I stumbled and fell, my exhaustion too much. The beating followed shortly after. I didn't even have the energy to try and protect myself as I was beaten and whipped with a stick. I wasn't the only slave to fall over in our fast march south. What did they expect? We must have marched forty miles. Did they somehow expect people on foot to have the same amount of energy that the Black Dragon members, all on horseback had? It was ludicrous.

I levered myself off the ground, the beating had subsided and my collar was causing me more and more pain as I failed to follow my orders. The rest period was over and we trudged onward. I almost fell again as my foot caught another root. I didn't know how much longer I could go on for. My body had been tired even before I was captured. My mind kept going back to the apartment and Fiona's severed head, staring at me accusingly.

After the battle the Black Dragons had all come together, abandoning the city without a second thought. They didn't seem to care in the least that over fifty of their members fell in that battle along with hundreds of slaves. Originally they set out towards the west before turning to the south. I don't know if it was because they were afraid of pursuit or just to throw people off the trail. I doubted the survivors of the Fox Valley had it in them to pursue a force of this strength so soon after the battle.

The caravan continued on while I was lost in my thought. I wondered why no one searched my gear when I was captured. I guess it didn't matter to them, they had nothing to fear from me. The collars prevented any of the slaves from stepping out of line or harming themselves. I'm sure if they wanted something of mine they would take it. Not like I could prevent it. This was one upside to me being Sharla's personal slave. It afforded me a minor bit of protection from the predations of the lower ranks. The downside being I was subject to her whims, and they were mercurial.

One point during the march Sharla came up to gloat. She was happy to point out the fact that I put the collar on willingly. Praising me for my devotion to her, calmly telling me about my upgraded collar. How it allowed her to benefit more from my actions, with tighter control over me. This brought me to the conclusion that there was some wiggle room for orders. At least on the old versions. It would hurt but I would push the limits to see what they were.

"Halt!" a voice rang out over the column.

I was finally able to stop. The sun was getting close to setting after our prolonged march.

"Set up camp!"

I wasn't sure what to do. I just started to pull out a tent from my ring before a voice stopped me.

"Not, you sweetie," Sharla said, approaching me on her horse.

I stopped at her command.

"You can set up my tent, then we can have some real fun," she said, an evil grin spreading across her face.

I shuddered but got to work assembling her tent. It took me a while to set it up, it wasn't a simple one-man tent but eventually, I got it up.

"Time to head inside," she said.

God, how I wanted to just end the woman. I still had the burning rage from Fiona's murder deep inside me, waiting to be let out. It's like that saying, you don't realize how much you care for someone until they're gone. She was the first person I trusted with my life, which was weird to think about. I felt like a complete failure for letting her die. I would bide my time, my chance would come eventually.

"See that I am not disturbed," Sharla said to her ever-present guard.

She threw aside the tent flap and stepped inside, "Oh that look of hate on your face is precious... but I can't have my slaves appearing to be disobedient, now can I? So, first, we will work on adjusting your attitude. On your knees," she said, pulling out a short whip, "Shall we begin?"

It was one of the worst nights of my life. The only other night that came close was the one where my parents and sister died. That was more emotional pain than physical, but just like that night, I would endure the pain. I wouldn't let her break me.

Sharla was ruthless in her torture. She didn't even allow me to scream, ordering me not to open my mouth. So only muffled cries could be heard over the wet slaps of her bloody whip. She forced me to heal myself, over, and over, and over again as she beat me bloody. Having witnessed my ability to heal during our fight. Eventually, she stopped, ordering me to remain still and quiet. Forcing me to watch her sleep only a few feet away, while I remained on my knees all night. Despite the pain and the rage, I managed to fall asleep in that position. I woke up sore and cramped after what seemed only an hour or two of fitful slumber.

The process of force marching the slaves, forcing me to set up her tent each night, and beating me senseless repeated. Eventually, I was able to mask my feelings, at least enough to make her happy. I had lost track of time, the landscape around me, and even distance during those grueling marches.

"Hmmm, good puppet," she said, running her hand down my jawline, then slapping me hard across the face.

I kept my face emotionless, knowing that if I showed any sign of pain or anger she would just beat me more to prove a point.

She smiled, a knowing little evil smile, "This will work... for now. Eventually, you will come to love me as I love you, my sweet pet. Tomorrow night you will be put on patrol with the rest of the slaves."

I knew patrol was another form of punishment, it meant I would get little to no sleep and possibly have to fight, but at this point, it felt like winning the lottery.

