A flock of four-winged pidgeons soar through the horizon. The green grass of the meadows down below still glistening with morning dew that have yet to evaporate, signifying the early start of a new day. The clouds draped over the mountain peaks like curtains hiding the mystery of these landmasses. Flowing rivers gushing clear water with fish swimming about freely all the while nurturing life around it. Countless beasts yawned inside their dens and nests deep in the forest, accompanied by low growling and making the ambient noise give off a beastial feeling.

With the weather being temperate, the land was brimming with life. It was Spring, and the flowers bloom at each side of the road. This is the Eternal Realm. Home to various species of life; with some being intelligent and sentient, and others not so much. The entire realm is the literal definition of 'massive'. With thousands of years worth of recorded history from all of the races home to this realm, not a single race had ever reached it's ends.

The ancient ancestors of different races that roamed the land in the past have done various expeditions in hopes of fully mapping out the realm. These maps not only give crucial information for military positioning, but also important in establishing suitable trade routes between cities. Moreover, it can also provide travel routes useful for contact with other races of the realm, testing out if they can provide friendly contact and open routes, or host hostile danger zones and hold potential threat to travellers.

Though the expeditions were noble and benificial to their future, the end result of modern maps were built upon the blood and sweat of pioneers. Countless beings died in the process while unknowingly stumbling upon death zones and encountering hostile barbaric races. A huge price was paid and yet the main objective of mapping the whole realm was never achieved. The following expeditions grew less frequent in number, with even the High Elven race that are known to skillfully transverse the land eventually giving up on the prospect. It wasn't long until the whole endeavor died out.

The ancient ancestors therefore came to a conclusion, the land was decribed in ancient tongue as "Esca-vi", meaning "eternal" or "never-ending", hence the people of the modern world came to call their home "The Eternal Realm".

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In a land far west in the Human Kingdoms, a caravan was marching along a known highway. The said caravan have in total of seven horse-drawn carriages filled with different goods ranging from food products to building materials. Beacuse of the variety of materials on board, it is easy to conclude that the one leading this caravan came from a wealthy background. And in fact, that was exactly the case.

A strapping young man with brown hair who looked to be in his early 20's sat atop an armoured warhorse. His own armour was metallic silver and exquisite but not restraining to the body, making one believe it to be an expensive suit of equipment. A long-sword was strapped at his waist, giving him the aura of a heroic youth out adventuring. Contrary to the elegant aura he exuded, his face was rather sour.

"How much farther is the next stop?" he asked as he turned to another man who also sat atop a horse.

"We shall be arriving in the next town 6 days at most, sire" the man answered respectfully.

"Tch. A few days have gone by and still no action. There aren't even thieves in this route. This caravan didn't even need an armed escort! I just don't know what my father is thinking sending me in this damned remote part of the land." he snarled and continued cursing under his breath. "Hand me the map of this place."

The man who looked to be his personal aide snapped his fingers and a slave brought over a piece of paper all scrolled up. He then handed it respectfully to the young man.

"Cotton Meadow town should be our next stop with 6 days worth of travel between us. Why are we taking a route this long? The other stops had 2 days of travel in between at best. Why are we taking the long road?!" he grunted as he turned to his aide again.

He never really liked travelling, much less travel with this snail-paced caravan. He was a youth at the prime of his life! He craved interesting adventures filled with danger at every corner, making a name for himself and establishing it at the world stage. But what did he get? A fucking escort mission in the boonies. He was fearful of his father who was a known Baron of the Free Kingdom, but that didn't stop him from strangling him a dozen times in his mind.

"B-but Sir Lorence, we're only taking this long route because of this.. sir," his aide explained as he pointed to a particular point in the map. The point was marked with an 'x' in red ink, making it stand out from the rest of the content. These type of markings usually indicate dangerous locations for travellers, especially for a caravan that is meant for trade and not battle.

"Evening Forest huh.." he said while deep in thought. He suddenly let out a grin and laughed softly. This was an opportunity! A chance for adventure that he won't pass up. Although Evening Forest was marked as a danger zone, it was also filled with all kinds iof precious materials that are rarely harvested. He can possibly double the profits of this trip while having his fair share of action! Two birds with one stone.

