CHAPTER 2: Captured

“The world of Adamath is home to four continents, four large land masses with people of diverse cultures and standings, wonders and terror. None, however, boasts of brutality as the Bloodfire continent, home to the cult of the heralds. Ruthless, powerful, terrible, yet without them holding back the darkness that stems from the wastelands, perhaps, the beauty, that is the Bloodfire continent would have ceased to exist”

Razor, Regent of the Heralds.

Tunde woke up with a splitting headache, swallowing slowly as his parched throat burned, he blinked, dirt within his eyes as his entire body felt bruised and battered like he had been dragged across the ground for miles. He blinked the dirt away, struggling to sit up as the jangling of chains drew his attention to another pair of manacles chaining his hands together. He stared at them for a brief few seconds, memories of what happened slowly playing back in his head as he reclined his back on the cold black stone wall he found himself in.

The ground was littered with brittle bones and straw, so dark that he could only see a few meters in front. He swallowed painfully, drawing his legs to himself slowly, feeling his body respond slowly but painfully to him.

“He wakes,” a grave voice said from somewhere in the darkness of the room he found himself,

Tunde turned in the direction of the voice, eyes squinting as he groaned from the stabbing pain that came from within his chest and eyes at the same time. It felt like his eyeballs were about to drop off, breathing slowly for a few seconds before speaking,

“Hello?” he called gravely,

The voice gave a reply, but another did, a female voice this time, soft but tired at the same time,

“Hello,” he heard,

It came from his right this time, but before he could reply, footsteps echoed around as he saw a dim light coming,

“Pretend to sleep!” the female voice urged him,

Tunde had no idea why he obeyed, perhaps the voice felt comforting, or perhaps he had nothing to lose, he had lost it all from the moment he had been taken like livestock, the last of his people. Letting his body freefall to the ground, he shut his eyes tight and tried to calm his beating heart, taking slow short breaths as he felt the footstep stop a few distance in front of him. The silence that came next seemed to stretch forever, and then a grunt came from whoever was there, a light seemingly steadying before the footsteps began to recede.

He kept his eyes shut though, not risking it, waiting, the female voice spoke soon again,

“they’re gone,” she said softly,

He opened his eyes, squinting as the light seemed to pierce through his sight, letting his gaze grow accustomed to its biting presence before turning to the left where the female voice came from. He took in his cell in passing, now that the light of burning wood with flames that seemed to dance around it but not burn the wood itself illuminated the entire area. Brown iron bars separated the cells from each other, and while his hands had been bound together, the female in the other cell had her legs bound with the same brown large metal chains despite her lean physique. Chains that were held steadfast by iron pegs into the very ground itself, the lady was light brown skinned, with golden hair that was messy and tattered, dark circles below her metallic silver eyes, it took him a while to realize she was missing one arm.

A simple stump at the shoulder where an arm should be, his eyes drawn to it as he swayed unsteadily where he sat.

“You left,” she said.

He blinked at her confused.

“Your left, water,” she said again, slowly.

He turned, and true to her words, a wooden pale of water was there, Tunde crawled to it hurriedly, despite the pounding in his head. He dunked his head inside, ignoring the bitter tang to it as he drank and drank, his body readily accepting it as his dried throat sang with relief. He drew his head out, panting softly as his eyes were drawn to a figure in another cell on his left. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but it was a figure, chained with both hands fastened to the wall, sickly green skin with black veins running all across its frame.

The figure raised its head suddenly as Tunde stumbled backward, staring into the pitiless gaze of the figure who seemed to be assessing him before dropping his head back. The female figure from the other side chuckled.

“Ignore him, he’s the grumpy type,” she said.

Tunde inched away, turning to her, unsure of what to say.

“Hello,” he said again.

The male figure on the left snorted.

“Slow as well,” the gravely voice said.

The female rolled her eyes.

“I am Elyria, who are you?” she asked.

Tunde paused, unsure, staring at her.

“Tunde, my name is Tunde,” he said.

She gave a weak smile.

“Well Tunde, nice to meet you, can’t say the circumstances are a good one, seeing as we’ll probably be squeezed of Ethra and eaten,” she said.

