《Slave Hero》 1. Waking up in the Middle Ages? I was just your average guy. There wasn¡¯t anything particularly bad about me, yet there wasn¡¯t any redeeming quality either. Just your average guy. The only thing that made me different would probably be my hobbies. I particularly enjoyed watching things melt (Not weird at all) and then playing with the molten product. My blisters and reddened skin stand as testimonies to my odd hobby. Well, besides my hobby of melting things, I was just your average guy. In fact, I wasn¡¯t antisocial either, I had my own group of friends to rely on, I had a fianc¨¦e and was even doing quite well for myself. Well, that all changed quite swiftly. ------------------------------------------------- A distant rolling thunder interrupted my thoughts as I peered out the clear glass window. The night was illuminated solely by two tall street lights. The other lights along the road had long since burnt out, leaving the rest of the street looking dark and derelict throughout the night when quite frankly that area was quite tidy during the day. I¡¯d always wondered why the city hadn¡¯t repaired the lights yet, but as usual, they never responded to any letters regarding the issues that actually mattered. It seems that building those stadiums was more important than keeping their ¡®wonderful¡¯ city in a state where it doesn''t look all that presentable. Quite saddening. Anyways, after focusing back on the taxes that I had neglected for the past few months, hoping that nothing would happen if I just didn''t do anything. Sadly, the government notice didn¡¯t quite agree with my hopes and desires. After an entire hour and a half of mundane paperwork, I stood up and begrudgingly walked over to my bed. I wasn¡¯t that fond of paperwork and just this much had mentally exhausted me and brought me to my limits. I had always respected those people who could hold a desk job where they did this sort of mundane work for a living. Truly admirable. Closing my eyes which were already starting to flicker closed, I fell into a deep, deep sleep. - - - - - ¡®Am I dreaming?¡¯ After quickly surveying my surroundings, I concluded that this was a dream. A very realistic dream. With chiseled marble pillars and a nice woven carpet that possessed a certain charm that you couldn¡¯t help but respect the craftsmanship held within. Around me was a crowd of people with a variety of ages, whether it was children, grown men, or even elderly women; they were all here. I couldn¡¯t help but ponder why I had dreamt up such a weird scenario. Were my dreams ever this detailed? Interesting. Suddenly, a booming voice came from an area of the room I hadn¡¯t noticed, which was quite odd considering it was the largest part. Quickly many heads swiveled in the direction in which the voice had come from as if snapping out of a dazed state, myself included. ¡°Welcome! I would like to formally welcome you all to this kingdom, no, this world and would like to thank you in advance for the services that you shall provide to this kingdom!¡± Services? As if, why would I work for someone Who had seemingly captured a bunch of people and proposes that we perform them services. I noticed that a few others shared my opinion, but before they could voice their opinion, the crowned man talked once again. ¡°Well, now that that¡¯s all said and done, please line up in single file and have your status judged by our department heads. It¡¯s not like you can resist anyways.¡± Can¡¯t resist? Don¡¯t joke around. Suddenly a compelling force attacked me and I found myself easy guided towards the line that had started to form which contained everyone who had just been sprawled on the floor with me earlier. ¡®What the hell, what¡¯s going on, why can¡¯t I move my body? What¡¯s going on?¡¯ Slowly, the line walked forward, one by one touching what seemed to be a plate of bronze formed into a tablet shape (e.g. https://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/ancient_texts/CT_BMEA29753_R_T.jpg ) with glowing symbols on the back which glowed each time someone touched it. Once a decent amount of people had been waved to the side, the line started forming an amorphous blob of people. Slowly it seemed that bodily control came back to the people within the blob but none made a move, fearing that the what had just happened might repeat. Eventually, it was my turn in line. Just like the people before me, I put my hand on top of the bronze plate. A faint glow that I hadn¡¯t noticed while farther back in the line came from the other side and the man holding the slate looked content, waving me to the side. Joining the group of people, I noticed a familiar face. ¡°Alex!