's death before the ritual's completion will not yield the desired result."
Falcon looked at his advisor with a cold smile.
"Do not worry. The Crying Stone Cell is not a place to escape, merely a waiting room for the guillotine. If he tries to flee, I will have the chance to execute him publicly for attempted rebellion, and the plan will be perfectly completed."
His words were reassuring, but hid a subtle anxiety about Lia and her sudden interference.
In his cell, Adam was unaware of the double danger looming over him from Lord Falcon. Yet he felt an increasing urgency to escape. It was no longer merely about saving himself; he had to reach the monument before the three days ended, for the fate of this world—and his trapped soul—depended on solving Kays' puzzle.
Note: This chapter is written in a style suitable for an epic long-form novel, emphasizing psychological construction (the distorted memory), world-building (Octane effects and magic cycles), and laying the groundwork for the escape plan.