Jack let out a heavy sigh as he hated this part very much

The boy then mustered up his courage and slowly opened the door to his master's wagon.

The smell of liquor assaulted his nostrils, but he crinkled his nose and continued crawling through the litter-covered room.

the space inside the wagon was much bigger than the wagon itself

jack had always wondered about that but he never found the courage to ask

he looked around the spacious room

Tattered robes, used undergarments, and a multitude of empty bottles made it difficult to manoeuvre to the small bed in a corner of the room.

His master lay there sleeping.

He reeked of wine, sweat, and piss which Jack tried hard not to gag on as he crawled closer to him.

He noticed the large scar on his master's cheek as well as another one at the back of his hand where it seemed like someone had broken something

The only substantial furniture in the room was a small wooden table and a large velvet armchair.

The boy looked over to the chair at his master's desk which was covered in papers, ink, bottles, beakers, clips, pens, rulers, scissors, pins, all kinds of junk

He saw his master's eyes close slightly as if he were dreaming

Jack then reached into his pocket

Taking his knife from out of his pocket

"Planning to kill me in my sleep boy" a snarky rough voice echoed in the room

Jack flinched at the voice

He jerked around to see that in another corner of the room opposite of jack and the bed there was a swinging chair

Jack looked closely at the chair

The chair was occupied by jack's keeper and master, Robert Faust

Jack hurriedly jump away from the bed and shook his head desperately as his words failed him

as he did so the bed began to disappear

Jack was shocked

this was the second proof today that magic really existed

"No, really now that is disappointing"

the man got up from his rocking armchair causing one of the wine bottles to fall onto the ground from his lap

Jack instinctually looked at the bottle and realised it was one of the dozen he had stolen for master Faust in the last town.

"And here I thought you would finally show some courage and intrigue" the man continued in his gravelly gruff voice

Robert Faust was a lanky tall man

, with a dark messy mop of curly brown hair.

His facial features appeared rugged and fierce making him look even scarier.

Robert's face remained emotionless, but the corners of his mouth curled upwards showing a row of perfectly white teeth

He wore a black suit, a blue tie, a black shirt, and red gloves.

Robert Faust had a tattoo on his right bicep which consisted of what resembled to a sword.

"So, did you do what I asked ?" The man asked in a monotone voice as he raised his arms and pointed to the knife in jack's hands his voice changed into that of a young healthy man

"Yes, yes!" The boy quickly nodded frantically as he put his knife back into his pocket.

"Good, good" the man said as he sat down again in his armchair.

"Now, don't waste my time boy show what you got " he roared in an intimidating way

Jack took a second before taking a deep breath and walking towards the man.

He held his hand in a clenched fist.

he then slowly walked toward the desk and began to empty his pocket and began to place everything he had stolen from the townsfolk onto the desk

It was truly everything he had ever stolen or been given from the people of this town everything he had to him,

no questions were asked or complaints made.

In fact, most folks had been extremely kind to jack.

Jack had come to know many of them but had kept a distance from others for he was a thief and no one liked a thief

the first thing jack put on the table was a jumble of coins

a dozen pennies, 4 copper crowns and a single solver crown

then he began to take out the trinkets he had taken judging them to be valuables, silver rings, golden hairclip, a jade hairpin, a gold brooch.

All these things he placed on the table in front of the man.

As soon as the last object hit the wooden surface there was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass and a few bottles rolling across the floor.

Jack felt a sharp pain struck him and he fell onto the floor holding his stomach.

He looked up to the man who had just attacked him with a dagger

he was breathing heavily and his skin was flushed red.

Jack looked down at his hands and saw no blood seeping from his wounds.

in fact, there was no injury at all

master Faust had hit him with the hilt of the dagger which he was now spinning on his finger

"This is too little boy it is barely enough to get you but without punishment but you have to try to prove yourself, more show some motivation

This,

this too bad, but you'll be leaving soon anyway." He said in a cold tone.

"So this mistake can be ignored for now"

Jack looked up at the man and said nothing but stood up on shaky legs.

