So, yeah just as a heads up, shit gets kind of dark here, it won't be the only time things get dark but I'm debating on how dark things might get. Some things may or may not go full grim dark.

Ch.3

Years had passed since Umiko had last seen the sapphire seas around her home on the island of Ashigawa. She had been one of many from her tribe who had been excited to see large many masted ships sailing upon the horizon towards their quiet fishing village. Normally they would bring items of great worth to trade from across the vast oceans, however these ships with their dark sails were unbeknownst to them an ill omen. Like many of her kin, renowned for their skills as divers and fisherman she swam out towards the boats carrying treasures to trade.

These were no tradesmen, these were slavers from the Arakhanian desert who sailed far and wide in search of valuable subjects. The dark skinned men shouted in a strange guttural language and beset upon the with weighted nets. She had been one of the many unlucky ones that day who had been caught by those coarse ropes and was dragged aboard. Even now she could easily remember how the ropes had rubbed her skin raw as she tried to struggle.

She had quickly learned that struggling was useless, once being dragged aboard they were beaten with wooden rods whether they resisted or not. Afterwards the were chained together with rough manacles and were forced down into the dark depts of the ship's hold. 

The conditions were horrible, wether it was the rats that came out at night and chewed what ever exposed flesh they could find. The constant pervasive odor of dozens of bodies from all manner of species crammed together like fish in a barrel. The howling wind of the open ocean, the constant pitching and rolling that caused many to empty their stomachs. Even the food was miserable, little more than stale hard bread and stagnant water. Many died from starvation or sickness, only to have their bodies dumped unceremoniously overboard.

Often her only comfort had been those of her own kin who had been caught alongside her, she had spent many nights weeping whilst cuddled together with others of her own kind.

Upon reaching shore, things had gotten better in some ways and worse in others.

They had been split up, and sold in lots to traveling slave caravans who bought in bulk to sell their wares further inland for a premium profit.

Although she was alone, her quality of food had improved, no longer was she shedding fur from malnutrition. Still the heat of the desert was far worse than the open sea had ever been, she was in a state of near constant dehydration until they finally left Arakhan and crossed the Arid wastes.

 It was there upon rolling fields of the central kingdoms that she had encountered her newest foe, winter. Never before had she encountered cold that could bite to the bone, such as when the crossed those knee deep snow drifts. Fortunately winter had given way to spring only three months into their journey where she had first lain eyes upon a human city.

The air here stank nearly as bad as the ship had, with the stench of manure, chimney smoke, and open sewers burning her sensitive nose. Worse still were the crowds of gawkers who had never before lain eyes upon demi-humans. There had been a few occasions where the caravan guards had to beat passerbys who had thrown stones at them. 

She hated it, she hated them, worst of all she hated herself for allowing this to happen.

"If only I had been more cautious, I would still be back home" she had often thought, berating herself over forces beyond her control.

It was in that city that she had bee. paraded around like livestock once more, her cheeks burning with engagement and impotent rage. She vaguely remembered being groped by a jiggling obese sack of flesh and raking his face with her claws. That had earned her another beating, but it was one she had taken with pride.

After that she had been sold at a discount to a shady man with beady eyes and a sneering face, along with other less desirable slaves. He had taken particular pleasure in abusing his merchandise, often tying their hands to trees when they stopped during the night where he would whip and violate them. He had tried it with her, and she gave him a set of scars to remember him by.

The night after that she had awoken to find that her hands and feet had been bound and he was on top of her. Even though he had gotten what he wanted in the end he had made serious mistake. While he was busy grunting and thrusting upon her his face had gotten a little to cole and she had bitten off part of his nose.

That had earned her many more beatings, but he never tried to violate her again.

He had sold her to her most recent owner, a rather irritated bandit who seemed desperate for coin. The poor bastard couldn't even afford a proper slave collar which would have bound her will to his. In that sense she was lucky, it also meant more beatings as she couldn't understand a word that came out of his mouth. The fool sounded like a barking dog to her, it was only upon being brought to the sea near a fishing village and being shown a pearl did she understand what he wanted.

It was almost a blessing after everything that had happened to her to feel the breeze and smell the salt in the air. She had broken down crying upon seeing the beautiful aqua marine water as it crashed upon the shore in rolling peaks of white. For a month or so she had been dragged down the coast from village to village diving for pearls in the dark depths.

For the first time in a long time she was well fed, being able to munch on oysters, crabs, and fish as she swam along the sea floor.

However deep down she was still boiling with rage, she wanted revenge on those who had wronged her, but most of all she wanted freedom. 

Umiko had finally saw that chance when she spotted an mangrove swamp in the distance, she knew that it would be easy enough for her to loose her captors in that dark swampy jungle. It had been so easy to fray the rope that they tied to her angle against the rocky bottom before chewing through the last of it's coarse fibers. From there she swam down the coast line until she was able to slip into the mangroves, unfortunately she had underestimated it's murky depths.

It was far darker than she was used to and it was hard for her to navigate the muddy water while swimming, more than one she brushed up against thorn bushes. Still she kept pushing forward, through exhaustion and into delirium. She was sure that she had brushed up against something poisonous once the fever began to set in and her muscles began to cramp up.

 Her body was bouncing back between burning hot and icy cold and her vision was swimming, out of reflex she gripped onto something that bumped into her latching her claws i to it. She was unsure of how long she had been there drifting in and out of consciousness before finally passing out.