There was only one word to explain the ride on the spider cart: heart-pounding.

  If he’d ever used one before then he’d have known that the large tarantula moved twice as fast as any horse and could ignore rough terrain thanks to its wide stance and multiple legs. Unfortunately, he and the other captives had to experience the cart violently shaking with every loose stone on the dirt road.

  Twice, someone was nearly flung out. The first time, several people had reacted to desperately snatch the man back at the last moment. The second time they hadn’t been so lucky. Another man still held his shoulder from their captors' abuse - fueled from causing them to nearly stop.

  The white knuckles on everyone’s red hands were proof of their shared fear – still tied together, a single slip threatened to drag everyone down and at best, leave someone with a broken bone. They all huddled together silently in the cart as the strange new man sat on a long seat beside one of their captors at the front. The other captor hung from the back, watching them with a displeased gaze.

  Ka’ had the unnerving feeling that he was waiting for them to give him an excuse to hurt them again. Their captor’s gaze slithered over all of them, occasionally lingering on the women as a strange glint flickered in his eyes. Ka’ looked down when that gaze passed over him.

  He had to.

  The cart travelled down the long yet narrow road for far longer than anyone wanted. A few times, Ka’ thought he saw something moving in the tall grass, but whenever he tried to look closer it seemed to have disappeared.

  Was something else watching them?

  Eventually, they reached the walled city just after the sun had passed its peak. The heat from being exposed directly under it had produced an unholy smell that did not mix well with the lingering boat rot that still clung to a few of them.

  The looming creature slowed at last as the sandy dirt path became crowded with people on foot. Ka’ spotted a lot of people traveling on foot, with a few of them pulling small carts behind them. Regardless, all the people he saw wore a simple brown dress, likely stained from the travel, though the smell coming off them suggested otherwise.

  The merchant carefully led them past the other travellers, and after a quick exchange with one of the spear-armoured guards, they entered the sunset-coloured city. Ka’ thought he saw a glimmer of something shiny pass from one hand to the next right before the guard waved them in, but it happened too quickly for him to confirm. The unintelligible hum of the crowd rose around them as they stepped through the large archway and past the thick pillars.

  Here it comes.

  Much like the high outer wall, Ka’ realised the city buildings were hewn from the same yellowy-red stone. Most rose from square or rectangular bases, their forms stacked and interlocked into simple shapes. Flat rooftops and narrow alleyways suggested a city built for efficiency rather than ornament, but the lack of a unified direction made him question what shape the street was supposed to be.

  Most buildings were only one or two levels high, not counting the flat roofs. Colourful tarps stretched between the roofs, creating a shaded path below. The narrow, dim streets wound and curved between the buildings as a small sandy fog twisted along the ground, obscuring everyone's feet. Ka’ felt that they floated along, gliding from place to place as a soft scraping noise lingered almost inaudibly in the background.

  The beast pulling them forwards seemed to gain a mystical vibe as if floating along when the ends of its feet vanished. Especially because the journey became notably smoother once inside the tall walls.

  It looked hauntingly beautiful at first.

  The bustling noise of the city’s entrance blocked any chance of focusing on a single conversation, drowning even the carts creaking and scraping over the rough ground. Passing one building, he caught a glimpse through a small window to see a simple room inside. There were a few sparse furnishings that reminded him of the village they came from.

  The odd familiarity helped ease the tension in his shoulders.

  But some still remained.

  Amidst Ka’Tehmn’s growing curiosity towards the city, the merchant hurried them to a large building near the city centre. Though he glimpsed the intricate stone carvings, layered columns, and mosaics decorating it, he barely had time to appreciate them.

  One of the men jumped out. His bindings had been removed. He sprinted. The rear captor’s shout came just before the cart slammed to a halt, as a drawn blade was thrust against one woman’s throat.

  She screamed. The front captor’s voice screamed louder. Nobody moved.

  That’s when they realised, this was their chance. One man stood up to kick the rear captor’s chest, his leg raised in the air about to strike forwards.

  “Eat.”

  Nobody understood the word at first, but when the giant arachnid seemed to teleport across the street and clamp its mouth over the escapee’s head they figured it out. The rear captor just stared, furious, as the man slowly lowered his leg and sat down.

  The strange man quickly re-harnessed the now-fed titan and they continued on.

  As they moved, Ka’s eyes fixed on the towering structure they entered.

  I thought it could be a better place to start over.

  Ka’Tehmn’s memories of the next hour were blurry. They were roughly scrubbed clean before being handed a small loaf of black bread for food. It tasted stale and mouldy but nobody refused or left any.

  Once they had eaten, they were forced to stand on display in a large room with dozens of other people. A captive who tried to resist was dragged off only to return beaten and covered with several large bruises. He remembered wondering why people still tried to resist yet doubted he’d ever forget those fearful eyes when she finally stood on her podium.

  Did she know what was going to happen to them?

  While nobody could understand the language, the command to ‘look presentable’ was clear after what they had been through.

