18. This Means War

Sydney had no idea where she was. Every other memory she had seen so far, she had recognized. This time, she was drawing a blank. The short glimpse of Pluphoria didn't help either. Plenty of her black box training sessions had started the same way. But before she went under, Nicole had mentioned something about Warp Wizards. That caught Sydney's attention. Sydney still couldn't remember what happened that made her despise Warp Wizards so much. Maybe that was about to change. She eagerly watched the memory play out.

The memory Sydney was being led down a maze of hallways by a black-hooded man. Her hands were tightly bound behind her back. He was trying, and failing, to disorient her. Sydney wasn't supposed to notice, but he had led her down the same hallway three times and up and down the same flight of stairs. Her reputation had clearly preceded her. She would have been insulted if they weren't trying so hard. The only thing all the intended disorientation had accomplished was to familiarize herself with the building. Idiots.

The secret plan was playing out well so far, not that Sydney had been given many details about it. Nicole had instructed her to intentionally get captured by a specific group of people. The fact that she was a time goddess as supposed to attract their attention, and it had worked. A small display of time magic, and now she was in their grasp.

She was on full alert. No detail went unnoticed. Nicole's orders had been clear: gather as much information about these people as possible. Pay attention to any mention of time magic or time gods. Kill anyone who got in her way. So far, her escort had been silent, but the way he carried himself told her plenty. While his grip on her was tight, he was standing as far away from her as possible. He was terrified of her.

After several more hallways and stairwells, the hooded man finally led her into a small room. Unsurprisingly, they were not alone. More men and women in black robes surrounded them. Some had their hoods pulled down, exposing their faces. Sydney made sure to get a good look at all of them.

One particular man stood out to her. He stood directly in front of her with his hood down. His light hazel eyes bored into her, and she knew he was analyzing her as much as she was analyzing him. He had a glowing Egyptian eye mark on his left cheek.

Odd place for a tattoo, the past Sydney thought to herself. And why is it glowing green?

"Goddess," the man spoke with a venom filled voice. "I trust you know who we are and why we brought you here."

"I can assure you, I do not." Sydney raised her chin. Nicole had warned her to be extremely cautious and to not trust these people, whoever they were. "You're welcoming committee didn't exactly fill me in."

"You expect me to believe a time goddess was caught lurking around known Warp Wizard territory and had no idea?" His glare intensified. "Do you take me for a fool?"

"I do not know you well enough to make that judgement call, sir. I stand by my original statement. I have no clue who you are and until five seconds ago, I had never even heard of Warp Wizards." No wonder Nicole had given her little information before sending her here. The less Sydney knew, the safer she was.

A murmur spread throughout the group. The man with the cheek tattoo, apparently the leader of the group, silenced them by merely raising his hand. "We will see if she is telling the truth, and perhaps we can gain some information about our time god friends." The way he spoke the word 'friends' made Sydney think they were anything but friends. "Come with me, little goddess, and we will see what you know."

The room Sydney was carted off into was frighteningly similar to the black box room back at Draylon. She was forced into a chair, and though she wasn't tied down, cuffs were present to secure her if necessary. A plain wooden table was set up next to the chair. On it sat a single glass of water.

"Thirsty?" The lead Warp Wizard nodded to the glass.

Sydney eyed it with distrust as they forced her into the chair. "I'll pass, thanks."

The man chuckled. "For someone who claims to nothing about us, you sure are cautious."

"I'm a cautious person."

The man eyed her with contempt. "It's merely laced with truth serum. We have to make sure you're being honest now, don't we?"

"And how do I know you're being honest? What if you mixed in poison? Whatever the relationship between our people is, it's clearly not cordial." If Sydney's hands weren't tied, she would've crossed her arms. "You take a sip first, then I'll drink it."

"Nice try goddess, but I'm not the one being interrogated here." He snapped his fingers at the hooded figure who had rudely pulled her into the room. "You're the only one who will be drinking today."

The hooded person picked up the glass and held it to Sydney's face. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," they spoke gruffly.

Reluctantly, Sydney opened her mouth and allowed the drink to be poured down her throat. It was thicker than water and had a bitter after taste. Instantly, she knew there was more in the glass than truth serum. Her stomach churned, and she was overcome with nausea. What had she gotten herself into?

Her hands were quickly and efficiently untied and just as quickly attached to the chair by rope. Small circular stickers with wires attached to the center were placed onto her wrists and temples. The wires connected to a small box with a single red button on it that her interrogator held onto. She didn't need to ask what it was for.

"First question, what is your name and title?"

"None of your business."

"Wrong answer." He pressed the button, sending shocks of electricity directly into Sydney. The liquid they had given her immediately reacted and she vomited on the floor. Her nails dug into the armrests, and her body resisted any attempt to move. "Let's try this again. What is your name and title?"

"Sydney Tempus, Goddess of Time Magic," she spat out venomously. She noticed spots of vomit had splattered onto his shoes. She managed a grin and told herself she'd aim better next time.

"That's more like it. So Sydney, what brings you to our headquarters?"

