I awoke from a beautiful dream about a three-course five-star meal, feeling a poking sensation on my cheek. My eyes opened to dim light as I remembered I was no longer at home but in a cave in another world. Looking around as the sleep slowly dissipated from my eyes, I caught sight of the being who had awoken me from my slumber.
There stood an angel, an elf, a creature only dreamed about in fiction. Long silver hair cascaded around long pointed ears, bright blue eyes framed in a small round face. Her light earth-coloured skin matched well with the emerald green dress that was embossed with golden stitching. I knew there and then, I was screwed.
From my recently inherited knowledge, I understood the basics of the other races from the pompous pride of the Dracon to the honour system of the giants and the mischievousness of the faeries that was inherited by the elves. The cultural clothing she was wearing combined with the eye colour immediately let me know I was face to face with a real-life princess.
I scrambled to my feet and in the best approximation of what my knowledge had informed me was elvish asked “good morning princess, how may I be of service today”
the seconds stretched into what felt like hours as numerous different emotions were displayed upon her face from confusion to amusement before she finally burst out in open laughter.
“Just when I thought this trip into the forest was going to be boring I stumble upon you. Not only did you attempt to speak in ancient tongue but you managed to ask me if it was morning and if I would like to buy your products in what I can only assume is a horrible attempt at the language”
with a laughing princess holding her stomach I realised what had happened, my mind had 3 different languages all trying to fight for first place. The original language of my people, the ancient languages gained from the pheonixian knowledge and a simple selection of phrases from planetary languages that came with the summoning spell, because what use is an army you can't command. Sorting out the jumbled problem would take some time considering these were the first words I had spoken in the last year.
Once again I attempted communication with my broken speech leaning more towards the newer information provided from the transfer “Princess, my name is Jack. I have been abducted from my home and somehow ended up in this cave with nothing but my healing magic keeping me alive”
this statement sought to do a few things. Firstly let the princess know I was a healer as it was a useful ability that might let me keep my life and establish a back story separate from the army summoning.
She looked at me quizzically, in the same manner, one would expect a cat to look at a ball of string. There was no apparent intent to cause harm mealy working out how to best “play” with the object.
“Oh, a healer” she replied, “why would you need to be a healer to survive in such a low-level forest?”
“There are two reasons princess. Primarily because I am level one and also because the ritual that summoned me her has bound me to this cave causing damage whenever I stray too far.” this series of lies added to the proof that I was different from the army summoned and was supported by the availability of spells and rituals capable of doing such. It also allowed a basis for why I would be unable to leave with her. With a coy smile, she reached out to me before dragging me out of the cave.
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One might ask why not resist? Well, its because the five-foot-tall princess was stronger than me. Being identified as level 17 it would make her strength at a minimum 27, almost 3 times stronger than a normal human! Knowing that she was testing me I quickly activated my Ki and started forming wounds on my skin, worsening them as we got further from the cave. When she saw this she immediately stopped.
“well I see it's true you can't leave the cave but that in no way proves you are a healer” she stated with a disappointed tone.
I began to heal the self-inflicted damage using a high tier spell to prove I had chosen the Healing Affinity and thus prevent her from delving deeper into my uniqueness.
“so you are a healer!” she exclaimed “a healer chained to a cave. I wonder why someone would do such a thing? Either way, you are mine now!” she immediately pulled out a wand and after a few seconds of concentration called out “enslavement”.
normally this is the part of the story where the main character becomes a slave to a brat, but if there was anything the pheonixians were worried of during their eventual rise back to power it was becoming a slave. They had developed a special Ki technique that consisted of creating a flow of Ki inside one's own body that would guarantee the failure of any slavery spell. with the added benefit being that as it was a flow of energy and not a spell itself it could be maintained permanently so long as ones Ki was not empty.
There was a grey light the encircled my body, and then nothing happened. The princess looked at her wand then back at me before once more casting the spell with the same result. I was rather amused at the look of utter confusion she had on her face. she could tell from the response of the spell that I was not shielded but that her spell had failed. She could also see from the fluctuation of mana that I was doing nothing to prevent it.
“I guess you must be special” she whispered “I guess that is why you are imprisoned in such a strange manner” I stayed silent and let her come to her own conclusions.
“I have to stay in this forest 'by myself' for a month as part of my crowning ceremony. During this time I will level you up and you will heal me. When I return to the castle I will find a way to free you of this place and you will join my forces as my personal healer” it was with this statement that she believed she had decided my future and with my silence I let her believe it.
The following hours were a strange time as the princess had left to set up her campsite outside the cave where I had, by my own story, sealed the fact that I could not leave. I sought to fix a few of the problems that I could foresee in the future by entering deeper into the cave and using basic magic to carve a latrine and a small pond while the princess was distracted.
Because while I had not needed to crap due to living on earth energy for so long the recent grass diet would not lead to the same result. The timing of my creation must have been providence because almost as soon as it was finished did it need to be used. Feeling relief from a problem I did not know I had or had somehow managed to put aside until that moment was invigorating. I washed my hands and returned to the front of the cave only to see a pouting princess tapping her feet on the ground.
“and where have you been?” asked the princess
“I needed to relieve myself and dared not do so in the presence of royalty” I replied which earned a slight blush from the now somewhat embarrassed elf. She once again turned and walked away obviously trying to hide her emotions before returning sometime later with a horned rabbit and a dagger.
The small innocent-looking creature was hogtied and thrown over to me along with the knife. “kill it and gain some experience, you are no use to me if your level is so low you can only cast a single spell”
It must have been a funny sight seeing a man continually try to cut the throat of a tiny animal only causing small nicks until the health depleted and I could finally put the animal out of its misery because for the second time in one day the princess burst into stomach holding laughter.