Φ As I wake up, I try to move my body and realise my hands and feet are restrained in the cuffs we use on prisoners. I turn my head to see that the rest of my employees are also bound behind me. We are in one of the small caves next to the main area, and I see parts of my body are frostbitten.
“Hi there, I heard you woke up,” is what the white-haired boy who knocked me out says, as he walked into the room. Behind him is a large group of the rare prisoners we bought.
Seeing them, I realised this legacy must have been from their village. It’s the only reason I could think he would be here. That bastard Cole couldn’t have missed a legacy. This must have been some plan to overthrow me, I swear next time I see him, I am going to gut him alive.
But I can’t worry about that right now. My first and foremost concern is getting away from this little brat. “Just a second ago. It’s nice to meet you. I am Sparrow. What’s your name?”
Squatting in front of me, the boy says, “A person like you does not need to know, now let’s not beat around the bush. You probably have a good idea of what I want to know. Where are the rest of my people located.”
“What do you mean, people? I don’t know whom you might be talking about.”
The boy strikes me on my head, and says, “You are very well put together for a bandit. Let’s not do pretend that you haven’t put two and two together now, using all the working brain cells in your rotten head tell where are my people, I don’t have time to waste.”
“Now tell me, why would I have to do that.”
“Oh, so you aren’t scared for your life.”
“Don’t bullshit with me. I have already realised that you don’t kill people, so that is an empty threat. You need my help to find your friends, so as long as we keep quiet, you have nothing over us, and your friends are gone forever, so why don’t you get off that high horse.”
With this, I have evened the playing field. All the people behind me know the number one rule of our group is only to do what I say. I have domesticated them nicely, so with all this, I should be able to make a deal with him so I can get out of this situation.
As I am about to propose a deal, I look at the boy’s face, and he is palming his hand against his face. “So that’s how you want to play it; fine then,” the boy says as he walks over to one of my men.
“Back during the fight, you were commanding a lot of the soldiers,” is what the boy says to my right-hand man Kac.
But like I have instructed them to do, he keeps quiet.
“So, you are not going to say anything? Fine then, I didn’t want to talk either,” the boy pulls down Kacs pants and puts his hand near his crotch while looking at him with a big smile.
I hear a freezing and shattering sound followed by Kacs ear-shattering scream. What the hell did that little boy just do?
“Stop whining. You’ll live.” He then walks near one of the women and says, “I guess I can't do the same to you, but I have other ways. Maple, hand it over to me.”
A little girl comes over to give the boy a feather. He plunges into my employee’s leg, which causes her to scream hysterically.
“This feather will put you in extraordinary pain until it bursts your blood vessel, and you die, scary isn’t it, but I won’t let that happen to you.” As he says that, he then freezes and shatters her leg.
“See, now everything is all right.” The boy then walks back up to me and says, “All I did when I was younger was read, and those books taught me a lot about human anatomy. You would be surprised how many painful things one could do to your body without killing you. You were right. Under no circumstance will I let you die, but remember, you can only suffer while you’re alive. So, I ask you again, where are my people?”
I am left unable to think due to my fear and the screams of my employees. So, I say, “They were all sold to Basileia, the city of crystals.”
“What’s that,” the young girl said.
“I believe it is a mining city. From what I know, it produces scarce crystals and gemstones. Why would you sell all of them there.”
“They always look for the physically strong worker, and the men from your village fit the bill.” As I say this, I see the people behind the boy getting angrier, and the boy’s hair turns red.
“Among the other slaves, where did you sell their families.”
“I sold them to a general merchant who sells slaves to high-end customers and gives me a percentage of the sale. I have no idea where any of them would be now.”
“Dammit. You answered all the questions, so your life is secured.”
“Thanks, I say as I bow my head.”
Standing up, the boy puts his foot on my head and says to everyone, “Now, everyone, look down at the pathetic sight of the one who was once your leader. I ask you this; what good he is to you? Now he has lost everything and can no longer protect or feed you. You are now all lost sheep with nowhere to go, but don’t worry; I will take care of all of you.”
As the faces of my former employees lighten up, the boy says, “Under one condition, you must want to better yourselves, because if you don’t see anything wrong with your ways and think this life you led is good. Then just like the animals you are, I will feed you to Willow, but if you want to be a human, raise your voice and say sorry with all your heart.”
