Rodrigo didn’t hesitate to throw the first punch. His fist darted through the air. It passed right through the dragon. Seeing this Fred let out a sigh of relief. ~I’ve read enough fantasy novels to know what this is. It’s an illusion.~

The dragon floated into the air. It’s chest puffed out as golden fire fell from its mouth. Fred stood still, arms crossed a smug grin on his face. ~It’s an illusion. I have nothing to fear.~ Fire flew across the ground. It completely disintegrated Fred’s legs.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Fred screamed in agony as the fire burned him. By the time the fire was done with him he had gone from five to two and a half feet tall. ~I have to get out of here.~

Fred fell onto his belly and began to crawl. He weakly pulled himself forwards. Dragging himself away from the vague shapes of danger around him. A hand grabbed him by the shoulder. Something cold and hard pressed against his neck.

“STOP OR I’LL KILL HIM!” ~Kill~ A delirious Freds mind snapped back into place.

“Ha! Like you could kill him!” Yelled Rodrigo. The man pressed the knife deeper into Fred’s neck.

“Just stop Rodrigo. I don’t want to die.” Said Fred while looking up at Rodrigo with pain filled eyes.

“But you can’t die……” Said Rodrigo.

“Please. Just stop.” Responded Fred. Rodrigo looked from the man to Fred for a moment. Before dropping to his knees and putting his hands up.

“Okay. I surrender.” Said Rodrigo in a monotone voice.

The scar faced man tied them both up in golden rope. He then threw them atop of the pile of objects in his cart. Then he turned the cart around and began to walk back the way he came. The dragon followed after him for a few minutes before flying back into the disk causing it to repair itself. Fred laid there atop the cart. Subsumed in agony.

~_______________________________________________________________________~

…

Fred opened his eyes to darkness.

“You up.” Said Rodrigo. Fred moved into a sitting position. He turned to look at Rodrigo’s blurry form.

“What time is it?” Asked Fred.

“The moon just came up.” Responded Rodrigo.

“Oh.” Fred looked down at his legs. As expected they were there. Good as new.

“Where are we?” Asked Fred

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“In a cell. That man had sold us to what I suspect is an auction house.” Said Rodrigo. ~Are they going to sell us as slaves?~

“Can we just break out of here?” Asked Fred.

“No.” Fred’s eyes began to adjust to the light. He could see that Rodrigo was stripped of his

armour. All he had was a wool shirt and wool pants around his neck was a golden collar.

“Our abilities have been suppressed.” Rodrigo pointed at his collar “It’s a collar of sluggishness. It completely fills your muscles with lactic acids and makes it impossible for your body to process them while wearing it.”

“So we can’t fight our way out.” Said Fred. ~Hmm. Can we interact with the guards at all?~

“Have you seen any guards walk by?” Rodrigo shook his head.

“No I have not.” Fred sighed

.

“And I’m guessing that we have no tool other than some pebbles on the ground.” Rodrigo nodded solemnly.

“Yup. Nothing.” Fred’s fist clenched and his body tensed

He threw his fist into the air with so much force that he almost fell over.r

“SO WE’RE STUCK HERE THEN!” Yelled Fred.

…

They spent the next few days just waiting for something to happen. A man would come down to bring them food every now and then but they couldn’t convince him to do anything for them.

Fred would gain a short moment where he would lack weakness at the start of night. But it was always short lived. Lasting only about thirty seconds until he was weak again.

Finally after what they knew as six days based on Fred's regeneration. Someone new appeared.

…..

She was a tall and fat woman. She had to have been at least six feet tall and was cubby to the point that one could not see the difference between her neck and her chin. She stuck a key into the lock opening the door.

“Come with me.” She said. Fred and Rodrigo followed the woman down the hall of the prison. All the prisoners silently stared at them from their cells as they walked down. Eventually they reached a stone stairwell which the women told them to walk up. ~No one should see us now~ Fred gave a nod to Rodrigo. He nodded back.

Rodrigo pushed the woman’s back. Using his height to his advantage She threw her arms through the air and managed to grab onto one of the stairways while falling.

“Freeze” She said while pulling herself up.

Fred and Rodrigo both locked in place. While wiping her hands on her pants the woman walked back up the stairs.

“Did you really think all we did was strength reduction?” She said incredulously her nose pulled back as she said this making her look like an enraged pig.

Fred and Rodrigo did not respond.

“Haaaa.” She snapped her finger. “Follow me.” Without any will of their own, Fred and Rodrigo began to walk behind her. Fred noted a distinct lack of people. There were many large buildings, some of them up to four floors high. But despite this developed infrastructure no one could be seen walking about the streets. It was completely devoid of market stalls as well. So clearly it was not the time of day.

After a few minutes of walking in silence they stopped. Before them was a massive building made completely from gold. It had a Victorian style with a high steep roof and many windows. Which were also made from gold. The woman walked to the door, she put a noticeably golden key into the keyhole and pushed the door open.

Fred and Rodrigo followed after.

~A place with slaves but no people. What’s going on here?~