Chapter 2: Branded
[: 1st POV :]
I was cold, wet, and shivering.
The current had carried
through twists of riverbank and mud until, eventually, I was pulled out roughly by a pair of hands.
"Oi, boss! Another baby! Guess the river’s coughing up trash today!"
Trash?
I couldn’t speak, but sothing in
wanted to scream.
I had just been born into in this world, and now I was being called trash?
I was lifted upside down and slapped on the back to get the water out of .
My small body coughed and wheezed instinctively.
"Damn, he’s still alive. Lucky little bastard."
I opened my blurry eyes to see the man’s scarred face, half his teeth missing, and a jagged smile that made my infant instincts tremble.
"Looks healthy. Might fetch a price in a few years if we keep him alive," another muttered.
Then, one of them noticed the necklace.
"Hey, boss, this thing’s wearing a necklace. Doesn’t look like common stuff."
[: 3rd POV :]
The slave rchant leader, a wiry man with a hawk-like gaze and a whip slung at his waist, took the necklace from Daniel’s neck.
It glinted under the sun a woven chain of soft rose-gold tal, supporting a gemstone that shimred faintly with warmth, almost like it pulsed with life.
"Huh. Never seen this design before," the leader muttered. "No crest, no emblem. Probably so sentintal junk."
He looked at the gem again, then shrugged.
"Doesn’t matter. I’ll keep it. Might be worth sothing if we lt it down."
Daniel’s necklace a gift forged personally by the Empress, known only to her, embedded with a subtle enchantnt that resonated with her own life force was now tucked away carelessly in the rchant’s pouch.
They didn’t recognize its aning.
They didn’t understand that this necklace was a key, a symbol, a lifeline.
To them, it was just gold.
To the Empress... it was her son’s soul anchor and at this mont, none of them knew the consequences of taking his necklace.
[: Daniel POV :]
I felt sothing leave
the mont the necklace was taken.
I couldn’t explain it, but I knew it was important. It was mine.
No, it was perhaps made from my mother and now it was gone.
I didn’t cry.
I just stared at the man who took it, morizing his face.
Even as a baby... I promised myself one day, I will take it back.
I don’t know how long it was.
Ti didn’t exist for
in that mont.
They wrapped
in rough, old cloth and threw
into the back of their wagon, like I was nothing but a wet lump of at.
The wagon creaked and shook with every bump and dip in the dirt road.
The scent of blood, sweat, and filth clung to the rotting wood like a second skin.
I could hear others.
Whispers. Groans. Breathing.
I turned my tiny head just enough to see there were others inside this dark box.
A girl, no older than ten, sat hunched with a swollen eye and cracked lips.
Her fingers trembled as she held a small broken doll to her chest like it was the only thing she had left in this world.
In another corner, an old man his ears pointed like blades, face wrinkled beyond age, skin torn with lash marks stared blankly into space.
He didn’t even blink as though there was no life in his eyes.
And then I saw them.
Demons with cracked horns.
Demi-humans with fur matted in dried blood.
Elves with their once radiant hair dulled, bound in iron chains too tight for their slender limbs.
I was surrounded by all ages, all races, all broken.
I could already tell that they were all trafficked and no words needed to be spoken.
I felt it all.
Their silence scread louder than anything.
And I was just a baby in their hell.
I should have been happy and delighted that I had been reincarnated, but right now, the situation didn’t allow
to.
I didn’t know how long it took but the wagon finally stopped.
I was dragged back to the camp like a bundle of rags.
The place they called a "camp" was nothing more than a filthy outpost hidden deep within a dried canyon.
The sll of sweat, rot, and blood stuck to wooden cages, iron bars and everything.
Stone floors stained dark with the past.
They threw
into one of the larger pens shared with others.
There were others but their eyes and bodies
tells
they were... broken, old and tired.
Those lifeless eyes they had was sothing I’m familiar with.
It reminded
of the incurable diseased I had but the only difference they had was that they had beca a slave.
