“Wake up, now!”

I received a hard blow to my gut.

I had been hitten there so much that I thought I’d probably gotten used to it.

Unfortunately, it still hurted badly.

My eyes were flashed with tremendous light as soon as I opened them.

When my eyes adjusted, I saw a plump man in a red lavish garment. He had a stuffy face and slick, blonde hair.

“Get out, now! If you don’t- I’ll kill you!” shouted the man.

I slowly got to my feet.

It was a struggle, but I managed to stand.

I scurried towards the edge of the wagon.

Before I could get down, the plump man hit my bum hard with a stick.

I fell on the ground, luckily my hands hit the ground first instead of my face because I was able to support myself enough to avoid face to ground impact.

Unfortunately, my arms felt doomed and gave up.

My face fell in the mud.

I assumed that it rained while I was sleeping because it didn’t rain the entire week.

“Get in line!” The plump man demanded.

Prick…

I squirmed a bit, but I finally got in a good position to push off my legs and stand up due to my arms being too weak to push myself up.

My legs were beat up as well, but I could still walk.

Behind me was a road where the wagon was stationed, around me was a forest of tall dark trees, and in front of me was a large manor made of natural stone and had a brick roof. The manor was surrounded by a scary sharp fence, the ones you see in horror movies.

I limped into the formation of boys at the entrance of the gate.

There were only 3 boys, including Thomas.

The plump man strided past us and paced back and forth in front of us.

“You will address me as Lord William. Failure to comply with my demands and rules will result in…” William stopped and scanned his eyes at all of us. “severe punishment.” Lord William raised his hands above his head and clapped twice.

“Francis! Ivor!” William called, and two men who were standing near the doorways of the manor approached us. They were both tall, and built. They both wore a padded black jacket with a coat of mail on top of it. They also covered the back of their arms and hands with mail, which made it look like mittens.

“Take these little dirts to their rooms. Francis,” William pointed at the man to the left of him “heal their upper body injuries if they have any.”

Francis was taller than the other guy, who I assumed was Ivor. He and Ivor had no hair, but Francis had a light scar reaching from his eye all the way to his cheek.

“Ivor, get the scraps from last night’s dinner and distribute it to them evenly.”

Ivor was just shorter than Francis. He had no scars like him, but I noticed that he did have hair, although it was only a stubble of hair.

Francis and Ivor both had a small leather scabbard for their daggers.

“Come. Now.” Francis demanded. It didn’t surprise me that he had a very deep, rough voice.

Francis and Ivor made us form into a single, straight line behind them, leading us into the manor.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The manor looked nearly the same as Roland’s, except there were pictures of knights, women and children, and other art that hung on the wall.

The further down the hallway you go, the stranger the art gets.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a tour of the house. We were led to a staircase that led to an underground corridor.

The walls were made of smooth stone, and I even noticed some cockroaches.

Ew…

I flinched in disgust when a cockroach fell on my hair.

The corridor was infested with bugs.

It was barely maintenced.

There were only a few lanterns that worked in the corridor.

The other lanterns were either shattered or missing from their hook that was barely nailed into the wall.

It was very cold down here, and I was afraid that I might contract a disease.

Francis stopped in the middle of the corridor.

“Subject 1.” Ivor pointed at Thomas who was in the back of the line.

I was in the middle of the line.

“Subject 2.” Ivor pointed to the boy in front of Thomas who’s name was Rainard.

Rainard played with our now-deceased friend group once or twice before.

Our first time was when we needed another person for a tag team race, and Rainard just so happened to be the nearest kid available.

He was our age, but he looked a lot younger than he does. He’s small, pretty thin, and has hair like Alard.

He told us that he wasn’t from Dunwich, but he was born from another nearby town called Cliffspear.

His parents moved to Dunwich once they got word that children here had a higher chance of having an uncommon mana capability.

What they didn’t know was that children’s mana capability is determined at birth, therefore their efforts were fruitless.

However, Dunwich may have had a good environment for mana to develop as the children there had a slighter faster rate in mana development (mana capacity and intensity).

I learned all of this from a history book on all the towns in this county.

The history for small towns like these was scarce, but I was thankful that there was any information.

Either this county is adept in keeping records and analyses, or this feudal kingdom treasures history dearly.

“Subject 3.” Ivor now pointed at me.

Subject 3…

“Subject 4” Ivor pointed at the boy in front of me who I did not know. He had the usual brown short hair, though.

Nothing stuck out about him.

Francis opened 4 doors and called out our assigned names one by one, leading us into our rooms.

“Subject 3.” Francis called.

I limped to my new room.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Compared to my old… well… I didn’t have a room in this life.

The mattress is actually the same as before, except it doesn’t look like they change the straw.

It’s probably infested with bugs…

There was also a bucket in the corner of the room.

I had to shit and piss in a bucket at home anyway, so this was the norm.

The only problem was that I was most likely going to be stuck in here for the rest of my days with only one lantern hanging on the wall next to my mattress.

Thankfully, I still felt exhausted so I wouldn’t have to endure the boredom bound to come.

The room was cold, but not as cold as the corridor.

Our house had a little more insulation, but it was still cold. I also had a blanket at home.

Well, I used to.

I limped to my mattress and laid down very gingerly.

I barely had time to think to myself and comprehend what has happened… but I don’t even know if I want to think to myself right now. I’m still so tired…

I rested my arms on my sides, and I tried ignoring the bugs whimpering beneath me.

I fell asleep. I thought I did, anyway.

I wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt like I was falling gently in darkness.

I was confused, but then I heard a faint chant in my head.

(“Death to The Vampire of Varyn!”)

It was the audience from my previous dream.

What even was that…

(“Burn in hell, Earl”) The old man’s voice drifted through the darkness.

Earl? Who?

Suddenly, I heard church bells ring in my head.

*ding*

*ding*

It was as if the bells had it's own voice, singing a harmonious tune.

‘The time has come.’

What?

I felt a shiver

‘The world will meet it’s new nightmare.’

Another strange dream…

‘The lies will be broken… and there will be monsters masked in men under your feet as you be rid of them’

I felt a small rush of power pulsing through my veins.

‘It is time for the new world to remember my name. It is time for the world to shake once again.’