Darse being released from the well, crashed while falling against the walls of the passage, the loss of his wings sent a signal of pain that left his body stunned so he could barely react, after a few moments he finally leaves the passage and all that surrounds him is the sky, although it was still daytime, the temperature was low and Darse could only endure it while he was getting closer and closer to the clouds, His hands were shaking from the cold and his shortness of breath did not help to calm the precarious situation of his body, the seconds seemed to last much longer as the winds crashed against his body, to protect his mouth and nose to breathe, his ears were exposed and he could hear the gusts of wind crashing against his body, a few seconds later, he felt a little dizzy, the air was entering but the feeling of suffocation was getting worse, almost at the same moment he entered the clouds, he became unconscious.

 

Year 1189 since the end of the great alliances.

Dofias was a city-state located on the northeast coast of the lands of radiance, so called because many of the kingdoms believed in religions related to the gods of light. Dofias had a particularity regarding its location, it was founded in a land near the sea where in its beginnings its inhabitants could depend on the marine resources for their sustenance, as well as a surrounding land that allowed certain common crops, its harvests were not excessively abundant but allowed its people to prosper slowly, besides that located between the Luseus empire and the kingdom of Facarda, which did not have very good relations, it functioned as a point of commercial exchange of goods between these two regional powers, the most interesting thing is that Dofias was surrounded by dunes and deserts, expanding its constructions in the desert using the arable land only for small livestock and farms in addition to this surrounded by several oases allowed the transit of land caravans without many complications, therefore this city state prospered between these two beasts.

The religions of light are a set of cults to different gods, depending on each region, kingdom, city or even villages presented some differences in how they worshiped their gods or to whom they offered their prayers, in Dofias they worshiped the father of the sun, according to the priests, the light of the day that gives warmth and brings clarity to the minds of men comes from the sun that is also a god according to many, but in Dofias they believe that the sun has a father and simply call him God father, they thank him for bringing his son to illuminate their lands, it is a cultural phenomenon well received by its inhabitants that always since their ancestors have taken care of their elders as family leaders, recognizing the inheritance of knowledge that he brings to the younger generations, "without the care of the father, the son will not illuminate the path of anyone", so with this perspective a church was founded, the church of God father, in Dofias was very popular and well received by its inhabitants, even administering some orphanages, It was the responsibility of the father to take care of the children, some believed, many times within these orphans grew devout men who were completely dedicated to their church, with the passing of the years the capacity of these men to spread their beliefs expanded founding churches all over their territory even in their cross-border neighbors.

Although Dofias as the main city had a marked presence of religious power, the surrounding villages were a little more lax in some aspects, especially taking into account that they received various caravans and offered services to travelers, which also translated into profits for Dofias, particularly the village Taryng, located east of Dofias.

A group of 5 men mounted on camels, loaded with their luggage and goods, plus 4 slave guards on foot were moving without any hurry along a path at the edge of the beach.

-Simon, tell me, what are you going to do on your trip to the east? we have known each other for more than ten years, and we have always done business in this area, don't tell me you are already bored with your good earnings together with me?

-Ras, how old are you?

-32 this year, I think -he said, putting his hand to his beard.

-I turned 35 last month, I am no longer the young man with dreams of grandeur.

-Happy birthday my friend, even if it's a little late, let me know what you want for a present -he said smiling and squinting his eyes.

-Just don't drag me into any adventures when we get there and get rid of the merchandise.

-Well, okay -he waved his hand like a fan -but don't think it will be too easy to just walk in with jewels from the kingdom without alerting the waters a bit.

-I understand, I just want to do it discreetly and leave.

Sigh -It really will be our last job together?

-I hope so.

-oww that hurts -said Ras holding his right hand to his heart.

Simon continued without answering, it was already dusk and the caravan was only in the mood to look for a good place to spend the night. After an hour the group arrived at a stream that flowed into the sea, next to which they decided to set up the tents and light a fire, although near the sea the humidity helped the temperatures to be not so extreme, the desert and the dunes still presented a harsh climate at night. Simon, who was very quiet on this trip, went to the sea to take a walk and cool his feet, a necessary relaxation, but one that they could only afford because they had their subordinates and slaves doing the work in the camp.

