Chương 80: Book 2, Chapter 5

We left almost straight away. Of course, we had to say our final goodbyes, and Nix had to spend a while going over some final admonishments for the lot of us. But less than fifteen minutes later, we were on our way. She and Major Pain also provided us with a target for our journey. Targets, actually.

They agreed with Cuilcis that checking out what was going on with this Hiscariat was the safest approach to our future here on Ademia – especially when the alternative was taking on the unknown numbers of the ominously named Ceaseless Horde. I spent a short while arguing with Nix that I wasn't going to be any good as a diplomat, but she insisted that wasn't the task. Checking out the Hiscariat, learning whether they would attack humans on sight, and returning to tell the tale was all that was needed.

For first encounters, survival alone was all the success we required. Any intel would be an added bonus. We would not be required to… parlay or whatever. Major Pain added another, less overwhelming target to the list, that we could investigate along the way. A nearby large forest had been the source of a few groups of disappearing humans after we'd earned our freedom.

Apparently, the place had been relatively safe earlier on, and they wanted us to check whether something dangerous had moved in, and deal with it if we could. We got ourselves a map as well. It was only marginally better than the children's drawing we'd been presented with the first time we went on an outing. Whatever else had happened, we clearly hadn't found ourselves any cartographers or proper ways to scout and map properly. But at least, we had a group, plenty of provisions, a direction and a purpose.

That beat my first solitary journey away from Ever Steady on every single parameter. Our leavetaking was, initially, almost incognito. We hefted our backpacks and managed to make it out of the camp almost without incidents. The sole exception stood right in our path, just at the edge of the foundations for the coming city wall. I'd never actually talked directly to the bloke. But I had to hand it to him. The Lord o' Freedom absolutely looked the part. Not only did he carry a flag.

The United States-flag, hanging from a stout, two-meter-tall staff, with what looked like about the right number of stars also billowed majestically, despite the current absence of a breeze. He wore a matching bandana, and the rest of his body also showed off an impressive dedication to freedom and liberty. Especially the liberty to not give a fuck about what anybody thought about his fashion sense.

The skin-tight, sleeveless black leather vest showed off his malnourished frame, with the near-orange skin of a well-worn leather bag. The leopard-print speedos… yeah. He was feeling free, that was for sure.

"The Duke of Defense!" His words rang out across the camps, high-pitched voice cutting through the hubbub.

"Prince o' Passives! The King of…Carnage." His brow furrowed.

"Nah. That ain't right." He ambled closer, long legs moving in a weird, loping shuffle, until he was right in front of me. His breath was horrid, and his eyes were fucking wild.

"Listen, listen, listen. One lord to another, yeah?" He looked around suspiciously, like his behaviour hadn't attracted every eye in the vicinity.

"They'll come to take your freedom! They always do. When they do, yeah? You need help. I've got you, man. I've got you." He extended his hand to catch mine. I nearly defended myself, but, seeing no attack, kept my reflexes under control. His hand caught mine and pumped it vigorously up and down. His eyes were locked onto mine, mouth locked in a wild grin.

"When they try to take ya? Free. Your. Mind!" Then he let my hand drop and loped off, cackling wildly. For a moment, I just stood there, staring at his retreating back. Then I glanced at the others. Somsak looked entirely lost.

"What just happened?" I blinked at the insane American, now disappearing in the distance. Then I looked down at the small cloth bag in my hand. Carefully opening it, I looked at the dark, gritty contents of the bag. They looked almost like bark, ground up real fine.

"I… think the Lord of Freedom just gave me a freebie."

"Obviously, I would not stay down. I was the hunted. A thousand packs at my heels, constantly dogging me, trying to eat me. Yet, I am not prey! That night, they nearly caught me, but I turned the tables on them, and started hunting the Glimmerscales in return. I stayed on the move for days, crafted my own arrows, ate what I could kill and terrorized those damn beasts. My only regret is that I was away when you took on the Higher Kadren and brought them all low. What carnage you must have wrought that day.

What glory!" Former CEO-turned bow hunter Samuel was telling us all about his own experiences during the Kadren enslavement, and he did not hold back with his enthusiasm. To hear him tell it, he would've eventually taken them down single-handedly. I had to hand it to him, though. He couldn't be all talk, or he wouldn't have managed to get to Level 20 under those tough circumstances. And judging from the number of tricks he spoke about pulling on the Kadren, it sounded like he wasn't all bluster.

He'd earned himself a few good talents along the way. One was actually the same as the one Ciara had chosen way back, a single-target piercing shot talent. Then, he had a temporary self-buff that raised all his physical attributes for a limited time, a talent that caused damage around the impact of his ranged attack, and one interesting passive, where each subsequent kill within a ten-minute-period would grant him additional temporary buffs. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The day was turning out to be rather disgusting. A light drizzle had started and seemed like it wasn't going to stop any time soon. It was one of those days you'd see all the time back in Sunderland – not a proper rain, this, but everything was just constantly, disgustingly moist. So we talked. Both to get to know each other, and to distract ourselves from the disgusting, ever-present backdrop of the wetness. Somsak's eyes burned with something as he started talking. Regret, perhaps? Or just hatred?

"The Coalition kept all of us healers 'safe.'" He spat the word.

