I was guided from the tent and escorted toward a carriage where I waited for hours. Hours upon hours of waiting for these ‘nobles’ that now owned me and every single second only increased my ever-growing anger.
A person I would call my teacher was who knows where probably just sold like me and Rana. Rana herself was taken right in front of me by a completely mysterious person. The only thing I knew about who took her was the green symbol of a Kratt, which could’ve been the most useless clue, or exactly what I needed to know.
Why was I so useless? I got taken from my home, sold into slavery, and lost a mentor and a friend, all while not being able to do anything. Laughing to myself I even thought about how I could do nothing but wait for these damn owners of mine to show up. Is this what my life has come to? Not being able to do anything about any situation.
Snapping me out of my thoughts I heard a woman’s voice, “It was a horrible showing, most of their stock was either old or sick. At least we bought one, even if it looked a little worse for wear than the others”
“Well dear, they can’t all be like the one from last year, else they would start blaming us for their missing children. Better they do it this way, then at least they blame the wild beasts” A man’s voice said in reply.
When I saw these two turn the corner I saw how they were dressed. The woman was wearing a dress that came down to her legs, made from the furs of something akin to the wind aspect deer I saw during the trip. To match the dress she had jewelry made from what I assumed was its antlers. The man was dressed in a blazer, made from fur I assumed to be from a beast, with a matching ring on his left hand. They both wore hats adorned with feathers from birds and the like.
However, no matter how much I studied them I could only think one thought. I was going to kill them. It was that I was going to escape whatever plans they had for me however, at least for today while I didn’t have my head straight, I wouldn’t do anything stupid.
Then I heard the woman speak again, “Open the door, and be quick about it” I did, as much as I disliked the idea of listening to her orders.
“Well looks like the boy isn’t entirely stupid, we may have picked a good one, and for so cheap” The man’s voice was grating my ears, but as best I could, I ignored the onslaught of emotions I felt. There would be no point in doing anything while surrounded by so many guards. “Sit up front with the driver boy, and driver take us back to the manor”
I heard a lazy ‘yes sir’ from the front while climbing up to the front seat. When I was seated the driver snapped his reins and we were pulled away. For the next hour, we traveled and it was just as torturous, if not more so, as waiting outside those tents was. I now knew the people to blame for where I was.
The driver made no signs to want to talk, either obeying their orders, or something else. I had no problem with this as it let me collect myself, I was a mess. I still had the sleep-inducing poison floating around my body and had just taken through some of the biggest shocks I had ever been alive for. So I focused on something that let me ignore everything else. Cycling ether, this became a constant reminder for the last month I had just spent, refining the technique. When I wanted to try to improve how much I could absorb I had to focus, and it took my attention away from my situation.
Eventually, we arrived at the manor, and it was a smaller one for Willowdale. It still had walls, but they weren’t as high or lavish as some of the ones I had seen before I fell asleep. The gardens were impressive, and the building itself was still one of the largest I had ever seen compared to the town I was from.
By the time we pulled up to the door, I heard the driver speak to me, “Get the master’s attention by knocking, and don’t think of running, there are sentries positioned around the grounds” I nodded, and climbed back down, I then knocked on the door of the carriage before taking a few steps back.
They took a minute or two before exiting the carriage, but when they finally did the man turned his attention towards me. “Follow me” I hated him already, but I did as he said. The woman also exited the carriage and was telling the driver something but I couldn’t quite catch what they were saying.
The man led me through the manor’s main doors, and I saw quite an impressive display of wealth. There was a giant staircase leading to the higher floor, paintings and large windows decorated all of it. However, the man didn’t slow down so neither did I.
He took me to a room on the left wing of the manor, and when we finally got there he made me sit in a chair. Then left after telling me to wait in this room. When he returned he had someone following him.
The new man took a second looking me up and down before asking, “This is the new slave sir?”
“Yes, I’ve already explained it to you, now put a slave contract on him and then bring him to one of the maids. Let them explain everything to him, have no one disturb me or my wife,” and with that the man left, going back towards the halls.
The man turned to me again, this time he closed his eyes for a few minutes. When he finally opened them he sighed, mumbling to himself he said, “No ether coming off of him, so the regular contract should work fine,” Then he started to weave ether.
Two options. First, I could run and or fight the man, this would lead to me exposing that I could use ether. Second, I could wait and let him place the contract, apparently being able to control ether would mess it up or something. This was the decision running through my mind, but I decided to let him cast the contract. It was risky but if it paid out I would be able to keep my ether a secret.
After a few long minutes of waiting while second-guessing myself, he finally completed the contract. I felt the ether come in contact with me and noticed how little there was, but what was more intense was the burning feeling I felt being placed on my chest. After a few minutes of the searing pain, it stopped. I also noticed how the contract didn’t spread from its spot.
Looking up at the man I saw a smile before he finally picked me up to my feet and led me through the halls. I kept my eyes down, just following his feet.