I replied in a monotone voice, "Yes, mistress."

That was the name she wished me to call her, ugh it made me feel so dirty. She lay down and went to sleep. Leaving me in my usual kneeling pose, unable to move. I let exhaustion take over as I drifted asleep.

Morning came fast like it always did when I was stuck in this position. I was bleary-eyed from lack of sleep and sore from aches and pains that the system couldn't heal. Another thing the system didn't do was remove scarring quickly. Scars crisscrossed my entire body. Sharla had been thorough in her ministrations.

She took particular joy torturing my privates, with the systems healing you could castrate someone and it would grow back eventually. Ask me how I know? I doubted I would ever have kids or even want to procreate after the unthinkable abuse she put me through. Just remembering it made me want to cry but I locked that emotion away with the others. I'm sure a psychologist would say what I am doing is bad for my long term mental stability. Do you know what else is bad for that doc? Being beaten and tortured on a daily basis, so stick your Ph.D. where the sun doesn't shine.

I thought having powers to heal would have been a godsend in this chaotic new world. Instead, my gift of healing had become a curse. Used only to prolong my suffering for Sharla's enjoyment. My only condolence was that she was more fixated on teaching me a lesson, or in her words correcting my behavior than learning about my skills. This allowed me to keep Second Chance a secret. I can't imagine how much more severely she would push her torture if she knew I could come back. I had no desire to go back into the land between death.

I needed to keep her focus off me. As long as I was useful to her she shouldn't care too much. All of this abuse was just to get back at me for what I had done to her in the Town to the north. She broke my arms on the fourth day, at least I think it was the fourth day. Of course, she prevented me from healing them. She said I needed to understand the pain I put others through. The woman was as vindictive as they came. It had taken a full day for my arms to heal themselves through the slow system healing. She probably would have broken my legs as well, if it wasn't for the fact I needed them to walk.

***

Sharla got an almost sexual amount of joy from finally capturing the man who injured her so soon after the system came online. She even got the bonus of watching her escaped slave die. She didn't particularly care how the collar got removed from her slave. Only that there was no point putting a new one on her.

After they captured the town, she had confronted the merchant that sold the collars to them. She discovered, through judicial use of pain, some flaws in the design of the collars. The basic ones weren't as immutable as they had been led to believe. Also that there was no point recapturing an escaped slave as they could not be compelled anew by the magic. So it was an easy decision to let Dominique remove her.

After her chat with the merchant, she purchased the upgraded collars. Supposedly they had fixed the flaws from the previous design. Time would tell if she needed to return and end the merchant's miserable life. Unlike the old collars, these weren't yet tied to her father's skill. She would only receive experience when the slave was within a hundred yards of her. She would remedy that issue when she reached Chicago though.

She remembered the anger after Paul had broken her arm. She had indulged her chaotic emotions that day by slaughtering most of the pathetic people she recruited in that town. Only three remained and those had all come up with her from Chicago. It was enough to sate her mercurial desires.

Then a gift presented itself, in the form of a spy amongst the Royal Guard. Viktor had clued her into the time, day, and likely path that Paul would take as he went south. The man had sold out his own people for a chance to join the Black Dragons, after seeing their rapid rise in power. Of course, she had roasted him alive. She didn't need traitors in the sect and she had all the information she needed to pursue her quarry.

The timing worked out well, the first summons had arrived. She needed to return to Chicago within the month. Apparently, the fighting down there was more intense than predicted.

Her group tailed Paul and the lackey sent by the Royal Guard. It was only unfortunate that she had been able to fool them at the time. Lying about his death. She tortured the woman but she was stubborn and didn't give up much in the way of information. Unlike Viktor, that man had sung like a bird. So she knew why the woman had been sent out. If she could hasten the fall of an outsider enclave it worked in her favor. So she collared the woman, intending to utilize her to draw out the Royal Guard's contact. Eliminating any possible help they might receive.

Just as everything was falling into place the woman was rescued. Escaping without anyone being the wiser. Sharla was sent into a rage at the news. Killing twenty unfortunate slaves that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She gathered up her most trusted cohorts and set off towards the Bazaar. She knew the woman would have to head there eventually. She had not expected to find Paul there with her.

That damn man was like a zit that kept coming back. To top it off he had somehow figured out how to remove collars. She would pull that information from him when she was ready. You never knew when it might come in handy. The two managed to kill off Bartholomew, her best assassin, along with four other men. At the time she had no clue how. Sure she knew that Fiona woman was a capable fighter from another world, but Paul? The man was clearly not a fighter.

