In the darkness of the command room, Virin Keywater stood tall with a glass in his hand. He had just given a letter sealed with the emblem of Keywater to his son, Claus.

“I never expected this would happen so soon. Parrel needed to die for my plan to come to fruition, but how lucky,” he said out loud to himself and the convulsing mess of a woman who laid naked at his feet. With short black hair and a small nose, her name was Vela Aela. Yes, a name that was the source of bullying, but she took it in stride.  She molded her funny-sounding name into armor and embraced it.  

By using the power of Orieq, a Major God of Fire, Vela managed to rise through the military's ranks before finally getting a chance to prove herself to the Emperor. She joined the Imperial Guard at the age of 21, and six years later, she was the commander. It should’ve been something to be proud of. After all, the Imperial Guard was made up of the best of the best of the best.  

But now she realized that was a mistake.  

All of Vela's hard work and sacrifice led to her lying on the command center's floor with the thick white jelly of her emperor running out of her crotch. She had red hand marks around her throat from where she’d been choked. Her once pink and perky nipples and average-sized chest were abused enough to turn black with bruises and sagged, respectively. And that wasn’t the worst part. Claus, one of the newest recruits, saw her in such a vulnerable state. 

It wasn’t like she could refuse anymore. The first and only time she did, the emperor forced her down and ripped her clothes off before taking her virginity. When she started crying, she was rewarded with a punch to the face. When day finally broke, every hole on her body was defiled and covered in his scent. Like a defective doll, Vela could only lie there on the cold and filthy ground while her mind recessed to the darkest corners of her soul to protect itself.  

How could a wonderful dream end up a total nightmare? If I knew this would happen, I’d rather be a common whore than turn into a sick plaything for this disgusting man. How dare Keywater spread lies about the ‘glories’ of the Imperial Guard. It’s nothing but bullshit propaganda.   

“My dear, Commander, your Emperor commands you to clean him.” Virin reached down, grabbed her short brown hair with his large and rugged hands. Vela tensed up because she knew what was going to happen.  With a brutal yank, Virin pulled Vela's hair until her eyes were staring at the seven-and-a-half-inch appendage that, moments before, viciously rubbed her inner-most areas. The one-eyed monster, with its rugged, veiny appearance, had torn her maidenhood before she had to find her soulmate.

“You do know what would happen, right?” he squeezed tighter, and Vela screamed out. He took that opportunity to thrust his hips forward, gagging her with his flesh stick.

As he raped her throat and enjoyed the feeling of Vela's tongue uselessly fighting back, he thought about the trial that would soon be unlocked to him.  

That damn King of Lando doesn’t realize what power the Labyrinth holds. Soon, I’ll have the troubled soul to access it. Then true power will be mine! 

An electric shock of pleasure ran through his body as he forced Vela to drink his milk, his large hand squeezing Vela’s head tight enough to leave red marks. It was like she could feel her skull cracking.  

“Clean yourself,” he commanded as he tied his robe. It was green and brown with a tree stitched on the back. He threw his glass down and walked out of the door, leaving poor Vela alone with nothing but her shame and anger. She made a fist and punched her stomach over and over until greenish-white, thick vomit spewed from her throat. It was a puddle of liquid mixed with the bile from her stomach, and what remained of her dinner polluted the room. Vela coughed, and little spurts of white flew out and dripped down her chin to her injured nipples. Rage and hatred filled her yellow eyes.

“That shitty emperor… I’ll get my revenge…” 

She relied on her anger to stand up. After getting dressed, she limped her way to the nearest washroom. As she did, she thought back to that offer she received a few months ago.    

Maybe I should take it. I wonder how many I could get on my side. 

---

After I spoke aloud the words I needed to say to teleport, the modern base we spent so much time in training disappeared, and the beautiful night sky was above us. The smell of horse manure did flutter into my nose, but I had sufficient training to not cough in response.  

“I see the fire is still up,” Claus said as he yawned again. We both made our way back to the small building where we left Fisher, passing by numerous people with injuries. I really wanted to help them, but the city came first. Besides, their wounds didn’t look that bad.  

“Ah, you’re back?!” Fisher exclaimed as we entered the building. He stood up and sat down.

We took a seat, and Claus did most of the talking. “Our father appointed me as Governor and my sister as my Secretary. I assume that won’t be a problem?” 

“Not at all, Governor Claus," Fisher said.

“Nah, I don’t want to use our name. Someone might make a connection. I’ll be Blasé, and you’ll be Eina,” my brother said as he pointed to me.  

“You do know that those fake names are too close to our real ones, right?” 

“I do, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“That’s fine and all, but what should we do about this situation? We need to come up with a statement that makes our citizens feel safe,” I said to the new governor sitting beside me, and it sort of made me feel like a secretary.  

