Born Into Slavery

After Amon was born and lost his father at the same day without ever knowing him, he and his mother moved to a nearby village along with all the survivors of the Dragon attack.

While the nearby village was still a small village in no man's land, compared to Amon's birthplace, it was significantly more modern in comparison. The village has a simple infrastructure, its own guards who protect the village from attacks of the beasts and also significantly more people lived in the village as well. There were even schools here, which are normally only found in the cities.

The early days for the Refugees were difficult for everyone. They all lost their homes and families to the Dragon and it took them several weeks to get to the nearest village.

In the end, less than half of the original population survived and arrived at the village where they are seeking shelter.

But when the refugees arrived, not everything was as easy as initially expected. Instead of the villagers helping them, they turned them away and even threatened to kill them if they still dared to entered the village.

The residents of the village were used to looking after themselves and always kept their distance from strangers. Therefore, the refugees are not welcome here and only under one condition are they allowed to stay in the safety of the village and its guards.

Only if they sell themselves as slaves to the villagers and give up their rights as citizens of the republic are they allowed entry.

In the Ramela Republic where the village is located, keeping slaves, especially Demi Humans, is perfectly normal and so the requirement wasn't entirely odd.

The refugees therefore faced a dilemma.

On the one hand they have the choice to sell themselves as slaves to the village in order to get protection. In doing so, they would in turn place their fate in the hands of others. As slaves, they would no longer be seen as people, but as objects with which one could do whatever one wanted.

Also, should you become a slave once, you and your family are slaves for life, along with any descendants you may have in the future.

The alternative that the refugees have is not to remain in the safety of the village and to seek their luck elsewhere.

There is a small town not too far from here where they could also escape towards. There are a lot more people living in the city and so a small group of refugees are nothing strange or unwelcomed there. They should be allowed to enter the city without being forced into slavery.

The only problem, however, is that the only way to get to the city is through the forest filled with monsters and beasts. In addition, winter is approaching and therefore the refugees cannot take a detour around the forest, especially since there is not enough time for any detours.

After the refugees consulted among themselves, the majority ultimately voted in favor of the village's offer of going into slavery, but also being within the security of the village.

Among them was the new mother and widow Nimera. She doesn't have the strength to walk a long way through the depths of winter and can't expect her newborn child to do it with her.

Amon would either die on the way from the cold and starvation, or from the claws and teeth of the beasts that inhabit the forest.

But at the same time, Nimera is desperate that her boy will grow up in slavery. She wants more for him than just serving as someone else's thrall.

But at the same time, Nimera wishes nothing more than for her child to grow up in safety, even if it means being in slavery.

In the end, therefore, Nimera reluctantly chose to go into slavery, and thus she and her son Amon became slaves.

On the other hand, there was also a small part of the refugees who had nothing left to lose and therefore decided to try their luck in the city and set off on the dangerous journey.

...

Before you knew it, the years passed and Amon grew bigger and bigger.

The first years were particularly hard, especially since there was no man who put food on the table for them.

They were brought into a large house with the other slave women and lived there from then on. Children were allowed to live with their mothers as long as they were under the working age of 5, while the men had to work in the mines.

The women, on the other hand, were ordered to work in the fields and had to take care of the grain and animal husbandry.

As a reward, the slaves did not receive copper coins, which is the lowest currency in all human territory, but a daily meal and of course the men earned the most, while the women received the least.

Therefore, if not for a few good friends who shared their food with Nimera and Amon, they would have starved and died long ago.

Then there were also the cold winters, in which the slaves could only warm themselves by hugging each other. The nights were getting colder while supplies were getting scarcer.

Disease, hunger and the cold in winter ensured that countless slaves died one after the other over the years. Over time, people's sympathy also disappeared and Nimera's former friends, who at first shared food with her and helped each other, began to keep the food for themselves and their families.

One winter, this led to Amon almost starving to death one night when he was four years old. Had it not been for Liona sharing bread and water with them, Amon would already be dead.

The then 9-year-old Liona was able to earn something extra through medical work that she learned in the old village and from then on, she always shared it with Nimera and Amon.

But when Liona turned 10 years old, the day had come when her Mana talent was tested in the village. For this purpose, some soldiers and even magicians came to the village to carry out the tests, on all children at the age of 10.

At first nobody expected to find someone with a talent for magic here in the village, especially since the chance of being gifted with mana is very small and even noble often fail these tests. Then how could anyone from an upstate village so small and insignificant, ever pass the Mana Aptitude Test?

However, to everyone's surprise, things turned out differently in the end, because the little slave girl Liona was tested as Mana Sensitive. In addition, she seems to have a rare affinity with something called Restoration Magic, which can heal even the most severe of wounds if mastered.

This completely changed the sad fate of little Liona.

She lost both her parents in the Dragon attack and had to survive on her own as an orphan ever since. It was tedious and the successes she achieved were not recognized by others.

She has worried many times in the past about what her future might hold and always came up with a terrible and horrifying result.

As a slave she cannot marry a man and instead be taken as a whore by any man whenever he wanted. Liona became more mature and beautiful as she grew up and therefore often faced horror scenes of being abused by these men.

