17 Cavern

One of the guards saw that something rushing towards their direction but before he could say anything the figure disappeared. He thought he was just seeing things and was going to ask his partner if he had seen the same thing. When he turned to look at him all he saw was his headless body standing there with a kid standing in front of him holding a saber that was covered in some blood.

The guard was shocked at the sight that his body locked up and he wasn't able to move. The aura coming from the kid was not helping one bit as he felt like he was suffocating just standing near him. His internal energy refused to move and any that did move were flowing at a sluggish pace that made it impossible for him to do anything.

Finally the kid stopped looking at his friend's corpse and cast his eyes on him. All the guard felt from looking at his eyes was a never ending emptiness that was sucking him in telling him that there was nothing he could do to save himself. Before the guard could think anymore he started to feel that he was suddenly falling not only that but as he was falling his body didn't follow him down instead it stayed standing there.

After killing the two guards Sagar swung his saber to clean off any of the blood that was accumulated on it. He then entered the cavern to see how many were inside. He could sense them now that he was close by but their number was larger than he thought there would be and a lot of the bodies he sensed felt weak so he wasn't absolutely sure if he was correct about it.

He came across a sort of room that held a bunch of the bags he saw different members carrying. Looking inside some of them he saw they contained a bunch of miscellaneous things that would probably be sold off for some coin. Other than that he found a all the food that they had gathered from the raided villages in some bags. This group was ready to move at anytime it seems but he wasn't surprised as from the conversation he overheard they were being chased.

Making his way further down the cavern he came across another location but this time it was filled with children. Sagar figured that they were being gathered to be sold into slavery which is technically illegal in the Griffin Empire but there are still channels for it and it also didn't mean other Empires across Mellem considered it illegal. The girls would be gathered as they were young and pure they woulds sell for a high price especially for those who have such interests in them. As for the boys they would sent to do work of some kind or end up being used up as meat shields during battles, either way most of them wouldn't live for very long.

Seeing someone walk in the children began to curl up and gather near each other. All they could see was Sagar's figure as the lighting was very faint in the cavern and they weren't warriors that would have excellent vision even in the dark. Sagar looked around and saw that a majority of the children, especially the boys, were in poor condition seeming to be malnourished. The group probably barely feeds them just enough to keep them alive for selling and they would feed the girls more so that their in good condition. Another thing was that the smell of the place was rancid as the children can't go anywhere and just use somewhere in here to relief themselves.

Putting that aside Sagar spoke out to them, "Don't worry I'm here to help everyone."

His words seemed to fall on deaf ears as most of the children refused to even look at him. They actually couldn't tell how young he was as his actually figure was almost the same as a small adult but if anything his actually voice should give away how young he was as well. His voice was still in the transition phase so while it wasn't higher pitched than a grown adult it was still lower than the rest of the children.

Soon someone walked out of the group of huddled children, it looked to be the oldest out of the entire group maybe a bit older than Sagar himself. Sagar looked at the boy and the boy looked at him, the boy then said, "Now that I look closer at you, you're definitely not part of the group that kidnapped us."

Sagar nodded his head and responded, "That's why I said I was here to help. I just need everyone here to move to the room where they have all the supplies in. It doesn't have as much room but it should be able to hold everyone here including the women that are I assume are further down the cavern. There's also food there so you can feed those who need it. I just need you all to wait there for when I get back so I can take everyone out of the forest."

The boy didn't question whether or not Sagar could do what he said but to be able to get in here he had to take out the two guards at the entrance he had to have some ability. The guards themselves from what he has learned are both at the Intermediate level but for this person to take them down and he seemingly was uninjured he had to be relatively powerful.

As the boy was gathering the children Sagar asked him something, "Do you know how long everyone's been here?"

The boy answered after thinking for a bit, "Well I was in the group that was the first to come here so according to what I've been able to figure out it should be around two weeks."

Sagar thought to ask him how he was able to figure that out as hardly any sunlight gets into the cavern itself but he himself could already figure out a couple of ways that the boy was able to figure it out and each one only served to increase his rage.

Leaving to the depths of the cavern Sagar wasn't sure if it was good or not to come into the cavern when he did. He could of waited until he had dealt with the trash and come back to deal with the situation here but he didn't he was concerned about the conditions of the people inside. Now he almost felt like it was a mistake as after meeting the group of children his anger that he had somehow been keeping in check for now was constantly growing and shouting for some kind of release. He could already guess what he would come across when he encountered the women and he wasn't all to sure if he could keep it together. Nonetheless he was already here so he had to see all the way through.

Eventually he started hearing the sounds of sobbing that was becoming louder as he continued to walk further. He soon started to come across a corner where he saw some light pouring through so he looked around the corner but when he looked in for a brief moment he immediately stopped going around the corner taking a few steps back.

His thoughts started to go into disarray and he felt that he was starting to see red. He needed to calm himself so he tried to take a few deep breaths helping ever so slightly. It took a good minute before Sagar felt he was in a condition to walk into the room.

Walking back in Sagar saw women scattered about everywhere most of them were naked or had torn clothes. The only ones that actually had clothes were the ones just brought in. He knew what happened here he didn't need to ask it was all bare for him to see. The things was that wasn't the worst thing here as from another corner he was able to see the form of children that were either around his age or a few years older. Not only that but there was a strong stench of blood in the too which he found to be several mutilated bodies that were piled in one corner. It seemed that when they were bored with their playthings they decided to torture them for fun.

He continued to look around the room until one of the more brave women came up to him patting him on the shoulder. He turned around to look at her disheveled appearance but even with it there was a strong light inside her eyes. She looked at Sagar and told him, "You shouldn't be here, you need to go back with the other children especially before they come back, they don't like it when we move without permission."

She saw that Sagar was a kid and even though he would probably be sold into slavery it was better than being tortured for punishment. Hearing the concern in her voice Sagar shook his head responding to her, "No you're mistaken I've come to help."

The woman was shocked by his words but she didn't understand what he meant, not because he didn't know the meaning of what he said but of how this kid was going to accomplish it. She was about to speak out but before she could Sagar continued talking while walking out of the room.

"Just go to the storage room and wait for me to get back. All of the children are there as well."

Seeing his back the woman felt an almost unending pressure being leaked out of it. It wasn't directed at her but she felt like she couldn't breath just being in it's presence. The last thing she saw from the boy was his shadow except it wasn't in the form it should be. Instead of being in the shape of the boy it seemed to be some kind of twisted figure and it was trying to break free of it's bindings, the shape itself looked like it was almost rising out of ground itself. When the kid disappeared everything telling of his visit was gone as well.

The woman decided to do as he said because she felt like there was a chance that he would do as he said and rescue them from this hell hole.