Ras approaches and looks at the sunset together with his comrade -now you have time to relax, when we met you always took me running everywhere, time is money you used to say, but I always knew it was because we were being chased hahaha-

-Trafficking exotic goods always had its risks, you enjoyed those fights more than the money.

-Well, I discovered other pleasures as I got older.

"Of course, going to the cigar lounges and getting a blowjob while you're still barely sane is a change for the better," thought Simon.

-I'm going east to retire.

Ras changed his almost perpetual smiling expression to one of concern for a moment, and then resumed a more pronounced smile, he took a blade from his waist, grabbed Simon by the back and pressed it against his neck, making the blade hurt his skin to such an extent that a drop of blood slid down, Simon did not react except sighing.

-Do it.

-You've already ruined it -said Ras withdrawing his blade and putting it away again -You're really acting like an old man.

-I'm not innocent, I'm not trying to redeem myself either, I just want to get away from it all.

-And I guess you won't take advantage of the eastern wars to do business, will you?

-There are some businesses that I can undertake for my retirement, I will look for a place that pleases me, who knows, maybe I will buy a good slave and free her to leave my offspring.

-Woooo! "The seed of the father must be cared for in the light of the father", my friend, now you scare me!

Simon looked at him with disgust -I'm a little fed up with the priests of the west, that's a good reason too.

-That seems more reasonable to me.

They were silent for a few minutes, Simon rubbed his eyes, maybe it was because of the tiredness of the trip, but he seemed to see a body floating.

-Ras, do you see that? - he said pointing to the sea.

Ras was interrupted while he was maintaining one of his daggers -a dead body? 

The waves left a body on the shore a few meters away from the duo, out of curiosity they walked, dragged it a couple of meters to inspect it well.

-What's that on his back? -asked Ras.

Simon checked his clothing for anything of value, nothing more than a rustic looking necklace at his sight -maybe it's a deformity, remember the tramp with 6 fingers? 

Ras pushes it with his foot to turn it upside down.

- Too bad he'd make a good whore for the brothel.

-You like to visit those places too much.

-Don't blame me because you can't get it up any…

Ras was interrupted by the young man coughing and vomiting a lot of water. They both looked at each other with complicity and assisted, called their servants to attend to the new uninvited guest.

-Yarid! - Simon shouted. A slave guard, the youngest of them all in his mid-twenties, wearing leather sandals and simple light-colored garments, very common in the desert, as well as a short sword somewhat curved at his side, approached the duo.

-It seems that your boat did not arrive to port, where have you been traveling from? -Ras asked ignoring the arrival of the slave.

To the duo's eyes he was either a spoiled young man or a servant with bookkeeping or scribal skills, his light skin tone screamed that he was not used to being in the sun.

-Let's wait for him to recover a little and we'll find out -said Simon in reply -take him to the camp to recover a little and exchange his clothes for another thing.

-As ordered -replied Yarid in a flat tone, he motioned to another of the slave guards to lift the young man in front of him.

Once in the camp, and after having changed his clothes, they laid him down the young man kept his eyes open for a few minutes, he was visited by Simon, who asked him some questions, but he seemed too dazed, in a short time he fell asleep or fainted, the truth is that he had already closed his eyes and kept his breathing. Yarid was assigned to his care during the night.

-What do you think? - Ras asked Simon. They were smoking after dinner, a habit before going to sleep.

-I'm retiring after our trip, and you're friends with the boss of one of those brothels, a retirement bonus as a departure gift -he said.

-Yes, I know who to take the goods to, anyway, it's better if he's that docile, it relieves us of his transport.

-Ask him later to treat it with some ointments, the scratches and wounds can be reduced to some extent, we have 1 or 2 days of travel and if it looks better you can even win a vacation in luxury, that eye color is very exotic, you will have an advantage in negotiations.

