The Roamer
CHAPTER 1: Arrival
Walking through the cells, Aeollus headed towards his own. He had recently been sold to a rich and confident lord, one who reigned above all. Aeollus had no recollection of what had befallen his family, or where he may even find them. As of right now, Aeollus had none to rely on, walking to his cell with his head down.
Back in the village, Aeollus had been told by his grandparents that his name had something to do with the wind, something going on with the Greeks. He didn’t care much for the rest of the meaning, so he had forgotten it. He sorely regrets it now, as he realizes that his name might be the last thing representing who he was now.
"New kid, get over here!" yelled a guard at Aeollus. Aeollus doesn’t understand what he says, as he did not grow up with this language, but the hand gesture from the guard is enough for him to understand that he is supposed to go there. He walks there, actually, limps there, as he had been beaten plenty on the way here, and his leg did not quite turn out well.
‘One day I’ll escape, and roam this world freely’ he thought to himself. He remembers the feeling of the village, the wind roaming around him, making him feel as if he could simply flap his arms, and soar through the sky! It had a mystical feeling to it, that he could no longer feel in this new location where he was destined, no, forced to work for a wealthy lord.
Apparently, the guard thought he was moving too slow, so he whips the wind against Aeollus and his back, sending him flying to his destination. The village he came from was a free village separated from the rest of the world, so peace was one of the main things they believed in. For that reason, the elders and the adults never thought learning to evolve and cultivate their vitality and spirit would fit in the village, not teaching it to the young.
‘Wasn’t peace a reliable thing to work around in this world? If so, why is peace not as widespread as the villagers said it would be in this world?’ were the thoughts running through his head as he had finally reached his destination.
The guard punches him this time, sending Aeollus and his face against the barrel to the side. "Take this axe and go cut trees!" says the guard in a loud, yet somewhat patient tone, which Aeollus definitely did not expect from someone such as him.
He then tosses an axe towards him, and points towards the woods while preparing a spell to send Aeollus flying in that direction. While doing that, he turns around and talks with what seems to be woman, though it’s not like he could tell from all the hair that’s covering their faces.
‘Ah, he’s using me to show off to woman’
Aeollus thought to himself. It now made sense in his head that he was just a scapegoat even for a simple guard.
Like that, Aeollus got smacked out by some wind towards the woods, preparing to cut some wood out, though he doesn’t know what type so he prepares to get a mix. He smiles to himself, thinking about escaping from here. Sadly, through the short period that he has been here, he has already seen two men that looked like midgets try to escape and get thoroughly cooked into edible meat by some lightning that formed from a cloud, even though it was a sunny day, so it didn’t seem like escape was an option for those who were weak.
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Aeollus sighs and heads towards his first tree. It’s a fine ebony, that seemed as if it had just been grown recently. He chops at it, hopping to bring it down in a single strike, for he remembers that he chopped many tree back in the village to build huts for the growing population.Not surprisingly, the tree gets chopped down by the axe. Though his small village did not focus on cultivation of vitality and the spirit, the inhabitants did spend most of their time doing manual labor, so they were more than ready to cut down a few trees.
Aeollus continues to cut for the rest of the day, with no break, food, or even water provided. ‘This is already bad enough for me, I wonder how the rest of the village is doing?’ constantly repeats through his head, his worry rising. Even though the lord he got sent to is ruthless, and is considered extremely cruel even among other slave owners, the other owners still have the arrogant and cocky attitude towards them, so the villagers should still be under pressure, just like him.
He finally heads back for the day when he saw many people walking towards the prison when a bell rung. All the slaves begin to line up, and hold out their hands towards the guards. ‘There seems to be a guard for every prisoner, who seems to that takes their wood’ he realizes in his mind.
Accordingly so, a guard is also in front of him and waiting for his wood. He unloads the wood from his back and begins to bring it towards him. No matter how strong he was, he still wasn’t strong enough to carry a whole log with just his two hands, so he thoroughly dragged each log towards the guard. After about half an hour of the guard casting spells on him and whipping him to hurry it up, Aeollus had finally passed along all the wood he had.
Just like all the other slaves that finished before him, he heads inside the prison building. It is built in the shape of an octagon*, so there is accordingly eight entrances into the prison. The prison seemed to be in the middle of the forest, maybe a jungle considering the type of trees he saw out there. If you looked out far enough, you could see cliffs and waterfalls, which was quite the elegant scene for a so called ‘prison’.
According to the sign above the gate which leads into the prison, he heads in from the south east entrance. He sees that the rest of the slaves, which had also arrived today, each walk up towards a guard, which then leads them to a cell for themselves.
Aeollus follows their example, and walks up towards a guard. The guard thoroughly checks him for anything that he might be carrying which could help him escape, or so he assumes. The guard is then finishes patting him down, and puts a sword to his back while shoving him towards his own cell, just to make sure Aeollus doesn’t try anything rash.
Aeollus reaches a cell that isn’t that deep, and is accordingly put in there while having the gate locked behind him. “The cells of this so called ‘prison’ are weird, they each barely have enough space for a bed and some hole” he mutters to himself. Apparently, someone from an opposing cell to his hears him, and replies “yeah, it sure is cramped”.
Aeollus looks the man up and down, and sees nothing special about him, only the fact that he resembles all the other prisoners, which could be considered special in some regard. “Excuse me sir, but can you explain how this prison works?” he says to the man who replied to him before.
“I’d be glad, if you can give me some of your wood tomorrow to pass off as mine.” the man says, seemingly shameless. Of course, it is to be expected thought Aeollus, as this so called ‘prison’ is just a collection of slaves. “I’ll find someone else then” says Aeollus. How could he give the man some of his wood when today, after he worked with no breaks, he was still one of the last people to finish?
“Suit yourself little guy” Replies the man. He then proceeds to slump onto his thin, little bed made of straw and begins to sleep. Aeollus, seeing that there seemed to be nobody else willing to communicate with him, also goes to sleep, preparing for the future of his pitiful life.
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EXPLANATIONS
*#1 octagon: An eight sided figure
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ABOUT ME
Age: 13 (Almost 14)
Occupation: Middle school
Goal: Idk, I’m just making a novel for now
Location: Why would I say that?
Relations: I’m not married (duh)
Anyway, as a side note, this is my first novel I’ve ever tried writing, and also accordingly the first chapter. I will continue writing chapters for now, and try my hardest to continue on.