An itch. An unbearable itch. An itch on all areas of his back side, all the way down to his calves. A persistent itch had woken Andreij up.

It felt like little needles,the only difference was that it had not pierced through his skin in any way.The whole of his back felt the sensation that it was lying on a pile of needles.

He opened his eyes, which immediately formed bloodshot and on alert. He recognized that he was lying on a large pile of straw.He quickly realized that he had a rather exaggerated reaction.

A rather unpleasant mixture of smells had then barraged his nose, scrunching his features to one of discomfort.

It was the smell of a farm, or possibly something similar of its category.

Andreij slowly allowed his body to get up. Then an ache he felt in his cranium made him wince in pain, almost making him bite his tongue.

He clutched the far back of his head with his right hand as he got up.Sitting up on the pile of straw that he currently lied on, he let his eyes take in every bit of his own surroundings.

The barn in which he currently woke up to, was of a worn and decrepit condition. And there was a metal cell door over to the front of him which he could see through.

It had a rounded design, and large rows of metal bars placed side by side with a large amount of rust invading the whole frame of the thing.

He could hear the sounds of little droplets of water dripping down inside this place. And he scanned his eyes over to the top and the ceiling and realized that there were no windows here.

Piles and piles of straw laid out around him in some sort of specific spacing between each pile, making him wonder if this was a makeshift prison.

Andreij slowly got up, his eyes slowly turning from side to side in some form of investigative manner. As he took his first step off the pile of straw, the wood under his feet creaked audibly around the quiet interior of the place.

A reminiscence began in his mind as he quickly remembered that he slipped and hit his head, knocking him unconscious. There were no more memories after that, so he assumed he was dragged here.

But by who?

He warily walked over to the mostly rusted cell door and as he made it, he put his hands over to the metal bars and pushed it.

There was a slight metallic screech, but the rusted metal door didn't budge. It was locked.

Andreij quickly shook the metal bars to confirm it and it was true. The cell door was locked.

He leaned his head forward, his right cheek touching against the metal bars.He saw that there was a large lock outside, currently barring him from any prospects of freedom.

He then turned his eyes upward and looked to the sky as clearly as he could from his position. The sky was gray and dull, which was the fault of the clouds above.It was not allowing the sun's rays to pass through it down on the earth.

Then he looked around to what surrounded the cell which he currently resided in. He could not clearly spot anything from his position but he faintly caught a glimpse of what looked like homes outside.

From what Andreij could spot, he saw that the homes were made from a lighter shade of mud with some type of thatched roofing. He spotted a fair amount of the mud homes from the cell door which he could see through.

And in front of him laid a large muddy unmaintained path where he figure people walked through daily. But he did not spot a single living being outside as of current.

They all looked akin to homes of the Middle Ages, in which its architecture was familiar to him as taught in history lessons when he was a teen.

Andreij was thrown out of his speculations when he heard the sounds of boots against mud echoing mostly through his left ear.

He felt himself perking up at the sounds at the sounds and quickly turned his eyes towards its direction whilst still holding onto the rusted metal bars of the cell door.

He could now hear multiple footsteps likely strutting forwards to his position.

He wondered if maybe he could get them to help him and figure where the hell he was.

"Hey!"Andreij started to shout out to three faint silhouettes that was approaching his position."Hey!"

The silhouettes seemed to get closer and he could now start to see their appearances clearly.

"Step back. Now." A muffled voice from one of the three silhouettes uttered to Andreij, his voice hanging on the edge between contempt and impatience.

The threes silhouettes had come into view of the currently imprisoned men, and they had not the slightest sign to Andreij that they were even remotely friendly, or talkative in that manner.

All the three that approached Andreij's were males. And all three of them had some form of armor on their backs and weapons in their hands, unnerving him to no end.

He stepped back as ordered, or the threatened would be the better word as he saw one of the men pointed a spear at him, just a quick movement away from letting Andreij be stabbed through the cell bars.

One of the men stepped forward and rummaged through a leather pouch near his left hip, and took what look like a ring of keys out from the worn-out thing.

The man swiftly put a key out from the ring and hurriedly turned it onto the cell door, unlocking it and pulling it open with a horrid creak.

