I stood in the center of the coliseum, Caliburn in hand, as the last of the hulking giants fell to the ground with a thunderous crash. My body was covered in dirt, sweat and blood and my breathing was heavy, but I couldn't deny the satisfaction of victory.
"First trial completed," the voice announced, calm yet booming. "Initiating second trial."
Before I could even process the words, the world around me began to blur and twist. The stone coliseum faded into a swirl of colors, and within seconds, I found myself standing on the edge of a dense, shadowy forest.
"Where am I now?" I muttered, scanning my surroundings.
Activating Eagle Eye, my vision shifted to a bird's-eye view. In the distance, I spotted a caravan moving slowly through the forest, its wooden carts creaking with every turn of the wheels.
Something about it felt... off.
Reinforcing my legs with mana, I sprinted toward the caravan, closing the distance in no time. As I drew closer, I noticed the figures in the carts-and my blood ran cold.
"What the hell?" I whispered under my breath.
Inside the carts were several women and children, their bodies stripped of any dignity. They wore nothing but chains on their wrists, ankles, and necks. Their faces were hollow, devoid of hope, as if they had already resigned themselves to a grim fate.
Among them, a little boy caught my eye. He had tears streaming down his dirty face, but when he noticed me, his expression shifted slightly, a flicker of hope breaking through the despair. I pressed a finger to my lips, gesturing for him to stay silent. He nodded, trembling.
I circled around to the back of the caravan, gripping Caliburn tightly. Two men, clearly bandits or slavers, walked casually behind the last cart, their weapons slung lazily over their shoulders. They didn't even notice me approach.
Big mistake.
In one swift motion, I closed the gap and swung Caliburn, slicing through both of them with a clean, precise arc. Their bodies fell silently to the ground, blood pooling beneath them.
I moved quickly, staying in the shadows as I advanced. There were more slavers patrolling alongside the carts, laughing and chatting as if they weren't escorting innocent lives to a certain hellish fate.
Silently, I took them out one by one. A quick stab through the chest here, a slit throat there. I didn't feel any guilt for what I was doing-they deserved worse.
By the time I reached the front of the caravan, only one slaver remained: the leader. He sat atop the lead cart, a cruel grin on his face as he barked orders at his men-unaware that they were all dead.
Without hesitation, I jumped onto the cart. The slaver barely had time to react before Caliburn's blade separated his head from his body. His lifeless form slumped forward, blood soaking the wooden boards beneath him.
With the caravan now still, I turned my attention to the captives.
The women and children stared at me with wide, fearful eyes, unsure if I was their savior or just another monster. I raised my hands, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.
"It's okay," I said gently. "You're free now."
At first, no one moved. They just stared at me, their chains rattling as they trembled.
Realizing they needed more reassurance, I stepped forward and began breaking their chains using Caliburn's sharp edge. One by one, the chains fell away, and the captives slowly began to rise, their eyes filling with cautious hope.
The little boy I had noticed earlier clung to my leg, tears streaming down her face as he whispered, "Thank you..."
Just as I was about to say something, the voice from before echoed in my mind.
"Second trial completed. Proceeding to third trial."
"What?" I said aloud, looking around as the forest began to dissolve into that same swirling blur. "Wait! I'm not done here!"
But my protests fell on deaf ears. The world shifted once again, and I was pulled into the unknown.
---
I stood in the same spot where I had defeated the slavers, but something had changed. The women and children, previously in chains and stripped of dignity, were now clothed. Some had taken garments from the dead slavers, while others wore tattered remnants they must have scavenged.
A woman approached me cautiously, clutching a bloodstained knife she had likely taken from one of the slavers. Her hands trembled as she held it, but her eyes were filled with equal parts fear and determination.
"W-who are you?" she asked, her voice shaky but strong enough to demand an answer.
Not wanting to alarm her further, I raised my hands in a gesture of peace and said calmly, "I am not an enemy. I was simply passing through the forest when I noticed the suspicious caravan. I intervened because I couldn't ignore what was happening."
Her grip on the knife loosened slightly, but she didn't let her guard down entirely. "Why should we believe you?"
I gestured toward the bodies of the slavers strewn across the ground. "If I were one of them, I wouldn't have killed them. I'd have joined them. But I didn't. I freed all of you instead."
