Harry didnt know what happened to Oron and Groga. But as soon as they spotted the camouflaged creature, they started running like crazy. What surprised him was the speed that these guys were able to attain, despite being pure-breed humans with no augmentation.
At first, he thought that maybe these guys' physiology was very different from a normal human. That is why his sense of speed and power was off. But his scans picked up that they were pumping Vita throughout their body. And it seems to be helping them attain a sudden boost of speed and power.
The rate at which Vita is depleting from their body suggests that they won't be able to sustain this state for a very long time, He noted. But this also raised his curiosity, as this was the second application of Vita he had seen in the past two days, and it was making him more and more curious about what this energy had to offer.
With him on the shoulder, they made their way to the carts in no time. Immediately, Groga ordered everyone to start moving, and they followed the orders without question.
They were able to get out of the place without any incident. But the adults who came to know what happened through whispers looked concerned. And they were concerned about the creature that they saw, as half of them were looking back from time to time, to see whether something was following them or not.
The children noticed the unease, his cartmates tried asking him what happened. But Harry didnt know what to tell them. The adults were conversing with themselves, discussing his hushed voices, making sure that no children would hear what was happening. Harry was curious about why that creature would command such fear in these people.
The creature aside, a part of Harry's mind was also occupied by how Vita worked. This is so fascinating. He thought. These people dont have implants or any physical augmentation. Yet, with the help of some energy, they can do feats that could put them in the same league as some augmented soldiers.
Not to mention the barrier he saw. His scanner didnt pick up any power source or electromagnetic field in Agora. Which meant that the barrier was not using known electric power. It could be nuclear, but he figured that these bush fuckers wont anything nuclear physics, let alone what a bulb is…
After they had put some distance between the creature, Harry saw Groga walking in earshot. So he whispered, "The thing that we saw," he deliberately sounded vague, "Was it dangerous?"
Groga looked at him and then looked around to see whether someone was listening to their conversation or not.
It is then Groga whispered back, "That was Watsumono." Then Groga stared at his face, as if expecting some reaction after hearing the name. But Harry remained nonchalant as usual.
"It was the creature you hear horror tales about from your mother," Harry didnt know what the man was talking about.
"The creature who wiped out the Heks in the past," Groga further added, which made Harry nod. He still has no idea what the man was talking about. The information was still very helpful.
Groga then further added, now seeming very keen to talk to him, "It is the most dangerous creature in the plains. Only a handful in all the Heks had ever hunted down one. And those who had done it, they are remembered as most fiercest warriors of our kind."
Make sense. People with no eye implants would have difficulty looking through the cloaking of any kind. Harry thought. Another thing that Harry realized is that Groga was not treating him like dirt anymore. So he figured, why not use it to his advantage?
So he started up a conversation with Groga, and they talked all the way.
Groga was very interested in his abilities. And he could not blame the guy. With his eye implants, Harry could do stuff that these people could only dream of…
It was around evening that they seemed to have reached a settlement.
In the middle of the green grassy lands of the plains was this monolith of a rock, which was around 15 stories high. On top of its flat summit were sentry towers, with black banners of the tribe hanging from them. The area around the base of the rock was the tribal settlement. But the weirdest part of the place was the rock itself, it didnt belong there. There were no rocks within a 50-mile radius of the place, yet how that thing ended up there was a mystery.
As they approached the settlement, people started coming towards them. Children left the carts and ran towards the loved one, and some people from the tribe started unloading the stuff from the carts. The fruits that they had brought were given to small kids, while the heavy and important stuff was brought inside the encampment.
Harry was not interested in the niceties. His attention was on the rock and the encampment. As he ventured through the crowd, he saw that there were several mud and straw houses around the place. But there were still some tents erected all around. He was tired from the journey, but his curiosity was not making him stop. After walking around for a while, he spotted a small pathway that was leading to the top.
Without wasting a second, Harry made his way to the top. The path was crude, slippery, and very old. But he didnt expect anything more than such backward people.
On top, along with sentry towers, were several huts with chimneys. He heard the sound of hammering and saw various types of metallic tools like shovels, spears, arrow arrowheads kept outside the hut.
Forges? This place has forges? He was surprised. But then he thought about it and realized that this was his oversight. He had noticed people of his clan carry metal spears and arrows, but never wondered where they got those from.
Harry then turned around and glanced at his surroundings. That was the real reason he came to the top. He wanted to see with his own eyes the kind of world that he was in. He saw a green sea of grass, stretching to the horizon in three directions. But to his right, he saw mountain ranges, and with some zoom, he figured that the mountain area was covered in dense forest.
A smile formed on Harry's face. He didnt know what it was about his situation, but he was loving it. After a long time, he was living freely. There was no bounty out on his head. No cartels were looking for him. He was not the most wanted man, he was just another speck of dust on this planet like any other.
"CHOW TIME," he heard a voice from behind. He turned around to see a middle-aged man carrying in a basket what looked like loaves of bread. He was feeling hungry at the moment, so he went to the man to get a loaf for himself.
But then he saw some people beat him to it. Wearing thick metal collars around their neck and sporting just loincloths, these people were different from all the people of the tribe. For one, Harry saw that these people were paler when compared to the people of the tribe. Then he noticed the disdain in the eyes of the middle-aged man, who gave them bread.
When the eyes of the man fell on Harry, he formed a smile, "Adui, what are you doing here? The tribe is having a feast that is going to start in a few minutes. You should go fast, before all the meat is devoured."
He nodded, "Sure." The middle-aged man looked the oldest of all the people from the tribe. Harry figured that man might hold information that might come in handy, which meant that maintaining good relations with him might be beneficial. "We can go together," he quickly added.
The man smiled back, "Sure. Let me just feed these scums. If another one of these rutts dies on my watch, the chief would have my head."
It is then that Harry realized. The people before him were slaves.
Slavery has been present in society since ancient times. Even in the modern world, there was something akin to slavery. Hell, Harry himself was the victim of the vile practice, because of which he hated slavery his entire life. More importantly, he hated slavers.
This is why, when he realized what people before him were, he wanted to kill all the people of the tribe. Just burn their bones and set the slaves free. But he knew that he was weak at the moment. He would die before he could get to adulthood.
One day, He swore. One day, I will burn this tribe to the ground. To him, these people held no importance, they were just a roadblock that he had to tackle. Which was why he had every intention of keeping up with this promise…