**

-Cave of Moss-

Pohaku had just left the cave to search for water. While the Onion Golem left the cave of moss, Makani stayed in the cave to think about what to do with his injuries. Even if he tried to leave the cave he wouldn't get far due to the pain. But the thought of outside made him curious, so he decided to stand up to try to get a view outside of the cave.

Makani struggled to stand as he endured the pain from the deep wound that he had received from the canine like holos, he began to slowly walk towards the entrance of the moss covered cave with pained expression on his face. He noticed that the pain from his back became more intense as the days passed and the thought of considering taking a pinch of the white moss called 'Ki' became very tempting.

But the consequences of taking 'Ki' was something he definitely didn't want. If he took the white moss called 'Ki' his injuries would definitely disappear. But at the cost of 10 years of his life which was something Makani will not sacrifice.

If only there was something that he could do heal himself. Then suddenly he remembered buying a particular book. Makani looked at his finger and realizes that his Dimension Storage ring is missing.

"Where is it?!"

Makani instantly got down on his knees and frantically began to look for his DS ring among the over grown moss on the ground. He couldn't believe that he lost something that's so precious and valuable to him.

The ring is very significant to Makani because it belonged to his mother, but other than that practically everything he had in his possession is inside the ring. Even his adventurer's card is stored in the dimension storage ring.

While he desperately searched for his ring the sounds of footsteps could be heard from the entrance of the cave. Makani instantly thought it was Pohaku that was walking into the cave but when turned around.

*CRACK!*

A blunt hard object hit Makani in the back of the head and caused him to be knocked out unconscious. The large lizard like demi-human looked down on Makani.

"This human will fetch me a nice large pouch of coins."

The demi-human laughed then grinned as it showed its tiny sharp teeth. Behind the large demi-human is a small tiny feathered demi-human.

"I told ya Gin! I told ya I saw a human here!"

The feathered demi-human squawked enthusiastically.

"Shut it Tom!" Gin the large scaly demi-human hissed.

Tom began grinning and rubbing his hand together.

"Now that we caught him. We're going to split the profit right?"

Gin stared at Makani's body while Tom continued to chatter, he noticed the large deep cut on his back.

"I'll give you ten percent as a finder's fee. I don't think we'll be able to get much by selling this human because he's injured."

The large scaly demi-human grabbed Makani's body and placed him over his shoulder.

"Lets leave this cave before it gets dark. If we can heal him before we sell him, then we might get a very nice price for him."

**

-Cave of Moss-

Puhaku returned to the cave of moss after an hour and failed to retrieve water for its master. It stepped into the cave and noticed that there are footprints that its never seen before. As it continued to walk inside, he noticed more of the strange looking footprints and Makani was nowhere to be found.

Pohaku searched the cave for its master and as he looked to see if his master was in another area of the cave, it noticed a patch of moss was covered in blood. The onion golem went down on on his knee to observe the blood. Moments later while it was observing the area, in another area not so far from the blood covered moss, Pohaku could see something shining that attracted its attention.

Pohaku stood up to go look and see what it was. As it got closer to the object, it became more visible. The object that attracted Pohaku was Makani's ring. Pohaku felt confused, this ring is its master's most precious possession. Finding the ring on ground as well as the patch of blood made Pohaku worry that something might have happened to his master.

Pohaku grabbed his master's DS ring on the ground and left the cave of moss to search for Makani.

**

-Jagged town-

In a massive stone citadel town built into the steep mountains. Gin the giant lizard like demi-human is carrying Makani over his shoulder. Jagged town is one of the many demi-human towns that are in the kingdom of Komohana. Adventurers, traders, and slavers of various race other than humans come here to sell or buy many accommodations.

The always lively town would always have merchant class demi-human adventurers trying to bargain many things so that they could sell it to another town or city for a big profit. Makani woke up after hearing the loud chattering from the surroundings. As he awoken he realized that his hands and legs were bounded.

Makani remembered being hit by a blunt object then passing out. As he struggled he can feel the pain in his back felt even more intense.

