Quest 2, Part 8: [Captured?]

So let’s assess what is happening now. A few angry big guys shot me down from the sky. My body is not that damaged, the only thing that keeps me from acting is the torturing pain and the shackles. 

About the shackles. They seem to use some low level rune since they were unable to level themselves up in this zone to be able to use high level characters. Or they just don’t know how to do it. They drain my magic power a bit quicker than it regenerates, I should have… a day with the current reserves at seven tenth. I can’t use spells for some kind of reason. Does it block my veins? I should learn more about biology. Oh, right, my body should be different than humans', there should be another reason. 

What is small, made of mana and is inside my body? The command that gathers the magic should be also made of mana right? I think my nervous system is working based on magic instead of electrical signals. Maybe it stops the signals my brain sends to my body... If this theory is right, I should be able to use a stronger spell, or shoot it from my head. The latter is a big no, I don’t want to blow off my own head. In theory it should be the same, but who knows.

I grit my teeth and turn on my stomach. From the pain my eyes shut tight as I try to lift up my body. From my actions the men unconsciously take a step back in daze. The throbbing sensation is not the worst my body ever felt, but erasing bad memories came with erased pain tolerance. I’m quite a sheltered person from this angle. The unusual sensation of pain almost eats my brain, but it also makes me feel alive more than than I’d like it to. I don’t want to develop a weird fetish from such agony. When I manage to stand firm and collect the will to open my eyes, I see that all of them show a quite hilarious face. For me, at least.

“What? Never seen a fairy shot in the heart?” I ask painfully, but realise that my clothes are rather torn, I probably look like some kind of creepy girl from the bottom of the well. Even my hair seems to be missing some parts, and this strange blood…

“Quite softie murderers, aren’t you? What, won’t you take this captured, fragile little girl home to your basement?” I take a step towards them while grinning as a madwoman. I’m sure that I don’t have to act to look like one.

The one who probably put these crappy toys on me recovers from the unexpected shock and starts to calm his partners in crime down. Although he has some prestige and charisma, he is only capable of instructing such dumb henchmans. He seems rather useless to me, not that I pity him.

“Calm down you bastards, if she had the power to kill us we would be dead already. You, put a bag on her face and tie a rope on her hands.”

As he instructs, the one who is tasked of handling me fearfully closes on me. Hey, I could just kick him, my basic strength is high enough to kill them like that, it’s still a game world after all. Probably. I’m not sure, let’s not try it out just yet. 

“If you do what we say, we won’t hurt you. The leader told us to bring you to him if captured alive.” Hearing these words I decide to let them take me. They don't seem like influential people among the rebels. If so, how did they get a hold of a -khm- high tech -khm- weapon? There should be something to it, or maybe a simple ability based hierarchy? If so, they lack people more than me. Well, that’s a given. 

I don’t really fear them, but I’m not in the best condition at the moment, I admit that. When my body regenerates and the pain lessens I’ll be able to fight much better. I don’t want to take any chances. Still, I should instill fear into them, it will make the situation easier to handle later on.

“Please be gentle.” I say with a sadistic smile that is probably very scary for them right now, while holding my hands in front of me in an X shape for them to tie.

Just wait, you bastards.

The man with the leather rope flinches at my comment but quickly does his job without touching my skin even once. It is acceptable, but they just don’t fear me enough. If they take me to their leader it will save me a lot of time, I’ll gladly endure some bad treatment. There is one thing I’m not sure about. What if they touch my face? Maybe I can use mind magic on them normally. I should test it… 

Oh, this flash of idea is something that should burn down at the depths of the lava, at the bottom floor of hell... Let’s forget it. 

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The dusty sack covering my face stinks like the men that “captured” me. Ah, this humiliation, how will my little heart survive it? I’m not that fragile. When I break there will be more blood that a vampire sees at his wedding. 

The walk is nothing too interesting and I’m glad that those two dumb pets are unable to find me. It seems I pampered that hatchling a bit too much, I’m too fond of cute things. It’s in my favor now, but what if I’m really in a pinch? They will be useless. I need to train them harder when I get back. 

After a few hours of not tiresome walking I feel the temperature drop and the sun hide. The light echo of our footsteps and the humid air indicates that we are underground. This is the reason it’s hard to find them. They somehow dig deep holes everywhere. They have extreme talent at digging holes. There was a whole little city in one place with fifty people. I closed all entrances with earth magic and hardened it enough so they couldn't escape and no air could pass through. Dogs die dogs' death. Moles, in this case.

The weaklings take a short break after entering, they are out of breath. I sometimes wonder how are they still alive even if I know the answer. There should be at least one genius and a few outstandingly powerful people among the rebels. They should be all new characters though, the only immortal playable character is mine and there were no other testers using this race. Even if they are high elves, five hundred years is the limit. The castle buffs can only lengthen my NPCs' lives for a few hundred years at best. Vitality and self-regeneration is a big part of the evolution.

I still have no idea why did my own characters become npcs. My best guess is that the world couldn’t leave the city without leaders, if all of us are gone, the city will fall in a day. 

However, now, things are different. I told Neth the truth already. The NPCs are behaving like real humans. They are real, in a sense. They have feelings, they love, hate, and the most important, they are greedy. They all want a piece of the cake, the wealth known as Aurora, meaning me. The city and the surroundings are one thing, they would kill to be able to own such lands. Instead they want everything. A high leveled zone, the strongest people, a heavily fortified and modern city, technology. 

The biggest thing is still the Castle itself. The many things I’ve collected in my life are well known. No, it is a legend. The castle fitted with gold and jewels, filled with unimaginable amount of treasures. If this is not enough to the greedy, there is still left, the greatest assets. The Royal Library containing almost all existing books in this world makes even the wisest kings and sages go blind. From fiction to god level magic theory, from basic spells to dragons’ secret magic techniques. 

And all these are owned by a single person, who looks like a pampered, small and naive little girl. A beautiful young fairy maiden waiting to be murdered or extorted.

I puked on my table from all the letters of marriage proposals I’ve got in the last week. For some kind of reason, the whole world wanted suddenly to own me. If they can’t own me, they will try to dominate me. My quest is not to destroy the rebels. It is to survive the inevitable war that is about to come. The rebels are just a simple spark that ignites the false hope whispering that I’m vulnerable. 

They don’t know yet, but I do. They will come, all of them, walking towards the line that means certain death. How far will they get, I don’t know. It is sure that I won’t let them steal even a strand of grass from my yard and I’ll also bathe in, drink and water the fields and plants using fresh blood as a never ending source.

The noises from around me changed into whisperings and mumbles. We arrived a bit ago. Without any further ado I was lead to a place surrounded by many. Now, I’m already standing in front of a person who’s face I can’t even see. A man? A woman? Who is the person whose life will end today? These many deaths are all on their hands. I killed them, but they are the ones who broke the rules.

My hand is not freed from the ropes, instead they reinforce it with bulky and cold metal chains. The old padlock clicks and a smelly hand removes the obstacle from my head, letting the dust filled air carry the blunt light towards my petite, red eyes.

“How may bis me service thee today?” Asks my charming voice from the woman sitting on a throne, wearing a blood colored evening dress in front of my very presence.