The Tower of Emnu

Aaron frowned as he waited in the Queue, wondering what it meant that there was no mention of Cultivators. Surely they had to know that it was an option? But what else could he do but roll with the punches?

Doing anything else but that would probably be a mistake. He could have maybe tried to pass as a mage by using his Wind Steps to seemingly fly after jumping. But considering the low level and small impact the spells of the other Aspirants had been, it would clearly mark him as different.

Soon, too soon he stood in front of a relatively bored looking man wearing long chainmail and a halberd leaned against his shoulder.

A man with a quill and paper stood next to him, writing down the classes and names of every one.

"Name?" the man asked in a monotone voice, while he studied Aaron.

"Aaron. I am... a warrior." he said and smiled at the man.

The bored man blinked at him and then blinked again. He frowned, his eyes straining and then narrowing.

"You are not a Vessel."

Aaron had hoped that this [Identify] skill would not mark him as different, but of course it did. The noticeable absence of Cultivators in the speech from the fat man on his pedestal made him worry and now Aaron felt trapped.

Multiple scenarios played out in his head and some of them were terrible. But he had to try, had to believe that cultivators were merely rare not hunted to extinction or enslaved to make a particular potion or something.

He had to be ready when, if things went south, but for now he would try the diplomatic approach.

He tensed and then said calmly and evenly.

"No, I am not. I am a Cultivator."

The bored guard and his scribe froze, as well as every other guard in earshot. The nearby lines halted as they all stared at Aaron.

"Captain!" The guard in front of Aaron called out and a man with a plumed helmet, that reminded Aaron vaguely of a Roman Centurion stepped closer.

"Whats all this, Faris? Continue, we don't have all day!" the captain snapped.

"Sir, he says he is a Cultivator and I don't get any reading with [Identify]."

"A Cultivator?" The captain sounded surprised and the entire camp ground to a halt.

Aaron could see that most of the guards looked at him with curiosity, but a fair few looked at him with abject hatred.

This was not good. He raised his hands and spoke calmly, although he could not help himself but look for a way out of the crowd and away from the armed men and women.

"I mean nobody any harm. Cultivation was an option for me and I picked it. I am willing to fight for Emnu like everyone else here." Aaron explained slowly, but somehow his words fell on deaf ears.

Aurix, who had been talking to the new mages had noticed how the camp had fell silent and called out to his Captain.

"Rowan, what's the hold up?"

The Captain turned around, walked closer to the Mayor and saluted.

"Sir, it appears there is one cultivator in this batch of Aspirants."

Aaron waited, observed and planned to run at the first hint of trouble. He had noticed how more than a few guards had knocked arrows, they had not drawn their bows or pointed the arrows in his direction, but it would be quick if they decided to do so.

He did not know how powerful a ranged attack from a bow would be in this world with skills and levels, but he did not dare underestimate bows in this world. They were standing on an open field. There was no cover for at least a hundred meters or more. The forest was the only cover and concealment around besides the carts and beetles.

Aaron hoped this was just his paranoia speaking, but his worst fears came true when Aurix blanched like he had seen a ghost. The man shivered on top of his pedestal and with a wave of his hand he was surrounded by a blueish transparent bubble, a shield of some sort? It looked kind of similar to the light screens Aaron had seen in the Prison. Shit. Aaron tensed, his eyes looking frantically for a way out.

"Kill him! Kill him now." the voice of the fat man was low and his lip was trembling. The captain frowned and stepped closer.

"Sir?"

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KIIIILLL HIMMM!" Aurix screeched in panic and his voice echoed through the entire camp.

All eyes were on Aaron, but Aaron was not where he had been just a moment before.

He did not hesitate, he did not waste time. He acted. He chose the best plan he could come up within a few seconds and grabbed the next best person next to him. He was fast and the woman did not expect it. His arms snaked around her torso, one hand tightening around her throat and the other holding her tightly towards him, while he stared over her shoulder to the row of archers close to Aurix. More than half had drawn their bows and the rest was about to.

The captain saluted again and pointed at Aaron, or rather tried to, hidden behind the woman he did not spot him immediately.

With frantic energy Aaron pushed Qi from his dantian down through the Qi veins into his legs until finally the Wind Steps activated and he felt silk underneath his feet, even through the ill fitting boots.

The woman in his arms choked and panicked, but Aaron had no time for her. If he did not move and they decided to shoot them, hostage or not, he was dead.

Aaron bent his knees and pulled the woman with him, her legs buckling, her weight falling against him. But she weighed less than nothing to his improved physique and the physics defying power of his Movement Technique.

With a single jump Aaron leaped into the air, the woman held as a shield in front of him towards the Archers.

He soared through the air while underneath him chaos broke out in an instant.

"Shoot him!" the captains roar echoed and most of the Aspirants fell to the ground, trying not to get shot. Some just stood there flabbergasted. But it was easy to spot Aaron, since he was the only one flying away.

Aaron felt gravity take him again as he fell slowly towards the ground again. He had aimed well and the jump had brought him directly behind the wagons and beetles.

"He has a hostage! Don't shoot, after him!"

The woman in Aaron’s arm started jerking and twitching and he eased his grip on her throat. He had clenched too hard in his excitement and was glad he had not crushed her windpipe. The woman breathed in quickly and full of panic, her arms and legs, kicking and hitting him.

