Time that his associates spent collecting the resources the Wonderer needed to apply his research to himself. Those at Raum’s service knew their job and were good at it. After collecting the patient charts, they didn’t rush to pick up the test subjects.

Raum’s agents followed their marks from a distance and waited for the right moment. When they were away from the crowd, a simple Hush spell followed by darkness magic would get rid of a limited number of witnesses.

It was how Aryk of Dekari had gone from peeing in his safe corner of the Vemena alley to lying on a shaking wooden floor with a bad headache. When he first opened his eyes, he thought it was just a bad dream.

Everything was dark, and he couldn’t remember anything that made sense after going to relieve himself.

‘I shouldn’t eat that much on meatloaf day.’ He inwardly grumbled. ‘The food tastes good, but once it reaches my stomach-‘

The first clue that he wasn’t either dreaming or in his hideout was the cold feeling of metal on his feet and hands tied behind his back. Any hope that it was just sleep paralysis went into the gutter when the restraints cut his flesh.

‘Metal cuffs?’ Fear awakened him fully, making the throbbing of his head more evident. ‘Slum weirdos use ropes. Only gangs and cops can afford metal. Some rich perv must have hired them to-‘