As the Orc dragged me around camp, my eyes beginning to tear up from the choking, it was a little bit before he finally reached the Chieftain’s tent. The sight of wood totems, strange symbols and drawings as well as heavily armed guards everywhere making me gulp in nervousness as well as slight hopelessness. 

“Do not disappoint him, he will send you to serve the gods earlier if so.” The Orc said bluntly as he threw me into the tent before promptly leaving.

 ‘Go choke on a bone ya pot-bellied green pig.” I said with a wheeze and through a series of violent coughs. 

“Look at me bird champion.” Said a deep, almost booming voice before I slowly looked up, my eyes widening at the sight.

 There was an Orc Chieftain waiting for me...and what a hideous Chieftain he was! Though the Chieftain had a body that resembled a well-trained boxer, with thick bulging muscles and veins evident on his light green skin, his body was also like something a cat scratched up with scars, old and new, covering every inch of his body. He also had a pair of broken, seeming ancient yellow tusks that were like unsightly rotten tree trunks that stuck out of his ugly, noxious, slightly agape mouth while his dark olive eyes shined at me with all the coldness and murder in the world the same way his right hand replaced with a hook did.

This Chieftain looked like he could kill me with a single snap of his fingers and I don’t doubt that he would hesitate to do so either.

 “Hm...if it isn’t my new pet. The owl’s champion.” The Chieftain said as with a bored tone as he started to walk over, my nervousness starting to jump towards the sky every time he took a closer step towards me. 

“...The Guardian must be desperate, seeing as she picked such an ugly, slouched face mutt.” He spat as he roughly took my face in his hand and inspected me. 

I was tempted to snarl, bite his hand or do anything to get his ugly mug outta my face but...when I remembered I came here for a reason, I was pretty quick to ignore my temper. 

“What’s this?” The Chieftain suddenly asked, starting to lightly pull on the collar Ibis gave me. 

“A collar,” I said with a what-else-would it be- tone. 

The Chieftain huffed a little before returning towards his throne. Perhaps that whole talk of me ‘having his kids’ was just that, talk- 

“Impress me.” He said. 

“W-What?” I said in utter confusion. 

“How?”

 “Dogs please their masters; I am not a dog so therefore I wouldn’t know.” The Chieftain grumbled out before the room went into an uncomfortable silence.

The heck? That didn’t tell me anything about how to impress this guy! How many times was I going to have to scream it out to this darn world? I may look like a dog but I'm not a dog! I can’t make people laugh at random like that can nor can I do stupidly cute things that would make them giggle, I was human first and therefore I tended to be a little awkward. 

‘Can’t talk my way out of this though...’ I thought with a small whine before I looked around for anything I could possibly improvise with. 

‘Singing is out of the question...I definitely can’t dance and trying to shoot things is out of the question!’ I thought to myself desperately while the Chieftain’s frown only deepened.

 ‘I don’t even know how to use my magic for entertainment purposes!’ I thought. “But...I’m not ready to punk out just yet,” I whispered to myself before I confidently looked at the King.

“I can’t perform with this collar on,” I said. 

“Ah yes.” The Chieftain said before snapping his fingers, one of the guards swiftly coming over to me to loosen my collar a little before my body immediately caught on fire, the King’s eye widening a little in interest. 

Though I could’ve just escaped here and now...there was no point, what was the point of stirring up something nasty when I had people, I cared about trapped here? Not to mention the rest of these poor women...call me soft but, I had to save them as well. 

As I let out one more sigh, I began my entertainment. From doing painful backflips that I clearly haven’t done in a while as I spewed fire from my mouth, to even clawing at the air in certain directions in order to light up some of the torches! I didn’t have a single clue what I was doing, much less if what I was doing was even going to save my skin! All I knew was that I was trying best and trying was all I had up my sleeve now. 

“Stop!” Suddenly boomed the Chieftain, my flames quickly going out in fear as I sat down and watched the Chief approach.

 “Your entertainment was...adequate.” He grumbled.

 “Enough to make me keep you by my side at the very least, despite your poor knowledge of your magic.” 

‘Good thing I never practiced then...though, if I get out of this alive, I'll have to do so.’ I thought with a relieved sigh, the sudden snap of the Chieftain’s fingers making me snap back into the reality and quickly trot after him.

As the Chief led me throughout his tent, Orc guards centered at every curtain cover, it wasn’t long before we had reached his room. Multiple furs and pillows stationed at one corner of the room, cages big and small centered on the right side while trinkets and other things filled the remaining space in the room.

 “Basilisk!” The Chieftain suddenly called out, the immediate sound of hissing and slithering filling the room as well as the scent of mud. Just before I was about to dare myself to ask the King who was coming, it wasn’t long before a man who had the torso of a human but the body of a snake soon appeared from out of the fur pile. 

And Christ did he look like something out of a horror film. His human half was just as scaly as his snake half, each individual jungle green scale looking like it could give you a nasty cut just by dragging your finger against it, the creature also had an eye that was as golden as the sun but were as fearsome and malicious as a viper’s while the other was simply covered by a bloody bandage, short, tousled brownish hair along and finally...a set of long, jagged fangs that almost reached the bottom of his chin. I sure as heck didn’t want to be in the same room as this guy and the fact that he looked at me as if I were his next meal only made me more nervous.

“What is it?” The snake-or rather Basilisk said with a ferocious snarl, his blatant disrespect towards the Chieftain making me widen my eyes in shock. 

“Keep an eye on this one, for she is the owl’s champion.” The King said before exiting the room swiftly afterward, leaving me with the small impression that...perhaps, he may have been afraid of this guy. And if so, I had every right to be afraid as well. 

“So.” The man said suddenly as he started to slither around me, his one eye watching me intently and with every type of hostility imaginable while his face got closer and closer to mine. 

