The next day went by so quickly that it almost felt unreal to Cord. He worked like he usually did but everything really did seem like it was supposed to be. It was a peculiar feeling, he realized, but not one he was a stranger to. When you’re planning something that you know might get you punished or caught, you always feel as if everyone is somehow immediately alerted to such a plan. Since what he had been handing in wasn’t anything outstanding like the first time, many guards had already stopped paying attention to him. That was perfect, even if he still felt uneasy about what he was going to do. Before, he wasn’t as anxious because he knew that if he got caught, it’d just be a beating and closer watch, most likely, but he didn’t want to think about what these scum would do to Theresa. He could only hope this would work.
By now, a rational person would have probably have backed out of the plan and thought of something else but something told his gut that it was the right decision. The plan was a risky one but it would work, he was sure of it. Eventually, the sun was setting and the sky was beginning to darken. It was a cooler night more so than most but it wasn’t enough to concern Cord. Before he headed back into the tent with the others, he noticed Hops coming up behind him to head to her tent. “Hops” he said softly, getting her attention as she stopped beside him, both being observed by a quiet Theresa. “Yeah?” she asked. “Keep strong” he murmured in embarrassment. Hops was surprised by this and chuckled, ruffling his hair before walking towards her tent. “You too, Kid” she said cheerfully. It was probably the last time they’d talk, he realized, hoping she took those words to heart.
After that, night fell and settled over the camp and, as usual, a handful of guards took patrol duty around the camp. It was called ‘patrol’ duty but most of the guards just huddled together near the end of one of the tents and played cards while chatting. There hadn’t been a successful escape attempt since ‘Gile’ had arrived, so why should they be on point? It was a theory but Cord theorized that the camp must be well-hidden in an area that many people don’t visit. The only people he saw over all that time were new slaves, who must have been brought by that pig, Lucius, and a cart that came and left in the evening with the ores harvested. He had considered hiding in that cart but it was too small for him and Theresa as well as it would be near impossible to sneak out of there before arriving at the next destination, given they’d be paralyzed.
He peeked out of the tent near midnight and Theresa, who wasn’t used to being woken up so late, looked confused as she was being led along. He had whispered to her to follow him without making any noise and she nodded obediently. The other slaves had proven to be asleep and he could confirm that the guards were all in the middle of some heated debate over the card game they were playing. He had a chance to escape, he couldn’t miss it. Garet was no doubt sleeping in his tent and he was on the opposite side from where the hole Cord dug was. He wouldn’t have to worry about the biggest threat noticing his departure from such an ‘accommodating’ place. He had already vowed that he’d kill everyone here, except the slaves, so he was sure he’d see Garet again, one day.
They worked their way across the camp and to the hole, glad there was some moonlight to highlight the hole. He already made sure it was enough to push through until the other side but he didn’t dare crawl all the way through because he was sure the spell only activated once all their shackles went through. He quietly explained to Theresa what to do and, without question, she obediently did it. The hole was wide enough for them both to fit through. What surprised him when he crawled in after her was she was standing on the other side of the palisade, waiting for him. What? Was he misled about the magic? As if on cue, Theresa’s eyes went wide as her shackles, save for her collar, went white with strange runes. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees and then to her face, unable to move.
It was starting, he thought, with worry. He quickly rolled her onto her back as he got ready and lay on his back. Soon after, he was paralyzed too. Both of them couldn’t do more than breathe and look around. His head was put in such a position that he could see the moon above, a few stars and what they’d head for immediately after they escaped, a large forest with a dirt path carved through it. He knew already that there was two bags behind his head. They were small bags of cloth that he had stolen from the guards the night before and he had grabbed what he had needed before joining Theresa at the hole.
From his estimates, they had enough food and bottled water, in a single poorly made flask from one of the guards, to last them a decent four days. After that, they’d need to find a clean source of water and a proper source of food. He knew that the camp didn’t exactly keep a ‘recall’ of the slaves but Garet knew him enough that he’d figure that he wasn’t there at the end of the day to hand in his ores. They’d probably first check the mine for him and then figure out he escaped. So if they could wear out the spell by morning, they could run away on foot and have a full day’s head start. He wouldn’t bother to cover the hole as they’d notice the disturbed dirt on both sides anyways.
