“Where are you??” Someone shouted.

The big blue sky plastered in my view, and a scent of salt from the wind filled my nose, I felt the sand on my back caressing my body, hugged by the ocean.

My vision blurred, and waves just ran through my face, this was my first time to feel the saltwater. I was drowned in the oncoming waves while I lay back on the sand. The daydream felt real, like a memory. No, This is my first memory, it probably happened when I was a three-year-old.

While engulfed by the ocean’s waves, I could see some creatures dance in the seawater; a glistening cuttlefish, his white and yet transparent skin looks like a star on a night sky, pushing its tentacles to move forward, like a whip as propulsion. an octopus, calmly trudging on the ocean floor, his eyes seemed calm, dark as a night sky, I could feel the void inside of it, reassuring yet ready to guard their loved one.

I don’t think that part of the daydream was real, how come I could see so many sea creatures at once, maybe my mind played some tricks on me, filling the gaps with some fantasy or hope. Maybe some kind of subconscious wish fulfillment.

A silhouette reached for my hand, traveling like a spear into the deep water, pulling me up from the ocean, I could hear sublime voices, trembling my inside to the core, the sounds of a whale’s roar.

“Izir!!” I heard someone calling my name, and I heard a woman’s sob, she sounded relieved.

I opened my eyes, and the daydream always came suddenly, maybe reliving that dream is a defense mechanism my mind uses to calm my nerves. I used to feel something, but now my heart seems depleted from anything at all, is it because I can’t handle the circumstances? I’ve been withdrawn from every emotion imaginable, yet I’ve been on the cycle of extreme emotions lately, from confusion, fear, and desperation.

I heard someone shouting-- an incomprehensible language, is it directed at me? I’ve been staring at the bonfire, feeling a bit grateful to see the night sky again, my mind calmed with a piece of stale bread in my hand.

A slap wakes me up from my stupor, I hold on to the chain that had been lodged into my neck for this past month, the wounds on my upper lips hurt again, and the skin on my neck feels blistered.

I saw an angry face, and his hand keeps pointing at the cage that smells like urine and shit, I think it was time to let other slaves sit near the bonfire.

_________________________

“Stupid kid! __ I don't know why this shit is worth a lot to transport, monster doesn't even understand simple words isn't he?” a lanky man with a brown garb and a mace slapped the boy after trying to tell him to get inside his cage.

a dirty, bulbous, and burly man, with crooked teeth and a disgusting smile, told his slaver friend while grabbing the boy's hair, “He can’t speak common tongue, Master Eiwin said this brat gonna end up as a sex slave or his personal servant,” he started caressing the boy's face, “maybe that little mouth could serve my dick for a while,”

“up to you fatso, if you want your little dick to get bitten by that little monster, it won’t make any difference to you, heh-” said the lanky slaver while guffawing.

The Burly slaver’s face reddened, his facial veins bulging, “Fuck you,” he said

“Hey beasts, get out and eat here!” he shouted into other caravan’s cages filled with many slaves; a few humans, several Moussini girls; a mouse beast-person, an old Ulbigar or a bull-men, and a Gandac; insectoid-men, all malnourished and seems hopeless with their situations.

They move silently, afraid that the slavers will do nasty things to them. Kevdr the insectoid-men, kept glancing into the black-haired boy, he chirped and felt guilty about that child, alas he couldn't do anything for now.

The Burly Slaver spits into the boy’s face as he throws him into the cage, the only slave with a chain on.

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The lanky slaver has procured the kid and the other slaves from a black market and slave auction in a cave near Mountain Asth as per his master's instruction. the slave-seller said the kid was probably magical, an exotic with drawings all over his body, a unique and mysterious specimen.

The slaves start getting out from their cages and sitting near the bonfire, they get a portion of stale bread and a ladle of dirty water from one and only obedient servant of the slaver, an old woman, with collared chains covered with a scarf.