And as I lay there, wrapped in nothing but a damp cloth, shivering with what little strength I had, I saw eyes turn toward .
So curious and so were indifferent.
But most had eyes of pity.
"By the gods... he’s just a newborn," a soft voice said, belonging to an older elf woman whose silver hair was matted with dust.
A demi-human with feline ears crouched beside her, eyes narrowed.
"What kind of monster brands a baby? I thought even these scum had limits."
"They don’t," a rough male voice answered bitterly.
He was a demon horn broken, one eye blinded. "I’ve seen them mark a toddler who cried too loud and they think it’s funny."
"And now this one," the elf whispered, reaching out through the bars to touch my forehead gently with her thin fingers.
"Poor soul... what did you ever do to deserve this?" Even the elf carried
and she even cried with her tears dropping on .
I couldn’t answer. But my trembling body did enough.
But at this mont, I felt warmth from her.
Their words wrapped around
like sothing warm but even then, they couldn’t stop what ca next.
[: 3rd POV :]
The slave rchant returned later that evening with two masked n carrying a red-hot branding rod.
"He’s next," one of them said casually. "Let’s get it over with."
The slaves in the pen stood up so shouting in protest.
"Wait! He’s just a baby!" the elf woman called out, shielding Daniel’s tiny body with her arms.
"You brand him now and he’ll die!" the demi-human growled, baring her teeth.
"Not your concern," the rchant replied coldly.
"All property gets the crest."
He pushed a whip against the bars and activated a button he pressed with a control.
Imdiately, all of the slaves scread in pain as there were sothing hurting them within their soul.
Eventually, Daniel was pulled from the elf’s arms.
He cried not in fear of the strangers—but because he had felt safety for a brief mont... and now it was gone again.
The stone slab was brought in, still stained from the last mark.
The branding rod glowed like molten lava.
The slaves around the courtyard went quiet.
"Don’t look," soone whispered. But no one could turn away.
[: Daniel POV :]
I felt the slab beneath my back.
My tiny hands wriggled, trying to fight. My legs kicked weakly. I scread.
But no one stopped them.
The rod was lowered.
I scread louder.
I scread until I couldn’t breathe.
And then—
HHHHAAAAAAGHHHHHHH!!!
The mont it touched my chest, it felt like my heart was being ripped out.
A pain I didn’t think existed.
A fire beneath my skin, consuming
from the inside.
My vision went white and my mind fractured.
I could feel the slave crest burning into my flesh branding
like cattle.
I cried.
Tears stread down my face, and they didn’t stop.
My cries were hoarse, broken and raw.
But all around —I heard the gasps, the shouts, the sobs.
"He’s just a baby! Damn you!" one man yelled.
"Bastards! You’ll all burn for this soday!" another scread.
Even the elf... she wept. I saw her eyes as I scread. She mouthed a prayer I didn’t understand.
They hurt for .
I didn’t even know them... but they hurt for .
After the mark was scorched into , they placed a slave collar or rather, a wrist cuff onto my small arm.
It clicked tight and cold, humming with ancient runes.
"Now he belongs to us," one of them said.
Belongs?
I don’t belong to anyone.
But right now... I couldn’t fight that.
Right now, I was helpless.
[: 3rd POV :]
They tossed Daniel back into the pen like he was waste.
His chest still smoked, red and swollen from the crest.
His breathing ca in small, painful gasps.
The elf woman caught him gently in her arms.
Her hands trembled.
"How could they be so cruel...?" She cried as she tried to soothe Daniel cries while cradling him.
The feline demi-human beside her clenched her fists.
"If there’s any justice left in this world, he’ll rise one day. And when he does... I hope he burns them all."
A demon boy, barely ten, crouched nearby. His voice was quiet, trembling.
"Do you think he’ll rember us... if he survives?"
The old demon scoffed.
"He won’t have to rember. But I hope he can survive and that’s all I wish hope" The old demon said.
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