It seems their plans had changed, there hadn’t been orders to move out for weeks. The demon beast had tried to make incursions into their base of operations and the soldiers had tried to kill her but she kept slipping away. Nathan had just trained, he watched as odd wire spires were erected, with woven needles. He asked Greyson what they were for and He was told they were radio towers. He thought about the concept, he guessed it made sense, powering them might be an issue depending on the atmospheric interference. From what he heard from his roommate the radio tower in Relnakel was fairly high powered for the range it was meant for, if you went the wrong direction then shortly after leaving the city you’d no longer be able to pick up signals due to the Tzar’s desert was giving off a bunch of interference.

When it could be naturally steered towards it, and when it was around other people he knew went into the city, He would mention that it was very hard to find something covered in mud in the woods. He didn’t know if many of them were paying attention, but unless they didn’t think the same way He did then they didn’t come up with anything better.

They were to stay due to the risk of the demon beast. Both me and Him thought this was cowardly, were they really that scared of some demon beast? That one martial artist almost killed it, with the defenses they have set up they can roll the dice enough until they get a success, they were also probably getting fined because of the beast. Why were they still staying here? Nathan signed up because he wanted power and had nowhere else to go.

Squads of martial artists went in and out of the camp, one moonless night Nathan caught sight of them returning with some large tarp wrapped mass. They acted professionally and tried not to make a noise as they did it, it was a miracle that He was able to recognize the build and strength of the hammer wielding woman as they returned, which allowed Him to deduce it was them.

They sat and waited, Nathan trained, the soldiers didn’t move due to them “having seen the demon beast in the woods. There wasn’t confirmation for that fact though.

Him and the other recruits were to report for some sort of interview. For the interview he was sat down in a tent, there was his old squad leader, the one that was cut up, sitting across from him. There was also some sort of machine with a roll of paper and an operator for the machine. The squad leader greeted him.

“Mr. Slynette, have you been well?”

“I have, I'm finally getting accustomed to being here.”

“Good, good, we’re just here for an occupational interview, seeing if you’d be suited for a longer-term contract.”

They started running through questions, family, location history, relationship history, what he knew about Nabrolor, reason for coming to an active warzone, former and current loyalties. Was the ring a loyalty? His heart rate quickened His mind automatically started putting things together, were they looking for the giver of the ring? Probably, he should leave, but that would be suspicious. He had to keep the ring a secret. He responded with an indifferent answer claiming it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. They then offered to talk to whoever or whatever was controlling Him and free Him. He froze because he knew they knew. His body leapt from his seat towards the entrance of the tent, but as he saw a red tinted view of the midday sun soldiers called by the squad leader’s invisible orders restrained him and held him to the ground. The Squad leader came out and said.

“I’m sorry we have to do this, by the time you wake up this should have all been resolved.”

He was then injected with something and we were forced off to sleep.

We awoke in a hospital tent, He was wrapped up in a straightjacket and he had a mouthguard in to prevent him from biting his tongue. The moment he awoke he tried to leap from the bed, as he struggled against his restraints. He saw who sat across from him there was a man, dressed as a noble of sorts. Fine fabric in fantastical colors, shoes with too long tips, with a sash of blued metallic hue. He saw Nathan wake up and spoke

“Foreign soldier, I am Grazim Jodius, tell me where the ring my man gave you is.”

Why was one of the people responsible for ordering him be slaved asking him to return his mark of slavery. Who was this guy? If this was a ring holder though he could probably stop struggling.

He muttered out through the mouthguard

“Who are you?”

This guy seemed to be legitimate, but then again He didn’t know what house Jodius was just that he now served it.

“A noble of the Jodius house and a dead man if you don’t return the ring.”

“I threw it into the woods.”

The man called to soldiers outside of the tent to release Nathan, he then ordered.

“Show us where you threw it.”

Nathan guided the man to where he was standing when he threw it and motioned the direction.

“Go look for it.”

One of the soldiers elbowed Grazim’s ribs.

“If you are willing, look for it.”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

He knew that the “if you are willing” was made under duress so his subconscious ignored it. Nathan made another ball of mud and threw it with roughly the same strength as he did before.

The man held his head in his hands and stayed silent for some time as Nathan went to fetch the ring. Nathan wanted to stop but he was forced by his own subconscious to keep going, was that addition really made under duress? his vision tinted red and a few minutes in:

“Stop, why did you throw it into the woods?”

“I was told to hide it.”

The man looked at Him with an odd look, if I had to guess part despair, part wanting to kill Him. He was ordered to serve house Jodius, what was there to kill himself with? The soldiers had guns, but they were probably instructed not to use them on him. Would Jodius forget about this? A show might appease him. He served the Jodius house.

