It has been one month since my village was destroyed, and I was captured as a slave. Thinking back to that night brought me an indescribable sadness.
I wanted to cry, but I couldn't because every time I cried, the bandit groups would beat me with a big wooden stick. I could only endure my sorrow as I was carried in the wagon.
We have been traveling all this time since that night, and the bandits would only stop to camp at night. The road we were traveling was near the monster forest, and our destination was the nearest city from my village, which is a two-month journey on a horse wagon.
All this time, my life as a slave has been the worst kind of hell compared to my life in the village. Unlike the kids who beat me but are always careful not to go overboard, the bandits have no such thought and would mercilessly beat me with a huge wooden stick just for the fun of it.
Though they are always careful not to hit my face because of their fear of damaging the goods, as they say.
Right now, I'm inside my cage, which is inside a wagon being pulled by two horses with several bandits riding their own personal horse around the wagon.
"How much do you think this kid will fetch us, boss?"
"Considering that he is the kid of the legendary adventurer Alex, he might fetch us around 10 gold coins."
"Man, I can't wait to reach the city. We'll be swimming in money in no time."
"Hey, you morons! Save that enthusiasm till we reach the city and keep focus."
"What a bummer. You really need to relax, Kinkaku. Monsters don't usually pass this road, you know."
"What he said, Kinkaku. Try to lighten up a little."
And so, the bandits kept arguing with each other. I just quietly listened from my cage because that is basically all I could do at the moment. If I make a sound, it will bring their attention, and they would beat me again. My delicate body is already covered in fresh wounds, and I don't need more on it.
As the wagon was moving, we heard a dangerous roar that was quickly approaching us with the earth shaking.
"What the heck was that?"
"It came from the forest."
"It's approaching us at a fast speed."
"We need to speed up."
As the bandits began to speed up the horses, I looked behind and saw what was approaching us. The mere sight of it froze my body with fear. What I saw was a giant two-headed wolf the size of a big fat elephant that was made of flames, and it was chasing us.
"Oh my god! It's a Dioskilos."
"Quick, run!"
"We can't escape from that thing."
"That thing is said to require three B-rank adventurers to subdue. We don't stand a chance."
"Less talking and more running."
As the bandits screamed, they increased their speed in order to escape, but the Dioskilos was hot on their trail.
The movement of the Dioskilos was causing the ground to melt and turn to lava. The sky turned dark, and its power shook the entire area with its movement.
As we ran, one of the heads of the Dioskilos opened its mouth and spat a small fireball at the wagon which I was inside of. The fireball hit the wagon and exploded, sending both me and the bandits flying on impact. I crashed my body into a tree and spat out blood on impact. I was lucky to have survived, but some of the bandits weren't that lucky and died from the explosion.
I weakly got up and saw that the bandit leader, Kibaou, was trying to fight the Dioskilos with his sword made of ice.
He fired an ice blizzard at the Dioskilos, but the Dioskilos just increased the temperature of the flames in its body to burn off all the ice. Then it moved at an incredible speed towards Kibaou who couldn't react at all to it.
One of the heads of the Dioskilos opened its mouth and bit the head of Kibaou while the other head fired another fireball at his body, which burnt it to ash.
As I watched the bandit leader who killed my mom being brutally killed by the Dioskilos, I was strangely happy, but it was short-lived because the Dioskilos turned to me and roared.
I didn't even wait to see what it would do before I ran into the forest with all my might. My body was in a lot of pain as I ran due to all my injuries, but I didn't care. All I could think about was surviving this calamity.
I heard the sound of trees breaking and the heat from the Dioskilos getting closer to me, but I didn't turn around and just kept running.
It must be due to the fact that the Dioskilos was chasing me because no monster approached me as I ran with all my might.
Normally, with the speed of the Doskilos, it could have easily caught up to me if it wanted, but I guess it must be playing with his food which is me. I ignored this thought as I kept running and hoping to somehow survive.
I ran until I reached the end of a cliff and looked down to see that the cliff was quite deep, and there was a shining lake below the cliff.
I heard the sound of the Dioskilos approaching me, and I didn't even think twice before I jumped off the cliff and into the lake below. I heard the Dioskilos roar of frustration at losing his meal before it turned around and left.
Meanwhile, I sank into the lake. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't move a single part of my body. I tried to swim, but I couldn't move due to all my injuries from everything that had happened to me being severe. I could only watch the sky as I sank into the lake while drowning.
'So this is how I die. I couldn't even protect myself because of how weak I am. If only I was strong, I would have protected mom and fought off those bandits; then none of this would have happened.'
I thought to myself as I kept sinking and drowning.
'I don't want to die like this. I wish I was strong, stronger than everyone and everything. Stronger than even the gods themselves so that no one will be able to look down on me ever again. I wish for strength, I WISH FOR POWER.'
Just after I thought that, I felt the lake water begin entering my body through my skin in a painful way. The pain was too much to bear, and I lost consciousness a few minutes after it began.
I didn't know that the little wish I made while drowning would be the beginning of my new life's adventure.