Slave of the Phantoms

''' WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS BLOOD. '''

Feel free to fix any spelling mistakes, but other than that please do not edit this story.

Chapter 1: Captured
Star gathered her things, getting ready to leave her cottage. The wood of her little cottage was rotting much faster, and the smell of phantom goop was everywhere. The air was heavy with phantom smog, and Star could tell they were getting nearer.

Star grabbed her trusty stone sword and her bow. She could hear the phantoms outside her cottage. Star ran to her bedroom, grabbed her arrows and rushed out the back door... but she was too late.

The phantoms had surrounded her cottage, some had armor and a few held maces, all ready to attack her.

Star swung her stone sword at the phantoms with all her might. Bulky phantoms swung their maces at her, luckily she dodged, but her sword was crushed.

Star ran into her cottage and hid behind a lump of withered wood. She grabbed her bow and fit an arrow to the bowstring, ready to fire.

Suddenly she felt the slimy tentacle of a phantom grab her by the neck.

"You not escaping that quickly".

Chapter 2: The Cells
Star woke up inside a purple metal cell. It was a medium sized cell, with three solid metal walls and a barred door.

It had a toilet, a sink, a desk, a bed and small windows on two walls of the cell. A large phantom was at the door of the cage. He was a dark purple phantom with thick armor and a huge phantom spear.

"Hello, I am General Arim, and I believe you are Star?" the phantom replied.

"Um, yes.. but how did you know?"

"One of my slaves informed me you had built your cottage near one of my camps. And now that I have seen some of your skills... I think you will be very useful to me".

Star shuddered. This was definitely a powerful phantom, and she couldn't imagine what he meant by that.

"Anyway, here are some of the main rules" Arim handed her a sheet of paper through the bars."I'm going to put you into slavery, so on the back of that paper is your jobs you have to do for today. And if you have any questions, your neighbors can help."

Star watched as Arim floated away, and something felt familiar about him... but she wasn't sure what.

She looked back at the sheet of paper. The rules were... Star looked at the sloppy writing again. Those are some dumb rules. I thought.
 * 1) WHen a phaNtom guard tels you orders, you do it (guards have spearS)
 * 2) dO not escape
 * 3) do WHATEVER generAL Arim says and be polite to him (he has larGe purple spear)
 * 4) JaMers that do not obey will be punishd
 * 5) no cOMplaining or arguing AT Guards

As she was reading the paper, four strange animals came by. They were either gray or black with shades of purple on their fur. Their eyes were pale and their fur looked slimy and torn.

"What is wrong with those animals?" She asked one of her neighbors.

"The phantoms call them 'the unknown'. They are animals that have either been infected with phantom blood or have been taken by the phantoms." She replied. "What do you mean 'taken by the phantoms'?" Star asked.

"They have been trapped in the cages for so long working for the phantoms that they.. become one themself."

Star looked at the eagle. "Whats your name?" Star asked.

"Mari. And your name is Star?" She said.

"Yes. Well, nice to meet you." Star responded.

Chapter 3: Put To work
Star looked up from her bed to see a guard at the door.

"Its time for work, Star" he said. The guard unlocked the cell and opened it. Just like General Arim, the guard had a spear, but it was shorter and wasn't as spikey.

The guard led Star through many tunnels and rooms, a few of them had cells but they were all dripping with phantom goop. They arrived at a huge outdoor factory with thousands of pipes and machines everywhere.

The guard pushed Star into a room built on to one of the huge machines. She saw many animals grabbing giant bags and climbing to the top of the huge machine, dropping the bags inside.

Star looked at the two rusting ladders and back to the phantoms surrounding the entrance to the room.

"Grab one of those bags and bring it to the top of that machine, drop it into the giant hole then climb the other ladder back here. If you refuse to work, you will be punished." The guard said to her.

Star cautiously walked to the pile of bags and grabbed one by the string. She walked to the ladder and slowly began to climb it. Bits of rust and metal crumbled under her paws as she crawled the ladder, the bag weighing her down.

Star could barely hold the bag up, she was sure she would fall. The thin metal bars were bending under her weight, and every step it was harder to climb. Star clutched the ladder with all her might and pulled herself to the top.

There was a huge hole surrounded by machinery, but there was no space on the edge of the hole to rest. Star hung on the ladder and threw the bag into the hole, then sidestepped onto the other ladder.

Star slowly climbed down the ladder, making sure she wasn't too close to the fox that was climbing down underneath her. The metal bars of the ladder were even thinner here, bending down terribly under her paws. Clumps of rust and metal fell with almost every step.

