The humans are closing the circle, drawing ever closer and cutting off every route of escape. I look around frantically for someone to attack, someone to take the lead, for our hunters… That’s when my eyes get drawn to the blood on the blades.

The hunters?

Sonja, an older mother sees my agitation, places a hand on my shoulder, shakes her head, and mouths me; ‘They might not know.’ She means it's not certain they killed the hunters, in which case they might not know they’re still out there. I nod, trying to convince myself that they will turn up and we will weather this somehow, like we always do.

“What do you want?” Sonja steps forward and calls out to the men and women approaching with the weapons ready.

Her voice is only met with snickering and lecherous eyes. A bald and scarred man steps forth, barely smaller than any of our tribe’s men, meaning he would be considered a giant amongst humans. His armor is obviously shinier than any other and the massive spiked iron club he’s carrying promises impact like no punch I’ve ever seen.

“Listen well savages, because I won’t be repeating myself,” He slams his hefty weapon into the ground vertically and places a hand on it. “I hereby declare this land to be under the care of Derek Ashal, Lord Protector of Heleven. The resources, beasts and anything else on this land now belong to him,” He raises a hand into the air. “including you.” And waves to his men to advance. “Do not resist, we don't wish to harm you, it would decrease the value of the goods. Hahaha!” He laughs and moves into the fray.

"You can't do that! These are free lands." Someone shouts as the humans march closer.

The most capable men and women of our tribe are out there, looking for our dinner and the only ones remaining are the elderly, mothers and children, none of us able to put up a meaningful fight. Without our warriors, the older generation takes up the mantle of defending our tribe and forms a circle around us, ready to fight till the end or at least slow them down.

“Cut the gray ones down, they’re barely worth their feed.” The officer commands and swords come down swinging.

I just stand there as blood is spilled, blades raised against our tribesmen, again, a repeat of the event when they took mom. They just… murder the elders because…they’re… WORTH LESS??

I can hear my teeth grinding on each other as I clench my jaw while the pain from the bruises I suffered during my last sparring fades as my mind gets clouded. I’m seething in ANGER, my vision going red like the world around me as more and more blood is spilled.

What’s wrong with this world…

Power Burst

I launch myself towards another man raising his sword to slash at the grandmother protecting a crying little girl. I obviously have no chance against him,

[Warrior lvl ???]

he could kill me with a single swing, so let's make the most of this. I use Power Burst with every step to accelerate myself over and over again, my body creaking under the force it has to endure.

I tackle him, dislocating my shoulder but managing to push him away before he can deliver the murderous blow. He just skids to a halt a few steps back while me… I bounce off him like a pebble thrown at the mountain and hit the ground a few times before crashing into a tree.

I push myself up with my working arm while checking on the left shoulder that’s pushed forward in an unnatural angle. I grit my teeth and use my other hand to yank down with a sudden powerful motion and fix what my Skill could not. My life magic won’t just push it back in place, not yet, it can however correct my hasty and amateurish first aid attempt. The pain is there but so be it. Granny Olea is still alive and that’s what matters.

When I look back up I see the man staring at me with a wide and malicious smile on his face. He moves faster than I can comprehend and appears next to the old woman again… this time swinging faster.

“Noooo!” I scream.

He kills her… and the child in her arms, cutting both of them apart like they were nothing more than grass.

Another two lives forfeited, another two of our kin lost and all that remains is emptiness. Why?

“Why, WHY?” I scream at him. “Why would you do that?” My breathing is ragged and uneven, my thoughts a jumble of pain and bloodlust.

“Hehehe, it’s simple, girly. You don’t know your place but you still have a decent value. They did not. I hope this makes you understand our new dynamic. Submit or suffer.” His eyes turn ice cold.

“H-how could you just… slaughter people like that, do you not have a heart?” I shake uncontrollably.

“People?” He tilts his head. “Would you hesitate to cut down orcs, or goblins? I wouldn’t, so what’s your point?” He’s not just pretending, his eyes tell me he genuinely does not view us as people like himself.

Are we just… pests with value?

I don’t even know how to react, there’s no arguing here, no convincing them… I just laugh while tears flow down my face, laughing hysterically before running at the man again like a raging Maelstrom Mammoth.

Power Burst, Power Burst, Power Burst!

My every step, every muscle twitch is infused with the Skill, making me push against my limits cruelly and uncaring for the consequences. I tend to use this Skill sparingly, it literally drives the body beyond its limits to achieve greater performance and the body isn't made for this, not even a Nephilim’s.

POWER BURST. I punch at his face in an outburst of strength, my muscles tearing and my body begging me to slow down, yet even this is nothing but a joke to him. The man catches my wrist and lifts me off the ground to his face.

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“Looks like you’re the slow learner type. Let me give you a lesson.” He whispers into my face, his voice carried by his disgusting breath.

He slaps my face with enough force to make my vision blurry. “Oops, I shouldn’t go for the face. The captain’s gonna be pissed if I damage the wares.” He looks down on my torso. “Looks like you got a proper beating today already. Did you not have enough?”

“Just kill me, you sick bastard!” I shout at him.

“Kill? No, no no. We’ll have our fun, me and the others.” He shakes his head playfully.

Others? I look around the camp and bile almost escapes my stomach at the sight. Red rivers flow freely on the ground from the bodies of the elderly lying motionless in the snow, the children are being beaten and humiliated, while the women, the mothers…violated.

“It's proper indoctrination. Cattle need to know their place.” The man says matter-of-factly.

I just hang there, head low, unable to even look at the atrocities committed in the place we once called our home. There’s nothing we can do, there’s no resisting… The weak get eaten, that’s the rule of nature but this… this is worse than being eaten alive.

