The walls were too big. Way too big for the level of technology Nyiko had presumed was available in the time period of this nightmare. The city walls of the Fourth Frontier were immense in all their dimensions, its stone-like and grim surface warned all who saw it the futility of breaking them. Even from where he stood Nyiko could understand how truly impenetrable the walls were, yet his mind struggled to accept that the builders of this wall somehow cut that stone.
'Is this how those conspiracy theorists feel like when they talk about ancient structures'
The slave caravan had been stopped at the city gates to be allowed into the city itself, from where Nyiko could with craning his neck without being spotted, some of what he guessed were the city guard looked to be in a conversation with the stark captain of the slave caravan. Soon more of the city guard arrived and began their inspection of the caravan, some went to check the caravan's cargo, loot and supplies and the others inspected the slaves.
Nyiko involuntarily shrunk under their heavy, dehumanizing gaze. The guard's inspection was cold and detached, as if it was a routine cargo check and from what Sodek had told him about the empire, it basically was. The empire did not treat their slaves well, not exactly as objects but they took joy in proving their supposed superiority against the people they enslaved.
The guards signaled to their comrades on the wall that all was clear, what followed were the rattle of enormous chains lifting the as enormous portcullis that barred their path into the 4th Frontier. Nyiko could not imagine whatever could be pulling the portcullis up, but it did not take long before the gate was gone from sight and the caravan's path was clear. The captain gave the word and the slaves were made to lumber along their captors into the city, through a tunnel in the titanic city walls. When they left the caravan and as Nyiko's eyes adjusted to the light he was surprised by what he saw.
'This isn't much of a city...'
What lay in front of the caravan was a desolate dusty field that may have stretched more than a hundred meters before ending in another wall. This wall was less intimidating than the main city walls were, lacking their sheer size but that did not pull away from the fact that it was still a great obstacle for any force to try and break into the city. Strange wooden barricades huddled near the bottom of the Fourth Frontiers, a cover for some kind of possible siege weapon.
Drawing nearer to the walls it quickly became apparent that the ground was not even, he had almost tripped multiple times on cobblestones that jutted out. He guessed the uneven path was intentional, making any charge at the inner city walls difficult. Nyiko could imagine the scene of some invading army collapsing onto each other, creating piles of human bodies that would then be fired upon by a volley of arrows. As the caravan arrived right at the inner wall Nyiko spotted strange devices attached to the top, some kind of clasp or cage that held what looked to be barbed wire. Seeing the wall in front of him, he quickly looked left and right to see that the field was surrounded by walls on each side.
'Is this... a kill box'
It looked like one and Nyiko was sure if he had a bird's eye view of the area he could confirm this, though he was sure he was missing some aspects of this particular kill box. The field must have other traps and defenses against the armies, other awakened and nightmare creatures. He wasn't able to glean any insights into the defenses of the kill box before the caravan easily passed the second wall and entered the Fourth Frontier proper which did actually look like a city. The road was made from finely cut cobblestone, fitted together in near perfect, precise symmetry. The main road was incredibly clean for a city without any of the modern inventions of sanitation to help them, there was no visible litter or grime on the road and neither did the road itself show any signs of being weathered by the traffic of the feet of citizens or by wheels and hooves of the supply carts and their beasts of burden.
For all the hushed conversations between the two, which to be fair were not many or too long, Nyiko had not learned much about the war that got him enslaved in the first place. In turn, he also didn't know much about the Fourth Frontier itself besides its eventual downfall. He had learned the name of the city through eavesdropping on the slaver's conversations but not much else of value was said between them, whether that was intentional or not was unclear to Nyiko. From what he gathered from context clues the Fourth Frontier, as implied by the name, was the one out of four or even more cities that acted as fronts for the empire's conquest. From what he just saw outside of the inner city walls the empire was prepared to undergo a lot to hold this city, possibly implying some kind of strategic importance of the city?
The real question is what about this city could be the reason or the cause for that cataclysm to occur, if he could figure that out then he could maybe, just maybe figure out a plan to get out. Or maybe he could even stop that Calamity.
'If I did somehow stop it, would I get a never before seen ranking? Maybe a divine aspect, or even a True Name'
He let himself daydream of earning great rewards and becoming a legend after the nightmare, before his more pessimistic voice brought him back to... well not earth.
'Don't be ridiculous, you don't know what caused this in the first place and you forget that you're just a slave at the moment. What could a slave do to in this situation to influence what is to come,'
He was right to stay realistic about this, daydreaming of being a hero or some kind of legend in the making would not help him stay alive. In fact, getting lost in such daydreams could get him killed like some dumb fool in a webcomic.
Not to say it wasn't impossible though...
Nyiko continued to observe the city as his captors pulled the caravan deeper into the city, taking mental notes of the city's environment and atmosphere. They passed well built stone cottages that were placed methodically, each alleyway spaced out in similar measurements to each other. Each cottage was uniform in its design, the only expression of individuality were the sparse flora of strange flowers hanging on window sills, and more commonly, scarlet banners placed wherever the home owner desired. The citizens of the Fourth Frontier seem to not quite reflect their stoic and utilitarian homes. They commuted in an orderly manner but the background noise of idle chatter was clear to hear, each person carried themselves with a sense of freedom and confidence that just felt off to Nyiko. Most in the real world seemed to always carry the fear of death whenever they left their homes, he remembered how his friends would unconsciously show signs of their worry. Blessing would always have a death grip on the straps of his backpack, as if ready to sprint away when a sudden Nightmare Gate would open, highly unlikely to happen thanks to the Obel scale. Asher always glanced around during their commutes to school, searching for a possible rogue dormant beast that spawned from the bodies of failed aspirants. These people who didn't spare him a glance had none of that fear the people of the real world had. It was a little unnerving
'Did I seriously only think about those two today?', A pang of guilt hit like a stone to the head from the realization.
