How can someone so perfect come from someone so flawed? I think as I watch my little girl sleeping in her crib. Sure, she drives me crazy when she doesn’t want to sleep, but then cries because she’s tired. Then she looks at me and smiles, and I melt. She somehow even turned the familial machine gun laugh into something cute. It has to be the hehehe instead of a huhhuhhuh. Content that she is down for the night, I turn to head out to the living room when a semitransparent blue screen pops up in front of me.

Congratulations Hero!

You have been chosen by Ariana as her champion! You will be transported shortly, but fear not for your family. A soul clone has been generated that will occupy your body. They will not know the difference, we’re sure. Transporting in 3

2

1

As everything finally sinks in, I turn to go back and see my daughter one last time. Before I can take a step, I am hovering above my body and being pulled upward. I fight. For all I’m worth, I fight. To no avail. I move through the ceiling, still reaching back towards my girls. I’m above the apartments, flying higher. Through the clouds, just missing a plane. I start moving faster and faster. Soon the Earth is just a blue marble. Now a faint dot. Just as I pass Saturn, everything is black. I frantically look around, left, right, up. All is black.

Just as I start to panic, I come to the realization that I must have moved past light speed. If I’m moving faster than light, nothing can catch up to me and I won’t see it. I turn to the front and am greeted by a blue tinged universe that is rapidly passing me by. I try to follow the stars, but they disappear as I look to the side. There was some blue box about generating a body, but I ignore it.

“Well Sean, we’re fucked.” At least I can hear myself, and still breathe. I can’t even time how long I’m moving. My heartrate is erratic. There are no recognizable marks, I’m going far too fast to notice a constellation. It could be five minutes, it could be fifty. All I know is that it was far to short to let the situation properly set in. Suddenly the smooth ride gets bumpy. I somehow feel that things are shifting, and then struggling to correct. Now panic sets in. Depending on how far I have to travel, even a half a degree change in course can have drastic consequences.

Blessing given!

You have been blessed by Lokir, the trickster.

Blessing:

Be interesting!

“Oh god.” I groan. A vague blessing by a trickster god? I shake my head at my rotten luck. As I look up to curse the heavens, I see a planet approaching. Luckily I seem to be slowing down, or that planet would be in trouble. I see a massive continent, but that’s about it. Some mountains somewhere, and I seem to be heading toward a gigantic forest.

“Slow it down. Any time now. NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR BRAKES!” I scream as I come streaking through the atmosphere. I smash into the ground, having curled into a ball. Uncurling, I find myself mostly unharmed, though I am in a slight depression.

“I, have a body?” I say, patting the ground. I can move some leaves. “I have a body!” I exclaim again, happy. I’m not in my normal clothes, more a rough spun pair of pants and a shirt, but I’m alive and in a body! I spin on my heels to watch a pair of people come through the bushes behind me. One is obviously human, dressed similar to how a Native American would be. Shirt and pants made out of some animal skin, likely a deer by the brown of it.

His friend, is green. Built like a bodybuilder, he has no shirt, simply a set of leather bands across his chest with a metal ring in the center. Black pants with an obvious sword, he chuckles as he sees me. “NuqDaq DaDab?” He asks in a gravelly voice.

“Huh? I have no idea what you just said.” I reply.

“Vo’ Hop peghoS?” He smiles as he speaks, walking toward me. “Pup.” The next thing I know, there’s a massive green fist rapidly approaching my head, then darkness.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I wake up an unknown time later, and the first thing that I notice is the stench assaulting my nostrils. I groan as I sit up, noticing that I have shackles on my wrists and ankles, and I am in the back of a wagon of some sort. A caged in wagon. I’m alone, and can’t do anything. Exploring yields nothing but used straw. Sitting back down, I try to get comfortable. It’s a long, boring ride, but I can’t get comfortable enough to fall asleep.