It wasn’t a great or brilliant plan but if it was one to just survive. It would be good enough. He hoped that he made it out in one piece. Still, the spell made him feel more uncomfortable than he was expecting to feel. His entire body was numb and what felt like a pulse of energy was going through his skin and muscles. It must be the magic restricting his body. He was glad he could still breathe and look around but it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Still, it was somehow relieving to be outside, even if he couldn’t move. Looking towards the forest, he was only worried that some kind of animal discovered them and how they were going to get the shackles and stuff off once they escaped. He imagined that Garet probably had a key for them but risking looking for it would be foolhardy.
It was while he was waiting there in the dark, barefoot and afraid of what might come next that he felt something stirring inside of him. What…what was going on? Suddenly, his mind filled with memories from a past life. He realized that he was reliving a past life’s memories again, just like with the miner. Suddenly, he was not on the cold ground outside the slave camp but in a clean white lab. It hurt. Everything hurt. His skin was sore, his breathing was hard, his legs felt numb and his vision kept fading in and out. The worst was his head. His head hurt more than anything else. It felt like someone was drilling into his skull and he could do nothing but take it. He gasped and between the gasping, he begged ‘them’ to stop, to let him go, to even just kill him. They wouldn’t kill him, of course, he was too precious, too valuable to them.
He was just a kid when they caught him and locked him up. They said he was special that his body could take more than normal people and that he’d survive what others couldn’t. He didn’t care about that since he just wanted to see his family but he was denied that. He was denied a lot of things. When he got older, they stopped watching him and started testing on him. They hit him with bats, stuck him with needles, slammed him into a wall and so much more. The more pain they inflicted on him, the more they praised him too. They were monsters wearing human faces, he was sure. It got so bad that he only wanted to die. One day, however, the place went into lockdown and he remembered when he saw it. He saw the facility where they were trying to make more like him. More kids. More that would end up like him.
He went into a rampage. He could never take bullets but he survived a barrage of them. He suffered more that day than anything else, just so he could destroy their research and save those children. He had resisted so many things but, finally, he succumbed to the bullets they lodged into him just as the building itself erupted into flame and chaos. Cord flashed back into reality, his breathing rapid as a screen appeared above his head.
[Subject’s Retribution]
‘They beat you until you couldn’t stand, couldn’t crawl or couldn’t move anymore. Yet you stood up. Do it again’.
- Skills related to resistances are improved at double the rate of other skills
- You gain a temporary first time immunity to all negative statuses
- Your skin is twice as hard to damage with piercing or blunt force
He adored the new skill that had been given to him as he recalled what had happened. He was a young boy growing up in a prisoner of war camp. Their country was losing the war and his entire family was captured because his father had been a captain in their military. The enemy kidnapped him because he had an abnormal durability. He was tested on for years, even when the war officially came to a stalemate and truce while they tried to duplicate what they found on him on others. Their plan failed, however, as when they were moving him between cells, a separate person in the facility had broken free and threw the facility into chaos. He broke free as well and found the place where they were getting children ready to be modified to have his durability. He managed to stop this process before it even started, set the place on fire and effectively destroy it and himself once the children were safe. It was a wretched existence but he died doing something good, only to have his score from the Celestial Judge be 100 again.
All of a sudden Cord, gasped and sat up as his body trembled and the shackles no longer glowed. Confirmation that the effect was gone because of his perk were clear. The perk said that the first time he experienced a type of ‘negative status’, he would be immune to it. His new perk must have activated immediately as he saw something appear on a different screen.
[Dark Magic Resistance Lv 1 Unlocked]
So the shackles were made using ‘Dark Magic’. It must be a type of magic like the fire magic he saw one of the guards using. Still, it was wonderful news. Since the dark magic had restrained him, it counted as a ‘negative status’ and was cancelled out by his perk. He even got a new skill due to the degree of it. Perfect! He wondered what would happen if the resistance was high enough. Would it cancel out a type of damage completely? No, he imagined there is only so much a body can withstand before damage gets through. He shouldn’t get cocky and rely on such a thing. Still, the natural durability in regards to his skin was great. That meant it would be slightly harder to cut or bruise him. Who knows, perhaps even a blunt knife wouldn’t be able to cut his skin.
Since he was up and about, he felt happy enough to cheer but, now, he had to figure some stuff out. He was a weak kid, so carrying Theresa wasn’t going to be a viable option. His power was still 35 and he was sure an adult was stronger than that. If he wanted to get Theresa out of there, he needed to find a way to break her shackles. An idea then conjured itself into his head. Knowing this was kind of dumb, he snuck back into the camp. After a few minutes, he returned with what he wanted, a pickaxe. After that, he spent the next hour getting everything ready. Since the guards were slacking, nobody was watching the exterior, meaning nobody could see him sneaking around in the dark.
