A cold sensation caused me to jolt up, breathing fast I shook my head a few times causing some of the water I had dripping from my face to fly off but before I could pull myself together a searing pain ran through my back along with the sound of a whiplash.

I groan as I tried to get up, but I was placed in some kind of medieval wooden cuffs, those used to place your hands near your face, a pillory I think it was called and its weight was causing me to stagger while trying to get back on my feet.

Another lash hit me along with someone yelling in some strange language but I could not stand by myself properly yet.

Somebody finally forcibly pulled me up, it was a guy in front of me and like me was in one of the wooden devices which were linked to mine with a chain.

Using the connection between both sides he pulled me up so I hurriedly took a deep breath to gather some strength and did my part before a third hit that would come from behind.

Besides the one that just helped me, which was a tall bald guy with a long beard and many scars, another six cuffed individuals were in line and around them two guards riding horses while looking at me with clear hostility in their face.

Behind me, a voice yelled out in a language I could not understand but it effectively caused the line to start moving along with the guards.

With no way out of the situation, I found myself in, the only answer for the moment was to move forward along with the rest of the prisoners while clinging to hope for a chance to escape.

The scenery around me was a forest-like area with some shade from its coniferous type trees, covering the light of the sun, which was just enough for me to avoid the small rocks as I had no shoes on.

The truth was that all eight of us prisoners were stark naked with only the guards being heavily armored, but at this stage, I doubt anyone cared for clothes as we all mindlessly walked without stopping to some unknown destination while feeling harsh ailments like starving and thirst.

Finally, the end of the forest was in view after what seemed to be a few hours from where we started and currently it was just near sunset.

Smoke was seen rising in the distance, which I believe is what we were following all along as a few tents that gave the impression of popping out from the grasslands as we got closer appeared.

A few meters from the camp I noticed that another six guards were moving around while two caged carriages were parked with some people inside each.

One of the carts was full of women while the other had children who were soundlessly crying, everyone who appeared to have lost hope.

No one said anything besides the guards who were yelling out orders, mainly the one that was behind me, who was the one everyone looked up as the leader.

He had a terrible looking face, one that inspired fear, a long ponytail with uneven bangs and a long beard. Although short he was well built and had two swords and a golden dagger hanging from his waste as well as the whip.

Every guard had armor that was made with green and brown fabric with metal guards and breastplates to protect them.

The men were made to sit outside near a tent as night came in with only one guard being stationed to watch over us. It didn’t take long before he began to relax while the cries of some women could be heard nearby but no one in the men slave group seemed to care.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I had tried to do a few things throughout the day to release myself from the cuffs but nothing worked, and without the ability to understand the language spoken by the guards nor the whispers I heard a few times by the other prisoners there was no way to gain any additional information.

I closed my eyes while trying to think, remember who I was, or what I did to get here but there was a blank in my past. I could not recall anything besides waking up to that cold douse in the afternoon.

The wounds in my back itched as the blood dried, but this was nothing compared to the cold that started to overtake the area causing goosebumps throughout my body as I shivered.

An hour had passed with only the sound of some guards being merry invading the unobtainable quiet peace I wished for, so my mind was still a work trying to craft a way out.

I was close to giving up, resigning myself to the cold while forcing myself to sleep when I spotted the leader who was entering his tent while fixing his belt in an exaggerated manner, probably from having fun with a woman.

Right before entering he lit his pipe with a snap of his finger which surprised me, with no match no flint-like item nothing that could make a spark.

After entering his tent, I was left wondering what made the pipe light up, his fingers were at least ten inches away as it lit up.

“Magic” The word kept circling in my mind, fascinated by the phenomenon I tried to imitated it myself with no success and for the next half hour, I kept reciting anything that could possibly produce a flame.

I made a long sigh after attempting to make a fire for so long which in reality discouraged me almost to a breaking point.

As I looked up to the moon which was the only source of light, I finally felt like giving up, closing my heart and like the rest follow blindly like cattle to their death.

Suddenly a headache hit me and a random word came up in my mind, “Status”, it was a strange word in this medieval-like setting but it kept floating around for a while as if it came from a dark place in my memories.

“Status!” I mumbled out trying not to scare the rest of the slaves around me.

Suddenly a blue screen appeared as I dared to say it, of course, I was startled by the screen which mysteriously floated in front of me and was bright but didn’t seem to give off light to the surrounding.

The guard who was keeping watch probably thought I was crazy as he sneered at me for moving around while the others were sleeping.

Pretending to yawn while I closed my eyes, I sat there waiting for him to take his attention away from me before checking the status window which was still shining in front of me.

    Name: Nelor Arc’los Age: 19

    Skills: Body Strengthening, Oriation

    Blessing: Trails of Leadership Stage 1

I didn’t quite understand what everything it contained meant but focusing a bit more on each skill a bit of information was given.

The first of the two would make a part of me have enough force to be able to break stone for a very short period of time and Oriation gave me the ability to bypass language barriers at a close distance to another person.

"Body Strengthening" I whispered softly, activating the skill as the part of my body I wanted to strengthen was my dominant right arm.

I felt like a strange power akin to heat surrounding my right arm after silently saying the words, this made the feeling of being useless in this situation beginning to clear and hopefully, with enough force, I could break the wooden part of the pillory.

While the skill was active, I tried carefully to move my arm around as a lever, but just enough so that it wouldn’t make any noise that would awaken the guard who was now asleep.

As minutes passed, I felt the power was consuming the little strength I had within me, but it was not much longer till I would be able to break the hinge.

Feeling like I was about to pass out a small clink sound was heard; the pillory was just about to fall but I caught it just before it touched the ground.

I was free! It was now time to escape as no one else seemed to have reacted being that everyone was busy snoring, especially the guy that help lift me earlier who was obviously a heavy sleeper.

Standing up I walked a couple of steps towards the forest, I looked back a few times while going forth several more steps.

I was closer to freedom with each step but I could not stop this feeling which made me turn back towards the others that were nothing to me.

Letting out a sigh in resignation I walk back towards the camp as I just couldn’t go through with it, no matter how many times I thought it would end badly if I didn’t use this chance they would not be saved.