Prologue

A woman fell to her knees in the dirt as she carried a large stone she was forced to move from the dig site out to a waste pile that had been created on the far side of the construction site. Her joints screamed at her to stop and rest as she had been lifting these heavy rocks for over a week now with little rest. She reached a hand up to her neck and ran a finger along the inside of the collar she wore around her neck. It was a metal object that The Master had placed there when she came to him for help after the world had changed.

Small pulses of power ran through her as she touched the metal and forced her hand away. Muscles spasming involuntarily, she was forced to stand again as she groaned, struggling against the force that compelled her to obey. As she resisted a presence entered her mind and took over her meager willpower, forcing her to stand and pick up the heavy stone again. Screaming against the pain in both her mind and her joints, she hefted the heavy object again and began slowly to step toward the pile.

“You have no power here. You are mine now, and you will do as I command. Do you wish to return to the outside where monsters can kill you? Where you will have to fight for everything you need?” The voice in her head spoke malevolently as she was forced to do its bidding.

At this point, she would rather try her hand at surviving the world outside this hell hole. This was no way to live, working sixteen hours a day to help build a fortification for the guild building they had claimed. It felt like she had been trapped here for years when it had only been two weeks she was under this terrifying control. Desperate to find a place with people willing to help protect her and help her find provisions, she had stumbled into the camp. The man called himself The Master and promised to protect her from any monsters and give her food and shelter in exchange for her help in building something worth living in.

Accepting almost immediately, she had no idea what to expect, experiencing relief at finding someone willing to help in her desperate situation. She had watched as her friends had been killed by monsters. Running from building to building to find somewhere safe to stay, she had to break into some stores to find food to keep her alive. When she finally found The Master, the idea of simply wearing a collar to show that she was part of the guild seemed like the deal of a lifetime. Never had she been so wrong.

The Master had taken her to a vending machine inside the guild building once she had accepted the invite and purchased a can with a metal collar on it. Others in the guild were wearing the collar so she had assumed it was some kind of uniform to tell who was a member, The Master had even said such. She had willingly let him place it on her neck, unaware the others weren’t able to tell her of the horrors she was going to experience.

When the collar clamped around her neck she immediately felt his mind press against hers. It fought to break down the barriers of her will and was a tidal wave of force. Soon she had nothing left to fight with and was left a drooling mess on the ground. Slowly, over the period of a couple of days, she had regained some of herself, only to find that his will now completely encompassed her mind and she could do nothing but what he ordered.

After she had recovered some, she was sent straight to the construction site, where since she had no skills in building, she was put to work in menial manual labor. If anyone fought against the collar and The Master’s will, they were punished. Anyone who tried to help someone else was punished. Thinking about escape resulted in punishment. And the pain wasn’t just mental. Taking over your entire body, the pain would ravage through the body causing painful convulsions and sometimes even forced self-harm.

This was a nightmare. A living hellscape that broke the inhabitants. Eternal torment where the wearer of the collars were no longer their own people, no longer free. They were at the whim and mercy of The Master and he was a cruel man. What could she do but simply obey and pray that the end would come soon?

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“That’s right. You cannot escape. You are mine forever. I provide for you, I protect you, I keep you safe. You will repay my kindness in whatever capacity you can.” The voice continued in her head, words dripping with ecstasy at her suffering.

This so-called protection had come from other slaves, not The Master himself. She had seen a group of goblins raid the building site at one point, and the answer had been for several of the strongest men from the group to rise up suddenly from their tasks and throw themselves at the goblins as though they had no regard for their lives.

They had no weapons and had to fight them with their bare hands. They were stabbed and sliced but continued to beat the goblins until they were all killed. After, the men had been released from their control and collapsed to the ground. Two of the four men died from their wounds, bleeding out as they lay on the ground screaming and crying at the pain. The others now had long scars from which they had barely healed.

The night was no better. They were all crowded into one small room in the guild building with nothing but a small serving of rations and water to keep them going. The Master also had a terrible habit of choosing the prettiest of the slaves to serve him his meals and treat him as a king. They came to his makeshift throne room to wait on him hand and foot. Several times the others weren’t up to the task and tripped or dropped something. He had beaten them mercilessly for their ineptitude with whips, clubs, or simply his fists. They were also always ordered to do all of the tasks while wearing exotic servant garbs that left little to the imagination so he could leer at them. He hadn’t touched them yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Once, he had chosen her to come to serve him. She had been ordered to hold his wine chalice and to give him drinks as he desired them. She stood behind his large chair and tipped the glass into his mouth whenever he compelled her. Another young woman had brought him grapes to eat and was coming to his seat to feed him when she tripped on a step and fell. He had leaped up from his seat and began hitting her over and over as he yelled at her for being a clumsy fool not worth the effort he put in to keep her. She was bruised all over and one of her eyes had been swollen shut when two young men had been ordered to drag her out of the room.

She couldn’t believe that this had become her new reality. There were times she wanted to end her own life to stop the suffering. She even found a knife one time and planned to cut her throat. Of course, the collar put a stop to that. She couldn’t even get the blade to touch her skin without being sent into a fit of convulsion. And every time she heard the chuckling laughter and snide voice of The Master shaming her for even thinking about such things.

Dropping the heavy rock at the edge of the pile, she finally heard The Master’s voice in her head, telling everyone that was enough for today and to file back into their room for the night. She obediently complied and marched tiredly to the guild building. As she entered the building she stiffened and stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t move and stayed still until all the others had passed her.

Others turned to look at her with a look of sorrow as they all knew what this meant. When the entry was clear, she was left standing there with another red-haired woman and a young man. They all stared at each other with wide eyes, unable to move. As they stood there the voice came to them.

Time for you all to come and show your gratitude for the help I’ve so graciously given you. Lose the dirty work clothes and join me in the throne room once you have changed.” The Master commanded.

The three of them began removing their clothes in the entry room and dropping them on the floor next to them. When all three were completely naked, they found the wrack of servants' garbs and put them on before being forcibly marched down the hall to his throne room. When they reached the door to his room, their bodies pressed against each other as he opened the door. Looking them up and down he moved to the side and gestured for them to enter.

Without a will of their own, they had no choice but to comply, and when they were all inside, he turned to them, closing the door as he did so.

“I’m so glad you are all here. It’s time for dinner service to begin. Do not disappoint me.”