Screams shrilled through the nightsky. Fires flickering, smoldering through the buildings within the village of Mirewood. The town, which was located near a bayou, had become under siege by Mulajin raiders. The Mulajin came from a more tropical land. Much isn't known about the Mulajin. They speak Common, they present themselves more barbaric than anything, and they are mainly a group of trolls lead by a few human overseers. The Mulajin are known for pillaging coastal towns for gold, food, women, and slaves. Often, they showed up in large roofed vessels. Each vessel bore several holes on each side for cannons, and in the back of the ship a large door stood for unleashing the warriors that rode within. The ships exteriors were purposefully kept in poor condition to give the illusion of being simple transport vessels. The raid on Mirewood was a sweeping success for the Mulajin. Most coastal towns were quick work for them. The trolls had purged the fighting capable men while rounding up the weaker able bodied men and women. Children and the elderly were often separated to be executed. The Mulajin showed no remorse. Often they were referred to as brutes or animals for how ruthless they were in combat. A young woman named Atelia was amongst those rounded up in the village. Chained in a group amongst the other captives, she was marched onto the Mulajin vessel and set to sail. Traveling the seas was uncomfortable in chains. High waves caused the captives to tumble onto each other. Sleep wasnt an option in the high seas. The port city of Daz'aman served as the Mulajin's base of operations. The city looked more of a slum than anything. Trash littered the streets, many roads throughout the city were rocky or straight up mud. The buildings were made from mud or clay with thatch roofing. The streets were bustling with many of the cities residents pedaling goods from small pop-up market stalls. The captives were forced to walk through the city to the auction house at the cities upper end. Each captive was cleaned up and stripped of their clothing, made to present themselves in front of the audience to be sold into slavery. Their bodies inspected, their servitude put into question as each slave handler barked instructions at them to see how they would respond. A obscenely grotesque man approached Atelia, examining her. Grabbing her chin with his grimey hands, he looked her in the eyes. The man's eyes were layered in a thin cataract. He did not bark and commands at her, and he offered to purchase her at market price. It was told to Atelia that she was chosen to be the nurse based on her stern nature and attractive appearance. She was brought to a fighting ring and give a tour. The fighting ring, which was only known as the pit, was the main form of entertainment within the cities limits. Slaves were sold to fight against one another in the pit. These fights were to the death, only one survivor was allowed. There were no limits on who was participating in the fights but the pit master kept it fair. He wouldn't pair children against adults, though child slaves were often subject to participate in the put. Atelia was tossed amongst the general population of fighters. Most of the fighters in the slave pens were men. There were few women and children. The men often talked amongst themselves, leaving the women and children alone. Atelia had kept to herself, however that proved to be problematic as men often approached her seeing she kept herself away from the others. Atelia worked within the slave pens to help heal the winners. She was provided limited supplies to work with but she managed. Seeing that she was the designated medic within the holding cell, many it's inhabitants respected her. Newcomers to the slave pens that disrespected Atelia were often met with resistance from more seasoned slaves or Atelia would purposefully use their wounds against them to get them away from her. After a year in captivity, Atelia had given birth to a young boy named Viktor. Atelia wouldn't tell a soul how she conceived a child within the confines of the slave pens. However, the seasoned fighters within the slave pens helped raised the boy. Often, winners of fights were rewarded with cooked meat and vegetables. This was a change from the typical mystery slop they were fed up until their fight date. Many of the winners shared their food with Atelia and Viktor as a token of Atelia's appreciation in mending their wounds. Several years had gone by. The pit master had discovered during an audit that there was one additional inhabitant in the slave pens than what they had paid for. The young boy was taken from Atelia despite her pleas. The pit master had inspected him and deemed him worthy of fighting. A date had been set up for the young Viktor. Atelia had protested the decision for Viktor to be put in the ring. He was just a boy. The pit master paid no attention to Atelia, finding her pleas to be rather annoying than anything. Several nights had gone by and Atelia needed to get Viktor out of there. She was able to convince a guard that she needed more medical supplies. During the delivery, she used a small scalpel to drive into the guards neck. She ran down endless hallways holding Viktor, to which she was cornered by several guards within the pit. The pit master had slayed Atelia for her disobedience. The day had come for Viktor's first fight. He recalled many of the tales the previous winners had told him, he had never fought anyone before, he was a kid. Being lead out into the center of the pit, he saw his opponent. Another child holding a short sword. Viktor looked back at the guard who escorted him, wondering if he was going to get a sword too. The guard laughed and walked out of the pit, locking the door behind him. The crowds roared as a gong signaled the start of the skirmish. The child approached Viktor, taking several swings at him. Viktor leaped back, dodging each attack until he was against the wall. He realized he didn't have anywhere the run. The child in front of him was crazed, his body looked hungry, and he only had one thing on his mind. Viktor couldn't lose, not here, not now. He planted a leg against the wall and sprung outwards, closing the gap so the sword couldn't strike him as easily. Viktor tackled the kid to the floor, using the boys hair he repeatedly smashed the kids head backwards onto the hard ground, screaming until there was no light left in his opponents eyes. Against the odds, Viktor had won. No one knew how Viktor was able to perform so well in pit brawling. He was a natural at slaying his targets. The older he got, the more experienced he was. Although there were no rules, Viktor did not play fair. Everyone knew this going in. During one match as a young adult, Viktor's opponent kicked sand up into his face. The sand has scratched his eyes. Although the blindness during the fight only lasted a few seconds, Viktor took a blow to his arm from a sword. The blow didn't slice his arm off but left a deep laceration. In a rage, Viktor broke his opponent. The last