'Well to be fair I have been in shock this past week, in a way'
He would have to think about the real world another time though. Soon the stone cottages of the residential area began to thin out into a large open square filled with open stalls, carts filled with goods laid next to those stalls and merchants cheerfully calling anyone they could find to buy their goods. The most eye-catching thing in the market was the large scarlet tent at its center, and it seemed that was the caravan's destination. Soon they were behind that scarlet tent.
A guard stepped towards Nyiko, his gaze lacking any empathy or care for the scarred boy. Nyiko looked up to the guard with a confused expression on his face, growing more confused as the guard produced a ring of keys from behind his back. He unlocked the mechanisms that attached his manacles to the chains of the other slaves then roughly grabbed Nyiko's arm and yanked away from the marching line. Not wanting to cause any sort trouble for himself or for the other slaves Nyiko didn't resist, easily letting himself be dragged away. Inwardly, he cursed his passiveness even if it was the right decision. He quietly turned his head to Sodek, and their eyes met. Nyiko could not help but feel that this may be the last time he would see his march companion, though he knew in the back of his head that the man was not real and he barely knew him, it still hurt a little to leave him like this, not knowing what awaited him.
'I should be more concerned about myself'
And just like that, he was dragged away into the tent.
***
"I welcome you, my good people of the frontier!" A booming voice welcomed the well-off attendees that funneled into the scarlet tent.
The voice came from a heavy set man dressed in fine robes of silk and linen on an elevated stage. He gave off effortless charisma, easily pulling the attention of the attendees away from their own conversations towards the stage. He let the remaining whispers die down and waited a little longer for dramatic effect.
"Welcome to the seventh annual great slave auction! Ah what an auspicious number, the perfect number to symbolize our selection of slaves! So ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce our first exotic slave out of seven...
The man on the stage waved his hand over to his left, a signal for the auction's flunkeys to bring out the first slave. Ascending the steps from the side of the stage and accompanied by two large and brutish guards, a female slave was escorted to a spot on the stage where all the bidders could get a good view of her. Despite her disheveled appearance she radiated an elegance and nobility that even those in attendance of the auction felt somewhat inferior to her. Her long ochre was unkempt and greasy, her honey skin may have once been soft but was now weathered from the march here and dark bags rested below her copper eyes. Those same eyes were steady, strong and unyielding, her posture unbent, it was clear that her spirit was not broken because of her enslavement.
"Our first slave ready to be auctioned is this proud woman here! Hailing from the Groves of Poisoned Memory, a child of the druid elder, THE amber druid"
The tent filled with the whispers and gossip about the slave, a woman of such standing would no doubt bring great prestige to any one who bought her. Druids of Hart God were a rare commodity in the Fourth Frontier since their groves were hidden from the normal mortal means because of their strange sorcery.
The auctioneer adjusted his robes and continued to address the bidders, "Our starting bid for this witch will be 400. I repeat, Amber Druid going for 400"
Many hands were raised during the bid and eventually she was sold off to a thin man robed in red and gold, carrying an invisible might within himself.
The auction continued from there, each slave bought at exorbitant prices till there was only the seventh and last slave.
"And for our last item for the day, we humbly bring you a recent capture of the raids to the south. This scarred, feeble young slave may not seem like much but he is in fact a lot more than meets the eye. This youngling is in fact a fabled Sage Scholar, those who hold vast knowledge." The portly man made an exaggerated expression of discomfort as the scarred boy stood at the front of the stage. "Rumors tell that they give themselves those scars, each scar made upon their flesh is symbol of a mastery in a field of knowledge, and this young man happens to have seven. This is the best scholar slave you could imagine! Able to tutor you children, chronicle your life and inform you about the nature of the world"
Soon the first bid was called, Nyiko was surprised to see how much he went for. More and more people bid on him, wanting the luxury and the bragging rights of owning a valuable slave as him. Yet they were all out bid by one person.
Nyiko could not see who they were in the darkness the audience sat in, just a hand that was too far away to notice any other detail. He was shoved towards the steps by one of his chaperone guards. He was unceremoniously removed from the tent and thrust into the hands of heavily armored men. His chaperones, well now former chaperones, left him with the two armored men. These armored men dragged him away into a secluded area of the marketplace and threw him in the back of a non-descript cart.
'I feel like it's more effort to drag everywhere when they could just make me walk',
Looking around he saw the only other person in the cart with him was an ochre-haired, beautiful adult woman. Before he could consider possibly saying hello, the cart began to move. The woman smirked, not from any joy but from something other emotion.
"Well, kid, glad I'm not the only one going to the devils palace"
Nyiko's face, despite his complexion, paled.
"W-what do you mean?"
Her smirk grew wider.
"Couldn't you tell by those men's attire? We're now property of the lord of this damned city"