I lost track of time in the bludgeoning. Any hit I scored was granted just as often as any moment where I wasn’t flat on my back, broken and in agony. There were very few of either.
Despite that, it seemed out of all of us that the house mage worked the hardest. Every few minutes, he patched me up with glowing hands, pale-faced from the exertion he was forced to continue.
After possibly my tenth full body healing, I saw relief spread across his pale-face only inches from my own. “It is done!”
Through thick, numb lips, I mumbled. “What’s done?”
He backed off, not answering, but making room for the Cerun as he came marching over. “Bravo, the two of you! Excellent work.”
He hauled me up to my feet and inspected me. “Better get him cleaned up before the sale. I’ll go and round up our guests and meet the two of you in the main hall in fifteen minutes!”
Dazed and confused, I watched as the Cerun swept from the room before I was led off once more by Pero. Of Tuas, there was no sign.
I groaned as we passed through the door. “What the hell was that all about?”
Pero grunted. “Best not to talk too much about it, but we cheated a little. You see, a base level of 12 is impressive. But Level 13? That is phenomenal. The Cerun, in his vast wisdom, has most likely doubled his money on you.”
Just before I blurted out the instinctual Whadda you mean? My mind caught up, and I checked my stats instead.
Name: Adam Henshaw
Title: —
Level: 13
Class: —
Stats:
- Toughness: 13
- Mental Acuity: 12
- Harmony: 14
- Total: 39
Progress in Class:
- Warrior, Level 0: 0/10
- Tradesman, Level 0: 0/10
- Mage, Level 0: 0/10
Words failed me. They’d beaten me to within an inch of my life for the best part of an hour—all for a little extra money. I spat blood onto the floor, barely contained anger moving from simmer to boil. “You heartless bastards. I suppose you’re expecting me to lie to these Archons about this as well?”
Pero frowned, his expression curdling like milk on the turn. “The Archons treat the other Union races as a parent treats an unruly child. But when it comes to their property? They expect obedience and silence unless addressed.”
His words stung. My fists clenched, nails biting into my palms. “So much for the good life you promised.”
“Oh, it’s true,” he said coolly. “But you’ll need to prove yourself worthy first. Make good on the potential your stats promise. Do that and you’ll rise far and fast. That much I swear to you, Adam of Earth.”
A flicker of something unreadable crossed over his face like a cloud over the sun on a clear day.
“For now, we need you clean. Follow me, and don’t dally. Leveling you up was unpleasant, but make no mistake, you will be cleaned in the next fifteen minutes, whether you do it willingly or not.”
“You could just let me go home?” I spat out. “It’s not as if you personally get anything from selling me, do you?”
That brought a laugh from him. “I serve my house, and your sale means that my house becomes richer. If you level well, we’ll also acquire prestige from capturing you in the first place. Prestige brings more sales. Still, I don’t blame you for at least trying, no matter how unlikely. Now come, let us part on amicable terms.
“Amicable is one word to describe how I feel about you all.” I puffed out tired cheeks in exasperation. “The wrong word.” Then to my continued shame, I followed.
I was led to a small room—bare except for a wardrobe and Tuas. The mage looked to be somewhat invigorated, though he still watched me with irritation as I came to a halt in the middle of the room.
“Please stay as still as possible during this process, we don’t want any incidents.”
“Incidents? What could be worse than the…”
A burning sensation flashed over. Intense but gone as fast as it came. With just a few glowing gestures, Tuas had managed to dissolve not just my tattered and bloody uniform, but every trace of blood and grime from my body. Naked as the day I was born, it took a moment to realize that every strand of hair on my body was gone too.
Until now, these bastards hadn’t left me with much dignity, but this last act had stripped me of what little I had left.
“Clothes are in the wardrobe,” Tuas snapped. “You have three minutes to dress, or we will take you to your new owners naked.”
My scream of frustration was raw and wordless as I glared at Tuas. Survival instinct had kept me alive so far, but it really was starting to feel like cowardice.
“I will,” I snarled. “But why strip me like this? All of my hair? Is it just to humiliate me further?”
Tuas frowned, his tone surprisingly matter-of-fact. “No. You’re from another world and you carried germs and diseases. The Archons are very particular about buying clean merchandise.”