"Eat slowly, you'll feel full enough if you eat slow," the obedient servant told the new slaves.

she also cleans the dirt on the mouse girls, "You have to clean yourself, a dirty slave will never get picked", she keeps giving a lot of tips, it'll get easier for her if the new slaves know how to maintain themselves. After she finished taking care of the mundane slave, she glanced at the boy's cage.

" Master, should I clean that boy? " asked the obedient servant to the lanky slaver, she seemed hesitant because her master told her that she should maintain her distance from the boy.

" Yeah, clean him, if he does something stupid, just scream".

The servant approaches the boy slowly, she takes a bucket and not a quite dirty rag into the boy's cage, she could see that the boy's face is a bit wounded, and the cage smells like shit.

____________________________________

I hate this feeling, some bad memories resurface after seeing that guy smile. I thought he's gonna force me to do something sick for him, I don't know what I would do if that thing happened again. Fortunately, he only spit at me, I can take that; it's a lot better than getting molested or raped continuously all night long.

Although I don't remember a lot of things about myself, I know I don't belong here, I don't belong in this world. I am sure I am not a six-year-old kid, I know my mind is far older than this body, I can't fully form the memories from my "old-self", it is all scattered, impossible to grasp.

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw an old woman approaching, she's a slave too right? I don't know what she wants to do with me ---- am I getting tortured again? She said something in that language again, I saw she pointed at herself, "Avira" she said.

________________________________

The old woman tried to introduce herself to the boy, she asked the boy's name while pointing at him. The boy just kept staring at her, and then he shook his head, he seemed gloomy, and his eyes seemed too tired to even face Avira.

Avira takes the rag and dips it into a bucket, she tries to clean the boy's wound, at first the boy tries to evade her, but eventually he just sits still and accepts the kindness from the old woman slave.

"I know you must be confused, poor child. What kind of mad moon this world has become, a slave at this age," Avira whispered to the boy.

"I had a grandson just like you, he must be at your age now if he's still alive. A child should feel safe and have no worries, not kept as an animal in the cage" Avira's eyes saddened, she then straightened her posture and kept peeking at the slavers.

She closes her eyes, and chants [&%*BOEH]

Suddenly a tiny blue light hovered on her fingers, and the light moved into the wound on the boy's lips, the bruises started closing, and the color on the boy's face started to redden a bit.

_____________________

I see the blue light, I feel comforted when the light covers my wound, there's a feeling and emotions in her light, a tinge of sadness, nostalgia? I start touching my upper lips, I can't feel my bruises anymore, does she heal me? For the first time in this world, I feel grateful, yet I dread what comes next, I see one of the slavers approaching Avira.

______________________

"What are you doing?! Old Bitch!" The lanky slaver starts pulling Avira's hair, and he drags her out of the boy's cage. He punched the old woman in her stomach. when the lanky slaver started shouting some spells, the collar on Avira's neck started heating up, she tried to pry her collar off, a useless thing to do.

"Please-- please stop, Master- it's not what you think it is, stop pleaaase" Avira begged and sobbed, there's a new burn mark on her neck, a blood started seeping into her scarf.

"Look at me! Do you think I am that stupid? You tried to heal the boy right?! answer me!"

" yes-- yes sir, I just don't want Master Eiwin's slave to get sick from his wounds, he'll be mad at us! Ple-please forgive me.. "

"No, a bullshit like that wouldn't help you at all cunt!! ---- What is that noise!? Fatso, check the bodyguards!" The slavers hear a commotion outside his caravan, and some bodyguards start shouting at something.

A lone man, with a poncho, apologized profusely to the bodyguards, he had a lute in his hand, a dark green hat that was covered with strings, he held a bottle of strong spirit in his other hand, his posture looked funny, he seemed friendly, yet there's something weird about his bearing.

"evening lads! if it's too much to ask~~ can I join in on your campfire? I could provide some entertainment for you all if you let me.." and then he smiled.