He spent the first hours trapped underground in pure panic. Sweat dripping from his whole body as he slammed his fist against the thick wooden oak around him, the solid material not giving an inch. The tiny space was suffocating, and he thought it would drive him mad, a punishment which nothing else could match.

But after a few days, he realised that the worse had yet to come, as the liquid on his lips had disappeared, his skin splitting as it no longer could support itself. Each swallow caused a shot of pain to run through his throat, reminding him of his debilitating thirst. And so, his small living space was no longer his primary concern.

Days turned into weeks, but still his body wasn’t used to this lack of liquid. His skin turned to leather as it slowly sank further into his body. But eventually, even the thirst was no longer at the front of his mind as the hunger, which had appeared a week ago, had replaced it. His days became a constant fight against the rumble of his stomach, his desire for any liquid, and the realisation that he couldn’t escape this cage.

When months had passed, even the surrounding sand started turning into a potential food source. Only the thought of food caused his mouth to water itself, but his body failed as it realised that there was no liquid there. However, at this time he could still alter his position, although the process was slow and painful, but it was enough to catch the occasional worm that came too close to his mouth or to catch the morning dew with his tongue. The relief he felt when this happened was indescribable, as if he had dined in the hall of the riches king, eating all exotic foods he could get his hands on. Nevertheless, the relief was temporary, not truly removing the hunger and thirst, waiting weeks for the bliss to come again. When years had passed, the all-consuming feeling of boredom had pushed all other feelings aside.

Despite this, he tried to find joy in the slightest changes in his environment, his mind constantly working to keep his sanity. The occasional change in temperature, sand falling through the decaying wood of his surroundings, or the slightest echo of a sound far away. That said, time became a blur, as he lost his ability to move his body and his tracking of time as he stayed trapped inside.

Eventually he noticed he could no longer reach pieces of his memory, as it faded. Every passing day it became harder and harder to remember who he was and why they had imprisoned him. There was only one feeling in his body that kept him from losing his mind: revenge.

Durning all this time, a quiet whisper of magical power had kept him company. A constant reminder of the magical prison that surrounded his decaying body and wooden coffin. The crackling energy told him he would remain trapped forever.

Without the barrier, escaping would be a piece of cake; a pile of sand and a few wooden planks would not be enough to keep somebody as powerful as him inside. However, his muscled had shrunk as time had transformed him into a frail and weak skeleton, too weak to even move his limbs even if he wanted to. Even his energy pool has been touched by time, being smaller than it ever had been.

Still, his magical prowess had kept him alive, for now. At first, he had tried to find a weakness in the surrounding shield, pushing against it with all the power he could muster, but he hadn’t discovered a weakness. Now, he had left the dome alone for a long time already, as trying to escape seemed futile. Despite this, he still attacked it from time to time, his mind focused on the possibility of escape, although his attacks had turned into small pushes.

The rustling sound of shuffling feet above him forced his eyes open as he awakened from his recent slumber. Because his lack of strength had forced him into periods of sleep. Slowly but surely he forced his senses to start up again, forcing the tingle out of his sleeping limbs. As more feet joined the noise above him, he realised that a group of people had entered the building above.

Then the sound of something heavy dragging across the floor entered his ears, as the grunts of tensing bodies joined it. He became fully awake now, wondering if it was a group of scavengers which had found his prison. Immediately the energy inside his body walked over the barrier again, wondering if this disturbance had made it weaker somehow. He closed his eyes again as he realised the structural integrity had remained the same.

Following that, the sound above him faded away, and he fell into a slumber again, tired from the few movements he had made that day. Not aware how long he had been asleep for his eyes opened, woken up by the same sound he had heard before. This time there were fewer people inside, quietly whispering to each other. The layers of stone, sand, and the crumbling remains of his decaying coffin muffled the whispers, so he couldn’t understand them.

Once again they dragged heavy furniture around. The moment the creaking sound of the floor had begun, he forced his head to the right, as a tiny hole had appeared in the barrier, a weakness he could exploit. After all this time, he gasped as the magical energy that steeped in filled his prison, giving him sustenance he hadn’t felt in ages. His pool of energy slowly filling again, the magic halted his decaying state as it seeped through his body.

Then, agony appeared, as the thirst and hunger that had plagued him for years appeared once again, no longer forced to the back of his mind, as his organs started up again. It took him a few days before he could collect enough power to try the simplest of spells. With the small amount of muscle he still had, he forced his finger to move as he guided some of the surrounding water into his mouth. The painstakingly collected energy forcing the liquid drops to move. His dry and broken lips screamed in rejoice as the cool water poured into his mouth. As it spread trough, his body, it killed the screams of thirst. However, the process had taken all his body could handle at this moment, and he fell asleep again.

He slept for a shorter time this time; the liquid restoring some of his vitality. As he began collecting energy again, he felt more alive than he had in years, smiling ear to ear. Then, he moved his finger again, this time forcing the worms in his neighbourhood into his mouth, the wriggling animals tasting like the most expensive piece of meat he had eaten before. Although he had depleted all his energy again, he stayed awake. Because the food and water caused his body stronger than it had been in a long time.

After a few days, he felt more lucid than he had been in ages. Every few hours he could finally drink and eat, hunger and thirst becoming feelings he had left in the past. With his newfound energy, he began exploring the hole in the surrounding dome, wondering if he could learn how they had built it. He focused his magic to float across the structure of the barrier, exploring it like the tongue of a snake would its surroundings.

As he realised how they constructed it, he smiled and swelled with pride. His apprentices had crafted it masterfully: the entire surface consisting of small beams of light built in multiple layers on top of each other, forming a surface able to resist even the most powerful magical attacks. The barrier seemed to mock him, reminding him of his greatest failure: his trust in his apprentices. He slammed his fist against the decaying wood as he realised his students not only subdued him, they even trapped him using his own designs. However, something happened to it which had led to this weakness, a flaw in its design if you asked him.

He focused his power over one beam on the edge of the hole, and with precision, he cut one of them into pieces. It was barely noticeable, but his actions had made the hole slightly bigger. He repeated this process once, twice, and kept going until his body could no longer muster any force. It was difficult and slow; his chest forcing the sand away as his breath turned heavy. But each time he collected enough energy, he continued, and with the growth of the destructing, it became easier for him to continue, the time between breaks reducing each attack.

Although the centuries in the ground kept him in a frail state, he could feel the changes in his body. His skin no longer felt like leather, slowly changing from a dry veil around him to its normal state, and his muscles grew again, trained by his efforts.

After weeks of hard work, the structure of the surrounding dome finally had enough. With a sound you would associate with a building collapsing, the structure gave out, collapsing as he cut another tiny beam of energy. He wanted to jump from the joy he now felt, only the weight that was still pressing on his body preventing him from doing that.

Still, there was one last step he needed to complete to be finally free, which would require a lot of power, so he slept again. When he woke up, his body was on edge, as his escape was no longer a fantasy that kept him going. He forced all the energy he had collected above him, turning it into an enormous force upwards, and with the sound you would normally associate with thunder, he forced the layers of sand, stone, and wood above him away causing him to be finally free again.