She therefore often thought of fleeing, but even if she succeeds, she will be searched throughout the Republic and arrested if found. That's why she also thought about suicide.

But with the new results of the Mana Aptitude Test, new doors have opened Infront of Liona that were previously closed.

She will be taken by the Mages to the Magic Academy in the Empire, and her status as a slave will be revoked there. She will get a chance to study and improve her powers at the academy and much more she will get a chance to continue living with dignity.

Therefore, it is understandable that little Liona was very excited and satisfied with the outcome of the whole situation. It is a dream of every child who grew up in the Republic or the Empire or anywhere else to come to the Magic Academy and explore Magic and all its wonders on an equal footing with everyone else there.

Afterwards, the Magicians only gave Liona a short time to prepare for departure. Many of the villagers therefore wanted to get on well with little Liona, who will soon be much more powerful, so that they will not be forgotten by her in the future.

But Liona ignored them all and ended up going to Amon, who was now 5 years old and saw Liona as a big sister.

"Sister Liona, will you go with the strange men in robes?" asked Amon as he looked at Liona with his silver eyes.

"Little Amon, yes I will. But don't worry, I've already spoken to the men and they assured me that I can send what I earn to you here. I'm not only talking about food, but about real copper and silver to buy enough food and clothes for you and your mother. So please don't be sad. Besides, I won't be gone forever, I have to see how your reading and writing get on." Liona said afterwards as she stroked Amon's head.

"If I come back and you can't at least do that, then I'll be really sad and you don't want your big sister to be sad, do you?" asked Liona as she bent down to Amon.

"I understand, sister Liona. I will study hard and help mother, you can count on it!" Amon replied as he looked determinedly at Liona.

"That's how I want to see it. We'll see each other again and I hope that by then you'll have grown more mature and stronger." said Liona afterwards and stood up again.

Afterwards, Liona talked to Nimera a bit and then went to a carriage and the soldiers and left together with the Magicians who took Liona towards her new future.

...

But not everything went peacefully after Liona's departure for Amon and his mother.

Word quickly got around in the village that Amon and Nimera have a close relationship with the future Magician Liona and people reacted as they often do to others to whom something good has happened. They reacted with jealousy.

In the beginning, this envy was limited to only comments from the site.

That Amon is the freak of an Elf and thinks he's something better. That his mother was a whore who opened her legs for a long-eared one.

Among those who said these comments and insults were even some slaves who come from the same village and only thanks to the man they insulted and the one whose family they offended saved their lives from the dragon.

But over time, people seem to have forgotten the past and even worse rewrote it in their heads.

So, according to some, the Elf himself rode and controlled the Dragon and steered it toward the villagers and is therefore responsible for the deaths of these people.

This is of course total nonsense and completely made up, but people have always found it easy to take fictional stories for the truth and so the lie became the new truth in the village and over time the exclusion of Amon and Nimera continued.

Amon started working in the fields and partly in the quarries since he was 5 years old in order to earn more food for him and his mother.

He couldn't stand to see the person he loves so much suffering and starving. Therefore, he didn't hesitate and decided to accept the hard work.

But he was not only paid less than the others, with the justification that a bastard and son of a mass murderer does not earn more. But he was also regularly beaten up by the other children and his belongings were often stolen from him.

At first, Amon thought he had no choice but to wait until the other kids got tired of beating him.

He told himself this over and over again in his mind, but in the end nothing changed. He was beaten up more and more every day and the wounds increased over time.

His mother knew about the attacks and tried to ask the children's parents to stop the attacks. But in the end, they just made fun of her and didn't take a word she said seriously.

These experiences of publicly making fun of his mother and calling her a whore and insulting her were the ones in which a new will was born in Amon.

A will to make those who insult and undermine his mother, pay.

Amon started training from that day on. He would practice with a branch for the few hours he has free time at a day, trying to imitate a sword that the guards have and use to fight wild animals and beasts.

He may not have a sword to fight with, but with the right training, he believes he doesn't need a real one against the other kids.

Amon's next three years were spent in constant work practicing attack techniques and movements with the branch in the early mornings, while doing heavy work in the mines during the day that no one else dared to do.

As a result, despite eating little, his body began to become relatively muscular, and his stamina also increased over time.

In the evening when he goes home, he would be beaten by the other children who do nothing but wait for him.

Later he would then comfort his mother that everything will change soon and that she shouldn't be sad because of the attacks, he would solve the problem.

After that, they would share what little food they had together and then go to sleep.

...

Liona has now been gone for three years when she started her new life. At the time, she promised Amon that she would send him and his mother money so that they could be better off in the future.

But after the last three years have passed and there has still been no money or any message from Liona, Amon already assumes that she has forgotten him and his mother, or that they are simply not important enough to her.

As a result, over time he lost more and more confidence in her and at the same time began to change his way of thinking as well.

He wants to hold his life in his own hands in the future. No more Liona to give him hope for a better future. No more slavery that restricts him in everything he wants to do and treats him as an object. And no more wounds that make his mother so sad and desperate.

Everything has to change now…