Novels2Search
Lost Child
Chapter 13: an Island, a Friend and a Gate

Chapter 13: an Island, a Friend and a Gate

This Chapter is a bit different and a whole lot less action then the last.  Also added a Psychological tag to this and beware there is some foul language and violence  in this chapter.   You can find maps and other things at https://yougots.wordpress.com/.

Enjoy.

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“Wake Up!  Hurry! Wake up, we do not have much time.”  Otis heard a voice as he opened his eyes.  

The boy exhaled in relief.  “Good.  I am safe.”

“No far from it.  You need to focus.”  Otis’s eyes came to rest on the blue goat.  The goat sat on the grass, a cigar hung from the side of its mouth.  The cigar smoke drifted out into the night’s sky blocking Otis’s vision of the stars.

“Um...Hector?” Otis coughed.  “Where am I?”  Otis muttered as he surveyed his surrounding.  Otis was sitting at the center of an Island.  It was not very large he could walk ten step in any direction to reach its edge.  The bright moon shone on the violet waters illuminating the surrounding islands.  The islands in the archipelago were connected by arched wooden bridges.  The bridges were wide enough to fit two people standing side by side and some bridges stretched out past Otis’s vision.  Otis couldn’t help but feel like he had invaded a wealthy person’s garden as some islands were filled with flowers, others with hedges and a few with grand trees.  

The goat spat out his cigar.  “Hector!  Do I look like a Hector?  Fool, it’s Henry.  Henry the Blue.  Do not worry about where you are instead worry about where you are going.”  The goat stood up and approached Otis.  “You needed more time.  You are not supposed to be here but we cannot worry about that now.”

Otis began to panic, he crawled back a few steps away from the incoming goat.  “What are you talking about?  I don’t even know what is going on.”

Henry raised his brow and looked down on Otis.  “That’s right.  You never did as told you.  You never watch your footing.  You just blindly fall through life.”  Henry let out a pained sigh.  “But there is no time for that.  Otis, you must listen to me now.  I can only summon your spirit to this plane for a short amount of time.”

Otis attempted to calm himself.  “Henry, where am I?”

The goat’s eyes closed tight as he sighed in exasperation.  “Your body should be reaching the Farg Legion soon.”

“No!  Why am I in this world? Vilenna or whatever it is called.”  Otis

Henry frown at Otis’s unexpected outburst.  “Why are you here?  Why am I here?  What do you want from me the meaning of life?  It’s not like I am some all power being or something.”

Henry paused from a moment before continuing.  “Now about the Farg?”

Confusion was written on Otis’s face.  “The Farg?”

“Yes, the Farg Legion!  You know the things that have captured you!”  Henry cleared his throat and calmed himself down.  “Well this is just a single deployment.  This deployment is led by their ‘Human’ ambassadors.  They are an ancient race built on conquest and enslavement and now they have caught you.  Do you understand the situation you are in now?”  The goat waited for the boy’s response.

“OW!”  Pain exploded on the side of Otis’s head causing him to fall to the ground.

“No! We are out of time.”  Henry shouted said in shock.

Another explosion of pain slammed into Otis’s head and then his back.  

Henry spoke, panic and worry mixed in his voice.  “Otis focus, they have you now.  I wanted you to have more time before the Farg but there is nothing we can do about that.  Otis, you must protect your mind and to protect it you must break it.  Break your mind Otis.”  

Otis’s vision flickered to a celled room. “He is waking!” Then flickered back to the island. The goat was fading from existence.  “Otis use the gift he gave you.  It will be a strong weapon.”  Henry vanished, his voice echoed out over the islands.  

“Wh-what gift?” Otis said through the pain.

Henry’s frantic voice rang out.  “Like I would know!...Ehh um.”  Henry coughed.  “Good Luck Otis.  Be strong.”

Otis woke, he was lying on his stomach in some damp straw bedding. His back was wet and sticky from his half dried blood.  The carriage they were in swayed side to side as it rolled forward.  The screams jarred him into reality.  “I thought I was going to have to beat him to death to wake him.” The exasperated voice came from behind Otis.

“Butch leave us.”  Otis turned his head to see the large gray human open the door and step down leaving the carriage.    “I apologize for my large friend there.  He can get a bit handsy when he gets excited.  After all it was a surprise to us when you spoke English in your sleep.  By the way, who is Michelle?”  

Otis in shock did not register the person speaking to him instead his eyes drifted to the green woman being whipped in the cage next to his.  Otis backed himself into the corner of his cage, his eyes wide with fear.  “Oh that’s your cellmate I hope you will treat her well.  I am sure you two will get along smashingly.”