He got some branches off nearby trees and used the old long piece of cloth from his bed to make a carrier of sorts. He moved Theresa onto the carrier and dragged her on it into the cover of the forest, straight into a small gap between the trees, not far from the dirt path. Once he was sure she was safe, he moved the food and such near her as well as well as the five firebrand he still possessed. He had planned on using it to distract the guards or camp, in general, should they see them trying to get away in the morning but since they had effectively made a clean get away, he didn’t want to waste them. Once everything was out of sight of the camp, he moved Theresa’s hand onto a nearby rock, laying the shackle itself on the rock and lifting the pickaxe.
He knew that it was risky to do this but he needed her to be able to move her own body and with his mining skill, surely it would work with this too? He was in luck, thankfully, as his mind told him where to strike and with how much pressure. Suddenly, he brought the pickaxe down, slamming it into the shackle. He was worried he had damaged her hand with this risky move. When he pulled the pickaxe back, he was relieved to see that she was fine. The shackle, however, was heavily damaged by the pickaxe as the light in it faded and disappeared. Following its example, all four shackles lost their light as Theresa blinked and started getting up.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Yes, it all worked out! Hurry, let’s grab our stuff and get out of here!” he cried as she stopped to give him a tight hug. “You did well, Relo. I’m proud of you” she said affectionately. “Let’s go” she echoed and they quickly took off. Cord had packed up the carrier as he was sure they could use it to craft a tent later on. He carried the bundled up carrier, pickaxe and the firebrand, whereas he gave Theresa the food and water. They were already walking when they did this distribution but they only started running after they were sure they had secured everything. They ran for a long time, taking frequent short breathers while doing so. It was true he had gotten stronger but six years of physical abuse and weakening had left his stamina to be less than desirable for his age.
Theresa appeared to be doing better than him as they kept close to the dirt path but not on it. He wanted to break off into the forest itself but he felt it was too dangerous. Since this world had magic, he still assumed it must have monsters too and running into one while they were so tired wasn’t something he wanted to do. He assumed that most monsters were probably further away from wherever paths are made. The only issue was that monsters probably did cross this dirt path often enough. Since only that scum, Lucius, and the cart probably passed through here, the wildlife isn’t exactly restricted. He doubted, thankfully, bandits would be around since this wasn’t a regular commercial road or anything. Still, if they did encounter monsters, it would be better to deal with them on the open space of the dirt path than in between the trees and bushes, where they would most likely have the advantage.
Fortunately, the night went by peacefully enough. By the time it reached morning, it felt as if they had been on the move for years but that was when things got odd. At the end of the dirt path was a split. There were about four different ways that path could continue on but it was difficult to tell since all the paths were equally worn. Was it part of a network? Thankfully, the truth was revealed shortly thereafter. All four paths leaded down and onto the same path except it was completely different. The path they uncovered was a proper road. It wasn’t anything covered in stone but the way the ground he been worked in the morning light made it clear that a lot of people passed through there. Was this a commercial or majorly public road?
He could tell that the four ‘splits’ from their own path were different approaches for a carriage to slip from the one path to the other without leaving a mark. Clearly, the slave camp doesn’t want people to know about the path up to their camp and most people wouldn’t be able to see any signs leading up to the other path from this new road. It’s well hidden but…what if they changed that? He considered taking the time to more openly expose the road but he didn’t think it would be a good idea. If the wrong people curiously explored it, what would stop them from getting kidnapped and being made slaves as well? No, for now, it was best to keep it tucked away out of sight until he found the proper people to handle it.
They continued down this new main road and he was glad to see it was so harden from use that they left almost no footprints. Even if the camp guards came after them, it would be pointless trying to track them from there unless they had a true professional with them. As they moved quickly but didn’t run, he kept a sharp eye out for people. The truth was that they were still slaves and the shackles showed it. Until they learned how the locals treated runaway slaves, he didn’t want to encounter them. He was only following the road because he wanted to find civilization that didn’t want to make him mine the entire day. Sure enough, it got to noon and they still didn’t see anything. It was around this time, however, when Theresa started acting strangely. She was fidgeting and panting more rapidly.
He wasn’t sure what was up until she outright stopped, got on her knees and clutched her head, her eyes shut as she shook it. She was having a mental breakdown?! She wasn’t being noisy but it was fairly bad. “What’s wrong?” he asked as softly as he could. “No, no, not again. Stay away from there, Relo. I don’t want to lose you again. Stay away” she kept muttering in a harsh tone, as if about to lose her mind. “Shh…relax. Relax, see, I’m here. Calm down…I’m here” said Cord, feeling some bit of guilt but she couldn’t breakdown here. He wanted her to make it and he wasn’t about to abandon her. He guessed from her reaction that they were near to where she was caught by Lucius.