For some reason, the rational explanation didn’t help my mood. But what could I do? I stormed over to the wardrobe and yanked it open. Inside was a pair of black sandals and a neatly folded beige shirt with matching trousers. I pulled them out like a petulant child who didn’t want to go to school.
Eighty days, I muttered to myself as I dressed. Though, it was seventy-seven if I’d been here for two already. Seventy-seven days to grow strong and make a plan to find a way back to the portal. No matter what it took, I would do it.
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“Sandals,” Tuas said before I’d even pulled the top over my head.
“I’m doing it,” I growled. “I fucking hope one day that I do grow powerful so that I can come back here and shove these sandals up your arse, First Mage.”
He looked genuinely offended. “And after all the healing I have given you.”
“If you really believe that the healing was for my benefit, then you’re an even bigger fool than I first took you for.”
“Now, now,” Pero said with his usual calm. “No need to finish here on a low, Adam. It will do you no favors, and you never know where your path might lead you. You might need friends in the future.”
I had no response to that beyond more venom, so I remained silent.
Satisfied, Pero beckoned me to follow and together, we all skipped happily to my alien slave sale.
Five figures waited for us in a grand hall. It seemed excessively large for the people present, but the Cerun struck me as the kind of person who liked to show off at any available opportunity.
He stood with the two Unalarans who’d been smoking with him when I’d first arrived here, and then there were two other men who couldn’t have been more different. It was hard not to gawp, for if a race could be perfect, at least in human eyes, then this was it. Where my captors looked like brutes, the Archons where lean and beautiful, with flawless golden skin that seemed to glisten, and hair that shimmered, as if spun from the sun itself.
Smaller than the Unalarans, and only a little taller than me, they looked the more angelic and infinitely more powerful than the others in the room. Dressed in immaculate red suits with sharp gold and silver embroidery woven in intricate patterns, they both watched me with neutral expressions.
“This is the one?” the broader of the two men asked in a loud, clear voice. “I must say, he doesn’t look like much. Smaller than I was expecting, and the base level doesn’t suit the hunted look in his eyes. Are you completely certain this is a new acquisition, Rae?”
Cerun Rae puffed out his chest. It wasn’t an impressive display, but I barely noticed. My attention was consumed by a subtle but relentless tremble that coursed through my body. It resembled the aftermath of an adrenaline surge.
“I am the head of the most prestigious house of hunters in all the Union! Do you think I would risk my reputation with such tricks! And on the House of Garazal no less! I am many things, Warden Anso, but a fool is not among them.”
I tried to focus, desperate to read the identifiers of the Archons, but the tremor seemed to make that impossible.
The broader of the two tilted his head, considering Rae’s words with cold deliberation. “If you did sell my lord a lie, there would be… repercussions.” Though his voice was smooth, each word was heavy with menace. “I do not think even you are arrogant enough to risk that kind of retribution.”
“Exactly!” Rae barked. “Now stop wasting my time with your baseless accusations. Do your checks, agree to the price, and take your prize.”
The Archon’s eyes flicked to his silent companion. The man’s gaze was distant, as if looking inward. The focus to him brought a tense silence across the room, and I ached to know what was going on.
When his eyes cleared, the sensation that had gripped me vanished. My breath came easier, and finally, their identifiers became available.
Name: Ermine Stanis
Title: Augur of House Garazal
Level: 37
Class: Mage
Name: Gorian Anso
Title: Warden of House Garazal. UCPF Field Marshal 2nd Rank
Level: 45
Class: Warrior
“His base level is high,” the Augur said, his voice low and firm. “14 isn’t an exaggeration. If I’d been told 15, I would have accepted it.”
The Warden’s eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. “And the other stats are 13 for Toughness and 12 for Mental Acuity, correct?”
Rae nodded vigorously, his head bobbing like an overeager dog. “Exactly! And you know what that means, don’t you?”
“Oh, I do, Cerun,” the Warden said with a warning look in his eyes. “But the road to becoming a Warrior Mage is long and perilous. He has much to prove between now and then, which means, as things stand, your price is too steep. We will go no higher than 15,000 Unitols.”
Rae’s face flushed crimson, his outrage palpable. “That’s half! Do you seek to impoverish our fine house, Archon? Such an offer—”
“Enough.” The Warden’s tone cut through Rae’s protests like a blade. “This is a risk for our house. We rarely deal in Earthers, and their growth arcs are not well documented. It could be that he starts strong yet struggles to reach Level 20. However, this Earther does intrigue me, so I propose we split the risk. Here’s the rest of my counter offer: half now, and if he achieves Warrior Mage status, a further thirty thousand.”