Expectedly all of my scummy employees shout, “SORRY!”
“You mean it.”
“YES!”
“Good then, now it’s time for some punishment.” As these words leave his mouth, my employees’ faces immediately sour.
“Come in, everyone,” the boy says as the remaining slaves we have been keeping come in.
“You guys have all agreed to better yourselves, but before reform comes punishment, each of you will lose an eye, a limb, or a sexual organ. Depending on your crime, you might lose multiple or all three, and the fine men, women, and children behind me will be helping with this process. Don’t worry, guys I won’t let any of you die since your mine from now on, so let’s get through this”
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The boy then walks up to his first victim, who says to the boy, “Why are you doing this? We apologised”
“I know you did, but I must give you a constant reminder of your crimes. Just like how some of you have left a scar of these people that will never fade, I will do the same to you all, so let us begin.”
And with those words, the boy started to reforming(punishing) every single one of my former employees. I have heard the screams of hundreds of people, but they have never been as bad as the ones I heard on that day. It serves you right, you backstabbing dickheads.
-Break-
Φ “Ahh, and with that were done,” I say as I walk out of the punishment room and meet everyone.
“Orb, you took your sweet time.”
“I had to be thorough, but I am sorry we won’t be wasting any more time. I plan to set out for Basileia tomorrow.”
“Orb, isn’t this too soon? You should rest,” Pine says to me.
“I can rest on Willows’s back, but right now, I need to get there as quickly as possible, we don’t know what conditions everyone is working with, and I don’t even know how long it will take me to get there, so I can’t waste any time.”
“Then let us come with you.”
“This is a stealth mission, the fewer people we have, the better, so Willow and I will be enough.”
“Orb, but that’s.”
“Don’t worry, Pine. I will keep an eye on him,” Maple says.
“I don’t know about that. It will be too dangerous.”
She hugs me and says, “Orb, I have two friends left; please don’t make me worry about you both.”’
Letting out a sigh, I say, “Well, you do have good eyesight.”
“Really, yay, but Orb, how will you get there without knowing the way?”
“I have a vague idea of where it’s located, and I will have that scummy piece of trash help me,” I say pointing to the former boss.
“Huh”, I hear him say, shocked.
I go up to him grasping my hand around his chin, saying, “You didn’t think I was going to leave you here so you could start an insurrection. You and I are going to be having lots of fun together from now on”.
“Umm, sir Orb.”
I turn to see who called me to be greeted by the remaining slaves we saved.
They bow and say to me, “Thank you so much for helping us.”
“You shouldn’t thank me for doing something so obvious.”
“No, but still, we were all in a completely hopeless situation, and you came to save us from that, so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
“You’re welcome then, but I am also sorry for not being able to locate any of your friends and family who have been sold off.”
They stop bowing and face me with warm expressions, saying, “That’s our issue. We will locate them ourselves. You have done more than enough for us, so please don’t blame yourself for something out of your control.”
“Ok, I understand, but just so I can help you, you can take as many lupas as you need. We don’t have much use for them.”
I hear Sparrow make a noise behind me. I turn my head in his direction and say, “Is there a problem?”
Shaking his head from right to left. I then turn around to face the crowd again.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I am, and you shouldn’t second guess good blessing.”
“Thank you so much. I swear to you, if you ever need help, call on me.”
“Me too.”
“Me as well.”
“Call on any of us.”
“I will if I ever need to.” With that, we ate, rested, and rejoiced the rest of our day away.
-Break-
So, the next day, we prepared to pack everything we would need for our travel and check off a few things.
First, we ensured that all the warriors were physically strong enough to take on all the bandits. During the exercise to test if they could beat them, the female warriors looked like savage beasts brutally ravaging children. Bandits, rest in peace.
Second, we sent the first group of freed slaves on their way with a map of the tunnels.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait till you get a bit better like the rest of the people here?”
“Thank you for your concern, but many of us want to get home as fast as possible.”
“Well, I can understand that. Be safe, and please don’t tell anyone about this place.”
“We promise that we won’t, and yet again, thank you for everything, Orb.”
“No problem; Bye now.”
“Bye.”