Her eyes flickered to the corpses and then back to me. She hesitated for a moment before sighing and lowering the knife. "Fine... but who are you, really?"
"My name is Arthur," I said, deciding to keep things simple. "What's your name?"
The woman hesitated before responding. "I'm Elise," she said. Her tone had softened, but there was still a hint of wariness in her voice.
Noticing that she was still tense, I decided to shift the conversation. "Can you tell me where we are?"
Elise nodded slowly. "You're in the Broken Woods, near Riverfort Town."
I blinked, trying to place the names. "Riverfort?" I muttered to myself. I didn't recognize any place by that name from the worlds I knew, fictional or otherwise. It seemed I'd been thrown into a completely foreign environment.
"I suppose you were all taken from Riverfort?" I asked, focusing on her again.
Elise nodded, her expression darkening. "Yes. Despite being a fortified town, it's easily accessible by the river. The slavers attacked us at night two weeks ago and have been taking us to the Bazaar ever since."
"The Bazaar?" I asked, frowning.
"Yes," Elise said, her voice bitter. "It's a market where anything-or anyone-can be bought or sold if you have enough money."
I nodded, absorbing the information. A shadow market for selling human lives. Disgusting.
After a moment of silence, I said, "If you want, I can escort all of you back to Riverfort. I'll act as your protection to ensure you reach home safely."
Elise looked at me with a mix of hope and suspicion. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I can," I replied simply. "And because I'm not the kind of person who could just leave you all out here after what you've been through."
The sincerity in my voice seemed to ease her doubts. She turned to the others, who had gathered nearby and were watching our exchange anxiously. After a brief discussion among themselves, Elise turned back to me and nodded. "Alright. We'll accept your help."
With that settled, I began organizing the group. Most of the women and children were weak from their ordeal, so I scavenged what supplies I could from the slavers' caravan-food, water, and weapons. I handed out knives and other makeshift weapons to those who were strong enough to defend themselves, just in case we encountered trouble along the way.
As we set off through the forest, I stayed at the front of the group, my senses on high alert. The Broken Woods lived up to its name; the trees were gnarled and twisted, and the forest floor was uneven and littered with debris. The air was thick with tension, and every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig set my nerves on edge.
I activated Eagle Eye periodically to scout the area ahead, ensuring there were no threats lurking nearby. Thankfully, the journey remained uneventful-for the first few hours, at least.
Just as we were nearing the middle of the forest, I spotted movement in the distance. Activating Eagle Eye again, I saw a group of armed men approaching. They didn't look like soldiers-they were too disorganized for that. Bandits, most likely.
"We've got company," I said, turning to Elise and the others. "Stay back and hide among the trees. I'll handle this."
"But-" Elise started to protest, but I cut her off.
"I'll be fine," I said firmly. "Just stay hidden."
Reluctantly, she nodded, and the group retreated into the shadows of the forest.
I stepped into the open, Caliburn in hand, and waited for the bandits to approach. There were six of them, each armed with a mix of swords, axes, and crossbows.
"Well, well," one of them sneered as they spotted me. "Looks like we've got ourselves a hero."
"Or a fool," another added, laughing.
I smirked. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing about you."
The leader of the group scowled. "Kill him."
The first bandit charged at me with a sword, but I sidestepped his attack and slashed upward with Caliburn, cutting through his weapon and his chest in one swift motion. The second bandit swung an axe at me, but I ducked under the blow and drove my blade into his stomach.
The remaining four hesitated, realizing too late that they were outmatched. I didn't give them a chance to regroup. Reinforcing my legs, I closed the distance in an instant, cutting through the third and fourth bandits with ease.
The fifth bandit dropped his weapon and tried to run, but a quick throw of my dagger ended his escape. The sixth bandit, trembling with fear, fell to his knees and begged for mercy.
"Mercy?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes. "Did you show mercy to the people you've terrorized?"
He didn't have an answer. I didn't give him the chance to come up with one.
"Third trial complete. Fourth trial commencing."
Before I could react, the world blurred again, and I was pulled into the unknown.
---Note
If you find any Writing or Grammatical errors, mention it in the Paragraph Comment.