Spirit Tether

At first light, Yosef and his five men took to the dust, grass filled road toward the coastal outpost with six horses. 

Yosef led with his black stallion while the child was tied down like a package not a passenger. 

 Yosef looked to the glimmering yellow sky due to the presence of the sun rising, he then looked to the child which made him think of a conversation he had with Lieutenant Ciel before he went to bed.

Ciel had returned to the house that was a temporary complex for the soldiers to regroup as they farther attack the eastern kingdoms, Ciel was outside with the wind playing his hair as Yosef came about. 

 "You called for sir?" 

 Ciel chuckled a bit and added: "Yosef, you are a fellow dweller of the capital for now call me Ciel"

Yosef stroked the back of his head and responded:

"You are my superior, even if you are my brother-in-law." I will still call you sir; it's merely the practice I follow when dealing with people in positions of tremendous power and authority."

Ciel shrugged, adding:

"Fair enough, but I must give you a warning about authority and power. To be fair, I should be saying I need to give you an advice, are you up for it?" 

Yosef nodded and Ciel continued: 

"Power is bore from authority, but are you aware where power is bred by?" 

"No, I feel like you will tell me"

"And I will; power is bred by the shackles of the defeated," Ciel replied, looking at a slave dragging materials to complete building something while the master held a leash. After noticing this, Yosef added:

"Power is authority that is swayed by the victor only to serve their own interests, crush the hearts of the defeated, and ensure that their rules don't apply again."

"Which rules?"

When Yosef witnessed the slave being struck on the back with the leash, he grinned and said:

"The conquered ones' rules"

***

Now, when Yosef recalled such remarks, he grinned, motivated to find larger parsers to look forward to and the way to reach them. He and his men galloped as quickly as the horses would allow them to, and they didn't stop for two days, only feeding themselves as they go and also feeding the slave food and water.

They relaxed on the third day, eating and sleeping while chaining the boy to a horse or a tree, unconcerned about the slave's health when he arrived at the ports.

After nearly a week, they rode once more before dawn and arrived at the docks where their troops used to enter the country without encountering any opposition from the locals, who arrived with false promises and smiles to deceive them.

This formerly tranquil city by the vast ocean was now used as a port for trade by Arthesians rather than locals.

As they joined enormous ships with several folded sails and plenty of oars for rowing, prisoners of war were being chained and leashed by the various crews and sellers.

Yosef then instructed his men to wait here while he untied the child and tugged like a dog on a leash. They arrived at an alley concealed in the shadows between big mud-structured dwellings built by the natives, where they met two men carrying two little rug-sacks that appeared to be quite heavy.

To a man like Yosef, though, they wouldn't be an issue. He realized what he was looking at was worth carrying, it's money. Yosef had written to a captain he knew a few days prior to their departure, asking for a favor: the transportation of a slave to the capital.

The captain was buying the slave for whatever reason; we did not need to know.

They trade went down smoothly as Yosef left with the money and the two men left with the slave still fresh with bruises and cuts from the interrogation which now lulled to submission as the agony wasn't a concern anymore.

***

The ship arrived at the capital without incident after being steadily navigated across the choppy water for about seven weeks.

The youngster did not exhibit any signs of life during the trip, to the extent that the crew received fictitious calls claiming he was not responding. The ship's physician would return with the same response:

"The boy is doing fine and is unexpectedly healthy. Leave him alone; he will be fine; if not, in the coming weeks, he will be thrown out to prevent diseases from spreading."

The boy eat little as possible and drink the same amount as he did during his torture. Everyday he would be in a state of sleep in the corner of the ship away from the other slaves, he didn't talk to some of them which they did and he didn't respond at all. 

 Which made people think he might be a mute or someone who is deaf.

Finally, the ship reached the country where the capital of the Arthesians, the world's largest wonder and the home of the invaders. Suddenly the boy's eye that were dull and unmoving as if he was in state of boredom and hopelessness became lively again after a long time. 

 A small smile found itself on his face as he inwardly said 

 'One more second and my tether will be strong enough to be stage two'

With that thought over, the child concentrated as sweat became much more frequent as his body was rid of the impurities in a matter of seconds as the voice then stated: 

 "Your tether is anchored to your body more, now you have control over your physical enchantments and enhancements. Well, done Nimrod, you are now Stage two core master"