Alix woke up in a dark cell, writhing in agony. His clothes were damp with mucus and sweat, and a raging headache threatened to burst through his skull.
Alix rubbed the sleep from his eyes and found multiple iron bars just ahead of him. The floor of his cell was hot and irritating, but not so much that it could burn him.
There were rats running around his cell, eagerly waiting for him to die so that they could have their feast. They wouldn't, of course, but at least the rats had the hope that he lacked. In watching them, Alix was suddenly overcome by hunger, but then he looked away in disgust.
I may be a slave, but I won't eat rats
All around him, Alix could hear the moans and cries of his neighbours who had been imprionsed for similar crimes. There was a guard standing watch, dropping bowls of food that looked like an amalgamation of slop, hardly did it look edible.
"Where…where am I," Alix said, he had never been in the cells before. He wasn't a criminal, just a slave.
"In the sweltering cells, ya bloody traitor," a guard said, banging on the iron bars. The clattering noise made Alix flinch, and he crept back against a wall that kissed his skin with its balmy heat.
"Traitor? I-I'm not—"
"You're not, eh? Do you dare to call Lord Vaylor a liar?"
"No, No! But—I'm a slave, really, I am. Just look at my clothes!"
The guard waved that off, "Ah, shur up! It was stolen from the back of a tamerless, you stinkin' worm catcha." He wheezed.
His words flogged Alix with an incorporeal whip. He did not like being mocked. He hated it. The fat guard was still laughing at him while shaking the iron bars of his cell.
The large man had a pot belly that spoke of all the alcohol he had drank in excess. Even now he seemed to be inebriated on the job, which made him even more frightening from Alix's perspective.
He had one missing eye, and a black hole of flesh glared back at him from where the missing orb was meant to be.
His other eye, to his luck, was intact, and was just as dark as his whole attire; a loose tank-top that revealed thick arms slick with sweat, dark cargo pants that likely held a myriad of diminutive torture weapons, and the hair on his balding head could blend in with the night.
"Great Lord Vaylor's probably sleeping soundly with his wife right now, worm catcha. You gave 'im quite the laugh, heh." The guard said, shaking the iron bars again to stir Alix's fear.
"I got two wives of me own, y'know? Right 'ere,'" he said, pulling out two large daggers from his pockets. "Becky and Linda, I call 'em. The perfect wives. They lack many wants, they don't care for money, attention, and not even comfort. They only want blood. It'll be yours they want next, catcha. So you best be a good lad as you've been so far, heh."
Alix shuddered and curled up into a miserable ball, now looking like some sort of human tumbleweed. The fat guard walked past and laughed as he dragged his blades across the bars, the sound they made made it seem like the two daggers were screaming.
The heat made it impossible to sleep, and so did the fear clawing away at his heart. Alix had Leesa to talk to in the mines, and the strange man who had given him his powers. Before then he had his family, his parents, his sister, Raina. But they were all gone. Every single one.
It hurts
Alix had grown tired of crying, he had shed enough tears in his life as a tamerless slave. Alix had wept so much at times that he had no more water in his eyes to cry, his hazel-brown orbs would often become as dry as the mines.
But that wasn't the case now. He felt the water streaming past his cheek and some of the tears fell into his ear. It felt good to let it all out, but it also made him feel so weak.
Alix wished he had somebody to talk to, to vent to, to express his frustration. Just when he thought the world released him from his occupation, he was thrown right back into a cage, forced to adhere to a system that had made him suffer his entire life.
Someone to talk to…
He did have someone to talk to, he realised. The worms. Alix looked up and made sure that the guard wasn't watching him from outside of his cell. He then closed his eyes and brought up the windows. The cool green light felt comforting as it swam across his face.
[CREATURE WINDOW]
[Raina]
Evolution Capacity: 3
Evolution Lines: None
Abilities: None
Evolutions made: 0
Soul Fragments Until Next Evolution: 0/50
Description: Raina is nothing but a simple flatworm, bound to crawl under the earth for life. Her tenacity knows no bounds, however.
Alix still had no idea what the soul shards were, or what the evolution line meant. He wished there was a friendly tamer out there to guide him, but every single one he met had only persecuted him.
Except for one
Putting those thoughts aside, Alix sighed and then remembered the way Vaylor had summoned his dragon. It only took a couple of words, the simplicity of it still shocked Alix even now.
