~~Second ARC begins~~There was a mixture of stinks in the air, from the wet soil, pigs and cows, to the omnipresent stank of human waste, rotten teeth, lack of bath and some disease that was eating off the old and young, leaving only the broken adults behind.
It wasn"t a pleasant place to be, not even for those who lived there. Good thing we were only pa.s.sing by.
I look behind me to make sure that the clothed figure followed me close, all his body covered by a gigantic cape, same as I.
"We are going to sleep in the woods again."
"Ok."
Better than here for sure, cleaner even. We walked now on what looked like the main road, a little bigger and more crowded than the rest, only slightly better because of the few stones paving it here and there for the carriages to pa.s.s.
One of those was parked right beside the exit of the village, as the gloomy humans pa.s.sed by quickly and avoided eye contact, especially there, so close to a slave carriage.
But what caught my attention weren"t the humans slaves inside the cages, but the animals that wearied heavy chains on then so they could pull those forward. They were a hybrid of a bird with a lizard, walking on two strong legs and having little arms with feathers in then, as well as a beak filled with teeth.
But mostly what caught my attention was the red spots around their necks and their tired features for the obvious too heavy carriage.
There were humans messing around with stuff over those carriages, preparing to leave and keeping an eye on the prisoners, but I bypa.s.sed all that, ignoring them as they took some time to realize that one of the "humans" did not pa.s.s quickly with its head down, instead even approached one of the animals.
"Do you want to be freed?" I asked, making the image of a mysterious figured covered from head to toe talking in an enigmatic language that only animals or ancient elves could understand.
The bird-lizard thing looked me in the eyes, his own s.h.i.+ning with what I said, looking back and forth between me and the humans that now approached mad with cleavers and swords.
"They won"t be able to control you, none of you anymore. So I ask again, do you want to be free?"
A surprisingly very feminine voice came from the animal, which said: "Please do, thank you, thank you!"
I smiled at the now vivid animals, laying my hand softly on top of her head as my third eye clearly saw the chains connecting her to one of the bulky humans.
That made me snort in disgust as I locked my eyes on the light coming from the bird, where right in the center stood a symbol that warped around like worms as the chains came out.
"Break the contract, bear the price that who held it ill."
The chains break at the same time that the human spews a mouthful of blood and falls on the ground. Without the contract holding her anymore, the bird-lizard creature easily breaks free from the material chains, charging over the remaining humans as I free the other ones.
One of the humans approach me, a cleaver at hand midair, ready to strike, but one look at my silver eyes s.h.i.+ning underneath the hood is enough to make him shake and drop the weapon, running away as he babbled: "Terror! Th-the Terror is here!"
Once I"m done, however, I turn my back to the cages and start walking away, not before the bird-lizard eatures turn on their feet, head high in the air, and screak: "All hail the savior! May he live long and prosper!"
"All hail!!" The others say in unison.
A small smile makes its way to my lips as I hear them stomp away to freedom, while my brother follow close by.
Once the other humans here deal with, from the shadows came others to free the slaves in the cages, many being kin of some, probably waiting for the opportunity to do something stupid as to attempt freeing them.
One of these humans, however, runs in my direction, stopping in front of me and panting his way to words, gesturing me to wait.
Oh, sorry, it wasn"t a human, it was a dwarf.
"HH-hey pal, thanks for saving us, name is Ragnur, at your service."
"You"re welcome." I said, trying to pa.s.s him and continue walking, but he stays in my path.
"Hey, hey, not so fast ya, you save me for a destiny worse than death, I can"t just let you leave like that!"
For the first time I really take him in, the red copper hair with braids all over, even in the enormous beard, and brown smart eyes with wrinkles on the sides.
He"s well built too, all muscle and no fat, with tattoos covering part of his torso. He raises his hand and I shake it, followed by my brother, who goes too long on the shaking part, almost breaking the man apart.
"So, how should I address to you two pals?"
"My name is Thilgon, and this is my brother Hunthor."
"Nice to meet you!" Hunthor says in common language with a big smile. The dwarf comes closer, bending a little, and whisper:
"Then you are the one known as the Terror?"
I let my eyes s.h.i.+ne with their platinum silver glint, making the dwarf step back, and with a smirk I say:
"Yes, I am."
~~~~
In the end, Ragnur joined us, a little terrified at first; and who wouldn"t? I haven"t earn that t.i.tle for nothing; but when he got confortable he started babbling all the way to the next city, which he apparently was trying to go before being ambush at night by those slave traders.
Nothing better than a traveler to sell, no questions asked, no suspicious raised, so many possible ways that they could disappeared that they would simply vanish.
Once we were camping, however, was when he finally stopped talking, not before been joined by my brother in the babbling, of course, almost overwhelming my own thoughts with all the chitchat. He sat down close to the fire pit, the shadows and light playing with his features.
Of course I didn"t trust him, but he was not even in a level to be feared. Been only level 60 he would need a big group of warriors to even try to take us down.
Humf, I remember when I feared even levels 40 or so…
Not anymore, not ever even. We trained, we trained hard, for 13 years, a good part in the desert, consuming the crystal of fire creatures, exploring dungeons and ancient structures… so much had changed since then.
Especially us.
My brother had learned and trained his human transformation by now, showing it as he took off the hood and cape to change for the night; he was mostly completely human, except for the tail and ears that seemed to stay no matter what.
He was very similar to me in some aspects; the caramel color of his skin, his black Egyptian hair that was cut short on the shoulder and straight, as well as his bangs. He was smaller than I by one head, had a more slim body made for being a magic caster, not a weightlifter, and his brown eyes turned dark red over the years.
I, however, changed even more; I was taller, manlier, with a slim yet well build body of a runner, my thighs firm to the touch with my hard-trained muscles, long black hair wrapped around in a high ponytail, as well as my silver eyes, tattoos and the crystal on my forehead.
All in all, I looked like an Egyptian G.o.d, even more with the tattoos covering all of my body, even my toes and fingers.
Let"s just say we were very eye-catching, even more with the straight ears on top of our heads.
~~~~
Sorry that some chapters are short right now, is that I"m creating a lot of things right now; countries, character, background, religions, costumes, and so on and on hehe.
BTW, I made a map! (image only on wattpad)
See ya next Friday!