Raijens heart was pounding in his ears with the stomach-knotting into a small tight ball of anxiety and fear.

What the hell do I do? Where do I go from here?

The sun was crossing the peaks of the mountain and the city started to come to life. Having no clear direction where to go, Raijen was lost, unable to get any bearing in the maze of tightly packed houses.

Some women gave him a look when he crossed their doors as if he was lost child, men mostly ignored him going about their business of opening stores and craft shops.

With each hour of aimlessly wandering around the streets, Raijen knew his time was running out, yet at the same time, strange calmness started to take over.

Whoud they even care? One less child between the dozens, one less mouth to feed, they wanted to get rid of the weak ones and keep the strong anyway. I’m always the weakest and slowest.

Stopping in the middle of the plaza his legs carried him to, without realizing he noticed people giving him strange looks as if he was an anomaly in their daily lives.

They have never seen me before!

Realizing his mistake Raijen frantically looked around for the nearest alley, the darkest shadow, only to spot a man in the armor five steps behind him with a spear in hand and smirk on his lips as he neared Raijen.

Turning around in an attempt to run his legs gave out and Raijen fell on the paved road, bruising his legs and palms as he let out a frustrated growl. Laughter accompanied his body getting lighter, as someone lifted him up by his dark brown hair.

“So you are the little shit who ran away? I wonder what reward do I get from the freaks when I bring you back.”

Squeezing his eyes because of the pain he flailed and kicked around feeling his bare feet connect with the man's chest, throwing them both off balance. His back connected with the paved ground again in a spike of pain, but this time Raijen forced himself on his legs, turning to the right he ran for the buildings.

“Stop right there you little… ”

Choosing the street next to the bakery, Raijen ran into the dark alley next to it, hearing the shouts behind him, his eyes searched for an opportunity to hide. There were no doors, only windows on the second floor, too difficult to climb up.

He didn’t have time nor strength for climbing, turning left corner his heart sunk. Wooden cart covered with rags of torn fabric blocked his way, deciding to run for it anyway, in hopes of getting around it when he was close enough.

I should be able to get under it with this body or slide around the sides.

With a small smirk, he was just about to duck under the cart when in the corner of his eyes something moved. Spinning on his right leg his side crushed into the hardwood, just as the sword swung in the air missing his head. Groaning in pain Raijen looked at the men in front of him.

What the fuck!

His shoulders started to shake, as he was staring into the red eyes of a man covered in tattoos emitting slight blue light. His guts clenched together in the fear of death that was sure to follow the bald men's next swing.

Unexplainable terror assaulted his senses as he stared at the blue light, his thoughts steering into darkness tainted by blue mist. His pants started to feel wet as his knees shook with fright and almost gave in.

Help me! Somebody, please help me!

Sound of the whistle pierced the silence in Raijens mind, looking to the side he saw the guard from before, holding his spear pointed at the men, whistle tied around his neck now in his mouth sounding another alarm. The men were shaking, his spear didn’t point straight as if it was too heavy, his eyes focused on Raijens for a brief moment.

“Run you little shit, that one is mine.”

I will die if I move you bastard! And it is all your fucking fault for pursuing me this far in the first place!

When he saw Raijen not moving his eyes shifted back to the tattoed men.

“For fuck's sake, did you piss yourself already? How low did the Nolag Bal fall, to enslave little kids this time? Are all those tattoos even real?”

Stopping him midsentence another voice rang from behind the bald men. The other men were smaller, yet his shoulders were as broad and powerful as the first one. He pushed his long black hair full of grease and sweat from his forehead squinting in the light.

“What are you doing, kill the guard, he called for the help, reinforcements will be here soon. We need to ditch the cargo.”

Raijen dropped on his knees and rolled to the side to get under the cart, his eyes fell on the hand with a green skin hanging from the bottom of the cart. The sight of it was so surprising that he couldn’t stop staring at the muscled hand until his body was jerked back and his head rattled against the wood.

Deliriously staring at the sky in the narrow street he could only hear the shouts and the steel clashing against one another.

I need to get up, the masters would never let us lay on the ground for so long.

More shouts echoed in the street as new bodies blocked the light and joined what had to be one-sided slaughter. Raijen didn’t look, he couldn’t, too afraid to lose himself again he searched for the escape.

The nearest possible place was the doors from which the other men emerged, knowing it was the worst way to go, yet staying on the street promised certain death.

Crawling on his knees and hands Raijen neared the doors, when he saw ahead with the long hair fell next to him, staring emptily in his eyes, Raijen pushed his legs under his belly and jumped inside of the building.

Bruising his side he looked around the room, his stomach turned over and he retched across the blood splattered floor. Skulls bigger than those of humans, some with tusks, some with sharp animal teeth yet still humanoid were laying on the table.

Over the walls were layers of green skin and furs arranged in different patterns, tainted by new blood drizzling to the ground, turning green or blue.

Whine escaped his lips as his hands locked around his body in a hug, his heart was ramming against his chest, his shoulders shaking. All the smells made his head throb at the temples and Raijens mind went into chaos, images flashing behind his eyes in spirals and swirls of black and red, unable to make a coherent decision he stayed still.

If I can’t see them, they can’t see me right? Just stay still, like a tree in the woods, like a stone in the mountains. Just stay still and they won’t find you. The masters know better than you right, just follow the orders, just obey and everything will work for you. I’m a good kid, I’m a good student, I can do this.

“Soon the masters will come, they will announce the new exercise and we will all move on. Right?”

Turning his head to the side, there were no others, just a dead face of a mouse on the human-sized body. Tears burst into his eyes and his voice cracked.

“This doesn’t make any fucking sense, I can’t die here, I have gone too far to die here.”

Relief comes to him, as a familiar voice which normally unsettled him, spoke the words of promise.

“And who are you to decide that?”

Turning around he saw the adept, draper, relief flooded his body in a way that was not possible with the men so close to him. Raijens vision focused on him, refusing to stray from the sight of the hunched men. In a hand at his side was a short sword dripping red blood on the floor

Raijen saw the draper move near him but was unable to move.

“What a disappointment, first to move over the wall after years and running into sight like this in the first couple of hours. I’m not quite sure if this is a failure or not?”

Failure? What does he mean by failure?

“Well, you did find this place. Nolag Bal's cult in the mountain city. Who would have thought they could do it alone.”

Looking at Raijen the draper squatted down, pointing his sword behind the boy.

“No they couldn't, you see, someone helped them. Someone from the inside showed them this place. You might be wondering why am I even telling you all of this, or maybe better question, why are you still even alive?”

“I might be useful to you.”

“So you do talk outside of your head as well boy. And here I was thinking you will never open your mouth. Yes, you can be useful, but not the way you think.”

Raising up the draper pulled Raijen on his feet.

“You succeeded, and if you are at least as smart as you are good at hiding it, you will not ask questions after today.”

Before Raijen could open his mouth the pommel of the sword connected with his nose pushing him into the darkness.