For just a moment, the slaver let go of his grip in a fit of pain. Aleister used that exact second and grabbed the extra dagger attached to the slavers' belt. In one swift motion, he unsheathed it and sliced it across the slaver's neck. More blood spattered across his face.

Is it over? Aleister had to make sure. He pulled back and stabbed the dagger through the slavers' obtuse neck. The body went limp and fell on top of him. Aleister struggled to push it off him. But did and staggered back up. His adrenaline and sense of hope sustained him.

Aleister looked at the body in front of him. He killed this man. And yet, what did he feel? Did he feel remorse or sadness? No. Yet he didn’t feel happiness, either. He felt—nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Tonight ended up being his best chance to escape, and he took. The situation ended up living life free, or live captured, as a slave. It was kill or be killed. And he had killed. Nothing more. Nothing less. Did that make him a monster? He didn't know, but if he needed to be one, then so be it .

He wiped the blood off his face and took in a deep breath. It had never been like this. Was he truly lucky tonight? Well, he wasn't dead. That was luckier compared to most others tonight. He looked up at the moon. He muttered another silent prayer. Maybe the first one actually went through. That would be a first.

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Now what? Aleister wrangled the armor off the fallen corpse and tossed it to the side. He wore the large man’s oversized clothes, making sure it didn’t fall off with his leather belt. Inside the small leather bag a small handful of copper and silver coins. And—an empty waterskin. Aleister cursed the man for having drunk all of his water earlier. He kept the small pouch attached to his waist. Some of the excess cloth he wrapped around his hand. The wound only grazed his palm, but it hurt. Bad.

He tore some more cloth from his shirt and pressed it against his nose. The blood already seemed to clot, but the pressure alleviated some of the pain.

He looked down at the man’s body once more and walked away.

Aleister crawled towards the source of water he heard earlier. He didn't know how much time passed, or how he managed, but he finally ended up at a rushing river bank. Tears of joy formed in his eyes as he dunked his head into the cold water. He lapped up as much of it as he could.He snickered to himself as he lifted his head. His actions reminded him of his cats back home. The rush of adrenaline that carried him earlier faded.

He could no longer control of himself and collapsed. With his last bit of energy, he collapsed and flipped over into the river. Floating on his back. He coughed several times, spitting water from his throat out. This wasn’t what he wanted, but this was the best he was going to get.

Where did the river flow? He didn't know. His eyes started to close. Where he would end up? Dead, probably. Drowning, huh? I would have chosen a much less painful way to go.