Star froze when she heard a loud creaking under her paw. The bar she was standing on was bent, and it just kept bending until it snapped with a loud crack. Star lost her footing and was left with her hind legs dangling.

Star clutched the bars with all her might, pulling herself up. As she reached the unbroken parts of the ladder, she saw the broken bar of the ladder fall down right on the fox that had been climbing down.

Star watched in horror as the fox fell off the ladder and fell all the way down to the ground. Star finished climbing down the ladder and stared at the limp fox's twisted and bloody body. A large male fox ran at Star.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER! HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH A THING TO HER! SHE WAS MY ONLY ONE, MY ONLY FRIEND AND YOU KILLED HER!"

Star felt horrible, she would never do such a thing! "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it!"

The male fox bared his teeth and lunged at her. Just before he made contact, one of the phantom guards stabbed him in the leg with a spear.

"Get back to work!" The phantom ordered. The fox quit talking and limped away.

The phantom slapped Star's face. "You get back to work too!" Star went back to her work, a terrible feeling in her heart.

Chapter 4: The Creature
Star lay in her cell, looking at the empty cell next to her.

To her right was the cell with the eagle named Mari, and to her left was the empty cell. Star saw tons of phantoms looking for cells to put new slaves, but they never used that specific cell.

Inside was a bowl of water, a ripped bed and a bowl. If there even was a toilet, it probably was in the covered part of the cell.

Star lay in her bed, staring at that empty cell. It was always empty. It never changed. It was never used. It wasn't a cell, it was a cage. It was a cage for a beast.

Star focused on those thoughts, repeating them over and over in her head. Ever since she had started work, she tried to forget the incident with the fox.

Star woke up in the middle of the night. Most of the phantom guards had dozed off or fallen asleep, but they would wake easily. Star relaxed. It was the first time it had been quiet and peaceful since she was captured. As Star started to fall asleep, she heard growling.

It was coming from the empty cell. A low growling sound was coming from the darkness of the cell. Star looked closer, and she could see yellow eyes.

She could barely see the dark shape of the creature. She could see its deadly black claws, white teeth, and a spiked tail swinging back and forth.

Star leaped back as the beast lunged at the cell bars, quickly slinking back into the shadows. She saw huge dents in the thick bars where the beast had bit it.

Star shivered. She would never sleep knowing this beast was right next to her, always watching her. She could see the faint shape of the creature pacing around the shadows of the cell.

Star lay back down in her bed, watching the yellow eyes as they moved around the cell.

But no matter where it moved, it was always looking at her.

Chapter 5: Thoughts
Star woke up to the loud noise of hammers hitting metal.

She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep with the beasts eyes watching her all night. The yellow eyes were gone now, and she couldn't see the dark shape of the creatures body in the cell.

Star looked at Mari. "Did you know there is a beast in the cell to my left?" Star asked Mari.

"Yes." Mari replied.

"Do you know what it is?" Star said. "Its a creature that the phantoms created, they combined a wolf, a lemur, a crocodile and a phantom. After the experiment was finished, the creature betrayed them so they had to lock it in that cell. Ever since then they have called it the Shadow Killer." Mari explained.

"Woah... that sounds.. terrible." Star replied.

"Its not the only experiment they have done using animals as test subjects. It really is terrible." Mari said sadly.

Just as Star was going to get a drink, a phantom guard came to her cell.

"Time for work." He said in his gruff voice.

Star got up and followed the guard. They went to the factory and followed a path to a big machine. The machine had huge pipes, tubes and pumps, and a thick cloud of steam billowed from a giant tube.

On one side of the machine was a giant wheel, and tons of animals were struggling to turn the wheel.

The guard pushed Star over to the wheel and told her to turn the giant wheel along with the other animals.

Star slowly turned the wheel, many thoughts swirling in her mind. She thought about Arim and Mari.

Something about them was very familiar, but she had no idea what. How are an eagle and a phantom related?

Star continued to spin these thoughts around in her mind, spelling their names differently, changing their colors and twisting their body parts around in her mind.

''Mari, Iram, Amir, Riam, Arim, MIRA. ''Star twisted the letters around in her mind again, and again.

''Mari, Arim and Mira all have the same letters! What does this mean?! Mari is hiding something very important from me. I need to know what this all means! ''Star thought.

Star was so consumed in her thoughts she didn't realize that she had stopped turning the wheel and made the entire wheel stop. Star woke up from her thoughts and realized what had happened.

A gruff phantom guard walked up to her.

"What exactly are you DOING?!" He yelled.

"I'm so sorry! I was lost in my thoughts and forgot what I was doing-"

"WELL YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO LAZE OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF WORK! You over there! get over here!"

