The ringing sound slowly faded out as Ka’ began to wake up. The sound of stirring waves replaced the sharp noise as a swaying sensation embraced him.

  Whe…Where am I?

  He carefully opened his eyes. He was surrounded by an all-consuming and complete darkness. Waves echoed intermittently in the background as he felt himself subtly swaying - as if the ground he lay on was unsteady and moving.

  He could feel his body pressed against a hard surface, though the lack of light kept him from knowing what it was. The smell of saltwater and sweat filled the air, but a phantom burning smell lingered in his nose.

  After a few moments, he shook the phantom away as his eyes adjusted, and he could make out a few silhouettes around him. Some lay stretched on the ground, their shoulders moving faintly with each breath being the only sign they were alive. Others were curled into tight balls, pressed against the four-walled edges of the space.

  Are we in some kind of box?

  “Hello?”

  Ka’ spoke in one of the village’s languages, hoping there was someone who understood him. Whether the others didn’t share the tongue or were too afraid to speak, only the broken silence replied. He was about to try another language when a sharp pain shot through him from the side of his head.

  Instantly, the darkness before him was replaced with blood-soaked grass and piles of corpses. He crashed against the wall behind him. The darkness returned.

  Panting heavily, he tried taking a few slow, deep breaths. He suddenly felt the space was a lot smaller than before. Only then did it dawn on him that he was trapped.

  Trying to focus on something else, he realised that he felt more familiar with waking up in a strange place than he would like to admit. Before he finished calming down, he tried to remember what happened.

  A sudden whirlwind of memories scattered through his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. Instantly, the ringing returned with vengeance. A sudden, intense headache threatened to crack his skull in half.

  Don’t think!

  Nearly ten minutes later, with cold sweat dripping down his back, the pain finally subsided. He reopened his eyes, lowered his hands to his chest, and forced slow breaths to emerge.

  Quick summary.

  No idea where I am, remembering causes pain, and I can’t see anything beyond a vague silhouette.

  … What now?

  Unsure of what to do, Ka’ remained silent in the dark.

  He sat there as the people around him slowly began to wake up, each one as scared and nervous as he had first been. A few called out in several different languages, but he didn’t understand any of them, so he stayed silent. He should have said something.

  Time passed. Everyone was waiting. The noise of the shifting waves was the only thing that broke their collective silence.

  During this time, a few memories began to appear.

  He heard the crunching of his shoulder hitting the door. He began to smell the charred wood of his burning village. The eyes of a woman looking at him for desperate help as she lay inside her home while-

  -nausea rose to his throat.

  His shoulders shaking, Ka’ understood what happened. They had been kidnapped. He realised that they were being transported somewhere. He also understood that they had all been in that village for far longer than he—or anyone—could remember.

  He didn't know why, nor how long he had been there. All he had were broken fragments of forgotten days.

  More than the kidnapping, that realization weighed heavily on his mind. He didn’t want to think about it.

  He needed time to organise his thoughts. Pulling his knees tightly to his chest, fingers sinking into his calves, he buried his face into his knees.

  The dark didn't feel as scary.

  Only the things that came with it.

  ***

  It took several hours for the first light to appear. The sunrise slowly emerged, shining a deep red light through the few gaps in the wall and providing a faint light into the space. Although dim, Ka’ and the other captives were finally able to see their surroundings as more than silhouettes.

  He didn’t recognise any of them.

  One man rubbed the back of his neck repeatedly, muttering under his breath, while another hugged his knees and rocked slightly. A woman pressed her cheek against the wall, eyes squeezed shut, as if trying to make herself disappear.

  They were all in a small wooden box, too small for them to fully stand up in, but long and wide enough for the nearly-a-dozen villagers to each sit down and leave some space between them. Though with how everyone seemed to want to bunch up against the wall in as tight a ball as they could manage, it was not that surprising.

  At least we can finally see now.

  The added light slightly improved the group's mood, but not enough for anyone to start talking. He looked around at each person, noting the despair or fear that seemed to stain all their expressions. The faint light added a sickly and heavy atmosphere to the room, casting shadows over every face. One woman, who was leaning away from the light, had her entire face shrouded in darkness, making her expression unreadable.

  He doubted her mood was any different from the rest of them.

  Six men, three women. None of the women are overly pretty, and the men all seem either weak or have an injury. Resistance would be pointless.

  Did they split us up into different boxes, or is this everyone who's left?

  He hoped this wasn’t all of them. He wondered about the others, curious if they had managed to survive the night. The slowly passing time did little to ease his concerns. Memories of faceless corpses drifted in his mind, each one subtly overlapping with whoever he thought about.

  The woman he first met in the centre - Likely dead.

  The brute who had saved him - He remembered seeing him face down.

  Olthello…

  He was gone.

  Soon, realising that he wouldn’t get any more answers, and that his memory was growing more and more unreliable, he decided to focus on his next steps.

