Kopii slowly opened his eyes. An unfamiliar place met his empty gaze. He only remembered hatred and thirst. An attempt to get up resulted in a sharp pain in his muscles. Every cell of his body responded with suffering, leaving no untouched area.
"Why am I so unlucky? Why… why?" he exhaled, trying in vain to quell the trembling in his body. "Am I not destined to live normally? Or is this my cursed fate?" After a few agonizing minutes, he began to discern extraneous sounds. Voices came muffled, making it impossible to make out any words. Only one thing became clear: he was in a wagon. But the main question tormented his soul: "Where to?"
The bitter truth fell upon him: greed can manifest not only through murder. This thought brought no relief, because now a new source of thirst had appeared. Kopii feared that his every movement, every feeling could provoke its awakening, even at different levels. Sometimes he suppressed it instantly, barely noticing a glimmer of madness. In other cases, he only felt a slight tingling. But most of all, he feared the complete loss of control.
This was already the third time he had lost control of himself. The situation was becoming critical. If he didn't learn to control the thirst in the near future, the consequences could be catastrophic, even fatal. He tried to banish the dark thoughts, but they persistently returned. The worst thing was that his appearance was changing. He vaguely remembered the events of the past night, but clearly imprinted in his memory were faces contorted with horror, and screams about his black eyes.
Deciding to postpone these thoughts for later, he focused on a more pressing problem: where was he? The wagon rattled on every bump, and pain pierced his whole body. With difficulty, propping himself up on his elbows, he tried to see the surroundings. Through the cracks in the boards flickered trees, a dirty road, and the backs of people walking next to the wagon.
"Who are these people? Are they bandits trading in people?" He refused to believe his worst fears. Could fate be so cruel?
The wagon stopped. He froze, listening. The voices became louder, clearer. He heard crude jokes, snippets of conversations about trade and profits. His heart pounded wildly. His suspicions were confirmed: he was merchandise, a prisoner in the hands of human traffickers. With each of their steps, his heart beat faster, echoing in his ears.
Someone tried to open the wagon. Panic seized him. "I don't want to! I won't be able to defend myself in this condition!" Thoughts raced through his head at the speed of light.
Finally, the door swung open, and he saw a boy about his age. But even this didn't calm him, he expected a trick. Seeing that Kopii was awake and looking at him, the boy smiled.
"I see you've woken up. I thought you were going to die. With wounds like that, ha-ha," he laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. He climbed completely into the wagon, and now he could see him well. Dressed in a simple shirt and pants, no different from those he wore in the orphanage. Light hair immediately caught his eye. The face was quite ordinary.
Kopii tensed, studying the boy. The smile seemed sincere, but after what he had experienced, he had stopped trusting anyone, especially strangers. After all, the slave traders also seemed like ordinary people at first glance, but it was a deception. He silently watched the stranger, expecting a trick. Pain restricted movement, depriving him of the ability to defend himself, even from an ordinary person.
These thoughts made Kopii frown even more. The boy, noticing the change in his face, was a little embarrassed.
"I'm not your enemy. I found you on the riverbank. If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead by now. See, I'm a hero," he said, hitting himself in the chest. But he continued to stare at him, not trusting a single word.
"Oh, sorry I didn't introduce myself right away. I'm Raven Heartlight. Remember that name, it's the name of a future hero," he smiled, raising his head. He didn't understand what was happening, but continued to look at Raven with suspicion. Raven grew sad, seeing the same distrust in Kopii's eyes. But before he could speak, Kopii interrupted him.
"Where…? Kh… kh…" Kopii coughed. The voice was hoarse and foreign, which further aggravated his already bad mood.
"Careful, don't strain your vocal cords. But to your question 'where?'" making a thoughtful face and stroking his chin, he spoke after a few seconds. "I don't understand what you mean." Then he smiled, finally understanding his question. "Where, in the sense of where are we going? We're going to Orario!" he shouted. Kopii frowned at the loud cry. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to," but quickly returned to his cheerful mood.
"Orario."
"Yes, yes, the city of gods and heroes!"
After his confirmation, Kopii's face softened slightly. But before he could ask the questions that interested him, Raven was called.
"Oh, sorry we talked so little. But it's okay. I'll be back soon, I have work to do. So I'll be gone for a while," Raven said, getting out of the wagon. He followed him with his eyes until he disappeared.
"Ah," he exhaled in relief. "Maybe these aren't slave traders. But even so, I can't relax."
Kopii closed his eyes, trying to quell the throbbing pain throughout his body. "Orario… Finally I'll be back. It was a difficult and failed campaign, because I couldn't collect anything."
Kopii opened his eyes again. After Raven left, the wagon became quieter. Only the creaking of the wheels and the clatter of horses' hooves broke the silence. He tried to sit up, but his body responded with sharp pain. He had to lean back on the wooden boards again. Closing his eyes, focusing on breathing. Inhale… Exhale… Inhale… Exhale… He tried to distract himself from the pain and troubling thoughts. He needed to calm down and gather his strength.
Time passed slowly. Kopii sometimes fell into oblivion, sometimes came to his senses again, feeling the same pain and weakness. He didn't know how long it had been since Raven left, but it felt like an eternity.
He wanted to know more about where he was and how long they had to go. The more he thought about this situation, the more he doubted. After all, that family of slave traders also didn't arouse suspicion at first. No matter how hard he tried to banish these thoughts, he couldn't.
"What if it's a deception? Just a performance for fun?" A shiver ran through his body at this thought. Kopii tried to get up, despite the pain. He had to be prepared for any eventuality. Summoning his will, he slowly rose, leaning on the wall of the wagon. Every muscle protested, but he continued to move until he could sit down, barely maintaining his balance. But because of the uneven road, he lost his balance and fell.
"Even if it's true, what can I do? I can't even move normally," Kopii thought, trying to calm down. After a while, he was able to pull himself together and calm down. "It's just my paranoia and nothing more, that's all," he thought, hoping it was just self-hypnosis. He hoped that he would get lucky someday. But his thoughts were interrupted by the stop of the wagon.