uhuru
freedom; independence.
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Maritha’s head was pounding. Fortunately, that was the only thing that seemed to be wrong with her. And her collar was still loose enough to breathe in, so whatever had happened was not in violation of her orders. She opened her eyes to see what had happened.
She had been transported somewhere. A thin forest she did not recognize surrounded her. There was an odd feeling in the air though. It felt heavy somehow. Maritha almost reached out to the wind to get a sense of what was happening, but she stopped. The only magic she was allowed to do was the cleaning magic that had been drilled into her. Anything else would cause the collar to choke her.
She did not even want to risk moving, lest the collar see it as an attempt at escape. But surely it would not do that. She had been taken somewhere already, and was likely well outside of her master’s territory. So perhaps the damned thing would see her as trying to get back. She took a deep breath and nearly choked on the air. It was filthy, but at least it was not going to kill her.
Maritha took one step forward. When nothing happened, she took another step. And another. And she kept taking them. It had been years since she had been able to walk of her own volition. A smile crossed her lips. It was such a simple thing, and yet to a slave, simple things were more valuable than gold.
And more importantly, if she could walk, she might be able to do other things as well. She tapped into her magical reserves and used it to move a small gust of air. The collar did not respond. She probed it to find out what was happening. What she found caused her eyes to open. It was dead. Starved of magic. In fact, once she was aware of it, everything seemed starved of magic. The world itself had almost none. Only enough to use the simplest of magics, and even then only sparingly. And certainly not enough to keep a complex device like a slave collar active.
It was not long before Maritha had used her magic to cut through the leather band. And then she did something that no wind mage would be able to resist. She ran. She ran and she laughed and she shouted for anyone around to hear. She ran until her lungs ached, and then kept going. It was not until her legs gave out that she stopped. And even then she rolled on the grassy ground, laughter on her lips for the first time since her capture.
She was free. She was finally free. No more forced labor. No more bowing and scraping for an unreasonable master. And most importantly, no more cleaning the latrines. She could go where she wanted. Do what she wanted. Say what she wanted. Be who she wanted. Well, just as soon as she figured out where she was anyway.
With her newfound freedom, Maritha stood and headed off in a random direction, to find out what her new life would have in store for her.
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Other world stories are fun. Of course, most of the time it's normal person going to a magical place, but the opposite is also good. So much fun to think about, isn't it?
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