So when she saw them exit the building and head towards the Bazaar, she managed to restrain her desire to kill him on the spot. Meanwhile capturing the scout and watching the man fight. The man was brutally effective in combat if a bit unskilled. She could tell the man had upped his game since their first encounter. She watched him take down five people over level ten, causing the sixth to flee from the fight. She made sure to send her newest killer after the man. Can't have deserters in the ranks. The man utilized clever tricks to overcome his stronger foes. It made her want him even more.

Fate was with her, Paul and Fiona came straight back to retrieve their lost puppy. It was almost too easy to capture them. A simple lightning bolt incapacitated Paul, while Dominique fought the woman to submission. Sharla pushed an ice spear through the other captured man's heart. Then gave Paul the ultimatum. It was simple. She could clearly see the bond between the two, hell she could practically smell the sex on them. She wanted those feeling for herself. He accepted and the rest was history.

Of course, her forces had to flee the area right after. Heading west before turning to the south. That was always the plan. She knew her force couldn't hold the town indefinitely. It was more of a test for her forces, those who survived would be stronger for it, those who died were not up to the Black Dragon standards. It didn't much matter, she would be back in due time to claim the town. When the council was done with their idiotic war for Chicago. She didn't know why the council was so invested in controlling that area. Sure there was an entry point to the Bazaar near it, but who cares, there were plenty of those.

The council was a bunch of fools, dangerous fools, but still fools. So focused on strength and a short-sighted plan to take over Chicago, that they didn't plan towards the distant future. She wasn't surprised; they were the typical leaders of industry. Corporate types, that always thought of the bottom line, and immediate profits or ways to acquire power. They didn't care what happened five or ten years down the road. The only difference now was power was the commodity for them.

Her father had been the one to propose the Plan to them. It was his small geological company that discovered one of the System interface nodes.

At the time he needed money to completely unearth the node. He didn't want the government to get wind of his find. So he started to put a plan in place that eventually led him to the council. They were a group of shady investors, with ties to all sorts of illegal activities, and were perfect for her father's intentions. Of course, other parties caught wind of the discovery, years later. It was inevitable that some other nodes were discovered, scattered throughout the world as they were.

This didn't matter, her father was a genius. Having planned out contingencies for this very possibility long in advance. Along with a roadmap to make the Black Dragon a global superpower, dwarfing any country that existed to this date and enduring long past his death. But he had to deal with the council and their pandering.

It slowed progress towards the activation of the Plan by decades. Allowing some other entity to steal the initiative from them. It had been a setback. However, her father had factored in that possibility and managed to cobble together a way forward, despite the council's uselessness.

It had involved less than savory methods, using slaves differently than they first intended to. Her father was not one to balk at something as simple as slavery if it meant completing his goals. Slaves had been one of the foundational methods her father had worked into the Plan. The reason for this was to keep knowledge of the Plan and the node to as few people as possible. Yet they needed a large force once the system went live and slaves fit the bill nicely.

That led to the collars and the armbands. Simple, inexpensive items they were able to obtain before the system activated. They found a merchant willing to accept a trade. We traded common items they had never seen before for collars. While the magic didn't work until the system went active, they were distributed among the rank and file in preparation.

Her father had to choose a slightly different class to take advantage of a combination of skills that allowed the collars to provide experience from any range. His original class no longer feasible. He had long since learned every possible skill combination he might need going forward so he was able to adjust. This had been the least desirable outcome for his plan but it was still salvageable.

Her father's ability to link any device he touched had helped feed the sect's rapid growth. It even worked on items he touched prior to the system going live. This allowed for satellite locations to start growing.

Slaves weren't a problem. The sect had been kidnaping people for over a decade for any number of uses. The slaves carved out a section of the city in a bloody day of fighting. So what if most of them were lost, there were always more slaves.

If her father could hear her thoughts he would reprimand her, he always told her to treat them like indentured help, not slaves. Not that her father cared about them, just that they were less likely to turn violent if they were treated well. She did, for the most part, treating them like another bit of furniture in the room. That was until she saw the look on her newest prizes face. It set her emotions off. She beat him ragged until she was able to get her emotions under control again. It was the one downside to her advanced class.

Unlike most mages, elemental or otherwise, that was relegated to a certain type of magic, she was not. She had access to any type of magic and was only restricted by her intelligence and level. It was the main reason she chose the class. The other being her father's words to pick any advanced class she could access. And not multi-class until level twenty.

