Once the fires died out, we had a short ceremony.
In total, thirteen slaves had died. Four people had been killed by fire, another three had died underfoot, trampled in the commotion. During her fight with Sern, Pura had also killed a guard. Four other guards had been killed by slaves. Lastly, Rose had died after getting too close to Axel.
Some people spoke for their loved ones, but there was little to say. Death came frequently in Tetratera. It was a fact of life, and the former slaves moved on.
Afterward, Npcs swarmed around Axel and Sern, offering their deepest gratitude for saving their lives. Sern took the gifts—mostly food—and snarfed it all down.
Junior wouldn’t even look at Axel.
Axel couldn’t look at himself either.
While Rose was dying, Axel had wandered to what remained of the guard’s room, collecting fresh clothes to replace Sern’s burnt ones.
Axel didn’t realize he killed Rose until he came back.
Sern shuffled around, jabbing Axel in the side. She offered him some of the food. When he didn’t take it, she shrugged, and kept digging in.
Unfortunately, Sern was still angry at me, for whatever reason. She wouldn’t look at me.
Between Sern and me, and Junior and Axel, our little team was splintering apart.
In addition to internal struggle, water and food was a constant issue, along with medicine. Junior was the one and only slave who hadn’t been injured during the fight. Everyone else was in bad shape.
Axel had scarring where the chains had been latched. Sern was much, much worse, with skin that had been charred black, peeling off in large flakes. If we don't find a doctor soon, there could be permanent damage.
I was technically the worst off, and by such a margin that even the other slaves had offered me their potions of healing. I accepted some, enough to walk around. Beyond that, I’d just have to heal after a good night’s sleep.
But my left arm wasn’t coming back. The end had healed over with skin, but no more.
As for the former slaves, the majority of them came from war-torn villages scattered around the second area, where they’d been sold to pay off debts. Some of them were returning home, hoping for the best.
Others wandered the desert, searching for a slice of wilderness where they wouldn’t be hunted.
But a decent few both knew the way to a nearby city, and were determined to get there. While much of the second area had issues in terms of slavery, there were various nature preserves where monster people were allowed to roam without issue.
I didn’t know what to do.
Junior sniffed.
“It’s not fair,” he muttered.
I squeezed his hand. “What isn’t?”
“Why do all the good people die?” Junior asked, slumping onto the sand. “This place is all a game, isn’t it? Should the good guys beat the bad guys?”
“Games aren’t always fair,” I sighed.
“They ought to be.”
“Yes, they ought to.”
He shot a glare at me. “Why aren’t you sad?”
“I am sad,” I said, a little taken back.
He sniffed. “You aren’t crying.”
That was true. I knew Rose had died, and it was sad…but it wasn’t like she’d be gone forever. I could die, and then he’d get his sister back. In fact, I’d grow a new arm, and then we could just go back through the second area.
But nothing would have changed. We would still be as helpless as before. I needed to get stronger, until I could save every slave in Pura’s caravan all on my own.
Yes, Rose’s death was awful, but it wasn’t the same kind of awful that Junior was experiencing.
I sat down beside him. “I think I’m forgetting how to cry.”
“Don’t.” Junior sniffed. “Even monsters cry.”
He leaned against my side, blowing his nose on my black jeans.
I scratched his head. “We should get moving.”
“w-well…”Junior looked behind him, to Sern and Axel. “I don’t want to move anywhere either of them.”
“Sern saved all our lives,” I said. “And Axel saved yours, and mine.”
“He took Rose’s.”
We’d had this conversation several times already.
“Do you think Rose had any regrets?” I asked.
Junior crossed his arms and looked away. “No. She always said she wanted to die free.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“And she did.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“Nothing makes it okay.” I let out a breath. “But, for your sister’s sake, we should take care of everyone we can, including Axel.”
“He’s a monster,” Junior hissed.
“So am I,” I said. “Most of us are, if put in the right situation. We’ll do bad things to protect people we love.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“I never said it was,” I whispered, pushing off the sand onto my feet. “But there’s only really one thing we can do.”
“And that is?” Junior asked.
“Live.” I found myself smiling. “If you died, Rose would be giving me an earful.”
He watched me, almost to see if I was being serious, before shrugging, picking at the dirt with his foot.
It would have been so easy to fix. If I’d just held Rose back she might—
And she was dead, and there was nothing I could do about it.
My hands tightened.
Junior sat on the ground, staring blankly up into the night sky.
This wasn’t going to work.
