The Special Economic Zone Chapter 1: You Have No Idea

 

You Have No Idea

Thorn awoke in an atmosphere of total blackness. He raised his hand, but could not see anything. Even touching his eyes he saw nothing but dark.

“Where am I?” He tried sitting up. Somehow, he felt a large, cavernous space above his head.

“Oh, right, I died.”

Thorn remembered the last thing he saw before it all went black.

A single boy racing after a soccer ball. A car careening towards that boy. Thorn, overwhelmed in the moment, had pushed the kid out of harm’s way.

“So that’s what happened to me. I hope that kid is okay.” Thorn tried standing up. He fell off-balance, hitting the floor with a thump.

Funnily enough, he didn’t feel any pain. It was as if his entire body were covered in cushions. He tried standing again, and this time remained upright.

A bright light flickered on in the distance, though it did not illuminate anything around him. The darkness remained, surrounding the light, seeming to be the infamous portal at the end of the tunnel of death. Thorn approached the light. It grew closer, closer, closer. Thorn stepped out of a cave entrance and onto a cliff that overlooked an open sky.

The field before him was beautiful. Groves of fruit trees sprouted in between lazy rivers. In the distance, a waterfall turned into mist as it tumbled down a cliff. There was no sign of habitation, only a pristine landscape in front of him. Birds glided above the trees. The grass had the color of pure health. The sun sparkled on the surface of a clear, glass-like lake.

Thorn shielded his eyes from the sun.

I have brought you here to change the world.

“Who’s that?” Thorn looked behind himself.

You must choose your destiny. You have control over this land’s future.

“Show yourself!”

The voice disappeared. Thorn spotted a path leading down from the cliff he stood on, ending in a meadow at the edge of the pristine landscape. He carefully followed the path to the cliff bottom. When he reached it, he sat down.

“Where to?” He looked up.

An aura projected from his body, showing him in detail every facet of the landscape for miles around. It was as if his very awareness had expanded into a bubble. Deer bounded through the forest. Beavers built a dam on the river that meandered through the garden. A pack of wolves hunted.

Thorn noticed something of interest at the far east side of his awareness. It appeared to be a castle, though it had long since fallen into disrepair. Something was inside of it, breathing, living. Thorn stood up. Without thinking, his body floated into the air. He panicked for a second, expecting to come crashing into the ground, but his body stayed floating.

“Let’s try this.” Thorn imagined himself steering like in a video game. With a boom, he shot off into the sky, leaving pressure waves behind him. He then turned towards the castle and flew in its direction.

A gigantic dragon rose from the ruins. It was the size of a large building, its wingspan like that of a jumbo jet.

Thorn stopped in mid-air, sending shock waves as his momentum changed in an instant.

The dragon circled Thorn. “Who are you to come to my domain?”

“Are you the reason why there are no people here?”

“This is my garden.” The dragon swooped down low. “You must be brazen to try and infiltrate it. Are you one of the Empire’s goons?”

“I know nothing about an empire. I’m here from another world.”

“Another world?” The dragon spit fire from its mouth. “Then we shall see what you’re made of!” The dragon dove towards Thorn.

Thorn held up a hand and a ball of lightning shot from his palm. Shocked, he flew backwards with the power of the attack.

The dragon dodged. Turning on a dime, it swiped at Thorn with its gigantic claws. The claws bounced off of Thorn’s skin as if he were made of steel.

“You’re a tough one.” The dragon pulled away. “Where did you get power like that?”

“I have no idea.” Thorn lowered himself to the ground. “I don’t want to fight.”

The dragon chuffed. “Your aura tells me far too much.” It landed in front of Thorn. “I apologize for testing you. I just wanted to know if that ridiculous aura was real, or if it was an illusion.”

“Is it real?”

The dragon curled its tail. “Very much so. I would estimate your power level to be a hundred times mine. You could have killed me in another two minutes if you really wanted.” The dragon tilted its head. “But why didn’t you?”

Thorn sat down. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Especially someone who hasn’t done me any harm.” Thorn folded his hands. “You spoke of an Empire. Are there humans here in this world?”

“You do not know of the Empire?” The dragon puffed smoke from its nostrils. “You must be joking.”

“What’s so bad about them?”

The dragon looked away. “Though I do not believe they are evil, they certainly strive to be as close as they possibly can.”

“Explain.”

The dragon sighed. “It was two hundred years ago that the human empire conquered the other races. Since then they have been slaves, subject to the whims of the humans.”

“So they’re the bad guys.”

“You are a human, are you not? Why would you consider this to be bad?”

Thorn stood up. “I think I understand. This world needs someone to smack it upside the face.”

“You have decided something.”

“Yes.” Thorn stretched his neck. “In our world, in my country, we have an obligation to bring human rights to those without.”

“You have not thought on it? They are your own people.”

Thorn tapped his feet on the ground. “Hey, how far away is their nearest city?”

“Two dozen miles to the east. With your ability you may reach it in an hour.”

Thorn lifted his body into the air. “Okay. I’m going to go see what this empire is really about.”

The dragon lowered its head. “I would like to go with you.”