¡± Making sure to keep silent I beckoned to my co-worker who had joined the company around the same time as I, we quickly became friends and had hung out quite a few times. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hey! Do you know what¡¯s happening right now?¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t say that I do¡­¡± With an idle silence, the both of us just stood amongst the crowd, attempting to be not be noticed by any of the men armored in shining metal plates, scales and even some men adorned in chainmail near the rear gate that seemed to be the exit. ¡°Do you think we can escape?¡± ¡°Not right now, we¡¯ll just have to wait and see how it plays out until an opportunity arises.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Responding to his comment, I couldn¡¯t help but also start thinking of escape. Although it was a dream, albeit a dream that felt exactly like reality, I was still compelled to ponder on possible ways to get out. Based on previous occurrences such as the ¡®services¡¯ and forced line up, I could tell that theses people who seemed to have been pulled straight out of the Middle Ages had no plans of letting me thoroughly enjoy my time within this dream. Suddenly, the armored men across the large room started signaling to each other with an odd hand signal. After the message seemed to have reached everyone in the room, the men, I¡¯ll call them knights, started walking towards the group, encircling us with one hand always on their sheathed blades. After encircling us like cattle on a farm, the man from the throne who had yelled from across the room earlier slowly descended from his throne and took long steps towards our group. After approaching us and stopping about 10m away, the man, that after closer inspection was probably some sort of king or emperor, started talking once again. ¡°Heroes, no, Slave Heroes, welcome to my kingdom of Ruberia and you should also welcome your new lifestyle. What that entails, you shall find out on your own. In this place, my word is final, anyone who wants to contest that can step up now.¡± Suddenly from the crowd a man, no, teenager with short brown hair stepped up. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you¡¯re trying to pull off here, but I won¡¯t allow it. Either let us go or I¡¯ll take you down myself.¡± After saying so, the teen rolled up his sleeves and put his hand in front of his face. A smirk appeared on the kings face as a small glow started emanating from his entire body. Slowly, like puzzle pieces coming together, small pieces of metal that seemingly came out of nothing started to stick together over the kings robed body forming a metallic suit of armor. Paling once the armor started forming, the young man started paling even further while edging away from the king. After the full set had assembled, the young man started running away from the king and towards the doors. Before he could escape the encirclement though, two knights dashed in his way, bumping him to the floor. With a panicked look, the teen tried many other sides of the encirclement but each time he was hit down. With a body riddled in bruises, the young man slumped to the floor panting with his gaping eyes pinned on the slowly approaching king who had been silently walking towards the teens direction the whole time. After about 5 minutes of this deadlock between the fleeing teen and the armored king, the king slammed his foot on the floor, shooting him towards the teen, a newly materialized sword in hand. With one swift movement, a spherical object hit the floor and an arch of red liquid stained the floor to the side of the now headless boy. I couldn¡¯t help but cover my eyes along with most of the other when the sword connected. Thinking about what I had just seen, a nauseating feeling attacked my body. Going to one knee Whatever food was in my stomach had now been transferred to the carpeted floor. It wasn¡¯t pretty. Several people around me looked at me in shock but didn¡¯t say anything considering what we had just seen. ¡°Now, all of you, unless you have any other complaints, I suggest following the knights around you. They will show you the way to your living quarters. Try to get some good sleep in tonight since you¡¯ll need it for what¡¯s up tomorrow.