Eventually, we reached where he was leading me, “Alright, since you now have a slave contract I’m going to tell you what it does. If you try to disobey a command from anyone ranked higher than you in this household you will be brought under the burning sensation from earlier. This can also be activated from afar. These orders cannot be in contrast to something already told to you, but if someone higher rank tells you to ignore something someone else told you it won’t burn you. Someone will fetch you in the morning, do not leave the grounds without permission from someone of higher rank than you,” With that, he then left and closed the door behind him.
The instant he left I brought my ether around the slave marking, at first it seemed like it didn’t do much, but soon I saw it start to deteriorate. It was slow, very slow, but it was possible to break the mark. In the end, if I had to break one of their orders, the pain wasn’t unbearable due to my resistance to things like that which came from having my ether veins formed.
I guess I’m stuck here for a while, hope you are doing well, Ghezin, Rana. I’ll get to you, just give me a bit, this contract might cause me a little issue. After trying to wear down the contract for a while I went to sleep, and for the first time in a long while, it was on a bed. It was poorly made, but a bed was a bed.
As much as I had on my mind I fell asleep quickly, With both the drug and the exhaustion from yesterday it was easy. However, my sleep wasn’t peaceful and was plagued by nightmares.
There were quite a few different dreams, but the last one just stuck out more than the rest. It kept replaying Rana getting taken, and then me being sold. Every time it happened I got berated by the hundreds in the crowd. Then when I was sold I was led by a guard through a tent to restart it all over again. Each time it repeated the dream got more distorted, it felt as if I had gone through it hundreds of times before I was startled awake by a knock on the door.
When I woke I was covered in sweat and panting. Looking around the room, I saw where I was and started to calm down.
“I’m coming in now” I heard a girl outside my door say before she opened the door and let herself in. She was a bit younger than me and wore a simple brown dress that went down to her ankles and had a bundle of clothes in her hands. “I’m the maid sir Kathann informed you of last night. I’m here to teach you what you need to know and how to behave inside the manor” It took a few seconds to remember who she was talking about, but eventually yesterday’s events came to me. It was only then did I realized how much that drug affected me.
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“Alright. So what do I need to know?” I asked, thinking that I would just go along with what had happened.
She smiled and then said, “First you need to wash up, having servants that aren’t clean and properly clothed is viewed as improper and a disgrace to guests. I have a change of clothes for you that will replace the rags you are currently wearing. Follow me to where you can wash yourself,” The maid turned and started to walk out of the room. I quickly got off the bed and started to follow her.
She took me through the manor, leading me through the corridors. From what I had seen the manor was quite impressive, easily being one of the most decorated buildings I had been in. It looked different now that I wasn’t under the effects of whatever drug I was given.
After a very short walk, we reach two rooms. “The one on the left is for the female servants, while the one on the right is for the males. Expect punishment from anyone higher rank than you if you go into the female one. This is where you are expected to get ready each morning. You should find a brush somewhere, you may use any that you find, and make sure to not get your working clothes wet”
“Thanks for leading me here” Then I took the clothing she had in her arms and went in the door.
The room itself wasn’t much, just stone floors with buckets and brushes on the right side of the room. I put the clothing down on a stool and went to brush the dirt that had accumulated on my body throughout the weeks of travel.
While brushing myself I focused on the contract seal placed on me earlier, while looking at it I discovered that there was a good chance that I’d be able to break it by infusing it with a lot of ether. The problem was that I would need to stop cycling to be able to break it. Chances are that the person who placed this on me was on the lookout for people awakening, which could also potentially break it.
Mumbling to myself I complained about my drug-induced self. A few minutes later I was satisfied, no longer able to smell the stench that had built itself up. After drying myself I grabbed the clothing and put it on. It was a simple set of pants and a shirt, both being brown like the maid’s dress. Although it wasn’t the best fit I was still grateful to have clothing that wasn’t filled with holes.
Checking myself over one last time and being satisfied I left the room where I found the same maid waiting.
“That wasn’t bad, but don’t take longer next time, else you may be punished. Now let’s be off, I’ll be teaching you how to take care of the gardens” The maid said this then started to move farther down the hallway. After three doors she stopped and let me in.
Inside there was a collection of tools and equipment.
“After you bathe in the morning come here and I’ll be here to give you your jobs for the day, they will all be related to gardening. Do you have any experience?” I nodded, “Good,” Then out of the corner of my eye I saw her body seemed to stiffen, as though she was afraid of something happening. I turned to look at her and saw that she was terrified of something.
It took me a second to recover from the shock of her sudden change, but then I asked her, “Are you ok?” She was about to respond but then suddenly snapped her jaw shut. That’s when I heard a muffled scream as she clamped her hands over her mouth. She fell to the floor, almost convulsing from whatever was hurting her but she refused to remove her hands and scream aloud.
Going through a list of options I had a realization. Was this what the slave contract could do if it was properly applied?
Quickly kneeling I was about to ask ‘Are you ok’ but that is what set it off in the first place. What caused it to activate? Knowing that I could do nothing to alleviate her pain I sat back but kept watch on her. Not wanting to make anything worse for her I didn’t do anything but sit.
