Barren Plains, tax-free zone, Crimson Continent.
1:30 am, 450th of voridia, winter the year 1412 of the Nifian calendar.
Under the starry sky on a moonless night, a caravan of cages filled with enslaved beings from various races slowly crossed the barren land of the tax-free zone.
Vicious soldiers clad in red armor with expensive-looking black steel weapons guarded the caravan with a mean look in their eyes. Anyone would think twice before trying to Rob this caravan.
The ride was smooth for the entourage as the leaders and guards seemed in top shape, lacking the usual bloodstains on their weapons and armor. The caravan belonged to the slavers' guild, and this was evident from the emblems of golden shackles worn as a patch in the leading figures' chests.
Suddenly, from afar, a cloud of dust could be seen getting closer by the second. From the look of it, a group of high guards on horseback was heading their way.
Coming closer and closer, the slavers' guild distinctive came into view along with a flag that belonged to the personal guard of the slavers' guild master. The caravan guards, seeing this, were able to relax.
The only people still unsettled were the three leaders of the caravan, who happened to be brothers. They needed but a glance at each other to fully understand each other's thoughts. They did not have telepathy or anything, it was just how close they were.
Immediately, they ordered the guards to bring the prisoners out of the cages with the utmost care, an order that surprised the guards because, throughout the whole journey, they were allowed to treat the slaves as brutally as they wanted.
This order came because something like this had happened to the brothers before, and they had to pay dearly for what happened then.
The guild master coming to them personally only meant that they were transporting something or someone that they should not have. Last time, it was a prince captured by mistake, which almost caused a war that would have ended in the deaths of every guild member
.
Lining up all the slaves facing the incoming guild master, the three brothers started inspecting them in search of clues for the remaining minute, and they found only one who looked out of place. Upon closing in on the hooded slave, who seemed to have a huge head, the brothers realized something was amiss.
Taking off the hood, they uncovered a sight that made two of them confused while the eldest trembled in fear. The creature's appearance did not cause the feeling of despair, but due to the consequences of treating one of these sacred beings as merchandise.
The guild master arrived with one hundred men in escort, this seemed way overboard as a single high guard had the fighting capabilities of up to 10 regular guards. As if this wasn't enough, a mysterious-looking person wearing a purple robe rode beside him, exuding an aura of power.
After getting down from his horse, the guild master ran towards the youngest brother and aggressively grabbed his collar, angrily shouting.
"A Nifian! Did you acquire a Nifian at the port from the stupid pirates!?"
Upon receiving a good shake, the youngest brother asked with a confused face and submissive attitude.
"I do not know what a Nifian is, sir. I am sorry, but perhaps..."
Before anyone could answer, the eldest brother intervened and gently led the unhooded creature toward the guild master, hoping to rid his brother of the guild master's torment.
The moment this Nifian creature came into sight, the mysterious man that accompanied the guild master exuded an unparalleled aura of pure rage. This aura lasted a fraction of a second, but it made everyone in a radius of over two kilometers get goosebumps.
Nobody present could pinpoint the source, but after a couple of seconds of silence, they decided to ignore it.
This Nifian Creature was quite peculiar; she had the body of a young girl in her teens and golden hair, but the most outlandish things were her eyes that seemed composed of smoke and void, a pair of golden crystal horns, and slightly green veins along her skin.
When recognizing Nifian's features on the young girl, the guild master sighed in relief, walked back to his guards, and started to whisper. Meanwhile, the older brother began explaining to dispel his siblings' confusion.
"This creature here is a Nifian, a sacred race with immense magical powers. They are the guardians of the elemental balance of nature, holding a position above all other races in the face of what we revere as gods. Legend says that mistreating one can bring a catastrophe upon one's whole bloodline, wiping it from existence.
Also, had I known that this shipment of slaves held this little girl amongst them, I would have slit the throat of those pirates where they stood."
"We are in deep trouble, aren't we?"
the wavering voice of the younger brothers sounded in unison while wavering, expecting some comforting words from the eldest. Alas, these words they wished for would never come.
The little girl looked terrified as she did not speak the tongue of the humans and only saw more and more scary, selfish humans gathering around her while the three brothers approached her hastily. The scene frightened the poor girl, making her close her eyes and curl up on the floor while covering her horns with her hands.
Unfortunately for the young nifian, amid fright, she tried to escape reality by touching her horns. This action could accelerate her mental process and make her relive her past experiences, making her collapse and enter a state of trance.
The scene horrified the brothers as they thought a deadly curse would afflict them and all their families.
Seeing their terrified faces, the guild master decided to sympathize with the brothers and brought them over. Once behind the High Guards, the guild master explained the situation to the brothers.
"That Nifian you have over there is not of common background; she is a high noble, the most prominent daughter of the Daosh family, which leads the council in Nifia."
Not a sound came from the brother's mouths as they stood there looking at the ground.
"Fortunately for you guys, this matter will never reach the ears of anyone, and there will be no repercussions on you, fine gentlemen, as long as you follow my orders wholeheartedly."