  Once everyone was on display, a group of well-dressed people entered the room to examine them. They wore a familiar style of dress, but with a much more colourful fashion. Unlike the people on the streets, they were all adorned with shiny jewellery on their arms and neck.

  A few of the captives tried to hide or look away, but their postures were soon corrected, leaving them fearful yet straight-backed under the strangers’ appraising stares. More than one of them cried.

  But they had learnt to be quiet.

  But I don’t want to remember.

  One man, clad in silver-threaded robes, lingered at Ka’ longer than the others. His piercing eyes noted Ka’Tehmn’s dark hair and healthier-by-comparison physique. He spoke a few short words to the attendant beside him. Moments later, Ka’ was pulled from the room, hurriedly redressed, and dragged outside to stand before the man who had chosen him.

  They left him there.

  The new man offered him food.

  He accepted the loaf of bread with numb fingers.

  Even alone and with only the one man in front of him, he didn’t dare resist.

  He followed the man to another building. Even from a distance, it was undoubtedly the largest and most beautiful building in the city. Its pillars were carved with elaborate patterns that seemed to dance in the sunlight as building-sized murals decorated its outer walls like frozen stories.

  He hadn’t known it then, but this was the city’s main temple.

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  Not this place.

  He was taken inside to a large hall. Coloured candles and smoking incense hung from the ceiling on long strings. The dense white air filled the space between the thick pillars. Unlike the city outside, pristine white pillars littered the space, each painted with murals of tall men in shining gowns and feathered headwear reaching towards the ceiling. Each pillar’s figure was dressed in bright colours of blue, green, and gold.

  The enchanting smell of wax and herbs filled the air. Ka’ remembered his surprise as he saw the bright artistry that filled every corner of the building. It looked so inviting, so welcoming, so kind.

  Not again.

  He entered a small room near the back of the temple. In the centre, a smiling man in simple red robes was lighting several coloured candles atop a wooden high table. The candles flickered endlessly, casting swaying silhouettes against the walls. In the corner, a green flame crackled within a child-sized clay pot, bathing the room in an unnatural glow.

  This was not inviting. Nor welcoming. Nor kind.

  The calming scents vanished as the smiling man greeted the pair. He inspected the contents of a pouch the silver-robed man passed to him. Satisfied, he beckoned two previously unnoticed servants to step forward from the shadows, startling Ka’Tehmn.

  Please…

  “What are you doing!”

  Ka’ shouted in surprise, his heartbeat suddenly accelerating as the two servants grabbed his arms. They yanked him toward the high table in the centre as the man he had arrived with stepped back, his eyes calmly observing the struggling captive.

  “Get off me! Let go! Hey! What are they doing!”

  Ka’s heart began to pound harder and faster. The silver-robed man said nothing – simply watching the two temple servants overpower him, dragging him closer to the table. The smiling man in the centre finished lighting the last candle just as they slammed him against its edge.

  One of them slipped behind him. Ka’ felt a powerful blow against his back before he fell onto the table. The weight of the servant pressed against his back. He couldn’t move.

  “GET OFF! STOP!”

  Ka’ screamed as an unknown fear surged through him. His arms strained against the weight on top of him. Before he could make sense of what was going on, the other servant appeared across the table and pulled his arms, scraping them against the table and pinning him down.

  He was trapped.

  He kicked and thrashed with his legs to try pushing the servant behind him off, only for them to use their body weight to slam him against the table. Sweat began to stain his back as he continued to struggle against them.

  “STOP IT! WHAT AR-”

  His question was cut short as a hand drove the side of his head into the table. The servant behind him slammed his head down generating a dizzying pulse behind his eyes.

  Despite his failing vision, he managed to see the smiling man approach the green flame before returning with a long stick. Ka’ barely registered the strange, glowing orange pattern at the end of the stick. A sobering panic clawed at him to escape.

  His body wouldn’t move.

  He thrashed wildly. His leg kicked the man behind him as he failed to free himself from the other servant’s grip. The two servants easily restrained him as the smiling man shouted in that horrible language. Ka’ knew they couldn’t understand him, but the emotions in his eyes couldn’t be misunderstood.

  Yet the red-robed man simply smiled.

  Then pressed the burning poker into the side of his trapped head.

  The heat hit him before the pain did.

  It ignored his screams.

  He began to choke, too overwhelmed to breathe properly.

  His thrashing was futile. Held still by the two servants trapping him. Numbness spread through his fingers as the grip on his wrists intensified; the only thing he could feel was the pain.

  Unstoppable pain.

  It suffocated him.

  Death felt like a mercy. A mercy he was being denied. No matter how loud he screamed.

  Why is this the part I remember so clearly?

  Why can I not forget this?

  The smiling man eventually withdrew the metal from the side of his face. A few muffled words to the servants, and they released him.

  Ka’ collapsed onto the floor – trembling.

  “Pai memn neou feeling? Have you come to your senses yet? Can you understand me? If so, I need you to look at me.”