"Send word to the caravan! The rest is to continue moving towards Cotton Meadow town and go back home, while I'll be taking with me fifty soldiers of the retinue and twenty able-bodied slaves. Remember to take only strong-looking slaves! I don't want weaklings on my troops." Lorence said to his aide while still grinning brightly. If he let this chance pass, then he'll let himself be labelled a fucking idiot.

At the back of the caravan, a long line consisting of seventy slaves were walking along barefooted. Their clothes were shabby and messy; stained with dry mud, sweat, and dirt that was probably a result of sleeping on the ground without tents over their heads and no matting on their backs. Chains connected their arms and legs, forcing them to move at the same pace. A lot of the weaker slaves suffered keeping up with the strong ones, adding another layer to their misery. The only thing that they were thankful of was that it was Spring and the weather was cool and forgiving. Had it been summer or winter, a lot of them would've probably died out and tossed at the side of the road.

In this miserable parade, a young man can be seen. He looked to be 15-16 years of age, a bit taller than the average height of his peers, making him look older than he really was. Bruises can be spotted around his arms, and another one close to his left eye. It was a bit swollen and purple, making him look rather pitiful. Coupled with his long unkept hair and a slight stubble on his face, he looked like your standard everyday slave you can see on sale on the market.

But beneath this pitiful appearance, you can see that with a few fixes here and there that he was rather attractive, giving him the look of a noble rather than a commoner. He was also quite well-built. Strong yet not burly, and graceful yet not feminine. He looked out of place. What kind of circumstance led to him being a slave, only he could know.

"Beat up again huh?" a voice of a young man rang behind him, urging him to look behind.

"You guessed it." the noble-like slave answered.

"Seriously, they've been beating you up quite a lot these days, they're all assholes too. I just can't wait to change masters already." the young man replied, spoken like a true slave.

"Lower your voice Goose, they might hear you and I won't be the one getting beaten tonight." he said playfully with a low chuckle of defeat, as if to mock himself at the same time.

The young man almost jumped. The thought of getting beaten by wooden sticks while having to walk non-stop the next day gave him chills. It wasn't exactly a good scenario.

"Oh shut up, Artie. You can have the beating all to yourself." Goose replied while glaring at Arterion.

"It's Arterion. Not Artie, not Art-art, or not anything else." Arterion said back, while turning his head back to look ahead.

"Ah, whatever. I'm ne'er really good at namin' names." Goose said as he jingled the chains connecting him and Arterion.

For two years they have always been together with the same master. They were sold in bulk with ten other slaves for a fair price. For that reason, in the entirety of Arterion being a slave, he was together with Goose. Also because they were always chained alongside each other that they developed quite a friendship and would talk to each other during their rest time. They also joined each other in doing chores and other commands from their owners.

Whether it was because they were forced to friendship by the chains connecting them or they really have had developed a genuine friendship, they both didn't mind. They seemed to enjoy each other's company. At the very least they weren't beating each other up until one them dies, of which they have witnessed a couple of times. That was already good enough.

A gallop of a horse was heard heading towards their direction from the front of the caravan. It was quite rare for soldiers to ever visit the slave line. They considered them filthy and treated them liked dirt, so a horse rider coming to their place in the caravan was quite an event.

The soldier riding the horse went around their line a couple of times, gazing at all the slaves. The slaves were quite puzzled as to what was going on. They really didn't have anything to do until they reached the place where they would camp. Unless they had to clear an obstruction on the road, or have to run an errand because of a command, they usually just walk a lot.

"You, you, you, you.... and you. Come out of the line and follow me. Now!." the soldier shouted in a commanding voice while pointing at about twenty different slaves. Coincedentally, he also pointed at Arterion, which gave him quite a bit of surprise as he started to think what this was all about. He looked around at all the slaves and noticed one particular pattern. He was smart and quite perceptive, noticing that all the slaves that were picked were the strongest of the bunch.

The slave masters then unlocked their chains and made them line up in a single file. Prompting them to move forward and follow the horse rider.

"I'll see ya later, Artemon." Goose said while waving a goodbye.

Arterion sighed in defeat as he heard another terrible enunciation of his name. He replied, "Yeah, later." then proceeded to walk forwards with the group.