“Oi, Pretty Boy!”

Nick groaned and sat up in his cell. He felt like he had only just fallen asleep, and now Jack was there to give him shit.

Maybe I should just kill him.

If he did it quietly enough, he would probably be able to sleep the rest of the night without interruption. He’d get punished in the morning, but he would get a full night’s sleep. The punishment probably wouldn’t be too bad either. Jack wasn’t all that well-liked, and Nick knew he was making good money for whoever these people were. Then again, they kept throwing him into fights to the death where his survival was not guaranteed, so maybe not.

“What,” he said, looking up through the cell bars at his captor.

“Boss Lady wants to see you,” said Jack, lacking some of his usual spiteful energy.

“Boss Lady?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Get up!”

Nick sighed and made a show of stretching and cracking just about every joint in his body before slowly standing up and then stretching more. Jack unlocked the cell door, then watched with a scowl as Nick finished his exaggerated routine.

“Hurry up, Pretty Boy. Ain’t got all night.”

“Who is this ‘Boss Lady’ anyway?” asked Nick as he walked out of his cell.

“I dunno,” said Jack. “No more questions. Just shut up and move.”

Outside the cell, there were a half dozen armed escorts waiting, and as Nick and Jack moved, they fell into formation on either side. Nick had gotten a new skill, [Fighter’s Instincts] with his latest class up that told him each of the guards was around the level he had been before his class up. He could probably take them all on by himself, but it wouldn’t be quick. If he used [Berserk], he could do it quickly, but he wouldn’t make it very far before the skill would wear off, leaving him exhausted. Trying to escape right then would be a fool’s errand.

He walked through the halls and up the stairs into the open air. He hadn’t gotten to spend much time exploring the area, since he was always either chained up in his cell, or fighting in the arena, but from what he knew of geography, he was probably somewhere in the Jungle. How the slavers had managed to set up anything in the Jungle of all places, let alone an operation of this size, he had no idea, but it was the only place he could think of that matched where he was.

The air was so humid that even now at night, he was already sweating just from walking up the stairs. All around him, there was what felt almost like an entire city of tents and makeshift shacks, arrayed with barely any consideration for walking paths. On the edges of the massive clearing, trees rose high overhead with vines hanging down from their branches creating a curtain, blocking the view of anything further in.

To his right was a small valley in which sat the arena. Had it not been in the valley, it would have towered over the treeline. However, he was not heading to the arena this time as he usually did. Instead, Jack and the guards guided him toward one of the few truly nice-looking buildings in the area. It was three stories high, and built in a more southern style, with a peaked roof and a balcony on each of the upper two floors.

There were two guards on either side of the door that [Fighter’s Instincts] told Nick not to mess with, and when his own guards approached, they wordlessly opened the doors letting him inside. None of his escorts followed him, and when the door closed he found himself alone, aside from a young blonde woman with a blank expression on her pale face. She was dressed in a simple red tunic and pants that were perhaps the cleanest clothes he had seen since his arrival in the camp. She was a head shorter than Nick, and very slender, but to his surprise, [Fighter’s Instincts] told him that she was even stronger than the guards outside.

“The Lady wishes to speak with you,” she said in an emotionless voice. “I have prepared a bath. Please follow me.”

“A bath?” asked Nick.

“The Lady wishes for you to be clean before she speaks to you.”

Nick looked down at his grimy self. Since he was captured, he had only been allowed the occasional bowl of water and rag to scrub bloodstains off, and when his clothes grew too tattered to wear, they would simply toss him an equally dirty set to replace them. He had gone noseblind to it by this point, but he was sure he smelled foul. With the woman inside, and the guards outside, he had no hope of escape at the moment, so he decided that there was no point in defiance.

“Alright,” he said with a shrug.

“Please follow me.”

She led him to a door in the back of the room, and held it open as he stepped inside. The interior was warm and full of steam, and there was a circular tub wider than he was tall set into the ground. To his right, there was a corner of the room where the steam couldn’t seem to reach, and in that corner was a shelf with a neatly folded set of red clothes, similar to what the young woman was wearing, as well as a towel of the same color.

“Please hold out your wrists.”

Nick did so, and she produced a key from a pocket in her pants and undid his restraints.

“Would you like me to assist you with your bath?” she asked.

“No, I can bathe myself,” said Nick, rubbing his wrists.

“Then I will be waiting outside. When you are done, please leave your dirty clothes on the floor and don the ones that we have prepared for you. Do not take too long. The Lady does not like to be kept waiting.”

“Alright,” said Nick.

