Sneaking in (Part-1)

Martin had been on the move along with Marcus and Freya. Ever since they decided to walk into the demon's lair. The king didn't seem too displeased with their decision, almost as if he had predicted that it was going to happen.

They were now sitting in an underground base opposite to highly secretive gang members.

"So you want to go to the Demon realm."

Of course they had no idea of their identities, the trio had long disguised themselves as aspiring beastmen mercenaries.

"Yes, we want to join the Thunderous Hawk legion."

"One of the big five eh! You sure you are up for it."

"Don't underestimate us. We are really strong!" as you might have guessed their spokesperson was none other than Marcus. How he managed to convince Freya to let him do the talking is one of the major mysteries of this realm.

The thugs looked at each other and sniggered "A new sucker every year."

"Sure, we will be able to provide passage but in no way can we guarantee your safety."

"Why is that, we can deal with most types of elemental beasts." Martin inquired while raising his eyebrows.

The thugs looked at each other in amusement.

"Kid. Beasts are the least scariest thing out here in these parts. What you should really be worried about are the Demon slavers and other Bandit groups. Out here in the borderlands, stuck between the two nations, its no man's land. Its the survival of thugs like us. War means death, but it also means opportunities."

"So, you mean you are afraid of others in the same trade?"

"We aint afraid, its just that when push comes to shove, no one is going to bother saving your sorry asses."

"We can take care of ourselves all right. Your only concern is to get us through the rifts to the recruitment grounds."

"Heh, why not!"

---

The Borderlands were truly a no-man's land. The zone where Grimoria and Saforia were merging was full of many large scale and small scale rifts. The larger ones were mostly guarded by armies on either side but the small scale one weren't that easy to handle, opportunists, outlaws, slavers and anyone trying to make a buck by fishing in muddy waters would come here.

There came in all shapes and sizes, Humans , beastmen, demons even an occasional elf. However due to the lack of nation to back them and their origin of beast, beastmen were often treated the worst. Many of them were captured here and turned into slaves. As if that wasn't enough. It was quite common to find loot, elemental crystals and other precious items around these parts. Thus treasure hunters weren't a small number. It was like an entire ecosystem. The predators were the mercenary camps. The smaller predators were the outlaws. Treasure hunters were often the scavengers and slaves were the herbivores.

Yes, out here it was law of the jungle.

However hidden characters like them were obviously rare. Low-profile wasn't a thing to people here. If you were capable. There would be many more people willing to take you in than those willing to snuff you out.

Thus, the group set out to cross the treacherous land and sneak into the demon realm.

"So, How is life here for outlaws like you. How do you avoid the soldiers?"

"Life's pretty sweet, but who said anything about avoiding soldiers."

"Why is that?" Martin inquired clearly intrigued.

"We have business relations with them. Smuggling forbidden goods, weapons, drugs everything.

"Even slaves?"

The man was about to answer but hesitated.

"No, not anymore. For some reason there seems to be recent drop in demands recently. There are also rumors surrounding slavers being killed by some self-righteous vigilante."

"Hmm, this is new. Slavery is banned in both nations anyways."

"Only on the surface -They usually just pay a blind eye to it. Recently though, the situation seems to be changing.

After all it was only a matter of time before something like this would have happened. All it would take is an exceptionally skilled group of beastmen to rebel and start targeting all slavers for it to fall into chaos. Retribution will always come."

"Its quite strange for you talk to about retribution?"

"Not really, we are all outlaws here. Who hasn't sinned here. No one will admit it but we are always afraid of retribution for our actions. After all, even though the strong prey on the weak here. Who is strong and who is weak keeps changing quite regularly. That's why we mostly hold back as long as the crime could be traced back to us. There are unsaid rules everywhere."

Martin couldn't help but ponder.

The situation here, it was so uncannily similar to the Anarchy that they had once striven for (excluding the part about slavery). Even though there is no governance, people know there limits and that there are consequences for every action. Unfortunately in such cases retribution always comes as vengeance and cycles of avengers and feuds never end. Justice doesn't survive long in a real anarchy.

The borderlands were still a place of evil. It had all kinds of people, the rich, the poor, the oppurtunistic and the desperate. At the end of the day, it wasn't a nice place to live or grow up in for most.

Though a world where no one had the right to govern you except you yourself was an interesting ideal. It was extremely difficult to put into action.

As they were approaching the rift, they all couldn't help but relax.

"Looks like the trip was easy and uneventful this time. We are quite lucky right!" Marcus commented as they slowly approached the rift.

Now my friends, has anyone ever heard of Murphy's law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Obviously, once Marcus had made such a cliched statement, how could the universe just let them slip by without a cliched response. It would just be wrong, right at the very primordial level of existence.

So, just as they were approaching dense poisonous gas slowly started to rise around them and shadowy figures obscured by mist slowly walked out of the mist. All that could be seen where black silhouettes smiling creepily at them with dazzlingly white teeth.

"Surrender or DIE!"

A creepy voice that seemed to originate from the deepest pits of hell demanded them to surrender.

Creepy high pitched laughter surrounded them. Everyone seemed to have goosebumps.

"These aren't any outlaws. Its the mistdevils. run for your liv-" a scream was suddenly cut shot as their surroundings were completely silent.