These words brought back a glint of light to the brothers' eyes as they retook their proud posture while placing their fists at their chests, exclaiming.
"Your loyal subordinates obey."
Behind them, the mysterious purple-robed man was steadily smoking his ironwood Pipe while filling the air with its smoke that seemed not to be affected by the wind. This smoke was a combination of magic and stupor leaf, an anesthetic commonly found throughout the continent.
Other than soothing pain, its effects on humans included but were not limited to inhibition of common sense and bravery. The magic pipe served two purposes: first, to ignore the wind, and second, to neutralize its potent smell. Some mages were present, but they could not perceive any magic fluctuations, so they were not on guard.
The magic was a passive ability of the ironwood pipe, and items with such rare abilities were not known to most of the population living on the continent.
Unaware of this smoke, the brothers carefully listened to the guild master.
"A noble from the Nifian lands requested something we cannot refuse. The repercussions if failed would be dire, but upon the success of this mission, the benefits are beyond your imaginations."
Greed filled the younger brothers' eyes while the Eldest asked as suspicion suddenly hit him.
"What mission could be so important for such a figure to request of the guild?"
"A delicate one."
The guild master responded.
Full of secrecy, the Guild master explained.
"The request was to assassinate the little girl and make it look like a raid from pirates, a simple enough task, we thought. We hired some pirates to destroy the ship this girl was traveling aboard, we paid them handsomely, but their greed got the better of them, and they decided to kidnap everyone on board and sell them as slaves."
"I see,"
one of the young brothers exclaimed. Meanwhile, the eldest was inwardly cursing the pirates as he imagined them spending what he had paid them for the slaves while patting themselves on the back for being so clever.
"You are very well-known members of the guild, as well as the most profitable caravan managers, so I extend the courtesy of this contract to you,"
"Every High guard accompanying me has been briefed on the mission. They also swore secrecy in front of the gods. Regrettably, doing the same for your guards would be troublesome, so along with the Nifian and the slaves, all your guards must perish."
As the brothers tried to process what they just heard, a strange substance started to seep into their brains. It was the stupor leaf smoke that started clouding their judgment.
"As you command,"
the brothers replied as they walked straight to their caravan while pulling out their class weapons.
After reaching their caravan, the brothers searched for what seemed to be a magic scroll inside a treasure box and unsealed it. The scroll, unknown to the guild master, contained a telepathy spell that allowed the eldest brother to communicate with his subordinates and brothers with thought transmission.
Suddenly, in the minds of the guards, younger brothers, and even slaves, a voice resounded, delivering some disturbing news, along with some orders. The voice, or rather these thoughts, belonged to the older brother.
The stupor leaf at this time had already affected the caravan guards as well, which made them more emotionally willing to follow irrational orders. The guards attentively listened as their boss angrily recounted the guild master's words, what would befall them, and how their boss was ready to live or die alongside them.
The caravan guards consisted of around 60 battle-hardened guards along with the three expert swordsmen that served as personal bodyguards for the brothers. Most of the guards could use essential magic, but only the two younger brothers were capable of lightning destruction magic.
At a numerical and power disadvantage, the caravan decided to swiftly break the bond that sealed the slaves' collars, setting them free.
The guild master was an experienced and cunning master of reading people's hearts; otherwise, how could he become the guild's leader?
He also knew of this brother's background and never thought they would have rebellious thoughts and even less to turn those hostile thoughts into an active rebellion!
The moment the brothers' guards pulled out their weapons and charged towards his guards, he became perplexed and could not react in time before a spear entirely made out of metal thrown by the eldest brother and assisted by his two brothers' magic hit him straight in the chest.
Two differently colored thunderbolts followed the spear as it stuck to his chest.
The guild master fell unconscious since his rare defense relics could not save him from such a lethal strike.
Immediately afterward, a bloody battle raged for close to an hour between the two groups, but in truth, it was a one-sided battle in favor of the guild master's troops. Even with the help of some of the slaves, only about 12 of the high guards fell. The only survivors were the brothers and their bodyguards.
The survivors all sustained very heavy injuries that would surely kill them. Still, with their last bit of strength, the brothers headed towards the nifian girl helplessly, trying to redeem themselves in her eyes only to find her gone.
Seeing this, the mysterious purple-robed man cast a spell that made all six men disintegrate into nothingness.
The entire caravan got killed, brothers and slaves included, but the nifian girl's corpse was nowhere in sight. The purple-robed man cast what seemed to be a high healing spell on the guild master, and when he woke up, he thanked the man and began searching for the young Nifian. Of course, this was not out of concern for her well-being but proof of her demise.
Before the guild master ran off, the purple-robed man pulled out the bloody golden crystal horn belonging to the young nifian and presented it to him. Upon receiving the beautiful yet bloody horn, the guild master felt relieved.
He was now sure of her demise.
Little did he know that she was still alive in a place far away beyond his reach.