He turned around and started walking towards the door

"Wait! Where are you going?" The man yelled

Jack stopped and turned around

"I will come and get you tonight" he continued

Jack shivered but nodded

The man smiled

"Alright then"

Jack hurriedly got out of the wagon and began to walk toward the town entrance where madam Ester had set up her medical stall

as he made his way through the troupe wagons he began to think about what nightmare the night entailed

as he reached the town gate what greeted him was the most bizarre scene he had ever seen if was so bizarre that the boy even forgot about his pain

there was a naked bald man covered with red tattoos holding a clothed bundled thin in his embrace whilst a black cat rested on his shoulder as he argued with the guard in a foreign tongue

a forgiven tongue he knew of it was the few things master Faust had taught him because they conversed in that language when in public

Jack forgot all about his aching feet and stomach as he watched the men argue,

the guards were taller and stockier than the man

but

Jack could see the fear in the eyes of the guard captain and the rest of his henchman

here was something in their faces that screamed terror and anger

Jack couldn't understand why until he saw one of the men reach out to grab the naked man when a red light flashed on the naked man scaring away the guard

Jack gawked in shock and awe as he witnessed magic for the third time today

the guards drew their weapon and angrily demanded the mage to surrender and be admitted to the lord's justice

but when the naked bald tattoed man refused to say or do anything the guardsmen charged at him

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

then jack saw magic for the fourth time as a golden coloured mist spotted and began to block the guardsmen's attack as they hacked and cut at the man but to no avail as the attack never reached the naked man

the mist was protecting him somehow

when the men had tired themselves out

they stopped and the captain told one of them to run and fetch the mayor

Jack began to beat faster as he saw his chance to escape this hell before the guardsmen could leave to call the mayor

Jack ran forward and yelled

"Stop" he shouted all the men to his surprise stopped and turned to him

Jack gulped nervously but marched forward

as the guardsmen stepped aside

they watched him as he approached the naked man with curiosity and fear

Jack took a deep breath and began to talk

....................................

~POV CHANGE~

I woke up naked, feeling the cold breeze on junk with my back sore and my back aching my neck stiff and my head spinning

I knew I was naked because I could feel the grass on my arse.

I knew it was grass

because I had experience waking up naked in the grass

believes it or not this was not the first I had woken up naked on the grass

only last time I was face down in the grass with a pool of my own vomit next to me

that was not how I expected to wake up,

the feel of cool grass on my unmentionables,

The last thing I recalled was doing well I don't remember what I was doing

I tried hard to think about what could I possibly do that would lead me to

this situation being woken up on this weirdly comfortable, smooth, dense bed of lush green softness.

but the harder I thought the more I felt like someone with a hammer was banging inside of my mind and it made my head hurt

so I decided just to stop thinking about my weird situation

instead, I began to think about what I could remember

for a second I was scared I had lost my memories and this was a case of "Who Am I?" but just with that thoughts my memories came following back

at least I knew my name David Wang no that wasn't correct anymore it was just

David and I had added a mountain to it for some reason

The smell of flowers tickles my nostrils as I opened my eyes

and I can hear birds singing

my senses began to awaken

I open my eyes wider and see the sky above me

'I can hear birds chirping'. I thought

I felt happy

I closed my eyes once again and relaxed as I felt a pleasant warmth spread over my whole body it felt nice.

this place was really peaceful... I can almost believe that this was heaven.

I opened my eyes once again and found myself staring into the wide bright eye of the sun it was burning my face

but for some strange reason, none of this was the thing that woke me up

I wasn't even aware of these things up till a few moments ago

no, it was the urge to scratch my nose because of the strange itchiness and as I thought about it it came back as well something hairy on my mouth

I soon realised it was a tail

I hurriedly swatted away the hairy tail as I noticed the creature it belonged to sitting on my lap

it was a big black cat with a freakishly long tail and no fucking eyes

Have you ever had a staredown with an eyeless animal?

if not let me tell you it is not a pleasant experience

no not at all

I also noticed something else I was holding something in my embrace

how the fuck did I miss that

it was warm, soft, stinking and it was a person to be more exact it was a baby

but what the hell was a baby doing laying on my chest

I looked down and saw a beautiful baby figure sleeping on top of me with a smile on its face and it had pale milky reddish-white skin and she wore a yellow dress

wait wait wait wait wait...