Andreij examined the man opening the door warily. He saw that the man wore a pointed helmet, with a long and straight nose-guard, almost extending to his lips with a light red padded coif wrapped tightly around his neck.He was also adorned with some form of a long yellow padded coat and leggings.

The other,the one with the spear, stepped in first. His polearm still pointed at Andreij, he gestured his head to the left, urging Andreij to go outside.

And so he did. He slowly walked towards the metal cell door. He could not help but stare at the spear-armed man as he walked out the door.

"Keep going." Andreij heard what he presumed be the spearman's voice still urging him forward.

As Andreij finally walked outside, he turned his eyes up, and he still saw the gloomy gray clouds hovering above. There was still not a trace of proper sunlight to be seen.It was hard to even wonder what time of day it really was.

He then lowered his head and got a look at his surroundings. Scattered rows upon rows of the thatched homes he could see around him with only a few exceptions being a tall stone keep overlooking the whole area.

"This.....this really isn't home….."He breathed out."Or anywhere in the world, is it?"his voice was filled to the brim with befuddlement.

"Hey!" A muffled voice called out in front of him."Argotilian!"

Andreij turned his head towards the sound, shifting his state of mind back into reality.

Two of the three men were in front of him, one of them leaning laidback with his arms folded against a long wooden wall behind him.

"You interested in rowing galleys the rest of your natural life?"One of the men spoke, his voice muffled but his jeering tone still audible to anyone that isn't deaf in one ear.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The man looked more or less armored than the other two, the nose guard on his helmet shorter but a mail coif covering all over his mouth up and along both his shoulders.

A long mailed hauberk was clothed on him, along with a brown cloak draped wildly over his left shoulder.

"I-" Andreij spoke out to answer, but was quickly cut off.

"Too bad."the mail armored man interjected."because you're going to be rowing em till ya break. And maybe they might even castrate you, eh?"

The other man leaning against the wall snickered audibly, seemingly enjoying himself in a bit of schadenfruede.

Andreij felt a grim expression forming on his cheeks and a realization in his mind. He knew what the man implied.

A metallic creak of a cell door sounded out behind him , along with the noise of footsteps. Andreij glanced back for a moment to see the spear armed man close the door and appear at his side.

"Alright. Start walkin." The spear armed man ordered,his voice low and hiding an ounce of inpatience,"It'll be a long march to Nimrurot Castle. And if yer trip, I'll drag you across the whole trip off the horse."

Andreij felt his face morphing pale by the minute. He went inside in his own thoughts and grimly thought of his fate in this new world.

"How much do you think we'll get for this one, Joern?" The mailed man asked his comrade in arms, who had currently been walking besides him.

"This one looks soft and supple as pastry, so not much I reckon."The man in question, Joern, answered whilst he eyed Andreij's complexion.

Andreij cursed himself internally. His fate was being judged, and he could not find the appropriate words to utter out. His chagrined expression worsened with every step he took.

"Hold, lads." The spear armed man, who currently had been walking in front of the group signaled suddenly.

"Something wrong there, Rublev?" Joern queried. "Come on, we ain't got all day."

"The Kapitan's coming towards us" The man with the pole-arm, Rublev, remarked as he turned back and stepped back to let the whole group that followed along including Andreij, to show who he referred to.

Andreij looked over at what his captors stared at, and saw a man walking towards him over from the pitiful excuse of the dirt path they currently walked on.

It was another armor clad man, just like any other in the group of Andreij's captors. But he looked to be dragging someone roughly along with him by the arm.

"He doesn't look too happy." Andreij heard a singular remark from Joern behind him.

"He's capable of happiness?" Rublev sneered.

"Course he is, you daft yoke."Joern prattled back, his eyes still staring at his superior rapidly walking towards them."Still flesh and fucking bones, he is."

"'Twas a jest, Joern."

"Of course it was."

"Hush.The both of you." The mail armored man who now stood in front of the group interrupted.

The both of them quieted down and they saw their superior finally had made it towards them in a definite hearing range.

Andreij noticed the mail armored step forward in front of the so called "Kapitan". He quickly glanced over to his right and left, seeing that both Joern and Rublev were standing idle, either folding their arms or leaning against their own weapons.

Seeing that he also had to wait along with them, Andreij decided to eavesdrop on the conversation between the mail armored man and the Kapitan.

"Kapitan." Andreij heard the mail armored man greet, his tone largely excreting politeness.

