Through the eyes of the humans
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The night rolled in as it usually does. The brave knights settled down their shining armors and sharp swords aside to finally receive their long-awaited break. Even when not in battle, the knights were extremely efficient in their conduct as the roles for each individual were already set in place beforehand. Some knights moved the cages to its appointed location while some were in charge of the paperwork. The paperwork involve individually branding the captured elves and gnomes on their backs forcefully and numbering each of them. The foreign curses of the new slaves and the cries of the children seem to not deter any of the knights as they performed their duties with no hesitation.
The bronze-skinned humans, in contrast, seemed to be the knights' servants as they were tasked to skin animals and cook them. Some also prepared the campfire and perform other miscellaneous lowly tasks.
In one of the campfires, knights who seem to be higher in rank than the others were sitting in a circle on individual chairs rather than the lower-ranked knights who sat on the floor. The air seemed joyous as they sang patriotic anthems even with the cries of the slaves ringing in the background.
"This expedition is taking longer than the Lord initially thought. I have to apologize to him after our glorious return." A single handsome blonde man in his thirties wearing a golden chain mail said to another high-ranking knight beside him.
The knight beside him also wore chainmail albeit it being silver in color.
"I have to respectfully disagree, Captain Alfred. This much elves and gnomes being brought back will please the Lord greatly. I hear our kingdom is in need of gnomes for their cunning tinkering of magic items." The knight with the silver chain mail replied.
Captain Alfred curved his lips in a gentleman-like manner. "Praise be to Hevize for this bountiful harvest...I do miss the temperate temperature of the north, though. The equator is far too hot and humid for my taste. I hope I will get a chance to go home next month."
"Well, Captain. It is all for the expansion of our empire....Hey, you!" The silver knight called out a bronze-skinned woman with black hair who was carrying mugs of alcohol and passing them around to the knights. The woman was wearing a dress with exotic patterns that seem to be designed to withstand the tropical heat with its somewhat open upper body portion.
The bronze-skinned woman turned her head and was startled to see who called her. She immediately ceased serving the other knights and practically ran towards the silver knight.
"Y-yes, Sir. What need?" She asked with a tinge of accent.
The silver knight frowned.
"You bitch. Why are you serving the other knights and forgetting the VIPs? Fucking savages."
The woman hurriedly handed alcohol to Captain Alfred and the silver knight.
"I sorry. Me mistake. No happen again."
The silver knight chuckled in disgust. "Hah. Look at her. Her kind can't even use our language properly."
"That's what happens when one does not come from a civilized society. Their brains are not even smart enough to use the common tongue" Captain Alfred interjected with a smile.
"I...am sorry. No happen again." The woman bowed her head repeatedly.
"Tch. Get out of our sights. We have important matters to discuss." The silver knight drank from the big wooden mug. The woman did not seem to want to stay for another second and left in a hurry after bowing.
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"Savages. They should be grateful their pitiful kingdom is currently being properly cared for by our empire." Captain Alfred muttered in disgust.
The rest of the camp lit up in a party atmosphere as many drank a lot of alcohol to their heart's content. They partied, eat, and drink as they pleased as they have endured and succeed a long expedition to capture the slaves and have even lost some men along the way. Some knights were also so drunk that they had taken some of the bronze-skinned women to the tents. One intoxicated knight even tried to open the cage to taste an elven woman before being heavily reprimanded by his superior.
Captain Alfred and the silver knight also drank quite a lot as their conversations got more nonsensical and inappropriate as they went along. It was not until a low-ranked knight approached them in a hurry that they snapped out of it.
"What...the fuck...do you want?" The silver knight shouted at the soldier that approached them.
"Sir! O-o-one of the cages. The owlbear cage...there's a small hole in it. The owlbear's corpse is still there but the baby is missing!" The knight seemed to be quite nervous to relay the intel.
Captain Alfred who was drunk sobered up in an instant due to his high constitution after hearing the report. "What!? That cage used high-quality metals from the north. Even the owlbear themselves couldn't break out! Someone must have freed them"
Captain Alfred stood up in a daze.
"EVERYONE! ARM YOURSELVES! INCREASE DEFENSE AND SEND A SEARCH PARTY AROUND THE FORTRESS' PERIMETER! NOOOOW!!! " Captain Alfred barked with his loudest voice.
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Unfortunately, the men have gotten extremely drunk and it took a few seconds to process what Captain Alfred said. Even under intoxication, the knights got off their asses and start to drunkenly put on their armors again.
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Through the eyes of Awana
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"Something is wrong," I muttered in a low voice.
I was standing on a small floating cloud I created with Elder Havies, Alisia, Neityr, and Rob as we observed the fortress below us. We have set up our forces around the fortress ready to pounce on my mark. Our force consisted of twenty fully-armed archers; forty warriors with only around ten of them having adequate equipment while the rest only used wooden swords and; ten mages with four being experienced wizards.
"Those lowly humans treating those elves that way...and then celebrating like barbarians...are these people an example of the humans in the current era?" Neityr said with an almost visible tinge of anger.
"You said something, Tiven?" Alisia was the only one who noticed I said something.
"There's something bugging me. I am forgetting something important..."
"Does it have something to do with our planning?" Elder Havies asked.
"That's not it...."
As I was pondering what it was I was missing, I saw the knights start to arm themselves instead of going to their tents to sleep.
"What!?" I exclaimed.
"They noticed something! What do we do!?" Neityr panicked as she thought of her fellow elves below in danger.
"The cage!" I realized my grave mistake. "Shit. No time. I must begin the plan now. Neityr, Alisia, and Rob. You three join the battle." I separated the cloud in two with my power as I send their cloud below before they could reply any further. There was only Elder Havies and me above.
"G-Tiven. Are you sure the plan will work? What if the elves and gnomes get caught in the middle of it?"
"I am sure I can control my power. The team below just need to free them quickly. I shall begin now."
I put both of my hands in front of me in an open position. I channeled my powers as my eyes glowed a white light and my appearance slowly changed to my original god form with my long flowing white hair and tall body.
An enormous dark cloud started to form directly above the fortress. The wind was also inadvertently influenced as it blew a violent gust throughout the jungle, making the leaf and branches to sway rapidly. Crackling electricity was conjured as it builds up inside the dark cloud slowly and slowly.
"This is..." Elder Havies dropped down to his knees as he stared at me in reverence. His white beard swayed by the wind and blue eyes glimmered. "The might of a god." He put both of his hands together in prayer.
"Let the thunderstorm I birthed strike upon these lowly mortals." I smiled.
Multiple thunderstrike start to leave the cloud and towards the men and tents below.
"Aaaaaah!" I faintly hear the screams of the knights and also their curses in a language I did not understand. The knights start to panic and disperse their formation. Many of them also fell to the ground as they seem to still be intoxicated by alcohol. The tents that were struck by my might was also caught on fire that quickly spread throughout the entire settlement. The knights inside who were enjoying themselves were purified in flames.
"This should ensure they are disoriented. Then..."
I also channeled power into my throat and mouth.
"ATTACK!" My voice bellowed below as if it was a divine message by a higher power—in which it was.