A/N Hehehehehe... everyone who's using alerts, sorry about that weird update email. My bad.
Seven days earlier.
The Rashauni territory of Agrabael.
Gorterg stalked the land, looking for an innocent rabbit or fledgling deer to rip apart and devour. Game had become increasingly difficult to find ever since Kurtosh Uhrdeit declared a rebellion to human rule, marching the Rashauni army through the delicate forests in which all the best meat ran amuck. He growled. He would have been happy to abstain from human meat if he could get any decent meal once in a while.
The kurtosh seemed to feel like the humans were restraining them, keeping them from fulfilling their natural desires. Rashauni ate humans, humans enslaved Chargers, Chargers raided Dertan villages, and Dertans hid in their mountain caves. It was the food chain of Haeïr. But times had changed over the years, and Gorterg was willing to accept it.
Still, the Resistance was not to be defied. Anyone who spoke openly against the Resistance in earshot of a Ruthbor was gutted on sight.
"This war should end," Gorterg muttered to himself. "One way or another, I don't want to this to last forever."
Gorterg stomped back to his cave, having found no food for the day. Another week of this and he would eat his own brother. As he made his was across wind-swept, grassy plains, a dark rift opened in the sky. Gorterg quickly unsheathed his serrated sword and pointed it toward whatever might come out.
A white ball of feathers fell out and hit the ground with a thump. It twitched, and Gorterg approached it cautiously. Was it a mutated seagull? It pushed itself onto its knees, and shook its head. It looked like a human boy. But Gorterg had heard about these kinds of creatures. They were Fuerites, and they fetched an extremely large bounty at the market if captured alive. Enough to feed his family for months.
The Fuerite noticed him. "Who… who are you?" he asked, disoriented. Gorterg stepped forward and, raising an arm, hit him squarely in the face. He collapsed and Gorterg pulled the light-weight creature onto his shoulder. Conscious or not, they would take him.
Yugi awoke later, his head throbbing. "What happened…?" he thought. His vision shifted from too bright to too dark. He was bound to a hard, stone chair, and it smelled terrible.
Suddenly, he felt his wings behind him. He gasped. He wasn't supposed to be in his Fuerite form; he had never changed shape. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep in his bed. And now, he was in a cold room, surrounded by various… torture devices.
A door opened, and a yellow-skinned person with bad teeth entered. He leaned in front of Yugi, and surveyed him with scarlet eyes. "Tell me your Charge Name." he said. He was getting directly to the point. But Yugi couldn't tell him. Wherever he was, the citizens knew about summoning. And if he told his Charge Name, he'd be the permanent slave of whoever decided to summon him first.
"No," Yugi said defiantly.
The creature grinned, and walked over to the end of the room. "I hear Fuerites heal fast." he said, picking a skewer from a rack on the wall.
"I… guess so…" Yugi said.
The interrogator lit a fire in a grate and stuck the skewer into it. "It looks like we'll find out," he said, and walked back to Yugi, holding a red-hot poker in hand.
"Tate…" Yugi sobbed finally, tears flowing over his cuts and third-degree burns. "It's Tate…"
The interrogator seemed pleased, and dragged Yugi by the cuff of his shirt into a large room. The floors and walls were covered with animal skins of all sizes, colors, and textures. An imposing Rashauni sat on a throne, and two others stood beside him.
"His name is Tate, Kurtosh Uhrdeit." he reported confidently.
Uhrdeit nodded. "Did you have a good time, Ashfel?" he asked, as the interrogator dropped Yugi unceremoniously onto the ground.
"Indeed, Kurtosh. I have not met one with such persistence for quite some time." Ashfel licked his lips. "I got to use the vice." He was referring to the device that had ravaged Yugi's hands, crushing every bone until it pierced the skin.
"Tortum…" Uhrdeit said to the Rashauni on his left. "You can have him. Durdusest already has one."
Tortum bowed respectfully and narrated the appropriate spell. Dimly, Yugi felt himself be called to his summoner's side. As soon as he became corporeal again, he collapsed in a bloody heap. He didn't even have the energy to hover.
