Multiverse: by Nick Venomz (best books to read for beginners .txt) 📕

“Yeah, I see a little girl with a witch collar mixed in there with other normal slaves.” She told him. He nodded, dusting himself off. 

“Where is he? Town Center or in the waiting area?” He asked. 

“At the Town Center, father’s keeping him busy. Let’s go before he breaks away.” Liliana told him, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the Town Center. There the two met with Liliana’s father, Roman. Roman was busy dealing with the slave trader, only stopping when noticing Aksel.

“Okay, let’s get to the final issue. Do you have any witches?”

“I have one, but it isn’t for sale. She’s been reserved for the royal family.” The slave trader told him.

“Are you sure about that?” Aksel chimed in, jumping headfirst into the conversation. The slave trader turned to face Aksel, chuckling a bit to himself.

“Yeah, so bug off kid.” He remarked. The slave trader was mocking Aksel’s smaller-than-average build. He was nineteen-years-old but was smaller than the other nineteen-year-olds he ever met. 

Aksel ignored his remark and glanced at Roman, nodding his head. The slave trader picked up on the nod, swiftly turning around to face Roman, but now quick enough to avoid being punched in the face. The single strike knocked the slave trader out cold with little resistance. 

With him out cold, Roman and Aksel went to work. Roman checked the carriage, discovering seven slaves of various races; four females and three males. Aksel quickly scanned through the female slaves, pointing out the witch from within them through the witch collar, a unique collar able to prevent witches from using their magic by closing their magical veins carrying their mana around their body. 

“There she is,”  He said, pointing her out. 

“What do we do about the others? We can’t just leave them alone.” Roman asked.

“We’ll let them free. Allow them to venture wherever they want, be it here or elsewhere.” Aksel said. 

“Got it,” Roman turned around and searched the slave trader’s body, pulling out a key from his pockets.  He freed the slaves and released them from the carriage. As they piled out, they looked towards Roman and Aksel with worried faces and cautious actions. Roman looked over at Aksel, who nodded at him. He nodded back, turning around to face the slaves.

“You are in the town of Hornsville; imagine this as a safe haven of sorts,” Roman told them.

“How is it a safe haven?” A male slave asked.

“No kingdom would dare to interfere with us,” Roman told them.

“Why? I don’t mean to be rude, but what makes this small village special?” A female slave asked.

“Because this town has a barrier that rejects foreign people. The only reason the slave trader made it into here was because of Roman—the guy who set you free—allowing him in. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it inside. Anybody we don’t want inside or people who disguise themselves to attack us from inside are rejected instantly because of the barrier.” Aksel explained.

“How did you get the barrier?” Another male slave asked.

“A witch granted it to us.” He said.

“A witch?” gasped the slaves. Even the witch that was enslaved gasped at the thought that a witch would help humans.

“Why would she do that?” The witch asked. She looked to be around ten with blonde pigtails and pinkish skin. She wore a slave’s outfit of tattered brown clothes.

“Unlike most of the world, this village respects and looks up to them,” Aksel said.

“The witch isn’t here, but she is and will remain, our town savior,” Roman added.

“Sorry to interrupt, but what will we do with the trader?” Liliana asked.

The witch glared at the slave trader’s unconscious body, muttering “I’ll take care of him.”

TBC…

Phase two began quickly. Group two’s job was to secure our part of the town. Fortunately, we were given the easiest mission, unlike the other teams that received the difficult parts of town. 

I was busy completing my task on a rooftop, leaving the rest to my teammates on the ground floor as Garfield approached me. He waved me towards him, leading me away. He took me to the side before replaying a message he’d received. 

“Lindsay, Silver Daggers evacuated, returning to HQ. They got scared off by the hordes scattered in their part of town. They’ve fled and the hordes they were supposed to control, are swarming towards us.”

“What happened to the Red Scorpions? Did they leave us as well?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “They’re still standing.”

“Okay, has group two return?” 

He shook his head. “Not yet. Their mission failed as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“The hordes busted the gates down; they’re flooding the place. They already lost one of their members.” He then pointed behind me as two of group two’s members raced towards us, diving into the building under our feet. 

“Inside the buildings now, large hordes are arriving.” I heard Luna shout from somewhere around us, her voice echoing off the empty town. Garfield then grabbed my arm and dragged me down, slowly crawling away from the edge.

