Chapter 7:
Out in the city, Oliver saw many things. A group of goblins digging holes in the park, a giant cyclops that made its home in the Jefferson memorial, and a giant snake the size of four subway cars, he had to hide in a building for that beast. Other than that, the monsters weren’t actively hunting for anything. All seemed to be making their new homes.
“Well, I suppose that's logical, but it's not necessarily bad, it means they’ll be staying… and I can harvest their bodies of anything valuable.” He thought, his signature grin of greed appeared on his face.
He stopped, there was something that just passed him, it was fast, very fast. “Shit” he thought, there wasn’t much that could match him in sheer magic power, but something his eyes couldn’t see, was something his fireballs couldn’t hit.
Again, it dashed by, this time Oliver noticed something a few moments after the shadow passed, it was blood. His right arm was gushing out blood, he didn’t feel it, only saw it. It wasn’t that he was high on adrenaline, it was because it happened faster than his brain could recognize a change in his body. (which is pretty damn fast)
More cuts of varying size kept appearing on him, his chest, his arms, his legs, his face. Cuts all over him, and then, all the pain suddenly was processed by the brain, and that amount of sheer pain and information that was sent to the brain in an instant was enough to kill a man.
(Thankfully, Oliver was the main character and had plot armor equipped at all times, so he only passed out.)
***
Oliver opened his eyes slowly, his vision was red as blood and his body looked nearly dead. He wheezed in pain, looking at his surroundings he saw stone, or dirt, he couldn’t tell, but he assumed he was underground.
“How foolish I was to wander around this lawless city.” He thought in anguish as the sound of a door opening was heard from behind him. Approaching from this open door was a young man.
“Here… let me help you.” The young man said, holding out a pendant that glimmered bright green. In nearly an instant all the pain faded and Oliver could see perfectly, he could feel his wounds close and a wet mist came from them.
“Wh-who are you?” Asked Oliver still slightly wheezing. Though his wounds were healed and he knew it, they still felt… off. This was a new experience for Oliver, he had no idea something like a magic stone that healed people could exist.
“Damn, the mana was all used up.” The young man said with annoyance in his speech. Now that Oliver's eyes weren’t blinded by blood, he could see the man holding the green stone, its glimmer now faded. The young man had Blond hair, blue eyes, and was quite tall, though he looked to be only a few years older than Oliver.
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“What happened?” Oliver was about to ask, but then he saw chains on his wrists and his legs were also chained to the wall adjacent to the door the young man had entered from. Oliver quickly knew what had happened, he had just been kidnapped. After a full recovery, Oliver saw that his military gear he had put on was no longer on his body, instead, he just had his underwear and his undermost shirt on, as well as a dark blue collar with a white gem in the middle.
“Why did you attack me?” Oliver said, now preparing to attack with a volley of fireballs. Suddenly, his neck was squeezed by the blue collar and the white gem glowed intensely.
“Haha, that won’t work.” The young man said with a grin.
Then another man, slightly older than the first, walked into the room. “Don’t tease the prisoner, Alexander. He’s already about to suffer enough.” The man said. He was rather large in the belly and wore a white suit with an icy blue tie, and behind him walked a little fox.
“A fox?” Oliver asked, because it was the most important thing in the room. He had to talk about it.
“Ha, yes, this is taco and he eats soft tacos.” Said the fat man. “Taco, say hi to the slave!” He bent down and pointed to Oliver.
“Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeling, Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeling, Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeling” Sang the fox.
“What does the fox say!?” The fat man and Alexander started to sing. “Wa-pa-pa-pa-ap-pa-pow, Wa-pa-pa-pa-ap-pa-pow, what does the fox say!?”
In reality…
“A fox?” Oliver asked, because it was the most important thing in the room. He had to talk about it.
“Ha, yes his name is taco.” He bent down, “Say hi to the slave, taco!”
“Hisssss” It hissed.
“Heheh, he’s just scared of you, but he shouldn’t be, because that collar around your neck blocks your mana. We found it in the boss room of a dungeon. It’s called a slave collar and allows us to control everything you do!” Said the fat man, picking up the fox and stroking its back fur. “Hahahahahhahaha” He started to laugh.
“Mr. McCarthy, what are we going to do with him?” Asked Alexander, “Are we going to use him as bait?”
“No, you blubbering idiot, he’s a mage, and he’s got lots and lots of mana, we can use that power to attack our enemies.”
“What enemies?” Asked Oliver, standing up off the floor.
“Oh, someones back to full strength.” Said McCarthy.
McCarthy then gave Oliver a brief summary of his current situation. Yesterday, when the changing took place, McCarthy had spawned in DC, next to the Air Force Monument. He traversed the city and found a few lackey’s in need of a leader. With the help of his Ice Affinity, McCarthy was able to create his own little compound, of which Oliver was now in. About 50 people were under McCarthy, some strong looking for a leader, some weak looking for a savior in the apocalypse.
But not all was good, their camp, though quickly set up, was attacked by bandits, their mages burned the camp and took a lot of supplies. McCarthy was able to keep control over his group and vowed vengeance against the bandits. Amongst the items stolen, there was also a teenage girl, her name was Venessa. McCarthy had taken a liking to Venessa, not in a sexual way, but as a daughter. He had never had much family and he wanted one, so he made one. The bandits camp is currently stationed in the museum of natural history and had made it a fortress.
“And that's it, that's been the past two days. But today, I think I’ll just order you to cause some havoc for them. If you can mildly inconvenience them, that would be great, other than that, I don’t want to make you do manual labor for the rest of your life, so after that I’ll release you from the collar… Deal?” Asked McCarthy.
Oliver thought for a while, it could be a suicide mission, but he had no desire to be another mans slave. “Fine, I’ll terrorize these bandits and you’ll release me?”
“Yes, that's it, pretty simple,” He smirked as if this was definitely a suicide mission, “right, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Blaze McCarthy. What's your name, son?” Asked McCarthy.
“Oliver… Oliver Briege.” He said confidently, holding his chains up to his captors. He thought about his chances of escape and how he would pay back his kidnappers' kindness.
“Well then Mr. Briege, it’s a pleasure doing business with you.” Said McCarthy, smiling as Alexander unchained the prisoner.
“Yes, this should be fun.” Said Oliver, “But let it be known, I will pay back your kindness a thousand fold.”