I was holding a baby?

a human baby?

so did I steel it in my drunken stupor?

so I just stole some poor families baby from the mines then what I ran to this place

questions began to follow my a rolling brain

why was I holding a human baby?

what the hell was I doing?!

where was I?

and what was this kid doing on my chest?

I looked around me and saw trees surrounding me,

the leaves were brown and orange and it looked as though autumn had come already which was odd because well there wasn't any autumn in the mines, in fact, I had never been seen any trees in the bloody mines

I glanced back down at the child to find that the child had a small pair of ears that appeared to be unusually round as compared to the others.

I looked back to the child and found that its skin was very fair, pinkish, tender and pale looking and its hair looked silky and fine, I had never seen such delicate-looking hairs on a human before, the baby must be very weak and sick, it must have had no food for days

did I steel a baby then starve it was it dead.

I hurriedly sat upright and grabbed the child in my arms

its body felt so light and fragile,

I held it carefully and placed it on the ground, it was still alive and breathing but that didn't mean it was 'All Okay'.

The child was very tiny but it looked healthy and strong and very pretty

I looked at the child and noticed that she was wearing a gold necklace around her neck but I didn't get to notice anything else as

a sharp husky childish voice that I was all too familiar with sounded out all around me

"Get up we don't have much time they will be here any second"

"Silver, is that you?

where are you?, do you know what I did last night or was it a couple of nights ago?"

I yelled out

"Stupid child we can't stay here for more than a minute or two,

we must leave now!."

"Silver, listen to me for a second will you.

who's child is this?

and how did it get here and how do I get here?"

I asked but

I heard nothing but silence

then another sharp voice rang in my head

"We need to leave"

"No"

I said even though and I heard footsteps approaching and felt like I should leave

" Stupid split child have it your way then the child is yours and it was given to you and you got here through a spatial tunnel"

well that created more Questions than Answers

"Bullshit I have never ever been with a woman in this life and what do you mean given to me......

but before I could rant any longer a roar interrupted me

a roar from something big and angry.

Oh, and I smelled something nasty, pungent and repulsive

I tried to look around to pinpoint where the roar had come from but all I could see was where the tress

" RUN!, NOW!" silver screamed by now I had realised the voice was in my head

I quickly grabbed the baby who decided now was the perfect time to wake up and start crying in my face

I sighed but I decide to just run

but just as I got up I found myself face to face with a woman with charcoal black skin and raven coloured long hair witty pointy ears and back midnight eyes with no whites to be seen anywhere

she was smiling at me showing off her sharp pointy teeth

I gulped as I saw her naked body

the only way I could describe was it was a piece of art

there want an ounce of fat on her body was well-toned in a way an athlete's body would be

her breast were small but fit perfectly on her sexy curvaceous body

she was beautiful but terrifying at the same time

I stood frozen unable to move

"Hello beautiful", the demon woman purred.

"Don't worry I won't bite you"

"You must be Jack", she chuckled

she walked closer and I stepped backwards as she took a step closer towards me but I stayed standing in position

"Don't worry about me, I am only here to warn you of danger coming soon" she said in a sultry voice

I looked around me to try and catch sight of anyone or anything else that might be hiding somewhere around us even though this lady had gotten my name wrong it was still a dangerous situation and for some strange reason silver was quite awfully strangely quite

She smiled even more as she looked at me and she opened her mouth to continue speaking but no words came out of her

"Wait, why are you naked?"

I looked down and confirmed that, yes, apparently I was butt naked

and I also discovered something else

that my entire body was covered in red coloured tattoos, I do mean my entire body I even saw a red snake on my penis

I began to study some of the tattoos I could see more clearly now as I moved my hands across my own body

one of the tattoos on my body looked suspiciously similar to runes and it wasn't just that

I saw dragons, words of English Chinese, triangles, squares, circles, transmutation circles and another two dozen symbols I did not recognise at all

" Good question" was all I could say as I ran a hand over my hair only to be startled

as I realised my hair was missing.

"Uh…"

I felt about my head with my right hand,

my head was balloon smooth.

the fuck

I began to make a quick check with my eyes and right hand as I held a baby with my left,

I soon realised there was no hair anywhere on my body.