“Allow me to help,” Fisher said, finally adding to the conversation. “I used to help your brother when he had to make such things.” 

And so we debated amongst ourselves for close to fifteen minutes before we had an acceptable first draft we all agreed on. Suddenly, a messenger came running into the building. He was in full gear, so I couldn’t see his face.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but the domes have disappeared.  Smoke is still rising--"

“That’s normal,” I said, interrupting him. “The smoke should last for a while. I’d say it should be gone by noon or so.” 

Just then, a thought flew into my mind. “Claus, le—” 

“Blasé,” he corrected me.  

I sighed. I knew such an action was unbecoming of a member of the Imperial Guard, but I was stressed. And I knew that any member of the Imperial Guard was trained against sighing. I did. I really did, but the entire situation as a whole was almost too much for me to bear.  

But I sighed anyways.

“Blasé, should we go examine the sites?” 

“That sounds like a good idea, but what are you hoping to find.” 

“I don’t know, but as your secretary, we needed to find as much information as possible.” 

“That makes sense. Let’s go,” Claus stood up, followed by me. I looked back at Fisher, but he shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, but I have work to do here. I need to finish up the statement, and I’ll have it for you in the morning. But take this.” He reached in his pouch and handed me a small paper card. "That’s my pass. Anyone who holds it has the same level of authority I do. I don’t know if I said it before, but I’m the captain. I lead the city guard.” 

I thanked him and left with my brother. 

When we stepped outside, it took a bit longer than necessary for my eyes to adjust to the lack of three fire domes.  But when they adapted, my brother and I walked through the streets of the city we were to be responsible for. But even now, I don’t know why our father gave us this order, but I had to follow it.  More than that, I was determined to see it through.

“Do you think those freedom fighters were responsible for the attack?” my brother asked me when we turned a corner.  People of all kinds of races and ages were in the streets trying to find out what was going on. I imagine the sudden disappearance of those demon-like domes did more harm than good. Right now, the city didn’t need any more sudden surprises.

“That’s what I think. This isn't the first time we've encountered those bastards in a surprise location, but that was years ago on a different continent. No." Claus shook his head. "The freedom fighters don't have anything to do with this. Why else would they attack the markets? I imagine that they got the slaves out, but where did they take them?” After thinking for a moment, I finally responded.  

“I know what you mean. Let’s just say that each market had 50 slaves. That’s 150 that disappeared. From basically nowhere.” 

“The first thing that popped into my mind was a Mass Teleportation, but….” 

“I thought the same, but that doesn’t seem too feasible. Once you get more than ten people or so in a circle, it becomes too difficult. Hell, even you can only manage fifteen.” 

“It's possible if two people chanted together, but then their Blessed God needs to have the Concurrent Casting passive skill like we do,” I replied.

“Hey! Watch it!” A Dwarf I walked by turned to look at me, even though I clearly didn’t touch him. Maybe he wanted a reaction? If that was the case, he wasn’t getting it. I had more important things to do than kick a Dwarf's ass in the middle of the city. My brother and I kept on walking until we saw several guards blocking the street. 

“Sorry, but you gotta turn around,” a female guard said to me. She was shorter than I was and held a spear in her hand. I held out the card Fisher gave me, and we were allowed to pass without any trouble. But still, my brother and I received nasty stares, and I didn’t know why. Was it because we were strangers waving around a card that seemed to be important?  

“Eina, just ignore them, alright?” my brother said, and I nodded. We made our way through the gathering of guards that did nothing but stood around when we finally came upon the sight of the attack.

It was black and empty. Like someone took a pen and scribbled a giant hole where a market used to be.  

“Five city blocks?!” my brother exclaimed.  

Five entire city blocks used to stand right here, but now it was just a hole.  

“I don’t think we can learn anything from here,” I said out loud. “There's nothing left, not even ash. Don’t tell me the fire was that hot...?” 

“Eina. There are no bodies. No blood. Nothing.” 

“Of course, there are no corpses. The fire burned them.” 

“Don’t you realize it?! If this place was so important to the city as a source of income, wouldn’t there be powerful guards stationed here? Both inside and out. And I’d imagine they’d be trained to go call for help if things got too bad.”

It was then I realized what he was trying to say. Whoever attacked this place had enough power to completely massacre the guards inside. I mean, that had to be the truth. If it wasn’t, then we’d at least have a survivor to tell us what happened. Someone, ANYONE, had to have escaped. 

“I can see that you figured it out. But here’s this. What if it wasn’t a massive group like you said? Just think. How would a large group, with fifty or so slaves, make their way out of here?" my brother continued.

“I see what you’re saying, but I can’t believe it. Not even Veris could inflict this kind of damage by herself. Even if I helped out, together, we don’t have the firepower. But if we go by what you say, then are you saying that the two Earth Elves are responsible?” I asked. Of course, I already deducted that being the case, but I threw it out because I deemed it impossible. But was it really? 

