You look around the room... Perhaps you will notice at least something that can be useful to you... At least in the future...

Your gaze rests on the opposite wall of this vast room and you are surprised to see something stunning...

You see a large and naturalistic image of some creature on the wall. This creature has a terrifying appearance: huge wings, a mouth with sharp fangs, a spiked tail, a body that is covered with black scales, eyes that glow with a frightening and gloomy purple light. In addition, this image showed dozens of humans kneeling in front of this monster. Judging by the size ratio of the figures depicted, the size of this monster is approximately five times larger than the three-story mansion you are currently in.

Just looking at this image made your body tremble. You could only guess who this vile monster is. Daemon? Damn evil spirit? An ancient giant beast?

The owner of the mansion notices the direction you are looking and she sees your reaction to this image.

The woman says with a mocking grin: “Are you enjoying the lovely view of this picture? Are you impressed by this picture, ****? Probably in your wild nomadic tribe there are not even legends left about those who were the dominant species on this continent for many millennia... I will satisfy your curiosity: this picture depicts one of the most powerful dragons of the ancient era - Tharagaddor the Deathshadow... You are lucky that you You’re just looking at the picture and haven’t met him in person... However, to meet him in person, you would have to live about 6,000 years ago...”

Tserali turns away from the stone table that stands in the center of the room and is filled with various objects, the purpose of which is unknown to you. You can barely see that there are multi-colored crystals on this table; some vessels made of transparent material, which are filled with liquids of different shades; scrolls made of parchment and thinner material.

The owner of the mansion is performing some strange actions with objects on the table. This lasts about half an hour. You feel that the effect of the poison that was in your food has almost passed. Your body feels strong again. And you can control this power. You decide to take advantage of the fact that Tserali was distracted from watching you. You start trying to loosen your shackles. However, this is quite difficult: the metal material of the shackles is well secured and connected to the chair on which you are sitting.

Suddenly Tserali turns to you and says in a mocking tone: “I am glad to welcome you to our small cozy town, ****! I know that against the backdrop of your small, pathetic savage tribe, our city may seem like a huge settlement. However, this perception can only indicate your lack of education... You cannot even try to imagine real large cities with a population of about 100,000 inhabitants, like some of the cities of Coast of Eternal Rains! In fact, The Shining City of Egluna is a small city with a population of about 8 thousand inhabitants, which is located in an isolated coastal area in the north of the continent. Moreover, about 6 thousand of this number are slaves. This city was founded about 100 years ago by exiled magicians who belonged to different types of intelligent living beings. This city-state is ruled by the oligarchic House of Masters of Discipline. In fact, the most powerful wizards are the rulers of this city and its richest inhabitants. The name of this city is explained by the fact that the city, through magical methods, maintains a warmer temperature than the surrounding area."

In response to these arrogant words, you wheeze and say: “I don’t give a damn... I’ll run away anyway... Damn you all! If I have to kill you while escaping, then I will be only too happy about it!”

Tserali ignores your angry words and continues his speech: “You can express natural surprise at the fact that I am talking with you and that I am telling you such information that, it would seem, is not necessary for the pathetic **** to perform the work assigned to him. Indeed, it would be reasonable to make an ordinary **** into a submissive toy, which is incapable of the slightest resistance and which does not have a grain of independent will. It's quite easy: a little knowledge of alchemy and psionic magic, a few ingredients like enchanted atadrimin dust... In the territory controlled by The Shining City of Egluna, there are many such puppet slaves working in underground mines or on underground farms... I myself have many such slaves. However, I am a researcher in the field of magic and alchemy. I need high-quality objects for experiments. For experiments, I need slaves with strong healthy bodies, will and mind. Only with such high-quality material is it possible to identify new patterns of the impact of magical and alchemical processes on the body, mind and soul...”