Lethal Itinerary III

I quickly scrambled the rest of the way, and excitedly, but cautiously reentered society.

Happiness overwhelming me, the only remark I would make…

…was that everyone seemed depressed and unenthusiastic at the sight of me, a foreigner…

Slightly concerned and feeling unwelcome, I went further into the village and discovered that they even had an inn. But as wealthy as I was, the only thing I could afford was sleeping outside…

That said, I didn’t mind it. I already spent a substantial portion of my life this way, so it was second nature to me.

I went to the outskirts of the village, and made myself my own personal, homemade inn from earth.

I finally made it grandpa, Xax, Braun, Anna, granny…

If I could, I would probably send you a letter telling you about my journey in detail…

But there is no guarantee I won’t be recognized here…

I have so much to tell all of you…

Feeling increasingly lonely, I looked out of my house window at the starry sky.

It was captivating. Resembling an abyss, I found myself falling into it, locking my gaze onto the same, dark purple gradient for a long while.

That is why I didn’t hear it at first.

Loud knocking reverberated throughout my construction and I jerked awake.

Someone was at the door.

On my way down towards it, I made a small hole in one of the walls to peek at whoever was making all this ruckus in the dead of night.

I know why I am awake…

But do you guys sleep during the day, too?

I peeked through the opening to find a small boy, younger than me, standing outside and carrying a basket.

After a while, he placed it onto the floor, turning around with a disappointed look and started to leave.

I slowly opened the door, and my eyes widened.

What lay inside was a loaf of bread.

It was a gift.

“Hey!” I yelled after the boy.

He turned around with a startled look, probably not understanding what I just said.

Thinking about the best way to express my gratitude, I bowed slightly, smiling at him and the boy’s face lit up as he beamed in return, waving goodbye.

Feeling a little hungry, I took out the animal meat I got earlier, the gifted loaf of bread and began eating.

It was delicious.

I haven’t tasted anything like it in all my life.

In a couple of minutes, I found myself full, gradually falling asleep.

I closed my eyes and let my worries fade away as I entered a peaceful dream.

…

Strong headache.

Heavy rocking and body rolling all over the floor.

I groaned heavily as I woke up.

What happened?

Something was covering my entire head. I couldn’t see anything.

Hmm?

My hands were tightly tied behind my back, too.

I was restrained and moving in some kind of carriage.

Struggling, and eventually lifting myself up, I heard some voices.

“EH! Debiti ravan! Zeyn! OLO!”

“Erghh… wabbbbt?!”

“DEN KYD!”

There was a small silence, and I heard footsteps approaching me.

Then out of the blue, I felt a hand sloppily striking my neck with a lot of force.

“AAAGGHHHHHH!!” I fell on my shoulder.

Realizing that I wasn’t in my house anymore, nor the village I was supposed to be staying in, I used my wind element to free my hands.

I lifted my blindfold.

“ZEYN!!!”

As I removed the sack over my head, I was dazzled by the blazing sun. Raising my hand to block it and catch a glimpse of what was going on, I didn’t even get a chance to react in time.

Observing a dark, shadowy figure, I felt a hard impact on the side of my head and dropped to the ground.

Something warm was slowly spreading over my face as my vision faded…

***

“What the fuck are you doing Zeyn?! Who will need him if he goes braindead before we even deliver him?!” said the man controlling the carriage.

“You kept on yelling, dumbass…”

“You moronic… Idiot… how are the others doing?” he asked, glancing back into the carriage. “You better not hit anyone else, or you will be joining them…”

“Alright… alright… they are fine, see?” he lifted a random man’s unconscious face, showing it to the driver.

“…creepy son of a bitch…” muttered the man, turning to face the road yet again.

…

Icy water splashed over my face, forcing me to jolt awake.

“Zwena zats moren nutemt rhati, ner wolcem ur,” said a man in a loud voice.

My head hurting, I focused my vision on the person who was apparently addressing me.

I had no power in my body. I couldn’t use magic either…

Where am I?

“Spurum,” he waited, “Cheld? Olo?”

“Who are you…” I rasped, looking at the man and around the unfamiliar place.

“Ohhh… so that’s how it is,” he said, “what now? Do you understand me?”

Suddenly breaking away from examining what seemed like some underground location, I faced him again.

“Yes…” I answered.

“Do you know where you are?” he asked with a smile. “We don’t get a lot of visitors nowadays, but when we do, they all seem to be from Acolatum…”

“I don’t… what do you want from me…? Are you after my bounty…?” I asked him.

The man laughed.

“Bounty? We are not after the possible pocket change your head has to offer. Rest assured,” he said smiling devilishly.

“Then what? Where am I?” I asked.

“You are in Zetre’s second capital, Burana…”

Suddenly everything went quiet.

Ringing filled my ears, which were about to pop.

I was going deaf.

“What we want fr—”

“What…? …how did you get me out of Ors Juna?” I asked hysterically.

“Hmmm? Boy, you must be mistaking something… you were collected near Zetre’s border, last night.”

“WHAT ZETRE BORDER? I JUST ARRIVED IN ORS JUNA FROM ACOLATUM THE OTHER DAY!”

His smile faded and he looked at me, turning serious.

“Acolatum of Validae is half-a-thousand miles away from Ors Juna’s land – separated by the Azure lake. When you crossed that desert, you entered Zetre,” he said with a deadpan expression.

