Prologue 1

I can still see their faces if I close my eyes.

one year is not nearly enough to forget all that I went through.

initially everything here was scary, each and every person that I met tried to bring me down and profit out of my misery but I don't blame them, I can't blame them.

when you are a slave, when you lived through all those strenuous tasks it's normal to not care about others and try to take advantage of the weak.

I'm just eight years old but I can still understand that much, it's a given that since my abduction by the hand of the slavers that work for those damned celestial dragons I had to adapt and evolve my mindset to try and survive.

Nobody will ever come and save me, I understood that much after 3 months of abuse and continuous labor without once being able to stop.

racism is strong here, even among us slaves, just because I'm a frogman the slavers don't give me even half as much food as they give to the others, and the little that I get most of the time gets stolen.

I have lost hope in humanity and life entirely, I'm in a dark and fulsome alley dying of starvation with nobody to help me, I can feel the grip of death around my neck, claiming my little and malnourished body with its sick and bones hands.

"So this is it huh?" My voice came out croaky and faint, but it's only natural seeing my situation.

as I strenuously try and almost fail to maintain my sanity my ears pick up the sound of steps mixed in with the splashing of water coming probably from the little ponds formed due to the rain.

With the last of my effort, I open my eyes to be welcomed by the sight of a humanoid figure, the peculiar thing that I almost immediately noticed was his skin color, it was a bright red.

his face was adorned by a luscious black beard and his body was massive, almost reaching five meters in height.

"don't worry, I will save you little one" his voice was raspy, but not in a bad way, it almost felt shooting and calm.

I wanted to ask what he meant but just as I was about to ask his name I felt my consciousness drift away.

"too bad I won't be able to know who is the owner of this kind voice before dying". As I thought that my eyes shut closed for the last time.

or so I thought but cadavers rot away, they don't ear sounds.

as I opened my eyes the first thing that welcomed me was the sight of a fire.

'so that's what I was earning, but how am I not dead?'

the answer that I was searching for was in front of me, the man with the red skin was looking at me with an unreadable expression.

"How am I still alive?" I ask the man in front of me

"before starting asking questions didn't anyone teach you to introduce yourself?" Asked the man in an amused tone

"As slaves, we are stripped of our names, you should know it," I say in a slightly angered tone while looking at the tattoo that was the embodiment of my lack of freedom situated on my left arm.

" I take it that you have forgotten it then?" He asks in a serious tone

"After I don't know how much time I have been here yes, it has been pounded into my soul that I am not an individual anymore," I say in a neutral voice something that made me cry for more than one night straight before, the lack of a name was more than what it may seem, it was the lack of my individuality from the group, I felt just like a number among a large group of other people.

"then from now on, I will call you Kaeru, cause you know, you are a frog" his voice was laced with mirth, something so rare in this place that I almost forgot how it sounded.

I laughed, something almost foreign to me, it has been years since I last laughed, then tears started streaming down my rugged nine years old face.

even if it was almost silly sounding and a ridiculous name, it was still a name.

it meant more than even I imagined, I thought that my soul was broken but maybe, just maybe I can still be happy.

" Hey are you, alright kid, I didn't mean to make you cry" you could feel the worry in his voice

"no, it's just that nobody ever cared enough to give me a name, it's been so long since somebody didn't look at me in disgust for my race or called me names because of how I look" I didn't mean to say this much about my self but, I don't know why, this man seems trustworthy.

"my name is Fisher Tiger, and to answer your previous question I saved you and gave you something to drink and eat while you were asleep" he made the subject change almost too obvious but I was thankful for that, it was just depressing to think about that stuff.

as I looked around us I noticed that we were in a different alley by a rudimental fire done with some twigs.

we were still probably in the slave quarters, they were composed of hundreds of slums like buildings stacked one over the other and situated in the leftmost part of the celestial dragon city.

it was surrounded by tall walls to make it impossible to get access and go around the city while we weren't working there, or at least that was what most believed but I know that it was just so that our owners won't have to look at our pitiful forms while we simply slept for 1 to 2 hours a day.

we were hidden because it was working ours and if you slept around they would kill you on the spot and let you rot away or torture you for a bit and then toss you back to work.

I know that because it happened once to me, it's not pleasant.