Nothing unusual happened the next morning and the small girl slowly awoke to the familiar rattling of the wagon. As her consciousness drowsily returned to the world she noticed the atmosphere of the caravan was brighter and there was no more pain tormenting her body, as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the slow movement of the wagon and unfamiliar sounds and noises.

After getting a good look at her surroundings, past her cell-mates still pressing themselves into the furthest corner of the cage, she noticed that they arrived at the gate of Goa. The first wagons of the caravan already passed the gate and are slowly moving further into the town. After getting a good look at architectural highlight of her life, the big wall made out of a combination of stone and some sort of metal spikes on top, the girl notices Pete being in an intense argument with a guard, right next to the gate.

As her wagon, the last of the caravan, passes through the gate, she overhears the last snippets of the conversation.

“Did you see the remains of the battlefield about one day travel from here? They say you can still feel the souls clinging to their remains, refusing to accept their defeat to the wicked dark power.” The guard excitedly asks Pete.

“Now, why would I want to see that? In case you haven’t noticed we were traveling through a fucking jungle, not sightseeing around the capital.” Pete seems to be at the end of his nerves and nearly shouts at the guard and his stupid ideas of happily walking around a dangerous jungle.

“Ok, Pete. I know you had a tough time traveling through this damn jungle. You just have to answer one more question and you are free to go. I personally don’t really care, but I’m required to ask this. Did you meet with any trouble along the way, like thieves or maybe even fallen trees blocking the main road? Did anything unusual happen along the way? I noticed that I never saw you travelling with such few guards before.” The guard seems to be bored again, leaning on the pole of his spear and relaxing his muscles.

After a quick glance at the beautiful girl in the last wagon of the caravan, Pete denies having any troubles along the way and mentions that the road is still as bumpy as it was the last years.

The chained girl wonders for a brief moment why he wouldn’t report her to the guards, but her thoughts are quickly chased away by seeing the inside of Goa for the first time. She noticed right away, that the atmosphere of the town, in contrast to her imagination, is kind of gloomy. A bone deep sadness seems to be floating around the streets, infecting the mind of every citizen of the town, morphing their faces into visages of bitterness and pain.

On the other hand, she is amazed at the sheer number of people walking along the streets, minding their own business. She wasn’t aware that so many people even existed on this planet, and these are just the people at the entrance of a small town at the edge of a jungle. Most people wear the same shabby cheap-looking brown clothes, but some are wearing completely different kind of clothes, competing to look weirder than the next person right next to them. Though she has to admit, that at first glance, everyone within the masses looks somehow similar, with a deep sadness painted over their faces, even though humans seem to come in all funny shapes and colours. Most impressive are the fat people with big bellies stalking around as if they would own the world. Maybe they do; she wouldn’t know.

She also wonders uncertainly how she is supposed to find her friend in between all these people, not to mention all these building surrounding the squirming masses. Buildings much larger than her old room, her small world back where she used to live with her friend. Thinking of her caretaker, the girl happily remembers the times when they tried to discover all the mysterious secrets of her body and mind, times filled with pain, singing and beautiful red pictures. Sadness fills the girl at the memory of her lost friend and thinking about never solving her mysteries together.

Lost in her thoughts of misery, she didn’t notice the caravan arriving at their goal, the traders’ district of Goa. Chained down to the floor, gazing through the cage bars, the girl sees a father with his son happily walking down the street. As the son suddenly stops in his tracks and points to the largest building along the road, the chained girl can’t help but overhear their happy conversation with a deep longing for her friend.

“Woah. Daddy, look! Look! That’s the biggest building I’ve ever seen!” The son happily exclaims.

“Yeah it’s great, isn’t it? It must be about six stories high. I think it belongs to a wealthy merchant around here. If you work hard, my son, you might even build a bigger house later in life. To be honest, I’ve heard of even larger buildings from a time long past. Do you want to hear about it?”

“Yes, yes! I want to hear all about it!” As the son jumps excitedly around his dad, gazing at the building in pure amazement, the dad picks him up and sits with him on a nearby bench.

“Let’s see. It is said, that in the Age of Greed, thousands of years ago, even before magic and the War of Existence, humans lived their life in pursuit of power, wealth and knowledge. Their greed knew no reason and boundaries and unleashed wicked evil on the world. But this greed also opened pathways to knowledge and technology, so wondrous you can’t even imagine the basics of it.” By this point in time, both, the girl and the son, were absolutely absorbed in the story of the father, letting their imaginations run wild, and didn’t pay any attention to their surroundings.

“At the apex of their greed, it is said that their buildings reached the sky and some even say that some huge buildings even scratched it. But in their pursuit of power they awoke powers not to be trifl …” – “… all right?” A sudden question brings the girl back to reality and she notices Pete looking at her expectantly. Not knowing what to say, the girl stays silent.

“Anyway, the town is full of talk about the glorious Captain Thramoun of the Guardians of Mankind visiting this town, just in time for the celebrations of successfully slaying the mad warlock last month. He is said to arrive during the next few days, so I guess we won’t have to worry about your life for a longer period of time…” The girl couldn’t comprehend the next few sentences due to Pete’s continuous mumbling.

Then with a worried glance in her direction Pete leaves her in the care of Mark, who is standing nearby with creepy smirk on his face, and moves on with the rest of the caravan further into the trader’s district.

“Are you as excited as me, my darling?” As Mark questions her, he gazes deeper into the cage and notices the criminals sitting in the furthest coroner of the wagon. “Well, let’s get rid of the trash first before we enjoy ourselves” he roughly sneers at her.

-----------------

After parting with her relieved looking cell-mates at the local prison, Mark guides her wagon deeper into the town, further into a wealthier looking district. As the girl gazes at her surroundings she notices less people milling along the street and that the houses, which are surrounding her on all sides like a jungle of its own kind, are more spacious and look sturdier than the previous buildings.

As she wonders about the people and houses surrounding her, the wagon suddenly stops in front of a big spacious house with a large courtyard surrounded by a small wall. Two guards are posted at the entrance to the courtyard and on the courtyard itself are about ten people who seem to be fighting for their lives, even though no one looks worried or alarmed.

As a guard loses his sword, trips and falls face first onto the floor; his enemy lowers his sword and helps him back up with a wide grin on his face. At this moment, even the small girl noticed that they seem to be fighting in a friendly competition and she feels a sudden urge to join them and teach them to happily sing together. Maybe she can even show them more about their bodies and their tiny various body parts.

As she gazes around the courtyard, Mark taps her on her shoulders and whispers in her ears. “Welcome home. I hope you enjoy the view of our beautiful training field and the flowers blooming on the sides at the wall, because I can guarantee you that this is going to be the last time you will see them.”

A mad grin sprouts on his face and he yells at his fellow guardians, “Guys, wrap it up and help me transport our newest guest into the special lodging quarters I asked you to prepare in the letter I send you. But don’t touch and interact with her under any circumstances until Captain Thramoun is here, I want him to enjoy his present.”

At the mention of Captain Thramoun the group of guardians start to laugh at the top of their lungs with a wicked glint in their eyes. That was the last thing the girl remembered before she felt the familiar pain on the back of her head and drifted into unconsciousness.