The rusty hinge squeaked loudly as it swung open. Half of the guards in the carriages heard the squeak, the other half were asleep. I quickly sat down and closed the handcuffs, if I hadn't gone through training then I would have flinched and been too late to close the cuffs.
'Stupid idiot title' I said in my mind, I still hadn't gained another title to replace it so I had made my fair share of terrible decisions.
I carefully hid the lock pick and played dead, hopefully the guards wouldn't suspect me, after all, I'm just a kid.
"It came from this carriage, someone must has escaped" the guards said as he checked out each of the locks. I kept my heart rate down and acted as if I was asleep, hopefully I wouldn't be found out.
One man came right up to my lock and checked to see if it was open, thankfully I had locked it so there should be no evidence. His breath smelled fishy as he tried to find if I had broken the lock.
[three new skills gained, act-]
'Not now system!' I yelled in my head. The loud notification had caused me to panic and my heart beat quickly. I hadn't moved an inch, but I was too close to jumping from the loud noise.
A small bead of sweat formed on my face, the person checking my lock stopped for a second, before standing up. "Yup, everyone is good, nobody broke out..." everyone left but that guard stayed behind before turning to me. "Nobody, except for you" he sneered, "you think you're so smart, trying to break out don't you!" He yelled as he sent as fist towards my face.
I tilted my head to the side and avoided the punch, his fist hit the wall and splinters shot out as the wall trembled. "Ha, knew it" he said as he took his fist away from the wall.
"You really are stupid, I was going to try that on everyone here until someone revealed themselves, you really have shit luck, facing me as your first obstacle to escape."
"Why did you wait until everyone else left before trying to find the escapee?" I asked. The man laughed, "I did it so I could beat the shit out of them, what other reason would there be!"
I opened my grey eyes and they glowed a slight purple, "why don't we make a deal" I said, trying to secretly take out my lock pick. "You really are a stupid kid, right now you are a slave, you own nothing" the man laughed before his scruffy face hardened and he sent a kick at my face.
I couldn't dodge so I took the kick head on and passed out. "Hmph, don't get too cocky, your just a stupid kid" the man said before turning around to leave.
...
I was floating in a dark space, it felt cold, like space, but there were no stars, it was a void. "Heh, finally" a voice echoed around the space. I tried to see what was there but all I saw was the void.
Six glowing purple eyes appeared in the darkness, then a hooded black cloak, lastly a crescent moon necklace.
A large humanoid creature was floating in front of me, they had to be at least 350 cm tall. It definitely was not human, it had six eyes, but I couldn't see what it looked like because it was hidden under a large black cloak.
The crescent moon that hung around it's neck provided a slight glow to the creature. "Your body is mine" it said as a clawed hand grabbed my face. It's large hand held my whole face as it's fingers scraped inwards, leaving bloody trails on my skin.
I reached up to grab its hand, trying to pull it off of me, but the creature was too strong.
"Who are you?" I grunt and I try to hold back it's hand. "You have already fought one of my failed copies boy, it was a failed attempt to break out of you, it was not something that I could control, neither was it a void wraith like myself."
It's fingers moved in front of eyes and mouth, the other two fingers held my face the the claws pierced through my eyes and mouth.
I tried one last time to resist, but I failed.
The creature slowly gained control of me.
...
Crack!
The snapping of wood could be heard. I opened my eyes and began to rip the wall of the carriage off. 'Did the creature fail?' I thought before realizing I couldn't control my body.
The strong man turned around to look at me before sneering. "So you woke up, it seems you have gained a little strength. Even if you are stronger now, you will never be strong enough to hurt me! I am a god compared to a weak kid like you! If you bow down and call me father, I will make you death quic-"
Keuak!
The man spit out blood and lied on the floor shivering. I had gone up and delivered a brutal blow to his stomach. My hand was shattered, the bone had splintered from the sheer force of that attack. If I had punched him any harder than I could have completely broken the bone in my arm, making it useless.
"You talk too much" I said as I spat on the man before turning to leave.
"The way out should be this way" I said as I headed towards the back of the carriages.
I slowly walked down the long line of closely connected carriages, I was escaping without Feng Long.
'Turn back' I thought, trying to regain control over my body. "Huh? Boy, are you still conscious?" The strange creature said.
I wasn't listening as I exerted all of my will in regaining control. "Boy, answer me" the creature calmly said, as if I had no effect on it.
My body was still casually walking towards freedom. "Boy" the creature said, a hint of anger it's its voice, well, my voice.
The creature had left the void I was currently floating in and was in control of my body, so it could only communicate through speaking with my body.
The creature spoke once more, growling in a deep, venomous voice, "boy, answer, now."
I gave one last push at regaining control before answering, I knew the creature would do something bad if I didn't answer soon.
The void around me pulsed before growing deeper, and darker.
"Wait! Stop" the creature said, it was not talking to me, it was talking to the void. Although the void I was in already felt massive and I could not see anything, it now felt bigger. I could not see how much bigger it had gotten but I could feel the size. If the last void was the size of an ant, this one would be a mountain.
I slowly felt myself regaining control of myself as the void grew colder. "No! Aren't you completely occupied by holding down master!" The creature yelled.
a voice sweep out from the void, I heard no noise but I understood what it was said. "I have a little more energy to hold someone like you down, don't underestimate me."
A great whooshing sound filled my ears as my body grew limp and the creature appeared in the void for a moment before being sucked away.
I could only see the last few glimmers of its crescent moon necklace as it was pulled into the back of the boundless void.
I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling my limbs returning to me. I had regained control over my body.
I contemplated what had happened, organizing my thoughts. 'So, something took over my body when I passed out, the creature from a few years ago was its failed creation. I am not strong enough to regain control over my body once it is taken unless that... thing, helps me. That void felt familiar, no, not the void, something in the void, it was, cold, scary, strong, impossibly, terrifyingly strong.'
I lay on the wooden floor for a few more moments before getting up. Somehow the noise of me falling hadn't woken up a nearby strongman who was asleep.
Most of the strong men were asleep so at least I didn't have to worry about being seen.
I slowly moved towards the front of the wagon carrivan. Feng Long was not in the back of the carriages, so he must be in the front.
I made it back to my original carriage, I could not see into the front because a green cloth covered the entrance to the next carriage. I gently moved it aside as I peeked in.
'Feng Long!' I thought.
He was nearby, only one carriage further forward. The carriages past the green cloth were a lot nicer than the ones I was in, the wood was not full of splinters and the handcuffs weren't as rusty.
The guards were also more alert, all of them were awake and focussed. There was one that was right in front of Feng Long's carriage, luckily he had his back turned.
I had one chance to free Feng Long and escape, or I would be captured again. I had broke an oath I swore hundreds of years ago when I promised to protect my families smiles. I was not going to fail.
'Let's do this' I thought as I silently rushed forward, pulling out my lock pick. My feet lightly slid over the wooden floor, I had not alerted the guard, and I was in Feng Long's carriage.
I knelt down down front of the unconscious Feng Long and quickly picked the lock on the handcuffs.
After easily sliding Feng Long out of the handcuffs, I was about to pick him up and escape with him, but suddenly the earth shook.
The guard fell over, everything was shaking, it was anarchy. After a moment, the shaking stopped.
Everything was still.
Boom!
The carriage in front of me, with the guard in it was knock away with so much force, it completely destroyed the carriage. The guard had instantly died.
Taking the place of the carriages in front of me was something utterly terrifying.
I felt death breathing on my neck as I looked at the creature, I needed to run.
I had to run, or I would die.