Chapter 1 – The Four Slaves of the City of Storms (1)

In a tightly locked room where dirt enters from a hole, a man, a horned man, a woman and her sister who had cat ears sat. The deprived man lounge on a busted cushion, the burly man with two protruding horns crossed his arms. He stared at the two sisters eating two pieces of bread. They are far from the burly man with two horns. But his gaze was soft and caring. This burly old man had scars on him. He had the look of a warrior compared to the deprived man behind him who looks weak and frail, his body so thin that you could almost see his ribs.

“What a weak human,” The woman said.

“Leiko,” the burly man said calmly, “I know he can’t understand us. But we are all the same here. Just slaves, and there should be no need to fight.”

“Shig, you seem to forget that the same ‘humans’ have enslaved us.” there was venom on her tongue, “Do you expect me to treat this weakling as equal just because he has the mark of a slave like me?”

Shig crosses his arms, “So you would step on the same level as the humans who violated you? Leiko, it is best that there’s no trouble that should occur within the confine of this room. After all, we cannot escape if we gather too much attention.”

“You are right, but,” the venom in her eyes was still there, “How do you expect me to get along with a human after all of this?”

“I am not expecting you to treat the deprived human anything. I expect you to leave him alone completely.”

“Are we taking the Human with us?”

“We are.”

“Tsk, you Cornus people and your pity.”

“It is not pity Leiko. It is merely pride. I don’t want to step on the same level as the humans.” Shig explained as he looked at the frail deprived man who seems to have lost his mind.

“Poor man, he cannot understand the world.”

“He has gone mad.”

Shig recalled the days since he was brought along with the three. Leiko was taken to the master’s chambers and was played with. Shig was taken to the ‘guest’ who loved exotic Cornus like him. He was toyed with, played as if he was a toy. The only one that was spared from such violation was the frail man and the young girl with them, Kioko. Shig would not care for the deprived man if it wasn’t for the fact that he cared for the young girl despite not knowing anything about the words they speak. Leiko has grown bitter and the only reason why she still has reason was simply that of what the deprived man did.

The deprived man would eat less. He would give his piece of bread to the hungry Kioko. Indeed, after being violated by her masters, Leiko became bitter and her attitude towards human has gone down the drain. She tolerates the human but one mistake and she will not hesitate to kill him despite the kindness he shows.

“No, he merely cannot understand us,” Shig said after some thought.

“Human,” Shig said softly, “I am Shig.” he pointed at the deprived man, “You are?”

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The deprived man tilted his head. He pointed at himself before saying, “Joshua...”

“Joshua?”

The deprived man nodded. Shig was quite surprised how he was able to communicate with the human. He looked the human in the eye and he was able to see some light on it. Shig never saw such light before. The human had lost all light in his eyes and now it was back.

“Shig.” he pointed at himself. “Those are Leiko and Kioko.” then towards the Cattus sisters.

“Shig?” he pointed at Shig, then towards the sisters, “Leiko and Kioko?”

“Yes!” Shig was a bit glad that it wasn’t fruitless. “You can’t speak?” Shig gestured by pointing at his mouth and shaking his head.

“I see...”

The deprived man seems to understand and nodded his head. He spoke something but Shig wasn’t able to know what language he was speaking. It was a language, who he as a mercenary hasn’t heard before. Shig thought he must be some foreigner and nodded his head.

“Do you know what language was that?” Leiko asked.

“I have no idea.” Shig said clearly, “The language is foreign to me. I’ve traveled in many countries but I don’t know it.”

“Is it rare or a madman’s babble?”

Shig shrugged, “Who knows? There are only about fifty known countries in this world. The world’s too big and the Gigantes Sea is too vast to cross. Maybe he came from such far country that I haven’t gone before.”

“You sound sure, Shig.”

“I am. I’ve traveled forty countries before being captured by these bastards. Even though I haven’t gone to the ten known countries, I met people from there.”

“I see. So how did this human come here then?”

“I’ve no idea. A shipwreck or could it be that he wandered and got lost? I’ve heard that the space in the desert has gone awry.”

“Ah, that thing the scholars are enthusiastic about.”

“Mhm, it is hard to say. But this human is unlucky as us then.”

Shig shrugged his shoulders. Leiko lost interest as she took care of her little sister. Joshua, the deprived man looked at the odd people in front of him and kept quiet. He could not understand them anyway. Thus he kept quiet about it and just lean on the wall in silence. He stared at the sconce placed on the wall. He could not understand where he was and what happened. But he knows one thing for sure.

The collar and the chains made it obvious that he was a slave now. Maybe the shock of all the pain made him blank out. Yet now that he had some time to clear his mind. Joshua knew that this world isn’t kind. He knows that as a slave here. He had to make sure that he survives.

Joshua looked at the three. He could not understand them. Their words were foreign to him. No amount of racking his brain made him know what language they are speaking. However hard it might be, Joshua knows that he needs to ‘follow’ these three. After all, even he could understand the look of people who wanted to escaped.