Chapter 4: Field Trip :D
Jordan spent the next few weeks teaching slaves how to sense and manipulate mana on a basic level, in between traveling to the port city. He didn’t become super popular among the little slave community, mostly because of his night terrors, but he atleast got to know most of them. Even Gaston, the tall guy who punched him, apologized in his own sheepish way. He also learned how to attune his mana to the ambient mana from Sofia.
On the way, he saw elephant herds wandering through the forests. He watched as deer and elk grazed warily. Apes with arms as long as they were tall strolled through the forest underbrush. One time, a group of giant wild boars attacked the caravan. Each one was the size of the cart that Jordan was riding on. The guards dispatched them easily enough, mostly by shooting them in the face. Big target, after all.
Jordan looked forward to eating them, but everyone, including the guards, was disappointed when the caravan leader decided to preserve the corpses and sell them.
The most impressive thing Jordan saw were giants reaching 15 feet tall, lumbering about with spears the size of trees. One of them even had a pet direwolf. They smirked and waved when they caught Jordan staring.
Eventually, the caravan reached La Entrada, their final stop. It had grown to about 80 people, with more than half of them being slaves. Jordan had been here only once, when his dad went to compete in a tourney here.
It was a beautiful city. Like most, it had large walls that secured its borders. The brick and stone buildings were fitted snugly against each other, and people hustled and bustled through the roads and canals of the city. The smell of the ocean wafted into Jordan’s nose.
Jordan shivered as a breeze grew goosebumps on his arms. Looking up, he saw an oppressive, overcast sky. He didn’t mind this weather so much. It made things a little darker, but it actually helped him see details better. The rags he was wearing didn’t do great against the cold though.
Then, something streaked across the sky Jordan was watching, flying from the center of town over him.
He whipped his head around as he followed its figure. As he did so, he saw what the thing was flying at. It was a winged creature twice the size of an elephant, with red and white scales, and a menacing glare. It sported two powerful legs and a pair of wings that beat the air rhythmically. Its draconic head sported three horns angled backwards, a set of sharp looking teeth, and piercing yellow eyes. A wyvern.
It dodged the projectile coming at it by swerving left, only for the missile to curve around and hit the back of its head. Jordan could see now that it wasn’t some object, but a man. Actually a woman, if their long ponytail meant anything.
The woman pounded the top of the wyvern’s head, each hit sparking with purple arcane lightning, staggering it as it tried to fling her off. The wyvern roared in anger as it flew up and futilely tried to scrape her off with its wings, but gave up and just held her onto its head and dived straight down.
Jordan heard the crash and felt the shake as the wyvern slammed into the ground. A few minutes passed as Jordan waited for the outcome. He couldn’t see it once it flew past the treeline. The caravan kept on moving too, apparently unbothered by the superhuman sight they just witnessed.
Eventually, purple lightning flashed, and above them, the wyvern rose. It was dead though, very, very dead. Its limbs hung limp and its caved in head drooped down. The woman was carrying it towards the city, but shot a glare at the caravan before flying off. Jordan watched her fly towards the gate, stop for a moment to talk to the guards, then fly over the wall.
The caravan stopped at the gate, and arguing could be heard from the front. Something about luring the wyvern here with the scent of the boars, but Jordan didn’t really care.
Sofia nudged him and asked, “Hey, you know who that was?”
Jordan shrugged, unable to reply since he had his gag on again.
“I read about strong people like her before. Heroes who fight monsters for a living. Think you could take her?” she asked.
Jordan snickered, wiggled his stump arm at her, and waited for the caravan to go through.
After some time, they made it through and the caravan began to split up. Eventually, the cart that Jordan, Sofia, Gaston, and his two friends were on was the only cart around.
They stopped near a building that said ‘Sol Co. Church’. It was a tall building without any windows, except for a small tower in front with colorful mosaic windows. The driver addressed the group and said they were about a week early, so they would stay here for the time being.
The slaves were treated hospitably and with all of the respect that people of their position deserved. Meaning they were made to do all the chores that their hosts couldn’t be bothered to do. Jordan stuck to Sofia, since working with one arm was unsurprisingly difficult. They were forced to attend the daily sermons too, worshiping and giving thanks to the sun each morning.
Nonetheless, time marched on.
As the slaves were herded to the docks, Jordan held onto the faintest glimmer of hope he had left in his heart. He wanted to believe his parents or anyone from the village would somehow make it here and buy his freedom.
