Chapter 2: CH. 2 the bug man and the whispering shadow

Weeks have passed as Carth and Shela tried to stay in the same area to talk to one another. Shela can find Carth easily as he is one of few male human prisoners. Carth however, has a hard time locating Shela, as her species makes up the majority of the prisoners. 

Their conversations were usually cut short by guards beating on prisoners who got out of line or tried to run. Shela knew better than to run away like some, the chains on them were solid and the weight was too much to even get a good sprint off.  Shela had the opportunity once in a while to talk to Carth about their kind and what they believed in. Her kind was barbaric as their image suggested but for a whole different reason. It was for honor, the chance to prove one's worth through combat. They usually don't go for the killing blow, instead use their downed enemy as a form of humiliation towards them, hoping to anger the other opponents to fight harder and prove they are even worth fighting.

Carth, after talking to Shela for a month now realized why he was not afraid of what she is. It was a combination of the circumstances he ended up in and the feeling of no killing intentions. He was never one to quickly judge anyone, especially if he has never seen what the stories portray. The Holy Nation always viewed anything that is not human a monster of Narko. He never believed the stories as he seen Shek before as work slaves for many businesses.  He thought he would have quite a while to get to know more about her in this place, but he was wrong.

One night they were put into the same building, separated by only iron bars. Two guards stood by as to not let anyone through without permission. Their cages were small, only big enough to stand in. Most prisoners found a way to sleep standing up to get enough rest to not keel over dead from exhaustion. Carth stayed awake, however, to watch the guards. 

A flash of a silhouette came from the entrance, followed by two loud thuds. A shadow appeared in front of his cage and seemed to recognize him. A second shadow suddenly appeared near the first, "this the one?" The second shadow said in a feminine voice looking him up and down 

"Most definitely, unlock his cage," the first one said with almost glowing purple eyes. "Carth Lostforge, we are here to get you and anyone else related to your craft out."

Carth quickly looked around suddenly realizing what these two silent hunters were saying. " that shek over there was my work slave," Carth said clearly lying to save Shela from this place. He may have not known her for long, but she was the first to not be afraid to talk to him. 

As soon as he pointed at Shela the first shadow vanished and reappeared in front of her cage, woke her up, unlocked her cage and Shela was promptly knocked out. Carth jumped in surprise but quickly calmed down and realized it was because of what he had said about her. 

His cage door promptly opened and shackles removed. The two shadowy figures quickly made an odd symbol in the air outside of the building, in just a few short moments sounds of shouting, clashing of metal, and an alarm that sounded like a clock bell began to ring through the night. These two figures were not the only ones that infiltrated the place. He looked over the ledge where the building was placed and saw other slaves with weapons clashing with the entirety of the the guards posted at their stations, "we have to move follow us, the others will cover our escape in the meantime," the first shadow said grabbing Carth by the arm and quickly dragged him along their escape route. As the second had Shela slung over its shoulder as they ran with them. They ran quickly to the gates and instead of going through the gate they went up the ramp leading to the ramparts. 

They jumped off the walls and onto the ground on the other side, running behind one of the steep hills where the quarry prison is located. "Where are we going? As far as I'm aware the north is nothing but a swamp of mechanical parts and acid, and we can't go south as that's the capital of the Holy Nation." Carth whispered as one of the shadows took off their hood.

"We will be heading towards a hidden village north-east of Rebirth." A dark skinned woman said with almost glowing eyes. " My name is Braith, the village is home to refugees of this prison and others who were ridiculed by the Holy Nation." The other figure took off his hood to reveal his blonde hair and green tinted eyes. 

"We still need to go through a little bit of the floodlands to reach the forest where the village is located" Braith continued, " we heard rumors of you, Carth, did you really piss off the Phoenix himself? Not many of us heard of anyone, especially under his banner, deny him anything he wants, let alone survive."

"That is because they usually get executed on the spot in 'the name of Okran,' we believed in him," Carth said, realizing how many people might have been killed were probably innocent. "Guess I was a special case, he knew of my lineage and didn't want me killed, killing me outright like the others would have resulted in being very suspicious to the other residents. " Carth, saying his thoughts out loud.

