I woke up as water dripped on my face. I looked around to see both my hands were chained above me to the wall, my feet were chained together and felt something crammed into my mouth. I noticed I was in a small wood cell that looked to be on a ship by the way everything was swaying. Another drip of water hit my face and I looked up to see a small crack of light above me. I could see some movement above and yelling. I looked back down at the ground. I had issues remembering how I got into this situation. The last I remembered was watching my only friend killed in front of me before blacking out from the thick air one of the pirate mage had created.

An older man likely in his 50 or 60s appeared then in front of the cell. He had a giant scar down his face to his neck and wore torn up brown shirt and blue pants. He stood next to another younger man that wore almost the same all black outfit as the man from before that had killed my friend.

I didn’t move and continued to glare at the man. We both sat in silence before he finally opened the cell door and walked inside. “I know you were protecting a royal in the city, before one of my men took their head. The Vice Vix Kingdom has only ever seen mage’s as dogs and train them at young ages with their masters. It makes them easy to control and manipulate. Royals only see mage’s as shields and fodder.” He came closer and grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eyes, “You don’t understand how many innocent people they have killed with their dogs outside of the kingdom. They show no mercy whether it be children, women, or men. That royal you thought was your friend was just putting on a big show to sell you for more. Loyal dog will go anywhere for their master, no matter what trouble they are in. This little act is so overused. Outside that town sat a dozen kingdom mages, ready to come collect you and your royal before you made enough money to sail away from all of it together. Does that story sound familiar?”