Chapter 2

I am currently seated in front of a wooden table inside a large wooden cabin. I was brought directly here, and did not get to see much of the village. I believe that I am waiting for the female lizardman, though as I was being led here I did notice something odd. From what I could tell the lizardmen with more human like features are probably treated worse.

The more human-like lizardmen had rags for clothes and were usually dirtier, while the more reptilian ones either had armor or nicer fabrics. There seems to be a pretty clear prejudice against humans, but I didn’t think it would spread to their own kind.

“[email protected]!&^)%&^@!^$*” I can hear someone speaking outside the cabin, unfortunately it is in the lizardman language so I have no clue what they are saying. Then two lizardmen walk in, one is the female lizardman from earlier, who now that I can see up close does have some feminine features. If I had to say she looks more sleek and her face, while reptilian does have a womanly look to it. Also her scales are red, and more sturdy looking. As for her age it is kind of hard to tell, but I would say she is pretty young from how she moves, probably around my age. The second lizardman is also a female, but this one is easier to tell because she is mostly human like. I actually thought she was human for a second as she has beautiful long black hair, but then I noticed the pure white scales, claws, and tail. She is actually very pretty, but she looks so lifeless, she seems to be a bit younger than me, but not by much..

“Human, tell me your name.” while I was looking at the new lizardman, the other had already taken I seat in front of me without my notice.

“Hello again, my name is John Breeze.” I say politely as I can. I almost put out my hand for a handshake, but decided against that as I am not sure they have such a thing in their culture.

“Yes, hmm well my name is Reline, and the one behind me is Robin. I have some questions for you then I will decide what to do with you.” Reline points to Robin who was now standing behind her.

“That’s if fine by me, but would it be possible for me to ask a few questions of my own, I am currently quite confused about my whole situation?”

“Human! You will ask nothing! You will only answer and hope that I don’t decide to kill you! You are lucky that you are a traveller or else I would have had you killed in front of the gate. Now did you see anything while in the forest?” Reline slammed her claws down onto the table, I can hear the table almost break under her strength. Also did fire just shoot out from her tail! I am not imagining that right? Can she breath fire?

“Sorry, No I saw nothing. Well my compass didn’t work and the dirt can be moved by pulling on a sensation, but I am not sure if that counts as seeing something?” I am pretty nervous now, and hopefully nothing I am saying is about to get me killed.

“Hmm, I have never heard of a compass before, but it does seem like you have the earth element power. Not strange for a traveller to have one. Ahhhhh what a boring human, well last question do you want to be set free, or would you rather stay here and become a breeding servant?” Reline leaned back in her chair apparently bored with me already. Am I really that boring? I mean she asked me all of two questions and just gave up pretty much. Along with that why did she even ask for my name if she was just gonna keep calling me human, also breeding servant, like a sex partner? Based on the way other humans are treated here I am guessing it is not as nice of a job as it sounds. Especially the servant part, makes it seem more like a breeding horse than a fun sexy time job.

“Sorry, but I would like to be set free. While both you and Robin are beautiful and I am sure the other females of your race are also. I enjoy being able to travel and walk the land.” Hopefully my flattery earns me some not-being-killed points.

“HAHA, what a funny human, you think that the trash behind me is beautiful? Ah I guess human’s perspective is different, but whatever. Robin! Come here!” Reline shouts at Robin to come closer and as she does Reline slaps Robin straight across the face.

“Whaa? WHY?” I shot up from my seat and shouted at Reline, questioning her. As soon as I did that I saw a quick blur and I felt something sharp on my throat. Looking down I can see Reline’s claw pressing on my skin, almost piecing it.

“Listen here human, to us of the Dragon race, humans are trash, they are greedy and disgusting. They are barely even good for breeding servants. So those of our race that resemble those disgusting humans are trash also. Along with that this girl here has witch blood, a combination of disgusting with foulness. So she is trash and she should be happy that she is still alive. If she didn’t have witch blood in her, she would be with the other human-like girls in the breeding pins.”

