Sheira didn't know what happened one moment she was watching her guards fight against the ambushers and in the next moment she was knocked out and woke up in the bandit camp tied up in a small cage located in a damp cave.
Cave was illuminated with multiple torches, with some already going out, which made her sure that she was here for multiple hours at least.
All of the protective items were stripped from her and her dress was gone, her mouth was gagged by a piece of cloth and her arms and legs were chained to the cage with her barely not being able to move, all her captors gave her was what she could assume human peasant clothes, they were ragged and dirty, and worst of all they made her itch all over, and what she found even worse than on this coarse wooden floor they didn't even give her shoes but instead let her suffer the splinters in her feet.
As Sheira struggled to try and break free, she wondered what happened to rest to Azure and rest of her guards, but she didn't want to think about it, if she was here that means her friend was dead.
Grief overcame her as tears flowed down her face, and yet due to the restricting chains she couldn't move much, her tears hit the wooden floor of the cage.
As she was moving her limbs as much as she could trying to find a way to escape she noticed a something on her palm, she turned it and saw a small scar in the shape of the wing.
She didn't know what that mark meant and why was she branded like this but only thing that she could assume was that someone captured her as a slave.
She wondered why someone would go through so much trouble just for her, and yet deep within herself she knew, they just wanted her blood.
But she didn't recognize this mark, her father made sure to teach her all of the slave owner insignias in case she needed to stay clear of them and yet this one was unknown to her.
Sheira didn't know how long she was captive for but it certainly felt as it was forever.
She was not allowed to grieve loss of her dear friend for long before she heard footsteps coming closer and closer to her cage.
She noticed 3 men approaching her, she could make out that they were talking about something but she couldn't hear what, but she did not care much.
What occupied her mind most right now was her friend's death and what seemed like her dark future, she expected to become cattle for some rich noble who would exploit her blood for his own benefit, and Sheira was sure no noble would ever stop at just that.
She shuddered at what these people had in store for her, she didn't want to think about it and yet that was all that went through her head.
She closed her legs as much as she could as she shut her eyes in anticipation, all she hoped for was that these people finish quickly as she knew what happens to the captured elves even if they are to be sold.
But her worries didn't come true as 3 men stopped right in front of the cage, the middle man carried a cane and was dressed in very expensive clothes, he looked like he was in his 60s and he was quite skinny and seemed he could barely walk without his cane, while 2 men that stood on his sides were hooded in the same way as the attackers were.
She relaxed a bit but still kept her private parts as hidden as she could before middle man turned to the man on his left and spoke.
"Master will be quite pleased with your work, he has spend so many years trying to obtain this kind of specimen" the way man looked at her made her disgusted, he looked at her like she was just an item to be traded.
Man tapped his cane on the ground before turning to the two men "You two get out of here, I would like a moment alone with this specimen" he turned back to Sheira as he wickedly grinned
"My master has already sent carriage with reward to your headquarters, go and arrange transport for this specimen to City of Razul " he said as he placed his hand on the cage.
Two men bowed before disappearing from sight leaving the infirm man alone with Sheira.
Sheira watched in fear as the man stroked the metal bars of the cage as he gazed on her, in his eyes she could make out… arousal.
The man dropped his cane as he held to the bars of the cage he pressed his face between the bars as he stared at her before whispering "You are beautiful, it's a shame you were only one we were able to procure"
He shook his head before continuing" But even if it's just one of your kind, you were worth every single crown master had to give for you, we have so many experiments in store for you, I'm sure we could at least make couple hybrids with your unique properties with enough experiments"
He cackled like a lunatic before catching himself and coughing into his hand.
"Anyway, your new home is already waiting for you" he held onto the cage with one hand while grabbing his cane with the other.
Sheira just couldn't deny it to herself anymore, she was truly going to become someone's slave, and once again like any time before, she was helpless.
She wanted to scream and yet the gag in her mouth prevented her, the man kept circling around the cage staring at her with a creepy expression, like he just found a precious new enchantment ingredient.
Multiple times he even pushed the cane through bars and poked her just to enjoy her discomfort, she squirmed as much as she could but she couldn't escape, she was truly helpless and nobody would save her.
After what seemed to be hours of torment the man seemed to get bored and slowly walked out of the cave leaving Sheira alone once again.
He was quite worried with what happened after he left his fighters to deliver the princess, in one moment they executed the ambush flawlessly and then one of the defenders turned into a monster.
He pulled back his hood and mask allowing himself to breathe some fresh air after all this time, as he removed his hood and mask he revealed a face that was full of old battle scars, with one of his eyes blinded.