When he looked around, all he saw were people working. The hauling of crates and barrels, a constant murmur of a crowd, and boats gently rocking in the water.
Jordan sighed. ‘Damn it. I guess this is my life now.’
Thus, five slaves were loaded onto the boat, and Jordan waved goodbye to his homeland.
The boat trip, at least, wasn’t that bad. The waves were gentle and the sky was slightly cloudy. The breeze pushed the ship along at a good pace. It would’ve been a nice trip if the slaves didn’t have to share their ‘bedroom’ with rats. Their ‘bedroom’ was just the cargo hold, where they spent most of their time. It was spacious though, and they could steal the food, so that part wasn’t too bad either.
The ship they were on was a freighter that was meant to import supplies and export stone and other building materials. It doubled as slave transport, but it never really exported any slaves.
Jordan was teaching Sofia how to shoot a mana blast, when Gaston approached him.
“Say, kid. Who taught you to use your mana like that?” Gaston asked, handing him a hoagie.
Jordan took the sandwich and replied, “Thanks. My village taught all the kids how to use their mana when they were young. The world’s a scary place and mana lets us face it, you know? I honestly thought everyone was taught to use their mana.”
“Hah. You’re lucky you were born rich. In the city where I’m from, kids who grew up poor never had the chance to learn. They had to work all day to support their families, no time for playing with magic and all that. Who would’ve thought that becoming even poorer than I was before would let me learn.”
Gaston looked over at Sofia, who stood in front of a cabbage on top of a barrel.
“What’cha teaching her now?” Gaston asked.
Jordan smiled and said, “Just watch. She’s doing it.”
Sofia was crouched in a fighting stance and held her right arm in front of her. Her glowing palm faced the ceiling as it thrummed with mana. Sofia gripped her forearm as she focused on charging the blast. She brought it low, aiming her other hand at the cabbage.
“Hmng.. Ngah!” Sofia grunted, shooting her magic.
The cabbage flung off the barrel, and thudded on the wall a few feet away.
“Haha! Yes!” Sofia said excitedly. “Aw, I thought it would explode.”
Gaston smiled and patted Sofia on the head, to her annoyance. “That was still pretty damn cool, kid. Good job.”
Sofia sighed, side-eying Gaston, and sat down, clearly tired from all of her attempts, but satisfied nonetheless. Jordan congratulated her as well, and asked if she wanted a sandwich too.
She did, so Jordan walked to the back area and met with Cotis and Devon, the other two slaves with them. Cotis was ‘inspecting’ the ship's goods, opening barrels and crates. Devon was shaving his beard.
Jordan asked them where the ingredients for the sandwich were, and proceeded to where they pointed him.
Jordan found bread, crispy green water flavored stuff, red and brown chewy stuff, and even some tasty white rock crystals. No sauce though.
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The ingredients were kept fresh by magical refrigeration. Enchanted barrels. Pretty cool, Jordan thought, chuckling to himself.
Jordan made a turkey sub and brought it to Sofia. He decided to teach her how to start strengthening her body with mana, seeing how she was soaking in everything like a sponge. And while he was teaching her, he might as well teach the others too.
So Jordan brought them all together and started teaching.
“This next thing I’m going to teach you all is the fundamentals of body enhancement.” Jordan said, shaking his fist.
“There are two types: external and internal enhancement. For external, uh, Gaston, can you come here and raise your hand?”
Gaston got up and strode to the front and gingerly raised his palm. “Hey, don’t blow my hand off alright? Don’t wanna end up like you,” he said, chuckling nervously.
Jordan smiled innocently. “Don’t worry, I’m a professional.”
“Anyways, for external enhancement, it’s pretty simple. You just coat your body in mana, and whatever you hit takes more damage.”
Jordan more so extended his arm rather than punched, his speed probably a quarter of a normal jab. Even so, it blasted Gaston’s hand back, with a loud smack.
Devon chuckled at Gaston flapping his wrist, Cotis made an impressed humming sound, and Sofia stayed quiet.
“By now, you all can probably do this yourselves. You can coat any part of your body by the way, and it can even act as armor. That’s why they call it ‘mana shell’ or ‘mana armor’. It’ll be pretty tiring at first, but once you get used to it, it’ll be just like putting on a glove.” Jordan explained. “Any questions?”
