Cursed Explorer of the Arcana

I’ve only ever heard tales of what an army looks like, a group of people, no, fighters so numerous that their footsteps make the ground tremble and their numbers cover the horizon like the freshly fallen snow.

My imagination betrayed me. Illuminated only by their torches, the orcs hideous by our standard only look more menacing along with the war beasts of incredible proportions by their side. The forest bows as their troops march through, destroying everything in their path but all that is nothing compared to what fate has in store for this city.

Massive beasts are terrifying and countless opponents are just scary to face and let’s not even mention the hideous ones. The orc army unifies all the virtues, only further amplified by the sounds they manage to create as they descend upon us.

I know I’m not their target, our tribe didn’t have much beef with the orcs but even so, I can't help but get terrified as flashes of the approaching carnage flash through my mind. They are like an avalanche of flesh and rage and if I stay here, right in their path then I don’t think I’ll see the morning.

The inhabitants don’t need to use much of their imagination to realize what’s coming and neither do I because I’m among the first to drop what I’m carrying and start backing away from the approaching horde. Needless to say, the other people are quick to follow as chaos erupts both within and outside the walls. They’re not finished after all.

My first instinct as I’m sprinting down the streets I’ve built with my own hands is to gather all the kids without leaving anyone behind and make an escape amidst the headless chaos. This is our best chance.

The roars and warcries past the construction site and just outside the last stretch of unfinished defenses are getting close and getting louder. Add to that crashes that sound like an entire cliff collapsing and other sounds of combat I can’t even begin to explain to get absolute mayhem that I have no way of surviving if I get caught up in the fighting.

I guess the orcs are pissed for enslaving their people, understandably.

Navigating the streets is child’s play, pushing my way through the crowds isn’t that difficult either, I don’t care about their wellbeing, but finding my people… now that’s a bit more difficult than I imagined. I’m not saying this place is enormous but, okay I’m saying it, the city is way bigger than any campsite I’ve ever seen.

Thankfully nobody tries to stop me or pays any attention to a random kid with weird white hair running down the streets in the wrong direction. I’m not actually a slave either, without the collar sealing my freedom, and now with no watchful eyes supervising my every move the only thing standing between me and returning home is this city and the predicament marching towards it.

After a few minutes of increasingly erratic searching, I finally come across the first batch of kids with a bothersome addition attached to them. A human, one of the slave traders who was there when we got captured dragging the three white-haired by their arms, hair, and whatever he can get a hold of really.

Sadly while I’m stuck pondering on how to ambush the bastard and liberate the three before looking for the others, one of the snot-nosed brats notices me and makes a little too much noise to write it off as simple fussing. Especially with the ‘Valka help!’ part. I can’t be mad at him for it, or at least shouldn’t be…

In a blink two of the kids are released while the one stuck in his hand gets a knife pointed at his throat. “Don’t do anything stupid!” The man shrieks with a voice that sounds thirty times more cowardly than threatening.

[Warrior lvl ???]

Damn, it was worth a try.

“I don’t want any trouble,” I placatingly raise my hands while trying to win him over with words. The man seems more frightened than even the kids. “we just need to escape this deathtrap before-”

“NO!” He yells, albeit this time in terror rather than fear. “No, I can’t lose the goods, the boss will kill me, he will actually kill, I can’t. No- not allowed, he’ll take the skin, we don’t want the boss angry, no we don’t want that.” He keeps rambling and acting like a madman.

“We can all just leave this place and disappear after, nobody gets hurt and everyone goes their own way.” My tone this time is as soothing as I can make it while talking to a madman I’d gladly kill here and now and a city slowly crumbling around us to due the forces fighting outside. “We don’t have much time, c’mon you don’t have to do this.”

“You don’t understand.” He mutters before his eyes snap toward something behind me. “We don’t have a choice?”

We?

The next moment I’m tackled from behind with an arm grabbing my neck and another pushing me to the ground. My heart almost bursts from the fright, after the constant angst and chaos of the past minutes but the moment realize who I’m up against anger takes the rein. The same bastard who threw the first pebble-filled snowball at me.

I try to struggle my way out of the hold but the strength difference is devastatingly large and my attacker doesn’t even budge. Being overpowered isn’t a feeling I’ve been all too familiar with throughout my life but recently that’s beginning to change. I can’t say I like it.