Aaron ignored her feeble attempts and focused once more. In the next second he jumped again, away from the camp. The woman in his arms aimed backwards like a shield towards his pursuers.

She screamed in abject horror as they soared through the air, clearing 40 or 50 feet with each jump.

Aaron jumped once more towards the nearby treeline and once they fell towards the ground, he dragged the woman into the underbrush. Heart beating quickly in his chest he stared back at the small army of men and women coming after him. Some quicker than he had expected. Arrows started to home in on him and Aaron ducked quickly behind a tree. The woman was crying now and Aaron cursed silently.

For just a moment he considered leaving her here, but then he decided against it. He grabbed hold of her tightly and jumped again into the trees, pushing himself from tree trunk to tree trunk deeper into the thick mixed forest.

Lisa felt the man put his hand over her mouth and her screams died in her throat. Panic was all she felt as the man kidnapped her. There was no other explanation. It all happened so fast. One moment she was staring at the commotion about someone being a Cultivator, when she suddenly felt someone grab her and choke her.

The man had been so strong, unnaturally so. She had felt his hand grab her throat, squeezing it like an iron vice. She had not been able to breathe, her body held tightly against his. Panic, disgust and shock warred with each other. But then he had done something and Lisa had found her world spinning, her body seemed weightless as he jumped with her over the open ground.

What was happening? Why her? What was going on?

Her mind tormented her and they sped through the forest for a few more seconds, before he threw her roughly to the ground. It hurt! Lisa coughed and tried to get up, tried to get away when the man just sat down on her. His hands were like steel as he bent her arms to her back and her panic made her squeal and thrash wildly.

What was he doing with her? She felt him grab at her shirt and heard it rip as he tore it.

No, no no no. She did not want to be raped.

She screamed at him to stop, but he pushed her head into the snow and she choked on the cold powdery wetness.

Lisa felt him bind her wrists together on her back and then he reached for her again. Her legs struggled as she tried to kick him, tried to wrestle him off her to run away. But he was too heavy, too strong. He ripped her shirt again and he grabbed into her hair, pulling her up painfully. She screamed, but he gagged her with a strip of cloth in the next moment, stuffing it into her mouth and then binding the gag tightly in her neck.

Her eyes followed soon and Lisa screamed, cried as her world went blind.

In the darkness of the blindfold she suddenly saw a blinking icon in her HUD and hope rekindled in her heart.

Quickly she called for it, and she stared at the transparent blue box that appeared before her.

Survive!

You have been Kidnapped by a vile cultivator.

Survive this encounter at all cost.

Reward: +2 Levels; [Survivor] Skill.

Blankly Lisa stared at the transparent window that shone brightly against the blindfold. That was it?

How would that help her?

Her panic returned as she started to hyperventilate, she could not breathe with that thing in her mouth. She was going to die. She did not want to go back to the Void. She had not even started to live.

Why was life so unfair? She cried and felt herself staining her blindfold.

"I am sorry, I won't harm you, you are innocent in all of this. I wish I could let you go, but I am afraid I can't do that for now.

I am sorry Miss."

The mans voice was gentle and polite, as if he was talking about the weather instead of kidnapping her and doing who knew what. She was sure this was a trick, a ruse, but she hoped, she wished to god that he was telling her the truth. Lisa wanted nothing more than to live, than to believe this man, who was her tormentor.

She felt him grab her again, touch her sides and her ass.

Where the hell was he touching?!

Then she felt herself get lifted and something hard poked into her stomach. He held her thighs with an arm and she realized he had slung her over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

She felt her blood run into her head and then she felt the weightlessness again. Felt herself get jostled as his shoulder dug painfully into her. She clenched her abs and was handled roughly as the man fled with her.

Lisa tried more than once to escape, to trash and move, but the mans arm was like it was made out of steel and his strength was beyond her comprehension.

Then suddenly it was over and she felt him push her upright.

Lisa groaned and breathed through her nose in panic. She felt bile rise in her chest and then the gag left her mouth.

She buckled over as she puked. The man held her, let her heave and gag, before he pushed her back.

Lisa was so dazed and sick that she barely realized he had untied her hands, but before she could try to get rid of her blindfold, she felt him grab her wrists again and tie her arms around something solid in her back.

It was a tree, the rough bark scraping against her arms and she cried bitterly as she found her voice.

"Please, please. Let me go. I...I don't want to die." she bawled and cried.

She felt a hand steady her rocking body as he pushed her gently back against the tree.

"I am letting you go right now. But I can't let you just wander the forest. I am afraid you have to be a little distraction for me to flee. Its going to be easy. Just shout for help. Then they will find you and I can slip away."

His voice sounded so calm, so convincing, but she just wanted to cuss him, wanted to tell him to go fuck himself.

She wanted to see him die, wanted him to be caught and killed as her anger made her clench her teeth.

The mans hand left and she could hear his boots crunching in the snow as he left. Then his footsteps vanished and she felt she was alone.

It was a trick. It had to be. She did not want to help him. But what choice did she have? Lisa was cold and scared and just wanted someone, anyone to save her.

She breathed shaky breaths and took a deep inhale, before shouting on top of her lungs:

"HEEEEEEEELP!"