Theresa calmed down but she remained near unresponsive. He took her by the hand and led her forward. She shuffled behind him quietly as he studied the road, looking for where it may have actually happened. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. There was a cut mark in some trees nearby. As if someone stabbed into the tree. If that rogue was as tough as he made Cord feel he was, he must have done this damage. He moved towards the treeline but left Theresa to rest on a nearby patch of grass. She held herself and looked at the ground, unmoving as she waited for him to return. What he found made his heart sink.
Not even a week old, was the body of a kid. From the strands of black hair and the skin that was still intact, he could tell it was a dark elf kid. He must have been as old as Cord. Was this the real Relo? Cord felt a lurch in his stomach as he took a few steps forward and puked into the bushes. He was glad he didn’t eat that morning, since he felt horrified by what he was seeing. From the way he lay face down in the bushes, out of sight of the road made him realize that the heartless rogue must have stabbed him in the back while he was trying to escape. The kid would never have been able to move faster than someone as skilled as that, so it made sense.
To think there existed someone cruel enough to kill even a child. So they must have killed Relo and kidnapped Theresa after she broke apart from seeing her kid die. He must have met her the next day at the camp or even later, if Lucius went to fetch the other slaves after her. After that, there wasn’t much for Cord to do. He used a stick to break apart a bunch of dirt and was glad to find the dirt was soft underneath a hard top layer. He then spent a valuable hour of his time digging a grave for Relo. Once he was done, he gripped the body and gently placed it inside the hole before covering it up again. After that, he stuck a nearby large rock upright in front of the dirt. It looked like a grave, so it would have to do. “I’m sorry you couldn’t make it…I promise I’ll take good care of your mother” he said softly to the grave.
[Empathy Lv 1 -> Empathy Lv 2]
He looked up at the screen with a pained expression. He was too sad to care about anything levelling up as he looked back down at the grave. First those women, now, this. Forget just Garet and Lucius. Whoever owned this slave operation, needed to die. Everyone that supported him, needed to die. He felt his fist clenching tightly as his other hand moved to his face. Was he crying? He guessed it was only natural. It wasn’t an easy thing to see a dead kid, more so when he’s a kid himself. He allowed it for a short while but then forced himself to recover. His revenge and grief could wait. He first needed to fulfil this new promise to Relo and get Theresa to safety. He had been going back to her several times while digging the grave, glad to see she was slowly getting better and making sure nobody was coming along the road.
When he returned after successfully burying Relo, he was, once again, glad nobody showed up. He then pat Theresa’s shoulder, encouraging her to get up. “Come on, we have to go, now” he said quietly. She blinked a few things before looking at his face. She then stood up and smiled, patting his head. “That’s right, Relo. Come on, we have to find the village” she said, her tone suddenly bright and cheerful. Village? He then realized something as Theresa took the lead down the road. Theresa and Relo must have been heading somewhere, originally, looking for a village apparently. If that was true, she’d probably lead him straight to the civilization he sought. All he had to do was follow her and he was sure he’d be fine but just what kind of village were they dealing with here?
He got his answer by late only a few hours later. The sun was still up but beginning to dip towards the horizon, when they came to a major split in the road. One route went uphill and the other went downhill. Theresa looked excited, squeezing Cord’s hand tightly as she led him along the uphill route. “We’re almost there, Relo! We’re almost safe!” she cheered merrily. “It was scary but you saved us. That’s my smart boy” she said with a giggle. Each time she said that, he felt a pang of guilt in his chest. How was he going to break her free of the delusion without breaking her too? Anyone could tell he wasn’t Relo but she appeared to be beyond just simple denial, at this point. They kept going as it was starting to get darker but that’s when he saw it for the first time in a while. There was smoke above the trees nearby. People? Could they be trusted?
He suddenly wasn’t so sure about letting Theresa lead them forward but the closer they got, the quicker she moved. Suddenly, the road levelled out. They were near the top of a very large hill that was still surrounded by forest. What he saw gave him some surprise. It was a village. A very large village nearly a couple times larger than the slave camp. What distracted him from the village itself, however, were the two men next to the road and in front of the village’s entrance. They were dark elves. Was it a dark elf village?! That didn’t make sense, though. He could have sworn that Garet and the others were dismissive of Theresa but if they had a whole village of them nearby, wouldn’t they be worried about upsetting them? Perhaps they assumed Theresa wouldn’t be able to escape but this also meant that the slave camp would know where they are headed if they notice she’s gone too. He wasn’t so sure it was good idea to approach the camp but it was too late to think that when Theresa pulled him towards the entrance.
