I noticed how the maid got more and more anxious every day working, but we kept on pace. Somehow we finished before whatever deadline we had each time, even though our workload increased daily.

I could see it started to affect her, she took less time on each task, and she no longer had the same methodical method of taking care of the plants. She used to care about these plants, I wasn’t sure how long she had worked her, but she had possibly put years of work into each one of them. It looked like it pained her to have to rush so much.

It had been just under a week since this new schedule when something went wrong. I had gone to eat as usual but I found that the maid wasn’t there. I was worried since she had never not been here but there wasn’t anything I could do besides ask the other people at the table I was eating at. I was told to continue my day as normal, and that she should join me eventually.

I didn’t like it but due to the deadlines we had been under, I ignored my common sense and went to do as told after washing myself.

I worked for over an hour before I saw her come outside, and when she did she moved immediately to work, keeping her back to me and focusing on trying to complete the work before it was due.

That’s how we worked for the next few hours, keeping our backs to each other, absolutely silent besides the stray question, or the odd animal flying above.

I don’t know when it happened, but sometime while we were working the man who originally placed the contract on me came out. I only noticed this when I heard the maid’s tools clatter to the ground.

I turned around to see him looking at me, “Follow me,” he ordered. Before I could even react I could feel my slave contract inflict pain upon me, even if it barely affected it. I dropped my tools to the ground and followed.

The maid looked over to me and did the same, she was worried, and I assumed we had failed to complete our work before the deadline for the first time.

We followed the man for a while, and he brought us to the right side of the manor. He continued to lead us through the more decorated halls. Adorned with paintings, and other works of art. As slaves, we weren’t ever allowed over here.

He eventually stopped in front of a door and knocked against the wood three times, each one only amplifying the atmosphere of the hall.

After a short wait, I heard Zanlis’ voice call out, “Enter,” and so we did.

The room itself could only be described as an office, with a desk pilled with papers, paintings along the walls, and a large window on the opposite side of the door.

When we entered Zanlis seemed a little confused, but that soon turned to anger as soon as he saw the maid. “I specifically warned you this morning to finish before any guests arrive did I not? Didn’t I also complain about how you slaves never get your work done on time? I even hired another slave just so you wouldn’t have to take so long anymore. So why wasn’t it completed on time?”

The maid seemed scared to respond, but Zanlis ordered her to tell him. Against the pain of the contract and in between sobs she tried to explain how we were almost done outside. She went on to try to explain how she was kept up this morning by talking to Zanlis which caused her to be late to getting outside. He didn’t like that reason at all.

“So it’s my fault you slaves can’t do your job? Don’t I feed you, clothe you, give you water to bathe? It’s simple how much you all have to do around here,” He crossed his arms and started to tap his finger on his forearm, then he sighed aloud.

“I’m going to have to place a slave contract punishment on you, can’t let you get away for free. So let’s have the crime fit the punishment. I order you to complete your work on time each day, if you do not finish by the allotted time you will immediately suffer from your contract until you pass out from the pain,” When the maid heard this her face started to fall and for the first time I heard someone shed tears while being here.

Zanlis seeing this clicked his tongue before adding, “And if you ever cry you will fall under the same punishment.”

At the next moment, I heard the most gut-wrenching scream. She had fallen under the punishment immediately, Zanlis and the man just stood there with smirks. The man continued, “Don’t ever make another noise while in the same room as us,” The screaming only got more intense as each second passed.

Then they turned to me, “What should his punishment be? Any ideas?” I heard Zanlis say. I looked between them studying their faces, they had faces of pure excitement. Did this shit make them happy?

They continued speaking while I focused internally. Studying the seal I looked at how much it had deteriorated over the weeks I had been here.

“I said are you listening?” Opening my eyes I saw that the slave contractor had just walked right beside me.

Focusing on channeling my ether throughout my body while concealing it with cycling I started to increase the flow of it. I felt myself get stronger, faster.

