In a dark forest at the dead of night, the leaves started to rustle as a carriage with two horses at the front sped up. on the carriage where four men in dark hoods and clothing, each one big and muscular and carrying a concealed weapon on them. in the back sat seven others in torn clothes, there were 5 woman and 2 men, all of them were skinny to the bones.
the road was bumpy ahead but it didn't matter to the bandits as they were being chased by soldiers on horses of the nearby town. The carriage started to bounce up and down while treading the road, until a wheel at the back couldn't take it anymore and snapped off rolling away. The carriage fell down at the back and hit the ground, hurting the slaves in the back.
The biggest bandit of the four stood up after the carriage stopped, he looked around warily while moving closer to his blade at his hip, ready to draw it at a moments notice.
one of the slaves peeked out through the gap in the wall of the carriage, through it he could see the biggest bandit stand there with his hand on his dagger.
The 16 year old's name is Marakai, as he looked out he counted 3 bandits one near the carriage with a bow drawn, the leader at the front with his dagger in hand and one to the side with a similar dagger as the leader.
all of them looked nervously around them trying to spot there enemy but to no prevail. until a sound reminiscence of the wind moving fast caught up to them. in the distance Marakai noticed something resembling condensed wind shaped like a blade moving closer and closer, and so was the sound.
The leader of the bandits screamed a warning to his underlings, "they've got a magic caster watch out!" as he said so he jumped to the side avoiding the barreling wind blade heading for his head.
but the one at the side couldn't dodge fast enough as the blade cut right through him, splitting him in half, the hood of his clothes covering his terrified face as his body hit the ground.
At the same time the one with the drawn back bow released an arrow in the direction where the wind blade came from. The arrow was slower than the wind blade but still a threat, shortly after the arrow was shot a scream echoed through the forest.
Although Marakai didn't notice the scream as he was still watching the corpse split in half on the ground. He remembered him, he's the one who beat him up, the one who captured him. he couldn't help but feel happy at his death.
He snapped himself out of his thoughts only to see the one who held a bow was missing both arms, and in front of him was a soldier with a sword slashing at his face cutting through his head with ease.
Marakai looked away in disgust at all the gore and blood that splattered about. His eyes falling upon the leader he became confused, a soldier in different armor than the rest that had arrived stood a good distance from the bandit leader with the tip of his sword pointing in his direction.
"how about you let me go and we forget that this ever happened, okay? you can even have the slaves." The bandit leader said while pointing with one hand to the carriage, when the slaves heard his remark they all shivered in dread.
The soldier's gaze was cold with a hint of disgust for the leader. His stance got better as he moved his right foot forward ready to pounce forwards. a silence covered the field as all the other soldiers backed up to give their captain space.
The bandit leader became gloomy as he readied himself. "you know that even if I die I will take you all with me." The ground started to tremble as both of them unleashed their mana at the same time. A red aura covered the bandit leader while a blue one covered the captain.
the captain rushed forward, blade first ready to chop him in half, he swung sideways, aiming for his hip. But a dagger stopped the sword in its track as the bandit leader deflected the blow. The bandit used his mana to shape a spell, rocks started to tremble as they rose up shooting towards the captain.
The captain too used magic to shape wind blades that cut through the rocks that were shooting at him, he himself sped up to close distance between them. The captain shaped a wind blade surrounding his sword as he swung his sword that was blocked by the bandit who stumbled back from the force of the blow.
The bandit stood up filled with rage and humiliation as he charged exchanging blows with the captain, each blow sending shockwave's. after some time the bandit started to get tired and lousy with his magic and swordsmanship. until the captain saw an opening and sent a wind blade heading for his head.
While the bandit leader was dodging, the captain sliced his head off with one clean cut.
covered in blood the captain moved slowly towards the carriage and destroyed it with one swing of his sword empowered by magic. The slaves all looked away in fright not knowing what was happening, only Marakai looked at the captain in amazement. Marakai thought to himself that if he learned magic no one could beat him up and no one could try to enslave him again. His fantasy was cut short as the captain asked them a question.
"how many of them were there?"
Marakai was first to answer "there were 4," the captain inspected him until he walked away to give orders to his soldiers. Marakai let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Shortly after, a few soldiers left searching for the 4th one.
A soldier with a red cross on her chest plate approached Marakia and the others, "don't worry you're safe now, let me see if you have any wounds on you."
The soldier spotted a slave in the back with a big wound on her hand, the soldier approached her and squatted down next to her. She grabbed her hand and lifted it to inspect it, "don't worry I wont hurt you but you might feel warmth on your hand so please bear with me for a second."
The slave looked confused but nodded anyway like she was taught by the slave traders 'be obedient' the sentence still rung in her head along with the pain of being punished when she wasn't.
With the confirmation from the slave, the soldier started to work. She put her free hand above the wound and closed her eyes. A green light started to emit on the wound as it started to heal itself, after some time it was completely healed.
All the slaves looked amazed at what they just saw, the soldier stood up "my name's Nora, I'm a Healer I can heal any flesh wound and some internal ones just let me know if you have any wounds and I'll heal them for you." She said with a proud smile plastered on her face.
Magic is so amazing, thought Marakai.