Otis pulled his eyes from the crying woman and follow the voice to see a gray human.  It was the gray man.  His breath caught in his throat, the gray man’s pressure pushed down on Otis, unconsciously he pressed his back to the wall and slid down to the floor.

[Edgar Blythe - Level??? Ambassador of the Farg Legion]

“Oh do not look at me like that.  We are all friends here. My name is Edgar.  And you are? OH FOR FUCKS SAKE! CAN YOU SHUT HER UP?...Ahh” Edgar adjusted his collar and cleared his throat.  “Hey you.  Go get him some food.”

The whip stopped.  The short gray lizard man turned and nodded in response.  

[Gralinko - Level 32 Farg Legion]

The gray man snorted a laugh.  “I can never say those lizard’s names right.  I just end up calling them all ‘Hey you’.”  He wiped his hands on his pants and grabbed the stool that was sitting outside Otis’s cage.

The crying woman in the next cell caught the gray man’s attention once more.  He spit on the ground and sneered at the woman.  “I try to be a good host for the new guest.”  The gray man mumbled as he rubbed his forehead.

The gray man faced Otis showing a large smile.  The pressure Otis felt before lessened and he was finally able to breathe again.  

“So what’s your name?”  The gray man asked again and held out his hand towards Otis. After a few moments he spoke.  “Well come on.  I won’t bite.”  

Otis edged forward and shook the gray man’s hand.  His skin was dry and cracked like old leather left in the sun.  “Violam.”  Then immediately retreated back a few steps.  

“See that was not so hard. Now was it Violam?”  The pressure was completely released from the room as the gray man sat on the stool.  

“So Violam, was it you who killed the Fire Dragon? Don’t worry I am not mad.”  The gray man looked at him with excitement.  Otis gave a slight nod in response.

“Whoa really?”  The gray man jumped to his feet and walked into Otis’s cell.  “We all saw it fall from the sky.  So how’d you do it?  Wait. No don’t tell me.  Did you stab it in the eye?”  The gray man paused and shook his head.  “No, no too easy for you.  Did you like fake your own death after it ate you then so you waited in secret and blew him up from the inside. Ah probably not, probably not.  It would be much too hot in a Fire Dragon’s stomach for you to survive.  Oh that’s right.  I saw magic.  You were all pew pew pew then boom.”   The gray man laughed.  “Oh I wished I could have seen its face before it died.  I bet it was all Oh No not me how could this happen.”  

The gray man put his hand on his chin in thought.  “You know what I would have done?”  The gray man smiled his eyes looked off into the distance.  “I would have staked its claws to the ground.  Then I would have taken my favorite knife.”  The gray man summoned a long golden knife from his bag and sliced the air in front of Otis.  “And first I would have cut off its tongue, grilled it and ate it.  Then I would have plucked its eyes and made stew for my men.  Finally while it still breathed I would have ripped out its heart and I would...no... We would have ate it raw.”

The gray man looked at Otis again.  “But no it exploded, though I am sure you looked cool.”  He said dryly as the knife vanished from his hand back into his bag.  

A half smile crossed the gray man’s face.  “Violam, I hope you realize the situation you are in.  You have no escape but do not despair you will become one of the Farg!  Hurray!”

Otis let out a hoarse laugh.  “Why would I become one of the Farg?  It doesn’t matter what you I will not join you.”

The gray man shook his head.  “I am afraid you do not have a choice in the matter.  I have been at this for a long time and not to brag I am pretty good at it.”

“At what?”  Otis watched the small gray lizard man enter the carriage with a plate of food.

“At recruitment! Of course.”  The gray man leaned forward and messed Otis’s hair.  “You see this is your situation.”  He gestured around the cell.  “If you accept your situation everything will be much easier for you.  You can trust me, I am your friend and friends look out for each other.”

Otis jerked back away from the gray man's hand.  “You’re not my friend your nuts.”

The gray man was at a loss.  He looked down in a moment of self-reflection.  “Nuts huh?  Maybe you are right.”  The gray man ran his chalky hands down the side of his face and stood.  Flakes of dried gray skin drifted to the floor.  

He stared at the boy.  Madness flared in his eyes and his face creased in rage.  “WHO SAID YOU COULD BRING FOOD IN HERE!”  The gray man spun around to smash his fist into the lizard man’s face crushing his skull in.  The platter of food dropped to the ground and the lizard corpse fell next to it.  The gray man stood over the dead lizard breathing heavily, his back to Otis.  The room was silent, the only sound was the whimpering from the next cell.   The gray man’s breathe calmed as he ran his bloody hand through his black hair.  