time he snapped was during his debut fight as a child. The medic that night took care of Viktor's wounds. The medic couldn't fix the scratches to Viktor's eyes. It was either remove his eyes or take the gamble of letting them naturally heal. Viktor didn't want to lose his eye sight as he couldn't fight without seeing. A week later and Viktor's eyes were red, leaking puss. They had become infected. His vision became temporarily limited as the infection raged within his eyes. Miraculously, after several more days the infection began to clear up. Viktor's vision slowly returned. Viktor had noticed something. After his eyes completely healed, he was able to process what he saw faster. His reflexes seemed to be quicker. Viktor wasn't sure why this was but he took advantage of his new found ability. During the next few fights he participated in, Viktor was able to end the fights in under a minute. He saw each of the swings of his opponent and was able to block them, even countering them quicker than they could strike him. Viktor's fighting prowess was becoming a problem for the pit master. He was chewing threw slaves faster than the pit master could replenish them. The Mulajin hadn't been as successful in recent years so the price of slaves has gone up significantly. A new strategy was devised for those who remained. The strongest men left over within the slave pens were sold off to another slave handler. All these years Viktor had been plotting a way to avenge his mother and free himself. Although he found comfort in the ring, he knew he had to win every single time if he wanted to even have the chance to slay the pit master. Now, he was being sold off, shipped to a different area to a new master. This infuriated Viktor. He spent all this time, killing countless amounts of people, for absolutely nothing. Once loaded into the caravan, they set off northwards. It was made aware to Viktor that he was going to be put to work in an iron mine. Viktor felt defeated, he felt so helpless and broke sitting in the cage of the cart. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He had no liberty or freedoms.d A gutteral gurgle came from the front of the cart. The arterial spray of the cart drivers blood splattered against the cart guard. Viktor saw an arrow lodged in the driver's neck. The horses spooked and knocked over the cart. Viktor couldn't believe his eyes. He saw a woman rush from the bushes and attack the guard, making quick work of the two men. The slaves in the cart with him begged the woman to release them. She seemed to be preoccupied with the lockbox the driver had stowed away. Once she took what she wanted from the lockbox, she sifted through the dead drivers pockets and found the keys. She had released the slaves. All of them bolted in random directions except for Viktor. He learned that the woman's name was Maya. However, he learned that she wasn't wanting company along her travels because she didn't have enough food to feed two people. Viktor understood. Viktor followed Maya from a distance as she may know more about where to go than the slaves who were just freed. Nightfall came and he hid within a bush near her temporary camp. He didn't want to approach her. He watched as she made food, the smell of the food made his stomach grumble. Maya invited him to sit by the fire and eat with her. They exchanged stories back and forth that night, enjoying each other's company. Viktor was incredibly grateful for Maya saving his life and freeing him. Years of fighting and poor nutritional health wreaked havoc on Viktor's body. Viktor began to experience extreme muscle fatigue and weakness that effected his arms and legs. The weakness has been ramping up within the last year and had been affecting Viktor's performance in fighting. Viktor was hesitant to tell Maya but after traveling with her and performing several jobs alongside her, he thought he should be honest about that. Maya, unsure about her overarching aspirations in life at the time, saw this as an opportunity for herself. She wanted to help Viktor get better so he didn't waste away. This became a goal of hers as she appreciates Viktor and the company he gave her along her travels. Over the span of several weeks they had bought and stole several strength potions to see if that would help. Although a temporary fix, the potions did help. He needed to solve this issue at its core. The potions only served to stall the wasting. One town that they had stopped in they spoke with a seer. This seer offered to cure Viktor in exchange for binding his soul to a warstone. It was explained that the warstone was used to call Viktor into battle when needed. It was the trade off for not withering away. Viktor didn't think twice and took the offer. At least once a week for the next year Viktor was forced to fight in many battles. Much of these battles happened in lands he didn't recognize. He fought many battle hardened creatures of which were never seen before by his eyes. The summons by the warstone were unexpected. He has no time to think before being ripped from reality to fight these monstrosities. Each time he was pulled for battle, he missed Maya more and more. He cherished the time spent with her. He enjoyed wandering town to town working with her. Each meal, sleeping under the stars, fighting side by side, it meant the world to him. Every time he was called by the warstone he expected those times to be his last. However, he fought exceptionally well each time, because if he didn't, that would be the last time he saw Maya. Once the battles were over, the seer returned him to where he was prior. Maya waited for him each and every time, no matter how long it took him to come back. She wasn't going to abandon him. He recounted the tales of his battles to hear as she cleaned up his battle wounds. One day, Maya has lead Viktor to a new town. In the town, they had met a mage named Dahlia. To Viktor, Dahlia seemed shady. The way she carries herself, how erratic she was at times. However, Maya seemed to have a lot of trust in this mage. Maya handed Dahlia a large sack of coins and Dahlia made a portal. Once they had crossed Viktor recognized the land they were in, the barracks they were in, and the guards who sat around protecting the place. He was told to be quiet so they could sneak around, they were planning to kill the seer and retrieve Viktor's warstone. As they snuck through the barracks they came across the sleeping quarters of the seer. With a reassuring nod from Maya, he strangled the seer to death in his sleep. Maya and Dahlia kept watch to ensure no guards came. After the deed was done Viktor attempted to pick up the warstone but burned his hands on it. He watched Maya pick it up with no problem. Dahlia had explained that whoever was bound to the warstone couldn't handle it. Dahlia had made a portal to return to the town they originally departed from. From here, Viktor and Maya made it their plan to find a way to break the binding on the warstone, freeing Viktor of the slavery he once found himself in again.