¡± After being guided by the knights through the doors, past a few halls until we were finally met with a rather long hallway lined with wooden doors we were individually guided to our respective rooms where one by one we were prodded into the rooms as if we were some sort of animal. Once inside the room, I took note to how barren it was. It was barely passable as living quarters since it had a hay bundle wrapped in cloth, an empty shelf and a rack with places that looked like they were meant to hold weapons or something. For some reason, I felt quite tired after coming to this dream world. Slowly walking towards my hay bed I collapsed down onto the bed with none the wiser. - - - - - And that is how my life in a parallel world begun. If you find any grammar or spelling mistakes, please do point them out, thx. 2. Siphoning *Splash* Woken by a freezing cold splash of water, I slowly start getting up. Once my eyes were open, an armored man I recognized to be the knight who had shown me to my door last night stood right before me. With a gruff, tired voice he responded to my questions. ¡°I¡¯m here to guide you where the king tells me to. Now, if you¡¯d please follow me.¡± Guided by the surprisingly polite knight, I¡¯m lead through the halls past the throne room doors, past even more halls and finally stop in front of another large door. As the door slowly creaks open due to the knights pushing I get a slowly expanding view of something resembling a cafeteria from the real world packed with the crowd of people from yesterday. ¡®Come to think of it, isn¡¯t this dream really lifelike?¡¯ After being in this world for an entire day I was starting to question whether or not this really was a dream like I had thought it was. Anyways, once I had realized what everyone else was doing I followed suite and sat in a vacant stool while looking around for what we were all waiting for. After failing to reach a definite conclusion from analysis I decided to ask the elderly woman beside me. ¡°What we¡¯re doing? I¡¯m not too sure but the kind knight who woke me up said they¡¯re going to make us adjust to ¡®our new world¡¯. Whatever that means.¡± New world? Suspicious, and I wasn¡¯t going to let this chance slide either. ¡°What do you think they mean by new world?¡± ¡°Do you not know yet? Although most of us were summoned in our sleep, a few of us were straight out sucked into something that they described as a ¡®rip in the world¡¯.¡± A rip in the world? Interesting but does this mean this isn¡¯t a dream then? Well that doesn¡¯t actually surprise me at this point. The murder and magic from yesterday felt way too real to have been ¡®just a dream¡¯. After a while of just waiting in silence for something or someone to arrive a creaking sound came from the direction of the doors. Turning my head in surprise I was met with a group of grey robed people and the king from earlier in green attire. Slowly the robed people walked over, two of them removing their hoods and just looking at our group that was now scattered across the length of the table. After they had spread out across the room a voice which I didn¡¯t really want to hear talked once again. ¡°Greetings once again, Slave Heroes. Once again please group up on one side of the table.¡± Just like yesterday our bodies were forced into a line with stiff, forced movements. Once I regained bodily control I found myself in a group of people surrounded by the robed people. Suddenly the robed people started chanting in a language that I don¡¯t really understand. If I tried to think about what they were saying a racking pain assaulted my head and made me feel nauseous. Once they had finished chanting an odd glowing purple circle had formed around us and several people within started falling to their knees with an expression of agony on their faces. Slowly, one by one the big group of people was narrowed down to about 10 people with the rest writhing in agony on the floor with parts of their body starting to disintegrate into dark grey particles. Amongst the writhing I came to recognize a face that I was all too familiar with seeing before being taken here. ¡®Alex¡¯ Piece by piece, as if flaking off, pieces of my friends and many others fell apart, turning into particles of light. Helpless to even speak, let alone move, I could only mentally gawk in horror as the massacre proceeded. Slowly the circle died down with only the remaining 10 people left behind. Looking around at the now vacant space where many people had stood previously, many emotions overtook me. Sadness, grief, horror and a bit of anger. ¡°Well, now that we¡¯ve siphoned out the weak and are left with only the few who arrived with actual blessings; let us proceed.