??? POV
Another day begins with one of the slavers banging the bars of our cells and yelling at us to wake up and get a move on. As I slowly I stand up and make my way to the line of slaves by the entrance I look across at a nearby cell and realize there are a couple new faces.
'Guess a new shipment of slaves were brought in last night' I thought as we were being lead to the mines.
From what I could see a lot of them had some fresh wounds, no doubt given to them by the slavers. I could also see clear as day a similar expression across quite a few of their faces, one of determination and rebellion, an emotion I've seen many times in new arrivals but one that faded quickly as the days went on.
As we were being lead down one of the various tunnels I could hear the slavers prepare to open the other cell with the new arrivals. It was more than likely to put them to work immediately and possibly try to break their spirits. I didn't pay much mind afterwards and continued to walk down the tunnel.
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A little while later as we were put to work mining and transporting minerals the new group finally arrived with some of the people covered in new bruises and cuts and being forcefully pushed towards their new stations. Probably tried to fight against their captors when they opened the cells, for all the good that did.
As they were pushed to different areas and given their tools I was able to get a better look at them and saw that the majority were demi-humans with the majority looking mostly human and a few that looked more animal than human with one large lizard man that resembled a iguana and one woman who resembled a large cat with a face that reminded me of a lynx. When looking at these new people I took notice that a majority of these people had tanned lines, I wondered if these people were brought in from a desert area.
But before I could continue to ponder on this I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts from the sound of a whip striking one of the new arrivals who seemed to be refusing to do any work but was quickly beaten down and was only stopped when a man wearing something that resembled a brown military uniform and a face mask told him that the Mistress wanted to see him. In an instant the slaver flinched and stopped what he was doing and quickly made his way out towards one of the tunnels wearing a look of fear on his face.
The Mistress, it was a title that I heard multiple times and someone who i've only seen once down in these mines but has always struck fear in the hearts of the slavers whenever they hear she wants to see them and rarely comes down herself preferring to send down one of her lackeys to send messages or notify any of the head slavers whenever she demanded to see them. I clearly remember the day that I saw her for the first time, she was an slightly older looking lady with brown hair and red eyes and was wearing a similar uniform to her lackeys except hers resembled that of a generals attire . I wasn't entirely sure as to the reason she decided to come down into the mines but she was clearly in a foul mood and took it out on one of the slavers. The slaver she decided to take her frustrations out on had his leg broken and then proceeded to step on his hand and crush it completely causing the man to let out a horrible yell that made all the slavers including the slaves flinch and look away. The Mistress simply displayed a sadistic looking smile at the man shivering in pain in front of her and was preparing a small concentrated flame in her fingertip and picked up the mans face in her other preparing to trace the flame across the mans cheek but only stopped when one of her personnel informed her that her transportation arrived. With a slight scowl she dropped the mans face that she had grabbed and told two of the slavers lackeys to drag the injured man to the medical bay and to continue with their work. As she began to leave I saw for a split second that she directed a quick glance in my direction but looked away and made her way out of the mine.
It was strange to hear that she would come in person but it was more than likely to either check on the state of this place or to oversee new arrivals, but from what I know she rarely does the latter part in person. As I thought about this I saw the teenage boy slowly get to his feet while being assisted by two other people.
'What was so special about these people that the head herself would personally show up?' I thought.
The two people who had helped the beaten teenager to his feet seemed to whisper something to him that was too low for me to hear and I saw the beaten boy quietly grit his teeth and pick up his pickaxe and focused his attention on an ore deposit. As the new arrivals began their work, I as well began mine but I was partially focused on this new group as I couldn't help but be curious as to what was so special about these people.
As the day went on and the slavers focused their attentions elsewhere I took notice that the small group of three that had the beaten teen began whispering to one another and while they did that I quietly got closer and hid behind two small stone pillars and could partially see them through a small opening and began eavesdropping on their conversation.
"...we can't just roll over and do nothing!." Loudly whispered the youngest of their group a human boy with pale red hair who had a nasty looking bruise across his cheek.
"I'm not saying that but it's dangerous to go up against all these people without any kind of plan, we'll just get ourselves killed!" Whispered the only girl of their group, a demihuman girl with dark green hair and her skin covered in what looked like scales and had what looked to be snake fangs.
"The both of you need to keep your voices down before you call more attention to us." Said the oldest looking of their group the teen boy who was whipped, another demihuman who instead had brownish yellow hair and had cat like ears and tail that shared a similar color to his hair.
They seemed relatively normal for this world and I couldn't understand what could be so special about them. The three continued to talk about various ways they could possibly escape which were all plans I had heard before and thought of as well but quickly realized nearly none would work mostly due to my own poor understanding of this world and lack of strength or skills to accomplish those plans. They began to speak of one plan that quickly caught my attention.
"Look there's a rune on these shackles if I can just chip away at some parts I could just change what it does and we could use our magic!" said the red haired boy as he began to pick at the shackles.