Whatever… It doesn’t matter anymore. My…dad…

Dad! I can’t leave him by himself, we just lost mom not too long ago and if he loses me he’ll… he’ll break. He might look tough and cold and arrogant and haughty and all that but the reality is he has a big and soft heart for the people he loves. They are his weakness. I am his weakness.

Power Burst. I try pulling my arm away, pushing against his chest with my legs. My arm feels like tearing off at the shoulder, yet his grip doesn’t bulge so I switch to the grappling technique mom showed me years ago; locking my ankle around his shoulder and using my entire body, all my strength to break his arm. Power Burst, Power Burst, Power Burst.

It’s futile, my strength is incomparable to his and he just smiles widely at my attempts.

My whole body aches due to the overuse of my muscles, but I’m not the kind to give up this easily. If I can’t make him release his grip I’ll just have to change what is held. Power Burst I activate the skill for the umpteenth time and strike my locked wrist with full force. The bone shatters, allowing me to slip from his hold while howling myself hoarse from the resulting pain.

My body is on the verge of collapse from the overuse of Power Burst but I’ll throw in everything if it means I get the slightest chance to make a difference. At least I’ll be able to say I did my best when looking mom in the eye in Malor’s eternal domain.

“You might be worth quite the sum. I originally thought selling you to a brothel would be the best choice, but you’ve got some fight in you. Care to show me more?” The man asks with a toothy grin while I try to get back on my feet.

My hazy and enraged mind almost responds to the provocation, yet instead, I bolt towards the nearby woods, hoping to use my knowledge of the environment to my advantage.

I might be able to outmaneuver him. If I could alert the hunters-

My escape is short-lived. A kick lands on my side, sending me flying into a tree yet again. The air is knocked out of my lungs, thankfully my bones seem intact.

“I thought we'd established this already.” The same man walks up to me and crouches down. “You are property, you don’t get to choose where you go.” He grabs my hair that’s no longer pure white, more like light brown from being thrown around in the dirt. “Now come, the captain will like you.” And he drags me by my hair.

I reach for the knife I got from mom for my ninth birthday, hidden inside my boot, made of a huge beast fang she got as a trophy. I know how useless it would be to try and harm the devil of a man dragging me away so I cut off my own hair instead. Finally, a solution where I don’t have to maim myself for things to work.

I jump to my feet and stomp him in the face while he blinks at the bundle of hair left in his hand. My kick connects and yet again there’s little to no effect, only my footprint visible on the side of his face.

He smears the mud on his cheek before looking at me with enraged eyes. “It seems your kind is bad at understanding words, eh? Time to set an example then.” I don’t even see him move when he appears at my side and grabs me by my throat.

He sprints back through the woods towards our camp with me firmly held in his grip by my throat. When we arrive he throws me onto the ground and puts a foot on my back so I’m unable to push myself up no matter how I strain. My body has mostly healed, other than my wrist, yet I know that the worst is yet to come.

“Listen here, you filthy savages. Looks like the captain wasn’t clear enough; your bodies, your fate, your will, those don’t belong to you anymore. Those who resist and fight back will end up like her.” He shouts for every one of my tribe members to hear. “Bernard, could you lend me your weapon?” He asks another guy.

Earth grips my hands and feet, holding me firmly to the ground in front of all my remaining tribesmen and filthy, cursed humans

“If words don’t reach you,” He cracks the whip. “then you leave us no choice but to resort to more conventional forms of training.” He tears my coat off my back and makes the first lash.

I grit my teeth and endure it without making a sound, Pain Tolerance and Quicken Regeneration doing their best to counteract the wound gaping on my back. I won't give this bastard the satisfaction of begging for mercy and I will show my tribesmen that this is not over, we are not broken yet.

May the Gods curse the humans, smite the elves, and drag this whole cruel world down to the Abyss! This is not over!

The lashes continue but all they do is feed the fire of fury inside me as I stare forward with a face contorted in hatred before my mana runs out and I lose consciousness soon after my Skills shut down.

***

Rattling and stinging cold wake me from my slumber and when I open my eyes I see the scenery moving behind metal bars. I look around to see the other kids from the tribe cramped in the tiny cage, some of them are crying while the others just staring outside with empty eyes.

“Valka!” Someone calls my name. “Thank the Wilds, you’re finally awake. You looked like you wouldn’t make it.” It’s Bria, my best friend. Her eyes are teary and puffy as she leans over me, she must’ve cried a lot. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I was beaten half-dead.” I respond.

She chuckles. “You must be feeling better if you can talk crap like that. It must’ve been closer to three-quarters really, you were out for two days.” She crawls closer.

The first thing I do is activate my Skill to help heal what wounds are still present and correct anything that was mended incorrectly. I’m not a proper healer in any interpretation of the word because neither can I heal others nor is my Skill potent enough to heal damage faster than a Snowcrawlers pace.

Outside the bars, the landscape looks way less snowy or mountainous than our home region, dotted with green trees and patches of verdant green grass. There are also cubes built from wooden logs in a cluster, a small human settlement, a village I think it’s called.

“Where are we?” I ask weakly.

“In human lands, down south.” Bria answers with a quivering voice. “They’ve taken the adults somewhere else Valka, now it’s just us.” Her eyes begin to leak water again. “Just us… It’s over Valka, there’s nothing-”

I try to get up to hug her, the wounds and blood on my back sticking to the floor after laying motionless for days, yet my strength betrays me and I fall back with a pained grunt, probably opening some of those slashes again.

“Sshhh, we’ll stick together, stay strong Bria.” I whisper to her and put a hand on her leg I can reach. “Never give up hope. Never!” I mutter while fighting my own tears back.

Dad told me what happens when someone gets taken away… We’re gonna get sold. Sold separately. Sold to the highest bidder and rarely do the nicest people have the most riches.