"Enough talking you two" the blonde man said with concern, "we need to get moving before the riot comes to a close."

"Alright alright" Braith said as they all started to move in the direction of this village. "We will talk more when we get you and your work slave there." Looking at Shela slung over the man's shoulder.

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They quickly rushed down the steep slope leading out of the mountains where Rebirth is located. Soon they reached flatter ground and began their chat once more.

"Nearly forgot, my name is Denz," the blonde man finally announced, "I have a question for you, Carth. Are you truly from the Lostforge family line? Many have heard of the family." With a swift flash of movement he wielded a katana style blade with no guard. 

"Yes I am, my family is known for their blades and armor. I for one specialized in Sabres," Carth openly admitted. He was proud of his lineage and always hoped to live up to their standards. "That blade… Can I see it?" Carth asked, looking at Denz's blade.

Denz quickly hands the blade over to Carth, clearly trusting him to hand it back. Carth looked over the blade carefully, all the dents and chips on the blade clearly shown It was used quite often. His pace slowed down as the group turned to him, curious why he stopped walking. "This blade was made quickly, it is also unlikely for it to be a part of a bulk crafting." Carth was speaking his mind like he used to back in his shop. "The quality can be repaired if given the right tools and materials.." he soon snapped out of his analysis and realized what position he was currently in, he lost his home and his shop after being arrested, he had no tools to forge anything.

"The blade was made by our smith," Denz said, taking the blade back. "She is not really trained in weapon smithing. She was telling us about a smith in the Holy Nation that could possibly help her but news soon spread, the smith was arrested and thrown into Rebirth." Denz said, looking straight at Carth. Carth easily picked up that he was the smith the news relayed. He knew he was well known, but outside the Holy Nation too? If he was to adventure, there will be people who would recognize him and possibly spell trouble for him and anyone accompanying him. 

Waving those thoughts to the side, Carth and the others reached the start of the Floodlands that they will have to cross. The plains was barren of any plants or animals, instead it was filled with mud, water, acid, mechanical parts and large metal pieces of a lost Era. Large spires of rusting metal were seen in the distance. It started to downpour the moment they went into the Floodlands.

They continued the trek inwards for about an hour when Carth noticed movement not too far from their position. He quickly made a signal to the others in the group silently, to get down and stay quiet. Carth quickly got into position to see where the movements originated. Over the little hill he saw two robotic humanoids walking away from their direction, "skeletons are on the move" Carth whispered back to the others that decided to find out what he was on about, which was literally the entire group. When Carth looked back from the others saw something else, a hand of someone sticking out of the mud. It was twitching.

Carth quickly sneaked over to the hand and tried to pull it and whomever was attached to it out. The others joined him when they realized what he was trying to do. They managed to pull the figure out of the dense mud, at first it looked to be a starving person, but after closer inspection it was a hiver. What Carth could recall is that the hivers were evil like all other races, but after meeting Shela, which was still slung over Denz's shoulder, was not evil at all. Hivers are a pale, stick bug looking humanoid that was extremely thin except for their ribcage and hip region. It almost looked like a skeleton with hardened skin wrapped around the bones with a bug-like head instead of a skull. 

"What is a hiver doing up here?" Braith's question was what everyone was thinking too. Why was a hiver, known for sticking to their hive and never leaving, doing out here? The rain quickly washed off the mud sticking to the hiver.

"Look for wounds, we can ask questions later, let's get him stable" Carth announced with urgency in his voice. " Do either of you have medical kits on you?" 

Braith quickly pulled out  bandages with a bottle of what looked to be aloe. Checking over the hiver they soon discovered a few cuts on his twig like legs and a solid cut on his spinal area. After bandaging, the hiver's body began to relax. Carth grabbed it by the waist, after getting the all clear from Braith, and slung him over his shoulder. They quickly got back on track in order to avoid the roaming skeletons that seemed quite hostile.

"We are almost to the village," Denz informed the group. "Just through a chunk of the forest and we will be there." The rain soon stopped as they left the plains and entered a forest that was the tint of orange on all the vegetation.

"Let's get going," Braith said, being quite ecstatic. " The others are going to be excited to meet you."

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