"You shouldn't mess around with that if you want to keep your limbs." I ended up saying.
The group flinched as they heard my voice and began to look around for the source as I was covered by a pillar of stone and they couldn't see me clearly.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Questioned the blond hair boy as he looked around.
"Just another slave like you who just trying to survive in this shit hole." I responded.
The group after hearing and locating the source of my voice continued to stay in a defensive position and continued to question me.
"Why are you listening in on our conversation are you trying to rat us out?" asked the red haired boy.
"I was just curious as to what was so special about all of you that would warrant the head of this place to show up personally" I flatly responded.
The group showed a bit of confusion but the green haired girl eventually spoke and asked " what did you mean by keeping your limbs?"
"Those runes besides the magic nullification have a secondary effect in which if it detects a significant change to the formula it will cause the metal to explode taking both the persons hands and their feet." I responded as I was reminded of the time another slave attempted that very thing and had been chipping away at the rune most likely to try to gain access to their magic and when it looked as though he made a significant chip the metal glowed red and took his hands and feet in an instant.
Hearing this the red haired boy flinched and immediately took his hand off the rune he was still picking at. "What the hell?! What is wrong with these people how could they treat all these people like this?!"
"Keep your voice down or you'll end up worse than your leader, they don't like it when the slaves talk amongst themselves." I silently reprimanded the red haired boy.
" You know you could show your face to us instead of hiding behind that pillar. Hard to trust a person we can't see." Replied the green haired girl.
" In my experience I tend to get nasty looks from others and some tend to stay away from me completely once they get a good look at me." I responded
The group silently looked at each other and then the blond boy spoke " we won't judge you and we won't look away from you if you show yourself."
I silently stared at them through the small crevice and replied " ...fine, but know this I don't mean you or anyone else any harm."
They agreed and I slowly made my way out of the cover of the pillars and instantly saw the change in their faces from a look of calm to genuine fear and shock. I had expected this as they shared a similar look to other slaves that were already in this prison and even some new arrivals as though they saw their greatest nightmare come true.
The group stood still and stared directly at me as though they were staring down a wild animal preparing to pounce on them until the blond hair boy eventually spoke up. " Did you mean what you said? You really aren't going to hurt us?"
... I will admit that I was a little surprised at the fact that they didn't attempt to run away or even yell after seeing me but I simply responded " I have no intention of hurting any of you. I just want to survive an eventually get out of this place." I still had no idea what exactly about me leads this response but I tried not to pay too much attention and focused my attention back to the group.
In my response the group while still looking on edge slowly approached me as though looking at a creature they could not understand and once taking a good look at me soon backed away and began to speak to me again.
"Wow you're real..." responded the green haired girl.
"I've only heard stories about them..." replied the red haired boy while staring at me in amazement.
Before I could ask anything the blond haired boy spoke and said " Alright we'll take you at your word and trust you for now." while looking at me as though I was an enemy. " Do you have any idea as to how we can get out of this place."
" Honestly not really. I've been here for a couple of months and have gone through various scenarios in my head but they all end up in failure." I responded
"Failure? How come?" Responded the blond boy.
" Firstly you need to have a route planned out to leave the mines and find their central command, from there you would have to find a means of transportation that could quickly and reliably take you away. This however won't work unless you find a way to take off the shackles and manage to evade all the personnel in this place as well as knowing where you are in the world and where exactly you'll be going to."
It was something I constantly thought about as while I could probably find my way out the mines and avoid their personnel and make my way to their central command I don't have a way to take these shackles off it seems as though they've been magically put onto me as I didn't see a keyhole and more than likely can only be taken off by different means, more than likely magic. Even if I somehow managed that I would have to find either an airship or a boat to leave but that's where the big issue lies... my lack of knowledge. I know very little of the world and from what my nose has told me I could pick up slight whiff of sea salt which told me that I was somewhere near the ocean or in the middle of it. Without knowing where I'm going I run the risk of being stranded and either starving or dying of dehydration or heading to an area of conflict. I've heard tales of monsters that ranges from the size of a small dog to bigger than mountains that constantly attack and eat people. I might also end up in a region that's at war and end up being mistaken as an enemy or just end up as collateral damage or as a slave again. Due to all these factors I couldn't decide on a decent plan that wouldn't up killing me.
As I told the group of my plans they simply stared and listened in amazement and once I finished they quickly snapped back to attention. " You thought of all that? You look as though you're not more than eight." Replied the green haired girl.
"Ten actually. I'm a little small for my age" I replied as I looked at my arms and legs. My system told me what age this body was and I was a little taken a back at my age as I looked smaller than the average ten year old, no doubt due to the poor nutrition.
"So unless we have a solution to all those problems we can't escape?" Questioned the blond boy
" There are a few other things to consider like supplies and the perfect time to slip out as well as if there any other contingency plans but yeah those are the main things to worry about."
"Well... if you don't know where to go, as long as we can find an airship I could probably get us to our village in the Ember Dunes." Replied the blond boy.
