Year 0003, The Imperium
---
"Run, run for your lives!"
As the head captain saw their formation being slowly broken into pieces holding off 10 of the 16 massive Grimfangs.
While he couldn't see where the others went he knew that some of the slaves have escaped to the great forest and they could do nothing about it.
"We must retreat! At least on of us should survive and report back to our nearest outpost!"
"Move! Move now and don't look back!"
All the remaining slaver guardsmen of Corvus had no choice but to follow, ultimately they all took off and run towards the destination of their nearest outpost, but it was still a bit far away.
It was towards Kirka Village where Chief Rommel was managing that place.
It was still almost 600km away from their current location, but it was the nearest Corvus outpost at the moment.
They all run towards that direction hoping to get out of this damned forest!
They all ran out of the hidden path and sprinted out towards the main road.
They had hoped that this damned wolves wouldn't follow them there!
---
Haa! Haa! Haa!
Head Captain Cornick Sandeval, was using his remaining strength to run, he was panting heavily but he couldn't stop for even a second of breather.
The Grimfangs couldn't chase all of them as they fan out in different directions, what he was worried about is the other 6 who he lost sight of from the chaos that ensued.
But he couldn't care about them at the moment he was more worried with keeping his life, he was due to retirement this year and has planned to start a family somewhere.
In truth he really didn't like this slave trading thing he was mainly from the better side of things the Zargos Mercantile group, and he was a veteran there.
But today he was specifically asked by the one managing their Zargos Mercantile group to lead the transport since he knew much about the hidden route.
He had been subjected to one of this secretive groups hidden runs when he was a still on the second year of him being a guard for the reputable Zargos Mercantile back then he didn't know that it was just a front for their shady underworld dealings.
He had heard so many good things about the Zargos Mercantile group but when he was accepted into a guard escort position the reality wasn't all that.
And there he saw the true evil that humanity was willing to go, to further their position in the grand scheme of things in this world they are living in.
It had been almost 30 years now, he was no longer such a naive teen, he had grown his wisdom, after one of those underworld runs that he survived for a year, after they have also almost been wiped out by beasts of the great forest.
He had requested a transfer of position into more of a base guard, although the pay was good from the escort guard position, it wasn't worth it, it actually goes against his morals and he wanted to keep his life after that one year encounter that he survived.
But right before when he was about to retire, he was slapped back in his face and back into reality.
His fate has reminded him what his work actually entails and that fate really has different plans for him as he was tasked to lead these escort mission with a bunch of young recruits and just a handful of veterans.
And now look at what happened to them they have lost 90% of their green recruits and only 50% of the veterans are left now.
He sighed in dissapointment, why does he have to face this beasts in his final mission.
He wanted for it to be just a peaceful finale of his long career.
---
The slaves who managed to escape and ran even deeper into the forest were still being chased by the Grimfangs who have split off from the main wolf pack.
They also encountered some other monsters like the Boarats, some snake-like beasts and some other beasts that roamed the forest floor.
After a few days of not eating anything even the poisonous and alien looking plants and some fruits started to looked rather appetizing and with their already troubled mind that could no longer function well and think of the dangers that may come with their careless actions, due to the colorful and appetizing looks of those plants they started devouring it at least those who have lost their reasons.
As consequence of such actions, most of them started droping left and right on the ground with their mouths foaming, after they have ingested the poisonous plants and fruits on the ground with their mouths foaming.
while some of the plants changed their skin complexion to blue and purple indicating a rather deadly poison.
Some did not outrightly die they suffered for a while at first the started to heat up and then they had blisters on their skin even on their inside and it slowly killed them as those blisters exploded one by one.
There were also some plants and fruits that have parasitic creatures living in them and when they entered the human body they slowly ate their new host from the inside, slowly killing it's host a truly bizzare and alien thing to occur in this place.
After the hundreds of slaves that have managed to run away there are now less than that, and those who have managed to survive and witnessed such scenes didn't dare to eat anything anymore, now they could only quench their hunger and thirst with water as there are plenty of water pockets and tiny streams that ebbed and flowed towards the river.
Some of the slaves could now even smell the source of water and they took their chances when they found those water sources and they took a gulp, no reason remained, they could only hope that the waters were safe to drink.
But this is Centuury the harshest world environement that is out to kill them at any moments notice.
---
A few days have passed since this all have been occuring several hundreds of kilometers away from Maya Village and if those escaped slaves would manage to run towards here then they would be saved from further suffering and despair.
Currently villagers of Maya Village are busy chopping down suitable trees and bringing them towards the village walls, they also brought some towards the house, they would use it for the remaining house expansion and future projects.
They don't really take breaks and they would mostly go out to hunt every few days to restock their supply.
They still do train everyday without a skip, Christopher was also has fully recovered and joined the men with their forest work, Jonathan was also almost healed he could now do minor things around the place.
While the garden fields have now been prepared and have started planting in them, their root cellar is also currently full of Boarat and Rabbiet meat, and some foraged food from the forest floor, like mushrooms, wild vegetables and even fruits.
---
It has been a few days or even weeks that have passed already they really don't know or couldn't tell as they lost track of time a long time ago.
A few days later Donna and her group who managed to survive for many days now, after they managed to find and drink potable water and eat some familiar fruits that they was safe to eat, have started to regain their sanity and could think a little better.
They started to act like humans again and what are humans good at their adaptability in whatever environement they are thrown and they managed to survive in said place then it is only a matter of time for them to adapt to their current environment.
There were a little than a dozen of them left, after the tradgedies that happened to the hundreds of slaves that also run towards the same direction as them.
As to how many would survive in the end it doesn't really matter now, their hearts have already turned to stone, they only cared about themselves, it was the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest.
As they have seen the cruelty of man when subjected to such harsh environments, their inherent natural instincts of self preservation would always take over their reason and would even try to kill other survivors and take their food from them.
Such a thing happened to their group a few days back and one of those who tried to kill other people was that arrogant former lord.
And his first target was another frail man whom he pushed away to be save himself from a beast that was about to lash towards him and another was the man who previously spoke up against him, but that man 'Andy Shoor' still has his wits with him, he managed to fend off that arrogant noble and beat him up to a pulp.
Andy actually saw what that bastard did to his fellow slave!
And when that bastard tried to also do that to him, he beat him up really good and he left him for the beasts to finish off, he doesn't want his hands to get dirty and waste his precious limited energy he had left, he needs to survive no matter what!
'Andy Shoor' had experience being a mercenary before so this sort of thing isn't new to him, but he didn't last long in that job, as he found a rich merchant who helped him it was the kind hearted Lord Kirka, who he last saw when he was tasked escort and deliver goods to the south.
But unfortunately his caravan was ambushed by bandits and he was amongst the people who were captured by the bandits and was sold to Corvus Slave Trade.
He wanted to get back to his Lord no matter what but is has been a few years already, he no longer had any news from the north after that.
Now he was just a slave trying to survive in this current harsh environment they were in.
---
But that wasn't the only scenario that occured to them even during the first few days some people have truly lost their minds as they tried to resort to canibalism and ate their dead fellow slaves who have died from poison.
luckily they also died afterwards because the poison still lingered on the dead people's bodies.
If they were not being subjected as prey to be hunted and killed by beast, then they were killed by flora's poisons, or they would simply die from starvation.
Currently this remaining ragtag group of slave survivors were 200km's away from mAya village, in a few days time they would reach the perimeter of the village.
And wether they would survive this ordeal or not would all be up to their tenacity to survive, some luck, survival skills and teamwork.