"You dragged me in, remember?" Even though Sydney knew what was coming, she couldn't stop her sharp tongue. It was going to kill her someday.

The man pursed his lips and checked his annoyance. "You're making this a lot harder than it needs to be." He pressed the button once more.

Sydney's body went rigid as the electricity shot through her. The moment she was released, she doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach again. She pulled her head back up. A sharp slap to the face greeted her. A hiss of pain escaped her lips as she waited for the stinging in her cheek to subside.

"Why are you here? Are you spying on us? The man grabbed onto her throat, preventing Sydney from answering even if she wanted to. "Answer me, time trash!" His grip on her neck tightened. "Our peace treaty is fragile at best. If the gods are spying on us, then out truce is over and it's back to full-out war between us."

He finally pulled his hand away so Sydney could respond. "I'm not familiar with the rules and restrictions of this treaty, but I'm assuming the gods won't be too thrilled if I return bruised and battered," her voice was raspy, and she gasped for breath every few words.

"Who said we were going to let you return? Even if we did, we have ways to keep you silent." A poison laced grin appeared on his face.

"As silent as the grave," she replied sweetly, matching his wicked grin with one of her own. "I'm obviously not going to answer your questions, so about you answer a few of mine instead?"

His smile dropped. "No. We're not playing any of your games."

"Then I believe we're done here." She nodded to her wrists. "If you would be so kind as to release me now?"

The button was pressed a third time. At this point, Sydney had nothing left to throw up and was left dry heaving instead. The electricity still sent her into a frozen state. She had to wait for it to fade before she could breathe again.

"Not so fast, goddess. We're not done with you yet. Even if you don't answer our questions, there's still plenty we'd like to do to you. We have so much to thank the time gods for. It'd be a shame to waste this opportunity."

"I'll give the council your thanks." Sydney gave her binds an experimental tug. They weren't too strong, but with the vomiting and electric shocks, she wasn't exactly in her best condition. If she did get free, there was no doubt that she'd have to fight the two men in the room with her. Her anger boiled within her. This mission had been a total bust.

"I had something else in mind." As he spoke he brandished a sharp dagger and held it under her chin. "I see you have a few scars already. How about we add to the collection? Courtesy of the Warp Wizards. I'm going to enjoy this. Let's see, to kill a time god, you simply must drain them of all their blood. I think I'll add a few cuts here and here." As he spoke, he made slow, deliberate cuts on Sydney's wrists. "And one final cut right here." He pressed the dagger into her neck, drawing a line of blood.

Sydney snapped. Her leg struck out and connected directly between his legs. Her arms yanked free of their binds almost too easily. She shoved herself out of the chair, stumbling as she did so. This would be a difficult fight.

The man she kicked doubled over in pain, his focus temporarily not on her. The other man, whose hood had fallen down, was in shock at the quick change of events. Sydney attacked while she still had the advantage of surprise. She fired a ball of time energy straight toward his face.

Unfortunately for her, the man recovered from his shock and merely grabbed her energy ball out of the air and chucked it right back at her.

Sydney dove to the ground and rolled out of the way. The shot sailed over her head and exploded against the wall behind her. Her eyes widened at her attacker. "What the.." She had to be hallucinating. How could he wield time like that? The only ones with control over time magic were the time gods. What the hell were these Warp Wizards?

"Confused?" Dark laughter arose from behind her. "You really don't know who we are, do you? Poor little goddess. You're in way over your head. It'll be a pleasure to torture you." His hand flared to life with green time magic.

Sydney stumbled back in fear. This wasn't right. Were these people gods? They couldn't be. None of them had the tell-tale green ring around their iris. And yet the two men around her were controlling time like they had been doing it their entire lives.

She shook her head. She didn't have time to think about this now. She could theorize all she wanted to later. Focus on getting out of here alive first.

She locked onto the door behind one of the men. She was in no condition to fight. Escape was her only option. She vaulted off the floor and shouldered the man standing between her and freedom. He swiped at her arm and managed to leave a trail of bloody scratches. Sydney growled, skid to a stop, and elbowed him in the nose. A sickening crack filled the room as he collapsed on the ground.

An explosion sounded behind Sydney. Her hands flew to her ears.

"Did you really think we would let you get away that easily?" The leader sneered and formed another time ball in his hand. "You're not leaving here alive."

Sydney clenched her fists, flaring to life with her own time magic. "We'll see about that."

He fired, and she dogged it with ease, charging under his shot and slamming him into the wall. She held her hands on the sides of his head. "This was supposed to be an easy mission for me. Get captured, steal some intel, and walk out of here unscathed. But you had to go and ruin all that didn't you? You just couldn't resist torturing me. I'm going to make you pay for that, you sick bastard!" She smacked her glowing hands into his head, making him shriek in terror, and slammed it into the wall again and again. His screams died off suddenly and Sydney dropped him to the ground. She didn't care if he was unconscious or dead. She spat on his unmoving body and stormed out of the room, never looking back.


A/N - This chapter provides some more insight on the Warp Wiz vs Time Gods feud. And since I didn't update last week, I'll try to get two updates this week.