"Stop moving human or else." Warned the giant lizard.

"Or else what? Let me go!" Makani angrily replied.

Gin began to laugh after hearing Makani's order. "You're feisty one human. You'll make me lots of coins after I sell you."

"Sell me? From what I remember slavery is illegal in the kingdom of Akau!"

The giant lizard demi-human began to laugh harder.

"So that's where you're from. I'll make even more coins since you're from that kingdom."

Gin continued to laugh as he walked into the part of town where the auctioning of humans was occurring.

There in that area, a large stage stood and demi-humans of all sorts of races were eating, laughing, drinking and enjoying their time as they bid for the humans that are being featured on stage. Makani looked at the stage where every demi-human had their attention to and saw humans without clothes being treated like cattles on the stage.

The host of the stage is a goblin wearing a suit and a top hat. In his hand is a chain that led to a neck of a human. The human at the end of the chain is a large muscular male that seems to have no life in his eyes.

"This here human was bred just for hard labor! He's strong and will do anything you command him to do!"

From the side of the stage an old man with chains around his neck came out.

"The vendor who's selling this human is willing to demonstrate how strong this human is!"

The goblin with the top hat began to whisper orders to the human on the stage. Then suddenly the human in chains grabbed the old man's head began to crush his skull until the old man's skull concaved. The old man's eyes popped out as his skull is crushed. Blood and other fluids from the old man's skull splattered everywhere on the stage and into the cheering crowd. The goblin wearing the top hat then turned to the crown with a smug look on his face.

"Now lets start the bid with 100 gold coins!"

"200 gold coins!" screamed a demi-human in the crowd. Then a surge of offers began for the human in the stage. All who witnessed the demonstration wanted to buy him.

"3000 gold coins!" a mysterious voice shouted from the back.

The crowd in the auction gasped at the offer. 3,000 gold coins was the highest in history of the slave market for a human to be bought. The host of the auction was in shock and was a bit choked up that he paused. Seconds later he came into his senses and began the count down.

"3,000 gold coins! Going once! Twice! Three times for those willing?!"

No one in the crowd attempted to out bid the large amount of gold that has been offered. The amount of gold could buy more than several slaves of good quality.

"Sold!"

The crowd to whisper to one another as they try to figure out who had bought the slave. While the human slave who had been sold exited the stage, the host of the stage smile at crowd.

"Now ladies and gentlemen while we process this transaction we have a special show for you!"

Several naked humans came out of the side of the stage. Each of them had weapons in their hand and their faces looked terrified. Each of the human had been covered in different colors of paint for some particular reason. The host began to explain the show.

"These humans will battle one another to the death! The victor will receive their freedom!" The host smiled sinisterly

The several naked looked at each other after hearing that their freedom will be the reward if one of them survives. In an instant the humans on the stage violently began to attack each other.

The crowd wildly cheered as the brutal fight for their freedom occurred. Moments later a winner had emerged from the fight. A woman doused in green fell on her knees and began to weep as she won the fight against the other several slaves.

Makani who's been watching the whole thing was speechless at what he had just witnessed. Then from behind the woman the host of the stage is carrying a huge mallet over his shoulder as if he's about to swing.

The crowd began to laugh and shout.

"Do it!"

"Do it!"

"Do it!"

Then in an instant the giant mallet slammed on the woman smashing her entire body. The crowd wildly cheered and laughed. Makani became enranged and began to shout.

"You monsters! You're all worst than holos!"

Makani's words were silenced by the laughter and clapping of the crowds. Hatred filled Makani as tears fell from his eyes. The harsh reality outside of the kingdom of Akau is horrible. To think that the human race outside of Akau is treated like play things.

Makani's body temperature began to rise to a dangerous level. Moments later as he struggled and attempted to escape from the large lizard demi-human, he fainted due to over excreting his already weakened body.

**

Hours later in a clear moonlit night, Makani woke up inside a small cage naked. He looked around and saw many other humans like him but they were old and looked as if they've given up on life. Across from his cage is a pretty faced girl around Makani's age is weeping. As she cried a goblin walking by began kicking her cage.