“You’re the owl’s champion eh? Don’t look like anything but a mere snack to me...” Basilisk hissed, his tongue flickering out as it accidentally (or intentionally) licked my cheek. 

I kept quiet, there was no point in trying to talk back when I didn’t have my magic nor when the guy was almost the same size of the Orc Chieftain. to a guy who was almost the same size as the Orc Chieftain. 

“...Though, despite your short time being here, I’ve heard so much about you.” He snorted. 

“All those thoughtless women out there...spreading foolish rumors that you’re the final piece that shall aid to everyone escaping this damn camp.” Basilisk sighed. 

I narrowed my eyes a little.

“Oh? Did I strike a nerve?” Basilisk hissed as he suddenly got right into my face. 

“Because if I did...then suck it up.” He spat before he soon grabbed ahold of my throat and started to hold me in the air. 

What in the living buttercup was this idiot doing?! I didn’t even say one thing nor move an inch! 

“Tell me little dog...do you get a kick out of lying like that? Giving people false hope like that?” Basilisk snarled. 

“W-What?!” I finally choked out. 

“I didn’t even do or say anything! They all assumed it on their own!”

 “Liar!” He shouted.

 “No one dares to assume a Guardian’s champion, much less a lowly mutt, will be able to save this place!” He continued to spout, his face nearing mine as my heart hammered in my chest.

 “Well, they did!” I said. 

“What are you going to do huh? Kill me?! Cause if so, get it over with ya damn reptile, I don’t have all day!” I snarled, his eyes widening slightly before he let out a small chuckle. 

“...No one speaks to me like that unless they wish to take a permanent visit to my stomach.” Basilisk hissed, slowly setting me back down before he had laid down and looked me straight into the eye.

“But...as much as I wish to eat you, killing the champion of the bird would grant me so many stories to tell...” He sighed, a small bit of drool escaping his mouth before he let out a dark chuckle. 

“I can’t have any more bloodshed within’ the King’s tent. Not when I plan to lead everyone out of this camp.” He said, my jaw almost dropping to the ground at the sudden news. 

“Y-You’re a resistance leader?”

 “I am, what? Never expected a lowly bastard Echidna like me to lead the ones who would usually be my dinner out of this fucking hellhole?” He snorted with a quick flicker of his tongue. 

I tilted my head a little bit, wasn’t an Echidna some type of a furry animal? 

“Echidna?” I whined in confusion.

 “You’re a half-snake.” 

“Indeed I am.” Basilisk said with slightly narrowed eyes. 

“What? Have you not heard of an Echidna mutt? The snake folk of the wetlands, this is common knowledge unless...you are clearly dumber than I originally thought.” I let out a low growl, I was from a different world! Of course, I’m going to get stuff wrong now and then but, though he didn’t know that, that didn’t mean he had to be so rude about it. 

“Well excuse me from not exactly being from around here.” I huffed as I laid down as well, a heavy sigh escaping me while Basilisk continued to look at me with an unreadable expression.

“Don’t know too many continents or countries in all of Balerion where dogs can talk but...I don’t know, that Guardian chose you, who knows? Maybe she ordered the Bulls up south to conjure something up.” He said with a snort before grumbling a little and narrowing his eye a little. 

 “Alright dog, enough play, I’m going to give it to you straight alright? I don’t wanna be here, you don’t wanna be here, no one in this entire Orc camp wants to be here!” He hissed. 

“Tonight, I’m arranging a meeting with all the worker slaves in order to finalize the plan of getting out of here. You’re coming with me.” Basilisk said before he slithered away back to his fur pile, a thousand questions filling my mind. 

“W-What?!” I stuttered. 

“Shush!” 

“Sorry...it’s just, I just got here and we’re already trying to form this escape plan?” I barked as I sniffed out the pile, Basilisk poking his head out a little as he started to bare his fangs slightly. 

“I’m not going to halt my plans because your new dog. You either learn quickly or not because waiting hurts.” He said, sticking his hand out a little to pinch my nose before he went completely silent.

Christ...I just keep meeting stranger and stranger people as I continue to go on with life in this world don’t I? From having simple wishes of exploration to being part of an escape plan! 

Though the plan to escape was very welcomed, after all, it only made my original mission of saving the captured goblins and wolves as well as helping out the Driinkiins much smoother, it was also incredibly risky. I mean...what about the others of this camp? The elderly and so forth? It’s not like we could leave them behind! Though...clearly Basilisk has been here longer, I have no choice but to trust the half-snake guy. 

“Basilisk.” I sighed as I laid down in front of the pile, a more than annoyed, muffled ‘What’ coming from the pile. 

“Have you heard anything about the Orcs bringing in some goblins and wolves as of late?”

 “...Depends.” He simply said. 

“Orcs tend to target goblins; they are the easiest to make slaves seeing as their will is so weak.” 

His words sent a chill down my spine, I really did hope that everyone was at least trying to hold out for me to come and help them.

 “That doesn't answer my question completely,” I said sternly.

“What about wolves? Have they brought in any wolves?” He went quiet with a small ‘Hm’. 

“I do not know.” Basilisk finally said with a yawn. 

“Though I believe you’ll find your answer at the gathering tonight, now stop bothering me dog.” He suddenly snarled, my own snarl erupting from my throat. 

“Listen here, my name isn’t dog-" 

“I’ll call you whatever I like dog, I warned you earlier, I’m not afraid to make you into a new snack.” Basilisk hissed as he finally stuck his head out of the pile and soon towered over me, his arms crossed tightly while his eye held hunger, annoyance, and anger. 

“Learn this mutt, it’s better to submit rather than battle every damn thing someone says to you.” He spat before he swiftly went back into his furs, his words leaving me angry and annoyed all at the same time.