“Come on, let’s walk to the other two sights, and I’ll explain what I think happened,” I followed my brother down a crowded alley. From seeing how far the smoke was, I’d say we had a few minutes of walking ahead of us. Of course, we’d be there instantly if we were allowed to fly, but the Commander told us to hide our strength.  

“What if they didn’t teleport?” my brother asked, beginning his obnoxious way of explaining things to me. He would ask a series of questions, and I was supposed to guess the answer, and in a way, it did help. But I didn’t like it, and he knew it too. Last time I asked why he did it this way, he just said he liked seeing me irritated. The dummy...

“Then they would’ve used the gates,” I replied.  

“True, but I highly doubt that. One: someone would’ve noticed a hundred or so slaves escaping. Two: the black bracelets would've gone off the moment the Slavemaster found out, but they didn’t. Three: some of the slaves they kept here were injured and couldn’t walk.” 

“Wait, how did you know that last part?” I asked.  

“I overheard two people talking. Sounded like they used to work in the markets but left for another job. They were discussing amongst themselves how this could’ve happened.” 

“Alright, so continue.” 

“Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. You say a small group can't be responsible for tonight's events, and I agree, but when you take everything together and really scrutinize the details, I have to disagree. If it was a large group, then they’d be seen going from market to market. But as we know, the only suspects we have are the two Earth Elves.” 

“And?” 

“I do believe a large group was involved, but I don’t they were responsible for the attacks. I think they were here to escort the slaves to a tunnel.” 

“Why a tunnel?” 

“Because going over the wall is too difficult, and you can’t sneak through a guarded gate with a hundred slaves. That left me with one option: a tunnel.” 

“But how would they dig a tunnel? Earth Elves are good with skills, but even then, to make a tunnel from here to the forest would take forever. Unless they had a couple of Dwarves?” 

My brother clicked his tongue. “Bingo!  As for the large group, I say they were in the city weeks or even months before tonight. They would need a large group to build the underground path, and people to escort the slaves from the market to their base where the tunnel was being built.” 

“Even if that was true, how would we explain the domes? And how would that explain what happened to our brother?” 

“If what I said before is correct, then I say maybe two or three strong and powerful skill users were responsible for the domes. As for our brother? I say that maybe he was their main target. Maybe the slaves were nothing but a side objective?” he said that, but I had a problem with that way of thinking.

“If the slaves were nothing more than a side project, then why go through the time to build the tunnel?” I asked him, challenging his deduction.

“Hmm…..” My brother put his hand to his chain and thought real hard. “What if I had it wrong and our brother was the side objective. I mean, think about it. What would he do when he saw a massive dome of fire appear in the city? In a market no less, where a good portion of the city’s money came from.” 

“He would send guards to try to put it out,” I answered. 

“Right, but when the second and third appeared, he would send more guards, right?” 

“Yeah. So how would Parrel be a side objective?” 

“What if the ones responsible for the domes beat the guards to get the Slavemaster's info before torching the place?” 

I shook my head. “That would only work if the Slavemaster is dead.” 

Suddenly, it clicks into my head.  

“Parrel was the Slavemaster?!” I exclaimed. We were still in public, and I couldn't believe I raised my voice high enough.  

“Shhhh!!!!” My brother put his hand to my mouth and covered it. “Remember your training, idiot!” 

Ashamed, I did nothing but nod my head.  

“But if that’s the truth, then why didn’t he activate the bracelets?” I said when my brother finally removed his hand. I internally gagged from the armor's awful taste, but I suppose that was my punishment for momentarily acting out of turn.

“Knowing him, he probably thought he could handle it. And I’d imagine he didn’t want to lose any of the money the city could’ve gained from the taxes when they were sold. When he realized he couldn’t handle it, he sent the command, but it didn’t work for some reason.” 

“The obvious answer would be that the slaves were out of range. The other option was that they were taken off somehow. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the bracelets didn’t activate,” I said. Whatever ended up happening to the bracelets didn't matter. Only the end result did.

“Realizing he’s the Slavemaster, the attackers then rushed to the mansion and killed him? But he had Albert. He was an adventurer, and he was in the same party as our father. Sure he was getting old, but he was still Rank 1!” 

“We have to assume that he died. Either in the fire or in combat. In that case, we have to accept that the one responsible for everything is at least Rank 1. Maybe even Rank 0, but I doubt that.  I don't think there are any Rank 0s alive."

My brother nodded. “I suppose that's one way to think about it, but... I highly doubt it. But hold on…. We agreed Parrel was the Slavemaster, right?” 

Though it seemed to me like Parrel was the Slavemaster, my heart was in pain. According to the church, slaves were a right for those who believed in the Heavens Above. I didn't like that. Not at all. There’s something wrong with taking a living, breathing person with emotions and treating them like an animal. Like they were nothing more than the bottom of my shoe when I stepped in mud.