Before any of us could as much as make a noise the ground trembles once again, much more violently than before followed by an echoing crack and a unified roar rising to the skies. Then the countless cracks turn into a groan as the wall finally gives in and begins to cave with assaulting beasts at least half the height of the monstrous stone defenses falling along with it.

The six of us, three kids, two bastards and I move as one, hopping up and making a run for it. One kid is still held firmly by the muttering lunatic of a man, and the iron grip on the back of my neck has not weakened one bit either. I try to steer our escape, maybe search for the rest of the kids but the slavers have other plans as they drag us through the waves of escaping people, literally pushing anyone to the ground who stands in their way.

It took four seconds for the shattered ruins of the massive wall to finally hit the ground along with the gigantic war beasts, their impact basically tearing the ground from under our feet. Amidst the screams and collapsing buildings, the horde pushes through and true chaos ensues.

The army of men and slaves was able to hold back the flood of green skin for quite a while, however, the fact that they broke through can only mean one thing. The battle is already over.

To my greatest surprise, we do find the rest of my kin without any hiccups although my disappointment is equally as great because they’re locked in the same carriage we arrived in. Then there are the other three moving prisons loaded to the brim with beastmen, elves, weird half-beastmen and half-human things, and even actual humans. You name it they have it in stock. To my great disappointment, I can also hear the same bald bossman who led the raid against us give orders even over the echoes of destruction across the city.

“You’re lucky you didn’t lose them you miserable fools.” He points a finger towards us. “Load them up and let’s get the fuck out of here. This city is doomed but at least we’re not leaving empty-handed.” He chuckles.

How? How can anyone be happy in this situation while robbing people not of their belongings but their lives, their freedom? Dad always used to say that nobody’s born evil and it’s a difficult life that creates a twisted personality but I never believed him. Souls without a drop of benevolence do exist and this man is a living example.

We’re promptly squeezed behind bars along with the rest of the people snatched up in the chaos only to be off the next second with a lot and I mean a lot more horses than we arrived with.

I’m a bit dejected that we lost this opportunity to escape but at the same time, I know I couldn’t have found everyone in this chaos and had no idea how we’d escape both the humans and the army of orcs. I doubt the green idiots would be able to make a difference between us Nephilims and normal flimsy humans.

We’re still captives, we’ve toiled and struggled with no reward and no end in sight but at least I don’t have to mourn. If I had to pick between the two I’d stay behind bars if that means my people can live another day.

“Time to abandon this frozen shithole before war sweeps across the lands.” The boss hollers as the carriages leave the crumbling city in flames far behind. “Who wants to sail south?”

His question is met with a vigorous round of shouting, none of their voice reflecting the tragedy that just happened.

Humans or not, some of them were innocent.

***

Our carriages rolled southwards for weeks passing abandoned settlements and groups of fleeing refugees. The sources of our supplies. Races have their differences and thus conflict emerges, that’s just how things work, that’s where cruelty and jealousy originate from. At least these people don’t discriminate, I guess they’re what one would call criminals in human society, the rotten ones.

As the days passed the weather became warmer, the ratio of white to green changed and the number of human settlements increased. Still, we didn’t stop anywhere longer than a single night, and the only time any of us were allowed outside the cages was when they needed us to do some menial work. Food was just barely enough, water scarce and entertainment nonexistent. Not like any of us was in the mood to crack jokes.

By the third week, most of us have accepted our fate, accepted the loss of our loved ones, our home, and our freedom embracing this grey and empty new life. Not me though, I still have things to do, I still need to find Dad and return the kids home.

I knew we arrived at our destination when a whole new scenery opened up just as we rolled past to the top of a small hill. Water, water covering everything till the edge of the horizon. As we approached this great puddle of the world the air became weird, permeated by a smell that made my nose itchy for some reason.

There, right at the edge of the water sat a city far greater than the one I involuntarily helped to build, with houses, walls, people, carts, roofs, windows… everything bigger and more numerous. And to my great disgust everything filled with humans.

They breed like rabbits and use their numbers to infest the lands, killing everything else until nothing else is left other than them. The city was a hotbed of shady people and commotions with armed people marching up and down the streets and people attacking each other on a daily basis.

That place, that city was where we officially lost our freedom. You’re only slave in name until the contract is signed and relatively free until the collar is locked around your neck. Of course, we didn’t accept any of that willingly but it’s not like we had much of a choice with our meals threatened.

