A cloudy day emerged over a carriage filled with slaves. Chains clinked together as the carriage rumbled forward. Horses neighed like they were angry. Laughter and voices of soldiers hung in the air.
Inside the carriage was a nest of slaves. It looked like bodies were just thrown in their men, women, children. They all looked like they had given up on life. Among the slaves was a boy named Roid. He slept as the carriage moved forward.
"Hey! Wake up!" A voice echoed in his head.
He saw a family. They smiled, laughed. It looked like they were having a great time together. He just looked at them from a distance. He raised his arms, trying to grasp the happiness they had, but it was just too far for his hands to reach. So, he got closer and closer, but the family kept fading away the more steps he took. They were close yet so far. He kept running toward them. He ran and ran, but they faded and faded, till they were no more. He just stood there, in his own dream, tears falling out.
"Will I ever….?" he whispered.
"Hey, I said wake up!" A voice screamed at him.
He bolted up, trying to wake up, but he hit a person next to him. He apologised as quickly as he woke up.
"Huh?" He was confused and shocked as he just woke up.
"Hey, get up. You're killing my back. There is no space here." A voice roared at him.
"Where am I?" Roid asked.
"What? Obviously, you're in a slave carriage. Now move a little so I can breathe. There is not much room here to spare."
He moved a little, but at the same time he was trying to process what was happening. He looked around and saw mourning slaves. The dark walls of the carriage filtered the cries and sorrows from going outside. He realised that where he was is not home, but weirdly it didn't bother him that much. In fact, there was a sigh of relief as he subtly smiled as soon as he heard he was in a slave carriage. But a thought kept coming back to him.
Did my parents really sell me off to slavery?
His thoughts were interrupted by the person next to him the one he was woken up by.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
Roid looked at him. He tried to answer, but there were no words to express how little he knew about how he was here.
"I-I don't know. I just woke up here," he answered.
Who is this guy? The person next to him wondered in his thoughts.
"Anyways, if you haven't noticed, we are chained up together," the person replied.
Roid suddenly jolted his hands upwards to the sound of chains clinking together as they linked to the person he was sitting with.
"What?" Roid reacted, shocked.
"Seriously? You didn't realize that? Anyways, we have to work together if we want to survive…"
"What do you mean?" Roid replied, confused.
"Well, we are about to enter the most brutal slave mines in this country."
"How do you know that?"
"Well, my father once worked for the government and he was part of many projects carried out by the government, including the mines we are headed towards. I used to study with him."
"Wow, your father sounds like a nice person."
"He was…" he thought in his head as he bowed his head down, deep in his thoughts.
The carriage kept moving as the slaves got closer to their demise. The air was getting thicker and thicker. The gravel became bumpier. The chains sang a song as the jerky ride kept on moving. The horses neighed even louder as they got closer to their destination.
Woah! Why am I getting eerie vibes all of a sudden? Roid thought in his head.
"You too huh?" The man chained to him asked.
"Mhh?"
"WELCOME TO THE WESTLANDS!"
The horses slowed down a bit as they approached a huge gate. Soldiers were on the top of the walls that held this giant gate. They were holding weapons, wearing white clothing marked with a symbol of something on their chests. The soldiers driving the horses with the carriage filled with slaves shouted a command only those within would know. The gate suddenly opened. The ground roared as the gate opened and the carriage rattled with it. The carriage then moved onwards. It passed through a big tunnel section until it got to the middle of the headquarters. The carriage came to a complete stop.
The soldiers went to take out the slaves from the back of the carriage and they all lined up just like the cattle they were. It was a school of slaves, all tied up and their fates were like their hands and feet they were chained and locked.
Under a tunnel came a dark silhouette. His raged eyes had an aura emitting on their own. He looked calm and collected. Soldiers stood out of his way as he walked towards the arriving slaves. Two assistants of his walked beside him in sync. They wore white clothing with the same symbol, but it was different from the other soldiers it was unique, sort of classifying them to be at a different level.
He is obviously the one in charge, but something about him…. The man chained to Roid thought.
"So, are these the new arrivals?" The man spoke.
"Yes, captain Jagger," a soldier replied.
"I told you not to call me by name," he said as he eyed the soldier who called him by name.
"I am so sorry captain Jagge…I mean Captain sir," he bowed down.
"Ahh whatever," he lazily expressed his feelings.
Jagger then looked and analysed the slaves, and stumbled his eyes on Roid. It was for a brief moment then he kept on looking at the other slaves. His eyes and facial expression had the appeal that he doesn't care about what he was looking at.