WHAT?!?! Humans are disgusting? YOU ARE TREATING YOUR OWN KIND LIKE GARBAGE! I was seething, how can you be so cruel towards someone? I was balling my fists so hard it hurt, but I knew I couldn’t do anything! She could kill me at any moment, how can I be so weak? I feel so helpless right now!

“HAHA, good I can see the anguish on your face, you are lucky the Gods protect travellers. You will stay here for the night, but tomorrow you will leave. The trash will show you where you can sleep and take care of you. Be thankful that I am feeling generous.” Reline then stood up and walked out of the cabin. Then it got quiet.

I looked up to see Robin just staring at the floor, her cheek red and her lip bleeding where she was slapped. No wonder she looked so lifeless, she has probably been treated like this her whole life.

“Hello Robin, I am sorry, because of what i said you got slapped. I am really sorry!” I had to apologize my words caused her pain.

“No, don’t apologize it is my fault. I can show you where you will sleep now if you follow me.” Huh, her fault, how? All she did was stand there, how could she have done anything. Is she treated so badly that she is broken mentally? Robin started walking towards the door, so I quickly followed her.

Getting outside into the village now, I am following Robin whose expression hasn’t changed once. She most likely has a severe mental trauma. Seriously how can they treat someone of their own race like this. Is she a special case? Reline said something about witch blood, so maybe that has something to do with it.

“HEY trash, heads up!” someone called out from one of the side streets, and I looked up just in time to see a rock hit Robin in the side of the head. She quickly bent over holding her head in pain. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

“HEY WHAT THE FUCK, huh?” I was about to blow up at the lizardman who threw the rock when I felt someone grab my arm. I look over to see Robin was the one who grabbed me. “It is fine, it was my fault. You will only put yourself into trouble if you start a fight.” Robin’s face did not change, but I could see sadness in her eyes. How much pain has she gone through? I sighed as she was right, if I did something now it would mean the death of me, and probably Robin.

Why would she stay in such a terrible place? It kind of reminds me of my time at the orphanage. Daily beatings for being white, constantly in fear of angering someone. But I got out, I left as soon as I could, she stays, why? I can see the blood streaking down from where the rock hit her. It looks like it will definitely leave a scar, actually that is something that surprises me, why doesn’t she have scars. From what I can tell this type of terrible treatment is nothing new, but Robin’s skin doesn’t have any visible scars. It’s pretty intriguing.

Lost in my own thoughts I almost run into the back of Robin as she has stopped in the front of a pretty beaten up shack. “Ugh, is this supposed to be a home or an outhouse?” The “house” was on the outskirts of the village, had no door, and the walls have tons of holes in them.

“For a human visitor this is considered good accommodations.” Robin responded to my comment with a very sad fact. Good? I guess anything is better than being killed. Taking a step in, it is as bad as I thought it would be. The ground is dirt, the walls are so bad I can practically call them windows, and the roof is not much better. Hey at least there is some type of bed mat made out of sticks to keep me off the ground! It doesn’t really matter though since I have a tarp and my sleeping bag in my backpack. It really is unfortunate that I was on a shorter hike as I did not bring too much of my equipment.

Turning back around I can see Robin standing next to the door frame with the same expression as she always had. “Do you think I could ask you a few questions?” Hopefully Robin can clear up some of my confusion.

“Yes, as Reline said I am here to take care of you.” Haaah, man it's almost like talking to a robot. “Could you tell me where I am?” I am 99% sure that this isn’t earth, but once I know the name of the planet then I can put it to rest. “You are in a Forest Dryad called Casadi.” What? I now have so many more questions than I did before. “Sorry I was not clear on my question, I was wondering if you know what this world is called? As I said I believe I was summoned here, so I have no clue where I am worldwise. Also another question what is a Forest Dryad ” Hopefully this clears up my question a bit, and does she mean a Dryad like the nature tree people? “I am sorry I do not know what this world is called, all I know is what this village’s name is and what the Dryad Forest’s name is. You may hit me if you want. The Forest Dryad is the evolved version of a regular Dryad. They are the size of a forest and have massive elemental power.” Robin immediately bowed her head ready for a blow after she said that.