The young woman bowed, then walked out of the room. The first thing Nick did after she left was check the room for other potential exits. There were none, of course. He debated trying to smash through the walls. This was the first time he had ever been unchained outside of the fight pit, and he might never get another chance. However, [Mana Sense] told him that the wood was enchanted for durability, and common sense told him he wouldn’t get very far.

He turned back to the tub and after quickly undressing himself, he jumped straight in. The hot water burned against his skin, but the pain was laughable compared to what he had endured in the past few months. He sat still for a minute or so before getting down to business.

On the far side of the tub, a sponge and an array of soaps had been set out for him. He couldn’t quite identify what any of the soaps were, so he picked one that smelled vaguely of lavender as well as the sponge and got to work. Whenever he scrubbed, the water around him turned murky, but the water would always turn clear again within seconds, a sign that an automatic purification system was in place.

Once the grime was gone, and he had rubbed his skin pink and raw, he set the soap and sponge aside, and took a moment to relax in the water. He hadn’t gotten a chance to properly relax like that in months, and he wasn’t going to miss it. “The Lady” be damned, he was going to enjoy his bath time for a few minutes.

Unfortunately, “a few minutes” turned into half an hour, as he dozed off in the warm embrace of the water. He only awoke when he heard a pounding on the door.

“Respond, or I will force my way in,” he heard the young woman’s voice say.

“I’m here,” he called back. “Sorry. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“The Lady does not like to be kept waiting.”

“I know, I know. I’m coming.”

Nick scrambled to get out of the tub and over to the steamless corner of the room where he hastily dried himself and donned the red tunic and pants. The clothes were surprisingly comfortable, and also surprisingly well-fitted. They conformed to his body perfectly, in some ways feeling almost skintight, yet they didn’t limit his motion at all. He spent a brief moment marveling at them before hastening to get out of the bath room.

The young woman was waiting for him just outside the door, and immediately led him up a staircase past the second floor up to the top. At the top of the stairs there was a space that seemed like a waiting area with a few chairs on the far sides and an ornate door in the center. His guide walked right up to the door and knocked three times.

“Come in!” said a voice on the inside.

The interior of the room seemed to be an affluent, but odd bedroom. The only light was provided by a dim crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling whose glowing mana stones seemed to have a bit of a reddish hue. On the right side, there was an enormous bed with red curtains left partially open to reveal red sheets. There was a red rug in the middle of the room, and on the far left, there was a desk with a red leather chair and a few books, pens, and bottles of ink, all red.

The balcony that Nick had seen from outside was located on the back side of the room, with a glass door leading out onto it. There were red curtains on either side, but both were drawn already back, revealing a full moon basking the room in its glow.

The room’s resident was sitting in a red armchair, its back angled half toward the glass door, and half toward the desk side of the room. Nick recognized her as the black-haired woman he had seen at the fight pits. She was no longer wearing her veil, so Nick could see that her eyes were an unnatural red. For a moment, he was nearly blinded by rage. He wanted nothing more than to strangle her. However, he held himself back, which he soon realized was a very fortunate thing. [Fighter’s Instinct] could not evaluate her, something he had never seen happen before.

“Ah, he’s here,” she said. “Thank you Rose. You may leave.”

“Yes, My Lady,” said the young woman, bowing.

Rose left the room, and for a few seconds, neither Nick, nor the other woman said anything.

“Give me a spin,” she said, twirling her finger.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“Spin,” she said. “I want to get a good look at you.”

Nick started obeying, but stopped when she spoke again.

“Slowly,” she said. “Like a pig on a fire. There you go. Just like that. Perfect.”

When Nick turned back around, she was smiling. She took a sip from a half-full wine glass, exhaled with satisfaction, then sat up a bit straighter.

“So, you are my Arena’s newest treasure,” she said. “You’re cute for someone who goes by ‘The Berserker.’”

“Why am I here?” asked Nick.

“My Lady.”

“What?”

“‘Why am I here, My Lady,’” she said. “Address me properly, or you won’t get an answer.”

Nick considered telling her to go fuck herself, but managed to stop himself.

“Why am I here, My Lady?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Well, I suppose because you walked here,” she said. “A better question would be why I called you here.”

Nick waited for her to elaborate, but instead, she just took another sip from her glass and continued smiling.

“Why did you call me here, My Lady?”

“A few reasons,” she said, swirling her glass. “Firstly, I wanted to get a closer look at you. You looked wonderful in the Arena, but I wanted to get a good look at you dressed in red. Secondly, I noticed that you seem to be a bit… disgruntled… with your current arrangements. It pains me to see my greatest treasures feeling this way, so I wanted to inform you that I will be upgrading your accommodations to something more fitting of a man of your caliber.”

