I get off from the portal, relieved that I had left the dangers of the [Memoir] behind, only to find a crowd in front of me, shouting and cheering for something. They were blocking my view, making it impossible to see what exactly was happening. I had the impression that someone shouted in pain, but it was hard to be certain with all the commotion.

Michael appeared in front of me, pale as a ghost. His breath was heavy, but he had a smile on his face. “I thought you were dead! You disappeared and…" He looked down. " I didn't dare to go back."

I held his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "And you weren't supposed to. There are times when abandoning someone is the only option."

"But that's wrong and I owe you my life."

"And I don't need you to lose it."

He nodded but didn't seem convinced.

"What is going on here?" I asked him, waving my hand in the crowd's direction.

His eyes became serious as he glared at them. "A woman who can't walk has been summoned. Since she can't fight, the knights let the man have fun with her -"

A chill ran down over my spine and spread to the rest of my body. Michael's words became distant, like a buzz, as my mind blocked everything else to focus on the slight possibility that the woman was my wife.

"Aron?" Michael asked me, holding me by the shoulder, but I ignored it and forced my way toward the crowd.

After what looked like an eternity, I finally crossed the ocean of people and started at the scene in front of me. The tattooed man who was summoned with me and a few others were provoking and mocking the old man, who was already injured with a few cuts.

The old man was screaming for help as he waved a sword in front of his body, to keep his opponents at bay. Which was only getting laughs from the slaves and knights alike.

But the person who was behind the old man was the one who got most of my attention. Her red hair was tainted with blood, and her face was covered by tears. She was naked and had bruises all over her body.

A dark and primal hatred crawled from the deepest parts of my mind, pumping adrenaline through my body. The pain and the tiredness gave place to a blood drive.

The world became slower as I aimed my axe and threw it against one of the attackers. The axe got stuck on the back of his head, killing him. He fell to the floor, taking everyone by surprise. I didn't give them any chance to react, for when they started to turn to face me, I was already getting my weapon back and attacking the next target of my wrath.

The bottom part of his mouth went flying as the axe cut it. I kicked him in the belly, making him hit the man behind him.

"You are a dead man! Fucker!" The tattooed man shouted, and the air vibrated as he cast his spell. A small circle of fire appeared in front of me, bursting up to turn me into cinders. My shield took most of the blow, shattering when I jumped outside the flames.

Blinded by my rage, I forgot I had already spent 70 points of mana casting my Hellhound, so I did it again. The pain from using my mana felt excruciating like my body was ripped from the inside out. Black tainted mana fell from my eyes, ears and mouth, yet, I held on, knowing that she needed me.

The hound didn't even need an order, it attacked the tattooed man, jumping over him, taking a bite from his head. His shield held on, and the hound prepared for the next attack.

"STOP!" An order came from inside the crowd and I felt my body freeze. Even the Hellhound halted its attack, with the tattooed man's head already inside its salivating mouth.

The blonde knight who I first met when I was summoned into this world stood in front of me, with an air of superiority and a high nose. "Killing my property is worth a death -"

I punched him in the face. His [Mana Shield] blocked my attack, breaking my hand and arm.

And everyone went silent.

He glared at me with eyes wide open. I didn't know how I had managed to punch him when his order had been for us to stop, but I didn't care. He was protecting the man who was about to rape my wife.

I looked at her, staring at me with her big blue eyes full of tears. She looked like a scared cat, shivering and hurt.

The knight unsheathed his sword, but before his blade found my neck, a golden translucent shield appeared in front of me, blocking the attack.

"What?!" The blond knight shouted. "Why?"

"What is the meaning of this?" Rodrigues demanded with an authoritative voice I hadn't seen even when he was angry with me in the cave. Julian was also behind him, with the look of a serious man ready to fight.

"This slave has killed our property and had the audacity of attacking me!"

"You let them rape my wife! My pregnant wife!" I shouted, ignoring the fact that his sword was only a magic shield away from cutting my head.

"You dare raise your voice against me?" He asked, getting red with rage to the point I could see his veins popping up. "I will have you and your wife's head!"

"Arlam!" Justin shouted, getting the man's attention off me. "The king was clear when he said no pregnant woman should be touched."

"You are protecting him, bastard?"

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Careful with your words!" Rodrigues exclaimed, unsheathing his sword.

Justin stopped him by putting his hand over the man's arm. "Am I to understand you will disobey the king's sacred order?"

Arlam, the blond knight, became white. He looked at me then to Justin, and then to the crow and the other knights who had arrived at the scene. Then he pointed to me "No! But I demand his life, he attacked me, a knight."

"You can't blame a man for protecting his family."

All eyes turned to him. Most, if not all the knights seemed surprised by his statement, and I couldn't blame them for that. It was probably unthinkable that one of them would take the side of a slave.

"You will allow this slave to shame my honour?"

"Of course not!" Justin breathed slowly, raising his chest. "I will have him arrested and put under trial in the morning."

