Fragment of Divinity

by Jamey Sultan

  Silence.

  He pulled out his sword and stood, waiting for the inevitable attack. He could feel the prick of eyes against the back of his neck. It was coming.

  He waited for five minutes, but nothing happened.

  James waited another five minutes and still nothing happened

  Weird. The fog seemed to wrap around him, caressing him and creating odd patterns that danced across his mind. James couldn’t tear his eyes away. It twisted. Twirled.

  Beautiful…

  You have been [Mesmerized]

  James tried to fight a sudden sleepiness as the fog caressed him, but his limbs grew heavy and darkness overtook him.

  Chapter 20

  James groaned. His head was killing him. His mouth was dry as if he’d drunken an entire bottle of tequila before bed. He pried open his eyes, rubbing at the crust around them. He groaned again. It felt like he was lying on his back on the deck of a ship. Slowly, he looked around. He was on a cart rumbling across a dirt road. More importantly, he was in a cage. He groaned again. His head really hurt.

  “Wha—”

  “Shhh,” a voice hissed.

  “Where—” James tried again, his mind still full of fog. It felt like one of those mornings where he’d taken a few Benadryls to sleep and woken up more tired than when he’d gone to bed.

  “Shhh.” This was accompanied by a hand across James’ mouth that got the message across, shutting him up. Head slightly clearer, James tried to sit up and look around, but before he could, the speaker hissed at him again. “Keep your head down and pretend you’re asleep. We can talk tonight.”

  James wasn’t sure what was going on, but listening to the other guy in the cage was probably a smart idea. He dropped his head back down and cracked an eye open, looking for the speaker. His eyes roved around the cage, stopping on a graceful, dark-skinned woman with pointed ears. She wore bright red robes, suggesting she was a mage. At first, her appearance confused him. She looked human, aside from the ears. But then he read her status page.

  Name: Nidra Forren

  Race: Wood Elf

  Level 22

  Class: Fire Mage

  An elf!

  Why did she look so much like a human? And why couldn’t she escape with a fireball or something? As he stared at her, her eyes opened, and she glared at him with a look that said, “Dude. Stop being creepy.”

  He glanced away, embarrassed, before scanning the rest of the cart. Aside from the elf, there were two teenage humans, and what looked to be a cross between a panther and a human. The panther lay alongside the bars of the cage, projecting the image of a sleeping animal, but James could see how tense he was as his tail flicked and his ears twitched.

  Name: Orrel Fleetfoot

  Race: Beastkin-Panther

  Level 24

  Class: Ancestral Warrior

  James wanted to stare longer, but he didn’t want to alienate any more people in the cart. The Elven woman, Nidra, was still glaring at him through half-closed eyes. He would need to apologize to her when he got a chance.

  James’ eyes fell on the two tall Humans sprawled across the floor of the cart. As far as he could tell, they were twins.

  Name: Ophel Sereno

  Race: Human

  Level 13

  Class: Rogue

  Name: Lucien Sereno

  Race: Human

  Level 15

  Class: Blade

  When James met Lucien’s eyes, the youth winked at him and made the shushing gesture again. He had a friendly expression on his face and mouthed two words. Talk Later. He then mimed closing his eyes.

  “Audun, I swear to Vither. Your spell’s wearing off.” A sharp, cruel voice cut through the silence.

  “It’s not wearing off. They’re just shifting in their sleep.”

  James cracked his eyelids and peeked at the speakers.

  Name: Audun Strommen

  Race: Orc

  Level 27

  Class: Hypnotist

  Name: Vegar Heziel

  Race: Half-Orc, Half-Dwarf

  Level 30

  Class: Slave Trader

  James cringed when he saw the orcs. They looked nothing like Ferko. Their tusks weren’t trimmed and jutted from their lips, ending in fine points. When one of them opened their mouth to yawn, James saw a jumble of sharp, mismatched teeth.

  When Vegar turned to glance at the slaves, James caught a glimpse of his face and shuddered. Vegar had a cruel face with a scar running across his right eye. He somehow looked pinched and sallow, even though he stood twice as wide and almost a half-foot shorter than James. He rode at the head of the group of slavers with confidence, leaving James no doubt as to who was in charge.

  Audun was steering the cart, lazily flicking the reins of two large lizard-beasts as they trundled across the path. He was tall and wore a voluminous robe that hid most of his body. The parts that James could see were covered in tattoos of arcane symbols that crawled across his skin. The longer James stared at the tattoos, the heavier his eyes felt, as if someone were stacking weights on his eyelids. He tried to fight the feeling, but fell back into a dark and troubled sleep.

  You have been [Mesmerized]

  James woke up to the darkness of the night sky. The cart wasn’t moving, which helped with his pulsing headache, but he still felt awful. Apparently magically induced sleep caused hangovers. He shook his head, trying to clear the fog.

  “Morning, sleepy!” Lucien greeted him cheerily.

  “How’s it going?” Ophel asked.

  “What’s going on?” James whispered. “Where are we?”

  Ophel and Lucien exchanged glances. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re in a cage.” Lucien said.