The gray man knelt down to collect the food.  He wiped a bloody apple off on his trousers and returned it to the plate.  He faced Otis.  “Something to eat?”  He held the plate of food out to the boy.  “Go ahead you probably haven’t had anything to eat all day you poor child.”

He shook the plate to entice Otis to take it. “No?  Well I will just set it here for now.”  The gray man set it on the stool.  “I will leave you and your new roomie alone so you can get to know each other a bit better.  She doesn’t speak English or Archian so I will leave this book.”  The gray man summoned a book to his hand and sat it next to the plate.  “Don’t leave your food for too long you wouldn’t want bugs to get into it.”  

The gray man exited Otis’s cell and locked the gate.  “I will be back later.  I have a present for you.”  He opened the wooden door and hopped down from the carriage.

After leaving the carriage the gray man shouted.  “Halt.  We are resting here for the evening.”  The carriage and the rumble of movement slowed to a stop.  Otis could hear the flurry of activity from the massive group setting up camp.

Otis scrambled forward to test the bars.  A smile crossed his face.  “They are just metal.” He stood up hitting his head on the bars above him.  He could not stand upright as the cell was a few inches shorter than him.  He rubbed his head as he looked to the green woman.  She wore a tattered white shift that was stained with blood and her hair was dark and matted.  She had her arms wrapped around her knees and her head was down.

He picked up the plate of food and walked over to the bars that separated the shared cell.  He placed the food in her cell and slid it towards her.  “Hey, do you want to get out of here?”  

[Sonashi - Level 25 Farg Recruit]

She raised her head just enough to look at Otis.  “Go ahead and eat.  You look like you need it.”  Her pale purplish eyes held a vacant expression as he crawled towards the food.  Otis watched her eat the food.  “She’s so small and frail how could they do this to her?  She doesn’t look like she’s ate in weeks.  Hey. Hey.  Pause to breathe.”  Otis cast [Holy Healing] on her as she ate.  The plate clattered to the ground as she ran to the far side of her cell, her eye wide with fright.  She stared at the cell door as if expecting someone to enter.

[-345MP]

“That’s right she doesn’t understand me.”  Otis picked up the leather bound book.  

[Farg Language Tome]

“He obviously wants me to read this.”  He glanced at the small woman once more and sighed.  “Why not?  It’s not like it won’t help me to know what they are saying.”  Otis opened the book.  A silvery glow surrounded him and he breathed in the knowledge from the tome.

[Farg Language Learned]

The woman shielded her eyes from the bright light coming from the boy.  “I Violam. No hurt. You? Here leave now.”  Otis attempted to speak his new language.  “That doesn’t sound right.”  The words did not come easy to him and his accent sounded harsh to his ears.

“No, no, no, no.”  The woman shook her head, she pushed her back against the wall trying to move as far away from Otis as possible.  

Otis thought about his words and slowly spoke them.  “Please we must leave, he will be coming back soon.  I can get us out of here.”  His accent was still heavy but he was at least understandable.  

Tears flowed from the woman’s eyes as she pressed even harder against the wall.  “No you mustn’t.”

Otis held his arms out trying to appease her.  “Alright. Alright.  I will not force you but I have to leave.  I promise I will be back to save you.”  He walked to his cell door.  He put his hand on the metal and applied his strength.  The deadbolt snapped and the cell door shot open.  He stepped through and placed his hand on the carriage door handle.  Otis twisted the knob and looked at the green woman one last time.

“But who will save you.”  She whispered as Otis covered himself in shadow and stepped through the door.    

The smell of filth hit Otis’s nose and dirt filled the air as the Farg Army had trampled over the grasslands.  He was surrounded by all kinds of creatures most were gray skinned.  Some were short, stocky and looked close to human but many were not.  They were much larger than normal humans.  They stood at 7 feet with hunched backs, large tusk came up several inches from their lower jaws.  Most had no hair but the ones that did the hair was either black or a deep blood red.  

The Farg army spread for miles in every direction.  His carriage looked to be in the middle of the line of carriages that stretched from the front of the army towards the back.  To the north tents were being erected.  Otis assumed that they were for the commander of the army.

