Other carriages joined the one Azaroth was caged in. They were loaded with food, leather, clothes, tools, and metals. Anything that could be salvaged from the poor outpost. Even broken plates and cups were carried.
There was no need to waste resources, even if it was a poor one. Masked Hounds carrying weapons moved around burning bodies and swept the place clean of anything useful.
Azaroth studied them. The Hounds moved with light steps, and they handled their weapons with an ease that came with years of practice.
He could tell they were Awakeners. There was always just something about Awakeners. Maybe it was the way they walked with their heads held high or the way something other clung to them.
Azaroth didn't know their ranks, but he doubted they were as high rank as Commander Apex and Kael Hound.
Azaroth watched the Commander now as he walked toward a red-painted carriage with the Inferno Legion's Dragon painted on it. He knew Apex didn't rule the Inferno Legion. In fact, little was known about the more prominent and greater Clans.
The carriage jerked forward, pulling Azaroth from his thoughts. The train of carriages began to move, pulled by massive horses.
Azaroth's mother had told him about a time when metal carriages moved by themselves and humans had built towers of glass reaching the high heavens.
Azaroth thought it was stupid. Monsters would tear through glass unless they were reinforced by Awakeners. Even then, Azaroth wouldn't risk it. But then, there hadn't been monsters then.
It was hard to picture that there was a time when even weak humans were free to wander the world. A time when you didn't have to worry about Crypt outbursts and monsters.
If there was once a time like that, it was far gone, crumbled under the claws of monsters.
Monsters weren't the most dangerous things in the ending world, however. It was the humans. Awakeners.
The only rule that existed now was the rule of the powerful.
They had reached the twisted gate of Ashen Outpost, and Azaroth marveled at the sheer power that twisted the gate and metal stones.
"We didn't stand a chance," Azaroth whispered grudgingly. "Not against Awakeners that could twist these huge gates and melt the stone fence."
Resentment boiled in him then. Resentment against his father. His father should have allowed battle techniques in his outpost. Then at least they could have fought back.
Azaroth sighed. "That was all we could do though. Fight and lose."
The carriage moved past his former home, and Azaroth didn't watch it recede in the distance.
The carriage train passed through dissociated towns and previous villages. Even old outposts, left empty.
They moved deeper east under the hot sun, and Azaroth figured they were making their way to Dragoncroft, the unofficial capital of the Eastern Doomhaven and the seat of the Inferno Legion.
But they moved away from the old black road that cut through most of Doomhaven.
They picked up another road that branched east-west, and the carriage train continued its journey. They stopped only to feed and water the horses.
Their next stop, though, was another outpost that had been raided like Azaroth's own, and the outpost was even more pathetic than his father's.
Children and goods were loaded into carriages. Children into caged carriages, and that was when it occurred to Azaroth. All the children were closer to twelve, and none were Awakened.
The Inferno Legion was recruiting.
It didn't make sense to Azaroth though. From what he had heard from his father, the Inferno Legion was already dominant here by either absorbing or forcing other large Clans under them.
They did all this with the strategy of buying all the high-level Crypts and controlling the economy. They rarely used blade and brute power.
From what Azaroth could see, with all the burning and destroying of outposts on the way by the Inferno Legion, they were finally consolidating their power in a loud, bloody way.
The next outpost they stopped at wasn't burned down or destroyed. The Inferno were even greeted warmly at the gate, and a young, tall boy with black hair climbed inside Azaroth's cage.
Azaroth didn't have to guess. The outpost must be one of the Inferno underlings.
"Hello! What's your name? You want to be a Hound too, don't you? They are such a great fighting unit of the Inferno Legion! Of course, not as grand as the others but still!"
Azaroth looked at the boy, his red eyes staring unblinkingly until the boy finally shut up and began mumbling.
The boy couldn't stay still, and his constant mumbling grated on Azaroth's nerves. He wished he had something to shut him up, preferably something sharp and cold.
Azaroth wondered why they didn't let him climb into the carriage with Apex or even one of the less decorative carriages where Kael was.
It was not like they were fooling anyone with the quality of clothes the boy wore.
The next outpost they stopped at finally did the good of shutting the boy up.
The outpost had been burned down. Not even a stone was left standing. The only thing standing were a group of Hounds and a young girl of Azaroth's age.
The girl was inches shorter than Azaroth, with black hair specked with deep blue here and there. Her eyes were crystal blue that shone with hatred.
She was glaring at the floor as a Hound roughly pushed her to the carriage and shoved her in. Azaroth's carriage.
This one is smart, Azaroth thought. Show any type of rebellion and you die.
The boy stayed still for a full minute before he apparently couldn't take it anymore, and he burst out. "Do you know we have to do the test? We will be tested and see if we fit what they want in Hound! Oh, my name is Alex, by the way! What about you two?"
Azaroth and the girl turned unblinking eyes on him, and he shrank under their combined stare, mumbling an apology.
The girl turned to Azaroth with a frown on her face, and Azaroth stared back. The girl didn't flinch and instead studied him before she shook her head and continued watching the passing, crumbled world.
Azaroth wondered about her story, then dismissed it. She would have the same tragic story as the other children, except Alex, of course.
Instead, he turned his mind to the test the boy had talked about. The test would be the beginning, the foundation.