I could tell Luk had mixed feelings about letting the blue wolves go but he didnt say anything as we walked throug the fort. I was amazed the whole thing seemed to be made of blue stone

Finally we reached the courtyard. We had quite a diverse group that he had recruited . there were 4 grouped together near the front . as we aproach Luk make introductions “von this is tike, kon , tuk and her name is grace”

“Guys this is the man who killed my father and set about this chain of events “

Kon fell to his knees saying “praise the lord the savior has come”

I looked at Luk confusion evident

“His religion believes a savior from another land will come and free all the slaves” his tone soft pitying and he looked me in the eye and said “ it is a common religion among the slave groups”

“Huh” i said I guess that made sense. People in captivity have to have hope of something. Hope is after the fire the burns in our souls when the darkness of despair threatens to swallow us whole.

Now I felt conflicted because i wasnt some mythical chosen one savior. I was just the right person there at the right time. I didnt want to crush their religious beliefs. religion and hope are so closely tied togeher sometimes on the other hand Honesty was one of my core ideals.

So I began to speak “ I know some of you believe I am the savior sent by your god, honestly I dont believe I am. I was simply the right person at the right time. I am not saying your god isnt real and that everything that is happening isnt part of his plan but I have no proof either way.

I took a deep breath many mixed faces in the crowd and among Luks four friends

I continued onward “ so I must go with what I know for sure. I know i came to end slavery on this world. By the end of today no neck will wear a collar “ i roared out this statement to vigorous stomping and applause. I also know we will be raided by the commander‘s son’. This prompted much booing

Our first priority is evacuation. No will be forced to fight ‘ Grace looked shocked by this statement ‘’Everyone who was abducted will be sent back to your realms unless you choose to stay. Those that are hybrid will obviously have a choice to make. You can leave this place fully supplied within reason, you could use the portals to go to another realm.” he took a deep breath steadyig himself trying to project a confidence he wasnt sure he felt and continued on “ Or you can join my cause to defend this bastion of freedom we have created today”

At this the whole assembly grew silent . I didnt know what that meant but i continued on “ if we win the fight to come , we will fight in every village and town until the blight” my voice rising in crescendo as i continued speaking “ that is slavery is exterminated from this realm” i stopped finished and out of breath

At first the silence continued until luk and his band start stomping their feet and cheering which seemed to spread from their group until most of the crowd sounded

Was roaring. There were individuals who were silent or leaving the assembly. That was fine. On the path to freedom only the willing are welcome.

My heart warmed at seeing so many other individuals share my ideals and dreams. I felt hope for a future I might like spring into my heart for the first time in I can't remember. Now was the time for action and an idea had sprung into my mind so I spoke yelling over the uproar.

“The evacuation begins now all who plan to take the portal follow me and all who plan to stay report to Luk

.

I made my way back to the portal station where the man who had shut down the portals when I came into the world was now awake staring at me with fearful eyes. The room itself was quite large, easily fitting 40 people or more which was good because there were a lot of people that were moving through the space making a cacophony of noice.

There was seemingly every type of fantasy creature you imagine. I saw devil-like people that reminded me of tiefling. I saw a lot of orcs and most were on the bigger side. Gnomes, fae and goblins made an appearance as well. What made them all similar was that they were of a vaguely humanoid body type even seeing a cat girl at one point like in an anime.

I felt the energy course through me and empowered my voice. “ the first portal will be to the human world.’’

This brought about obvious displeasure some of which was made known verbally even receiving what i think was a rude gesture from a goblin

I began again “ I have allies I need to bring here “ I then walked over to the portal mage who was ungagged but had been silent to this point.

He whimpered and i think i smelled piss so I spoke in a soft and clear voice

“If you do what i say I won't kill you. Now I'm going to untie you but if you try anything funny” I continued looking around. We were surrounded by magical creatures who had recently been enslaved with the help of him “ I doubt you will live long even to regret it. Now when I untie you I need you to open a portal to where I came from on earth.”

He got up rubbing his wrists and trudged over to the control panel with obvious ease and skill built from years of practice he had the world up and running. It swirled blue like and walked over to me and spoke

“Are you aware that time moves twice as fast here as it does on earth.”

I was happy about that useful info. Diego would have had more time to train and learn his abilities. I would was about to pull him into a blood bath which bothered me but he he was one of my vassals and i knew he hated slavery like I did which decided it for me I grabbed the mage and jumped through

Luckily we did appear in the same parking lot. I looked at the broken glass of my room which I had made before I left. The Hotel looked like it was still operating which didn’t surprise me so I walked into the front lobby and grabbed desk phones, an ordinary flip phone . Luckily Diego's number was actually one I remembered so I called and I thought he might not answer but finally I heard a tentative hello. “Diego its matt get to the parking lot” to which I hear “On my Way with Tamira” I walked back outside seeing the portal mage finally pulling himself along.

“Why did you bring me:” He asked

“How could I not since i dont trust you and I dont know any of those other races so I needed to make sure the portal wasnt closed or changed while i was through”

We waited for a while. Finally Diego and Tamira showed up wearing normal jeans and hoodies but I noticed the bags of holding tied their belts. Diego had also seemingly gotten buff overnight and was holding a vibrant green staff that seemed to thrum with energy similar to his own. I had many questions and I am sure he felt the same way but We were short on time so i made a follow me gesture to everyone and ran back through the portal.