Moving His neck hurt, a black-blue bruise was starting to develop and they had to find a splint for broken fingers. They kept him chained up while he did an investigation, they didn’t want him hurting himself even if he was ordered to. A day passed, Nathan was moved to a ward with one other chained up like him, he was the guy who saw the wolenaught and survived, He implied to him to hide the rings in the woods. Turns out the other guy’s name was Roland. He assumed that they were also taken out to search like Him but couldn’t find the ring.

Soldiers and other people in the caravan came in to keep them company, this was not a punishment, it was for both parties' safety. They were also unchained for a good amount of time every day but they had minders with them in case they got ordered somehow to kill themselves.

Eventually an apprentice mage from the looks of it came in and stood in front of the other guy. The mage took a seat and laid out his materials. There was a ring that was different colored from His ring, a paper spellprint, a candle and a lighter. The man lit the candle, waited for wax to melt, wrapped the spellprint around the ring and dipped it in the molten wax. He let lit dry then lit the activated spell, a flash of white showed the spell was a success, he blew out the candle then left, all of this without saying a word. Nathan said to himself mentally,

‘what a bastard, could he not tell them what he was doing or what he just mute?’

He was growing resentful for having been locked up for the past few days though he understood it could be worse, they were in a hard situation and they were doing what they could. He hated that Jodius noble, he hated that man who first put the ring on him.

After a couple minutes the squad leader came in and unchained Roland, he looked at Him “You got us good but we did manage to find the ring for this guy.” He gestured towards Roland who was stretching his legs, after he was finished the squad leader pointed him out. A moment passed and the squad leader took a seat, and started talking.

“We reported the presence of the rings to headquarters, they’ll send some people soon to do further ‘investigation’.”

Nathan tried to speak through the mouthpiece “who are they going to send?”

“Dragonslayers.”

“Why?”

“Do you know anything about Dragonslayers and where they are from?”

Nathan shook his head

“As a whole they’ve faced innumerable odds over and over again, that’s driven them a little mad.”

“Can you take this mouthguard out?”

It was a pain to talk with it in, as such the squad leader obliged

“Do they specifically hate the slaver’s rings?”

“Every one we’ve asked replies that a rule by fear is like slavery and they’ve long grown tired of being afraid.”

There was a pause. This was as good a time as any to get explanations.

“What are you people doing here anyways?”

“Here we are keeping an eye out for evils, our original goal was genuine humanitarianism.”

“You have a techlord along with you for humanitarianism?”

“He’s here for keeping an eye out for one specific villain.”

“What sort of villain is it?”

The squad leader pauses for a moment thinking, “Can’t tell you.”

“Shouldn’t I keep an eye out?”

The squad leader simply said with an actual soft genuine smile. “You should, please look after yourself.”

Who would want to see some young fool throw their life away? I know what He wants to ask next, how can I take advantage of knowing a dragonslayer? Will he be too traumatized from the devil that almost killed him? How much did he want vengeance? Should I limit his bloodlust so he doesn’t get himself killed?

Nathan acknowledges “I will…”

“You want vengeance?”

“I want to see them dead.”

“The dragonslayer who’s coming will be able to indulge that desire. Any other questions?”

“What would it look like if I signed a more permanent contract with you guys?”

“You would be sent to Boot Camp so you can actually learn how to fight.”

Nathan pauses, he asks what was on his mind. “Why was I dragged around for a while? Why were we told to go into the forest when we got ambushed?”

“That was to put the fear of god in you.”

“Which one?”

The squad leader swore under his breath, “Put the fear of death into all of you, we went a little too far though.”

“Couldn’t you have done that after boot camp?”

The squad leader stiffens. “Yeah.”

“So why did you do it before?”

“We wanted to see who would drop out and if anyone would be fit for more advanced training.”

That statement leaves a lot of room, there may be another reason for it. Did He want to ask? No, the Squad leader would probably say it’s a secret.

“When will I be able to be freed?”

The squad leader laughed, “If all goes well, tomorrow, now open up.”

He put the mouthpiece back inside His mouth.

“You’ll probably see the dragonslayer coming when you’re out tomorrow so rest up.”

The lights were shut, but Nathan couldn’t go off to sleep yet, He sat in silence for a while before asking me

‘What should we do?’

I think back to the techlord telling us to stay on with these guys. Did I trust them? They haven’t horribly mistreated Him, they haven’t used Him as cannon fodder, but they certainly were keeping a lot hidden.

‘We will stay on, I will soon formulate a grander plan.’

I needed to come up with something bigger and grander. When we have a clear mind I will think up some process. For now we shall stay on.

I watch as Nathan thinks, spiraling hate, splayed corpses, burned cities, I should keep an eye out for something to keep him attached to this world. His family would keep him held back but also keep him attached, could an obsession fix this? He’s fairly depressed as is, I need to make sure he doesn’t get us killed. Perhaps a desire for revenge, wolenaughts don't have personality, while bandits do.