The two go hand in hand. You willingly touch the piece of paper and it becomes binding, giving the right to whoever holds it to command the poor bastard wearing the collar. It’s not like we can’t resist but doing so is pretty painful when it sends a shock through your body for defying orders. It was a day that made the dark hole of despair we were stuck in even deeper.

Promptly after we were transported again, only this time not onto carriages but the transports of the seas, ships. They stuffed us all every race, every age, and every gender into the belly of the wooden ship, into that dark and damp place.

We had to stay vigilant constantly since we were the weakest down there and the only tool we had to fight back was making a commotion and drawing the ire of our captors. This meant quite a few all-nighters and a lot of shouting and punishments whenever another slave approached with shady intent in their eyes.

That was the worst part of our journey, barely any food, hardly any light and that cursed constant wobbliness. Let’s not even mention how much wasted food that meant…

The next time we saw the light of Solaire the land beneath our feet was different. The weather was still chilly and the vista quite hilly but it was not the same as the human lands before we set sail. It was no longer Koleth.

The humans called this place Norlan, and even the slavers tread more carefully than back home. They purchased their supplies, spoke respectfully to the armored men and women found in every settlement and… spoke in a language I did not understand. The landscape was different and so were the people, the towns, and the animals but when the words spoken around you sound like complete gibberish… Only then did I realize how foreign we were to that place.

It was similar to home, but better as much as I hate to say that. The land was nowhere near as harsh, people looked peaceful and I also didn’t see any orcs or elves so that must mean fewer wars. I wish my people had a home like this.

That wish grew only more distant as the journey was not quite yet finished and the road ahead of us promised a few more complications. I expected us to change hands sooner or later, maybe, hopefully, finding somebody else who can call themselves our master instead of these sick people. That wasn’t the case. The orcs got sold pretty quickly, soon followed by the elves and the furry people until only we were left.

‘Too young, too weak, too feeble’ everyone said when we were offered even if the price was low, although there was a couple that took two kids with them but I somehow didn’t feel bad about that. They were… different, they treated us like people. I hope those two will be able to find happiness in life.

The more we traveled the warmer weather got, the more irritated our captors became and the more sick I was of traveling endlessly in foreign lands. We only stopped to earn our feed, aka make us do some heavy and dirty labor in exchange for money that they used to buy us the cheapest food they could find. It was closer to dirt than food actually.

By then I understood the language more or less after listening to our captors day and night and asking the people exploiting our work even if it earned a slap to the back of my head. Knowing what the people holding our contracts were trying to make us do was almost priceless to avoid trouble and protect the young ones so it was all worth it.

Life went on like this for what felt like months before things finally changed. For the worse. We finally found buyers, separate ones vying for the right to buy things be they living or not. They call it an ‘auction house’.

I had to watch as they dragged the kids I was meant to protect out in front of everyone and listen as people offered a number for their lives. Bria was third to last and when she gave me a farewell hug I broke down crying and almost snapped. In the end, I was left for last, left with no one and nothing, a husk of my former self.

“Never give up!” I shouted my final message to my people. “Our time will come, never lose hope! Never forget who you are!” The guards were approaching me and the collar worked its magic, however, I was not finished. “I swear on all that I hold dear that I’ll free us as long as I breathe. I’ll-!”

I wasn’t able to finish my declaration as the collar forced me to my knees and the guards of the auction house piled on me, holding me down and gagging my mouth. It was fine, the message had been delivered.

Those weren’t just empty words… I always keep my promises.

Shortly after restraining me properly with even more chains and a gag, they gave auctioning me a second shot however it only went as well as one would imagine.

The bid was short and lackluster, very much not like what the auctioneers expected to my delight, although, I was somewhat hurt when twelve gold was the maximum they were willing to offer for me. A man, grim and weathered paid the price and took a closer look at me with eyes full of suspicion after everything settled.

“My eyes didn’t deceive me,” He circles me for the fourth time at least. “you might look broken but that’s just a mask, one adorned by the days you endured and the things you’ve seen but still not the truth.” He lifts a hand to touch my face but I pull back with a growl, not much different from a simple beast. “That’s what I’m talking about, the spirit… You’ll do just fine in Turan, girl, fighting for the most noble cause there is.”

It’s not over.