I tilted my head to look at the man, I don’t know what unnerved him more. The grin I had on my face, or the fact that my arm had pierced through his soul to the other side of his body. I felt his ether system collapse, no longer having a soul to support his body he was effectively just a regular human.

Bringing my arm out from his torso I waved off some of the blood that had accumulated. I started taking steps toward Zanlis, “The first thoughts I had when I saw you were that of how much I wanted to kill you. I’ve been described and labeled so many ways, but this is the first time I’ve earned the moniker of a murderer,” Zanlis started to back towards the corner of the room, trying to get as far away from me as possible.

I decided to try a technique I only knew in theory. Letting out my ether in the room around me I started to completely overpower Zanlis and his core, leaving him useless and not able to do anything. He must’ve felt my rage and anger due to my ether in the air, and you could see how terrified he was.

He started to stammer and beg for his life. He had a family, a home, people to take care of. I walked closer and closer to him before finally being within arm’s reach of the man.

He decided to try to push me back, but I moved underneath it and brought my fist through the same spot as his companion, shattering his soul and permanently crippling his potential to use ether.

The punch itself had enough force to make his cloak blowback, and without the ether enforcing my body and improving my eyesight I wouldn’t have noticed the symbol within his cloak, a ghastly green symbol of a Krat.

Quinn,

Writhing in pain on the floor I looked up at the two Masters who had now moved onto the boy who had just come to the manor two weeks ago. Trying to turn their attention to me I opened my mouth to speak but screams and tears betrayed my voice. My body failed to respond to my commands as Master Matin moved closer to him.

He said something to the boy that I couldn’t hear due to my screams resounding in my ears. The boy had his eyes closed, probably trying to avoid the sight of my body and the obvious agony I was in. I started pleading to anything that would hear me for him to be let go or at least be let off with a light punishment. I was unsure of whether my words came out or not but I saw the Master walk up beside him lowering his head down to his ear.

All in one motion the boy tilted his head with a grin on his face while bringing his fist right through the Master’s torso at an unnatural speed. I heard the resounding sound of glass resonating, then the sound of it breaking not a second later. The fist, now covered in red, was now visible from behind the Master.

The boy withdrew his fist from the body, soon to be a corpse due to the immense amount of blood loss, and he started to make his way over to Master Rosenin. He took his time, slowly crossing the room, watching as the Master backed his way into the corner trying to escape his ever-approaching fate. The Master was shouting at the boy.

Then I felt it, the boy unleashed a presence of ether throughout the entire room. It felt suffocating to be near it, even though it wasn’t directed at me. Even without being fully awakened I felt suppressed, but more so I felt his burning hatred for the man that stood before him. Then I felt something else, the slave contract that was inside me was completely overpowered, and with the man who placed it gone, it soon faded away.

The Master, no, Zanlis tried to push him back, but the boy went underneath it and brought his fist through the same spot, with the sound of resonating glass and then it shattering filling the room this time much more clearing without my screams to accompany it.

I felt something change in the ether in the room, it was still full of hatred, but also regret. Then as quickly as it came the presence faded, with the boy still looking at the corpse in front of him. He looked at his own hands, and stood there for a while, not moving, or doing anything.

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After a little while he reached down and tore something out of Zanlis’ cloak before turning around and looking at me, his face was filled with a wide array of emotions and I couldn’t make any of them out. He approached me and studied me, and he let out a held breath when he realized I wasn’t in agony anymore.

He knelt beside me and asked me, “Do you want to stay here, or do you want to leave?”

As selfish as it was to ask the man for more I told him, “Please, take me away from here” He nodded before going back to Zanlis and searching through his clothing. He found his coin pouch and then took his belt. He buckled it before tying the pouching to it.

Returning over to me he said, “Sorry,” before grabbing me and lifting me over his shoulder. I was too weak to move so I didn’t complain. He moved towards the window before opening it and started to scale down the walls. Anytime he didn’t find an easy foothold he kicked his feet into the walls themselves to create indents.

