Minder

'I have a low healing factor, huh! Well, my bloodline must be weak, just opposite of those overpowered main characters. Wait! Isn't blood a connective tissue? Last time I checked, my health stat was only 7, which is very less compared to a regular human which is 10!'

An idea hit me. Now I just needed to find a secluded place to check my theory. However, I shouldn't do so today as I was already tired and feeling very weak due to the blood loss.

Keeping the topic aside, I sat down supporting myself on a wall. I noticed that there was still some time before bedtime so, in hopes of making small talk and easing my pain I said to Mr. 'fan' sitting beside me, "I don't like being a slave."

"Nobody here does." He replied with a melancholic tone. I didn't know why but he was being kinda mature today. "It's a destiny we were born with; there is nothing we could do."

When he said 'destiny', I was reminded of Psais. If someone noticed my face carefully, they would have found a hint of anger flush through it but gladly, no one did.

"I cannot sit like this and wait for destiny to bring me to death." I complained while sitting on the floor. "I need to escape from this slavery at any cost!"

At my last statement every slave in the stable turned towards me with astonished eyes. Murmurs started to fill the room.

Boof! Boof! Boof!

Suddenly one of the Lakéquses started to make unusual sounds and the murmurs quieted down. Everyone looked towards the Lakéqus that made the sound just to notice it was James who made it do so.

Noticing that James had the attention of every slave, he looked at me and said, "Keep saying those words Alex and soon we will see you at the Guillotine! Also, all of you should know that the masters won't waste a single second coming here if they heard a single sound so, keep it low!"

"But James; is there no way we could escape slavery?" I said in a low expectant voice. "What if we forcefully overpower the Lord and take over the place? After all, we're much more in number as compared to his guards."

"Sigh…You guys don't know anything, do you?" James calmed the crowd. "The lord has a 'Minder'." As soon as he said those words, surprised gasps could be heard from some of the older slaves and there was a question mark on other's facial expressions.

As I was about to ask what a 'Minder' was, James continued, "For those of you who don't know, a 'Minder' is someone who has conquered his mind and can now tap into the power that govern the laws of nature, the 'Mind Power'. I don't know what stage he's at but the important part is that he has marked every slave in this village with a 'curse of submission'. So, he holds our life in the palm of his hands!"

Everyone in the room became sad and silent. The hope I've build up just shattered like that. Now I knew I couldn't act rashly. It would be better if I would just avoid the Lord and the higher ups!

'So this world is a fantasy world where magic, curses and magical beasts reside! The sad part is, this body was not even born with a talent!'

"But James, how come you have such information but we didn't. And, is there really no way for us to escape our destiny?" Mr. 'fan' asked James with a confused tone.

'I think you're someone else disguised as my fan! Tell me where the real Mr. 'fan' is?' I thought jokingly. Stopping my thoughts, James came towards me and handed me a cup made of clay and filled with milk which was foamy and warm.

He said to me, "I got some extra today, you can have it." Then he looked towards Mr. 'fan' and said, "Age and name has its perks boy. As the matter about escaping destiny, you can escape but only at a huge price." After answering him, James just went towards a nearby slave, told him something and sat down. The slave then picked up two wooden buckets of milk and went outside.

After resting for a bit, James looked at me and said, "There are two ways to break this curse, either become a Minder yourself or get out from the range of the curse, which would be the size of this village. The former would be nothing more than impossible as nobody here knows how to become a Minder. Also, eventhough the latter is possible but it's not plausible. You will have to escape into the forest and face all kinds of monsters and frequent life threatening risks to escape from slavery."

There was once again silence in the room. I drank the milk which tasted like cow milk but it was slightly salty and creamier. Also, its smell was disgusting! It smelled like rotten milk! But, it didn't affect me after all; I was living in a stable!

Breaking the silence, a very old slave suddenly spoke from the back, "I've once overheard some masters talking about a human civilization multiple times bigger than this village! They said something like, 'Follow the light and humanity should welcome you.'"

Many murmurs broke out again in the stable, some of disbelief, some of hatred and some of joy.

"Are you lying? How can there be a human civilization that big and we wouldn't even know?"

"There are other humans! We can still hope!"

"But why are the Lord, the princes and princesses and the nobles keeping it a secret?"

"Maybe they don't want us to know, so that we wouldn't revolt."

"By Feastus, that's blasphemy!"

"Maybe the Minder belongs to the city and the Lord has hired him for a price." As James spoke everyone quieted down. "But I wonder how did they come to know of it? Anyways, everyone, it's already bedtime so we should just quiet down and sleep."

'Follow the light and humanity should welcome you? So this village isn't the only human civilization in this world? I also have no other choice but to escape into the forest if I want to escape slavery huh?' Stopping my thoughts there, I entered the dream land.

***