She had followed her father's advice, knowing the man's fathomless intelligence and his care for her. She just wished she could have more of his time. Despite the downsides, her class gave several benefits. One being that she was hard to counter. It was easy to counter an elemental mage, just use the opposite element. Since most specialized in one or two elements it wasn't hard.

Sharla looked at her newest pet, it was a pity she had to break the man, he was quite the specimen. His body, tenacity, cunning, and class were all quite remarkable and she was now looking forward to their return to Chicago. She would set him loose in the war. The other pre-system groups would rue the day they tried to take on the Black Dragons.

***

The slave masters went easy on us today, only pushing us twenty-five miles. I think it had more to do with the large river, cutting from east to west. That now barred our path south, more than any form of sympathy for the slaves. As we stopped I saw Sharla conversing with her second in command, the Duelist.

I never got the man's name and I was unable to make any changes to my settings. Unless Sharla changed her standing orders, prohibiting me from taking any new skills or changing any settings unless I begged her to let me. 'Fat chance of that happening,' I thought, remembering I still had one open skill slot.

The man walked up to me, "Come with me, we are assigning you to a patrol group."

I followed the man through the tents of sect members, to the outskirts of the hasty encampment. The slaves had slapped together whatever protection they could to hide from the elements. It was a good thing it was late spring and not fall or winter.

We walked up to another sect member, wearing well-made leather armor and sporting a spear. There were three slaves beside him. The slaves looked a little too chummy with the Black Dragon member and I instantly disliked them.

"Recruit," the Duelist said, The other man quickly giving a salute by bumping his fist against his chest.

"Yes sir, what can I help you with?" the man said in a no-nonsense fashion.

"You will take this slave into your patrol rotation and put him through his paces."

"Right away sir. Over here slave," the man said, motioning me over.

I was forced to comply with his orders, walking over to stand with the rest of the slaves. I watched the Duelist walk away, his job complete.

"So new guy, what's your class?" one of the other slaves asked. He was a burly man with black shoulder-length hair and was even taller than I was. He reminded me of an 80's style cartoon hero, all rippling muscles with a sword strapped across his back. I could easily picture him pulling out the sword and saying some stupid catchphrase.

I ignored the man, choosing to remain quiet. I wasn't here to make friends or acquaintances. That would make it much harder to kill them when it came time to escape.

"Hey dude, I'm talking to you," the man said again, grabbing my shoulder.

I snapped, pulling my staff from my ring and cracking him across the face as hard as I could, which was pretty hard. The man went down, holding his face in his hand. I knew I fucked up but the rage had been building for days and it finally escaped. The spike of pain from the collar caused me to fall to the ground and clutch my neck. Before the other three joined the fight I heard a shout.

"Stand down!" the team leader said, stomping over towards me.

"You four will get along or I will throw you to the monsters and see how you fare, do I make myself clear?"

A chorus of "Yes, master," came from the group.

I picked myself off the ground, the pain from the collar finally fading away. I guess that answers the question I had about attacking other slaves. Not fatal, but not pleasant.

The man eyed me and my staff, "You know my brother was killed by a man wielding a staff," he said, no hint of emotion in his voice. "That man wouldn't happen to be you now would it?"

I could only shrug, not knowing this man's name or his brothers, and honestly, I didn't care. Then the man's gaze turned towards my ring.

"That's a mighty fine item you got there, did your master give it to you?"

"No," I answered in the flat tone I had mastered due to Sharla's ministrations.

"Good, then you can give it to me."

For some reason, this command had no effect on me and for a second I was baffled. Suddenly I remembered Sharla saying she owned everything about me. I guess this included my items as well. I guess that was a small miracle. I just stood there not answering the man. When he grew angry and tried to rip the ring off my hand, I dodged back out of his reach.

"Don't move," he ordered, "that ring is mine."

"This ring belongs to my master," I replied, "You can take up ownership of it with Miss Cotton if you wish."

That was enough to halt the man in his tracks. He wasn't stupid but I could see a glint in his eye, this wasn't over. He turned and kicked the big oaf still on the ground, "Get up, its time for us to go."

The four of us headed off on patrol. I decided to see if I could use Identify on the group.

William Conrad | Disciple of the Crescent Moon | Level 8

William was a man of middling height, topping off at 5'8" with slicked-backed black shoulder-length hair. He really didn't have any other defining features about him, being rather plain-looking. As for his class, I had no idea what it meant but I assumed it was a style of spear combat.

Gus Fray | Blood Oath Barbarian | Level 7

This was the name of the man I knocked on his ass, and what was with these classes. They sure didn't seem like normal classes.