Tortum lifted Yugi's head from the ground to get a better look at him. "He'll take about four days to heal, my lord. Then we can attack the humans using him."
A tear trickled out of Yugi's eye, traveling across his disfigured face and onto the furs on the floor. He was now permanently attached to this creature until he or it died. And now that Yugi was forced to fight with him, the odds of that happening quickly were slim.
Yugi didn't want to hurt humans; he didn't want to hurt anyone. Was he born to be a weapon? Being what he was, he didn't have much of a choice. But he wished he'd gotten a better summoner… someone he could trust not to abuse him or force him to do terrible things. Someone like one of his friends. That could never happen now. He was just glad that they weren't there for him to hurt.
Four days later.
The Battle of Gruthelia Plains.
In order to keep a good eye on Yugi during the imminent battle, Tortum had secured him with binding chains and a stifling blindfold. Yugi had just enough room to follow his Rashauni master and use his aerokinesis. "We will approach after the other summoners are deployed," Tortum said to Yugi.
For the last few days, all Yugi had been doing was rotting in a cell until the majority of his feathers grew back and he could move his fingers again. "After they've sent their own Chargers into battle, we'll come in and destroy them all."
Yugi bit his lip. He couldn't defy the orders of his master, but harming his own people? It was as bad as—if not worse than—killing humans. Those Chargers out there were like his brothers and sisters. Yugi imagined that his service could get only more heinous with time.
The Rashauni warriors rushed out onto the field, screaming guttural curses and promises of slaughter. It was a disgusting sight. Tortum licked his lips with a long tongue. He was looking forward to it as well.
"We must be patient…" Tortum said to Yugi, although it was more to himself. "If we rush, the kurtosh will be displeased…"
Yugi looked on in horror as the blood from all three races stained the ground. Vultures hovered menacingly above them, waiting to feed.
"Tate! We advance!" Tortum announced suddenly, and dragged Yugi along by the chain across his middle. "Unleash your fury, my slave."
Yugi blinked more tears from his eyes, and called up his power to move air. He focused on a hard-facing woman instructing her Water Charger to deal a Rashauni a killing blow. She was blown back onto the ground, and her Water Charger fled off into the air. The Rashauni took the opportunity to cut the summoner open.
"An innocent life taken because of me…" Yugi thought despairingly. "I will be the cause of so much pain…"
Suddenly, a very familiar person rushed into Tortum and Yugi's path. A person that Yugi, no matter what his summoner ordered, could never hurt. Tortum cocked his head at her. "The human wishes a duel…" He looked at her puny class three Wind Charger. "She has but a class three…"
Tea gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in a symbol of defiance. "Class three or not, I'm not going to just stand here and let you hurt my friends!" she declared.
"That voice…. No! Tea, run. Please," Yugi begged mentally. "I can't hurt you… you've been my best friend since I was just a kid. Run away, Tea. He's going to make me kill you. Run, please!"
Tortum grinned, practically tasting Tea's sweet flesh on his tongue. "I will dine well tonight. Destroy her!" he yelled to Yugi.
The force of a summoner's orders bubbled within Yugi, pushing him to use his powers. Yugi moved forward an inch against his will. "I… will not… hurt my best friend," he growled in his mind. "Nothing you say will make me hurt my best friend!" And Yugi stopped. The force of his will and the grace of his friendship had saved him from committing an awful crime.
Tea was visibly surprised, and Tortum was enraged at Yugi's insolence. "You will heed me!" he roared, and Yugi knew that the incantation coming next would be the customary punishment for Chargers who managed to escape the bonds of a summoner's instructions.
As if he was hit by a bolt of lightning, pain rushed through Yugi's body from wingtip to toe. Yugi screamed and fell to his knees, convulsing and shaking violently as the electricity flowed through him.
Tea wouldn't stand for Tortum's treatment of Yugi, and ordered her Charger to stop him. The Charger, Fa'atius, decapitated Tortum swiftly. In the brief darkness before passing out, Yugi felt the magical bonds of Fuerite and summoner being broken. Tea had saved him—he was no longer a slave.
He felt Tea's soft, warm hands lift him up and a whispering voice. "Thank you…" Tea said, and that was the last thing he sensed.