¡± With a flick of his hand, wrought metal bars rose to surround us like helpless cattle. Once they all arched towards the centre, the many grey robed people came to the bars and started chanting in that unknown language again. Once the chant had started, another circle surrounded us but was white this time. The bars surrounding us immediately started glowing white but didn¡¯t seem to radiate heat, only light. After a solid minute of lights and chanting I felt my mind start to muddle and my body starting to feel weird. Like sand beneath my skin a severe case of numbness assaulted me and my vision goes white, knocking me unconscious once again. - - - - - Waking up peacefully for the first time in this world I quickly snap out of my drowsiness and look around to see where I was. To my surprise I¡¯m still in the room where the massacre happened yesterday. Right¡­ The massacre¡­ Alex, the kind old lady and all those other innocent people¡­ With a depressing mood to start off the day I start looking around to see if anyone else who survived yesterday was awake yet. Surprisingly there was someone awake. Someone who woke up and didn¡¯t seem to be having a very good day. With sunken eyes and a face that blatantly revealed how they¡¯d been crying earlier due to dried up tears and puffy eyes. The young boy before me was indeed quite depressed and I couldn¡¯t do anything about it. I¡¯d never been quite that good with children and that wasn¡¯t something that could be improved overnight. Sitting with the somber child beside me I looked around and finally got a good look at the survivors. The group was almost balanced with six men and four women. Only two in the group appeared to be children: the sad boy and a sleeping girl with brown locks. After waiting for a good hour for everyone to slowly awaken I had grown impatient. Finally, once most of the group was awake, the large doors creaked open with an extremely eerie sound. Once the large door opened the king and several knights entered. This time though, the king seemed rather nervous and wasn¡¯t even trying to hide it. Internally writhing in hatred towards this human scum that dared to commit such terrible crime and seemingly regret nothing. If only I could just dispose of him here and now. Yeah¡­ That¡¯s right, I just have to get rid of him. If I want dead, then the best person for the job¡¯s me. But the problem¡¯s how not whether I¡¯ll do it or not. How¡­ Come to think of it, if that king can do that metal magic trick then maybe I can too¡­ Magic, that¡¯s right, this world must have magic for him to be able to conjure metal armor without advanced technology. Now the question is how to perform magic. How indeed¡­ Suddenly, interrupting my thoughts like a slap to the face, the knights started putting really crude handcuffs around my hands (e.g. http://us.123rf.com/450wm/daseaford/daseaford1203/daseaford120300007/12852454-a-wooden-set-of-medieval-punishment-stocks.jpg). The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Sorry for the inconvenience *snicker*, but we wouldn¡¯t want you guys resisting in the most important part of the process.¡± With just those short, annoying words we were forcefully led through the halls by the cuffs until we were actually outside. Instead of passing through more halls or huge doors we instead went through tight musty passages that were terribly lit, reminding me of home once again. Once outside, we were led through a wooded area until we were in front of a crude log house with a seemingly innocent feeling to it. Then again, what sort of innocent place would this filth be visiting with a group of slaves in tail. After a few short moments the door was swung open by a short man with a disfigured face and grey hair. Without a word we were allowed in and led through the empty cabin and to a ladder hatch. With a short chant and a series of taps we were brought down the hatch and into a dirty tunnel that seemed to have been made in a hurry considering it hadn¡¯t been cleaned up at all. After what seemed to be an eternity we were brought what seemed to be the junction of the dirt tunnel and a stone basement wall with a door installed facing us. Again the short man walked up and did the same things he did with the ladder hatch, opening the door once again. What we were greeted with on the other sight couldn¡¯t be described as a pleasant sight at all. Walls lined with cages of different sizes. Not all the cages were filled but those that were had people within them. No, not all of them were people, some had horns, some had animal ears, some were half beast and some were even full out monsters. After a few minutes of walking and gawking at the inhuman sights around me at the moment. Once we had reached the end of the room we finally arrived at another door. ¡®How many levels of security does this darned place have, there must be something really dangerous happening here.¡¯ Once the next door was opened we were prodded into the room while the knights stayed behind. ¡®Come to think of it, if someone as powerful as this king needs guards then just how powerful are the people of this world?¡¯ In the room there was a putrid stench and a pudgy, balding man sitting behind a desk as if he was already aware that we were to arrive. ¡°It¡¯s an honour, your majesty.