"AHHH! Aughhhh!"
Marcus hears a woman's painful screams, waking him up from his slumber.
Waking up, what greeted Marcus then, is a concrete ceiling on his eyes, the cold floor on the skin of his back, and the smell of shit which made him snort some air out of his nose.
'Again, another strange place after waking up, and where is this now?'
Marcus raised his upper body up to take a look around and felt that his right hand was heavy. Inspecting it, he saw some kind of metal attached to it like some kind of thick bracelet.
'What is this?' He tried to take it off but found out that it wouldn't.
Thinking that it was probably some kind of bugged device or a bomb, he put his mind out of it to examine his surroundings.
He is currently sitting on a floor made out of concrete, concrete walls on the side and the back, and metal bars in front where he could see another similar room.
Marcus could also see some light that was coming from what would be some sort of lamp outside, probably attached to the walls of the walkway.
He returned his eyes in his own room. Down on the floor just below the metal bars, some kind of ragged clothing could be seen. Then an old bed and a wooden bucket stained with yellow soil on the back.
"Why am I on the floor when there's a bed right there?" Confused, he asked himself as he stood up. He then started stretching his sore body.
"Hey! Brother, it seems that you're awake" Suddenly, Marcus heard someone calling in a surprised tone, making his eyes moved unto the voice's direction.
Moving his eyes to the opposite room, he saw a man with medium-length brown hair who looks like someone in his 40s wearing rag-like gray clothing, attached to his right hand was also a similar-looking metal bracelet. He had well-defined muscles with scars in some parts, and there's an eye-catching long vertical scar on his right eye which is probably the result of a wound from a sharp weapon. Together with his confident bearing, his over-all look made him appear to be some kind of veteran.
The man was currently looking at Marcus, inspecting his naked body.
Seeing a human for the first time since ever, light shone on Marcus' eyes as he stood up and came near the metal bars in order to have a better conversation. Right now, where he doesn't know many things, a local's guide would be a really big help. As he was coming closer, he heard the man speak again in curiosity.
"It's rare to see a young man like you here, and it's even the first time I see someone with black hair like yours, what's your story, brother?"
Hearing the words 'Young man' Marcus frowned and said "What young man? I'm probably as old as you" Thinking about his own age, he should already be about 37 years old, being called a young man might be a compliment for others, but sometimes because of the hidden undertone within the word, it sometimes made him uncomfortable, especially since the old dudes back then always made sure to keep reminding him of the importance of seniority.
The man, hearing Marcus' words looked shocked and then replied "Really, no matter how I looked at you, you looked just like someone who's currently on his 20s", as he was saying this words, he appeared to be on guard for a second for some reason before returning to his previous state.
Hearing his words, Marcus then suddenly got a look of epiphany as he started checking his body and found out that his body did appear to be in fact a little bit younger than he used to be from what he remembers.
Thinking about how strange how much strength and stamina he had before in the forest, it's starting to make sense.
Wanting to check his face, he ran on the bucket on the back, to find out if there was some water to check his face on the reflection.
'Did I really become younger?'
Kneeling on the floor, he put his two hands on the bucket aggressively and moved it close to his face in excitement.
'Let me take a look If I really did'
But unfortunately, there was no water, there was only a mixture of shit as he moved his face away after inhaling a good amount of fragrant shit gas.
"Bwugh!" "Goddamit!" 'Nevermind'
Fighting his urge to throw the bucket away while making a disgusted face, he put it back gently on the floor and then returned near the metal bars like nothing was wrong and then asked the man "Where were we?"
"You...", The man had the look of schadenfreude for a moment as he was looking at Marcus, he then shook his head then said "No... we were talking about your story, brother"
"I don't really remember much, I only remember killing a bipedal pig with a bow on the forest and then suddenly started getting sleepy for some reason, when I woke up I am suddenly here as you see..." Marcus replied as he was rubbing his hands on the concrete on the side.
Thinking that he doesn't know many things, and don't know where to start, he thought it would be best to let the man lead the conversation.
"I see. Brother, that pig must be one of pig demon's minions, and the most likely reason why you were asleep was probably because of the demonized mage, I heard that the mage got a ton of demonic magic on its arsenal, making someone who is capable of killing a demonic beast asleep with one of her spells probably isn't much for that mage" After gathering his thought for a while, the man then said seriously, "I just saw you earlier being carried by a demonic beast together with that female mage. Based on their conversation you were not alone, they also captured someone, I heard that they were trying to capture him and you just happened to be right there at the time."
'Demonic mage, minions, pig demon?' Hearing these new terms, Marcus tried to assume that such things really did exist and the man was not bullshitting him. Because he already met a bipedal pig and a ghost, it was already much easier to assume magic and demons' existence.
