Two groups of beastkin fought against each other in a snow-covered forest. One group is composed of men, women, and children, they are wearing primitive clothes made from fur and leather. The able-bodied fought while the rest of the group tried to escape among the chaos.

Their attackers, on the other hand, had an intricately crafted armor and heavy metal swords. They also rode big, chunky mounts with a long fur.

One of the mounted attackers swung his sword downwards on his next victim. At the receiving end of his attack was a girl with white fluffy ears and a white tail with three faint black stripes near its end. She narrowly dodged his attack while simultaneously aiming her spear towards him.

The spear struck him right into his chest, landing on his metal armor. The wooden spear couldn’t withstand it and splintered apart. But the sheer force of the attack threw him off his mount. Quickly recovering, he picked up his weapon and charged at her on foot.

Her opponent was considerably larger and better equipped than her. But she refused to back down, picking up a bone knife from her belt, she readied to fight him head-on.

Swinging the heavy blade sideways, he attacked with enough force to cut a person in half. The girl ducked under his attack, losing only a few hairs, she jumped up towards him, slashing his right shoulder with her knife. He tried to grab her with his left hand, but she instantly retreated away from him.

Switching his blade to the left hand, he charged at her again but with a downwards swing. His attack was dodged again, and he slashed through the ground instead, the surrounding snow was flung up, reducing visibility momentarily. Using the cover of the snow and the momentum of his charge, he kicked her with his right leg from the side, making her stumble for a few moments.

A second attacker rode in from the side and threw a large net at her. Unable to react, the net wrapped itself around her as if alive. With a rope connected to the net, he tugged on it, making her violently fall to the ground. As he rode his mount, he dragged her through the snow at high speed.

Unable to free herself from the net, she tried to cut herself free with a knife, but she ended up just flailing helplessly without any success. As they went through uneven terrain, her body was being flung in all directions. With one unlucky landing, she hit her head against a rock, perturbing from the snowy ground, making her drop her knife and lose consciousness.

The rider that dragged her stopped next to a large tree and threw up his end of the rope towards it. The rope wrapped itself around the tree branch like a living snake, dragging the net up into the air with it. Multiple other nets were hanging from the surrounding trees, each with one or two people inside them.

As the battle died down, all of the mounted raiders grouped up.

“Where’s the rest of them?” Asked the only rider that was without his mount.

“They scattered into the forest.”

“Three of you stay here, the rest of you will pursue them!”

After giving out orders, he started walking towards the tree line where were their hanging captives. On the way there, from the ground, he picked up the bone knife that caused his wound. He looked at the girl trapped in the net before inspecting his shoulder. After spitting on the ground, he gave her a last hateful look before as he put her knife into his belt.

“Bring me bandages and go find my frosthoof, it ran off.”

---

 

Opening her eyes, her white ears shuddered as she heard unfamiliar voices.

“How do we sell her, no client would want a slave that could threaten their life? She seems like a more trouble than worth. Most people that buy slaves do so to make them do menial tasks and hard or dangerous labor. No one wants a slave that could attack them or easily run away.”

“I have a particular client in mind that isn't concerned about something like that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t buy her. I am surprised that those beasts even let her live, they usually kill all the dangerous ones.”

Noncombatants are a more desirable commodity, and they are easier to capture, so it’s not really worth the effort to go after the ones that can defend themselves. If you want to sell beastkin warriors, you need to find a specialized buyer, but those are hard to come by.

“Is it one of those underground arenas? I heard that they are the only ones that actively buy them.”

“No, it’s someone else. I got recommended to them through an acquaintance.”

Unable to move or see, she listened as she tried to get her bearings. She felt wood under her, and everything was shaking and there was a loud rattling sound, they were moving.

“We should be there soon. If I recall correctly, it should be somewhere around here. I am sure that they will strike us a good deal.”

“Is that it?”

”I think so, stop right here.”

The rattling slowly died down as they came to a stop.

“Is this really the right place?”

“Yes, let’s go, we can leave her here.”

“Right, right, I am going.”

As voices distanced from her, she was certain that she was left alone. Free to focus, she tried to go over everything that happened.

“Why would they steep so low…” She whispered in a quiet voice. “Attacked by my own kind… My father once said to me that humans are evil. He said that they are encroaching on our territory and decimating our forests. But if our people are slaughtering and enslaving each other, are we any better?”

She tried to wiggle her arms from her restraints, but they held strong. They were made of thick metal, and they restrained both her arms and legs. As she pushed and pulled with all her strength, the metal made creaking sounds but refused to budge, leaving her no other options but just to wait.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“I will have to see her first.” Voices were slowly returning.

“Of course, we will bring her out right away.”

Two pairs of hands from each side took hold of her and dragged her out before holding her in a standing position. Feeling a tug on a back of her head, she felt as the cloth around her eyes was removed. Having her blindfold removed, she could see a two of round-eared people holding her.

“There you have it, are you satisfied?”

From the side came out a man in brown robes, he had his face hidden under a cape, and he had weird symbols drawn all over his hands. He looked at her for a moment before saying. “She will do, having the ones with strong cultivation is ideal for my purposes.”

“Right, she is an ideal warrior, for an ideal price, of course.”

---

 

I feel so weak, I haven’t eaten for days.

Inside a dark cave, trapped in a small cage among many others, was a cat girl with white ears. She sat in the cage lifelessly staring in a one direction. Until suddenly, her ears perked up, and she turned her head towards the cave entrance.

A few seconds later, a group of people entered the cave and at its front was an old man in expensive clothing. They were far away from her, but she was able to barely make out what they were saying.

“Lord Alexander, glad to see you.” One of the robed people who hold her here came forward to greet him.

“I came here to make sure that things proceed smoothly. I wouldn’t want to disappoint your master.”

“Certainly, I am confident that master will be pleased with our progress.”

She watched them with an intense stare as they talked together. While she was imprisoned here, she learned from other prisoners more about her captors. Apparently, they are called cultists, they kidnap people for sacrificial rituals, but besides that, they didn’t know much about them.

All of them said that they were from a city named Silvercrest, and she learned much about that city from them.

But if what they said is true, that means that they will be killed. She tried to free herself from the cage, but her efforts were futile, she almost lost all hope. Until, one of the prisoners told her that she was able to leave a trail of small items behind her as she got kidnapped. If they get lucky, someone might find them and figure out where they are.

“Wait, do you hear that?” Loud shouts could be heard coming from the entrance. “What is that commotion?”

“It’s the Knight’s Order. They found us!”

“How is this possible, they should have guarded the road?” The old man shouted.

“Master, we have to leave. Now!”

“Why are they ruining my plans!”

The old man and his goons quickly retreated deeper into the cave. Cultists, on the other hand, held their ground, preparing for the inevitable encounter.

In the end, it didn’t take long for the knights to get there. “Charge!” Running in with their weapons raised as they clashed against the cultists. In response, cultists transformed their arms into tentacles and fought back.

All of the prisoners were horrified at the scene in front of them, all except one. The cat girl was leaning against the bars of her cage, watching the fight with shining eyes. “They look strong.”

The fight quickly turned into a one-sided slaughter. The cultists didn’t stand a chance and got quickly overwhelmed.

Once everything was over, they were freed from their cages and escorted outside. They were given food and water, and the knights also made a campfire for them to warm up themselves.

But when they all got outside, they noticed that there’s someone else among them, that they hadn’t seen before. A small girl with a mud smeared across her cheeks, she had torn clothes and her head was decorated with a purple hair.