Otis scanned through his map.  “Looks like the closest way out of the Army is to the south.”  Otis crept around the campfires that the Farg warriors were building.  The ones that had their fires going already had a cast iron pot settled in the flames.  Arms and legs of animals they slaughtered hung over the sides of the pots, some were roasted directly over the flame.  They hadn’t bothered to skin or dehair the limb they just shoved it, bone and all, into their mouths.   Otis heard the sickening crunch as he crossed their camps.

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“I should be able to make it to the edge by night fall.  All you have to do is take it slow Otis.”  Just then he felt something warm and slimy under his foot.  “Crap!” He shouted by reflex.

“You!”  A gray dwarf strode in Otis’s direction.  “You, Linnare beast.  Come here.”  The dwarf curled his finger at Otis.  

[Thyg Palehand - Level 35 Farg Legion]

“Yes!  This Linnare comes.”  The panic receded from Otis as he turned to see a lizard man behind him.  Otis silently moved to the side to avoid the Linnare.

[Kavdiir - Level 36 Farg Legion]

The dwarf took out his whip and lashed the Linnare.  “When I say to move you better run.  Now I need you to find your brothers.  Tonight you pest are to guard the gate.   The recruitment officers will be back soon and I heard that they had a good bounty this evening.  Now hurry to do your work.”  The dwarf dismissed the Linnare with a wave.

“Yes elder race.  This Linnare will do as told.”  The lizard man turned with urgency and walked to the north.

After a moment of indecisiveness Otis followed the Linnare.  After half an hour they arrived at the Linnare camp.  To be careful Otis stayed at a distance only close enough to hear them.  The majority of the Linnare sat around their fire but a few were off to the side playing a game with six small bones.

“Brothers!”  The group of Linnare looked to the new arrival.  “Tonight we have been ordered to guard the gate.”

“Gack.”  They all stood in unison.  “It’s that fat dwarf again!”  One of them shouted.

“Yes the fat one gave the order.”  

“Which fat dwarf?  All dwarves are fat.”  The Linnare casually threw the bones on the ground to resume the game.

“It was the Palehand.” Kavdiir answered.

“Gack!  I swear one day I will feast on him and use his bones to pick my toes.”  

“Yes but that is not today.  Today we must guard the gate.  I need 20 volunteers and you Caeanos, so stop gambling and come forward. Count this as a favor because you will lose anyway, you always lose.”

[Caeanos - Level 26 Farg Legion]

“Gack.  Brother Kavdiir you miss the point.  Don’t I look good with the bones in my hand?  It’s all about looking good and you never know this one may win.  Can you not imagine how good I will look then?  Look at my style as I throw the bones.” The bones rolled and settled.  Immediately the other three Linnare playing celebrated and greedily grabbed Caeanos’s money.

Kavdiir sighed as he watched Caeanos put on his best smile while the others celebrated their newfound riches.  “No brother Caeanos I cannot imagine that.”

“Besides are there no Jaldoon that we can pass this task to.”  

“You know the Farg did not bring any of the Jaldoon species on this deployment.  We are the lowest race here and we are lucky to be here to pay towards our race’s blood debt.”

After the volunteers gathered, Otis and the group made their way through the camp.  The group remained silent and upset about their ruined evening until Caeanos broke the silence.

“Brother Kavdiir, you should have seen the tail on the female Linnare I met yesterday.  Oh the things I would have done to that tail.  She had the cutest little spikes on it.”  His shoulders slumped.  “I was supposed to meet her tonight.  Gack! The things I would have done to her would have even made the Yilaid blush.”

“Brother Caeanos this is not the time or place for this but yes I would like you to give me a complete debriefing later.”

The group of Linnare arrived at an open space in the camp that the Farg turned into a road.  On the road were thousands of beasts.  Otis and the Linnare approached a dwarf commander.  

“These Linnare are here for gate guarding.”  Kavdiir spoke.

The dwarf paid no attention the question.  “What are those soulless?”  He pointed at a column of brown eagles that were 5 feet tall.  

An amalgamation answered.  “They are [Superior King Eagles].  My master requested them.”

“Ah yes Butch likes those.  Take them and go to the third column that is Butch’s tent. No No!  Not you with the stupid soulless scorpions.”  The dwarf commander yelled at the group that just entered into the wrong line.  “Those go to the Neuromancers!  Get in column one before I have you flayed!”  

He turned towards the Linnare.  “What do you want?”

“Eh...These Linnare are here for gate guarding.”  Kavdiir spoke once more.

“Why are you asking?  Stop wasting my time and get into column two.”

Otis and the Linnare filed into the beast horde and followed it north.  