“Ethra?” he asked confused.

Elyria paused, unsure of what he meant.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

He reclined on the wall.

“Far away, across the seas,” he said, trying desperately to tamp down the memories.

“that’s, well, I’d say near impossible, what direction?” she asked again.

He shrugged,

“Simple slave, know nothing,” he said softly.

Elyria kept quiet after that for a while.

“What is Ethra?” he asked after a while.

He heard her shuffling a bit.

“The lifeforce of the world we live in, it’s basic knowledge,” she said, as if unsure of why he didn’t know that or ask for that matter.

“Lifeforce?” he asked again.

Elyria looked lost for words.

“It’s what gives everyone affinities,” the putrid skinned looking man said.

“Oh, you’re talking?” Elyria asked.

“His ignorance grates on my nerves,” the man said.

Tunde glanced between the both of them, Elyria rolling her eyes again.

“Affinities?” he asked.

“By the blessed regents, do you know nothing?’ the man said again, irritated.

Tunde shook his head.

“Where I come from, only the great elder is allowed to know things, we simply obey,” Tunde said.

Elder Yomi, dead, slain at the hands of one of the great ones as he sought to bargain for their lives. Tunde shook the memory away, turning to Elyria who seemed to assess him.

“So, you know nothing?, at all?” she asked, as if she couldn’t contemplate it.

Tunde glanced down at his hands, where the fresh manacles covered the old one still on his right hand, the once glowing red and black lines now dormant. He had no idea what it was, so he decided to keep quiet, shaking his head. She nodded,

“Might as well do one good deed before dying” she said.

“Lucky you,” the man on the other side said back with a sigh.

Tunde wondered what that meant as Elyria began speaking again.

“Ethra, like that cheerful dose of sunshine over there said, is the lifeforce of everything on the planet” she started.

“It exists in everything, living and dead, hard to explain the dead part but Mr gloomy there is a prime example,” she said.

“Watch it,” the man said with a lethal tone to his voice.

Elyria ignored him.

“It exists in the air, in the land, in the seas, everything you can think of, even non-living things, everything,” she said as if trying to hammer it into his head.

“Even the stones and metals?” he asked.

“everything,” she said slowly.

He glanced at the wall dubiously, its blackened rock staring back at him impassively.

“You can’t sense it; you don’t have an Ethra for it,” she said.

“Ethra?” he asked again.

“Yes, everyone has an affinity for something they do with Ethra, think of it like an inherent ability most times” she explained.

“a person who molds with bricks could either gain an Ethra affinity for bricks making it easier to make or at some point mold with pure Ethra, or they could get an Ethra affinity for clay or the likes, the possibilities are endless,” she said.

He glanced at her.

“So you think I have one?’ he asked.

Unsure but hopeful, he watched her shrug.

“You said you’re a slave, or were, seeing as we’re about to become nothing more than chunks of meat for hungry savages, what did you do?” she asked.

“We dug the earth; we find hidden things that others couldn’t for our great lords” he replied.

Some were luckier than others, finding exotic crystals or some other things he hadn’t been privy to, Elyria nodded.

“Probably a seeking or earth Ethra,” she said.

“Well, that’s a start, makes you wonder why your masters didn’t train you all for better efficiency,” she said.

“Probably because they’d seek a way out” the man chuckled.

“what’s his Ethra?” Tunde asked, slightly irritated but keeping it to himself.

“Being annoying and unkillable I guess” Elyria responded.

Tunde did a double take of the man who went back to ignoring them, Elyria drawing his attention again.

“How did you seek these things?” she asked.

Tunde shrugged.

“We were just released on a piece of land and we found things” he replied.

Elyria blinked at him, the man chuckling.

“I’m guessing your Ethra heart is still at the fundamental stage?” she asked.

“Ethra heart?” he asked again.

Elyria sighed.

“kid” the man called out.

Tunde wanted to point out he and the sickly but ripped looking man was of similar height, basically meaning they were the same age or less, but instincts told him the man was lethal.

“Ethra heart is where Ethra resides within you, it also serves as the source from where you draw your Ethra for use with your Ethra, and it’s also your literal heart, just in case you had no idea, which you don’t, get it?” the man asked as Tunde nodded.