I would not—could not let the people I love die over and over again. But I couldn’t handle going through the areas without friends.
So I just had to get as strong as fast as I possibly could. I’d brute force the game into oblivion. I would try over and over again, until people stopped dying. And I had a pretty good idea where to start.
“Junior?” I asked. “What do you know of the union?”
“Very little,” he mumbled. “They’re the guards around cities who make sure nothing ridiculous tries to attack. Otherwise the first million-level monsters would kill everybody.”
“And a union trainee?”
Junior shrugged. “Some kind of program most people go through. I guess they’re the ones who get sent on all the escorts and fetch quests.”
—And dungeon raids I added in my head. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Junior sat up. “Huh?”
“We’re too weak to do anything,” I said. “Let's get stronger.”
“I can’t get stronger,” Junior mumbled. “Lesser Npcs have a constant amount of power.”
“There’s a little something called a stat orb. I’m sure a couple hundred of those would do you wonders.”
He shrugged. “Are we going to take Axel along?”
“Yes.”
Junior nodded. “Okay.”
We joined up with the third party of slaves—-those going to a nearby city—and started our walk through the desert.
All around us, Npcs and monsters were talking freely, laughing and jostling one another. Others stayed quiet, but there was a certain level of joy that permeated through the air.
Junior stayed quiet, staring at the ground as he walked. Axel shambled forward, hands at his side. Sern stuck beside him, occasionally glancing at the other two.
In short, our party was a sorry sight.
I had tried to strike up a conversation somewhere along our hike, but nobody paid much attention.
Soon, the sun would rise, and we would have to find somewhere to stay the night.
But before that happened, I noticed a distinct bump over the horizon, as if the land had grown.
As we moved closer, the land rose taller still, rising up like a mountain until people around me began cheering, racing forward as fast as their legs could carry them.
The bulge almost seemed to be moving closer.
My breath caught.
Two yellow slits opened in the center of the hulking mass
“Is that…a turtle?” I whispered.
One of the little children shot me a nasty glare, and she spoke in a haughty, grumpy little voice which would have sounded far more intimidating if it hadn’t been coming from a two or three year-old child with a stubby little horn on her forehead. “Kizota is a dragon and she is beautiful.”
Her parents quickly brushed her away.
I tapped her father on the shoulder. “Where’s the city?”
He smirked, then pointed.
Straight to the hulking mass.
“Ah.”
Junior was in shock, eyes wide as the moon. “That is a big turtle.”
Despite the arms bracing against her, the little girl still managed to kick him in the shins. “KIZOTA IS A DRAGON AND SHE IS BEAUTIFUL!”
The dad smiled. “We grew up here.”
His daughter scurried away with her parents close behind.
We arrived at Kizota without issue, made easier by the fact that she was walking toward us, each step crossing miles of distance—-which made actually boarding onto her much more difficult.
Now that we had come closer, I could feel the rolling waves of raw, ancient energy that crackled in the air around us, warping sand into glass around every scale.
Freed slaves flocked around the edges of her shell, calling the guards who immediately dropped down steel bridges, using the base of the ‘dragon’s’ shell for support as the iron pigments settled into place.
We rushed up to grab onto the ladder, before Kizota became another massive step, pushing the ground from underneath us.
“This is insane,” Junior muttered. “How could a monster even get this strong?”
“A friend once told me that some monsters can grow up to two billion in any stat before the area cuts them off,” I stated. “Something tells me this is one of those.”
Guards swarmed around the crowd of twelve or so people, asking them simple questions about where they’d come from. Once they realized that several had been kidnapped and forced onto a slave train, they began dealing out small blue cards.
“This is your temporary citizen license,” one guard stated, pressing one into my hand. She glanced at Junior. “Keep an eye on this. If you get into trouble, break it, and we’ll have a team of Iron or stronger ascension to come looking for you.”
I started thanking her, before she cut me off, speaking in a whisper.
“Look out for the monsters. If anyone asks, they’re servants or familiars. We’ve been having some issues on Kizota lately. She’s still better than most cities, but nowhere near safe. Be careful.”
Her serious expression softened to a smile, and she handed a Junior a lollipop. “Welcome to Kizota!”
// {Notice} //
Hi! Author here. Want to fight human trafficking? Whether you’ve got money or time there are two organizations I wholly recommend.
Race Day — Thirty
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P.S : I noticed my story had a much lower view and follower ration that other stories on royal road of roughly similar quality. I think it might be partially due to the current cover, so I'm trying something new.
New cover! Is it better?
