A Rude Awakening

(Get up slave!!!)

I feel a hard concussive pain in my left ribs.

[Owww.. WTF!!!]

(Oye what language is that?)

(Dunno Warden? Sound like fobbing idiot would like another kick from you?)

[No more kicks if you don't mind]

While I am trying to get up off the floor to face my rude attacker's, I feel another kick slammed into the same place I was hit before..

[Oof!! You motherf**r!!]

Rage is welling in me and I am trying to figure out where am I and why I am being attacked.

I snap up to my feet and observe the area. The place is dark and slightly damp. There is straw scattered on the floor and a wooden tray with flat bread and a knocked over wooden cup of dirty water. The men to the left as I face them are dressed in some sort of Arabic garb. Behind them I see bars made of iron and I noticed that I too am fettered too the wall by a chain. The walls are made of stone and a small little rectangular crack is the only window. Let's face it.. I am in a prison that seems in the Middle East. The men walk in front of me and grab the chain I am connected to. I hesitate to attack them because they appear more muscular than me. There are 3 of them. 2 large men followed by a short fat bearded man whose garb screams merchant. The 2 look like the hired muscle. They hold my chain and motion me to look at the (merchant).

(So you are my new merchandise of whom will be trained to serve loyally to our client.)

(You are not to have any ideas of escaping or disobedience or it is the lash you will crave and food will be a distant memory.)

(You will absorb all that is taught to you and you will fulfill any desire your master commands. Are we clear?)

I nod my head in obedience as I take in what is said. But a question that is still perplexing me is... where the hell am I !!!!

I remember yesterday I woke up and groomed myself to be ready for work as always. I walked out of my apartment got into my F150 pick up truck and drove to the job site. My name, Charles Silva a local of the town of Waipahu and living in Honolulu Hawaii.

I work for a construction company doing flooring. I am 35 years old and a journeyman in tile and masonry. After I finished high school I went straight into the workforce and labor jobs was what I did. I had start from a helper to become apprenticed and then a journeyman. My pay got steadily higher as the years went by but I was satisfied. I had no girlfriend at home or wife because I just never found the right one. But enough of that.

I got to the worksite in Honolulu and all of a sudden a crane carrying a load shifted the boom of the crane into 1 of risers of this building and the load was falling down on top of me. Then I woke up here..... Is this Hell ?

The merchant was leading the way while I was trying to wrap my head around my situation. I look around at the corridor I am walking through and the path is lit by torches. The ground is covered with uneven stone with no grout just mud. I look at myself and see I am wearing nothing but a loin cloth and straw like sandals that chafes my toes. That is not the only thing wrong!? My body feels younger and I am not as tall as I was!? I was 5 foot 11 inches now I feel I shrunk to 5 foot 4 inches!? The clanging of the chains linked to my fetters are annoying my ears and I am slowly trying to keep myself from freaking out, because the guards are glaring at me when I look at them and all the prison stories from my past coworkers keep replaying in my head as to make want to jerk my hands to cover my ass!

The corridor was short thankfully and I get dragged out into blinding sun. My eyes hurt trying to adjust to it and I close them and slowly open them while looking down. I realize I am not in Hawaii no more because I look around at the crowd in front of me and see fantasy races straight out of a Tolkien novel. I see a chained up Elfin girl with hopeless eyes, Dwarfs with rugged countenances and gnarled beards, Centaur guardsmen looking over the crowd, Orc warriors in armor and the buildings look like ancient Arabian architecture with hot dry sand all around. Clearly I am deep shit.

I feel a powerful tug on the chain and I am nearly knocked off my feet and realize I have to find out about my surroundings and how to survive. I follow the guardsmen and I see the Merchant filling out a form with another person and he pays the man in gold coins. The amount I count is 50. So I take it that I am only worth 50 gold in this world yet I don't know where or what I am supposed to do. I walk closer to the Merchant and he turns to me and smiles.

(I will make certain after I train you, you will be worth more than what I spent and definitely more then what was paid to your parents.)

[Wait my parents sold me?]

(Yes they did because of the famine in your area. You were dragged here in skinny condition. It seems you were the eldest and they could not feed you. You had a fever which broke last night at this government holding area and I paid for your taxes for the year. You will do well to make me a large profit and learn as much as you can to raise your value hahaha...)

I think to myself.. adapt, survive, learn and see where fate has taken me. At this point glimpses of this body start to flicker into my mind as if memory is resurfacing... What is going on!! As I try to juggle walking straight and organizing what my mind is experiencing I am relieved that I am led to a carriage with a wagon for me to get in while my guards get in with me. I noticed that an animal I never seen before is pulling the carriage. It looks like a cross between a horse and a lizard. It has scales and claws instead of hooves and its head has rows of jagged teeth and fangs which slightly overlap it's bottom jaw. Freaky looking bu cool too. Now I will use the time in transit to understand who I am in this world and organize the memories that was inconvenient a moment ago.