“If I had wanted to escape to the south it’s too late now.”  Otis whispered to himself.  He was pressed into the tight line.  He spent a majority of his time focusing on maintaining the shadow that covered his body.

When they finally reached the command tents Otis almost ran in fright.  Dragons, hundreds of them chained to the ground.  There were dragons of all kinds with crews of people feeding them or warming them with fire or cooling them with ice.  Not all the dragon’s had wings, those seemed to have a lower priority, they were left alone and looked malnourished.  Otis noticed a hint of worship that playing in the eyes of the Linnare.

The lines split and went in three different directions.  His line continued straight forward into an open area.  Before they reached the end Otis left the Linnare group.  He crouched and ran on the balls of his feet towards a group of supply crates on the eastside of the clearing.  He hid behind them and looked down the column to see the Gate.  

The gate was at least a hundred feet wide but was only about 10 feet tall.  Looking at the gate Otis did not see the scorched lands the Farg had just marched across instead it looked like it opened into a modern warehouse.  

“What the hell is the Farg doing?”  The gate was split in half, on one side the beasts entered and on the other side supplies came out.  Otis watched as a Linnare led a group of children into the portal.  The children were not human, most of them were a yellow color and their skin looked slick but before Otis could analyze the situation his thoughts were interrupted.

“This one thinks you have seen enough.”  Otis spun around to see Caeanos.  “Oh yes I can see you but why were you following us Linnare.”

Otis removed his shadow.  “I am supervising.  I have heard complaints from the dwarf about you and I wanted to observe your work ethic.”

“Our work ethic?  And how was our...work ethic?”  The last words hung on the Linnare’s tongue.

“Superb!  In fact I am going to have that fat dwarf whipped.”  Otis said with an air of arrogance.

“So you are going to have a Dwarf whipped for the Linnare?”  Caeanos raised his reptilian brow eagerly awaiting a response.

“Yes of course he will be whipped.”

“Gack.  If only it were true but you cannot trick a trickster.”  Before Caeanos could finished his sentence Otis kicked him sending him flying through a supply crate.  “Intruder!”  Caeanos yelled as he crawled to his feet.  

Otis ran to the north trying to escape the camp.  Hundreds of Farg surrounded him.  He lashed out with hands and feet, killing or maiming a majority of those who entered his path.  Otis stumbled forward as a slight pain entered his mind.  Each step forward the pain in his mind increased.  He looked at his Status Bars they were unaffected and at a 100 percent.  His vision blurred, he fell to the ground.  He looked up to see a person in a black robe and a white mask walking towards him.  

Caeanos holding his stomach were Otis had kicked him ran to greet the masked person.  “Neuromancer, this Linnare thanks you for your assistance.”

“Linnare, take this human back to his carriage.  He will not be able to resist for an hour.  So do it quickly.”  The Neuromancer said in his low raspy voice.  Otis watched helplessly as the black clad man walked away.  

“It is all over now.  Get back to your guard duty.”  Kavdiir yelled at his Linnare brothers.  He and Caeanos lifted Otis up.  

Caeanos looked at Otis.  “You should have not done that.  Your recruitment will be much worse now.”  

“I-I should have killed you but you have a date tonight.”  Otis mumbled as his head bobbled around.

“This Linnare is grateful that you did not.”  The Linnare smiled.

“Caeanos does not have a date.  He has guard duty.”

“Does this one look like he is on guard?  No.  Thanks to the intruder I am free to chase tail.”  

They carried Otis back to the line of carriages and upon their arrival they were directed to the carriage that housed Otis’s cell.  

They set Otis’s limb body on the straw floor in his cell.  “Good luck human.  These ones shall see you during your shift work.”  They closed his cell door.  Otis heard the lock sliding into place.

The carriage door shut blocking out all light.  Otis laid bent in his cell, it was only about five and a half feet long and as wide as the cell door, he could not stretch out.   It was the first time he ever wished he was short again.  He was too uncomfortable and tense to sleep.  “So next time Otis don’t be nosy.  You said you were going to go south so just go south.”

It was three hours before his carriage door opened again.  

[3:323:18:34:37]

The gray man stepped into the carriage and set his lantern on the stool outside the cells.  “I try to be respectful, I try to give respect but do I get any in return.”  He faced the cell next to Otis’s.  “Where were you?  You are the senior recruit.  It is your job to watch over your juniors.  Why did you not stop him?”

The woman was sat silent, her eyes wide with terror and her back pressed firmly against the back of the cell.

