Tyler turned away from her, gaze shifting to the silver-armored knight approaching with deliberate, heavy steps that echoed off the cave walls like impending judgment. Another figure mirrored the path toward Andrea as well, sword unsheathed and embraced in a tight grip that spoke of readiness for swift violence.
The man was a tower of armor, his presence filling the space with cold menace, blade gleaming under the dim torchlight.
Tyler swallowed a large ball of saliva as he imagined the worst, heart pounding in his chest.
" No they can't... can they? Of course they can—they just let us fall from seventy meters, so one swing of their swords to end our lives is nothing."
He fought the urge to crawl away from the approaching knight, wearing instead a short smirk of courage to mask the fear churning inside.
Soon the knight stood before his cage and spared him a long gaze as if looking into his soul.
"What, can't decide which part to cut off first?"
After a while, the man in armor spoke, his voice hoarse and sounding like rocks in a meat grinder.
"How are you still alive, human? That fall was seventy meters high and yet all you did was spit out a few mouthfuls of blood..."
He paused and put his hand over the cage. Almost instantly, the cage disintegrated into dust like it had been broken from its core. Tyler found himself sitting in the ashes of his former home for the last six months.
He felt a new feeling wash over him—he could feel the air around him, much fresher than the one up above. He let in a deep breath of clean air.
"Is this—"
His celebrations were short lived. A massive hand coiled around his neck in a death grip, his neck bones already starting to make funny noises. He raised his arms and wrapped his bony fingers around the silver gauntlet.
"I should have eaten more...
He struggled with all his strength, which was laughable at the very least, but nothing made the giant silver knight flinch.
The knight grew tired of his pitiful struggle and raised his sword in the other hand.
Tyler used the Eyes of Truth to see the man's stats.
"How's he of the Awakened Grade?...
He didn't have to think about it for long because the blade was already rushing towards him. His chest grew cold and clenched, but then the sword rose right before the giant's face just in time to block a death strike to his head. It was so powerful that the towering figure was sent flying a few meters back, releasing Tyler from his monstrous grip.
Tyler was already trying his best not to cough out his insides, the air rushing from his throat like shards of broken glass.
"What the hell just happened?"
He threw a quick glance at the knight who was already getting to his feet, but he could feel a shadow behind him. Before he could turn to see who it was, he felt cold steel rest on his throat, and the air felt slightly warmer.
The hand holding the short dagger was protected by brown leather armor that looked like it was on its last life. He fought hard not to roll his eyes.
"Are you kidding me?"
The one holding a blade at his throat was a gorgeous young woman in battered brown leather armor with long pointy fox ears and a tail the color of her fiery hair. Her skin was beautifully white with a light tones of brown to it, and her tropez eyes seemed to have a light fire burning from within them.
She was holding Tyler by his long messy hair and staring intently at the three guards surrounding her and her hostage.
"She does know I was going to be killed, right... so why is she threatening to kill me? Has she finally lost it?"
The guards weren't in a hurry to stop her. Actually, they were just tensely staring at her with their swords awaiting any opening.
One had a bloody nose and busted lip—it was the one Tyler had seen heading towards Andrea when she had passed out.
"Wait, she was faking it all along... scary."
She had not really passed out. She just wanted them to lower their guard and gain an opening to proceed with whatever plan she'd schemed.
Breaking the silence, she spoke with her indifferent voice.
"Your boss asked you to take him alive, didn't she? She may have not told you, but there's something off about this human, so what would she do to you if she found out you let him die?"
Her words seemed to be directed to the big guy who no doubt was their leader.
The giant knight sheathed his sword and let out a deep hoarse laughter. He sounded like a maniac, but he shut it almost instantly and the air around him grew thin.
"Let's say you kill him, what then? Sure the boss will kill us for it, but do you think she'll let you be? She'll look for you until there's nowhere to run, even the world will cower and surrender you to her, so no matter what you think, you'll suffer so much you'll be begging for death, so don't do anything stupid, Andrea of the—"
She cut him off with a cold stare.
"Oh, are you hurt by—"
Before he could say the rest, the cave was drowned in a loud pained scream.
Tyler turned and stared at the dagger biting into his left shoulder.
"It burns..."
She stabbed him in the shoulder without a second thought, and with a straight face as if she'd just pierced a lifeless block of wood.