  “And as for where we’re going, no clue,” Ophel finished.

  “Then why are you so cheery?” James snapped. He knew they were trying to be helpful, but he couldn’t understand how they could be so bubbly given the situation.

  Lucien grinned at him. “Well, we aren’t dead yet! Besides, I’m sure someone’s coming to rescue us.”

  Ophel smiled. “And we’re still together.”

  James was flabbergasted. How could these two be so cavalier about being kidnapped and caged? He looked around. The rest of the prisoners were sitting quietly, watching their conversation, curious about the newcomer, but unwilling to speak.

  James kept the emotion from his voice. “Do you guys have any idea where we’re going?”

  The Elven woman, Nidra, looked up. “Can you all quiet down a bit? I’d rather not wake them.” She gestured at the orcs.

  James peered through the bars and saw three canvas tents. An Orc woman sat close by, leaning against a tree stump as if on guard duty.

  Name: Sinew Brutsbane

  Race: Half-Orc, Half-Troll

  Level 30

  Class: Barbarian

  Sinew was built like a truck, and an enormous wooden club lay by her side. As James watched, the half-orc let out a loud grunt and shifted, scratching her face. James froze, but after a second realized that she was asleep and snoring.

  James shuddered. He did not want to fight that.

  “So, when’s your rescuer coming?” James whispered, quieter, to Lucien.

  “No idea,” Lucien said. “We ran away from home, our dad’s probably sending someone to hunt us down now.”

  “Huh.” Unless they were nobles, he had serious doubts about their parent’s ability to hire someone who could take out a party of slavers single-handedly.

  James reached for his pouch, but it was gone. Frantically, he patted himself down. He was still wearing his leather armor and his necklace, but he was missing his weapons and pouch. He wondered why they hadn’t removed the armor and jewelry.

  James noticed multiple notifications flashing for his attention, so he opened them.

  A Slave Trader with the skill Chains of Oppression has captured and branded you.

  You have been given a brand: Property.

  Pro
perty

  - 20% penalty to all stats and skills when fighting your owner.

  + 20% to all stats and skills when following orders

  James looked down, examining his body and searching for the brand. It must have appeared while he had been sleeping because he hadn’t even realized that he had a fresh one. He searched his body and found the brand on the top of his left foot. It looked like a pair of wings framing a keyhole. “No, no, no,” James whispered. His mouth went dry, and he sucked in deep breaths. The other slaves were looking at him with a mixture of pity and resignation. Even Nidra’s glare had turned into knowing sympathy.

  Scared to continue looking through his notifications, but even more scared not to, James kept reading, knuckles white as he gripped the bars of the cage.

  You have been given a quest: Liberty or Death

  Liberty or Death: An hour of fighting for your freedom is worth a lifetime in chains. Will you die alone as a slave or fight for your freedom?

  Suggested level: n/a

  Reward: [Property] will change to [Liberated]

  Mandatory quest: Unable to refuse

  The quest gave James hope, and he turned to the other slaves, his mind racing with ideas.

  “Has anyone tried to escape?” He asked desperately.

  Nidra replied first. “Don’t bother. Even if you could use magic, which you clearly can’t, the cage is warded against it.”

  “Okay, I don’t need the attitude. I’m just trying to help.”

  As soon as he snapped, he regretted it. He knew she was probably just as stressed as he was, if not more, and that it wasn’t an excuse for him to snap. In a nicer tone, he apologized. “Sorry. I’m just stressed.” He gestured around at the cage. “Obviously.”

  She nodded, accepting his apology. “We all are.”

  James decided to move the conversation away from escape, which was clearly a sore subject. “I’ve never met an elf before. Where do you all live?”

  She sighed. “I live in Fallmire.”

  James had thought Fallmire was a human city, but from the way Nidra responded, he could tell she didn’t want to elaborate. “Oh.” James turned to Orrel. “How about you?”

  Orrel glared at him for a second before turning away. The Panther-kin’s eyes were orange and slitted, similar to Lamia’s, but more pronounced. More importantly, they dripped with hatred. Of what, James wasn’t sure.

  “Don’t bother.” Lucien chimed in.

  “Yea, he hasn’t spoken since we got caught, and we’ve been here for weeks.” Ophel agreed.

  “How’d you get captured?” James asked the twins.

  “Great story,” Ophel said.

  “The best,” Lucien agreed.

  Ophel started the story. “It started on a dark stormy night. We—”

  Lucien cut him off. “No, it didn’t. It was a clear day.”

  “Shut up, it adds drama.” Ophel argued.

  Lucien ignored him. “It started on a nice temperate evening. We—”

  A sudden noise shut him up and all the slaves immediately dropped to the ground, pretending to sleep, with James following their cue.

  Sinew groaned loudly, stretching her arms as she stoop up, glaring at the cart. They all lay there, motionless. James wasn’t sure what would happen if she realized they were awake, but he didn’t want to find out.

  While James lay quietly in the cage, he planned an escape. He had an idea, but he needed to make sure everything was in place before he filled the others in.

  The rest of the night passed in relative silence, none of them wanting to risk waking Sinew again.