Vivian Branch | Dalmar Temptress | Level 7

Rufus Branch | Dalmar Protector | Level 8

Husband and wife eh, at least they got to stay in the same group. The wife would have been a beauty in her earlier years. Auburn hair in wavy locks past her shoulder, and a curvy but not plump figure. It appeared she didn't change any of her physical attributes when the system went live because she looked to be in her fifties. A bit of grey hair streaking through her locks, and wrinkles on her face. Or maybe that was just her preference, who was I to judge, I looked to be in my mid-twenties despite my real age being over thirty-five.

The husband was a pudgy man that seemed to glare daggers at any man that so much as gave his wife side-eye. He had a head of mostly grey hair and a once neatly trimmed beard, that had seen better days. Needless to say, I was getting the cold shoulder from all four of them. I sighed internally, knowing this was going to be a long day.

"Alright new guy, what's your name," Conrad said.

"Paul," I replied.

"Well, Paul...," Conrad said, emphasizing my name, "Perhaps a demonstration of your abilities, you know so we can see how effective you are in a fight," he added with a smile.

This was going to suck. I couldn't cause harm to anyone with the armband, and with the way he was looking at me, it meant he was going to duel me himself. I was proven correct a few seconds later as a prompt appeared in my vision.

William Conrad would like to challenge you to a duel, this is a non-lethal duel and combat will end when one combatant reaches 10% health. All health and mana is restored after the match ends

Before I could reject the request I heard Conrad say, "You will accept, Paul."

The command took effect, forcing me to accept the duel. I was just glad it was a non-lethal duel. Perhaps the man was smarter than I gave him credit for and knew better than to anger Sharla. It didn't mean he wouldn't take it out on me if he could though.

"Now, Paul, let's see what you got."

The man came at me with no more warning, a quick jab to my side leaving a shallow wound before I dodged out of the way. My armor was in my storage ring so I had to be more careful. It was pretty much a useless mess at the moment anyway. All the fighting I endured before being captured had left it in tatters. I had planned to upgrade, seeing as how the chitin plates weren't cutting it anymore. Of course, this was before I got captured.

Focusing back on the battle I realized all of my buffs were down. I decided to change that. Even if I couldn't harm the man at least I could prolong the fight a little bit, while preparing myself for later.

I managed to enable all of my buffs while I slapped most of William's strikes aside with my staff. The man was playing with me a bit. I caught a glance at the group's faces while we circled each other. They wore surprised expressions at the number of buffs I cast on myself. Sometimes it even surprised me. I watched my mana pool drain down to 189 as I cast all of them. I needed another four seconds to cast my last buff, Second Chance. I figured it could wait since this was a non-lethal bout but I wouldn't waste the chance to freely cast the expensive spell.

While the man was skilled, I had fought more difficult opponents. I had to make the fight look increasingly hard for me. Purposefully missing some incoming attacks that drew blood, while trying to avoid the really painful attacks. The man surprised me, using an ability similar to my Flurry to strike me four times in rapid succession.

As I reeled back from the attacks he jumped into the air, doing a 360-degree spin while bringing his spear across in a whipping motion. The blade of energy that his spear produced blew me off my feet, ending the match just as I finally cast Second Chance.

"Humph, if that's all you got you will be lucky to survive a week," William said, looking down on me, "I might as well put your skills to some use. Enhance the rest of the party, starting with me."

Luckily his orders had been specific to enhancements, and Second Chance was not an enhancement. So I followed his orders to the letter, buffing the team with Minor Wind Walk, Minor Giant Strength+, Rock Skin, and Endure when my mana allowed it. Since he didn't ask about my other skills I assumed he thought they were self buffs only.

"Paul, you take the point, ten yards out should be sufficient. Try not to die," the man added with a laugh, followed by a chuckle from the other three.

'Bunch of fucking brown-nosers,' I thought as I moved to the front of the group to start patrolling.

***

William had been able to hide his emotions and concerns during the fight. Only allowing a small tremor in his hand to escape afterward. Luckily the slaves had been tasked to patrol and had not seen his moment of weakness. The man Paul was a beast in disguise. It had taken all of Williams's skills and abilities to force an end to the duel. He even got the impression that Paul was letting him win.

It was true that the man couldn't harm him but that still didn't lessen William's disquiet over the man's abilities and those were just the combat ones he saw. Not to mention the buffs, that even he was sporting now. William looked at his status sheet, seeing the strength and agility bonus.

'Just what kind of monster did the Black Queen collar,' he thought with a shudder.