The guard pointed to a large wolf at the back of the wheel, and he walked up to the guard nervously.

"Punish this arctic wolf." The guard ordered the wolf. The wolf walked up to Star and bit her shoulder, hard.

Star shrieked in pain as blood dripped from the deep wound. The wolf pushed Star to the ground and finally let go.Star howled in pain and clutched the wound.

"Be quiet and get back to work!" The guard slapped Star's face and pulled her to her feet.

Star tried to be quiet as she continued to turn the giant wheel. It was much with a deep wound in her shoulder, but she managed to get past work for the day.

When her chores where done, Star was exhausted. She had extra work because she had stopped the giant wheel, and her wound hadn't settled very good.

Star lay in her cell, staring the cell where the 'Shadow Killer' was. Mari wasn't in her cell at the time, but when she came back, Star was going to have a serious conversation with her.

Something very important is going on, and no one was telling Star.

But she was going to find out.

Chapter 6: Transformed
Star sat peacefully in her cell, waiting for Mari to come.

She decided to go to sleep because it was taking to long. As star lay down in her bed, she heard a bloodcurdling scream. In the middle of the room, one of the Unknown had dropped to the floor and was twisting around in pain.

Star stared in horror as the Unknown's back split open and a slimy tentacle sprouted out. More tentacles began to grow all over its body.

The Unknown let out another bloodcurdling scream as the lower half of its body dissolved into thin air. The Unknown's body rounded in shape, its front legs dissolved and were replaced by more tentacles.

The Unknown screamed its last, as a slimy black film covered its face. Star continued to watch in horror as the Unknown fully turned into a phantom, a huge white eye forming on its face.

It slowly lifted itself off the ground, hovering there.

Star shoved her face in her pillow. She had to face the fact that someday that was going to happen to her.

''I need to escape... and when I do, I will come back here and free everyone. Or else we all will share the same fate.. ''Star thought, trying to hold back the tears.

The next morning, Star found Mari in her cell.

Star slammed her paw on the cell bars, hoping to wake Mari. Mari opened her eyes, groaning.

"Mari, I need to have a little chat with you."

"Okay okay, but please don't hit the cell bars so hard next time." Mari replied.

"Okay, but WHY IN JAMAA IS YOUR NAME MARI?!"

"Oh, my mother didn't know that the Mari Tablets were a thing when she named me."

"No, why does Mari and Arim and Mira have the same letters!" Star yelled.

"Oh. Umm... I dont know..."

"Mari tell the truth! Aren't we friends?" Star asked.

"Its better that you don't know. I'm not telling you anything more." Mari said, turning away.

Star sighed.

''So much for that. ''She thought

Chapter 7: Torture Begins
Star followed the phantom guard to the factory.

He led her along a long path that went though almost a third of the badlands. Finally they reached a giant phantom train loaded with cargo.

Thousands of animals were chained to it, slowly pulling it across the badlands. The phantom guard chained Star to the giant train, behind a brown hyena.

Star pulled the train along with the others, looking at the hyena in front of her. He was very skinny, with claw marks and small wounds all over his body.

She guessed that the phantoms used him to punish other animals, because his claws and muzzle were stained with blood.

Star continued pulling the train through the badlands, for about 6 miles. Every time she slowed down or looked away from where she was supposed to be going, a phantom would whip her. Unfortunately, Star had to learn that the hard way.

After Star had pulled the train for 2 hours, she was done pulling the train and went back to her cells, witch took another hour.

Star slumped in her bed, truly exhausted. She had been put into slavery for at least two weeks, and her jobs got harder every day.

After thirty minutes of rest, Arim came to her cell.

"Well hello Star. I heard you haven't been very obedient lately." Arim said.

Star moaned but didn't say anything.

"Not very talkative are you? Well, I have an idea that might make you behave more. I hear you are very kind, and you were truly heartbroken when you accidentally killed that fox on your first day." Arim sneered.

Star looked away and groaned.

"Oh don't be ashamed. I would have killed her myself if you hadn't. Anyway, back to the main point. I have a new job for you, and I think you will enjoy it. There are some other slaves that have been very VERY disobedient. I cant punish them all, so when YOU see a slave not following the rules, you must punish them. Don't think of being gentle, give them your worst. There must be blood and screaming, if there isn't, one of the phantoms will then punish you. Sound good?"

Star stood silent.

"I'm guessing that is a yes. Your job starts now." Arim opened the cell door and left the room, indicating to his guards to watch her.

Star left her cell nervously. She couldn't resist work, or she would be punished again.

(I will add more to this story every day so stay tuned! I hope you like it so far!)