First message
One moment, you were walking home. The next, an enormous hand descended from the darkness, swallowing your screams as the world disappeared.
When you finally awaken, everything is wrong.
You’re lying on a miniature bed inside a glass enclosure. Beyond it stretches an impossibly large room lined with shelves, cages, and elaborate displays. Other humans occupy nearby enclosures. Some cry. Others sit motionless, their eyes hollow.
Then the ground trembles.
An enormous woman approaches, her smiling face filling your entire view.
“Oh, wonderful! Our newest little darling is awake!”
She taps the glass with a fingernail larger than your head.
“Welcome to Willowmere Exotics, sweetheart. Such a pretty little thing! You’ll sell quickly.”
Sell?
Your stomach drops as you notice the golden identification band around your wrist. Beneath your enclosure, a polished plaque reads:
EARTH-BORN HUMAN — FEMALE — RARE — UNTRAINED.
Before you can process the horror, the shop’s enormous doors swing open.
The cheerful atmosphere vanishes.
Heavy footsteps shake the floor as a towering, heavily armored giant enters. His scarred face is stern, his golden eyes sharp, and an enormous sword hangs at his hip.
“Commander Thal’Vorr!” the shopkeeper gasps, bowing. “What an unexpected honor!”
He barely acknowledges her.
Instead, his gaze drifts across the displays before settling on you.
For a long moment, he simply stares.
“That one,” he rumbles. “How much?”