"Pig demon? What is that? sorry brother, I don't really remember many things. Could you give me a rundown about everything?"
"Sorry brother, I also don't know much about things, but I do know that the Pig Demon is an immortal Demon which is one of the current Rulers of this land. Under the Pig Demon's rule, there are the Demonic pigs, they are demonic beasts which was said to be his brethren that he had summoned from the gates of hell long ago, under their power they managed to establish their own kingdom of pigmen.
"The demonized female mage should be a human who sold her soul to the Pig Demon to accept a contract, thereby gaining access to demonic magic. Time after time, some gifted humans like her would sell their souls to the demons in exchange for power, it has already been a common happening.
"And right now, we are in one of the cities under this Pig Demon's Rule, Mahtoh City, with a strong demon acting as in charge and a demonized mage as an assistant. This is a City specialized in slave trading" Nodding his head, the man told everything without as much of a frown as if it were nothing to him.
"I see. Brother, by the way, how much stronger are they compared to the pig I fought? The pig I fought was about two meters tall, it was skilled with a bow, and it also looks like he can do magic with it too" Thinking about the areal danger he felt when he fought the pig as if it was gathering magic, Marcus connected the two. Gaining a rough understanding, now Marcus wants to gain a grasp about their strength.
"The one you fought? I don't really know, we have what you call tiers, but it doesn't really explain specifically how much stronger a person is compared to someone, it only comes off as some sort of a standard guideline. Demonic beasts and those people contracted to Demons have those tiers. From Tier 0 - Tier 5, Tier 0 is Common, Tier 1 is Soldier, Tier 2 is Elite, Tier 3 is Captain, Tier 4 is Commander, and Tier 5 is a General." He then asked, "What was the pig wearing when you fought it?"
Thinking about the pig earlier, Marcus remembered what it was wearing and said, "It was wearing a thong, and besides its weapon, there was nothing else"
"Then it was probably a Tier 0 - Common demonic beast, from what I remember, the Tier 1 - soldiers are equipped with armors" Seeing Marcus' clear disappointment on his eyes, he continued with a chuckle, "Yo, brother, don't get that much disappointed! from what I know, an average person wouldn't survive a Tier 0 even more so killing one, and that's probably the reason you're with us, these are a special cell for special prisoners!
"Tier 0 doesn't have the constitution and demonic abilities of that of a Tier 1, but they can hone their individual skills, an excellent archer or warrior would sometimes appear here and there which could even kill a tier 1 within some circumstances from time to time within their ranks.
"We, humans have power tiers too, matching them, long ago, some say that we could cultivate on the lands blessed by the Goddess, using God's blessings, we were gifted with magic and achieved greater heights. But I don't know what happened long ago, but they said that the Goddess abandoned us, and it got harder for us to become stronger.
"Right now, us humans, could only hide like rats in underground cities, caves, and etc. Earlier, you said that you were fighting a tier 0, but get this brother, right now, the highest the human can achieve is only the 3rd Tier!
"And the demonic beast in charge of this city is a Tier 5, and it is only one of the cities under the Pig demon, damn no one even know what tier that Pig Demon is, and it's only one of the Demons ruling here, what we only know is that all the Demonic beast Generals listen to him and wouldn't even dare let out a fart in front of him!
"By the way, brother, that traitor, the demonized mage is a Tier 4 and acting as the second-in-command of the City Lord, she used to be a hero to us humans before succumbing to the demon's power when she was stuck at the 3rd tier for a long time." This time, Marcus could somewhat sense hate on the man's tone.
Marcus' thought suddenly came back from what the man said earlier and asked, "What do you mean by a special cell for special prisoners you said earlier."
"Oh that, it means that us here have some kind of special talents or abilities, and we're in for some 'Special' treatment. Just wait... Brother, they will take you somewhere later" Inspecting the question, the man answered with a grin, he then continued, "You'll just have to survive and you'll be in for something good. By the way, the owner of those golden soup in the bucket sadly never came back yesterday, but you would probably will, I just know"
"I'm now tired of all the talking. Brother, let's continue our conversation tomorrow." Turning around smugly, the man slowly walked away.
"Ahhhh!" "Aughh!"
Just as Marcus was absorbing all the information he suddenly received, he heard the previous painful screams of a woman that he heard when he woke up. Wondering what it was, Marcus then heard the Man opposite to him say "Damn man, that guy is at it again!" He then said nothing, obviously not wanting to explain any further.
Noticing this, Marcus frowned, took the rag-like clothe below, wore it, and lied on the bed. Too much stuff for today, he wants to take a rest. As he did so… The screams of the woman continued to echo in the prison. Hearing the woman's screams, the last thought on his mind was what will he do about food.