As the guard opened the cage and dragged me out, all I could do was clutch my book.
"Is that book your only weapon?" The guard asks me, giving me a cold gaze.
"Uhm....y-yeah?" I shakily reply.
"We'll get you something better. It'd be boring if you died too fast." He replies.
I don't know whether to be happy at the fact I would be getting a real weapon that I can use to defend myself or scared that I would have to use it without any real training. I think it was a mixture of both. I would preferably like to escape before I'm thrown in the murder pit of death though.
"Let's go." The guard says, cutting my thoughts short.
We begin walking around this place. It's less of an arena and more of a camp site. There's cages with people from all over around, each is protected by a single guard armed with what looks like an old rifle. Maybe out of the cold war? I don't know how those things still manage to fire more than a hundred years after their production, but I still won't deny their killing power. Even if they'd lose to any weapon we have now, to someone unarmed like myself they're undeniable threat.
After about 3 minutes of walking we reach a gray tent with two armed guards in the front of it. They stand aside, letting us go in. The inside of the tent is full of tables, each has different types of melee weapons. However, it's void of other people. I guess they don't have the manpower to guard the inside of the tent as well. I can use this to my advantage.
"Pick something kid, just don't take too long" The guard lazily says.
I start looking around the different tables, I see crudely made swords, knives, axes, and other types of weapons. What I'm looking for is a blunt weapon, something I can just hit this guy over the head with. I think that if I can knock this guy out, I can shapeshift into something small enough to leave without the other two guys finding out. Then I find Tom, break him out and get the hell away from this place. Great plan right? I think so too. After some walking I've found what I'm looking for, a nice hammer. I don't grab it yet though, I take a quick look behind me to see if the guard is looking at me, and he's thankfully inspecting his weapon. I grab the hammer and begin walking towards him. Suddenly he turns and looks at me. SHIT! I quickly put the hammer behind arm and adopt a leaning position on one of the tables, trying to look nonchalant.
"You find a weapon yet?" He asks me.
"No Sir, still looking for what I would like." I say, trying to hide my nervousness.
"Well you better hurry up before I pick for you." I nod in response, and he goes back to his weapon. I think he's cleaning it, even better for me.
I resume walking towards him until I'm right behind him....and then.....BAM! I hit him straight on the back of the head, knocking him out cold. I hear the guards outside asking what the sound was. Uh oh. Maybe this wasn't the best decision. I try to focus my powers, they've always worked well in times of stress after all.
Right before the guards open the tent, I succeed! I'm now, a rat. Some would argue that I always was a rat (or at least looked like one), but I like to think otherwise. Anyways, back to the task at hand. I scurry between the the unsuspecting guards at fast as my tiny little legs can carry me. I need to hurry, they've definitely sounded the alarms already.
I run past multiple cages until I find one that's larger than the rest. Inside is Tom and... a girl. I run into a bush and quickly transform into a Black Mamba. This was much faster than last time, I think I'm getting the hang of this. I slither unnoticed until I'm right at the guard's ankles. Then... I bite one.
BLEH! He tasted disgusting, even worse with the enhanced taste of a Black Mamba. I don't think I'm ever going to do that again. Anyways, the pain is enough to distract him long enough for me to turn back into a human, after which I punch him in the face.
Now you may be wondering why a diplomat like me is capable of executing a plan like this, and the answer is very simple. After the war, all members of the Italian government were mandated to be trained in all sorts of scenarios, especially kidnapping ones. Naturally, self defense is part of this. They wouldn't send me to America being unable to defend myself after all. Speaking of Italy, I need to get back there ASAP, whatever is going on here is something I definitely need to report to my superiors.
Now back to the task at hand, I grab the keys to the cage and open it, freeing Tom and the girl.
"Hey dude, long time no see." I smirk at him
"H-How did you get out?" He asks, astonished
"Shapeshifting, and the training the Italian government gave me. Poorly trained guards like these were no match for me!" I grin.
"And here I thought you were incompetent." He replies sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Shut up." I say.
"What are you two talking about?" The girl suddenly says. I had completely forgotten she was there.
"How I escaped...?" I say. I think this girl is slow.
"No you idiot, about the shapeshifting! How did you do that?! I saw you do it, and it looks like you're aware of it too." Oh.
"Hehehe, story for another time! We need to go." I quickly say, trying to avoid the topic. I hope she forgets after we escape.
We quickly take off running, by now the camp is in full search mode. Thankfully, this cage was on the edge of camp. We keep running until the camp is out of sight.
"We're safe enough to rest, but we should start moving as soon as we can. They'll be looking for us." Tom says.
The mysterious girl looks at me and says "So, are you going to explain what the hell I just saw now?"
Ignoring her, I whisper to Tom "I thought normal people couldn't see the supernatural." To which he replies "She's either one of us or she broke her limiter somehow, if it's the latter then it must've been on accident considering how in the dark she is."
I then ask him "Is it safe to tell her, because of the whole deal thing with uhm the Luciferrus guy? You know the more they know the worse it gets."
"She's already seen it, and besides she's with us now we're going to have to tell her" He replies.
"Hello?! I was talking to you. It's pretty rude to ignore a question and then go off whispering like a bunch of gossiping teenage girls, and that's coming from a teenage girl!" She almost shouts at us.
"Oh! Uhm, sorry. What's your name?"
"Eliana Tangyari, now back to the topic, what the hell are you?!" She ACTUALLY shouts this time.
"That sounds awfully racist you know, but to answer your question, he's a demigod and I'm erm something like that, haven't quite figured out exactly what."
"You're joking." She deadpans.
"Uhm HELLO? I can SHAPESHIFT, that has to count for something right?" I half shout half ask.
"Well if he's a demigod, who's his dad?" She replies.
"My father is Ultima, God of Life and Death."
"So Neo-American pantheon huh? Say if these gods are all real, why don't we know about them?" She asks in a questioning tone.
"Most mortals can't even perceive their existence." Tom answers for her.
"Well I'm pretty sure I'm normal, so why can I?" She asks again.
"My God, the same conversation in the same week... Some mortals can break the limits that prevent them from perceiving the supernatural, either by purpose or by accident. If you're truly mortal as you think, you must've accidentally broken your limiter."
"God? Isn't that the wrong religion?" I ask Tom.
"No, he's real too." Tom replies.
WHAT.