Third, we had to find Willow some food since he looked depressed. Lucky, we found some ignamoles digging holes and feed them to him. He looks extra adorable with the blood of the cowardly ignamoles splattered across his face.
Finally, we had to say our goodbyes to everyone.
Some slaves didn’t have anywhere to return to, so we let them stay with us, “Pine, they have been through a lot, so none of your austere treatment.”
She grabs my cheeks and pulls on them hard, saying, “You think because of all you have accomplished, you can take that tone with me, boy.” Pine soon puts me in a headlock.
“I am sorry for my disrespect, queen.”
“That’s more like it.”
This old lady almost killed me. “Everyone, I hope you will fit in with my family. They are all nice, and I will return with many more. I hope I can see more of you guys smiling when I do.”
They shake their heads in affirmation of what I said. They all have such desolate expressions. What kind of person would do this to them? Well, I know who that person is.
I walk over to sparrow, who is still in chains. After removing them, I tell him, “It’s time to go but first, some insurance.”
“Insurance?” He says as I pull down his pants.
As he shouts “NONONO”, I stuff snow down his butthole, then say to him, “It is a bother to keep you in the chain all the time, so this is my way around that.
If you so much a step out of line once, I will turn all that snow into ice. If you make me do that, you will have snow blood and shit leaking from your ass for the rest of your life, so I expect complete servitude. You got me.”
“Yes, Orb.”
“When did I give you permission to say my name.”
“Yes, master.”
“LOUDER.”
“YES, MASTER!”
“Good to hear.”
“I am ready, Orb,” Maple says as she comes to me with her bags packed.
I laugh as I see Maple carrying a multitude of overpacked bags.
“Why are you laughing at me.”
“No reason. I am sorry.”
“Well then, stop wasting time and let us go,” and with those words, we all jump on Willow and head off.
“BYE, EVERYONE,” Me and Maple say as we wave goodbye.
“HAVE A SAFE TRIP!”
“BRING BACK MY BROTHER AND EVERYONE ELSE!”
And just like the wind, we were gone. As we raced off through the tunnels, Sparrows said, “Umm, master.”
“What is it”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask Cole to show you the way?”
“He couldn’t if he wanted to because he is dead.”
Sparrow mumbles, surprised, “So he isn’t a traitor.”
“Why would you think he was a traitor.”
“Because I thought there would be no way he could have missed two legacies like you guys, and this was all a trap for us.”
“Wait, two legacies.”
“Yes, you and the girl, since you both have two eye and two hair colours, that is the sign of a legacy. You’re inheriting the eye and hair colour of the other soul inside your bodies.”
“So, I can do things like Orb.”
“To my knowledge, yes.”
As Maple starts jumping with joy, I ask Sparrow, “What else do you know about Cole.”
“Well, I know his parents committed a grave crime which left him with an absurd amount of debt. I know he also had a little brother.”
He had a family. “Do you know what has become of his brother.”
“I couldn’t tell you, the country he used to live in was conquered by the Holy nation of Gevurah, a little under a year ago. Since then, I have avoided that place like the plague.”
“I see.”
“Though if I had to say something about him, it is that he would stop at nothing to pay his debt off, which is why the fact he didn’t sell you two legacies is strange to me.”
“Why would that be.”
“Because if he did, without a doubt, he would have paid off his debt and probably had some change to spare.”
Sparrow’s words run through my head. Cole, what where you are trying to accomplish with these contradictory actions? Why didn't you come to me if it was something I could help with?
But I can’t worry about this now, Willow, Buloke, Oren, everyone, I am coming.
Name: Sparrow Uila
Age: 38
Birthday: Cancer
Hair: Short curly, and Brown
Eyes: Red
Height: 173 cm
Likes: Money, Women who like money, gambling, kids who want money, cigars
Dislikes: Righteous people or ideas, people who don’t want money,
Name: Ignamoles
Height: 220cm
Type: Omnivore, wonderbeast
Description: large mammals adapted to subterranean lifestyles. They have pear-shaped bodies, brown fur, inconspicuous eyes and ears, large hindlimbs, and a mouth on each arm which they use to consume the ground.
Fact: they are extraordinary cowardly and are scared not only of all other creatures but themselves, so they avoid large pools of water where they can see themselves and instead stay in deep dark tunnels underground