It was a cold dark night.
Stallas was among the hundreds of thousands of legionnaires that had the honor of taking part in the invasion of the world beyond the Gate. Well, he was supposed to have that honor. But his commander needed men to guard the slave caravans that were bringing captives taken from the other world to Italica. And so he was here.
While everyone else was asleep, he, along with several others, had to stand guard around the camp. Their job was to sound the alarm if they are attacked, and to discourage the slaves from trying to escape.
Not that they could even if they wanted to. The slave wagons was essentially an oak box with wheels. There is no way anyone could escape from that.
Normally, he, a legionnaire, wouldn't have to waste their time with guarding slave caravans. The slavers usually hire their own guards. But several slave and supply caravans have been raided by bandits. Leaving no survivors.
So he kept alert, looking out into the trees, and listening for any sound that doesn't belong.
And he heard it.
At first, he mistook it for the rustling of leaves. But then the whispers grew louder. And his sight grew darker.
When he began to notice it, he started to panic. He called out. But nobody heard him. He didn't notice when he collapsed into the ground. Trying in vain to cover his ears as the whispers grew and grew until he can hear nothing but whispers.
And then, silence.
Edward Malvins was having a nightmare about his wife. A nightmare that he have been dealing with since he was taken by the terrorists.
But what he woke up into was another nightmare entirely.
There were whispering, loud whispering, in his ears. He doesn't understand what it was saying. But it was driving him insane.
And he wasn't the only one.
He cannot hear them, but the wagon that their captors shoved them into werer too cramped, so every time the others tossed and turned, he can feel them moving. He tried to curl up into a ball, he tried covering his ears, but the whispers only keep growing worse, and worse. He didn't know how long they were in that state until suddenly…
It stops.
He opened his eyes to see what happened. One of his fellow captives, a woman named Jennifer, called out, "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah." Another man answered.
"Guys, what the hell was that?" Edward couldn't help but asked, though he already knew the answer to that.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just another sick game the psychos pulled." Jennifer answered.
He would have said something, if he didn't start to hear the sound of the door's lock being opened behind him. And it's only now did he realized that his back was to the door.
Terrified, he backed away from the door. Back at the slave camps, the guards like to amuse themselves on their suffering. They would often take people away to torture or rape. And they would never be seen again. And while it had yet to happen in this trip, well, there's a first time for everything.
The door suddenly opened and to his surprise, the person who greeted them on the other side of the door was not a legionnaire.
Rather, it was a young woman with long brown hair and a wide smile. A smile that belied the fact that her clothes were caked with dirt and mud, as well as blood. Some of them dried, but a few were still fresh.
Everyone looked at the woman, tense. Only Jennifer had a different expression.
Her eyes were narrowed at the woman, like she recognized her.
"Hello. Don't worry, you're safe now." The woman cheerfully said, in English. A language that the terrorists doesn't know how to speak. That must mean.
"You're American."
"I'm Mabel." The woman answered, "Come on, follow us. We'll explain everything later."
Stallas woke up and he found his hands and foot bound by chains and shackles.
He remembered whispering and then, something happened. he must have been captured, but by who?
He looked around and saw that he was inside a tent. And he wasn't alone.
There were other men with him. Though just like he was, their hands are bound as well. All of them were all chained together to a ball. Preventing them from moving freely.
"Where am I?" He asked. Did he die? Was he in Hardy's domain?
One of the chained men noticed him awake and he said, "When they ask, tell them everything."
The tent flap flipped open and a man entered the room. He noticed him awake and then he called out behind him in a language he couldn't understand.
But he had heard words that sounded oddly like it. It was the words spoken by the captives they took from the other side of the Gate.
More men entered the tent and they lifted him off the ground and dragged him outside.
He was surprised at what he saw. Whoever these people were, they had built a camp using tents used by the Imperial Army. Hidden from view from the skies by a thick canopy of trees.
There were people out and about and they all gave him hostile looks as he was paraded in front of them. One of them even grabbed a rock and tried to hurl it at him. Another man stopped him and he doesn't know why.
The men brought him inside another tent where he was dropped on a chair in front of a table. The men then stood behind him, watching him.
He tried to ask them what was going on, but it didn't seemed like they understood him.
The tent flap opened behind him and he turned to look at another man enter. The man was younger, younger than himself. He was probably just over twenty winters old.
He sat down on the chair opposite him and the man said something to the men. And the men started exiting the tent, leaving him alone with the man.
And then to his surprise, the man spoke. His accent was strange, but he was able to speak the Empire's language, "You're a legionnaire."
But even though he was caught off-guard, he recognized an interrogation when he sees one. So he stayed quiet and wait for the man to talk.
"I would like to congratulate you. You are the first legionnaire that we had captured." He glared at the man's taunts. He had served in the Imperial Army for 3 years. He had seen action in the Scourges. He was proud of his service.
He will not let this man tarnish his reputation.
"When the Empire finds out about this place, you will all burn!" He said hatefully and the man only looked amused.
"I've heard worst." He said dismissively. "So which legions are you from?"
"I would never tell you."
"Which province in the Empire did you come from?"
He answered him with silence.
"How long have you served in the Imperial Army?"
Again, silence.
"What is the name of your commander?"
The only thing he will get from him is silence.
The man then sighed and then he got up from his chair. Then the man placed his hands on both sides of his head and only now did he recall the words of the other prisoners.
"I wish people would learn to just answer my questions."
He felt something crawling inside his men. Squirming, writhing, feeling around. The man's eyes began to glow eerily, and before he could register the pain, he was already screaming.
He flinched awake when he heard someone scream.
He ran out of the tent he had been given. Terrified that the Empire must have found their little sanctuary. But when he got outside, everyone didn't seemed to be alarmed by the noise.
He approached a man who was wearing a soldier's combat uniform. And he asked, "What was that?"
"Dipper's just working on the prisoner."
He must be referring to the prisoner that Dipper and Mabel, their rescuers, took with him. The boy used some sort of magic to telekinetically carry the prisoner they captured.
"Is he being tortured?" He asked, morbidly curious.
"Don't know. I don't know anything about magic." The soldier said.
Well, he hoped he is, he thought though he didn't voice it. He would love to be the one torturing him, but for now, he would just be content to hear about one of those terrorists getting what they deserved.
He didn't recognize them the night before but he had seen those twins before. On the news, on the internet.
They were both a Pines. A family who came from humble beginnings. They built an immensely successful tech and manufacturing company. And they also lead the way in introducing the world of the supernatural to the public.
And they are the only billionaires who were spared in the Purges.
Just like many in the country, he have questions about them. After all, why were they spared when thousands of others were not?
But for now, he was just grateful for saving them.