A young boy aged 8 woke up in a cage, he couldn't stand straight but could only sit up and stretch his legs till he felt relieved from sleeping in a cramped position all night. His eyes were half closed and clearly used to this as a daily habit. In one corner of his cage was a dog bowl empty which was supposed to hold his food for the day. He let out a sigh thinking that this was yet another day where he worked to the bone for nothing in return.
Such was the beginning of the first day of the rest of his life, a day where he made the decision to do something to change his destiny for the way his life was for the past 2 years indicated that as things continued this way would only lead to his death.
'Zed' as he was called was an abandoned child, probably an experiment of some kind as was the case with a lot of slaves such as himself. As far as he could remember he had been working for a slave trader named Joseph. Joseph was a tall, built man who wore a traditional garb and had the cunning eyes of a merchant while having the brightest smile of a priest. He was the most charming person Zed had ever seen and he had seen plenty of people arriving to the city everyday.
All sorts of people came to the city aptly named 'Travesty' for it was geographically located in a desolate area surrounded by forests but was conveniently situated on the travelling route used to most people who needed to adventure or travel between cities, or used as a stop to restock supplies for their travels. Naturally as people began their travels, this city became a resting spot for all kinds of folks from rich nobles to bandits to refugees. It was a neutral ground where no rules applied but at the same time everyone understood the unspoken rule that it was a necessity that existed solely due to the demands of everyone.
Whether it was food, animal organs, technological devices, you name it and it was available in 'travesty'. And Joseph was one of the most influential and smartest people looking to take advantage of the unique situation within travesty. He provided slaves or cheap labour for most services required by travesty's many patrons whether it was for loading and unloading of goods, running errands, requiring bodyguards to even pleasures of the flesh.
It was 4am in the morning and still dark outside when Zed heard the quiet but sturdy footsteps of his employer and he immediately sat upright ignoring the stinging pain coming from his back. As the footsteps came closer and without pause passed him by and kept moving farther away he glanced at his surroundings where similar cages as the one he was in were situated along with some 'cells'. These cages and cells were located in one corner of the slave camp where Zed was now almost a permanent resident.
The cages were meant for those who disobeyed or committed mistakes according to their employer and was their residence after a good old fashioned whipping, while the cells were just normal residences of the remaining slave folk.
As for how Zed ended up in this cage was because he was caught stealing food the previous day. As for why he resorted to steal was because the slaves only got food as a reward when they did something to earn it which was mostly using their wit to get some work from the travelers visiting the city. And as a skinny 8 year old boy no one wanted to hire him for what could he actually be useful for?
Hence the situation where Zed decided he needed to change his fate but how could he do that was the ultimate question and he had been thinking about this for the past year, and the only solution he found was to get hired or bought by some noble passing by. But all the nobles already had strong bodyguards as well as helpers for all their needs so how could Zed make himself useful was the question he has been pondering.
The only way he could do that was by moving around the city every day and learning about the inns and outs of the various people who visited the city. And he figured out that the city ran mainly through 4 to 5 main camps situated here.
1. The Merchants - They operated most of the trade in the city, From the nobles who needed any sort of requirement to bandits who deal with shady goods to resources mainly found in the surrounding areas. They controlled most of the wealth passing in and out of the city.
2. The Apothecaries - They dealt mainly with potions used for healing and as the travelers were faced with the perilous forests surrounding them to the harsh surroundings of the city, everyone needed some form of healing to combat physical to mental wounds and fatigue and that's what these people tended to take advantage of.
3. The Smiths - From blacksmithing weapons to armors, they dealt with the manufacture and repairs of most types of weapons and armors used, mainly swords, daggers, guns, to repairing and maintaining the sharpness and durability that tends to occur over repeated usage.
4. The Alchemists - They dealt with a wide variety of subjects from beast cores to human modifications to technological innovations. Anything that experimented with the taboo and the unknown was their area of expertise. And while they were usually frowned upon, they held great power and not everyone could deal with people who were stronger than them as such was the way of the world, or the law of the jungle.
5. The Collective - These generally mundane people had a mixture of common folk as well as genetically and physically enhanced beings and ran most of the activities in the city, from the slave camps which Zed belonged to to the other services such as housing needs and recreational needs like pubs and brothels and contract guilds.
The city that Zed lived in was made up of all these groups and he needed knowledge of how they operated to get an understanding of how he could find his ticket out of there. So passed the past 2 years where he quietly watched the incoming and outgoing travelers and what they focused on while doing his best to find some work to feed himself.
He took on all manner of jobs like cleaning the stables, being an errand boy for the various groups, and even being entertainment for young nobles by being their punching bag while they practiced their martial arts. Anything to get fed as he thought about himself, he slowly and steadily developed the mentality that he would do anything to survive, for morals and ethics had no place in such a cutthroat world.
Today was a new day for him and just as he was planning his future came a cold voice from outside his cage, "Do you know your mistake?", Joseph spoke quietly after making his rounds early in the morning. Zed looked up at his employer and said, "I'm sorry sir, I wont steal again". Joseph just shook his head and said 'It's not that you stole but that you got caught stealing' while shaking his head smiling eerily.
Zed was taken aback as he thought about what Joseph said, Indeed if he had not gotten caught no one would have known and none would be the wiser. This simple line from Joseph changed the way Zed thought about things as it affirmed his thoughts that he would do anything for survival and only the smartest got by in this city.
Joseph quite liked this young kid he had conveniently picked up a few years ago as he was one of the more beneficial deals he had made in his past, Zed was cheap, sold to him for only a few silver coins but he had reaped many times his investment as Zed was smart and did anything to survive, he was more hardworking than the other slaves who had lost their will to live and just had despair in their eyes. Unlike them Zed did whatever he needed to just to earn more food and he didn't complain about his situation. This impressed Joseph and while he was strict with this slaves he also provided them rewards since it resulted in lesser runaways and motivated his slaves to perform better.
'Come with me', Joseph said as he unlocked the cage and led Zed outside towards a small tent and made him sit on the floor in front of him. Joseph sat on a chair and spoke softly while looking at the dark outdoors, 'I have a job for you, do it well and you'll earn a good 2 meals everyday'. Zed didn't need to think twice and immediately agreed as getting two meals itself was a luxury while a 'good' meal usually included some animal meat. He couldn't help but gulp as his mouth started to water, Joseph noticed this and smiled. Without missing a beat he said 'I want you to get a job at the alchemy association and report the daily visitors, especially if you notice anything out of the ordinary'.