“The battle is over at last, the king's glorious army crumbeles another barbaric settlement in our promised land, bringing us one step closer to claiming our rightful leadership over the continent!” a messenger reads happily in the square to a cheering audience. Another victory is joyous news in this time of prosperity for the kingdom, new land to farm and build on, new horizons to explore. But behind the veil of richous conquest by the legendary heroes and soldiers lay the truth of what this “conquest” actually looks like.
Indigo grew up in the small trading colony of Galesh, since their founding the colony had never been under the rule of the king, instead opting for a Democratic governing system befitting of a trade driven economy. They raised no army, peaceful trading partners with the Human kingdom to the east, Orc pact to the south and the United Eleven Republic to the north. They served as a connection between the three major powers over the continent, allowing any race to live within its borders peacefully. While the three powers had their quarrels Galesh remained neutral, wanting to remain “just a trading colony”. That's how indigo grew up, a human girl in the capital of Galesh, helping her parents run their small shop selling traveller's goods like clothes, bags, and tools to the touring traders and travelers passing through the city. It was a humble life, her, her little sister and parents running the shop; meeting people from far off corners of the land; and being a normal teenager with friends and dumb pointless drama to entertain her from day to day.
One day a Orcish merchant merchant ran into the busy city center shouting the unthinkable, the kings army had begun an advance on the undefended Eastern border. At first people didn't believe the large grey orc but soon following his arrival the city is put into a state of emergency calling apon all its treaties with the Pact and Republic to help defend it from the human invaders, but with such short notice they could not do much to stop the onslot of the kings army. Indigo's parents along with many other traders and locals leaving with the small army they were provided to help put an end to the invasion, leaving Indigo and her sister Lily to hide in the shop and hope their parents would return.
It didn't take long, only four days for the kings men to destroy everything in their path and break through to the capital, cleansing the “evil” orcs and elves on sight, taking the children that aren't killed by the pillaging to be sent to the church as orphans seeing as they are still “pure” enough to be saved; executing the or taking the men and teenage boys as slaves; and raping the women and teenage girls like indigo and her sister before either killing them or taking them as slaves aswell.
The soldiers find the girls quite quickly, Indigo does her best to defend them with a short sword her family's shop had yet to sell but she is no match for the four trained soldiers and is swiftly overpowered and brought to the ground, she closes her eyes waiting for the killing blow but instead is surprised by a price of wood being jammed in her mouth and her pants being torn off. “Lily!” she lets out a muffled cry and turns over to try and find her little sister to make sure she's okay but they'd already started with her, laughing at her whimpering and crying as they take turns raping her. She feels her heart stop as a pair of hands take a tight grip on her waist “your turn” a man's voice laughs.
Six more men and twenty minutes that feel like years later they are left alone to be picked up after the fighting ceases. Indigo manages to stay awake for the whole thing, unlike her sister who passed out a few minutes after they began, they looked like a mess covered in sweat and seed, with what little energy indigo has left she crawls over to her sister and gets on top of her to try and protect her from whoever comes through the door next, she couldn't bear to see her sister hurt anymore.
After four hours the fighting ceases, the government being slaughtered and the kingdom putting it's flag atop the parliament proclaiming their victory. During this time Indigo had ample opportunity to run but she refused to leave her sister alone, instead of staying put and doing her best to comfort Lily. She takes a shaky breath as she hears the loud clunk of heavy boots on the wood floor, "stand" gruff a voice commands, Indigo tightens her grip on her sister "you have enough resolve to protect this girl after what you've endured, you'll make a fine slave" the officer pries them apart "as for her, we don't want someone that needs to be protected by a weak girl" he swings his sword in one clean motion looping off her head "Lily!" she screams before everything goes black.
She wakes up in a cage, being transported to the kingdom presumably, she looks around frantically for her sister before she remembers what she witnessed the night before. Overcome by guilt she throws up out of the side of the wagon. Why is this happening? She rolls up in the corner of her cage crying, when did people become so overtaken by greed, humans no less, what gives them the right to destroy her life? She thinks to herself as she balls, all they do is steal, steal lives with weapons stolen from the orc and magic stolen from the elves, can't we coexist without being killed for trying to make something of ourselves? she punches the side of the cage her heart filled with hate for the world, and the people who destroyed it for her.
She gets a piece of bread and some water every morning and night until they stop at a church, "liberated slaves" the nuns call them, "barbarians the king believes have the ability to be cleaned and brought back to the light of God" they spout as if they are doing the girls a favor. She's bathed and then baptized before being given new clothes and branded her number (her name until she's pure enough to have a replacement for her barbarian name) 47 onto her lower back. the nuns seem nice enough, feeding them three times a day and trying their best to "show them the light," they really do believe that they are helping them by doing this. After three weeks of 15-hour daily study and prayer they are deemed pure enough to work their debts to God off as slaves for 20 years each then they shall be free citizens of the kingdom provided they can pay their owners back however much they are sold for. They are packed into cages to be transported to the capital to be sold, but indigo didn't care anymore, the only way she could keep going without her hate consuming her was bottle away from her emotions and do whatever the nuns or guards tell her.
The cart ride isn't as long as the one from her home to the church, only a day and a half before she is walked to the square to be auctioned off as a personal or business slave for housework and other menial tasks. She stands in the lineup obediently, stepping forward as her number is called, "starting bid is one silver" the seller begins, "that's what I'm worth to these people" she thinks to herself "twelve times less than a loaf of bread..." she closes her eyes waiting for the bidding to stop.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