In the mines he had seen one of the slavers summon a komodo dragon to devour a rebelling slave, but never would he have thought the task to be so easy.
"Summon Raina," Alix whispered.
The flatworm materialised in front of him, and as it did, an eerie deep voice confirmed her existence.
[Your Tamed Beast Raina Has Been Summoned]
Alix went pale, and felt as if his heart would rip out of his chest. Did the guard hear that, he thought, biting his lips nervously. Alix thought back to when Vaylor summoned his own beast, and he had heard no such voice.
The logic reassured him, and the panic left his mind in torrents.
Alix quickly shut his eyes again and dispersed the window, then watched Raina's movements. Raina was crawling along the cell floor without a care in the world, oblivious to the dangers around her.
"Hey, buddy. Long time no see, I thought I never would see you again to be honest." Alix smiled. Raina did not respond, but it only made Alix smile harder.
"As silent as ever, eh? Haven't changed at all, buddy."
Alix matched her silence and continued watching her crawl along the cell floor. He could do this for days, it made him feel happy to know that his one and only friend could live life so freely.
One of the rats, however, was not so keen on allowing the flatworm free roam in their dominion. It lunged at Raina with hunger burning in its deep-black eyes.
Before it could feast on the defenseless worm, Alix grabbed it by the neck. The rat squealed and squirmed in his grip, and all Alix had to do was squeeze.
The rat died instantly.
My friend is not your meal
He let go of the rat, and its lifeless body scared off the other rodents who also had Raina on their menu. Then, the same voice was back, slithering words into his ear.
[You have slain a Fledgling class beast]
[You have earned 4 Soul Fragments]
Ah…so that's how you get them.
Alix looked up once more, saw nobody outside of his cell, and then shut his eyes and opened them again to summon the personal window. All three of them materialised in front of him, but Alix simply ignored the other two.
[PERSONAL WINDOW]
[Name: Alix Vineyard]
[Status: Alive]
[Tier: Slave]
[Class: Fledgling]
[Natural Attributes: Regeneration, Secretion]
[Evolutionary Attributes: None]
[Resets: 0]
[Tamer Soul Fragments Claimed: 0]
[Soul Fragments Claimed: 4]
[Soul Fragments Until Next Personal Evolution: 4/100]
So the tamer soul fragments are given to me when I…kill a tamer. As if I ever could
It made Alix shudder remembering Vaylor's stats. The man had so many digits for both shard sections.
Terrifying
Alix quickly dispersed the windows again, and then looked around to find the same rats circling him. A venomous thought rotted his brain, but he had found an excuse to justify it.
If I don't kill them, they'll kill Raina.
He truly meant that, but he also wanted to improve his stats, too.
One by one, the rats in his cell were strangled to death. Their deathly cries had alerted the attention of the fat guard. Alix quickly hid Raina in his soiled shirt, fearing that the guard might see her. The fat man had walked back to the iron bars of his cell, and scowled at Alix.
Alix thought Becky and Linda would be paying him a visit tonight, but a deep, booming laugh had swept away all his fears.
"Finally got tired of all the rats, eh? Wohahaha! Don't think you've gotten away from 'em, I got plenty more hiding about the place. I'll be sure to place more in your cell, but I warn ya. You kill any more of my babies and I'll gut ya."
Alix swallowed hard and gave a reluctant nod of obedience. When the guard walked away, he laid back down next to the corpses and took Raina out from his shirt.
Lets see how many we got
Alix focused on the personal window again
[PERSONAL WINDOW]
[Name: Alix Vineyard]
[Status: Alive]
[Tier: Slave]
[Class: Fledgling]
[Natural Attributes: Regeneration, Secretion]
[Evolutionary Attributes: None]
[Resets: N/A]
[Tamer Soul Fragments Claimed: None]
[Soul Fragments Claimed: 24]
[Soul Fragments Until Next Personal Evolution: 24/100]
His eyes then darted to the second to last section of the creature window.
Soul Fragments Until Next Evolution: 0/50
The soul fragments still read zero. Alix sighed.
So Raina is going to have to do some killing of her own. I could hold the next rats that the guard brings and have her eat them slowly, but then…he'll torture me.
Alix sighed again. The world seemed to love giving him a modicum of hope, only to shatter it all over again.