"Shut it!! If you continue to cry I'll give you something worst to cry about."

Makani stared down the goblin and the goblin noticed that Makani was intently staring at him.

"You! You got a problem? That owner of yours said you'd be a problem. To think that he decided to sell you to us injured. Good thing our boss had extra potions or else you wouldn't be worth that much injured."

Makani used his hand to feel the large wound on his back. What was a deep long wound on his back is now a scar. The goblin stared at Makani and laughed.

"You have a large scar on your back. I'll call you Scar from now on!"

After making fun of Makani, the goblin walked away feeling amused. The girl across from Makani looked at him. Her deep blue eyes and pretty face caused Makani to gawk at her.

"Did it hurt?" asked the girl across from her.

"Did what hurt?" asked Makani.

The girl blew strands of her purple hair away from her face and gestured on her back.

"The wound on your back."

Makani's mouth tightly moved to the side.

"It did hurt. It was very painful but now I'm okay. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." The girl across from Makani nodded.

"What's your name?"

The purple haired girl looked down on the ground beneath her cage.

"My name is Lele."

Makani was curious about the girl and why she was crying. Out of curiosity he asked.

"Why were you crying Lele?"

"My mom, she never came back from the stage. She told me if she was bought she'll come back here to see me again. But she never returned!"

Tears fell Lele's eys into he porcelain skin. Seeing her sad made Makani depressed and at the same time infuriated him. Makani decided to try something so that he could escape from the cramped up cage that he's in. Using his [Earth Manipulation ability] Makani began controlling the ground beneath him.

A small portion of the ground began to rise up slowly. Then after it rose high enough that it surrounded the cage. Makani he controlled the ground around him so that the cage would open.

*CLANK!!*

The cage broke opened and Makani moved out of the small cage. Lele who's across from her covered her mouth from surprise.

"Are you a magician?!"

Makani gave Lele a weird look and began using his [Earth Manipulation ability] to open her cage. Later after opening Lele's cage, Makani noticed that using his [Earth Manipulation ability] made him tired. Its as if he's been sapped of his energy.

Makani helped Lele out of the cage that's shes in.

"Its time to leave."

Then all of a sudden the goblin who was roving around earlier surprised them and snatched Lele by the neck.

"No one is leaving!"

Lele tried to escape the goblin's clutch but the goblin was too strong for her. The goblin began to laugh as he put his arm around Lele's neck.

"So you know magik!? The boss will be able to sell you at a higher price!"

Makani's eyes looked at the laughing goblin with eternal hatred. Since it seems like the goblin has a very tough physique, Makani didn't want to attempt fighting him with hand to hand combat. With out a weapon of some sort there was no way he would be able to defeat the goblin.

Then an idea came to mind. Using his [Earth Manipulation ability], Makani made the ground swallow the goblin's foot. He then turned the ground into stone. The goblin was surprised that both his foot is stuck.

"Whats this?!"

After Makani turned the ground into stone. Another idea came to mind, using his ability he slowly raised the ground beneath the goblin and it formed into a spike. As it continue to rise the goblin released Lele form his hold so that he could try to break his legs free with his hands.

Preoccupied with trying to break both his foot free from the ground, the goblin didn't notice the spike that was slowly rising up from the ground. Makani grabbed Lele's hand and started to run. As they both ran, the goblin began to scream as the spike began to pierce through him. Moments later, the screaming stopped and the goblins that owned that slave auction rallied to search for Makani and Lele.

**

-Outskirt of Jagged town-

After over several hours of searching, Pohaku found a fortified town made entirely of stone. Pohaku stood from high above the mountain and observed the town. The onion golem hopes that the town will have some clues about his master.

Since there were no other places nearby the rocky mountainous areas. This town would be Pohaku's best bet on finding Makani. As Pohaku observed the town, it noticed that there's a huge group with torches moving around as if they're looking for someone.

Pohaku jumped off the cliff from where it stood and ran to the town in hopes of finally finding Makani.

**