“...”
“Okay then. Moving on, internal body enhancement is slightly more complicated. You all know how mana saturates our bodies naturally right? For internal enhancement, you have to overload it. You hold your breath and push your mana out. Fill your body with mana, starting from your heart, then your blood, then your bones, your organs, your muscles, and finally your skin. Then, you get something like this.
Jordan jabbed at Gaston’s hand faster than they could follow, and his hand recoiled back about as far as it did earlier.
“It sounds scary, but it’s actually pretty natural. Our mana usually just takes the path of least resistance, like water. That’s why you just have to focus on filling your body with mana, and not letting it leak out.”
Jordan stood straight and let out a deep breath, letting out a puff of mana.
“Internal body enhancement is cool because you can enhance your senses too. Hearing, vision, smell, taste, touch, all of that. Helps with healing too, or if you get sick.”
Cotis put his hands on his back and stretched. “So, what’s better? Internal or external?”
“Internal is, obviously. Didn’t you hear him? You can enhance everything. That means you can enhance your perception and dodge everything coming.” Devon said.
Gaston shook his head. “Yeah Devon, it’s all fancy footworks and ducking blows until one hit blows your head off.” Jordan cringed, for no particular reason.
“I mean did you see Jordan’s first punch? He wasn’t even trying and my hand still flew farther than the second punch. And if you can cover your whole body, I don’t see how internal enhancement can even damage external enhancement.”
“Yeah, but internal guy can just run away! External guy could never catch him. And who’s to say they won’t have a weapon either? Give internal guy a rifle and external guy is getting smoked.” Devon argued.
“Oh, we’re talking about weapons now? Okay, so if external guy had a suit of armor then added his mana shell, then nothing short of a bomb could pierce that, probably.” Cotis added.
Jordan looked at Sofia, to see if she had anything to say. She looked back at him with curious eyes, and didn’t say anything.
“Okay but if it was a team of internal-”
“Guys.” Jordan interrupted. “You can just use both at the same time.”
The three men looked dumbfoundedly at Jordan, and Sofia failed to suppress a giggle.
The boat trip to the Summit only took about two days. The five slaves were herded up to the ship’s deck and told to wait for their arrival. The island was already in view.
It was a towering thing. At the bottom, white waves crashed onto black sandy shores. Going up, rough cliffs made of layered grey, brown, and white stone rose into the sky. Low-flying clouds got stuck just below the top of the mountain, obscuring the top. As they got closer, Jordan saw the uneven texture of the mountain reveal how wind and water eroded the rock over time.
The boat docked in a small harbor, next to two similarly sized ships. After a few exchanges between ship crew and land crew, the slaves were led into a building as workers offloaded cargo.
The building they were in was a small stone cabin. Very sparsely furnished, with a single chair and shop counter in the corner of the room. Next to it was a device that Jordan didn’t recognize. It looked like a simple plate with a screen on it. It was hooked up to a small tablet on the counter.
A middle-aged man wearing simple white robes entered the room without sparing so much as a glance at the slaves. He reached under the counter and pulled out a razor and some shears.
They all gulped.
In less than ten minutes, the five slaves were cleanly shaven. Gaston held back tears.
The worker instructed them to stand on the plate, one at a time. Jordan went first.
The worker connected a cable with the plate and revved up a generator. The plate lit up, and a turquoise light flowed around Jordan. It felt strange, but not unpleasant. The worker’s tablet lit up, and the man started copying it onto a sheet of paper.
Curiously, for Sofia, the light was a beautiful shade of gold. For Gaston, it glowed red, Cotis black, and Devon green.
Jordan stole a peek at the worker’s writing, before they were made to leave.
Date: 10/18 Time: 4:42
Name:
Jordan Valencia
Sofia Zoloto
Gascony White
Marcus D. Cotis
Devon L’Essex
Age:
15
12
31
30
30
Height:
5’5
5’0
6’4
5’11
5’10
Weight (LBS):
104
75
163
138
136
Strength:
74
15
54
32
30
Endurance:
70
18
27
25
26
Dexterity:
66
31
23
26
27
Soul:
154
20
16
16
15
Affinity:
Focus
Wisdom
Empathy
Power
Vigor
NOTES: On arrival, slaves appear to be healthy, albeit moderately malnourished. Slave Jordan is missing right arm.
Signed: Joseph Fotos