I’ve experienced many things in the past ten years, and slavery and slaves were one of those things that I’ll never get used to. The sight of that little girl, who was starving and homeless, getting blown up just because she stole a single noodle left a deep scar on my conscience. The guards caught her, beat her, forced her to put on the bracelet, then sold her for cheap. Her new owner bought her and immediately activated the command because he wanted to see someone die. 

I really wanted to do something, but my brother stopped me. He whispered that he was angry and this wasn’t right, but we were on a quest from Warden. We couldn’t risk messing up and being fired. The one who bought her and sent the command to the bracelet was our client. We got there just in time, watching from the moment the poor girl stole food in plain sight. Gah, I remember getting to the inn and doing nothing but cry. I didn’t get any sleep that night because the nightmares were too vicious. That time of my life was...difficult, to say the least.

A part of my heart hoped that my brother didn’t believe Parrel was the Slavemaster, just like me. He didn't do it much, but Parrel used to play with us when we were younger. He didn't do it often, and that stopped after our exile, but if I had any pleasant memories, it was those playful times.

And I know that this way of thinking didn't make sense when I was comfortable when I found out the Commander was raped by our father. Maybe comfortable isn't the right word, but I know I'm a hypocrite.

I probably deserved to die for my way of thinking, and I won't deny it.

Hey, thinking on it now, maybe my heart was in too much pain? Perhaps I didn't have enough space left in it to be worried about everything? Did I have to pick and choose what to be sad about? Maybe, but I didn't know.

I had to keep this conversation going, so I nodded. My brother continued. “What if Parrel had slaves in his mansion? Wouldn’t it be against their objective to torch the building from the outside if that was the case? Then it’d be likely that they went inside and made their way to the holding cells or wherever he kept them.” 

“So let me see if I got this right. A group, a small group, went inside each of the markets, killed everyone, freed the slaves so that their other members could lead them to safety via a tunnel dug by Dwarves over a few months, then went to the mansion and kept fighting. Then they had enough stamina to defeat Albert, someone who traveled with our father in the prime of his life? Then that group freed the slaves and escaped?” I said, summing it all up.

“Pretty much. But if the slaves were on the bottom floor or so, that didn’t mean they fought Albert. But if they were being held near the top, then they’d have to be extremely strong to fight all throughout the night.” 

I could do nothing but gasp in disbelief. If we considered this to be the truth, then we were dealing with an elite group that’s incredibly strong.  

“Blasé, the conclusion we came to requires a large number of coincidences.” 

“All we have to do is find the tunnel. If it’s here, then all the pieces would fall into place.” 

“But even if you’re the Governor, you can’t demand that the homes of every Dwarf be searched! Besides, what if it wasn’t a home? I’d imagine having a large hole under your house would be inconvenient.  Think about the foundation.” 

“You’re right. That’s why when we get back to Fisher, I’m gonna ask him to get a group together to go ask questions. I’ll even put up a reward from the city’s treasury. If Parrel was smart, he would’ve set aside a large portion of treasure and money for such an emergency.  He wouldn't keep everything in a single location. Shit... I suppose anything he did have in the mansion's treasury has burned up. Can't really rely on it..."

“What questions?” I asked as we took a left, choosing to ignore Claus's comments about the money. The smoke was a few more blocks ahead of us.  

“I’ll have them ask if anyone was acting strange recently, or if they heard any loud noises, or there was a large group that always went somewhere together. People talk when they’re scared. And people talk even more when they have a chance to make some dupla.” 

“You’re right about that. It seems like everyone is only loyal to the coin these days,” I sighed as events over the past five years played through my mind. When we were fifteen, Claus and I joined Warden, and we learned firsthand how greedy people could be. We were betrayed two times before we finally said enough was enough. Since then, I could only trust him, and he could only trust me. Well, that wasn’t the entire truth. We still had Veris and Trerk, but we hadn't seen them in a couple of months.  

We made it to the right of the second attack. I was told from a nearby guard that three long and large metal buildings used to sit here. But now, there was nothing here. It was just a big black mark. Unlike the first market we saw, this one wasn’t exactly a hole in the ground, but I could see a few places where the soil looked like it was about to collapse. It wouldn't surprise me if it caved in after a few days.

From there, we went to the third market that got hit. And again, it was more of the same. No blood or bodies because of the fire and the only thing that was left was black ash. My brother and I could do nothing but stare silently. If the group responsible for this was, in fact, one or two or three people, then they’d most definitely be considered monsters. And although it was a long shot, it was possible for the ones responsible to still be in the city.  

We left and decided that now would be a good time to check on the mansion. Or rather, what’s left of it. The quickest way would be to retrace our steps and get on the main street. It had a path that led directly to the mansion, and that was what we did.