Some of those idiots even said it was an Argus, but if that was true then none of them would make it back.
He trusted them with his life but they were surely mistaken, it was true that they lost some of their best fighters to a monster but it could have been something else, especially with them being able to escape.
It could have been a Basilisk, or even a Gryffin, while these monsters were capable of killing some of his men they still wouldn't instil so much terror.
There weren't many monsters that could kill even one of his fighters and here it killed multiple and traumatised rest.
It was a terrible loss for him, but the reward they earned will cover it, after all for him every life has a price.
500,000 crowns will make sure that they never will have to risk their lives ever again.
And yet he couldn't take his mind of the monster that managed to kill his fighters, if it was truly an Argus they should run as fast as possible and deliver the princess to his client in shortest time they could.
For many monsters he was confident in his ability to defeat them, including some lesser dragons, but against an Argus his confidence was thin.
The observer his client sent already went into the holding area to check on the princess, he was there for hours.
He didn't know what he was doing down there for so long, but as long as his master paid up it would be fine.
The observer asked two of the guards he assigned to him to leave him alone with the elf princess, but thankfully he confirmed that their reward is already on the way.
All they had to do was deliver the princess to the city of Razul.
He didn't want to waste time, while his men were preparing to rest for the night he decided to scout nearby woods.
Even if the forest was pitch dark it wouldn't matter to him as he could still see as it was mid-day.
He wanted to make sure that monster that attacked his men wouldn't sneak up on them.
But there was nothing, no monster in sight, all he could see were wild animals.
"Nothing suspicious" he said as he rubbed his chin, lack of monsters was normal as the Ebon Forest was very scarce with mana, which made creation of greater monsters impossible.
And yet that just makes the question of what killed his men even more confusing.
He though for what seemed to be forever before coming to a conclusion "Shit, a Blessed Child".
That was only thing that would make sense to him, if the enemy had a blessed child it would certainly be possible for defenders to fight them back, as most blessed children have great blessings bestowed upon them by their gods.
But that didn't answer all of his questions, If the enemy had blessed child why were they allowed to kill so many defenders.
Why were they able to snatch the princess from the blessed child's hands, the more he thought about it more confused he became.
Perhaps the blessed child awoke right then, but that also was unheard of, as all blessed children had their blessings awakened by the age of 5 no matter the race.
And another point was that he never heard of the blessed child being able to turn in the monster.
This situation was unprecedented, it just wasn't possible.
It wasn't possible and yet it happened, and that was what worried him the most, Impossible happened, the perfect plan was almost ruined.
But luckily, they still had the princess, and their crowns will be delivered and given to them once princess is in his clients hands.
He still didn't know what his client wanted with her, and it wasn't his place to ask that, he will be paid and he will finish his job, that was all there it is for him.
He gave the dark forest one final scan before rushing back to the camp, they have to prepare transport and get the princess to Razul before next day.
They still had couple hours before sunset, but he didn't want to risk the blessed child finding them.
He decided he will prepare the horses and deliver the princess personally with some of his men acting as guardians.
He couldn't afford to fail this job, he already lost too many men, if he had to leave some acting as decoys so that they could fulfil this job so be it.
As he arrived in the camp he walked slowly towards his tent before being stopped by the observer.
Observer tapped his cane to get his attention "Excellent job Golden Fang, you truly live up to your reputation"
He coughed before continuing speaking "I checked on the specimen, and It was completely untouched and in great condition, my master will surely be pleased."
He wasn't sure why this man kept referring to the elf as a specimen, but he didn't care, Golden Fang had more important issues to take care, such as transporting the princess before she was found by the blessed child.
Golden Fang bowed before the infirm man before speaking "You honour me, any job we take on will be carried out perfectly."
Observer tapped his cane before answering "And you proved so, I hope the specimen will be delivered soon."
Golden Fang nodded "Yes, I was just on my way to prepare transportation for the prisoner"
Observer smiled "Excellent, I will be travelling with you to make sure specimen is delivered, please don't let me distract you"
Before Golden Fang could even answer him the man disappeared from his sight.
Such an infirm man just disappearing like this from his sight was worrying, but everyone had their secrets, and it was not his place to ask questions.
He went into his tent and started preparing transportation plans.
******************************************************
Aqua dodged slash after slash, the speed of this woman was impressive, even while being so exhausted that she could barely stand she still fought so fiercely.
Each of the swings had enough force to cut a good amount of forest, and each lounge struck with immense power that could punch through thick castle wall.
Her wounds reopened and it seemed to not slow her down at all.
While to Aqua's eyes she moved incredibly slowly, for a normal elf or any other species in her old world it would be incredibly fast and unavoidable.
