===============(Lydia P.O.V)==================
-Hahh Hahh Hahh.
I panted, while running through the cold wind of this boreal forest I ran with all my might.
My sweat coursing down my body as I felt even colder, it didn’t help that my attire was extremely thin and revealing, but right now I didn’t have the luxury to be bothered by it, the only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn’t stop, that I needed to run as far as my legs could take me, if I stopped for even a second I was extremely aware of the consequences that would await me…
Those consequences formed into Images of horror that flashed through my head as I continued to run, all the humiliation I suffered and all the pain I experienced, all the cruelty I had seen.
My body had been twisted beyond belief which is why I knew exactly…
What “They” would do to me. The only thing I could hope for now was that I had shaken them off and just as I was thinking about it noticing how it was a bit too quiet I heard a loud shout.
-Hey ! Steven ! I found that little bitch ! She is running down the hill quickly come catch her !
That voice was rough, with a hint of panic in it as it came from behind. Fear enveloped me the moment I heard it as I was all too by the owner of that disgusting voice, forcing my legs to speed up some more hoping that the voice would disappear but alas that was just wishful thinking.
Suddenly another different voice resounded followed by a third voice.
-Don’t need to tell me twice you idiot ! Fuck ! How is that you couldn’t even look after a single slave?! Much less a woman! If Boss knows of this he’s going to have our heads!
-Calm down ! Nobody needs to know about anything here, stop talking trash and quickly concentrate on catching her! Once we catch her we can easily make amends if we just sell her and give the money to the boss, he won’t care as long as he has the money so shut up and catch her !
-Rogerx2
They solemnly acknowledged the order, making me go pale for a moment as I realized that they were now more focused then before, the third individual obviously had a good grip on these 2 making his leadership abilities known.
While running I simply couldn’t help but slowly start to slow down as I felt my lungs start to hurt from all the running and my sides hurt from all the running, I knew that I couldn’t hold on much longer, it was
already a miracle that I held on for this long with the malnourished state I was in, soon enough I knew that they would either catch up or I would give in.
Which is why I looked towards the sky, tears in my eyes and resentment for this rotten world before shouting.
-FUCK ! WHY GOD WHY ! WHAT DID I DO WRONG !
All of my frustration was in that one shout as despair came over me, the 3 men behind me couldn’t help themselves as they laughed at me, their lecherous faces and their disgusting eyes scanning over my entire body as they imagined who knows what kind of filth.
Unfortunately, I was powerless to do anything, life was always like this for me ever since I had become a slave, I thought I was already used to it but I quickly discovered that once I was presented with the opportunity of freedom I took it without hesitation.
Deep down I still longed to be free, but it seemed as if this freedom was also just short lived as the pride I stubbornly held on to myself.
Suddenly I stopped, not because I couldn’t run any longer, but because I was unable to go any further, in front of me I could see a huge cliff overlooking the entire area of this cold forest, the view breath taking as my tears came down my cheeks.
-Its beautiful…
I muttered my mind going hazy from the lack of oxygen I had gotten from all the running, I knew I shouldn’t just stand here and change direction to continue running, but I was tired and my spirit was weary.
I couldn’t run anymore and because of the beautiful view my heart had accepted my fate.
I had given up.
Soon enough the hurried foots of the other 3 came behind me as they approached before stopping a short distance.
-Hahh Hahh…Good god, how is this bitch so fast! Didn’t we limit the food intake of these slaves just because of this ?
-We should have, but maybe because she sucked so much dick she got a little bit more protein then the others hahaha.
Two of them laughed, exchanging dirty looks as they stared at my body I already was used to such treatment but I still felt unpleasant, the third one on the other hand was more reserved as he looked at me, all 3 of them were holding firearms but they hadn’t shot them once since I was a valuable “merchandise” maybe dying from a gun was better, but it didn’t matter now.
I thought foggily, slowly stepping back as I got closer to the cliff.
Seeing my movement, the third man immediately understood what I was thinking, he looked panicked as he raised his gun and pointed it towards me, I couldn’t help but laugh at his foolish action.
-Stop! Do not go closer to the cliff!
Realizing what was going on the other 2 also started to get a shade paler after they realized what I was thinking.
They too raised their guns at me, making me think that they all were really dumber then apes trying to stop someone from suiciding by pointing a gun at them, of course I never expected much from these people anyways.
They were dumber then apes after all, and worse than maggots, this world was full of these kinds of people which is why it was rotting.