When we reached the ground he started to sprint toward the walls the the estate. Halfway there I realized we were making our way opposite the gate. “Gate is on the other side of the estate,”

He nodded before saying, “And so are the guests who made us complete our work before they arrived, I’ll just scale the wall like the manor”

When we made it to the wall he scaled it just as he said he would, I had to hold on to not fall from his shoulders but he made it quite easy. After jumping down from the top of it he asked me, “Do you have any family inside of Willowdale?” I shook my head, I wasn’t even sure where any of my family had ended up. “Let’s get over to town then, you’ll have to point out an inn or something so we have somewhere to sleep”

The way to town was quiet, he had barely said a word besides asking for occasional directions and asking where a fountain was to wash off the blood. By the time we had made it to the town, the sun had begun to set which meant the streets were mostly empty. He had taken me off his shoulders when we reached the main gate.

So we walked through the streets, I had mostly been here to buy supplies for the Maste-, Rosenins, so I never had time to appreciate how it looked. The buildings were close together, with alleys in between buildings, seemingly at random. The buildings themselves were built from wood with the occasional being built from stone.

After a few twists and turns, we made it to an inn, The Galleon, which was a place I had always had an interest in visiting but was never able to.

“I got the rest, just take it easy and try to stay near me,” The man said whilst smiling.

We heard various instruments playing as soon as we entered, and a few people at tables. There were a variety of species, but the majority of people were Kythraxian. We moved toward the barkeep who had just finished serving a Kythraxian and a Human.

He was a Kythraxian himself and asked, “What can I do for you, some drinks, food, or beds?”

“Beds and food,” The man replied.

“Alright, that’ll be sixteen Hals for the night and food,” As soon as he got the money he continued, “There’s somewhere to wash out right out back, you shouldn’t miss it but if you do just ask. The room number is on the key, have it as clean as you left it and we won’t have a problem. Want the food in the room?”

“That would be appreciated,” The man said in return, then moved to where the room would be. He found it and we both entered, it was small and had no windows and only one bed, but it was still a roof over our heads.

“Alright first, you can have the bed, I’m used to sleeping on floors now. Second off, what’s your name I don’t want to keep calling you ‘the maid’ in my head, and finally, what do you want to do now that you are free?” He asked me.

I took a second to collect my thoughts but then answered, “Thank you for getting me away from that place, my name is Quinn. All I want is to stay free and away from slavery.” I didn’t have grand dreams, I just wanted to live free. “And thanks for the bed”

“Don’t worry about it, also my name is Arthur, and I’m sorry for making you watch that… scene,” He sounded uneasy about it, but it was impossible to guess what he was thinking. “I’m going to go wash myself off outside, I’ll be back in a bit. Oh and try to think about whether or not you’ve seen this symbol before” Arthur threw a small bit of cloth at me, seemingly ripped from something, and on it, I saw a green Krat, one of the symbols of the guild Ingratus.

Before I could say anything he had already left the room. Unsure of what to do I went to the bed to lay down and think. Before I knew it I had drifted off to sleep.

Arthur,

The fountain hadn’t washed my hands nearly enough. I still felt the feeling of my hand striking their souls, I still had the sounds of their souls shattering plaguing my ears. Every time I closed my eyes I could still see their faces, the shock, and the absolute desperation to stay alive.

I’d done the right thing, and I knew it, if I didn’t at least cripple the slave contractor I would’ve died, and Quinn right after. My stomach didn’t agree and during the entire time I spent washing myself, I kept regurgitating anything from inside of it. Eventually, I ended up leaning up against the wall of the outhouse, not trusting myself to support my weight.

I stayed there for a while, mulling over things, and making sure I didn’t carry the smell of bile in the inn. I left directly to the room, not wanting to deal with anyone, not trusting myself near them.

When I opened the door I noticed that Quinn had fallen asleep, but the food we had gotten was nowhere in sight, so I left towards the man who had originally greeted us.