Nearly four hours later, we stop. I’m parched, not having been offered any water. I sit still, waiting for something to happen. My neck itches from the collar that is placed there. It’s a leather strip, with a small padlock on it. No matter how I twisted it, the padlock would annoy me with every jostle of the wagon. Soon enough, the green one from earlier is at the back of the wagon, opening the cage door.

“Haw’.” He growls, motioning me to get out. I comply, not wanting to get knocked out again. I guess I’m a bit slow, as he throws me to the ground just as I’m at the door. Laughing, he kicks me once as I try to get up, only to stop once there’s a shouted reprimand from across the way. Once I manage to get to my feet, he starts leading me through a camp. There are several guards, all in varying amounts of armor. We are headed toward a rather ornate tent, and I’m shoved inside.

Behind a small desk is a man with much finer clothes. He’s muscled, but not nearly as much as the green bastard. His black hair is slicked back and pulled into a ponytail. A used car salesman if I ever saw one.

“nuq ‘oH pongIlj’e’?”

“I have no idea what you are speaking.” He turns to a man in a purple robe, who shakes his head. The muscular one nods at me, and the robed one sighs as he puts a hand on my forehead. I’m confused, until I start to feel a pain right between my eyes.

“AAAAAh!” I cry and stumble back as the pain spikes.

Skill transferred:

Common tongue, level 3 of 10

“Do you understand us now?”

“Yeah.” I answer, while rubbing my head. “That hurt like heck.”

“You will address me as ‘master.’ Three seconds of pain as punishment.” Before I can comprehend his words, it feels like every muscle in my body has just been Charlie horsed at the same time. I arch my back in pain, falling to the ground at the sudden release three seconds later. While I writhe around, the robed one leaves.

I struggle to stand. “What the hell was that?” I growl out.

“Five seconds of pain.” Again my muscles are assaulted, though it feels worse this time. Again I fall to the ground. Struggling to my feet, this time keeping silent as I breathe heavily through my nose.

“Better. Do you understand us now?”

“Yes. Master.” I add, venom in my voice.

“Good. It’s much more fun breaking the defiant ones. Keep that spark. Now, what is your name?”

“Sean.”

“And your classes?”

“I have no idea what you mean.” For some reason he smiles at this.

“Hold out your hand.” When I do, he pierces my finger with a needle, dripping a bit of blood on a card. “Interesting. Level zero? Oh, you are a rare find indeed. Here are your orders, slave. You will keep yourself in as prime of condition as you can. You are not to leave your cage without permission, and you are not to fight with anyone. Obey my orders above all, then follow the directives of the guards. Do you understand these orders?”

“Yes, master.”

“Excellent.” Pulling out a medallion from his pocket, he speaks into it as it glows blue. “Ricker, send in Elendria.” I stand in silence, mentally plotting all the ways I want to kill this slime ball in front of me, when someone else walks in.

“You called for me, master?” I turn at the soft tones of the voice, beholding a dirt encrusted woman that still manages to show a hidden beauty. Where showing, her pale skin has the slightest hints of blue. Her skirt is made of the same material as my shirt, and barely long enough to cover anything. She wasn’t allowed a shirt, though skillful use of her platinum hair hides her nipples. Around her neck is an ornate golden collar, no seam nor lock in sight. Catching me looking at her, she leans slightly away, fear written in her piercing blue eyes.

“Elendria, such a wonderful sight as always.” She shudders at the tones in car salesman’s voice, and I add another reason to end the filth. “My dear, I have a wonderful opportunity for you. Would you like to hear it?”

“Are you giving me a choice, master?” She asks, and I inwardly cringe at the hope in her voice. Bastards like him know of only one thing to do with hope like that.

“Of course my dear, of course. You always have a choice, remember?” As he smiles, she can’t suppress the wine escaping from her throat, or how her shoulders hunch forward as she tries to make herself smaller. “Sean here is our newest acquisition. You and him will be sharing a private cage for the next few months, and you will be teaching him of our world. Skills, leveling, geography, everything. Understand?”

“Yes master.” She speaks to the ground, voice quailing. “Will master enlighten this one as to Sean’s knowledge so far?”

