An old carriage can be seen moving through a dark forest with two horses guarding it from behind. You are sitting inside the carriage along with other people, your wrists bind together by a metal shackle, cold to the touch. You look down at your feet which are dirty and bruised. Your clothes are no different, ragged and ripped.
You and the others in this carriage are slaves. The coachman and the two other men riding horses from behind the carriage are slave traders. They are currently transporting you and the others to a kingdom from the south. You glance up only to see your fellow slaves with a pityful look and an empty expression, their age ranging from 13-17 years old.
Boys are used as servants or punching bags, always doing hard labour with little to no food. Girls are used as maids if they're lucky enough but if not, they may be used as toys for pleasure. This results to unwanted pregnancy and some even die from child birth because of how young they are.
You fidget with your fingers silently, not wanting to be whipped by slave traders. A few minutes passed by when a loud neigh of the horses are heard. You and the others glance around anxiously when a parliament of owls suddenly attacked the slave traders. They unsheathed their swords and tried to slay the owls, one of them even fell off the horse.
The others saw an opportunity to escape and immediately hopped off the carriage. They ran in different directions, some even hopping on the horses to escape. You also took the chance and ran into the forest. Even if you die out here, it's still a better ending than being purchased like an animal on display.
Your feet hurts from the rocks and twigs as you ran as fast as you could. When you thought you were far enough, you slowed down until you came to a stop. Your breathing labored and your hands on your knees. Once your breathing stabilized, you looked up only to see a girl sitting on a branch and a parliament of owls perched on the branches of trees behind her.
"Hello, human..."