"I order you to kill him."
Those words caused both me and the girl to freeze, staring at the man before the girl suddenly cried out in pain. Looking over at her, the large slave collar around her neck was glowing a bright yellow, presumably shocking her for disobeying.
"Kill him now, Kia!" The man kept yelling orders to her, causing her to turn to me with tears in her eyes and pain on her face.
"S-sorry..." she spoke those words so quietly yet so scared. I finally got to hear her voice, but before I could think of anything else, she was dashing toward me at a rapid speed.
Slashing at me with her claws, I could see the dread and the fear on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks as she rushed toward me, aiming for my neck. I stepped back to dodge, stumbling around as I got away from her.
I couldn't think straight while this crying girl was striking at me without any breaks in between, so I just kept dodging until something came to mind.
I felt something wet on my cheek, feeling it with my hand. She had cut me slightly, but enough to draw blood. I gritted my teeth and ducked under her next pounce, ending up on the same side of the room as the innkeeper.
I glanced at him briefly, his hand still covering the wound in his stomach as he slid down the wall, laying against it.
"Don't even think about it, boy," he spoke, groaning and coughing. "You kill me, the collar kills her." I looked back over at Kia, who was catching her breath as she walked toward me slowly.
"You're a monster..." I spoke softly, just loud enough for him to hear me. Kia's tears only grew as her face went pale, staring me in the eyes as I wiped the blood off my face.
"Kia-"
Just as I tried to speak to her, the collar activated again, shocking her to her knees. She held her stomach in pain as she fought the urge to vomit.
It was torture watching her like this... but I could only imagine the hell she's had to live through her entire life as a slave.
My brother- no, Kai told me once about demihumans and how humans would enslave them. He told me they were strong physically and lived much longer than us, which was why they were kidnapped and enslaved for all sorts of things.
I never understood how terrible it was back then, but seeing this girl right now really goes to show how horrible humans can be. I hated it, and I hated the man for putting her through this.
She launched at me suddenly after recovering from the pain, causing me to stumble backward into the wall. I ducked again, dodging her next strike as I ran by her toward the other end of the kitchen.
Think, think! I have to save her somehow... and if this man isn't bluffing, letting him bleed out could kill her and him.
"Why?" I spoke up, dodging her again as I looked at the man out of the corner of my eye. "Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" He asked, genuienly confused.
"She's just as alive as you and I, so why are you making her do this?! Why are you hurting her so much?!"
The man was taken aback, then he laughed.
He laughed.
"Kia is just a tool, boy, like all demihumans," he spoke as if it was common sense. "I bought her, so now I own her and can make her do whatever I want."
"What about her feelings? Her pain? How can you not care?!"
"Because like all demihumans, they deserve nothing short of death. If anything, she should be grateful for being alive and allowed to serve me!"
I wanted to hit him. I wanted to kill him. God, I've never felt this horrible before now, not even when I ran from my home.
There was nothing else on my mind but Kia now. I needed to save her, I needed to get her away from this man, I needed to get her out of this place.
But I couldn't figure out how.
She was getting tired and I could tell she was scared. A part of me was tempted to let her kill me, but that quickly vanished when I thought about what she'd have to endure after my passing.
I thought hard, but couldn't think of anything.
I dodged again, but she scratched my arm, causing more blood to form. This was getting bad. I'm getting tired and at this rate, she could genuienly kill me.
That's when I thought of something.
"Kia!" I called out, causing her to freeze in place. "Keep trying to kill me. Don't stop and you won't get shocked, right?"
"B-but-" She screamed in pain again, which made her kneel over as the collar shocked her.
"Trust me," I said softly, kneeling beside her. "I'll save you."
She stood up and nodded her head, still crying. Reluctant but willing, she went for another strike.
"Hoh?" The innkeeper watched as his face continued to turn pale, blood loss catching up to him. "So you give up, huh? Looks like all three of us are goners..."
"Not all of us," I stared at him as Kia's claws dug into my neck. I fell over as blood poured from it, Kia standing over me in shock, believing she had killed me.
It hurts. It hurts so bad... but I knew I would be fine.
My mom taught me something super neat when I was younger. She taught me the power of healing magic, and that even a little bit could save a life.
I knew it worked on other people just fine, but I came to learn on my own that I can use it on myself, too.
As the blood flow slowed down, I closed my eyes, the pain slowly subsiding as the wound closed...
But Kia wouldn't know that, and neither would the innkeeper.