  However, the grim reality remained. People who would kill to capture them did so without concern for their care or survival. That thought only worsened his mood.

  I need to get away.

  The first chance I get, I have to run.

  He looked at the corners and edges of the room, observing the surface for any gaps or flaws that he might be able to use to escape. His chest tightened as time passed, and he didn’t find anything beyond a few cracks for the blood-coloured light to sneak through. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could use, no tool or weakness he could latch onto and hope to escape.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  So he just sat there in silence.

  And waited.

  Several hours later, the sounds of the soft waves finally went silent.

  ***

  “Am Anai ???’a. Bv’a’a mne hep ta’takn!”

  The loud call of one of their captors shattered the group’s silence. Several heads turned to the voice, while others didn’t move, either resigned to what was to come or simply not caring. Ka’ wasn’t sure which was worse, but he noted who among the ten still seemed to have some life in their eyes.

  Four of nine. Not the best, but not the worst either.

  “So’o’so m?’a ta’m’n? n?’nan’et.”

  Another voice called out in response to the first. The two then began conversing as their voices grew louder, as if approaching. Soon, the sound of their footsteps appeared. They were getting close.

  Then they went silent.

  Ka’ felt his heartbeat increase as he stared at the wall where the sound had come from. The silence lasted a few seconds, barely enough time for a few of the captives to mumble under their breaths. He exchanged glances with a man opposite him. Was he thinking the same thing?

  Suddenly, the walls on Ka's right made a clanking noise. It slid to one side. The harsh daylight burst through, causing several people to cover their eyes or look away.

  What’s going on?

  Ka’ struggled to open his eyes. A burning pain behind his eyes signalled the onset of another painful headache. Memories reemerged behind his eyes. The fire. The pain. The guilt. He blinked through it as he forced himself to stare at the new exit. It was bright.

  As the light faded, and his eyes adjusted to the new brightness, he caught the silhouette of a large hand reaching toward him. Scar-infested and with the index finger half-missing, it grew larger and larger in his vision.

  The image of his attacker from the night before flashed through his mind. He felt his legs lock. His heartbeat screamed into his ear.

  Not again! Move. MOVE!

  He stared in silence. The looming figure grew closer, dipping below his eyeline once it was close enough and wrapping firmly around his wrist. He didn’t resist.

  Then another hand emerged. It pulled his hands together and proceeded to bind them together with a yellowy-brown, old, and frayed rope.

  Two large silhouettes then glided past him. Satisfied that he was now bound, they approached another from the group.

  Coward.

  Ka’ stared at the binding around his wrists. Confused, his mind filled with thoughts as his heart refused to calm down. His head snapped to the side as he reacted to a woman’s scream.

  He saw two of the raiders looming over a woman. One of them held a long bundle of rope that connected to another prisoner and then to him. The other was trying to grab hold of a woman who was kicking him as she pushed back further into their holding.

  He recognised the look in her eye. He had seen another woman with that look before. Back then, he chose to-

  Guilt hammered at his stomach as he cast his gaze down.

  “Ah! Neh’ha s?’et!” The man who had been kicked gasped in pain. He raised his hand. Then brought it down sharply against the side of her face as he screamed in fury. His attack caused her head to crash against the floor before colliding against the wall.

  She lay there motionless.

  Everyone went silent as the girl lay unconscious.

  Still enraged, the brute drove his shoe into her stomach. He kicked her over and over, his colleague stepping forward to grab his shoulder in protest. He said something that calmed the angry man down, but the man still looked furious.

  Spitting on the girl, he bent down to pull her arms up so they could tie them together. The angry man threw them back down once finished before continuing to bind everyone with the long rope.

  Nobody else resisted.

  Nobody dared. If the pungent smell of blood wasn’t enough of a warning, the man’s expression was.

  Once they were done, the man who held the rope returned to Ka’Tehmn, grabbed his knotted wrists, and led him outside. Before he stepped outside, Ka' turned his head to glimpse the two captives closest to the still unconscious woman, each taking a shoulder as they tried to carry her weight.

  The guilt at feeling relieved it wasn't him didn't leave. It only grew heavier in his stomach.

  The moment he stepped outside, the smell of the saltwater punched him in the face. Sweat and ocean mixed into a horrendous concoction. Shaking his head, he tried to focus, ignoring the gagging sound coming from behind.

  Ka’ confirmed his suspicions that they were on a boat when he saw the large sail. Unlike the boat-bed he had in the village, this one was easily dozens of people long, and wide enough for two men to walk on either side of their wooden box-prison with ease.

  Much like the rope tied around his wrists, the ship had an aged and used appearance. Frayed ropes hung on the sides, miscoloured patches were sewn into the large sail, and broken planks of wood stuck out from the floor. However, the worst part was the unmistakable smell of spoiled fish that clung to everything.