I looked back towards the cliff while thinking that, trying to remember how life was before I was a slave, but that was simply too long ago a memory long forgotten washed away by depravity, despair and drugs, but for some reason the beautiful view helped me recover a little bit helping me remember a time when I was still little living with my grandpa tending to the garden blooming with beautiful flowers.
-Lydia, flowers are enduring plants, even though they only bloom once a season they give it their all and push through all hardships to bloom only to wither shortly, in my opinion the life of a flower is no different than the life of a human, we have our time and when our time has ended we need to leave, what I want you, my girl to remember is that until that time has come for you to wither, do everything in your power to bloom as beautifully as you possibly can, flowers wouldn’t be flowers if they don’t push through the hardships of nature and weather to bloom, just like humans wouldn’t be humans if they don’t have the desire to live.
Remembering grandpa, he always loved his analogies of flowers and humans, but because his analogies were always a bit long winded no one from the colony liked to listen, and this included me as well as I simply didn’t like flowers as much as I liked other plants like medicinal plants which were more useful then flowers which only looked beautiful.
Only now after looking at this view do I realize that there is a point to beauty, the reason this world is so rotten is because the people in it see no beauty in it, just like me they only see it as a thing to use which in turn causes everyone to only look at the practical point of view which completely ignores beauty.
My spirit was immediately revived the moment I thought about these things, but unfortunately I knew that it was far too late of a realization to have, surrounded and with no way out my future would be only bleak with no escape, a flower like me would never be able to bloom.
-When I die I want to be born as a flower again.
I whispered giving the 3 men behind me one last indifferent look before facing forward again and making one large step towards the edge.
-Quickly!? Capture her before she jumps off!
-Yesx2
And as soon as I made my step the 3 of them immediately chased after me, unfortunately for them they wouldn’t be able to catch me before I jumped off.
Even though I was about to meet my end I felt relieved for some reason, but just as I was about to fall a powerful whistling sound resounded within the air as something seemed to be speeding our way.
-Ugh?!
And as soon as the whistling sound stopped a low grunt came out of one of the 3 men which turned out to be the first guy who had looked after me, when turned towards him to see what just happened, my eyes went wide as I saw a long bloody arrow going through his neck skewering him.
His eyes showed that he didn’t understand what was going on, reaching for his neck it looked as if he was suffocating as he eyes bulged for a second no able to make a peep and finally he slumped to the ground and collapsed, his blood gushing down his neck as it made a small puddle underneath him.
-…x3
Everyone was quiet at that very moment lost for words as 4 people had immediately turned into 3 and with the way this man had been killed so quick and efficiently through an arrow without even the killers shadow in sight a cold chill went down my spine just thinking about how skilled the killer was. And it wasn’t only me, the 2 remaining guys also realized what they were up against, turning towards the direction from where the arrow came from they immediately scanned their surroundings with their guns trying to find the killer or killers.
After what seemed like an eternity, but really was just 3 minutes, there was nothing in sight or even a sign of movement from the direction the arrow had come from making the entire ordeal only more frightening then it already was.
One of the guys couldn’t help but curse as cold sweat came down his face and his gun shook with fear.
-What the fuck was that?! Did we end up in some tribe’s territory?!
His assumption was reasonable but the other man coolly denied it as he held his gun steadily without looking nervous at all.
-I don’t know but since we weren’t showered by arrows at this point, it is clear that there is only 1 attacker here which means it isn’t likely that we incurred some tribe’s wrath, anyways quickly just grab that bitch and lets leave, the fact we can’t find the killer even though he just shot an arrow at us means that he is incredibly good at hiding, if we stay any longer here he will simply pick us off one by one so we gotta be quick.
-Understood.
Taking charge of the situation instantly, I couldn’t help but think that this man was a bit too good to be a part of a low level group like this, but then again at this point it didn’t really matter as I watched the second guy quickly coming close to me.
I was still a bit shocked by the sudden death of the first guy that I completely forgot about my suicide attempt, because of this the second guy quickly got the opportunity to get close to me while my mind was somewhere else.
He was about to grab me by my wrist until once again a arrow whistled through the air, this time coming from a completely different direction then before, the sound of flesh being pierced resounded once again but this time there was a cry.
-ARGGGGHHHH!
The arrow hadn’t killed the second man instead it pierced through his arm making blood spurt out as he dropped his gun to the ground and held his injured arm with a wailing cry falling to the ground.
The third guy this time prepared didn’t even bother to look at his comrade before turning towards the direction from where the arrow came from and unloading his machine gun.
RATATATAT.
The loud sound of gunfire came over this forest bullets whizzing through and obliterating ever bit of the greener he was shooting at, the man only stopped after spraying what seemed to be half of his magazine before looking to see if he got anyone.