The gray man sighed.  “Beat her, flay her and make sure she learns her lesson.”  Two short gray Linnare entered into the carriage and then into her cell.

“NO NO I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! NO NO.”  She screamed attempting to push away their reptilian arms.

“Exactly you didn’t do anything.”  The gray man flatly stated and turned to Otis.

“Violam.  Tisk Tisk.  I told you to accept your situation but did you?  So how was your walk in the park?”  The gray man’s voice was just audible over the woman’s screams.

Otis flinched as he heard the dull thud of their fist coming the other cell.  “Stop it!  It is my fault she had nothing to do with it.”

“Do not worry.  Do not worry.  She will be fine, she is a resilient one.  But since you two have gotten along so well they will only beat her.”  The gray man moved the lantern to the floor and sat down on the stool in front of Otis’s cell.  The lantern cast the gray man’s shadow over Otis.

“So Violam, tell me how you learned our language so quickly?  I only gave you the book a few hours ago and here we are having full conversations.  You are quite amazing!  We are lucky to have you as one of the Farg.”

“I am not one of the Farg.”  

“Seriously?  I thought we were past this, you are a recruit now, and you even went for a stroll through the army.  I have to admit we were lucky Gooram was there to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.”

A man in a white mask and black robe stepped into the carriage.  He handed a jar over to the gray man.  The woman had stopped crying but the beating hadn’t and Otis was powerless to stop them.

[Gooram Saurrage - Level 39 Neuromancer of the Farg Legion]

“From now on Gooram will be your carriage’s overseer.  You see I am a busy man with lots of things to kill so I cannot always be here to oversee your training.  But do not despair I have faith in you Violam.”

“Now onto more immediate matters.  Do you know what this is?”  The gray man held up the jar he had received.

“No” Otis whispered.

“Oh good.  You see this world is really interesting.  When we first arrived here we came in contact with the Beastmen.  It’s a shame we could not recruit them to the Farg.  Instead, like the insects, they fought back.”  He waved his hand dismissively.  “Well long story short we captured them and they resisted their training and by resisted I mean r-e-s-I-s-t-e-d.  Unlike you just taking a casual stroll, they got out of their carriages and set supplies on fire and even killed their fellow Farg.  It just didn’t make any sense.  Come on we are trying to teach them valuable skills here.”

The gray man paused for a moment.  “So we poisoned them.  What else could we do?  We needed them to relax and be nice guys like you so we could finish their recruitment.  But here’s the thing some of them were not affected by the poison after a few days.  They just left carriages and made a mess again.  I had no choice I killed every last one of them.  But oh were they tasty.  Right guys?”

The two Linnare and the Neuromancer nodded in agreement.  “Actually we are still eating them.  In fact I think you had some for lunch too.  It was good right?”

Otis’s eyes went wide he remembered the limbs he saw in the pots as he walked around the war camp.  He felt a mass enter his throat which he forced back down.

“We learned our lesson we don’t use poison anymore.”  The gray man noticed Otis’s expression of doubt.  “God’s honest truth we’ve put that poison mess behind us.  Luckily when we were fighting the insects we found this.”  The gray man unscrewed the lid to the jar.

He pulled out a long thin insect somewhat like a centipede. It squirmed and bent trying to be released from the gray man's hand.  “I don’t know what these things are called but it seems like they feed on mana and life force.  I really wish we had them when we recruiting the Beastmen. It sure would have made it a lot easier.

Violam I am not saying I don’t trust you, because I do.  I am the only friend you have in the Farg but these guys they see you running around out there, they get a bit anxious, they tense up and I cannot have that so I need you to swallow this bug for me.”

A pressure filled the carriage as the gray man stepped into Otis’s cage, he could not move or speak.  The gray man’s size completely covered Otis, there was nothing but silence, and it seemed the beating had stopped.   “Don’t look at me like that.  This is for your own good.  Trust me.”  The gray man leaned in and grabbed the boy’s jaw opening his mouth.  

Tears begin to form in Otis’s eyes as the bug crawled down the boy’s throat and settled into his belly.  “See that wasn’t so bad right?  Don’t worry in a few days you won’t even notice it.”  The gray man said as he rubbed Otis’s head.

Otis watched his Mana and Stamina decline and as it did weakness spread through his body.  They continued to drop until they reached a single point.

A golden knife appeared in the gray man’s hand.  “Violam, I am sorry but I have to cut you now.”

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I tried to summon my inner Vaas from Farcry 3 to write Edgar. Hope you liked the chapter. Thanks for reading.

-yougots