No eyebrows, no eyelashes, no head hair, no chest hair, no nothing,

and my heart started racing in fear as I looked at the demons face trying to gauge her reaction by now she was laughing at me and she was enjoying herself

" well it doesn't matter I like it you humans always put too much thought into clothes and other such nonsense"

"Why cover something the world should see?"

okay this just confirm this creature wasn't human

not that I needed that particular confirmation with pointy eras and no whites in the eye thing

I tried to smoothly back away only to find my foot in something squishy and slimy

against my better judgment, I looked down to see I had just stepped into shit

the woman let out a scary laugh

"Oh you should not be scared of your future wife," she said after she stopped laughing

Wait what now, future what now, wife??

was she the one who gave me this baby is this just a misunderstanding of mistaken identity

was there another bald tattoed man called jack who was supposed to here instead of me

I finally began to relax if that was the case simple words were all that needed to be said and I was a Scott free

I gave my best Sunday smile and tried my best to sound as convincing as possible

"Umm. Hello there I think there has been a mistake I am David and is this your baby"

the woman's expression turned hideous as she growled at me

"You are not Jack"

I hurriedly backed away as I saw her nails elongate and the same roar once again reverberated all around me from somewhere deep in the forest

I tried to calm her down I tried really hard but her gaze and stare kept burning holes into my head

"It seems so" she laughed

the laugh was evil, cruel, insane laugh.

I wanted to scream but the screams wouldn't form on my tongue so I settled for yelling

"Yes I am not this Jack fellow"

"and you offer me this child as an apology for tricking me"

"𝔑𝔬, 𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔞𝔴𝔞𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡 𝔦𝔰 𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔱𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫"

A childish yet powerful voice spoke through my mouth

"It is," I asked mentally

she gave me feral smile as she began to back away

"Then you will die manling for you have insulted the true master of the woods of Erindol "

" I have?" I asked and as I said those words realising as I did that I wasn't speaking any language I recognised

whatsoever

But before I had even contemplated on that thought she let out a sharp shrill whistle

"Now die manling," she said her voice changing

then I felt rather than heard heavy thumps as the ground below me shook

a bewildering array of footsteps was running towards us and then the same roar

the roar from something big and angry sounded

this time much closer

also, the pungent smell also grew stronger

I rushed up the narrow forest lane fumbling for my spiritual power, magic, soul force I never got a clear answer from Erebus on what my thing was called.

but Fortunately for me thanks to that hellish training

using it was as easy as breathing,

taking no more effort than moving an arm

I ran my energy through my mind root as I tried to feel angry

somehow that worked anger came me like an old friend and red lightning began to pulsate throughout me

I threw a force shield made of the electromagnetic field around myself just in time, as I found myself entering a forest clearing making a perfect circle

just to see it was filled with ugly little green guys that appeared to be dressed in rags

not the most impressive outfits in existence

They had long sharp claws and they were fast as lightning

they all had different faces but most of them wore identical grins of glee as the green men charged towards me.

oh boy they had me trapped I knew I had to act fast before those monsters could get to me and rip me apart

I held the crying baby closer to me not too tight or to loose either

and just so as a dozen arrows hit my shield and bounced off harmlessly

I charged my golden sword spell form rune on my wrist which was still there last I checked

just as I was about to attack

a hulking mass of green muscle charged into the circle crushing every tree in its path as it wielded a giant club

no is that a tree trunk?

the giant creature was a big ass monster with massive muscles

he had a huge muscular body with huge muscled arms and legs and he had ahead of huge horns like those of a ram but bigger and taller in size

his head was round horn with dark green eyes, pointy nose and ears as well as

yellow decaying yet sharp teeth and it was staring right at me

He was wearing ragged clothes that didn't fit him

One of the green monsters stabbed me with its spear while I was still taking in the scene,

and this one was way more powerful than any of the arrows that came at me

so it was a good thing I'd put up that force field.

Its weapon just slid off the barrier,

although a slight tug at my spirt and mind told me there was a limit to how

many attacks I could repel like that.

Better make sure they didn't get defences

to find a way past my defences.

but just then another monster charged in this one looked exactly like a troll from the stories except he had blue skin and he wielded a rock, no two rocks in each hand

how was he holding them?

"Great, this day gets better and better with each passing second," I thought as both monsters charged at me with a loud roar

I hope the child doesn't go deaf with all this unnecessary roaring