Hands shaking, my mouth went completely dry.

“…what… you are lying… the map said —"

“You poor bastard. Those are still in circulation?” he interrupted. “You were deceived by the oldest trick in the book!

“The map you bought – probably for a fortune – looked high quality, right? Those used to be popular back in the days. Ors Juna on the northwest corner, Zetre on the northeast… the perfect solution to fix Zetre’s tourist problem. If I was a clueless boy, I would’ve fallen for it too,” he said laughing.

This can’t be right.

“…you are lying…”

“Am afraid I am not.”

I rose to my feet and tried to use my magic, but my feeble condition wouldn’t allow it.

“Now, now, settle down. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore,” he said motioning for some people to come in. “It’s alright.”

He started talking to them in their own language.

“…what are you going to do to me…”

“We are going to welcome you into our labor camp. We will provide you with shelter and food in exchange for your work," he said, “we will now place the proof of that, on you.”

The people he called in a moment ago, stepped forward, carrying a red iron tool which had smoke coming from it.

“Do it,” the man ordered.

As two people held me down, another lowered my shirt collar and pressed the scalding-hot metal on my chest.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The excruciating, burning pain forced me into blackout.

I was branded.

…

I awoke in a small cell, next to another person.

I painfully lifted myself up and sat against one of the walls.

The man was around 20 years older than me, looking defeated.

“Boy… are you from Acolatum?” he asked.

I looked at him cautiously, before replying. He had a hopeless, somber expression, as if he had already accepted his fate.

“…yes,” I replied quietly.

“What is a boy your age doing in this place?” he asked darkly.

I looked at his unresponsive, distant eyes.

I wanted to know that myself.

“...I was kidnapped from the border… and brought here by force…”

“The border?” his eyes widened. “Did you cross the desert with your family?”

“…by myself…”

His expression turned sympathetic.

“Why?” he asked sorrowfully, “what happened in Acolatum that could possibly force you to choose travelling in this direction…?”

“…there are people out to kill me… I was going to flee to a neighboring country and I thought I was going towards Ors Juna…”

There was a slight pause as my face filled with hopelessness.

“…I DIDN’T CROSS ALL THAT BULLSHIT TO END UP HERE…” I yelled despairingly.

“…”

“...sorry for prying…” he said.

I stood up stumblingly, putting my hand against the wall.

“…break…”

Nothing changed and the older man looked at me with a confused expression.

I jerked my arm through the air, but even incantation-less magic didn’t work.

“…are you okay…?” asked the man.

“No… why can’t I use it…”

“Use what?” asked a snake-like, hissing voice I recognized instantly.

I glanced in the direction, finding the devil himself.

“I take it you mean magic? Do you really wield some?” he asked with his fake smile, “oh sorry… DID. Haha, we dodged a bullet there. See guys?” he addressed the other guards, “that’s why we stick to the FULL process, every… single… time…”

“wh—”

“If you slack off, he can kill you with his eyes closed, even as a beginner. Keep th—”

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!” I yelled.

He turned around with a dark look on his face, quickly fixing it into another one of his shitty smiles.

“Why, we simply stripped you of your magic. You will never use it again. Don’t even try, it is pointless. Over the centuries of our country’s existence, we have perfected our national treasure – forbidden magic…”

My insides turning to ice, I froze in time.

This already happened in Aireven, but the effects done by Lobaum were temporary, not permanent.

Were they lying?

Trying to intimidate me?

No, they don’t need to in the first place.

From the way grandpa said to avoid this place, I could tell they weren’t bluffing.

The question was - what else were they going to do to me.

“…why are you doing this…?”

“Ah! That’s an easy one… we are just doing everything we can to smoothly integrate you into our beautiful society! Starting today, you will be working in our mine,” he said with his sharp, menacing gaze.

“…what…?”

“You are now an employee of our organiza—"

“…did you… kidnap me into slavery…?”

There was a moment while his disgusting laughter filled the room.

“Why let’s not use such tasteless phrasing!” he said opening the prison cell, “You – like everyone else – remain a respected individual! Yes, I admit, you might have A LITTLE less freedom than usual, but I assure you, this will feel like home in no time...”

As he escorted me outside and we left the confines of the cave, eventually coming out onto the surface, my face contorted in dread.

“Isn’t it just magnificent?”

It was an open pit excavation site – a large crater. Tens of thousands of people were swarming all over the massive area, digging for minerals.

With depth reaching around half a mile, darkness fell over a substantial part of the mine.

Breaking my affrighted gaze away from it, I looked around to find that we were surrounded by nothing but wasteland.

This place was located in the middle of nowhere.

Running away wasn’t an option…

“Say, boy. Don’t you just want to get straight to it?” the bastard asked, joyfully. “I feel like we are taking that away from you!”

My concerned expression transformed to reflect the darkness of the mine.

“Let’s get to it!” he motioned to the guards.

They brought me into another chamber and threw me in the middle of some kind of giant pentagram.

“…what are you going to do now?” I asked warily.

He turned around, facing me one last time.

“I am afraid this is farewell, boy… we will now erase all your memories.”

“Protocol,” he said shrugging.

Helplessness dawning on my face, I couldn’t do anything about it.

He looked in my fearful eyes across the cave,

“From now on, Zetre will be your past, present, and future...”