“Do those accommodations include freedom?” blurted Nick.

The Lady simply smiled at him.

“My Lady,” he added.

“Well, that all depends on how you define ‘freedom,’” she said. “Will you be allowed to leave this place? No. Will you be allowed some degree of freedom? Yes. You will be assigned servants to fetch you things, and you will have an area of the camp where you are allowed to travel freely. Eventually, you may even be allowed to leave and return to your home.”

“On what conditions? My Lady.”

“Mmmm, I’m not sure yet,” she said, taking another sip. “I suppose we’ll have to see when we get to that point.”

Nick frowned, but did not protest. It was barely anything, but it was more than he had before.

“Now, where were we?” she said. “Ah yes. And thirdly, I wish to talk to you about your family.”

Nick flinched when she mentioned them.

“Ah, that got your attention. I believe you mentioned a sister and a fiancée, yes?”

“Y-yes,” he said.

“Just ‘yes’?”

“Yes, My Lady.”

“Much better. Anyways, I have news regarding both.”

“What is it, My Lady?” he asked.

“I’m afraid they’re both dead.”

Nick immediately activated [Berserk] and stepped toward the Lady. He intended to walk up and grab her by the throat, but after that first step, he found himself unable to move. It was as though his blood had frozen in his body, and his muscles stuck in extreme contraction. In front of him, the Lady simply smiled and took another sip from her glass.

“Just kidding,” she said. “I have no idea where your sister is. Your fiancée is alive.”

“What did you do to her?” demanded Nick, straining against whatever was restraining him.

“Hmm?” asked the Lady.

“What. Did. You. Do. To. Her. My. Lady?”

“Nothing. Yet. Right now, I believe she’s on a boat, heading back to this continent. I was planning on bringing her here when she arrived as a part of your new accommodations.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Hmm? You don’t want to see your fiancée?”

“Don’t bring her here!”

“Are you ordering me around?” she asked.

She continued smiling, but Nick could feel that something in the air had changed. She had always felt dangerous, but now, it felt like one wrong move could get him killed. At the same time though, he felt as though his straining against his restraints was bearing fruit. He felt like with a mighty heave, he would be able to break free, if only for a moment.

“Yes, you fucking bitch,” he said. “If you bring her here, I’m going to kill you.”

The Lady stared at him for a moment, then stood up and walked up to him. She leaned forward so that her face was inches from Nick’s, and smiled. For the first time, Nick noticed that her canines were just a bit too long.

“I’d like to see you try,” she said.

At that moment, Nick shouted, and the spell holding him snapped. His arm rocketed forward as if launched by a slingshot, and his fist punched straight through her torso, only stopping when they hit the inside of her ribs. Her expression changed from one of arrogance to one of surprise and horror. Nick grinned back, but his smile melted away as hers returned.

“Not bad,” she said.

Nick tried to pull his arm out, but he found that he was frozen again.

“Not bad at all,” she continued. “That had some force behind it. But I’m afraid you’re going to need to do a bit better than that to finish me off. Still, it was a valiant attempt, so I’ll give you a little parting gift.”

The arm that was stuck in her torso suddenly erupted in pain. Nick screamed, and pulled away, the holding skill breaking as he stumbled backward and fell on the ground, writhing in pain. His arm had no visible injuries, but the Lady’s blood that was coating it was rippling and bubbling as he felt it slowly seep into his skin. The pain was so intense that his eyes started tearing up, and his mind started to get fuzzy.

“Does it hurt?” asked the Lady. “Don’t worry. You’ll thank me in a few hours when you-” She suddenly stopped and her head whipped around toward the balcony.

“What are you doing, Rayna?” said a man’s voice.

Though he could barely think from the pain, Nick had the presence of mind to glance up at the balcony doorway. The door was standing ajar, and just inside the room, there was a man who hadn’t been there before. He was handsome, and dressed like a noble, and had long blond hair and blue eyes. For a moment, their eyes met, and Nick thought he caught just a hint of a smile. Then, he passed out.

***

2 weeks after the warg attack

At a casual walking speed, it took Sophie about four hours to make it all the way around the edge of the island. After making this journey a total of three times, she came to the conclusion that the island was artificial. It was almost a perfect circle, aside from a long and unnaturally steep rock pier leading out into the water on the south side, and no matter which side she was on, the shore seemed to slope into the water at the exact same angle.

Other than the location of the sun, the view was identical from all points of the island as well. That is to say, there was no view. All she could see were miles and miles of calm, peaceful ocean all around, with not a soul in sight.

