"Keep Working!" said the guard patrolling the walkway.
The sound of swinging Pickaxes echoing through halls almost as if it were a rushed song being urged to continue. Well, it wasn't exactly false. As the guards walk down the rooms watching the slaves work. For if you didn't work, then you could be beaten to death. It was a mix between prisoners of war to children being sold to slave merchants so they could survive the winter. If you were lucky, you would work as a slave soldier and hope that a general takes a liking to your abilities and takes you. Even better was if you had beauty or a singing talent to be sold off to some rich Lord. However, if you were unlucky, then you could end up as a puppet for the male and female guards to either torture or be entertainment for them.
As the line of people from ages 7-45 are swinging their pickaxes, you can see one particular little boy carrying rocks to a cart. A 9 year old human boy with pale white skin due to the lack of sunlight walks over to the cart. He looks up with his crystal blue and blood red eye at the pusher of the cart. A tall 6' 7" demon with horns who takes the rocks and loads them into the cart. His teeth are sharp and ears are long. "Almost looks like the pale dudes about to puke... better step back so he doesn't puke on me." thought the slave boy.
"Keep it going! I ain't getting paid by the hour!!"
The burly Demi human snarled. The huge muscles gripping onto the spear while he bares his wolf-like teeth.
"And YOU!!! Number 22! Get in line already!"
The boy nods his head as he turns around and walks away from the demon to pick up more rocks. As he was about to pick up some more rocks from the pile he suddenly hears
"SKELETON ATTACK!!" while the 12 year old elf next to him got struck by an arrow.
The guards started scrambling to grab their weapons while another shot a bow and killed the skeleton next to number 22. Lining up with spears, swords or wands in their hands preparing for the mini wave of skeletons yet to come.
They appear out of nowhere with little warning other than a brief set of floating words that say "SKELETON EVENT". No one knows where these "EVENTS" come from but they always have a time limit before appearing. In the past, people had no way of knowing how long it would take to appear. Now, we have magical devices called the Event Caller that will let someone know how long an event is and if they wish to open up any secret type events. Of course, secret type events are random and cannot be generated anywhere. They always have a set location for it to start. It was rare for them to start in any of the working districts however.
The slaves started to run and cower behind the guards as skeletons started to pour out of portals with swords and bows. So far, only 20 guards were able to respond to the threat in such a short time. Guards are rewarded with their amount of kills during an event and if any brave slaves can make a powerful enough of a feat then they can also be rewarded or even ranked up. However, with the amount of skeletons that poured out, caused fear even among the guards. 82 skeletons, most with swords and spears but 2 with staff's, ready to cast magic.
"Damn, were outnumbered!"Said the wolf Demi human
"Th-th-this event must have been a-a 3 star rank!" The guard next to him fearfully said as he grasped his weapon.
Suddenly, a hand out of nowhere was placed onto the guards shoulder.
"Calm down. These guys are small-time, besides, I'm here now." A guard said leisurely said as she arrogantly walked out in front of the guards.
"Oh thank God, it's 4 star ranked swordsman Sheila!"
[Ranking system for now,
7 White stars and 5 tiers between each star
7 Silver stars
7 Gold stars]
Sheila who was an elf raised by humans. Her foster father was a slave merchant and her mother, an injured elf. Because of this, she is very sinister towards slaves. As she stood there, claymore in hand, she commanded with a sinister look,"You! Kid, get back here unless you want to get sliced up!"
The boy coming out of shock realized what he had to do and ran to safety as he watched Sheila and the Guards interlock into a one sided battle. With Sheila there, it was easygoing. She charged into the middle with amazing speed and swung her sword like it was a hammer going out of control.
THWACK!!
CLANG!!
CRUNCH!!
The sound of swords on bones as the guards chopped and diced away at the onslaught of skeletons.
"AHHH!" One of the guards screams as his shoulder is slashed into by a skeleton.
"Everyone stand back!!" Sheila orders as she steps forward. "Fortification! Speed up! Strength Up!" a green aura surrounds her as she becomes twice as fast and twice as strong. She plunges herself deep in the middle of the remaining 70 skeletons while fireballs hurdle towards her. She stops in front of a group of skeletons desperately trying to protect their only 2 wizards. A white aura covers her sword as she swipes the air and the aura leaves her sword. A slash is formed as it continues forward and plows through the group of skeletons, shattering their wizards. The remaining 40 skeletons were moped up quickly after the mages were dealt with. Once the skeletons finished turning to dust, the guards would resume their posts and order all the Slaves in their district to return to their spots to finish mining. After an hour of mining, the slaves would go to their next district. Berry and flower collecting.
There the slaves in district 7 would harvest berries and flowers which could be used to create healing potions and mana potions. There are 50 districts total. Each district can hold a maximum of 500 slaves. Districts 1-5 are Districts known for mining Stone or Copper. 6-10 are berry/flower picking Districts, 11-15 are the lumbering district and District 16-20 are the outdoor freetime quarters. A huge area that is filled with dangers but considered a "free" district where slaves can roam around a huge and forested area. This is to prevent slaves from going crazy or starting an outbreak. However, if you go too deep into the forested area, then you fear being eaten alive by a monster. Only warrior slaves can go into the forest without worrying about monsters. They can go there to train for any upcoming battles. District 20-25 are where slaves or captured dwarves go to forge weapons for the armies.26-30 are for training classes for future soldiers or magicians. Districts 31-40 are upgraded versions of District 1-15. There you go from mining stone and copper to iron and rare crystals, or oak wood to iron wood. Or to collect more precious flowers/berries and basic clothing materials. All working slaves want to go there if they wish to be treated better. In order to make it to those better Districts, one would have to meet their daily quota and more. To advance to the district, one has to mine and fill up to 10 carts worth of stone and 10 carts of copper. Same with lumber and gathering District. District 41-45 are the husbandry District where they shear sheep, milk cows and butcher animals for food. District 46 is the nursery for precious slaves such as batlle slaves. District 47-49 are the tournament type Districts where one can go to be recognized as a valued combat slave and possibly bought permanently by a general. District 50 however, is one that no one wants to go to. There they experiment on slaves to see if they can enhance one or destroy one. 95% of Slaves that go there never return back. If they do come back, then they have horrific tales of dissections and death. One demi-human was unlucky enough to watch an experiment. A demon was given a pill to try, when they ate it, they felt horrifying pain and black goo oozing out of their eyes and mouths. Shortly after they died.
Number 22 walked out of the quarry sized cavern and walked to district 7 with a basket in hand. As he walked there he saw a bunny demi human male trying to sneak out with a piece of copper.
"Must be new here." he thought to himself as he watched a guard walk up to the bunny man and beat him senseless. There are always security checks between different zones in order to prevent insubordination and collars to prevent those from going too far from their designated districts. Everything is based on a system that rotates slaves from District to District every 2 hours. Work from 7 a.m till 12 p.m. 6 a.m is breakfast time, 12 p.m is lunch and 10 p.m is dinner. From 12 p.m till 2 p.m is free time for slaves and guards alike to enjoy the daylight.
This day was a normal day in the life of number 22, but the next day will change his life and shake his crumbling world of sorrow.