  The next morning started with the sharp sound of metal against metal as Vegar struck at the bars of the cage with a crude, rusty sword that looked like he’d stolen it from a pirate film. Each strike of the sword created an unpleasant metallic ringing.

  Once he’d made sure all the slaves were awake, Vegar doled out a ladle of water to each of them. When Vegar got to James, he held out the ladle the same as for the others. James reached for it gratefully, but when his lips touched the metal, Vegar slowly tilted it, letting the water spill to the ground.

  “Oops,” he said, grinning maliciously.

  James could have screamed, but looked down quietly. He knew Vegar was waiting for a reaction so he dish out some punishment. It was a classic way to show who’s boss.

  James spent the rest of the day daydreaming about having a drink of water and a bite of food. That night Vegar repeated the same trick, tipping the ladle over and pouring out James’ serving of water, a cruel glint in his eyes.

  Over the next few days, James observed the group of slavers as they set up and tore down the camp. They’d stored all their gear underneath the cart, so they would pull it out every night, pick someone to stand guard over the slaves, and set up camp.

  In total, there were five slavers, the three he’d already seen and two others. Sinew had a brother, Butcher, who was just as large and twice as mean. Both of the Half-Orcs were the definition of brute, and looked like they had been injecting steroids since they were two. They spent their days arguing over who was stronger and which one of them had more giant blood, to the point when one would inevitably pull out their club and smash the other alongside the head. That was usually when Vegar told them to cut it out, although sometimes he let them fight for a while. Even though they were both close to eight feet tall, it was obvious they feared him.

  There was also Mandra. James hadn’t noticed her until the fourth day when she emerged from the trees on the side of the path and whispered something to Vegar.

  Name: Mandra Salien

  Race: Orc

  Level 23

  Class: Beast Tamer

  While James was watching her, a falcon swooped down from the clouds and landed on Mandra’s shoulder briefly, before taking off again. She turned to Vegar and whispered something to her. He nodded.

  James wondered if the rest of the slaves knew what was going on. He turned to look at them, but they were all feigning sleep.

  “What’s happening?” James whispered.

  “Another poor soul is about to be captured,” Lucien whispered back sadly. “But seriously, do us all a favor and shut up during the daytime.”

  James shut his mouth and watched with mounting horror as the Orcs pulled the cart into the undergrowth, and Butcher and Sinew hid on opposite sides of the path. Vegar grabbed an arrow from the cart and stabbed it into his own shoulder, hissing in pain before laying on the ground near a dense part of the forest where Audun was hiding behind the undergrowth.

  A few minutes later James saw a Dwarf walking down the road, whistling.

  Name: Arik Forgeborn

  Race: Dwarf

  Level 26

  Class: Hammer

  When the Dwarf saw Vegar, collapsed and calling for help with an arrow in his shoulder, he stopped and pulled a large war hammer off his back, then crouched next to him.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “Bandits attacked me. They stole—”

  While Vegar talked, an ethereal blue mist gathered in the surrounding forest. The spell took hold, and Arik froze, staring blankly into the mist. As soon as he froze, Butcher and Sinew jumped out of the forest and grabbed him, holding him in place.

  Audun walked out of the forest, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. He approached the slave’s cage and fog started billowing out from underneath the cart. James felt the fog surrounding him, pulling him into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 21

  James was the first one up, followed by Orrel, then Nidra and then the two humans. He lay there, pretending to sleep while trying to figure out how long he had been asleep for. Based on the position of the sun, he was fairly confident that he had absolutely no idea what time it was. He also wasn’t sure where they were.

  He lay awake for the next few hours, trying to fall back asleep. There wasn’t really a point to staying awake. Still… The bright sun hitting his eyelids made it almost impossible
to sleep. Eventually he gave up and just lay against the bars, thinking.

  His mind eventually wandered back to the prophecy he’d heard in the inn. He wondered what it meant. How it applied to him. After all, there was no way it was a coincidence that he’d been brought to this world at the same time as an apocalyptic-level event.

  Am I here to save the world, or to destroy it? Maybe it wasn’t about me at all?

  That a deity of death had brought him to Novis was telling, and he resolved to fight against anyone, or anything that would try to make him commit whatever evil acts the prophecy foretold.

  In a stroke of luck, Butcher took guard duty that night. It meant they could talk, because he always fell asleep before his butt hit the dirt. Arik hadn’t woken from the spell yet, so James turned to the other captives. “So, where do you think we’re headed?”

  “Probably Iruek-Vrul.” Lucien speculated.

  A low moan interrupted him as the recently captured Dwarf started to wake.

  “Shhhh,” James hissed at Arik.

  “My head,” The Dwarf moaned, massaging his temples. “How much did I drink?”

  Butcher interrupted with a loud snore, and James grabbed Arik over the mouth to shut him up.

  The Dwarf struggled for a second, his eyes widening as he processed his surroundings. He tried to get up, but Lucien helped James hold him down. It worked for a second, but when James felt a slimy substance on his palm, he stared at the Dwarf in disbelief. “Are you licking my hand?”