Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Adria

In the northern part of Velathria, the most northwestern country on the continent of Tephera, on the northern side of the mountain resides a hidden village of demi-humans called the Mothraki. The Mothraki are a race that have a humanoid figure and shape, but their actual anatomical appearance is more akin to moths. They have antennae that have a frilly appearance, human shaped eyes with dark sclera and white pupils. They have four arms and two pairs of wings. The males tend to have darker colors, while the females tend to have brighter colors, though both are white. Over time this color can tarnish, resulting in female’s colors ending up looking like male colors, despite them not actually changing sexes. 

The Mothraki’s pride themselves on their devious and shady nature to make profit off of all the other race's own greed. Among them was a Mothraki on the younger side of the race named Adria Mori. Despite her young age, she had already made a name for herself amongst those in the village as well as most of the black market as being one of the best suppliers of illegal goods and services. 

The Mothraki are a race that only care about their individual profit, and because of this they will often ignore their children, spouses, and relatives in order to make even the smallest amount of profit. Adria’s parents were no exception, often neglecting her and leaving her alone to go out and increase their profits by even the smallest amount. Most children that live in the village adapt to this very quickly and do what they can to swiftly follow in their parents footsteps.

As a child, Adria always felt as though she lacked something. She felt alone, and when she expressed this to others she was always told that's just how it is and to get over it. When she turned fifteen she started to learn about how things in the black market and village work, and by age twenty-two she was already well known in both. At age thirty-four, Adria had become one of the lords of the underworld, much to the surprise of those that knew her. They always thought she would not be anything because of how she acted as a child. They thought it was a good thing she got over those silly emotions. What they did not know was that Adria never ‘got over’ those emotions, she just got really good at suppressing and ignoring them. And by age forty-three Adria was always so busy that she even forgot that she was lonely in the first place, she had become like her parents and everyone else, always looking for greater profit.

Adria got dressed with the adventurer gear she had acquired through her ‘work.’ The shirt was normal leather armor with belts for holstering her daggers towards the hips. Her pants were thin and she had boots that went halfway up her lower leg. She had a cloak that was long in length, but small in width to prevent any issues with her wings getting caught. 

She left the village to go see if she could find something valuable to sell on the black market. Perhaps some organs? Or better yet, some people too kidnap and sell as slaves. Those always brought in great profit. While traveling, she saw smoke in the sky from what appeared to be a fire started by magic. She thought to herself, “This must be the work of bandits, or at least the result of a human conflict. Perhaps I can find something valuable to sell there.” 

Adria had been traveling for around thirteen days, and although she had more than enough funds to purchase supplies, she was hoping to find something that was left behind that she could consume or drink. As she entered the village she was greeted with the sight of torched houses, still smoldering, with charred bodies inside some of them. There were bodies scattered around the town, most with stab wounds, but some had severe burning which was likely the cause of death. The sight was gruesome, but nothing she had not seen before. A village that was raided by bandits and razed after killing all of the inhabitants, par for the course. Adria saw this not as a tragedy, but as great potential profit. All of the potential organs she could harvest and preserve using magic to sell on the black market later. She got to work harvesting the organs that were not damaged by blades or burns, only the best for her ‘esteemed customers’. 

As she was making one final sweep of the town, to make sure she did not miss anything, she heard some movement in the house located closest to the forest. Adria’s first thought was how lucky she was to have found a survivor! Especially considering there have been many raids just like this one happening over the past couple of months, all of which left no survivors. 

When she entered the remnants of the house, the wooden door frame still warm to the touch, she saw a young boy sitting down with his back against the wall. His left arm burned and was scarred horribly. Adria called out to the boy, “Excuse me little one, are you alright?” 

The boy opened his eyes and looked at her. They were red and swollen, The boy had obviously been crying. Though, this was of no concern to Adria. All that mattered was that there was a survivor, which meant she could make a huge profit off of selling him as a slave. Adria, now trying her hardest to get the boy to trust her and come along with her, said, “Oh my, just look at you! You must have been through a lot, right? Come here, let me hug you and make you feel better~.” 

The boy just looked at her with his red, swollen, glazed over eyes, completely devoid of emotions. The boy had lost all of his will to live, good, less effort she had to put in. Adria took a single step forward and the boy spoke, “I don’t have anything to take, miss. My mommy and daddy are gone, my sister and brother are gone, all of my friends and the villagers are gone… I'm alone.” 

Adria froze, something had begun to ache all of a sudden, was she hurt? She quickly gave herself a look over to see if the kid did something, but there was nothing. She was unharmed and yet, why was she hurting? Thinking it was just her being paranoid and stupid, she quickly shrugged it off and ignored the feeling. Adria, having composed herself began her approach once again and replied, “You misunderstand little one, I simply see that you are in great pain and only wish to help! Why don’t you come with me? I can take you back to my home and I can take care of you.” 

The boy, who had done his best to stay strong in front of the stranger finally broke down and started crying, falling into Adria’s arms. “Shh, shh, it's ok now, I am here,” Adria said softly as she held the crying child.

It took several minutes, but the boy finally calmed down. Adria introduced herself, “Well, now that we have calmed down, I think introductions are in order. My name is Adria Mori, What is your name?” 

The boy replied, “I-it’s Zycor, miss,” embarrassed that he was just crying while he hugged this stranger. 

“Please, Adria is just fine sweety,” she said in a warm, motherly tone while smiling. 

Adria, having not forgotten her original goal, continues, “So, would you like to come with me Zycor?” 

Zycor decided to put his trust in Adria and agreed to accompany her. Adria led him out of the house and guided him to her wagon. There she fixed him up the best she could with the supplies she had on hand, and ushered him into the wagon. It was longer, wider, and taller than the one Lizali and her family had. It had four wheels, all of which were larger than Zycor, three wooden frames that connected both sides of the carriage by arching over the top. Covering the top of the wagon, connected to the wooden frames, was a white cloth to protect from rainfall. The back of the wagon had quite a few boxes and barrels full of… stuff. Though, the only ones that were open were full of food. The wagon also had seats, so Zycor didn’t have to sit on the floor. Once Zycor sat down, Adria took her place at the front with the two horses she had pulling the wagon, and cracked the lead to start the journey.

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