“Good, now, for we lowly mortals, we can only reach the high lord rank,” he said.

“High Lord rank?” Tunde asked again.

Elyria sighed.

“There are ten ranks of advancements in Adamath, mostly the upper four are rare, the upper two almost mythological, and the lower two basically leaders of kingdoms or empires,” she said.

“won’t bother about that if I were you, not like we’d live to see the sunlight” the man responded.

Tunde nodded.

“What rank am I?” he asked.

“Well, judging by your ignorance, you haven’t even stepped into the initiate rank, and that’s just where you can feel your Ethra, nothing really special” Elyria said.

Tunde drank a bit more water, conflicting thoughts running through his head. He had hoped, and prayed for death, and he would have gotten it had it not been for whatever that skeletal figure was, that had put something in him. He wanted a quick death, not death by being someone’s food, and if he’d have to fight for that death, then he would. Turning to Elyria, he spoke.

“Can I become one?, an initiate?” he asked.

Elyria cocked her head.

“Depends, every Ethra user is different from another Ethra user in how they unlock their hearts, at least to a certain extent, I’m not sure mine would work for you, or his for that matter,” she said.

Tunde felt his heart sinking, staring down at the manacles on his hands.

“Oh, thank you” he replied.

“For?” Elyria asked curiously.

“For the knowledge given to me, I come from a place where we only know what we were told” Tunde started.

“Slaves, for generations, and when some of us decided to stand up for a better life, our entire settlement was wiped out, and we, the rebels, were shipped across the endless seas,” he said.

He felt the man listening, eyes boring into him from his cell, Elyria as well.

“There were a hundred of us, some died at sea to creatures that, well, I’m not sure what they were, coming from the seas to snatch them, swallowing them whole before diving back into the waters they came from” he continued.

“We alighted on this dry land, left with nothing but the clothes we wore and forced to march across the burning grounds. Our captors abandoned us, with our chained hands, and forced us to move forward towards an unknown destination we couldn’t see. One by one, we fell, the chains unclasping from the dead bodies we left behind like they had a mind of their own, till I and another were the last of our people still walking. Perhaps, he had fallen into the pit filled with dry bones and rotting flesh as a respite to walking across the burning grounds” he finished.

Silence reigned, Elyria too horrified, Tunde not wanting to look at the man, not sure if he’d make fun of him. He heard the man shuffle.

“Tunde” he heard the man call his name.

Glancing reluctantly at him, he stared into the dark pit of his eyes.

“This pit, where was it?” he asked.

Tunde shrugged.

“I was unconscious, woke up here” he replied.

The man nodded reluctantly, silence reigning again.

“there’s something of a way,” the man said.

Tunde glanced at him.

“What?” he asked.

“a way to temporarily channel whatever Ethra you have to see what you can do,” the man said.

“it’ll leave you tired and weak, but we should get a measure and a way to unlock your heart” the man continued,

Elyria shuffled.

“What do I have to lose?” he asked.

The man gave a weak smile.

“Nothing, not like you’d enjoy the gift for long,” the man said.

Tunde hesitated, glancing at Elyria who shrugged, he turned back to the man, nodding.

“I agree” he replied.

The man rolled his eyes.

“Your chains, they look long, check the far-right corner of the cage, there’s a red orb, it’s the heat orb, used to keep our cells warm, see it,” the man asked.

Tunde squinted the corner of his cell, and true to the words of the man, a small orb was there, glowing softly. He shuffled closer to it, feeling the warmth from it, turning to the man, he nodded.

“Good, now pick it up,” the man said.

Turning back to it, he picked it up, it was warm to the touch.

“Some people use Ethra orbs as they’re called for different uses, some to store raw Ethra in low places like this, it also means we have someone with heat Ethra in this place,” the man said

“Odd for a bunch of savage cannibals” Elyria replied.

“My thoughts exactly,” the man said.

Tunde glanced at them, about to talk when then manacle, the broken one that had been on his right hand glowed again with its red and black light.

“what’s that?” Elyria asked wordlessly.

Tunde was lost for words, unsure.