A few hours later there were only a couple of guards watching over the campfire, at that moment Darse regained consciousness, or part of it, his body ached and was heavy, he was lying on some rough fabrics and with a clothing he did not recognize, with regret he took his hands to his necklace and tears ran from his eyes down his cheeks and soaked the scrapes and bruises, with grief she gritted her teeth and shrank even more in her position, he could barely whisper the name of her beloved, her mouth stung and ached from deep in her throat and a sour taste mingled with the salty taste of her tears, soon after she fell asleep.

Yarid was awakened by the whimpering of the young man, with some discomfort he thought he would last a long time with that and it would not allow him to sleep, the life of a slave is not the worst thing in the world, at least not of a slave guard, but you have to know how to rest and eat as soon as you have the opportunity to do so, The marks made with hot iron on the back of both hands gave away their status, only nobles were allowed to wear gloves in the cities, and although some professions used them in their work, when passing through the city and especially when entering through the gates, no one used them, as it aroused suspicion and you were stopped by the guards immediately. Yarid took a seat on his mat, and checked the young man in front of him, he could not deny it, the young man was beautiful, although he had obvious injuries, when he assisted him in changing his clothes, he noticed his wounds and deformities on his back, most of those he knew with deformed limbs, either died young or lived begging, but he never saw anyone close to his age in such good condition, that is, the young man in front of him had many bruises on his body that looked horrible and some scratches, the strange thing for Yarid was that there were no signs of malnutrition, but the worst place was his back, from where two thick bumps came out one the length of a finger and the other twice as long, the strange thing was that he had light gray hairs on the skin in that place in addition to the blood, you could tell they were recent wounds, he looked at the young man now in the fetal position, and gave a sigh, perhaps he would be luckier if only he was not so attractive, being a sex slave was not the best of futures, at best, the very rare cases, a nobleman was fond of him and kept him somewhere for fun from time to time, and in the worst, well he didn't want to think about the worst he knew many of those, he checked the young man's condition and apparently he had a fever, he made preparations to attend to him, a couple of herbs and a damp cloth, at least it would relieve him until tomorrow, he turned and resumed his rest.

The next day the whole camp prepared to eat something before continuing their journey, the young man with Yarid did not answer any questions, even though Ras already wanted to beat him to get answers, that would damage their merchandise, therefore, he just left him aside, he drank some wine that Yarid gave him directly or he would not have ingested anything, he was just there where you saw him somewhat hunched and with a lost look.

The group continued 2 days to the west, the young man was carried on one of the camels in charge of another subordinate of the caravan, Simon and Ras had to take care of their merchandise, but they would not sacrifice their comfort.

The village of Taryng, located about 3 kilometers from the coast, between the dunes and the coast, around an oasis, with a population of about 5000 people and another 2000 floating, the oasis of the game. Although there are brothels, game rooms, camel racing, wrestling and other activities, its security is very rigorous, any crime is paid with the orca in the public square, the guards will always turn a blind eye with a few coins as an incentive, but everyone understands that this oasis needs some order and that if the city state Dofias allows certain transactions to take place is because it has the ability to keep them under the carpet, spies of the two neighboring powers also move in these cities looking for information.

The constructions mostly of one or two floors, have been regulated by the authorities, thus avoiding alleys and narrow passages, large warehouses for merchants and wide roads for traders, although most of the buildings are of a material similar to adobe, some wooden constructions stand out (which must be moved from other cities, or the port of Dofias). The fort, the mayor's office, the church, and some houses of some businessman or rich man present stones or similar in their structure, a typical small city in the desert, has no walls, only some watchtowers on the dunes from where a monitoring of those who approach is made. The two neighboring powers do not intend to attack or invade mainly for two reasons, the first, is that crossing a desert with an army with the capabilities to obtain a victory is costly, the second and more important, having this neutral zone between their direct borders, allows to obtain more economic benefits through the traffic of non-formalized goods. In addition to the above, both countries have conflicts with other regions, and although officially they are still at war and there is a ban on the movement of people and goods, there are only occasional skirmishes or suicide landings under the command of some bored nobleman during the year.