Dizzy. Head pounding. My vision spun in slow, painful circles.
Where was the goddess? Where was the promised incredible power?
Instead, I was bound, tied to a thick tree trunk, bleeding and disoriented. Nearby, two other figures—men I hadn't seen before—shared the same fate.
"Hey!" I called out to them, hoping they might understand me, but they only stared back in silent confusion.
I looked around. We were near a small, fortified house. Armed soldiers were everywhere, along with the five adventurers who had captured me.
Hours passed. Finally, a group emerged from the house, the adventurers among them, clearly in a hurry. Three large guards untied us and roughly forced us into separate, barred cages on waiting carriages. I was going to be sold as a slave. This was far from the happy life I'd planned.
The caravan set off immediately, plunging into the dark forest along a dirt road. The night was quiet, lit only by the lamps on the carriage and the sliver of a moon. I could hear nothing but the monotonous footsteps of the horses.
Suddenly, the night shattered. The horses cried out in terror.
"#"%-÷€°Π£÷!!!" the leader screamed, and the soldiers and adventurers scrambled to prepare for a fight.
Then the monsters arrived: two enormous Orcs, ten Goblins, Sabpong wolves, and an ugly, lumbering lizard. The soldiers were grossly outnumbered, especially against the giant Orcs.
The Orcs roared, and the battle began.
The soldiers fought bravely, but the size of the Orcs was overwhelming. One was preoccupied by the five adventurers, but the other was free to sweep the soldiers aside with a makeshift log-club. Why fight? I thought. Wouldn't it be smarter to use us as bait and run?
In a moment of chaos, the big adventurer struck a lucky blow, sending an Orc crashing down. It slammed directly between two carriages, shattering the wood of my prison.
My cage door was broken.
A man from a nearby carriage—one of the two who had been tied up earlier—saw the chance. He lunged out and ran toward me.
"Ittan! Ittan!" he shouted, pulling me from the wreckage. He didn't need a translator. Run!
We fled, sprinting blindly into the darkness while the battle raged behind us. We ran until our lungs burned, finally collapsing behind a massive boulder.
While we rested, he pointed to himself. "Jess."
Then he pointed at me. "Zika?"
"Miro," I introduced myself, nodding.
He simply nodded back. The atmosphere settled into a strained quiet. Communicating was agonizing. So far, all I had learned were two words: Ittan (Run/Go?) and Zika (My name?).
After catching his breath, Jess stood up.
"Ittan," he said, a clear command.
I immediately followed.
We walked for hours, eventually reaching a hidden cave concealed by a large boulder. Jess strained to push the rock just enough to squeeze us inside. Once the entrance was sealed, he lit a small lamp.
The cave was surprisingly equipped—it had spears, shields, and swords hanging on the walls, along with jars and several locked chests. When I reached for a chest, Jess stopped me immediately.
"Nei!"
He then handed me a piece of fruit, a change of clothes, and a small, illustrated children's book.
"Miro, ato katre," he said, pointing to a straw bed on the floor. He lay down on a similar bed across the cave.
While eating, I stared at the children's book. Pictures and alien words. A different world indeed. No translation spell, no cheat ability.
I put the book down. If there was no easy way out, I'd learn the language the hard way. Maybe I could even teach Jess a few words.
But first, I was going to sleep. I needed to recover before tackling the impossible.