He saw me coming and said, “Wondering when one of you would come down, the door was closed and I knocked but no answer. The food’s right there, just make sure we get the dishes back” I nodded and thanked him, then grabbed the food and left towards the room.

When I got there I shook Quinn awake, having a hot meal would help her. I gave her the plate and took my own to the corner of the room.

She seemed nervous, taking glances at me and the door. I wondered why but realized that the adrenaline of the situation just ran out, the ether in her system was probably calming down, and she was most likely thinking about how I murdered those two.

After what seemed like forever of her constant staring she finally said something, “Are you ok?” Well shit, I didn’t expect that. She pointed at my plate and continued, “You haven’t touched that besides moving it around with your fork”

“I’m fine, just thinking about how to continue,” And being a murderer.

“Alright. That symbol from earlier, it’s a Krat, often used by Ingratus. Pretty much everyone in Willowdale knows about them.”

“I’m not from here, so assume I know nothing and please continue,” I said, maybe one thing I did wasn’t a mistake.

“Well, they are an assassin's guild and the biggest one in the country. They have many ranks within the guild, from what I know Krat is one of the lower ones. The main thing all symbols have in common is the same green color, and that’s all I know,” She finished.

They probably just use slaves for menial labor and whatnot. Even so, I had to ask, “Are slaves treated well there?” She nodded. Makes sense, that means Rana might not be in too much danger. If she awakens she might get forced to do assassin work though.

I looked up at Quinn to see she looked scared, “What’s wrong?”

“Are you from Ingratus?”

“Why would you even think that?” I mean, I saved her, killed two people in front of her, tore off a bit of the man's cloak and stole his cash, brought us here, and then questioned what she knew about them…

I’m an idiot, just another one of my many screw-ups. I sighed while knocking my head against the wall behind me. “Never mind, it was a dumb question. I’m not a part of Ingratus, the patch was taken from Zanlis, I’m looking for a friend who was taken by them.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” She said meekly, “What do you plan on doing then?”

“With you, nothing, feel free to give you any ideas, but I have no idea what to do about my friend,” I explained. I honestly didn’t have a lot of options, and as fun as going up and down the streets yelling out their name would be, I have a feeling it wouldn’t be a good idea.

“For my situation, it would probably be best if I left the country altogether. That way you wouldn’t have to look after me while searching for your friend, and Ingratus should find you within the week, you did kill one of their members. They don’t often look over things like that,” Quinn brought up.

If that’s true then it is a waiting game for finding Rana, but having Quinn leave Thaloria is probably a good idea.

“Well I do have one option that would solve a problem that’s been on my mind, and it would help you leave Thaloria while still having options. I could send you most of the money from Zanlis, letting you travel towards Vari. From there you could travel south to Serenith, and let my family know that I’m alive. Then you might be able to stay with them for a while,” I told her, it wasn’t a perfect solution but it did allow her to stay somewhere, while also letting my parents know I was alive.

She thought for a moment before asking, “How would they know I wasn’t just someone lying to them about you being alive?”

I had already thought of this so I elaborated, “Me and my dad have this joke between us, if you explained it to him I know it would eliminate most doubt, and if not there’s something my mother constantly said to me that would dispel her doubts,”

“Will you be ok here?” She questioned.

“I’ll manage, but I do want to find my friends, so make sure to tell my family that they won’t be able to just find me by looking in Willowdale, I probably won’t even be here anymore,” I went on to explain the joke, and what my mother constantly told me, and some other things that would hopefully have them trust her. She deserved to live comfortably for a while, she looked out for me, all that time teaching me, and trying to have Zanlis ignore me.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to set off in the morning, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight Arthur, and thank you for saving my life,” Quinn said.

I smiled, “Sleep well, and no problem, but let’s hope I don’t have to again,”

I sighed, knowing that tonight was going to be filled with nightmares and terrors, far worse than anything I’d dreamt of before. Once again they were filled with the people I had seen killed. Zanlis and Matin both cursed me, with holes in their bodies continuously bleeding.