“Robin I will not hit you, and I am not disgusted by you. Thank you for the information you have given me. Also is there something we can do for the wound on your head, it is still bleeding slightly and I wouldn’t want there to be a scar on your face.” There is a dried and fresh blood collecting on the side of her head.

There was a ton of new information for me to think about now, but two things especially caught my interest. One there are tons of different races on this world than on ‘Earth’. I can guess from how Robin stated the information about the Dryad, there are tons of races that I have never seen before living in this world. Two is the words elemental power, Reline also said those words about me. Now Robin is mentioning them and from the context it sounds like they are powers to control elemental. Reline mentioned it when I talked about the sensation to move the earth and now Robin when explaining how powerful the Forest Dryad is.

“Thank you for not punishing me. You are welcome, I can heal my wounds with my element, as you heard before I have witch blood. This means that I can use every element to a certain degree.” Wow, Robin is something so special, shouldn’t her race be treating her the complete opposite of how they do? “I have another two questions, one could you explain to me what element power is. And two being a witch sounds like something special shouldn’t you be treated highly instead of how you are currently?”

“I can answer both of those questions, elemental power is your ability to use 1 or more of the six elements. The six elements are fire, water, earth, air, light, and darkness these six elements each have their own characteristics also. You can absorb one of the elements to gain their characteristics and powers. When you start absorbing one element it makes it a lot tougher to absorb a different type of element. Going by what you said earlier you have good compatibility with the earth element. The more you practice and absorb your certain element the stronger your elemental power grows. To heal my head I will have to use the light element, I have practiced enough to be able to heal cuts such as these. To explain why I am treated as such you must understand two things. One humans are hated by all of are dragon clan, even the ones that have more human-like features. Though this I believe is born purely out of misplaced anger and contempt. Two while witches do have the unique ability to become proficient at all elements, they are also considered a cursed existence. As I am a combination of both I am considered trash.”

Once again way too much information, ok so you have six elements. You can absorb each element, got to learn how to do that later. You can absorb more than one but it's hard to do, and since Robin is a witch, who are apparently cursed, she can. I think that was about it. “Then why don’t you just leave or fight back? Ah, first please heal yourself.” I don’t need to see her bleeding anymore and it will be nice to see how others use their elemental powers.

“If I tried to leave I would have zero chance in the forest, I also have no idea where anyone village is. As for fighting back, Reline is a salamander, an evolved lizardman. This makes her many times stronger than any of the people in this village.” As Robin was saying that she placed her hand on the side of her head where the wound was and a yellow glow happened in her palm. After a few seconds she moved her hand down to her lip and held it there for a bit. Afterwards both the bloody lip and the gash on the side of her head were completely healed.

“That is amazing!” I wish I had the light element, the fact she can make those kind of wounds just disappear is crazy! “Yes Reline is quite amazing.”

“No, not Reline, you! I have never seen something so pretty and spectacular!” This girl needs to be free from this place. “Robin, if you had the ability to leave would you?” I want to take her away from here, she needs to learn that she isn’t trash. “Thank you, and no I would not leave, not unless Reline allowed me to.” Her thank you came as a surprise to me as she looked almost happy for a second. But her answer to my question killed my spirit, Reline has too much of a mental control on her. Though I wonder if I can get Reline to let her leave.

Oh man I am getting pretty sleepy now, I guess it's about time to sleep. Pulling my tarp and sleeping bag out of my bag, I laid them down on the dirt instead of the stick mat as that would probably do more harm than good. Looking up I see Robin just watching me. “Do you have somewhere to sleep?” Hmm did that sounds creepy? Maybe, but based on her situation I don’t think it was wrong to ask that.

“I was told to take care of you so I will sleep here, I am used to this so do not be concerned.” Robin proceed to curl up in a fetal position and lean against one of the walls of the shack. “No no, come here you can use this, it is not the warmest but it is definitely better than sleeping like that.” I hold out my summer insert sleeping bag and tell her to come sleep on the tarp. Robin comes over and copies me in how I am currently using my sleeping bag. “Good night, Robin” Feels a bit weird to say that to someone you only just met, but better to show her kindness that be anything like the people of this village.

“Thank you John, and safe night.” holy fuck! She smiled!