  Portside, the ship had a view of the vast ocean and overcast skies. Starboard side, the ship was tied to a half-destroyed pier – one that barely reached a few steps beyond the rocky ground. A large, yellow cliff face blocked off any views of the land, save for a single set of carved stairs that ran along the side and up.

  They emerged portside and were quickly moved around the rear of the ship and up the starboard to disembark via a thin wooden ladder. Ka’s trepidation only grew when the raider pulling him along stepped on the board, causing a deep creaking to be emitted that only grew louder once Ka’ added his weight. He had the impression that he shouldn’t waste time.

  Rushing down, he soon reached the ground at the bottom of the cliff.

  Hot!

  As soon as his exposed feet touched the sandstone rock, they began to hurt. Ignoring his discomfort, or just unaware, his captor continued to drag him forward. Step by burning step, they approached the towering cliff wall.

  Now closer, Ka could make out more details on the cliff steps. On the vertical side of each step was a carving of a bird and a spider. Each step had them doing something different. It started with them chasing a boat, then climbing a mountain, progressing to travelling across a barren wasteland; each step up adding to the story of the two creatures.

  Ka’ watched as the story progressed, focusing on what was in front of him rather than the open drop next to him. He had no doubts about surviving the fall, but tried very hard not to think about it. By the time he was halfway up the tall cliff, the story of the two creatures began to include more figures.

  Is that supposed to be a person?

  A small group of stick-like figures appeared by the two creatures, only much smaller. Ka’Tehmn’s gaze lingered a breath too long on the carved steps, studying the mural of the human figures as they bowed to the creatures far bigger than them.

  So, they were some kind of giant animal.

  Do creatures like that actually exist here?

  The raider pulled him sharply. His gaze flicked to the sheer drop as his knee collided with the stone edge and buckled. The raider had to grab him by the shoulder to prevent him from falling to his death. Ka’ could feel his heart beating so strongly that he could actually taste his own blood.

  It reminded him of Olthello.

  After being screamed at by the man in front, they continued up the steps, only slower than before. As they made their way further up the steps, the story of the two animals continued. They began to include the group of people. He watched as they fought a large battle against a storm. How they led an expedition or march, and finally, saw them build a new settlement for the people.

  The more he saw, the more an idea in the back of his head began to grow. At first, he didn’t notice it; however, as it grew and grew Ka’ began to suspect something.

  It couldn’t be…

  Unfortunately, before he could finish his thoughts or confirm his suspicions, they reached the top of the cliff. The story ended with the bird being worshipped while dragging a large ball behind it.

  The top of the cliff was a large open area, the same colour as the cliff. The cliff was high up and turned into a large, gradual hill that connected to a grassy area. In the distance, a wide river could be seen flowing from the front and connecting to the sea on the right through a flooded delta. Both of which spanned far beyond the horizon.

  Next to the head of the delta was a large walled city. It was too far away to make out any details beyond the yellowy-red walls and buildings. However, it clearly stood out from the vibrant green grass and shimmering blue waters surrounding it.

  “Ts? kep’ti huat p’ta hep man. ??nai sehaz?”

  A loud, gruff voice interrupted his thoughts as Ka’ turned to the side to see a man sitting on the front of a long, four-wheeled camel cart. The scraggy-looking man wore a dirty dress, similar to the type the captives were wearing, but with his arms covered in expensive jewellery and metal loops. His feet were bare but noticeably hairy.

  However, rather than the man Ka’ assumed to be a merchant, his focus was on the large animal in front of the cart. If that could be called an animal.

  A large body covered in rust-red fur - fur that shimmered between darker and lighter with the movement of its breath. Its coat stretched over its wide back and down its long, spindly limbs to its tipped feet. Its large head rested in front of its body on the warm ground, relaxed, as several abyss-coloured eyes stared unblinkingly at the twelve captives.

  Disturbed by the conversation between the two men, it slowly rose. Passing the height of their waists, shoulders, and head, it loomed over even the tallest man there. It stood proudly on its eight long legs.

  A wafting scent of blood erupted off the creature once it reached its full height. The faint wind caused its bristled fur to shimmer even more, almost hypnotising the transfixed captives. The smell brought back memories for all of them.

  Ka’ remembered the man’s shock as he pulled the knife out.

  Would he ever forget that moment?

  Or this one?

  The creature stared silently at the new arrivals, studying the fear on their faces.

  Ka’ suddenly understood why the people on the steps had been bowing in worship. There was only one reason why they would do so.

  As the creature drew in a long, slow breath, growing even larger, a fearful thought passed through Ka’Tehmn’s mind. A cold numbness spread throughout his entire body.

  The other captives beside him were shaking even more than he was, with the two men having dropped the unconscious girl and the raider at the rear having to stop the last person from stepping back over the edge.

  It looks hungry...