While this was all happening the men in front of me was still wailing and crying, the arrow was deeply skewered into his arm and for a moment I couldn’t help but be impressed by the accuracy of the archer, though this thought only lasted for a second as I looked at the rifle on the ground dropped by the man before me.
I felt my eyes flash as I quickly saw an opportunity before me but before I could even reach towards it I heard a clicking sound as I felt saw the third man turn towards me.
His expression was hard and savage, a bit of sweat came down his brow making it known that now even he was starting to get panicked, but he still carried on.
-Don’t even think about it you bitch! If I don’t make it out alive here then you sure as hell won’t either, now that we are down to 2 and I have no idea where the attacker is the only way out of here is by you and me working together and making it out alive!
He said, his words somewhat making me confused as I believed he was mistaken when he said that we were only 2 left.
I pointed towards the man on the ground before saying.
-Wait, this man is still alive, he can still…
BANG!
Before I even could finish my sentence the muzzle of the man turned downwards before squeezing the trigger, the wailing and crying of the man bellow me immediately turned silent as a bullet bore through his skull.
Seeing him ruthlessly kill his companion just like this shocked me for a moment as I couldn’t comprehend why, but luckily I didn’t need to ask as he immediately told me.
-This guy had already become useless the moment he got his arm skewered, the fact that he continued to lie down and cry like a hussy without picking up his gun in front of someone like you shows that he is incompetent, furthermore the fact that he wasn’t killed like the first man even though the attacker could have killed him shows that the attacker has no intention on killing us but keeping us alive, killing him will force the attacker to be extra attentive when fighting us so he won’t accidentally kill us.
His reasoning was sound and logical, but at the same time it was extremely cold and inhumane, even though I was already used to humans being inhuman and cold, it was the first time I saw someone like him who didn’t even hesitate when he put a bullet through his comrade who he only yesterday shared a bottle of beer with while laughing and smiling.
Of course there was nothing I could or would say in this situation, I simply tried to forget before asking something that came to my mind when he explained his reasoning to me.
-But wait, if what you are saying is true then why won’t you just kill me as well so he will become even more hesitant in the fight, isn’t that more beneficial by your logic?
-Hah.
He laughed, looking down at me as he no longer put his attention towards me while trying to scan for the attacker, I personally was beyond feeling insulted by scum like him which is why I also didn’t bother caring about him while picking up the rifle from the ground.
He also didn’t stop me anymore as he didn’t seem to look at me as a threat and instead answered me while keeping his guard up against any upcoming arrow attacks.
-Sure, killing you would make the attacker even more hesitant in killing me when I am the last person alive, but who knows what that person is thinking, just I am saying so doesn’t mean I am right, humans are unpredictable creatures after all, he could just as likely playing with us by slowly torturing us death with his arrows to stave his boredom, I knew a raider once who did exactly did, killing men, woman and children alike for amusement, who says he isn’t a sicko like that which is why I rather work with you then risk having to face a psycho like that all alone.
If anybody it’s you who’s the psycho.
I silently thought like that without showing it on my face, checking the chamber of the newly acquired hunting rifle I got and seeing a bullet already inserted into it.
Next I picked up the rest of the bullets from the guy’s corpses before quickly joining up with the guy as he immediately started to lay out his plan.
But then once again an interruption occurred, expecting an arrow that would take either of our lives I raised my gun clumsily watching as a projectile flew towards us.
The man also saw what was coming at us and tried to dodge, but unfortunately that thing was simply too fast to be avoided and as a result it squarely hit the man on the face.
The resulting impact caused the man to get down on his knee as blood sprouted out of his face caused by the object and on closer inspection I realized that it was just a mere rock and nothing else.
-ARGH FUCK!?
The man shouted quickly trying to raise his gun and shot towards the place where the rock had come from, his actions were slower this time because of the pain and because it seemed as if he couldn’t see very well from the damage caused by the rock.
But I was watching everything, and as soon as the rock flew through the air I immediately saw what our attacker finally looked like and couldn’t help but hold my breath as my hands froze on the rifle.
From the thickets of the bushes came out a large man wearing exquisitely crafted leather clothing, he wore a fur cape as well with a hood attached that looked like a wolf head.
Every bit of this man’s movement was incredibly steady and imposing, but most importantly I felt a suffocating powerful something coming out of this man’s presence that I could only describe as a type of aura.
I knew instantly the moment I saw him that there was no way I would be able to beat him even if there were 100 of me.
But most noticeably looking at his face I saw silver eyes poking through his skull mask, those eyes were the most piercing and intimidating eyes I had ever seen in my entire life, it was as if he was looking into my soul, the power was so strong that my mind became a blank sheet of paper.