"Claudi." The Kapitan greeted back, his tone more commanding and dour.

Andreij noticed that the man dragged by the Kapitan was in chains, and was adorned with the same ocean blue and black uniform as him.

But he felt himself frowning deeply at what he saw next, followed up with a swallowing a lump in his throat.

The chained man appeared beaten up and bloody. His left eye looked to be blood-red swollen, and his head was hanged low, despondent and downcast.

Andreij felt his eyes looking away, and back to listening in on the conversation of the two men.

"There's a change of plans, Claudi." The Kapitan exclaimed." I have lost contact with the nearby castles."

"Meaning?" The mail armored man, which Andreij now knew as Claudi asked, his voice holding confusion.

"Meaning, these prisoners....we cannot turn them in for shit."The Kapitan answered, his eyes narrowing." And I refuse to feed them until we regain any contact with those upstart pricks."

He shoved the captive he dragged along onto the ground, a loud thud sounding as a body hit the muddy round.

Claudi spared a look over to the fallen man,then right back to his Kapitan again.Only a nod came from him after .

A click. That's all that Andreij heard after listening in on the conversation.

Time passed. It was slow. And Andreij saw Claudi, the mail armored man,unsheathing a dagger somewhere out from his belt , whilst quickly strutting towards the man on the ground.

He then looked over to the front and saw that the Kapitan was staring at him.

And he saw the Kapitan starting to walk towards him, his right hand moving behind his waist.

He felt his eyes had dilated. He knows it now. He was aware of it. He could not be quiet now. He was going to die.

"Hey! Hey!Hey!"Andreij shouted to the armored man approaching rapidly towards him bearing a dagger, his chained hands stretched out to gesture a "wait, hold on a minute!"

"C-Come on, you d-don't need to really kill me, man." He implored shakily, his hands still stretched forwards.

"And why is that, Argie?" The Kapitan snarled, flipping his dagger swiftly into a reverse grip form.

"Th-that's a nice knife there, buddy."He shakily pointed out, flippantly pointing at the knife."You wouldn't want to stain it with my blood, w-would ya?"

"W-we lost the battle, right?"he gestured to himself." And I'm just some foot soldier! It's not even worth killin me!"

Andreij figured it. He figured that if he was now currently a captive, then whatever side he had been on, had lost awfully.

"That's exactly why we're killin you."The voice of Rublev's threatening tone was heard, who Andreij saw was now pointing a spear at him." Maybe if you were worth a little more than shite, we wouldn't cut your throat."

It was the same with everyone else besides the two captives.Cold sweat dripped down Andreij's face as swords and spears were pointed right at him, ready to lunge at a moment's notice.

"W-well just drive me out the city, o-ok?" Andreij pleaded, his expression still grim." I'm probably already a goddamn deserter at this point!"

"Sounds like just desperate pleading to me, Kapitan."Claudi remarked, his left hand pulling the hair of the battered captive under him, whilst the other holding a knife just inches away from cutting the man's throat.

"Can't even die even without a sense of integrity, can you Argie?"Rublev mocked besides Andreij, gently dropping his spear down and swiftly taking out a dagger afterwards whilst walking towards him.

Andreij then felt a blow on his left side of his stomach, making him grunt as all his wind was knocked out.

He fell to the ground, clutching his left rib whilst on his knees. Glancing momentarily to the left, Andreij saw that the other man called Joern had hit him, as he was rearing his leather gloved fist back.

"Wait! Just…..!"He begged while shakily puting a hand up towards the oncoming Rublev,"Just wait! Please!"

"Hold on." Andreij heard the calm indifferent voice of the Kapitan speak out.

Andreij looked forward, and saw that the all the other captors had stepped back.

The Kapitan stepped forwards, moving aside Rublev then finally coming in front of the kneeling Andreij.

"You talk a little more…..educated." The Kapitan observed, straight at the kneeling man." A wee bit more than your beaten up fellow grunt over there.More than he could ever.More than I could ever get out of him, of course."

He kneeled down to Andreij, who in turn could only stare back in a state of befuddlement.

"Tell me,Can you read?" He questioned, staring down face to face with Andreij. He spun the dagger in his right hand around repeatedly , as if in wait.

Andreij swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Y-Yeah, yeah I can."He answered.