“He knows nothing, though he should be smart enough to learn some things. You are not to teach him spells under any circumstances. Report anything untoward you see to a guard, do you understand your orders?”

“Yes master.”

“Excellent. And here comes the part where you get your choice my dear. I know how you slaves enjoy dragging out my orders, hindering me when you can. If you give this task your best effort, I’ll make sure you stay in the private carriage instead of with the others. I’ll even make it so that Sean doesn’t get to have sex with you unless you want it. Sean.” He turned to me after making his offer to Elendria. “Welcome to the world of slavery. Step outside and tell the guard to return you to your cage. Elendria is going to be keeping me company for a while.”

“Understood, master.” I kept the snarl in, biding my time.

Stepping outside, I informed the human guard of the master’s orders. I trudge back across camp, heading toward the wagon I was in earlier. There are several others, but I don’t count them. Things are starting to become clearer. Once in my cage, I get comfortable and think Status. To my surprise, it works.

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Slave

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6

AGI – 5

DEX – 7

INT – 11

WIS – 12

CON – 6

END – 10

Health: 76/80

Mana: 105/105

Health regen: 0.057/min

Mana regen: 1.16/min

Class: none

Available classes: slave

Secondary class: none

Profession: none

Available professions: none

Secondary profession: none

Level: 0/25

Exp to next level: 0%

Definitions:

STR – how physically strong you are. Increases damage done by physical melee attacks. Reduces chance of block breakage.

AGI – Agility. Your ability to coordinate large muscle groups and impacts flexibility. Increases dodge.

DEX – Dexterity. Your hand eye coordination. Useful for tasks requiring fine motor control.

INT – Intelligence. Increasing intelligence boosts magic damage, and increases mana by 5 per point.

WIS – Wisdom. Increasing wisdom boosts magical critical chance, and increases mana regen by 0.08 per minute per point

CON – Constitution. Your ability to bounce back and resist diseases. Increasing constitution increases hp by 5 per point

END – Endurance. How long can you go? Increasing endurance increases health regen by 0.004 per minute per point

New Class Available: Slave

Slaves are the lowest form of any civilization. Having zero rights, they must obey their masters. Each level, slaves gain one point to constitution.

Set Slave as your primary class? Y/N

No, I don’t want to be a professional slave. Well, at least I had some explanations. Looking down at my body, I was rather shocked at what I saw. I had the body of my late teens, having lost the extra belly fat I had gained after college. I just wondered what the average number would be. If everything was 5, then I was in great shape. If it was 10, well I was hurting. While there was still light, I took in my surroundings. Near the fire was the master’s tent, an opulent green and gold thing. Several guards were milling about, relaxing, though others were on guard around a perimeter. Roughly half the guards were humans, while the other half were the green race that had knocked me out earlier. I’m calling them orcs until I hear a better name.

Outside the relaxing guards are a string of wagons pulled into a semicircle, of which mine is at the end. Each one has several people in it, and they look just as rough as Elendria did. One set of guards is making rounds with a pot of something, sliding bowls of it into the cages. Oddly there is no fighting, but then again the guards are all right there and the slaves probably have orders to behave. Nearby is a much more boisterous camp, filled with several wagons that probably contain goods as they all have solid sides. A herd of ox like creatures are between the camps, with guards from both sides. The other camps guards seem to be professionals, as they all have a uniform set of armor and weapons.

“Food slave. Eat quickly and leave the bowl by the door.” A guard orders as a slot in the bottom of the door is opened. The meal looks like a pathetic rice porridge, but I’m hungry and thirsty enough that I don’t care how bland it is. Every three bites get a swallow of water, any bigger of a gap and I fear not being able to finish eating. Once that is done, I leave the bowl where ordered and move into the cage to try and get some sleep. At least I have a small blanket to pull over myself. Tears come through the night as I dream of my wife and daughter, but I lie to myself and say the lack of sleep is because of the splintery wood and itchy straw at the bottom of my cage.