Becoming frozen was one way to say it, becoming a statue was the reality as I watched the man dash towards us at lightning speed crossing the distance between us that must have been more than 40 meters in a matter of few seconds.
The moment he stood in front of the man he kicked the gun out of his hands as if he was doing child’s play now without any weapon to rely on and being on an incredibly disadvantage with his knee to the ground and his head injured he immediately shouted at me.
-SHOOT! SHOOT HIM BITCH!
His desperate voice instantly woke me up from my stasis as I gripped the rifle harder, now a bit calmer then before I immediately aimed my gun towards the silver eyed man, even though I was bad at shooting, even I wouldn’t miss someone right in front of me, but reality was so much more different then fantasy because as soon as I aimed my gun towards him the man turned around and glared at me using his silver eyes.
As soon as he did so I dropped my gun.
Experiencing fear like I did never before my knees buckled to the ground as I couldn’t feel them anymore forcing me to sit down as my body shook like a leaf in a storm, it was even difficult to breath as if someone was gripping my throat, but there was no one, his glare was simply that powerful to make me hallucinate and before I knew it I was already out of this fight as the silver eyed man stop paying attention to me and looked at the man bellow him letting me breath as his eyes left me.
Trying to understand what was going on the man turned towards me, only to see me collapsed on the ground in intense fear, he sneered at me in hatred before shouting again.
-USELESS BITCH!
Now having only himself to rely on the man tried to jump towards his gun, but the silver eyed man didn’t let him, kicking him mid action as the man rolled on the ground 5 to 6 times before crashing into a tree nearby.
Using my medical knowledge, I immediately understood how powerful that kick must have been and seeing the man cough up blood I was already sure that his internal organ had more than sustained internal injuries, there was simply no more point to this fight as the silver eyed man had long since won before we could even do anything.
As I was thinking that, the silver eyed man slowly started to step towards the man on the ground who was coughing up blood, I started to remember what he said about the silver eyed man and couldn’t help but think that maybe he was right and that he was indeed just playing with us.
The man obviously thought so as well as he quickly tried to catch his breath.
-Wait! WAIT! Please! Let’s bargain! We don’t have to do this! I can give you anything you want please don’t kill me!
Pitifully this man begged for his life, but honestly it couldn’t be avoided, we were already at his mercy, the most we could ask for was our lives, though I highly doubted it would work.
But unexpectedly something seemed to have clicked inside the silver eyed man’s head as he stopped approaching and casually stared at the man bellow him before asking.
-Really? Then how about I ask you some questions.
-Huhx2
Both me and the man were incredibly surprised, we hadn’t expected something like this, but seeing his chance at life the man immediately reached for it as he answered the silver eyed man’s every question.
I knew I should have also joined into the conversation and shown my worth so I would be spared, but ever since the glare I got I was simply too scared to meet the silver eyed man’s face which is why I couldn’t do anything else but and sit, wait and listen.
I was extremely nervous because of my inaction but continued to listen intently soon discovering that the questions the silver eyed man was asking were far too weird.
Like.
Where is this.
What year is it.
What kind of state is this world in at the moment?
Where is the closest settlement and which settlements are good or bad?
What kind of people are the most common and who should be avoided the most?
What was the best way for him to start his own colony and if he wanted to start a colony where should he go to get better information about it?
The last question in particular made me intrigued and somewhat unsure what he meant, but it was very clear that these questions were weird because these were things almost any person who lived in this world should know like the back of their hand, its basic common sense, the only people who would want to know this would be either people from outer space or people from…
-cryosleep casket…
The man muttered as such coming to the same conclusion as me as we both realized that this man in front of us had likely woken up just now from a cryosleep casket from an ancient human laboratory, the reason neither of us thought that he was someone from outer space was because there had been no reports or rumors in this area that a spaceship or an emergency pod landed in this area if it had it would have been seen by a lot of people and would have gotten around quickly, but it hadn’t meaning that he could have only come from some undiscovered laboratory underground that had just awakened.
And where there is an ancient laboratory there is also ancient technology, which means treasure to be sold for silver or a weapon to be used as a means of bolstering your own force.
Upon thinking of this I could immediately see a glint of greed appear within the man’s eyes, I knew exactly what he was thinking, I wanted to warn the silver eyed man but because I still didn’t know what he was thinking I was conflicted on what to do which ended up in me staying quiet.