¡± ¡°No need for formalities Chester, we¡¯ve known each other for far too long for that sort of conduct.¡± ¡°If you insist. Anyways, let¡¯s get down to business. What do you require of me?¡± ¡°Well as you know, we recently acquired that summoning spell and succeeded in summoning Heroes right.¡± ¡°Indeed, I was quite surprised that it succeeded on your first try but how does this relate to someone such as me?¡± ¡°Well, the spell we used was indeed formidable but the slavery spell within doesn¡¯t take into consideration the future growth of the Heroes.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s probably since the creators didn¡¯t exactly want some brainless puppets to be the bastion of their kingdom.¡± ¡°That may be true but it doesn¡¯t conform with what we need so I was wondering if you could perform a stronger bond on them so that they can¡¯t resist anything we demand of them.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll do what I can but considering they¡¯re Heroes you probably should have consulted someone more qualified.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have the time to get someone better, we need this now.¡± ¡°Whatever you say.¡± Slowly the man behind the desk got up and fetched a variety of items from a cabinet to his side. After assembling a stack of items including jars of red liquid, scrolls and other odd objects. ¡°You guys know the drill, get in line and let the kind man over there help you out.¡± Shit! Just like last time my body is forced into a line with me in last this time. One by one the old man performs some kind of ritual with the people in line involving a bunch of blood and a flash of red light to finish it off. Slavery. It was something completely incomprehensible to someone like me from another world that had just a bit too much freedom. I didn¡¯t want to be a slave, never have, never will. Actually, why am I even here, what did I do to incur such misfortune. First I¡¯m kidnapped from my house and brought to another world before I¡¯d done an of the many things I wanted to accomplish in life. I haven¡¯t done anything sinful, intact I¡¯ve saved many a life due to my line of work. Why did I deserve such a terrible fate? That¡¯s right, just like before, I just have to kill them to get this over with. If they get in my way I just have to end them. How? I don¡¯t know¡­ What ways could I kill a man while unarmed. Hand-to-hand combat is out of the question, I¡¯m cuffed. Then what other ways cold I do it¡­ That¡¯s right, what if I could do what the king had done with the metal. Magic, right? What if I could perform magic? The question is how. Whether it¡¯s the slave ritual or the kings metal magic they¡¯re all related somehow. To figure it out how about I use some science from my world. If nothing moves without being acted upon, what moves his metal magic? Energy has to, but what energy could form metal and manipulate it. It would have to be one that I¡¯m unfamiliar with. Let¡¯s call it magic power. If I used magic power and did an energy conversion, then I could create metal. But if that¡¯s the case then how could these savages figure it out? Right, the chanting. The chanting¡¯s the key but I don¡¯t know how to do that so I¡¯m limited in choices since there¡¯s only a few people left in line, 3 at best. Maybe if I know the concept behind it, it¡¯ll all work out? No matter how hard I tried though, I couldn¡¯t manipulate the magic power around me at all. No wonder considering, I can¡¯t see or feel it at all. As my turn approaches I¡¯m limited in what I can do. Fight or run. Wood? Breakable, but the magic fight afterwards is the issue. As time passes he restraints on my body loosen. The muscles on my arms bulge as the wood clamps creak as the strain being placed on them exceeds what they were designed for. Sadly though, I¡¯m still human and my mad delusions of shattering wood with muscle power failed quickly. Finally, it was my turn in line and all my thoughts on magic, resisting and fighting were all shattered as my mental restraints returned, stronger than before by a large margin. The man slashed my arm and let the blood drip onto the scroll, instead of absorbing the blood though, the parchment unraveled and the complicated patterns on it shone and a symbol was quickly ingrained into my mind. That¡¯s when it all went dark. -------------------------------------------- This chapter got a bit longer than I had hoped for (444 words longer) but I hope you enjoyed. If you found any errors or have any suggestions, please do tell, thx. *Not a Chapter* Sorry about the wait. The next chap should be out tomorrow. Had a lifeguarding exam and shit so I was super busy, anyways, thanks for reading and expect a chapter soon.