Tyler clenched his teeth and groaned lightly as he remembered a question from not so long ago.
"If you were to be stabbed in your shoulder, which would it be?"
"So this is what this psychopath meant. She planned this all along... where else is she planning to stab me...
He threw his thoughts aside and looked back at the guards who now seemed to be even more uneasy, all except one.
The cave was filled with the light banging of metal as the giant knight clasped for Andrea.
He soon stopped and threw her a long gaze.
"I'll have to admit I didn't expect you to stab him, but as much as I'd love to watch you prove your point, we're running out of time so allow me to end this game of ours."
Tyler didn't even have to think of what happened next because right after he said it, his body stiffened and shook violently on the floor as a powerful surge of electricity went through him. Soon after the world dimmed and blurred, a quick silence devouring it. He felt something soft and warm drop atop him before he saw a familiar scene of a dark and quiet place.
"Please let me wake up from this nightmare..."
***********
The ground felt bumpy, and the air tasted like sweat and dried blood. He could hear distant chatter all around him too.
As the world grew comfortably brighter he realized he was inside a confined space, a large one too. There were others too inside the massive trunk.
The wheeled thing was made of thick black armor from some abomination's hide. There weren't any windows or ventilation system installed anywhere.
And even the ones inside didn't seem to care all that much. From what he could see they were all sorts of people—he wasn't sure if he could really call them that but what was there to call them.
There were a few that looked like him, that looked human at least. Others were beastmen who looked like animals that had the stature of humans but were far from it, their bodies still animal-like and beastial. Then there were the demi-humans, or at least that's what he had decided to call them—these ones looked like Andrea, with animal features but mostly human. And then there was... the human, him. He was the only human from what he could tell, and also from the weird looks the rest were giving him—some were disgusted, others seemed to be wondering about something, and others saw him as some toy they received.
He could hear a few whispers from them.
"Hey, that's a human."
"But how, how did he survive to be chosen..."
"I heard he came from the ghost mountai—"
"That's impossible, no way in hell survived—"
"I heard that those from the ghost mountains are forced to fight creatures of the Mutant class..."
"OK now you're just making up stuff..."
Tyler let out a sigh that sounded like a groan instead. He used his right arm to push off the floor and sit up. He was at the far corner of the trunk, which was also the most isolated from his observation. He and Andrea were the only ones there, and speaking of Andrea.
He looked to the opposite wall where she was sitting with arms on her raised knees. She had black shackles on both wrists and ankles, but they shimmered with a sinister glow, one that made him uneasy.
"An—"
He was going to use her name but then remembered she hadn't told it to him, so he didn't really think he should.
He took a short breath and calmed his burning nerves. After a few short seconds he called with a neutral tone.
"So what do you plan to do next?"
She turned and threw him the usual indifferent ice gaze.
"It's not something you need to concern yourself."
"Oh really, then why did you stab my shoulder if it wasn't something that needed my concern? At least you can explain that in reasonable detail, right."
He still felt bitter towards her, especially now that his shoulder hurt like hell.
With a grimace, he shifted a little and placed his shoulder in a more comfortable position.
Once that was done he turned back to Andrea and waited for an explanation.
She stared at him as if she didn't even know what he'd asked her, and she didn't seem like she wanted to answer.
"What good is it if I tell you?"
"Is she seriously asking me such a question? I'm the one that got stabbed so of course I need an explanation for it. What am I?, her doll that doesn't need to know why it's been stabbed?"
His mind was a storm but he was playing it cool on the outside. He let out a short sigh and said in a neutral tone.
"If you won't then I guess I'll have to ruin your next plan... sure I don't need to concern you, right."
He had figured out that she had plans of escaping but he didn't trust her yet. He was still worried of what she wanted from him, or if she even planned to keep him for future use.
"Wait future use!,Like hell I will."
He ripped a piece of cloth off his shirt and tied it around his shoulder. He clenched his teeth as he tightened the straps.
He let out a low heavy breath and leaned his whole body and head to the black steel-like wall. The trunk was so long and wide he couldn't really see the opposite side of it, and there were so many people with shackled hands and ankles it was noisy and loud as well.
He passed a hand through his head and moved his hair out of the way—he wanted to have a look at their stats.
"What the..."