-Alright, I think I asked about everything I wanted to know,
After finishing the questioning, the silver eyed man seemed to be satisfied, the man was also very happy to know that the silver eyed man was in good mood but at the same time now that he was done being questioned he knew that his usefulness had disappeared, watching him I understood that he was quickly trying to think of something to be continually be of use to this man.
-Wait! I have something more to say good sir! Since you clearly don’t seem to know a lot about this world, how about I introduce you to some people! They can be immensely helpful to you and with your abilities I am 100% sure that you can become the head of a group if we go and introduce you to those people, not even mentioning the cryosleep casket you…
Just as he was going through his pitch the silver eyed man seemed to not want to hear any longer as he immediately stopped him by showing him his palm.
This action somewhat unnerved the man thinking he was going to get killed as he started to get pale but luckily it wasn’t as he thought.
-Now that I finished asking about this world I want to ask you something else.
-S..Something else?!
-Yes, more exactly who are you, what are you doing and who is she.
Unexpectedly getting dragged into the conversation for the first time I saw the silver eyed man pointing at me making me shiver from fear even though he wasn’t doing anything threatening.
Upon being asked such a personal question for the first time the man didn’t know how to answer at first but since he had been questioned for so long he immediately answered without skipping on the truth.
-I..My name is Ro..
Again the silver eyed man stopped the man from speaking as he showed his palm before saying.
-No, I don’t care about your name and who you are, what I want to know is what your task is and who you are working for.
Now clarified and completely indifferent of his existence, slightly begrudged but not showing it on his face the man quickly rephrased himself as he told him everything.
-I am a slaver, she is a slave, she fled when one of us wasn’t looking, we were supposed to sell her off to a colony close to here which was recently taken over by a pack of raiders, our boss is a bigwig slave trader who leads the slave trading industry in these parts, and since she is pretty hot, our boss is expecting a big payout, if he knows that we suddenly disappeared with his slave and his money he is likely to come look for us, which is why, how about you just let us go and we pretend like nothing happened, trust me this is best for…
WHUMP
Before he could even finish, the man’s skull was hacked into two pieces, his brain completely destroyed and blood flowing down, he had died instantly without even finishing what he wanted to say.
Horrified but not able to scream or run away I crawled towards a nearby tree.
My mind raced with all kinds of thoughts…
It’s over, nothing changed, I will die here…
Such thoughts entered my mind as I saw the silver eyed man turn towards me and slowly start to walk to me with his bloodied axe dripping blood and brain juice.
I closed my eyes thinking that I had enough, but instead of dying a gruesome death like I expected, I felt nothing at all, but instead heard him talk to me.
-Hey lady, you’re free, do whatever you want.
Hearing him say that I opened my eyes blankly, not sure whether or not I just misheard him, in the next moment I watched this strange guy loot the 3 corpses he just killed taking everything of value while surprisingly leaving me a gun with ammo, food and other small tools for self-protection.
I was simply too shocked by the turn of events that I didn’t know what to say and before I knew it I watched the silver eyed man walk away deeper into the forest.
While watching him, I wondered what just occurred, but at the same time I quickly realized that the man was getting farther and farther away, the wind was cold and my legs hurt together with the unfamiliar and scary forest my heart seemed as if it was about to break and before I knew it I already started to run after that silver eyed man and shouted at him.
-Please! Wait for me!
The man stopped coldly looking at me with his silver placid eyes.
I was a bit scared meeting his gaze, but this time I knew I couldn’t back down or cower in fear.
I already knew with the way he acted, the way he looked at me that he had no intentions of taking me with him as a companion or even as a sex slave since he very likely thought that I was a burden, but still I also knew that even with the guns and provisions he gave me it wasn’t likely that I could survive until I got the next closest settlement, even if I didn’t die from starvation, the wild beasts would likely rip me to shreds which is why the only way for me to survive was to somehow hold onto this man and not let go as he clearly knew how to survive out here.
The only way to make him take me with him was to show him that I was useful, from my years as a sex slave I already knew a lot of ways on how to appeal to a ma, unfortunately those methods I also knew wouldn’t work on this man as he hadn’t once looked at my body or showed any reaction to my beauty.
But still, I still had one method, remembering how he questioned the man before he killed him, there was one thing I could deduce I knew this man wanted and that I likely could help him with.
Gathering all of my courage, I looked him straight in the eye before telling him.
-I…I know a way for you acquire your own colony!
And for the first time I saw this man’s expression change as he looked at me with a bit more interested than he did before.
Honestly it was the first time anyone had ignored or disregarded me as much as this man did, but at the same time it didn’t feel bad knowing that he didn’t really care about my body and at least looked at me like I was a human and not a toy.
A Place Of Legends 