  The smiling man’s voice drew Ka’Tehmn’s attention. With all the effort he could manage, he turned his head towards the looming figure smiling down at him. He didn’t even have the energy to realise he could now understand him. He just lay there and watched the kind smile open.

  “Ah, you can still hear me. That’s good. I was worried I’d used too much powder and damaged your hearing.”

  The smiling man spoke, the meaning behind the strange words suddenly clear – as if he had known the language his entire life.

  “Wh... Why?”

  Collapsed on the floor, Ka’ barely managed to speak. His throat burned, resisting even a whisper.

  “Hmm? I’m very sorry, but I don’t understand you yet. You’ve only had the comprehension sigil. You’d need a communication sigil before your words can be translated.”

  The man replied casually as he returned the long poker to the green fire in the corner.

  “But don’t worry. Your new owner paid for the full service, so we’ll do that one next.”

  As he turned, a smaller rod glowed a brilliant red as it emerged from the flame. A small set of tongues lay cold in his other hand.

  “He should be too tired to move, but hold him steady just in case. I don’t want him clamping his jaw shut and biting through his tongue.”

  The offhand comment hadn’t even finished before the two servants dragged him back up and onto his back across the table. He didn’t have the strength to resist. The blood on the table stuck to his back as he struggled to breathe.

  A pair of hands placed something hard between his back teeth on both sides so his mouth remained open. Again, one servant held his wrists while the other held him down.

  Tears began to seep from the corners of his eyes as he looked up at the smiling man looming over him. The flickering table candles cast a macabre dance across his face.

  “Hlee..Hleesh…”

  “I still can’t understand you. Don’t worry, this time will be shorter as your Sekh?m has already been refined for the first sigil.”

  He smiled down as tears continued to stain the sides of Ka’Tehmn’s face.

  Experience did not make the pain any easier.

  Nor kinder.

  Leaving Ka’ on the table, the smiling man began to extinguish the candles one by one once he was finished. He waited until only the large corner flame remained before speaking to Ka’ again.

  “Congratulations. You should now be able to speak properly. It might take a bit of time for the numbness in your tongue to pass, but if it persists for a few days, please return, and I will provide some calming balm to help.”

  He lacked the energy to listen. His body was so heavy he felt himself sinking into exhaustion. Was this death, he wondered.

  “You were registered as Ka’Tehmn by your seller; however, since there are no scrolls about you beforehand, would you like to change it?”

  Ka’ struggled to turn his head to look at the man.

  “It’s quite a nice name. The second vital spirit of the land.”

  He could only stare at the kind-smiling man.

  “Well then, let’s conclude that.”

  The robed man nodded and turned to face the other man still waiting in the corner.

  “I’ll leave him to you then. Remember—he must be provided all required amenities. Failure to do so will carry severe repercussions for both you and your business.

  When he is more relaxed, inform him that he must return here to confirm the end of his term. Should any issues arise before that point involving a violation of his mandated rights, obstruction of his duty to prayer, or denial of his possibility to liberation, he will not be punished for reporting them.

  Is that part understood?”

  Despite the calm smile on his face, his smiling man’s voice was devoid of any emotion as he spoke.

  “I’m good to all my workers. You don’t have to remind me every time.”

  The man dismissed the threat with a wave of his hand. For a brief moment, the red-robed priest’s gaze hardened—before the same amicable smile returned, just as it had when they first entered.

  “Then, I shall bid you a wonderful day.”

  The smiling man bowed, turned, and left – the two servants habitually following behind in silence.

  “If you can stand, do so. The temple will not let you lie there and rest—despite my requests.”

  Ka’ turned his head to look at the man who had brought him here—to really look at him.

  For the first time, he noticed the intricate outfit: the luxurious, silk dress, decorated with a silvery spider mark on the left shoulder, the pleated stitch along the cuffs of the shoulder seams. His long, blond hair braided with silver coins that draped around his collar and tucked into the deep “V” shape at the front of his dress.

  I remember my mind felt so clear at that moment.

  He struggled to focus, his mind almost frozen in that moment. He managed to drag his mind by trying to count all the precious metal loops he saw – seven silver rings, two silver earrings in the left ear and three in the right, and a single copper bull’s ring through his nose.

  He observed the man for a long time, his fading mind struggling to form his questions together.

  Who was he? What did he want? Why had he chosen me?

  “You probably have a lot of questions,” he said, “but don’t ask me yet. First, you’ll get food and a proper pair of sandals from the market. The sandals are non-negotiable.”

  Ka’ didn’t flinch at the man’s words, only nodded numbly, too exhausted to speak—and unwilling to.

  That was the moment I realised it.

  I was a slave.

  And he was my new master.

  The next moment, his dream ended. Ka’ woke to Mnai’?t tapping his shoulder. Dawn light spilled into his first full day as a servant of the Blue Moon House.

  That kind smile looked down at him.

  Summary of the Key Points:

  Mnai’?t standing over him as his first day as a slave begins.