Rethan took a slow breath before speaking. His hands rested on his knees, still and controlled, yet the strain showed in his eyes. The others remained quiet, giving him space.
"We are refugees from the Ravanis Kingdom." he said.
He explained how control had tightened over time, first over the poor and then over slaves, until people stopped being seen as people at all. Slaves became property, counted and traded without thought. Ravanis did not act alone. It stood beneath a greater power, the Zerathis Empire, a force that ruled many kingdoms and demanded payment for its protection.
That payment was people.
Mana capable slaves were tested, marked, and taken to join mage legions. They were told it was duty. Those without mana were not spared either. They were turned into servants or test subjects, used until nothing remained. Children born to slaves were taken early, branded, and tested before they could understand what was happening. Families were forced to watch, powerless.
Escaped slaves were hunted openly. The hunts were made public so fear would spread faster than hope. It was meant to prove that resistance was useless.
Rethan admitted he had held a position high enough to see it all. He was one of those people who conducted the tests. He did not accept it such an act, yet he lacked the power to stop it.
So Rethan looked for like-minded people like him and they chose a quieter resistance. It was not open fighting or loud protests. They couldn't do so if they wanted to anyways. It would only endanger them. Rather, they helped in small ways that could stay hidden.
Children were moved and kept out of sight when checks happened. Tests were delayed with simple excuses. Records were changed just enough to protect someone for a little longer. Every action was risky, but they kept going.
Sometimes it worked. A child stayed with their family a bit longer. A name was skipped for a day or two. Those moments mattered to them, even if they were small.
Still... it was not enough.
The kingdom started watching more closely. Inspections came more often. Mistakes were noticed. The space to hide grew smaller each time.
Rethan paused and lifted his cup, taking a slow sip of tea. His hand shook just a little before he set it down.
"Then one day... they found out." he said.
After they were found out, it did not take long for the trail to lead back to Rethan. If not for his connections, he would have already been taken in for questioning. Rethan understood his position clearly. As a mage, he would not suffer the worst fate. He might be questioned, confined, or punished in a controlled way, but he would live.
When he looked at the others who had helped him, the truth was harder to face. They had no rank and no protection. There would be no questions for them, only judgment. They would be killed or displayed as examples to scare the rest.
That was the moment Rethan realized there was no path left inside the kingdom. Leaving was not a choice made from hope. It was the only way to keep the others alive.
Leaving was never meant to be a grand escape. At first, the plan was small and simple. They would slip away and head toward another kingdom, somewhere far maybe and without influence of the Ravanis Kingdom.
It began with barely twenty people moving out at night, careful and quiet, carrying only what they could hide under their clothes.
But others quickly noticed. Especially the desperate ones.
Whispers spread among slaves and lower workers. Fear moved faster than caution. Some followed soon after, leaving without goodbyes, taking the risk rather than staying behind. Others came later, desperate and shaking, choosing escape over a life that had already taken everything from them.
No one was forced to come. Rethan made that clear from the start. He told them the truth as simply as he could. The road would be long. Food would be scarce. Many might not survive.
Even so, people kept joining. Former slaves. Parents who had already lost children. Children who had learned to stay quiet and listen before they could even read.
What started as twenty became fifty. Then a hundred. Then more.
It grew too fast.
Soon, they were nearly two hundred people moving together, and that changed everything. No kingdom would take in that many strangers, not during famine, not without questions, and not without chains waiting at the end. Hiding became harder. Moving became slower. Every decision carried more weight.
That was when Rethan understood they could no longer rely on hope alone. With that many lives at stake, they had to plan carefully, and they had to choose a place where no one would come looking for them at all.
That was when the Forest of Death became their answer. It lay far from the kingdom and far from any main roads. No army would search deep inside it. The land was too wide, the paths unclear, and the danger was too high for others to go there and risk their lives. They would not waste lives chasing runaways into a place filled with monsters and unknown threats.
Other places had been considered. Be it border towns, smaller lands, quiet regions...
If they had chosen those places to settle on, their lives would have turned into an endless chase. They would move from place to place like rats driven from one corner to the next, never allowed to settle, never allowed to rest. Each time they stopped, the sound of pursuit would follow. Guards. Orders. Chains waiting just out of sight.
There would be no time to build, no time to prepare, no time to breathe. Every shelter would be temporary. Every night would carry the fear of being found again. In the end, exhaustion would claim them long before freedom ever could.
That was what they chose to avoid when they stepped into the Forest of Death.
But not everyone agreed in the group.
Some left before the final decision. Small groups broke away and headed toward other kingdoms, hoping to blend in or find mercy elsewhere. Rethan did not stop them. He watched them go and understood their choice. Fear took many shapes, and not everyone could step into a place like the Forest of Death.
Those who remained did so with clear eyes.
They gathered, spoke quietly, and listened to each other. No one was forced. No promises were made. In the end, the choice was shared, even if it was not unanimous. They would enter the forest and face whatever waited there together.
When Rethan finished, no one spoke right away. The room stayed quiet as everyone took in his words. No one looked away. No one tried to change the subject. The path they had walked and the risks they had taken were clear to all of them.
They understood what they had lost along the way, and they understood why the choice had been made. There was no regret in their faces. If they were asked to choose again, they would walk the same road and make the same decision.