The sounds of the horses’ cries were apparent, screams being cut off by the growling of the undead. They flooded the place and began breaking down doors. Luna shouted again, ordering everybody on the roof. Garfield glanced at me before standing up, sprinting to the ladder that allowed people rooftop access. Surrounding the ladder were a few stragglers as the majority of the undead hordes had already passed. He pulled his sidearm out and executed the undead, allowing our teammates to grasp onto safety, even if it was temporary. 

I stood up and helped my teammates onto the roof, soon having almost everybody alive with us. One person was killed during the initial undead push while another was MIA. 

In total, our group had dwindled to eight people; Cruz, Lee, Luna, Salinas, Garfield, Parker, and myself. Luna’s leadership skills jumped into action, directing everybody away from the edges and towards the middle. The plan was to wait the horde out, letting it pass us and onto a different target, perhaps the Red Scorpions. God bless them. 

Somebody started a fire, lighting a few embers that crackled in the soon starry night. Another person began telling a memory of theirs, being followed up by Luna and Parker.

“When I was younger I used to follow my brother anywhere. Until the day he passed away, to normal circumstances, of course, I followed him. It’s weird isn’t it, I loved my brother dearly.” Luna said aloud. 

“It’s not,” Parker said.  “I never was on good terms with my sisters, but I always did love them even when the apocalypse hit and they left me behind. I still continue to love them.” Parker said.

 The rest continued on to tell their stories, but not once did Garfield speak up. 

TBC…

Chase exited Ashanti’s house the day after he arrived. He hadn’t left her house since his arrival, slowly integrating himself with his new environment. He was no longer in the world he used to know. He was now in a different world.

Chase investigated the rather small village of Gowns, the village of summoners hidden deep in the Asher kingdom. The village consisted of the chief’s hut, fifteen smaller residential huts, and a patch of grassland used for meetings and for kids to play one. 

He walked through the town, encountering the multiple summoned beasts roaming around the village, always near their master. Fenrirs, small hydras, Cursed Deers, Red Foxes, and other strong monsters that he couldn’t identify, were roaming freely. Their appearance was wild, but their demeanor wasn’t. They were soft cuddly creatures.

“Hey! You!” An unfamiliar voice shouted. “Behind you,” Chase turned around, noticing a guy with short gray curly hair, light green eyes, and tanned skin, approaching him. As he neared him, Chase noticed he was wearing tattered puffy juggers and a loose dirty gray tee shirt. 

“Who are you?” Chase asked, taking a step backward. He didn’t have any weapons or skills that he knew of, leaving him defenseless. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I nearly forget to introduce myself; I’m Lucas, Ashanti’s elder brother.” He said, extending his hand. Chase could see the resemblance, looking at the same gray hair and light green eye that Ashanti had. 

“My sister actually summoned something,” He thought aloud.

“Yeah, hello, I’m Chase. Apparently, I’m a common summon.”

“With introductions out of the way, I want to know if you are strong enough to protect my sister,” Lucas said, grabbing his shoulder and cutting to the chase. 

“No,” Chase muttered without hesitation.

“That’s good then. If you had said yes, I would’ve known you were a liar. Now, at least, I know you’re honest. Now, I have an idea on how to make you stronger.” Lucas told him.

“What is it?” Chase asked, tilting his head and furrowing his brow.

“There’s an annual event known as Uncaged Beasts where every summoned beast in the village dukes it out to see who has the strongest summoned beast.” He then glanced around before continuing to talk. “This year’s prize is a mythical dagger known as the Jagged Edge Blade, which nobody, in the village, has been able to figure out yet. You could get stronger if you could unlock the dagger’s full potential… maybe?”

“Maybe?” Chase questioned.

“Anyways, I’ll be in charge of training you to, for the moment, protect yourself. We’ll worry about my sister later. Meet me at my house, which is over that.” He pointed to a normal residential hut. “We’ll begin your training tomorrow. Oh, and don’t go and tell Ashanti about anything, especially our training.” He then turned away and took a few steps away from Chase.

“Wait, why are you helping me? I’m a weak common summon, nothing in the eyes of the village.” Chase shouted, attracting the lingering stares of passersby. 

“Maybe, it’s to repent for my sins. If I could help you, then it would be like I’m helping her out. Or, the false belief that I could be a good brother hasn’t left my head yet.” He waved at Chase before walking off, leaving Chase dumbfounded at the older brother’s words. It was apparent that cracks had formed between the siblings, causing much tension and distance. 

Chase shook off Lucas’ words, deciding to investigate the event further. The idea of the torn siblings, however, lingered within his mind.

“Was I summoned here to help her?”

TBC…