But he was uncertain. This was a new world. Although he was now speaking to his captives the same tongue, it did not make him certain of the capability of being able to read the language.

"Now hold on a minute, Kapitan."The voice of Claudi started, his hand raised." I thought you could read too. Why are we asking this Argie here if he could too? I mean.....what for?"

"Because..."The kapitan turned to the man, heaving a sigh as he started to explain, " It would be quaint to have one more half-literate fool aside from myself in this whole damn village."

"But...an Argotilian?"

"Only a step above a common prisoner of war he'll be, Claudi boy." The Kapitan faced fowards, staring intently at Andreij."And I'll make sure of it."

He then stood and snapped his fingers once and wiggled his finger towards Claudi,"And hey, give me that other one."

Claudi, as ordered, forcibly stood the beaten down prisoner up, and shoved him towards his superior. The Kapitan swiftly caught him and pulled him by the collar and presented him towards Andreij, whilst tightly holding the battered man up by his shoulders. He still held his dagger.

"Stand up."The Kapitan ordered.

"S-Sure." Andreij stood up as told, and was faced with the beaten down prisoner, and with the Kapitan behind him presenting.

"Do you know this fellow Argie soldier here?"The Kapitan questioned," Maybe your friend of some sort?

"N-no."Andreij denied, still having cold sweats over his body."I don't know that man."

"Really?"The Kapitan replied."No relation at all?" He glanced right towards supposed nothingness, before letting out a long sigh behind the metal helm he wore."Well, that's all I needed to hear."

Something hot then spurted all over, onto the blue and black gambeson Andreij was adorned with.

His eyes widened in shock, he looked on horrified at what happened the very second the Kapitan finished his sentence.

The Kapitan had dug his dagger deep into the skin of the throat belonging to the battered prisoner, and slowly and shakily moved it sideways, letting the blood from the prisoner's throat spill onto Andreij's clothing.

Andreij felt his own heart rate increase rapidly, and then felt it pound violently at the killing he was laid a witness to. He could only stare closely at the prisoner's eyes turning lifeless, and his expression morphing into white lifelessness.

The Kapitan held the dying prisoner close to him with an arm, his eyes gazing slightly upwards above Andreij and then onto Andreij himself again.

The prisoner, with his throat cut,dropped to his knees, only held up from dropping completely by the arm of the Kapitan. A brief silence came before the prisoner uttered out a faint choked out noise.

"Shut up." The Kapitan added annoyingly, before digging out his knife from the throat then slamming it downwards onto the man's skull.

The Kapitan let go of his arm, letting the now dead man under him fall to the ground. A pool of blood formed quickly, and quickly flowed under Andreij's boots.

Andreij could only stare on blankly at the pool of the blood forming under his feet. He then slowly turned his head up to the Kapitan again, his eyes glazed and his complexion completely pale.

The Kapitan walked forwards directly besides him, facing left close to Andreij's face, who could only stare back at him shakily in return.

The Kapitan put up a blood stained hand towards Andreij's chest, and then rubbed and wiped the blood slowly onto his garments.Putting his hands away, he kept walking forwards.

"Better not be lying."The Kapitan remarked, his voice muffled still by his helm.

----------------------------------------

The door slammed behind him, finally knocking Andreij back to the land of the living. He realised that he had been spaced out the whole time his captors had been dragging him to this room. He looked around momentarily.

The room looked nicer, and far less putrid. It looked like to Andreij a room of an inn one would see in a standard fantasy game. But he was not worried about the state of the room.

The extremely fresh memories of a man getting his throat cut resurfaced and submerged quickly onto Andreij's mind. The sounds of human flesh being cut made something well up inside him.

He quickly homed his eyes onto a bucket in the room he was in, and quickly rushed towards it. He retched and puked inside the bucket fervently. Every single second of the murder he witnessed on playback in his mind as he puked his guts out.

Andreij then quickly leaned against a wall, tired and exhausted from emptying his stomach out. He felt his breathing quicken rapidly, before slowing down at a certain pace.

His eyes glanced up tiredly onto the ceiling, still breathing like a dog.

This was a new world. He was transported or "transmigrated". He does not know how, or understand why. But he knew that he have not been here for even a day, and he already had one complaint waiting along with the others. He clutched his face tightly with both hands, and uttered.

"I...I hate this fucking place....."