"I suppose I should thank them for that. Everything, everybody in their place. Healers at the back, where we could be called upon when necessary. If they'd played their cards differently, I would be dead now." I thought back to the invasion and grimaced.

"I saw it. When the wall came tumbling down. I honestly thought we were all dead at that point." The others nodded solemnly. Except for Samuel.

"Hah. But we cannot be kept down so easily. We are too strong, too indomitable!" Indomitable. Who the fuck talked like that?

"Life under the Kadren was horrible. But I had it better than most. They liked those of us with healing powers. Even let some of us group up with them now and again when they went on patrol. The one thing they liked better than facing off against each other was getting themselves fully healed immediately afterwards."

"How…" I hesitated before blundering on.

"How did it work? The enslavement? Could you resist it?"

"No. There was a prompt, right at the start. The prompt made the intentions quite clear. They were personalized, but there was never any doubt as to what would happen."

"A Level 16 Riverkin demands you accept her bond. Refusal will be reprimanded. Accept?" Victoria was uncharacteristically silent as she recalled the memory. A few hours into the march, I'd already learned that her standard mode was loud, merry, and refreshingly direct. No beating around the bush here.

"Reprimanded meant they'd beat you the first time you refused. Refuse a second time, they'd kill you. They didn't mess about." Somsak snarled, caught up in the memory. Somsak looked a perfect picture of misery. I sure hoped he'd improve in time. It probably didn't help that a certain someone just decided to mention a recent traumatic time. If there was a Diplomacy skill out there, I wasn't going to get it anytime soon.

"At least I had a bit of freedom, got to go out every once in a while and group up with my beast when he went hunting. Got a few levels like that." He shrugged.

"Most of the time, you'd just be yourself. But it was, what's that word? Something that slides in unnoticed…"

"Insidious?" Victoria said.

"Yes. Insidious. Suddenly, you'd find that, not only were you doing something else than what you'd planned, you'd actually been doing it for half a minute already. There was no way to resist it, to circumvent it. Other people tried all sorts of tricks, it didn't matter. The moment you accepted the bond, you were, well, bound. Now, you were free to use your talents, but you couldn't use them against your own beast unless they accepted, and they'd make sure to punish you if you did something stupid."

"Animal training, al revés." Victoria snorted with dark humour, letting a hand slide over her bald scalp as she mused.

"They were both more and less bestial than I expected. More, because they were animals. They fought for dominance, had sex in public and ate whatever they could come across. Oh, and they crapped everywhere. The streets were not safe for your boots!" She sneered in dark amusement.

"Less bestial, because… they thought ahead. They planned. They strategized. Not all of them, but the higher-level ones at least." She stopped speaking, then started back up, more pensive.

"I knew exactly which path I was going, when I entered the portal, right? I had a gym back in Mexico City, knew my own strength. Of course I was going to be a Fighter. Only, I entered half an hour before the attack."

"Oof." I exhaled.

"Right on the money! Impressive timing, right?" She gave a low laughter.

"I was half-way through the introductory speech by that angry lady when the alarm sounded. Half of my group ran back through the portal. I regretted not doing it a few times over myself, once they'd caught us all. Anyway, that was the issue. I didn't even have my class yet, and I quickly learned that the Kadren didn't allow Fighters, Scouts or Mages to kill or level.

"So, you ended up picking Mage?" I asked, genuinely curious. She smirked.

"Yeah. I could've gone with Crafter or Collector, earned myself some power from planting broccoli or whatever those poor bastards did all day. But I decided to take a chance, because fuck those putos, right?" She cracked her fingers as she walked.

"At first, I was planning to use my Talent subtly, right? Maybe sneak in a debuff when some Kadren were fighting, earn some experience if it died. Of course, I didn't really consider how my beast would likely have noticed me leveling up and have questions for me, me entiendes?" She chuckled darkly.

"Then I lucked into an alternative. You see, the Riverkin who ended up holding my bond got her ass kicked on a regular basis. There was a larger Riverkin who, it seemed, got a kick out of keeping her down, eating her food, that sort of thing. I watched for a while, then I took a chance, and picked that debuff for my talent. And the next time that big male came to humiliate her, I shot her a group invite." She chuckled.

"I think the only reason she accepted it was she was so surprised. But I grouped up with her, lowered the bully's Strength so far he could barely lift his cute little limbs, and she tore him a new one!" One side of her mouth quirked up in dark humour.

"Don't misunderstand me. We weren't friends or even friendly. But it turned out the Kadren weren't all idiotas. She quickly saw the point of having somebody along who'd allow her to take on stronger enemies, and later on, who could poison beasts while she kept them distracted. It allowed her to grow faster, and she kept it secret."

"I've got to ask, though. Why didn't they use you all for the battle? If they'd tossed you in, even as meat shields, it might have turned the tide."

"Easy!" Samuel boomed.

"We were not Kadren." He chuckled.

"Ninety-nine percent of all humans currently in Ademia are not made of the stuff required to truly survive and thrive, and the beasts could tell!" Victoria snorted and pointed at his dark, skin-tight leather pants.

"You need looser pants. They're cutting off circulation to your head, guero! Yes, the reason they didn't send us into battle was that we weren't Kadren. But it wasn't because we weren't strong. You call the Captain weak? Pfah. The reason why they didn't treat us as Kadren is that we weren't Kadren. They were predators. We were prey. End of story."