"Do you believe in God?" Jagger asked bluntly.
Every slave was shocked at this question as they murmured voices in the air.
"Well, it doesn't matter, as from now on there is no GOD in the Westlands."
All the slaves looked at him terrified.
"From now on, I will feed you, give you a place to sleep, but I will need something from you. YOUR SOUL!"
"You will work, sleep, eat and shit when I say so. Do you hear me?"
Murmurs, anger, terror they all mixed in the air after his words from the slaves.
He raised his hands, like a king silencing his pawns.
"As you can see you are chained with a person. You will spend the rest of your life with them. Till you die. Don't bother using your Null powers. They won't work here. Those chains reduce your mana. Without mana you won't be able to use your Null powers."
He then turned around to walk away, with his assistants to where he came from.
Roid's eyes stumbled upon a slave in front of him. He somehow had a knife with him he took from his back and his chains were a little loose.
"NO, NO, I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS, I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE HERE!" the slave shouted. His eyes red, teeth clenched, veins showing.
He then jolted in-between the other slaves towards the captain. His heart was racing, beating like a drum. It finally felt like he was one stab away from freedom, from this cruel place. But one of the assistants stepped out of sync and focused on the slave that was coming. Suddenly the assistant took out an axe that was on his back and then he dragged his arm and posture backward exaggeratedly to aim, and then suddenly.
Boom!
The axe cut through the air like scissors. It broke the sound barrier and curved towards the slave that was running to the captain. It then sliced his head off. The air loomed with fear and loss of hope as the axe drew back to the owner like a boomerang and the assistant stepped back in sync with the captain. The corpse fell on the ground. The blood dripped slowly like counting their days until they endured the same fate.
"Anyone else?" Jagger asked, looking at them pissed.
No one said a thing. Fear trembled across the air.
"Take them to the compound. Tomorrow, they work," Jagger said.
"Yes, captain Jagge…I mean captain sir."
"Move it," the soldiers shouted.
The slaves kept on moving towards the compound. The atmosphere was a dark eerie feeling. The sun never rose above, yet it was bright as day. Clouds lingered the sky like glue. The dirt that was once brown was a bloody path with each step promising the same demise as the slave that just died. They kept walking towards the compound. Whips cried out from every angle. Soldiers kept passing them some standing on the walls with weapons ready, others gambling in the corners. It's like a paradise for these soldiers.
Where have I seen those symbols before? The chained man to Roid wondered.
They finally entered the compound. They walked towards a barn wait no, a room that filled up like cattle getting stocked up in one place. There was barely room to breathe let alone walk as so much cattle mean slaves were all in this one room. The sorrow voices of pale-looking slaves, the eyes of those who lost hope, all lingered in this one barn mean room. The slaves were given hay to sleep on. It was the only protection from the cold cement floor. The room itself was made of wood. The barn mean room was dancing with the wind as its structure looked like it gave up, like the slaves. The walls and roof had holes that you could see through. The cold breeze looked at them back.
The soldiers stocked the cattle's mean slaves inside this room. The moon loomed over the Westlands. Clouds covered the stars that would brighten the night. Cold air breezed over the wooden room as it swayed with the wind. The air scraped the holes within the walls. It suddenly was a battle of not dying by the cold. The slaves shivered with the cold breeze. It's like they are not inside a room at all.
"How do they expect us to live like this? It is Flippen freezing here," the chained man said.
Roid took his shirt off preparing to sleep. The man chained to Roid looked at him.
Now that I think of it, this dude has long hair, WAIT!? he internally thought.
"Why are you taking off your shirt in this cold? Are you crazy?" The chained man yelled.
"I just felt hot," Roid replied.
Mist stirred from Roid's body. It's like the cold and hotness are fighting each other. Inside his body.
Wait… he wasn't joking? he thought as he saw the mists coming off him.
"Uh, what's with the scars?" the chained man curiously asked.
Roid looked at the scars on his upper body. He got lost in his own thoughts as he silently looked at them.
"Sorry I asked," the chained man replied.
"Anyways my name is Yuto," the chained man said.
"I am Roid," he replied.
"Well, as I said earlier the only way to survive this place is to work together, agree?"
He lifted his arm. The chains clinked with the movement, ready for a handshake.
"Uhm, dude, are you going to leave me hanging?"
Roid lifted his hands. His chains too clinked with him as he went to shake Yuto's hands.
"I guess I have no choice."
That night a bond chained two men to survive the terror of the Westlands. They slept on the cold concrete with hay separating them from the floor if they even slept at all.