Woman jumped back as her slashes were being dodged and used some kind of enchantment spell, her blade glowed with green light for a moment.
A moment later she charged back at Aqua, the speed of her attack was much faster than before, and yet it seemed to lack finesse unlike before, it was just brute power.
"Just power alone isn't enough" Aqua said casually as she caught Azure's blade within her hand and threw it away from them.
Warrior in front of her gasped in surprise, as her life force enchanted blade was caught so easily, but she couldn't quit yet, she needed to redeem herself for her failure.
"IM NOT DONE YET!" Warrior screamed as she launched a barrage of punches at red haired elf in front of her.
Aqua smiled as her form shimmered with bronze aura for a moment before dissipating.
The moment the first punch connected it was like hitting a brick wall.
Warrior's hand bled as she kept punching the monster in front of her, this being might look like an elf but her power would make her question it.
Azure kept asking herself a single question, 'Why was an elf here?'.
In her mind she must have worked for the attackers, but why.
Why would an elf help anyone in the Red Dawn, she thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion in her mind.
Elven Slaves, elves that were sufficiently mind broken obeyed their master no matter what, but even then Azure couldn't imagine someone enslaving such a powerful elf.
She kept attacking her with kicks and punches, she even picked up blades from her fallen comrades and yet they all shattered.
Even with all the power she gained she couldn't even land a scratch at her.
Azure kept kicking and punching but she seemed to do more damage to herself than the girl in front of her.
She didn't know who this is, but she needed to get rid of her, as she was definitely working for the attackers.
She noticed that the girl didn't even move a single step ever since she switched to using her hands and legs.
There was no way that red haired elf in front of her was someone's slave, and if she was, Azure dreaded of who could have captured someone like her.
But it still didn't make sense to Azure, if someone powerful enough to withstand her last ditch life force enchanted blade existed, why didn't she hear of her.
Then it dawned at her, was this elf one of the Red Dawn Inquisitors.
It was said that each of them was many times more powerful than Azure, and their identity was secret.
Her strength was failing her, the transformation earlier has exhausted her, and now fighting against this unknown left her barely standing.
"Why would an elf work for Red Dawn who regularly enslave our people? " her arms shook as she barely made herself stand upright.
"Why do you serve those who hate us?" She fell to her knees as her strength finally left her.
Azure had no choice but to accept her destiny, she will die, and perhaps that's what she deserved for failing her duty.
As her eyes closed she at least could find solace it took a Red Dawn inquisitor to kill her.
***
Aqua had no idea why she was asked such a question, after all she just arrived here and she had no idea what Red Dawn even was.
She didn't have time to question her as the woman collapsed in front of her feet.
She was truly impressed with her performance, she was more powerful than most elven champions she met in her old world.
'Champions that were slaughtered like pigs by the god' shook her head in denial, she did not want to think about what happened before, but it still plagued her mind.
She liked to believe herself emotionally distanced, and yet she couldn't deny that she still was hurt from the loss she suffered.
She shook her head again as she knelt down in front of the unconscious elven warrior.
She didn't want someone this powerful to die for nothing, she turned her on the back before placing her hand on her forehead.
Aqua was torn with fully restoring her with time authority or using her flames, there was one more issue, she displayed her monstrous form only after a prayer in the fight, using her authority over time would most certainly make her lose her blessing, and most certainly draw the ire of her god.
She really didn't want another fight this soon after coming to this world.
She was certainly not afraid of the divine in this world, but fighting them without knowing anything would be ill advised even to her.
After all even weaker beings could beat something much more powerful by using unknown methods and strategies.
She decided against going with restoring the woman using the Authority of time, and she did not want to use more of her powerful spells to help her, after all it would be bad idea to reveal what she was capable of, while she believed it was impossible for anyone to observe her using magical methods it was good to be cautious.
She pressed her palm on her forehead as she closed her eyes, she channelled her power.
The tendrils of flame spread over her body cauterizing all wounds and stopping the bleeding that she sustained while trying to fight Aqua, after stopping the bleeding the flames gained golden hue as all of the wounds were covered by them and disappeared from her body.
Aqua let the flame disappear as she made sure the woman wouldn't have any scars remaining.
As the tendrils of flame dissipated, the tendrils of water took their place, while the flame fixed all damage, Aqua wanted to restore her energy levels so she could finally talk to her.
Watery tendrils crept inside her mouth as warrior's body glowed.
She saw her take a deep breath before coughing loudly expelling excess water.
As the warrior gasped for air and with stare less hostile gaze pointed at Aqua, she asked one question "Can we talk now?"