1 Life Debt

Tired. Cold. Betrayed.

Erevan could barely see straight anymore because of the pain. His only thought had been to escape the bloody battlefield after the one he had fought so hard to protect turned on him after more than a century.

Why? What had he done wrong? All his life he had devoted himself to his king and this was how he was repaid for his service?

He had nothing left. Part of him thought it would be better to die now but the other part refused to show such weakness. He had to live so he could fight another day and get his revenge but he was so terribly weak. This might be it for him.

Erevan barely had enough energy to get himself here and now he was dizzy from blood loss and fatigue. He didn't even know where he was. He took two more steps forward and it took up the last of his strength. He groaned and waited for death to claim him but wasn't expecting to see something large approaching in his blurry vision.

He had never seen a creature like this before. It stood on two legs and was relatively small, pale, and lacking in both hair and scales. What hair it did have was on its head and sticking out from beneath some sort of cloth helmet.

He did his best to appear threatening and make it go away but couldn't put up much of a fight with the state he was in. Pathetic!

"It's okay," a soothing voice said as the creature got closer. "I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help."

Help? What help could anyone be to him at this point? And why would anyone want to help him? He had never seen this creature before. It had nothing to gain from assisting him. No one ever did anything without a reason.

It unwrapped another piece of cloth from around its neck and tied it around the wound on his abdomen before scooping him into its arms. He couldn't make so much as a squeak of protest at this point.

This unknown creature seemed to mean him no harm but he couldn't let his guard down. Which was a stupid thought because he wasn't able to so much as move. He was as defenseless as possible so there was nothing he could do if it did want to finish him off.

"It's okay, kitty," it said to him in the gentlest tone than he had ever heard from anyone. "I'm going to get you all fixed up. You're going to be just fine so don't you worry. I don't know who did this to you but you're safe now. I've got you."

Safe? How could Erevan ever believe that after what he had been through? The king likely thought he was dead—successfully killed off by his scheme—but it was only a matter of time until that became true.

This creature didn't know what it was talking about. It was giving a hopeless speech to the dying.

He had seen it happen plenty of times before on the battlefield when people's comrades fell but never expected it to happen to him. He was always too strong for that.

As Erevan drifted off for what he thought was the last time, he thought maybe it wasn't so bad dying in the arms of a stranger that was inexplicably trying to help him. It was far better than if he had died looking up at the one who betrayed him as he laughed cruelly the way he had when the fatal wound was first inflicted.

When he awoke, it took him a moment to get his bearings. Was this the afterlife? He was warm and his pain had significantly gone down but it came rushing back if he tried to move. He also realized that he was in some sort of prison.

It didn't seem anything like the dungeons back in the castle other than the metal bars in his way. If he wasn't so horribly weak, he would be able to use magic to escape but for now he was stuck.

His wounds had been bandaged more thoroughly than before so perhaps that creature's last reassurances to the dying hadn't been wrong. But if it truly intended to help him, why was he imprisoned? Where had it gone, anyway? There were more creatures like it milling about but he didn't recognize them.

Rather than thinking of an escape plan, Erevan took advantage of the fact that he probably wasn't about to be killed to go back to sleep. He needed to gather his strength if he wanted out of here.

When he awoke again, it was to someone opening the prison door and gingerly lifting him out before sticking him inside another even smaller one. He tried protesting but still wasn't strong enough to fight back. Whatever they were going to do to him was impossible to stop.

The bars of this prison were much tighter knit, more like a grate than bars. He squinted out of them as one of those creatures picked up the prison and moved it somewhere and was surprised to find his savior beaming brightly at him.

"Hi, kitty! I told you that you'd be okay! You were such a good, brave boy," it cooed.

Erevan was taken aback. Had it taken him here to get his wounds treated more effectively? Then what was with the prison cells?

The creature that saved him ended up talking to the one that put him in the smaller prison and he couldn't quite make sense of what they were saying. It had something to do with "discharge procedures" and "bills".

His smaller prison was moved yet again and was set down on some sort of seat not far from one that his savior sat on. He had never been inside something like this before and didn't quite know how to describe it. Where was the creature taking him? And what was it?

"I'm going to take care of you from now on," it told him. "I'm Molly! I'm not sure if you have a name though…they didn't find any sort of microchip on you. So I guess you're mine now."

So his savior was called Molly. Erevan supposed it was better than referring to it mentally as "creature". It seemed to have claimed ownership of him after saving his life. Life debts weren't uncommon where he came from, though he certainly never expected it to happen to him twice.

The king's father had saved him as a child, which was why he devoted his entire life to serving his son. His second master had betrayed him…would his third be the same?

He didn't want to believe that. He was a loyal creature by nature and didn't know what to do without having someone to devote himself to. If Molly was anything like the king…No. Thinking like that wouldn't help him right now.

There was nothing Erevan could do at the moment because of his weakened state. He had nowhere to go. While he recovered, he could gauge what sort of master Molly would be. Worst case scenario, he would have to fight his way out and hope he was stronger between the two of them. He would not sacrifice himself for anyone again, life debt or not.

"I think I'm going to call you Casper, like the friendly ghost, because you're albino. I've never seen a cat with red eyes before," Molly continued.

Cat? That must be what the form he had taken when he needed to be something small and fast to escape was called here. Wherever "here" was. He still didn't have the answer to that question.

Erevan needed more information about this place if he was going to survive here. He could assimilate Molly's memories once his powers returned but in the meantime he was left with a lot of questions.

A while later, his prison was moved again—this truly wasn't comfortable—but once they were inside some sort of building Molly set it down and opened the door. "We're home! You'll never get hurt again here."

That was quite a bold claim to make. Did this new master of his not intend to make him fight?

Cautiously making his way out of the small prison, Erevan looked around. He had never seen a dwelling like this before but it was obvious that was what this place was. Some of the furniture may be unfamiliar but other pieces were recognizable.

Would he be getting his own living quarters or were there some sort of barracks where other troops were staying that he would be expected to join? He didn't like not knowing.