" The Ember Dunes?" I asked
"Yeah it's a large desert area that's a part of Dawnfire, the region we're in. The area itself is pretty rough and the heat can get bad at times but the villages in the region have special barriers that prevent the intense heat from affecting us too badly as well as when it gets too cold." Replied the green haired girl.
It was the first time I was able to hear any solid information about this world and it's landscape but I was more surprised to hear that the blond haired boy was confident that he could fly a ship.
"You know how to fly a ship?" I asked
"Sort of. My father is a repairman for cargo airships that stop for repairs in our village and I've helped him repair a few. I know how to start one as well as what the instruments of the ship does." Replied the blond boy
While his answer didn't fill me with confidence it was better than nothing as he at least knew the basics of starting and operating one which is better than what I knew.
"That's great and all but we would also need to take off these shackles. They more than likely have a way of activating it's failsafe from far away." I responded.
"Hmmm I may be able to do something about the runes." Replied the red haired boy.
Confused I asked the boy what he meant.
"Back home I would read and mess around with rune magic and looking closely at it I could probably change the rune a bit to deactivate both the magic nullification effect and the explosion effect as well." Replied the red haired boy
"Are you sure that you could do something like that? Even one error and you could lose your limbs." I asked
"Yeah. Looking closely at it I can see some things that I could carve into it to allow the effects to change. I just need to move quickly or it'll activate the secondary effect." Repled the red haired boy
" If you wanna move fast you would need something sharp, hard and durable enough to carve into the metal so you dont lose any speed. The only thing I can think of are the mining equipment but it would be difficult to aquire and keep them on you without attracting any attention." I pointed out.
As we grew silent and thought about what we could do the green haired girl spoke up " I might have an idea of what we could use in place of the mining equipment. Its actually in our cell."
The other two along with me were shocked to hear that but soon the blond haired boy seemed to caught on to what she was referring to and so did the red haired boy.
"Yeah that could work. Its definitely stronger than any normal metal and could definitely get the job done." Replied the blond haired boy
Confused I asked what they were referring to. "Something in your cell strong enough to even damage normal metal? What is it?"
" Who actually. There was a small girl that arrived with us. Her scales on her tail should be sharp enough to get the job done." Replied the green haired girl.
" What kind of scales could be strong enough to do that?" I asked
" A dragon demi human."
I froze. A dragon? A real dragon like in fairy tales? I knew that this was a unique and magical world but to hear that there was someone who had the same traits as a dragon was still shocking to hear. While my mind was still on this a another thought passed in my head. This was the reason the head was here, to ensure nothing happened to this girl and then probably transport the girl herself to be sold off to someone. There are probably plenty of people who would love to get their hands on someone who was more than likely rare and very difficult to obtain through normal means.
"If you plan on having her help you then we probably don't have much time." I told the group.
"What do you mean?"
"There are probably a lot of people who once they hear that a dragon demihuman is for sale they'll pay anything to get their hands on her and the head will probably be in charge of transportation." I replied.
"Not only that but we might be able to take her airship off this place and head to your village."
" You make a solid point but I don't feel comfortable going up against that woman even if we were to gather all the slaves against her. You know who she is right?" Replied the blond haired boy.
After looking at my puzzled expression he responded " That woman is named Rekka, she's famous for her brutality and was a Sergeant for Firefells military until she was dishonorably discharged for reasons the public doesn't know. Replied the blond haired boy.
I didn't know she was so well known nor that she was apparently strong enough to be a high ranking officer in a country's military force. It complicates things if someone that dangerous is here as we would be killed by her in an instant and wouldn't be able to secure any type of airship as long as she's here. There is however no guarantee that we would be able to secure another airship as they more than likely travel more by boat than by airship to attract less attention from possible enemies.
"If we can cause a big enough distraction to cause Rekka herself to investigate and possibly trap her even for a while we could probably secure her airship and escape." I replied
"That could work. Especially if we convince the other slaves to help us we have a chance at getting out of this place." Replied the blond haired boy
"Alright our deadline is probably a few days which is a bit tight but if we start preparing tonight we might be able to be fully prepared to leave within a few days." I said
We thankfully managed to get a plan formulated before the patrols put their full focus on our area but before we went back to mining the blond boy asked me for my name.
It was the first time someone had asked for my name and I wondered if I should give them my name from before I came to this world. After a slight pause I decided not to as decided to live in this new world and start a different path and gave them my new name.
"Gale."
"Names Max!" Replied the red haired boy
"My name is Clover" replied the green haired girl
"I'm Lucas. Good to be working with you Gale." Said the blond haired boy.
With introductions out of the way we each went back to work and mentally prepared ourselves for the most important days in our lives.
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And another chapter is done! This was a rather long chapter and sorry if it's not to anyone's taste as I wanted this to be a build up to the climax of this plan. Thank you for Reading and I hope you look forward to what's next!