“Hm?” Thorn looked at the Dragon. “Aren’t you a little big to be scouting out a racist empire that hates dragons?”

The dragon’s skin shimmered, and its form coalesced into that of a young woman. She flipped her fire red hair and snapped her fingers. Clothing appeared from the mist and wrapped around her. She was a beauty, with deep black eyes and fair skin. Her figure was well-developed and she wore her new clothing with confidence.

Thorn tilted his head. “I didn’t know you were a girl.”

“Does that make any difference?” The girl’s voice was musical.

“You never told me your name.”

The girl ran her fingers through her hair. “Akkandocastulcar.”

“I have no idea how to pronounce that.” Thorn chuckled. “Can I call you Aki?”

“If you wish.” Aki rose up to meet Thorn in mid-air. “At this point I barely trust you, but I am curious to see where you go. After all, you could have slain me with a glance and yet you did not.”

“Am I really that powerful?”

“Are you not aware of your own strength? Your powers are godlike compared to those of an ordinary human, or any member of any race.”

“Sure. We’ll see what that means later.” Thorn kicked his feet in the air and rocketed off in the direction of the city. Just as a test, he tried seeing how fast he could go. A gigantic boom surrounded him and he felt a roar beneath him.

“Did I just break the sound barrier?” Thorn slowed down. If he were traveling that fast when he reached the city, they would hear him. Who knew what they would do when they found out?

Thorn returned his speed to something more reasonable. Aki flew up beside him.

“You’re fast.”

“I just made a sonic boom, so, yeah, I guess I am fast.”

“Sonic boom?” Aki appeared confused.

“Um, yeah, I guess I’ll explain that later.” Thorn saw a city on the horizon. “Is that it?”

“Albern.” Aki slowed down and landed in the middle of a dirt road. “They don’t take kindly to flying folk there.”

Thorn landed beside her. His expanded aura sensed a carriage coming from over the horizon.

“Do you mind if I wait for this carriage? I want to ask them a few questions.”

“I would, ah, stay away from them.” Aki appeared a bit concerned.

“Why?”

“That’s a slave caravan.”

“Ah.”

“You seem surprised.” Aki tilted her head.

“I thought this world would be kinder than that.” Thorn sat down. “I’ll wait for them anyways. I still need to know a few things.”

Aki sat down beside Thorn. “If anything happens, we can kill them and run.”

“I think we won’t have to.”

The slave caravan approached coming over the crest of a hill and into sight. The caravan approached the two sitting beings and stopped, its horses rises and whinnying.

“Hey, who the hell are you?” The driver of the first cart stepped off of his seat.

Thorn stood up. “Hello. I’m just an ordinary traveler. I’d like to know a few things about the city over there.”

“We don’t take kindly to strangers. Where’s your papers?”

“Are you in any authority to ask that?” Thorn cracked his knuckles.

The slave driver held up his hands. “I don’t want any trouble.”

Thorn could see dirty faces behind bars on the carriage. The eyes were markedly different from those of a human. They were clearly a different species. He sighed.

“May as well try something.” He snapped his fingers and a gold coin appeared in his hand. “Here. I’ll buy your entire cargo.” He tossed the gold coins to the slave driver.

The slave driver’s eyes widened and Thorn imagined he could see him salivate. “Sir, of course. These are low quality slaves, are you sure you want to pay me a whole ginpap?”

“Yeah, keep the change.”

The slave driver chuckled, slipping the rather large coin into his pocket. “Hey, you lazy lot! Get to work! We have a customer here!”

Three more slavers climbed from the caravan and started opening the doors to the carriages. Two dozen slaves stepped out onto the dirt path.

There were an assortment of non-humans among the slaves, and no true humans, though some of them looked awfully similar—the only differences being animal ears and tails. The slaves were tied together with heavy chains at their feet.

“I’ll ask again, are you sure you want to pay this much?” The chief slave driver rubbed his hands together.

“I told you once, and I’ll tell you again. It’s enough. Now get out of my sight.”

“Yes, sir, of course.”

“And I’ll buy two of your wagons.” Thorn flicked another coin towards the slave driver.

The slave driver caught it. This time Thorn definitely saw him salivate.

“Yes, my good sir.” It took a few minutes for all the slavers to pile onto the last two carriages. When they were done, they started up and left Thorn and Aki standing in the dirt road, facing two dozen sorry figures.

Thorn snapped his fingers and a large amount of bread appeared in front of him. “Here. Take as much as you want.” He paused. “Well, that’s probably not nutritionally complete.” He snapped a few sausages into existence, as well as a couple of tables, upon which he piled the food.

“Look, I know you guys probably have had a bad time. I am sorry for that. You can go now if you want. But if you stick around I might be able to help you out a lot more.”

One of the former slaves approached Thorn. “My lord, why did you buy us? We are not worth more than ten coppers.”

“I don’t care about money. Human rights are priceless, after all. Well, I suppose I should expand the phrase to sentient rights.”

“By the way.” Aki tilted her head. “What kind of power have you been using to create all this stuff?”

“Eh? I kind of figured that any person who is summoned into a world like this has cheat level powers and such.”

“Where did you get that notion?” Aki frowned.

“You have no idea.”