Rae stilled, his small eyes glinting as he considered. “Forty-five thousand credits, you say? And what growth is deemed satisfactory to trigger the second payment?”
“Both Warrior and Mage paths must reach Level 15. Harmony and Toughness must reach 25. If this comes to pass, you’ll have your money. And do not fear, he will receive rigorous training to reach these goals.”
A slow smile split the Cerun’s face. “If he reaches mastery in only one of the paths, I want the remaining fifteen thousand.”
It was the Warden’s turn to shake his head. “You know as well as I that the sum of the parts are not equal to the whole. If he reaches either level independently, you will receive an additional five thousand, and that is my final offer.” His eyes seemed to bore into the Cerun’s. “It is a very good offer, and I’d hate to see your relationship with our house suffer through greed.”
“Of course, of course,” the fat Unalaran said, shifting uncomfortably. “You drive a hard bargain, Warden Anso, but I accept your terms.”
The Warden’s lip curled into a faint sneer. “Funds will transfer once we’ve secured our new asset. If you find any other interesting exhibits, please do let us know.”
As the Warden finished speaking, the Augur raised his hands. Light erupted from them in a far more impressive display of power than anything I’d seen Tuas achieve. But of all the powers I expected to see, a glowing portal was not one of them.
I flinched when Vyrnsoul Pero gently placed a hand on my back. Was he really going for a touching moment?
“All yours,” he said to the Augur, then shoved me with surprising force toward the two Archons.
I didn’t have time to be angry. The two Archons gripped my arms with unbreakable grips, and without fanfare, stepped through the portal.
The moment we reached the other side, they let go, and I fell to the smooth stone floor, where I promptly vomited. Suffice to say, the small Archon Portal was a far rougher ride than the one I had passed through from Earth.
As I heaved, I heard the Warden mutter above me, “Pathetic.”
The Augur crouched beside me, patting my back. “Welcome to the Ennochamber, Earther. It’s a special Archon delight for low-leveled livestock. Perfect for boosting that Toughness of yours.”
The Warden snorted. “Sometimes even Harmony gets a boost in here. Some say that’s because you’re forced to look deeper into your soul. I just think it’s the exposure to raw magic.”
My linen shirt was pulled off my shoulder roughly, and I tried to spin to defend myself against whatever was coming next. The Augur’s hand gripped the shoulder before I could move an inch and held me fast with incredible strength.
“Welcome to House Garazal.”
A burning sensation seared my skin and then deep into my flesh. I screamed, though it was a weak, ragged sound. The hand left my shoulder, and the two men left the room laughing. Their voices echoed down the hallway as I lay beside my vomit, too weak to move beyond an awkward glance back to check my shoulder.
A brand had been burned into the flesh there. I could hardly see it, but from what I could make out, it looked like a circle with a depiction of a columned building. Try as I might, I couldn’t turn back far enough to get a good look. My head fell back to the floor to rest.
From there, I could see that the room was a stark, twelve-foot cube of seamless brown stone. No windows, no fixtures or fittings. The light seemed to emanate from the walls themselves, like in the Ascension chamber, soft but omnipresent.
After what felt like an hour of disorientation, I finally felt strong enough to move into a more comfortable position. That was when I received the first shock of my new life.
Literally.
The entire floor came alive with the magical equivalent of electricity. My entire body locked up, every nerve was aflame. The pain was so immense and unrelenting that my mind retreated to a dark, numb corner just to cope. When it finally ended, I lay a twitching, spasming mess.
Despite my fear of it happening again, exhaustion dragged me into a restless, fear-filled sleep.
When I awoke, it was to a repeat of the torture.
When it stopped for the second time, it was all I could do not to sob.
By the end of the first day, I cried and wished I’d never joined the army.
By the end of the first week, with nothing to drink, nothing to eat, and no way out despite my best efforts, the only thought left in my mind was wishing I’d never been born.
Name: Adam Henshaw
Title: —
Level: 14
Class: —
Stats:
- Toughness: 16
- Mental Acuity: 12
- Harmony: 14
- Total: 42