In the week she had been there, the weather had been the same every day as well. It was pleasantly warm during the day, and only went down a few degrees at night, so she didn’t need a blanket or even a fire to keep warm. She suspected that she didn’t even need clothes either, though she wasn’t quite ready to go that far. She was still in her pajamas, which weren’t ideal for spending so much time outdoors, but it was better than nothing.

At that moment, it was near noon, and Sophie was putting the finishing touches on her raft. Despite the other woman’s claims that it was impossible to leave, Sophie wasn’t just going to blindly accept it. She was no expert craftsman, but her years in the woods with her dad had left her at least capable. The rope she wove was not high-quality, and was probably thicker than it needed to be, but it was sturdy, and she was confident it would hold.

“It’s a good raft,” said the other woman. “Better than Mina’s. What do you mean it’s not a fair comparison? Mina wasn’t that incompetent. Hmm?”

Sophie listened for a moment, then went back to tuning her out and tightening the ropes on the raft. Despite having spent almost every hour of her two weeks there next to her, Sophie still had yet to learn her name. Or, more likely, the other woman had spent so long alone that she didn’t remember her own name any more. Sophie had decided to call her Iris, because she lived on the island, and Iris was the first name that started with “I” that Sophie could think of.

She gave the ropes one final tug before standing up to admire her handiwork. It wasn’t anything pretty, but she was satisfied with how it had turned out. It was about ten feet long, and six feet wide, made of eight palm tree trunks tied together with copious amounts of her low-quality rope. To guide it, she had chopped down another tree that she didn’t know the name of and fashioned part of it into two oars. Nature was her second best element after water, so they actually looked pretty good, if she did say so herself.

“Is she done? She looks done. Yes, she has a spare oar. Not that it matters. What? Of course I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Sophie turned to the other woman as her one-sided dialogue turned into incomprehensible mutters.

“Iris?” said Sophie.

“Iris?” asked the woman. “Oh right, that’s me. I’m Iris now. It’s not my name, but it’s my name.”

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Go with her? No, I’m not going to say that! What if it works? It might work. Shut up! I’m going!”

She continued talking, but as she did so, she floated over and then set herself down on the raft.

“...Okay,” said Sophie. “But Iris, can you please get off for now? I still need to push it into the water.”

“I will put us in the water,” said Iris, her voice suddenly much stronger. “Sit down.”

Sophie obeyed without hesitation. While she could never remember her name, she did have occasional episodes of mental clarity. They were few and far between, but when they happened, she became a completely different person. A person that Sophie was almost afraid to defy.

As soon as she sat down on the wood, the raft lifted into the air and glided out of the wooded area, across the shore, and into the water. They landed with barely a splash, and then immediately began drifting out from the shore, the current around them altered to take them where they wanted to go.

“Watch closely,” said Iris. “You will soon understand why your efforts are wasted on such pointless endeavors.”

Sophie nodded and turned to look out to sea. At first, it seemed like the raft was working. However, once they were a few hundred feet from shore, a fog started to gather around them. It came so suddenly that Sophie gasped as the raft was enveloped in fog so thick she couldn’t even see the raft below her. Then, as quickly as it came, it vanished again, and the raft was back on shore, Sophie and Iris still sitting on top of it.

Sophie was speechless for a moment. It wasn’t unexpected, since Iris had been telling her as much the entire time, but after experiencing it herself, and having her hopes utterly crushed beyond all repair, Sophie felt like something had broken inside of her. Her eyes welled with tears, and she turned to face the older woman, only to find that Iris had her brows creased with a look of concern.

“I’ve never made it that far before,” she said.

“Wh-what?” asked Sophie, wiping her eyes.

Iris didn’t respond, instead lifting off the raft and flying back out to the water. She stopped a few hundred feet away, hovering in the air while holding one of her hands out. She stayed like that for about a minute, then flew forward again. Sophie saw no fog, but Iris disappeared all the same, reappearing right back above the raft. However, now, she was grinning.

“It’s weakened,” she said.

“W-weakened?” asked Sophie

“We might be able to leave.”

“Really?” said Sophie, wiping her teary eyes on her sleeve. “We can leave?”

“Maybe,” said Iris, turning to look down at Sophie. “But I’ll need your help. You’re a Mana Dancer, right?”

“A-Apprentice Mana Dancer.”

“Even better,” said Iris, her smile getting even wider. “You still have [Mana Manipulation], right?”

“It’s only [Lesser Mana Manipulation]”

“That’s fine too. Become my disciple.”

“Wh-what?”

“Become my disciple. I will teach you things you never thought possible. When you reach the next tier, you’ll be offered a class even better than {Mana Dancer}, and once you get that class, we might be able to leave.”

“Wh-what class is it?”

“{Dragon’s Disciple}.”