Theresa waved and cheered. “Vesryn!” she cried as she ran up to the two guards. The village entrance was closed and the guards looked alert, even when turning to see who was approaching. There was still enough light in the sky, though, to see their expressions. The one nearest to them, a large man matching the enforcer’s body but not height, was confused and then excited. “Theresa?! Where have you been!” he hollered as he put aside the spear he was holding and hugged her as she approached. The other guard appeared happy as well until his eyes fell on Cord. His expression fell to a confused frown as Vesryn moved back from the hug to. “What…is this? Why are you shackled? Who is he?” asked Vesryn, clutching his spear again as he gestured to Cord. The two looked ready for a fight but since he was still a kid, they didn’t appear as hostile. He had noticed they were both wearing leather armour like the rogue’s but carried a spear each instead of daggers like the rogue.
Theresa’s smile dropped momentarily before she laughed like they were playing some kind of game. “It’s Relo, Vesryn. Don’t be so mean to him. We’ve both been through a lot and I’ve got a lot to tell the Chief. Please call my sister and get us some clean clothes” she asked as she moved past the second elf, waiting for Vesryn to open the gate. Vesryn looked bewildered and Cord didn’t blame him. What would he do in this situation? From what he could see, this was Theresa’s home and even one of the guards was presumably a friend of hers. She must have gone missing over the last week with her son and how could he expect the guard to react to them showing up in rags and with somebody that was clearly not her son?
Back at camp, the clothes the slaves were wearing were taken after being stripped off by Hops, so it was no wonder her new clothes must have made her appear like a wreck. Vesryn looked at the other guard, than at Theresa and then at Cord. Thanks to his new skill, Cord could tell he had no ill intent towards them, he was mostly worried about letting him into the camp and concerned about Theresa. His eyes then settled on Cord himself. Cord was standing behind Theresa somewhat, so he could gesture without Theresa seeing. He quickly raised his hand, showing the shackle he was wearing and pointed at the damaged shackle Theresa was wearing. Lastly, he pointed at the pickaxe he was carrying.
His plan worked as the guard realized what Cord was saying. Such a sharp wit was rare. The guard could tell that Cord was the one that presumably got Theresa away from her captors. Of course, it would only be enough for him to not see him as a threat. He sighed and nodded to the other guard to open the gate. “Alright, alright. I see I shouldn’t joke around. Wait a minute!” he said as the gate opened, stopping Theresa from entering. “What is it, now, Vesryn? I’ll tell you all what happened but we need some rest and clean clothes first” she explained in a huff. “Oh, I know, I know. It’s just…your sister has been worried about you for the longest time and I really would hate for everyone in the village and her to panic over seeing you in this state. How about this, I’ll let Aimer here guide you to my place while I go and inform the chief and the others. You know, so they have time to prepare to see you?” he asked.
Theresa didn’t appear to happy about this but Cord decided to give Vesryn a hand. “Sorry for complaining but I really would like to rest. My feet hurt” he said in a more childish tone than he’d have liked. Theresa immediately looked concerned. “Of course, Dear. Right, we’ll do what you want Vesryn. Aimer, take us to Vesryn’s place” she ordered as Aimer nodded to this. As they were entering, Cord gave a solemn nod to Vesryn, who looked replied to it with a similar nod. The dark elf guards were confused and he wasn’t sure what their policy on humans was but he had a feeling that Vesryn wasn’t a bad guy. Aimer started leading them up a back route along a few village houses, keeping them out of sight of the villagers still wandering about as the last he saw of Vesryn was him assigning new guards to the gate and running towards what appeared to be the biggest building at the top of the village. Things were about to get very interesting.
[Name: Cordell Boras]
{Level: 1}
{Power: 35}
[Perks]
{Miner’s Dream}
{Subject’s Retribution}
[Skills]
- Mining Lv 6
- Scavenger Lv 1
- Awareness Lv 1
- Pain Tolerance Lv 1
- Sneak Lv 2
- Empathy Lv 1 -> Empathy Lv 2
- Dark Magic Resistance Lv 1
[Gifts]
{Fate’s Memory}
{Fate’s Eye}