The Western Lands, the domain of Viscount Lucius Grav Donciel in the kingdom of Alogna. A land rich with various minerals, serving as one of the kingdom's sources of economic power, with numerous workers giving their blood and sweat for the development of the Viscount's lands and for the entire kingdom.
— Hey, wake up, can you hear me...? — Sounds echoed as if from very far away. — Hey, you wretch! I said wake up! —The first sensation was a pain in his back. The smell of sweat, earth, and mold invaded his nostrils before his eyes could even adjust. *Where...?***CRACK!**
Several whips, with cracks like thunder, struck Lloyd, who instantly curled up, trying to protect himself from the lashes. Everything happened so fast that Lloyd couldn't think straight. Just as suddenly, the attacks on him stopped, and the three men who had started the assault turned to face the gathered slaves and began to shout.
— Let this be a lesson to all of you! The next one who stands still during work will be beaten! — Another man added, cracking his whip on the ground. — Those born as slaves, die as slaves. —After that, they left, and two strangers helped Lloyd to his feet.
Slowly, Lloyd managed to stand on his own, covered in welts and light scratches. He looked around; it was difficult, but his eyes quickly adapted to the environment. There was no natural light; barely any fresh air breeze came through. It was stifling. The light from the burning torches made him realize he was inside a cave. What shocked him most was seeing the many people there, dressed in rags, most of them malnourished and with empty expressions. Some had tails, others pointed ears—a mix of races he thought only existed in fantasies.It was then that Lloyd realized he was still being held. He looked at the two men.
— Thank you for helping me up. —The two gave him a smile, trying to ease the lingering tension.— It's the first time I've seen you here. So, you were transferred here recently? — said the man to Lloyd's right.
He was already starting to understand the situation.— Yes, I was transferred recently, — said Lloyd, trying to get into the flow of the conversation and fit in without seeming strange.— By the way, I'm Diamond, — said the man to Lloyd's left, adding, — And this one on your right is Galis. —
Getting into the rhythm, Lloyd introduced himself and quickly joined them in the manual labor, while simultaneously gathering information about the place he was in. *A rich kingdom that hides its rot: slavery, human trafficking. How can a place like this still exist? Of course it had to be a backwards new world.* It seemed the black sphere had sent Lloyd to the worst possible place. However, the world was full of mages, knights, monsters, and all the other things Lloyd had seen in the projection.
A slave ranking system had been developed to establish a hierarchy. The top-ranking slaves could eat better and sleep more than those lower down, although conditions were still terrible. The materials given for mining were so scarce that the slaves carried the ore in their arms. But the most challenging part was carrying the ore back up; the inclined and uneven terrain had caused numerous fatalities in that process alone. The slaves' life expectancy was so low that the only solution for them to live longer would be to awaken the energy within them.
All the information Lloyd received was limited to the slave area. "Those born as slaves will die as slaves" was something that made no sense to him. *After all, we are the ones who change our destiny*, Lloyd believed that, and it wouldn't be a group of oppressors, always with their whips ready for torture, that would change his belief.After four days, Lloyd thought it might be better to be dead, but he didn't give up and put his future-knowledgeable mind to work.
— You're a genius! — said Galis, holding Lloyd's shoulder, and Diamond added:— You were sent by God!— No, I'm not a genius, I just studied a lot. And it was definitely a demon that sent me here, — said Lloyd, finishing his work, which he had done out of the supervisors' sight and which only worked thanks to the influence of Galis and Diamond, who managed to gather the materials with the help of other slaves.
Thanks to him, he was able to facilitate the manual labor of the ascent: using mechanical physics, he created several pulleys along with a gear system, making the work easier and reducing fatalities.
Since Lloyd didn't know how to awaken the energy within himself, he had to manage using the resources around him and his knowledge to escape this cave. Thanks to the help of Diamond, Galis, and other slaves, Lloyd discovered there were 115 slaves and 35 supervisors. *Would everything be easier if all the slaves united?* No. Of the 35 supervisors, 15 were mages, 20 were knights, and those 20 constantly patrolled inside and outside the cave, while the mages only supervised the exterior. And, thanks to the slave hierarchy, the slaves were not united, as they all wanted to be on top to have comfort, even if only for a short period. Lloyd had already thought of a plan to escape, but now he had several people involved in it.
A week later, on a cloudy night, the plan was to be set in motion. Several screams echoed through the cave, drawing the attention of the nearest knights.— What the hell is happening? — asked one of the supervisors, along with seven others, as dozens of slaves ran toward them, terrified.
And before he could speak again, all the torches around them went out, and an icy breeze swept through. Quickly, everything became foggy. The knights were unprepared for this situation; they were so low-level that they had never even experienced anything like it. By the time they realized it, only three of them remained there.
— I-It's a ghost! —
Before they could react, they were all caught, pulled into the abyss.In another scenario, while knights were drinking beer excessively, several diabolical screams could be heard from the cave entrance. They all stood ready for what was to come. A mist filled the cave entrance, and a blue entity appeared within the mist. It was too blurry to see anything clearly, but the six knights there perceived it as the silhouette of a ghost. Trembling with fear, they all started running in opposite directions, disoriented.
Everything was going according to Lloyd's plan: ghostly illusions created by eight mages. What almost no one knew was that out of the 115 slaves, 13 had awakened, but only eight decided to help, mixing ice, light, and fire magic to achieve the desired result—thanks to the few horror movies Lloyd had seen.
Of the 35 supervisors, 15 were absent to escort the Viscount Lucius's son to the cave, to select good-looking slaves to be taken somewhere. According to Galis, the escort happened once a month. Luckily, the escort was scheduled for this week, leaving only 20 supervisors behind: 14 knights and six mages. Everything was going as planned.