Chained

How much time had passed? I stopped keeping count as it was useless to do so.

“Hey, is that him?” The shrill voice of a female child reverberated through my ears.

“Don’t wake him up. He’ll kill you.” An older male child scolded the other, imitating a raspy voice.

“How!?”

“He’s a spy. There’s no doubt that Lores will wage war on us. Especially since now their spy has gone missing.”

“But doesn’t he look kind of, I don't know, sad?”

“Water!” I cried out, hoping the children speaking of my miserable condition would be able to help me. But as swiftly as they came, they had left.

My eyes hurt to see any light coming in from the window as I had gotten used to the usual darkness of the place. I examined my body only to see that it was full of scars. Each scar reminded me of the torture which had caused it. So much torture.

“Water! Water! Water! Water!” I cried out again, hoping someone would give me something to drink.

“Alright, shut up already. Here, drink!” The guard spoke with an annoyed tone and quickly forced the water down my throat. “Today’s your lucky day. Those who govern our small village have decided to send you to the capital, but not as a free man. I guess they’re sick of wasting resources on you, since you’ve been completely useless these past three months.”

“Three months.” I allowed myself to process just how much time had passed. For three months I was tortured in different manners everyday, and now some lord has given up and simply handed me off as if I wasn’t his problem. “What’s the name of your stupid lord?”

The guard took a strong strike at my chest, making sure I would regret the phrasing of the question I asked. “You should be grateful to him, he made sure to avoid scarring your face. His name is Clauffer Von Verse.”

“Thank you.” I responded to the guard, resisting the urge to vomit at the strike.

He released me from my restraints and slapped a pair of handcuffs onto me. He escorted me out of the prison.

“What about my shirt and jeans?” I questioned him.

“You mean the weird clothes you were wearing? Purple and blue. How obvious. I’m surprised Lores got you something so expensive, but you definitely won’t be keeping it with you. That money was wasted on a spy like you anyways. You get these rags instead. They’re suitable for your new job anyways.”

We had finally reached outside. He connected the chain of my cuffs to that of another prisoner and left us in the care of someone else to guide us to the capital. All the prisoners in front of me held different expressions. Some were fearful, yet some had large smiles plastered across their faces. I wonder what kind of face I was making.

We only took breaks when the man escorting us chose to. We only ate when the man escorting us allowed us to. We had only one bit of freedom. We were allowed to die, when we wanted to. Some of the prisoners in front of me had picked this option. Many spoke of far preferring it over the alternative—we were to be bought and sold like chattel.

The rough terrain picked at our feet as we weren’t allowed shoes. The food was bland and sometimes went bad. I guess in some regards I was lucky enough to avoid the spoiled food, but others were much happier about eating the contaminated food. Not any of us thought of them as fools.

We had finally stopped to take a break as our chaperone had grown weary for the day. He brought us to a nice rock formation in the prairie and individually tied us to our own rock. The people who had grown to be merely bones with a light layer of skin were tied to far smaller rocks than those who were much wider.

The escort had preferred some prisoners over others, nothing more and nothing less. For this simple reason I had become very similar in resemblance to a skeleton. Some people's rocks were nice and rounded and easy for them to sit on. However, I was not as lucky as my rock had hard edges which made it difficult to sit on. I know it obviously wasn’t luck, as once again it came down to preferential treatment as most things in life do.

The attendant set a small campfire in the middle, which was just enough to keep us from dying, but not enough for us to feel warm. The escort gave those he didn’t like a mere grimace, while those he liked were told goodnight. Finally he walked away, hunched due to his exhaustion at managing his merchandise.

“I never thought he’d leave.” A man with violet hair, tied to a larger rock, spoke.

“I think this is the first time all of us have had enough energy to talk with one another.” A woman with blonde hair, also tied to a larger rock, remarked.

In total, there were about five of us still alive from the initial thirty. The only reason this is the first time all of us had enough energy to speak was due to the fact that the ones who were too weak had died, and so more food was available to us. To say this was becoming normal for us would be a little messed up, but there was also no other truth. .

“Hey! Do you guys plan to speak?” The violet locked man questioned.

He had been asking the question towards me and the other two tied to a smaller rock. The other two seemed to have been brother and sister as they were awfully close and had matching pine green hair.

“What’s it to you?” The brother had responded with a snarled question.

“HUH? I COULD COME OVER THERE AND KILL YOU!”

In fear at the remark, the sister leaned in and grabbed her brother, blocking the larger man from making eye contact with him. In a shyer voice, she told the man “He’s sorry, he’s just really on edge.”

Maybe she was the older sister, and she was trying to protect the younger brother? I mean I guess she seems older than her brother, if only by a bit.

“What about you?” The blonde woman made eye contact with me and asked.

“I-I-I guess I can talk, but what about?” I replied to her question with my own, all while breaking the eye contact she had created.

“Hey, look me in the eyes.”

“I-I-I c-c-a-an’t”

“Fine, whatever. I’ve never seen your black hair before. Do spies from Lores all have that kind of hair?”

“As I told the guards. I’m. Not. A. Spy.”

“You don’t get sent to become a slave after being a mere prisoner. You have to be a spy for this kind of treatment.”

“It’s a mistake. Furthermore, the guards said Lores, but how did you determine that?”

“Well, all of us are spies from other nations. Like him.” Pointing towards the man with violet hair. “You can see a small tribal tattoo at the bottom of his stomach, which means he’s from Nominder. Then there’s those two, they are spies from Lith, you can tell by how they were struggling with walking on the flatter land, but were way more comfortable walking through the areas with higher altitudes.” She explained while pointing at the pair.

The explanation caused the brother to hiss at her, while the sister began to cover his mouth.

“Then there’s me. I came from Pieron.” She continued explaining.

“Ok, then how did you get that I was from Lores?”

“Well I wasn’t completely sure, but it seemed like you weren’t used to any harsh terrain, and instead lived a very comfortable life, similar to that of a tourist. Since Lores is known for that, I’d think you’d be from there.”

The explanation she had handed me was thorough, and clear. It finally allowed for everything to click in my head. This means I'm no longer in my world. At first I had thought some island nations not heard about on the news might have existed, and I simply ended up there.

But as everything continued, it had begun to dawn on me that this world was different from mine. There was no mention of the internet, cars, planes, guns, electricity, or anything. This last explanation, given to me with such confidence, was the last piece.

“Yes, you’re completely right. Although it looks as though I have failed.” I lied, trying to match her confidence. I can’t let people find out I’m from a different world, or else it may end up causing me far more trouble.

“Well that’s enough for today. It would seem this whole thing has caused me to grow increasingly tired.” The violet man stated.

We all agreed and decided it was time to sleep. One by one, all of us had begun to lie down on the grass, but this provided no comfort as some of the blades of grass had been stabbing into me.

Not to mention all the bugs around. Some I thought I could recognize, while others seemed completely different. The bug that had caught me most off guard during this whole trek was the giant mosquito. It required the escort to use a sword to kill it.

After a month of this brutal treatment, we had finally arrived at what was referred to as the capital. As we were paraded through the capital, I looked around to see beautiful brick homes and paths. People going about their business as if nothing was happening next to them. Stunning gardens of greenery as children played in them and adults held picnics there. The capital in every sense of the word was beautiful. Yet when looking past the crowds of people, I could see muggings going on in the alley ways. I could smell the rot of bodies in the air which had been yet to be discovered. I could hear the booing from the crowd which watched us being taken. I could feel the harsh metal of these chains which dangled my freedom right in front of me. This city of beauty is filth.