“a blessed relic, what cult are you from liar?” the man growled.

“Cult?’ Tunde asked confused.

“The treasure that’s- “the man said as the ‘relic’ absorbed what he now knew was the Ethra from the orb.

Leaving him with an empty husk of an orb and a chill that seemed to permeate the entire room, he shivered a bit before he felt a pressure hold his chest. Panting softly, he could hear his heartbeat loudly in his ears, blinking as his eyes became watery. His mouth opened and closed in pain, wordless as he crashed to his knees,

“he’s unlocking his heart” Elyria whispered shocked.

Turning to her, he stretched his hand out, seeing lines of black and white veins glowing from his frame before passing out again. When he awoke, he was drenched in sweat, body burning as he inhaled deeply,

“Tunde” he heard Elyria whisper urgently.

Blinking his eyes as he took in the myriad of colors dancing around his sight, that, and the lines that seemed to run around the room. Sitting up, he held his throbbing head, feeling his body settle as he blinked rapidly again. He turned to Elyria and was lost for words.

“you’ve been out for a few minutes,” she said.

He blinked at her, seeing a haze of blue light around her, squinting closer.

“What?” she asked.

“Light, around you” he whispered.

“Light Ethra, great,” the voice of the man said from behind him sarcastically.

Tunde glanced at him and saw red and green wisps of light, shuddering from the feeling he felt, glancing down at his hands to see his manacles, the new ones, had shattered away, freeing his hands. He glanced up, shocked at Elyria.

“That happened when you were unconscious, we thought you gained a heat Ethra,” she said.

He turned to her and then the man who still stared at him suspiciously.

“Something in the pit where I was left to die, I’m not sure what it was latched this on me,” he said softly.

“Not the manacles, but something like a small box, it had a tiny pebble inside” he continued.

He wasn’t sure why he was explaining this, perhaps he felt he owed them a favor, but for whatever reason, he continued.

“I’m not sure what it did to me, but when I awoke, I was almost killed by one of those savages as Elyria called them, attacked me with some crude weapon,” he said.

“Almost took my head off, and this,” he said, raising the one manacle up.

“Saved me, somehow repelled the attack, killing the man with the weapon firmly lodged in his skull. Another caught up to me and knocked me unconscious, and then I woke up here” he finished.

“Your story just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” the man said.

“On the bright side, it gave you an Ethra, light, it seems,” Elyria said.

“Feel any different?” the man asked.

Tunde shrugged, glancing around as he shook his head.

“Apart from the lines on the ground, and you two glowing with different colors, nothing” he replied.

“Lines on the ground?’ the man asked.

Tunde nodded.

“Red lines, running all the way to the iron of the cages themselves” Tunde explained.

“Those aren’t iron, or any kind of metal, they’re bone,” Elyria said.

Tunde made a double take of it.

“If they were metal, I’d have made my way out of the cage” she continued.

He glanced at the chains on his hands as well.

“same,” she said.

“Cannibals with a bone Ethra?, not surprising” the man added.

Tunde walked to the bone bars, touching them as he felt the manacles hum again, but this time, they behaved differently. It melted, dripping down his hand to his fingers before forming itself into a blade.

“Is it me, or did he just show signs of metal Ethra affinity?” Elyria said.

Tunde stared at the blade wordlessly, glancing between the both of them.

“Not possible, you can only have one Ethra, unless,” the man said stopping.

“Relic, that’s a blessed relic,” Elyria said, this time with astonishment.

“Depends on the rank, fat lot it would do to the bone bars,” the man said.

Tunde glanced at him.

“The bones are reinforced, plus, they sap your Ethra, I’d refrain from touching them for long,” he said.

Tunde shot backward, staring at the bars and the sort of key lock made from the bars as well, his eyes suddenly pulsing, bathing the room in even deeper color. All lines on the ground suddenly converged around the keyhole, Tunde moving closer as the knife began to vibrate before leading him toward the hole. The man sighed.

“I told you, it can’t- “was all he said as the blade sliced cleanly through the hole.

The entire bone bars shattering to the ground.

“Cut it” the man completed, eyes wide.

Tunde blinked at them as a loud wail came from the walls themselves.