After a few minutes of that agonizing torture, her breathing evened out and I realized that she took her hands off of her mouth.
She took a few deep breathes then said, “That was the slave contract, every time a new slave is brought into their section, the slave that came before them gives them the rundown of the entire manor and demonstrates what it does when you don’t listen to an order. Some slaves have orders that cause it to activate in certain moments, meaning you just did the right thing by staying back. There is a certain slave in the kitchen who can’t look people in the eye due to an order. That’s the kind of punishment to expect here. Grab the shears on the wall and follow me”
I took a second before complying. This was normal? Maybe drug-induced me had a few good ideas, including killing these nobles.
It took quite a while, but eventually, I had learned everything I needed to; My owners’ names were Zanlis and May Rosenin. I was supposed to address them as Lord and Lady respectively. My job was that of a gardener, I was to wake up early, eat, bathe, dress, and then head to a storage room. There I learned what needed to be taken care of, then, gathered anything I would need to complete all of my jobs. Going from the storage house I would start cleaning the gardens, keeping them tidy. Only after I finished all of my jobs would I be allowed back inside the manor to eat once again. After I would head off to the kitchens and assist in making meals for our owners and whomever they had over. I would be then sent to the left wing of the manor, the slave’s wing. This is when I finally earned my freedom until the next day. Allowed to spend my time, in the slave wing, however I wanted.
I’ve been living this life for a week now, and it has grown more monotonous over time. However, every night I got closer to being able to break the seal on my soul, and every day I tried to stay hidden.
Today marks my first week completed, I was hoping to be gone from here already.
It started as usual with eating. Meeting up with the other slaves in a room designated as our ‘food handout’ I saw familiar faces. There was a man with a scar on his right cheek, the light green-haired one, and the black-haired maid that I listened to for the gardens. Everyone else was people I was unacquainted with.
I still didn’t know anyone’s name here, and once again the reason was the slave contract. Zanlis got angry one day at a group of slaves serving him, so as a punishment, the entire group could not hear their names without violating an order. So from that day onward any slave just doesn’t use their name anymore.
We ate in silence, as most of us preferred. We want to finish our tasks for the day as fast as possible so that we can finish up our work for the day that much sooner.
After eating we all headed to bathe, which was also completed quickly. Nodding each other off we all headed to where we worked for the day, me heading towards the storage room.
When I got there I noticed that the black-haired maid wasn’t there yet, so I leaned back against a wall and closed my eyes as if falling asleep. However, I was continuing to break the seal inside me, tearing it down piece by piece.
The seal itself was weakening, it was hard to say exactly how much longer I would have to wear it down, but progress was getting faster. Moving ether inside my body like this felt weird, but the more I did it the better at controlling the ether I got.
I heard the door open before I could make much progress, so I stopped purging the contract.
“Let’s get working, make sure to grab the spade and claw,” The maid told me, then continued through the room grabbing various items before leaving. I made sure to grab the tools but started after her.
“You’re rushing, is everything ok?” I asked.
“Just make sure to finish fast today” I nodded, not knowing exactly what she meant.
We got to work right away, getting through the gardens quickly. However, with every weed we pulled, and new bush trimmed, she seemed to get more worried. Everyone here didn’t show their emotions, that’s one of our first lessons, and the one she instilled in me. So what had her so worried?
So I worked hard, keeping my thoughts to myself and making sure we were finished before whatever deadline we might’ve been put on.
We made good progress but she was still worried after an hour had passed. I decided to imbue a little ether throughout my body, keeping within the limitations I could hide with ether cycling. It felt off, for the first time in months I had gotten to use ether for longer than a few moments. Being able to alleviate the bruised limbs, and a good amount of fatigue felt euphoric.
I picked up my pace after this, but I made sure to never go that much faster than the maid. After noon I noticed she finally stopped looking so worried.
On the way back from finishing our work I asked her, “Was there a reason we were hurrying today?”
“We’ll have to finish that quick from here on, I expect you to keep the same pace” I didn’t like her avoiding answering my question but I nodded, “Good. Also, I’ve told you before, don’t pry into things that you aren’t directly involved in. Oh and expect some new slaves to join you in your room. Got lucky you got your own for a few days”
Well, I was involved, and as much as I wanted to say it, I stayed quiet.
I’ll be gone faster than the rest of them anyway, space would turn out for the best.
So I finished up with all the rest of my duties for the day. Returning to my room, I collapsed on the bed. Having my body almost subconsciously work on making the contract deteriorate I thought to myself.
How long had I been away from my home, two or three months now? How much longer would I be here? What was I doing? I am planning on searching for Ghezin and Rana, but I doubt I can help them. The only thing I had figured out was that Rana had been taken by a guild of some sort. Ghezin was who knows where and he could’ve been sold in a different city for all I knew.
Yet I wouldn’t stop, I kept listening to those around me. I was begging the gods that I would hear something about either of them, no matter how slim the chances were.
I was a wreck, inside and out, but I don’t know how to fix it.