Alex held the newly awoken Kim as she tried to sit up on her own completely confused by what was going on. They both looked in the direction of the people yelling. There were about twenty people who survived the miraculous fall from their plane. They all were scared and very confused. Not only did they suddenly find themselves in a strange new world, but before they could even get a chance to begin finding any information about where they found themselves, they were now surrounded by violent seeming people waving weapons at them.
One of the people holding a sword walked up to the guy closest to him. He was shouting at the guy and shoving him trying to get him to do something but he couldn't understand him. The more the guy with the sword was shouting there angrier he got. Finally assuming the guy was being defiant and refusing to listen to him, the man with the sword swung his arm in frustration and beheaded the confused man standing in front of him.
A long silence that seemed to stretch on forever followed. Finally a woman started screaming hysterically. The leader of men with swords walked up to the man that just killed someone and proceeded to beat him to the ground. While this was going on one of the survivors, a man, tried to swim away as a form of escape. In his frantic rush he ended up swallowing several large mouthfuls of water. Since it was just water he paid it no mind. He had got about twenty yards away from shore when he felt a burning sensation in his whole body. The survivors and the men with weapons who were about to follow him stopped when they heard him scream out in pain. He began to frantically flail about in the water. For those who were close enough to see him could tell his skin was turning bright red. Everytime his head would go under water here would swallow a little more water. Eventually his body began to swell and he floated on top of the water like a human balloon. His screams of agony frightened the survivors who were standing in the water to quickly head back to dry land. While everyone watched his screams came to an end when his body finally reached its limit and exploded.
Alex and Kim stared into each other's eyes and could see the horror contained within. This world showed just how dangerous it was and also how merciless it was. The survivors were now obediently cowed and herded by the weapon wielding men into several large carriages, where they were chained together inside. Alex did his best to shelter Kim from the men who were looking at her with hungry eyes. He was in the middle getting a beating when the leader of the men intervened. Alex and the rest of the survivors began to look favorable upon him thinking him to be kind towards them. They soon realized how wrong they were when they finally came to their first stop. The people in the last carriage in their caravan was unloaded in what looked to Alex like a market. The survivors were placed on a small raised stage and chained to post. Being African-American Alex recognized what was happening from the many pictures and movies he saw growing up of scenes of this in his past. This was a slave market. The Leader of the men with weapons wasn't stopping the beating because he was kind, no, he just didn't want his men damaging his precious merchandise. The thought of this made Alex sick to his stomach and powerless at the same time.
The survivors numbers slowly dwindled down with each stop they made. They began to notice strange things about this world, like how they would feel full and completely energized off of one ladle of water everyday. Some of then realized that not only were they beginning to feel stronger, but many of their old injuries no longer bothered them.
Alex had been suffering from common aches and pains in his back and knees. He didn't like doctors or taking a lot of medicines that had side effects worse then what he was taking the medicine for, so he sought out holistic ways to deal with his pain. While researching online one day he stumbled across a very basic meditation and cultivation technique. He would practice it sporadically whenever he remembered. Sometimes he would swear he felt something but other time he was wondering if her wanted to feel something so badly that he was maybe fooling himself. One day he decided that what the hell it couldn't make his situation any worse if he tried, so he sat in the lotus position and gave it a try. He immediately felt a warm flow enter thru the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. He stopped because he was shocked he felt something so quickly and so pronounced. Usually if he felt anything at all it would take hours and hours of him trying, and even then he wasn't even one hundred percent sure it worked. But now he barely did anything and he already felt results. This was amazing. Kim noticing his sudden look of amazement asked Alex what happened. Alex didn't want to explain at first because he didn't want to sound like an idiot in front of her, plus he wasn't sure how to explain it anyway. When he told her what he did, Kim decided to try for herself. Anything to take her mind off of the anxiety she felt.
When they both felt results they became overjoyed. They didn't know what this feeling was but they hoped it would maybe someday allow them to escape the situation they found themselves in. They practiced everyday feeling a little stronger with each passing day. It was finally Alex and Kim's turn. When they exited the carriage they saw a very beautiful building. It's design was like nothing they had ever seen before. While they were waiting the could hear a voice constant repeating things. Kim recognized the sound as something an auctioneer would make. When they were brought out on stage the lights in their face was so bright they couldn't even see the audience. It didn't take long before they were bought. In next to no time they found themselves loaded into a new carriage. They once again began to practice as they traveled.
They didn't travel for long before they stopped. They didn't pay too much attention to this before they heard the sounds of battle. They could hear the sounds of weapons colliding and the cries of people getting hurt or dying. Alex looked thru the bars of the carriage only to have blood splash over his face as someone slammed into the side of the carriage. After a while the screams finally died down as a wet meaty sound could be heard continuously for a while. When Alex looked thru the bars to try to see what was going on he saw people standing frozen in complete horror. Someone shouted at them and with shaking legs they made their way over and unlocked the carriage and released them from their chains.
Alex slowly stepped off the back of the carriage trying to make sure it was safe. As he looked around what caught his attention was a human sized lump of ground up meat. Then he heard a sound that was music to his ears, someone speaking English. But his joy was quickly extinguished when he saw the person that voice came from. He was almost seven feet tall and covered in a blood red armor, that under closer inspection had blood and chunks of flesh splattered all over it. He was about to refuse before he saw at the imploring look in his eyes. Looking at his surrounding again here realized that this guy did this solely to rescue them. That realization plus the fact that he spoke English made Alex believe he was the lesser of the two evils. Alex yelled back into the carriage that it was safe and they all escaped from their in a hurry. As Alex was lost in thought reminiscing about how he arrived in this world a knock came to his door.