I saw my first demon my second day there. It was from a distance and peppered with arrows. Those guys in the watchtowers had really good aim. It would not be a good idea to try an escape near the Hellmouths.

The thing might have once been a horse. Now it looked like the sort of mutated, multilegged, carapaced thing that belonged in a bad horror film. It still only had hooves and weight as weapons, but if that thing had charged me I’d be dead. The arrows stuck in it now were huge heavy broadheads and looked more like spears than proper arrows, but even so, most of them had snapped or glanced off.

It had been driven to a mad rage. It was the fault of the corrupted mana, apparently. And I’d been told humans had it far, far worse. That corrupted mana could even be used as an effective tool of torture. I’d sort of been considering it, but using any of it was now definitely not an option.

Soon enough I joined a bunk. We made the ugly thing ourselves out of wood from the forest and some sort of wax we’d bought from the store. At first I’d thought it an expensive indulgence, but after another oil rain I was glad Lios had talked me into it.

Then my bunkmates and I joined a group. It was an organization of a bunch of us with a structure and a task for everyone. It maximized the amount of tenebrium hauled in each day and split the proceeds between everyone according to their job. I was kind of surprised a bunch of convicts could pull something like that together since the whole thing operated mostly on trust. Then I saw what our leader did with a hauler who tried to stuff his pockets with some extra tenebrium. The guy would live, but he couldn’t join another group and pretty much everyone hated him. Now that I looked, there were a few more people like that, though not too many. Those guys died a lot more often than those in the groups.

Speaking of our leader, he was kind of creepy. He had hard eyes and barely spoke. When he did it was mostly bitter tirades about the state of things, and how no matter how some people might tell you things could improve, it was a lie and they’d always end up dead. His name was Chennai, and he’d been here the longest out of anyone. I could see how that would lead to such a dark outlook, and resolved not to follow his example. I was going to learn magic, damnit, not die in some random work camp.

I learned more about the roles in the group. It turned out that hunting and gathering was the most desired position, decided by random chance. You had to go into the Nightetch Woods and fight half-demonic monstrosities that were close enough to the Hellmouth to get twisted mutations, but not enough to start killing everything in sight. But at least you wouldn’t die if you made a wrong step and then took a single breath. I was given the job for the first month.

I thrust my glowing spear into the giant rabbit. It had wicked claws and sharp teeth. The ears caught me by surprise. They walloped me in the sides. I hissed in pain and finished shoving the razor edge through the animal before jumping away. Those ears packed bruising force, but they hadn’t broken my ribs.

The rabbit writhed on the ground as I backed away. Its vivid life pumping out and coating the forest floor. The green glow on my speartip slowly faded away until it was barely visible, sensing the closest animal life. I stuffed the corpse into my pack.

It had put me in debt for pretty much forever, but enchantments could be bought. And this one put me solidly on hunting duty. I ripped up the meat and had no idea how to clean and skin what I hunted, but the spear warned me of anything that would be too big for me to kill and guided me straight to prey. The sheer amount of prey I brought back meant I often had excess that I could sell to the store.

A bunch of people seemed to think I was hoping that would make up for the cost of the spear, and pitied me. I wasn’t that naive, though. The disparity between purchase and selling prices made the intent of our captors quite clear. I could never make up for the cost of even recharging it with mana. We weren’t supposed to earn our way out. Still, the small stream of credit flowing into my account made it seem like I was merely gullible, and not planning.

No one had any idea of how much I could bring back if I really tried. Aelon were just so useful if they could do this whenever they wanted. It made me wonder why guns didn’t exist yet when a full-blown industrial revolution would be so easy to kickstart.

I wandered around for a while, just aware enough to be aware of the pulsing glow of my spear and avoid the slow-moving roots and branches of the animated trees. Getting caught in one of those was unlikely, but it would mean a very slow, very painful death.

I wanted magic. I had magic, but it wasn’t mine. It was leashed to the hated Aelon who’d zapped me just to make an example. He’d probably made it, and he was definitely the one who recharged it. I hadn’t given up trying to activate some sort of innate magic skill, but muttering nonsense in the woods and flexing my fingers in odd ways didn’t do anything. Neither did meditating, though I had to be careful when I did that. There were a few clearings where I could sit still for half an hour before something nasty came along to eat the motionless prey.

No results in that direction though. I wanted to strangle the dragon who’d sent me here, but first I had to get powerful enough to find him. Like that would happen any time soon. Magic needed mana, and I only had a tiny chip in my spear. Trying to use the mana inside would shatter the chip. Without practice, humans had a very rough grasp on manipulating mana. Bigger mana crystals were better for use at practicing magic. This was all common knowledge, so it had taken me several weeks and many bribes to find out.

My escape would be easier if I roped some other people into it, but there were no doubt plants among the prisoners, and I wasn’t good enough at socializing to find out who those were. And even normal convicts would probably give me up for a bit of extra money. So many held out hope that they could buy their way out, but out of all of them I’d probably get out first. Those who brought in tenebrium got more money, yeah, but my group made sure I had a portion of that and the death rate near the Hellmouth was way too high for anyone to survive long enough to buy their way out.

Besides, one person sneaking out would be harder to catch than a dozen.

I leaned against the mouth of a cave, careful to keep away from any potentially poisonous plant growths. I’d better start heading back soon. The rabbit filled up my entire pack, and I still needed a few more kills before the day was over.

I moved past the cave, but something about it caught my eye. I bent down and frowned at the smooth wall just inside. It was made out of the same boring gray stone as the surrounding area, but that was not natural. I crept inside and found myself inside a tunnel perpendicular to the entrance. It soon led me to the real entrance. I stopped and choked on the thick mess of power I felt now clinging to me. I pushed through it, but it was like pushing through soup. I struggled to breathe, but I cheered inside. This was what a magical place should feel like. This was where I’d learn how to change worlds with will alone. I slowly focused inside the chamber, adjusting to the thick cloud of power, and stared.

A giant yellow crystal sat glowing in the middle of a circular chamber. Giant ants marched around it like they were performing a ritual. They were as big as dogs and their shells were thick. I could maybe take one or two, but not dozens.

“Hello?”

They moved out of their circle and skittered toward me. I backed away only to find solid stone at my back.

I turned around and scrabbled at the smooth rock. The section I’d come from was identical to every other part of the room. I wouldn’t be getting through any time soon. I let out a sigh that turned into a cough and slowly turned to face the ants.

They had moved to surround me, no longer doing their strange dance around the … glowing … stone.

“Is this a Domain?” I said.

And then, quickly, “I won’t tell anyone you’re here. Just let me learn magic, I’ll do anything you want.”