"This means nothing!"

"I have already given my order! If you dislike it you can send an official petition to the king!" He looked at the crowd, "You are all dismissed."

Now that the imminent danger has passed, I rushed to my wife. She embraced me and started to cry with her head against my chest. "Aron!" She said with some difficulty.

"Are you hurt?" I asked her and kissed the top of her head.

Cold steel touched my neck. Justin held his sword against me. His expression was hard to read as he felt indifferent. "You are under arrest for assaulting a knight and for killing your equals. You will remain in prison until I decide on your trial."

"No, please no!" Vanessa pleaded with him. "He was only protecting his family."

"My words are final." He told her.

Michael and the old man got down near us.

"Come, dear, don't make this harder for him." The old man said, with a weak trembling voice.

I nodded to him, giving him a silent thanks. Michael put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.

"I will protect her." He told me and all I could do was trust in him.

Kissing Vanessa one last time, I got up and followed Justin and Rodrigues inside a door on the left wall, doing my best to ignore her cry fading at my back. The adrenaline and the rage faded, making me feel depressed.

Having her here was my greatest fear. She would live a dog's life in the hand of the knights, fearing my death. Our son would grow up as a slave, with Earth being a distant dream.

"How have you done that?" Justin asked me, without looking at me. There was no anger in his voice, only curiosity.

"What?"

"You managed to ignore his order, how?"

"I don't know, it just happened."

"I will give you an order, try to ignore it." He asked me, then turned to face me. "Punch yourself in the face once."

I hit myself, feeling very proud to do it."

"Didn't work," I told him, putting my dislocated jaw back into the right place.

"Maybe he can only do that when he is angry?" Rodrigues asked him. It made sense that they would want to know how I did it, which gave me a chance to survive.

If there was a flaw in the spell that bonded us to them, and I was part of it, they would keep me alive even as a guinea pig. As long as I was alive, I could find a way to keep Vanessa and our son safe.

Justin didn't answer Rodrigues's question, and they left me alone as we walked. We passed a few closed rooms and a few bed chambers with knights and people who I believed were servants.

The people were bowing when we passed by them before looking at me with suspicion. I had already guessed that Justin was a big shot here, which raised the question of why he was risking his life inside the [Memoir]. There didn't seem to be a reason for a leader to venture inside until unless maybe it was to get [Death Coins].

I could still feel them inside my pocket. Yet, I probably lost any chance I had to use it.

We arrived at a double metal door, with two clashing armies fighting sculpted on it. The level of detail could only have been achieved by a master of the craft and was so realistic that I was forced to gasp at it even when I had other things in my mind.

Rodrigues opened the door, revealing a chamber with a dark wooden table, where a mechanism got my immediate attention. It was made of some dark metal, with rings that moved slowly in all directions. There were small round marbles in the rings and a giant sphere at the centre of everything.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Justin asked me, before walking to the table, passing a hand over the mechanism. "This is a [World Atlas], a magic device that shows the position of all worlds."

I got closer to it, but Rodrigues shoved me into a chair, making my broken arm send a bolt of pain through my body. Justin sat at the other side of the table and put both hands in front of his face, then he stared at me for a while, in silence.

"Sir?" I asked him when the silence became boring.

"Rodrigues would have you killed for what you did, but he works for me and respects my judgment, even if he doesn't agree with it." He sighed. "You are just a slave, but my instincts tell me you will still be worth my time."

"Because I ignored the order?" I asked him, only because I had nothing better to say and it was a safe question. Obvious, but safe.

"That's probably only a confirmation of my instincts. I always had good instincts, and I learned to trust them. The problem is that you put me against a wall."

He got up.

"I need to kill you, but I can't. I can't also forgive you, but I need to." He smiled. "What would you do in my place?"

"Find a common ground."

"Of course, but you say that because you don't understand what that means. You will have to risk everything so that no one can ever question your survival."

"I can do that."

"You are either a fool or innocent." His eyes moved from me to the door. "Let him in."

Rodrigues opened the door, and a man with a mask entered the room. He kneeled at my side and held my broken arm, examining it while I did my best to ignore the pain.

"It 's broken." He said station the obvious like it was a discovery. Next, he took a syringe filled with a dark green liquid and injected it into my arms.

The bones inside my arm started to move by themselves. Every inch of my arm burned like It was on fire, making it impossible to hold my scream any longer. Even my lungs burned as I screamed for the duration of the process.

"It 's done." The masked man said. He got up, bowed to Justin and left the room.

The pain faded slowly as I moved my arm and fingers, testing the effects of the healing. Despite the painful process, that level of healing was something doctors could only dream of back on earth.

"Feeling better?" Justin asked.

"Yes, that's amazing."

"Good, because your Mattugr starts tomorrow at first light. Survive it, and you will be able to keep your head on your neck.

I had no fucking idea of what that meant, but by his expression, I was in for a wide ride.

A deadly wide ride.