Chapter 2 - Food Chain

The metal of the door's frame scraped against the cold stone pavement, the weight producing an unbearable, scratching sound. Arthur covered his ears, and Ayn held himself from doing the same. A figure stood at the door, towering over the two children with his height. Wearing a dark uniform with badges here and there, and a face marked by scars, he stood at the door for a few moments, looking down at the two with disdain, before opening his mouth.

“Don't make me waste any more time. Get up.”

“I'm… Sorry, sir… We're coming…”

The man sighed, clicking his tongue, before turning back and walking back from where he came from. Ayn stood up, walking towards the door, and signaled at Arthur to follow him, before coughing- he could tell, that was fake. Ayn was coughing every few seconds, and his back was slightly hunched, as if he was having difficulty walking.

“...They just… Let us leave?? And what's up with you? You seemed fine earlier-”

“Keep your voice down, you otherworldly moron. Listen… So long as we seem sick, they'll keep us here, instead of immediately trading us.”

“What kinda logic- isn't it the opposite? Wouldn't they want to get rid of us as soon as possible?”

Even if he didn't fully understand Ayn's logic, he couldn't possibly know how that world worked. He followed it nonetheless, slightly hunching his back and coughing every now and then. He still felt weak, risking falling over just by being in that position.

“Oh, wait, you're right, of course you'd think like that, that makes complete sense. That's, my bad.”

Suddenly Ayn spoke, clearing his throat, and pointing to the sides of his head. His ears were peculiar, extending horizontally, with sharp ends.

“I'm- Well, you too, now, what you would call an ‘elf’. If I were a homunculus, or tribefolk, they probably wouldn't think twice about throwing me out. But elves? There's some real weird people out there that would pay good to have one of us as a servant. I'm sure she'll get us before that happens, though.”

At the other's reveal, Arthur slowly brought his hand towards his ear. Sure enough, it seemed to have the same shape as Ayn's own, sharp end and all. With each passing second, the situation seemed to keep getting weirder and weirder. And sure, they were elves apparently, but how did that justify letting them just roam freely? At the moment he was just following the other, but there wasn't anything to stop him from just… Running away. Well, he'd have to find a way out. From what little he could see of that place's architecture, they were almost definitely underground, or in a heavily fortified structure.

“So, alright, sure, we're elves. And they let us walk out of the cell. So, and answer me this, right- why aren't we just legging it? I get you trust that Aurora person to get you-”

“Us, she'll get us out of here.”

“...Sure. Us. This person I've never met before will save me because… You say so. But anyways, answer the question? Hello? We could just run?”

Exasperated from Arthur's ignorance, Ayn sighed once again, stopping on the spot, and gesturing towards the transmigrated youth.

“Go on. Try and run. See what happens.”

“You know, suddenly, I feel like that's a bad idea.”

The abrupt way he had stopped walking, his almost mocking tone, and the way he was signaling to just run away, Arthur understood from his behaviour that it would be a bad idea. Even if they were being let walk alone, most likely, there would be some sort of security measure to stop them from trying to escape.

“You're smarter than I thought. You just got promoted from otherworldly moron, to otherworldly idiot!”

“And I'm guessing you're allergic to just answering my questions, must be why you're so sick.”

Despite the seemingly desperate situation, the presence of the young elf seemed to reassure Arthur somewhat. His presence, especially how they bickered with each other, did make him feel like there was a brotherly bond between the two. The end of the corridor finally came into sight, light pouring in.

“Just because we're elves, doesn't mean they hold our leash looser- the opposite, actually. See this? Ouch…”

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Wincing from pain, glowing circuits of various forms, converging into Ayn's chest, lit up on his body. Extending from the middle of the chest, towards the arms, the back, the legs, and the neck, only being absent on the face.

“That's-” - the light would stop, and Ayn exhaled, as if he had been holding his breath. “-what's called an ‘Obedience Seal’. You can't see it normally, unless you pour Archê into it intentionally, which hurts, a lots- or if it's triggered. In which case, it hurts even more. Oh, we're here.”

That explained it, somewhat. He had read novels and stories with similar themes before, he could guess what being inflicted with that Seal implied. If they tried to run away, it would probably trigger automatically, and the pain would stop them from successfully escaping. What wasn't explained yet, was where exactly were they heading- which he would find out soon enough, stepping into the lit room.

“What's Archê, anyways…? Oh, it smells kinda good.”

“I'll, eh, explain it later.”

The room they had just entered, alongside being flooded with light, when compared to the previous corridor, was also full of a damp, and food-y smell. Arthur couldn't quite put down his finger on what the smell was, but it smelled like food. It was a large space, filled with tables and benches to sit on, tightly packed together.

Sitting at the tables were many people similar to the two, children and teens of various ages, all seemingly malnourished and unkept. Most likely, they were in the same situation as them. Separated from the rest, were more men and women in uniform, guards.

“What, is this some kinda mess hall?”

“Yup. Gotta get in line.”

“You know, I would have thought human merchants to be… Well, harsher. I get why we would get meals, but there's a lot of people here?”

Leading the ignorant one towards an extreme of the room, Ayn nodded his head to the sides, thinking.

“I guess your world did things different? If they don't feed us, we get sick, and if we get sick, we can't get sold, or work. Teiwesians will use anything they can, that's one of their good points, at least.”

While speaking, Ayn let his voice reach a slightly higher level, thanks to the noise flooding the room- mostly thanks to officers and guards drinking, eating, and having a better time than their prisoners.

“Teiwes… Is that the name of this place? This, prison, or whatever you want to call it?”

Being handed a metallic, dirty tray, Arthur looked towards the food that was being served to other prisoners, if it could be called food. Some sort of pale, yellowish-green slop, vaguely resembling mashed potatoes in texture and appearance.

“You’re really drooling over that…? And no, it's not. The name of the Empire is Teiws, this is just one of many military facilities-academies-prison-training camps. And just to get your hopes down, we're prisoners, not any of the others.”

“It's not drooling, it just seems tasty… That's, kind of interesting, though. This Empire, Teiws, allows human trafficking? No, if it's also a military facility, then it's probably encouraged by whoever's in charge…”

Listening to Ayn's explanation, a grim thought appeared in his mind. From what he had heard so far, Arthur had a pretty solid grasp on how this world worked- even with minimal information. Magic, and mystical races dissimilar from humans, existed.

Judging from the state of the clothes and architecture he had seen, as well as the confirmation that he was in an Empire, which not only allowed but enforced raising child soldiers and human trafficking, the world was probably around his own's Medieval Age.

Receiving his portion of food with a dark expression of his face, he arrived at a conclusion: that place put a lot of importance in their ‘merchandise’. Ayn, perhaps naively, trusted that Aurora person enough to be sure that she would rescue him, but Arthur had no reason to believe the same. Which meant, if she broke in or did anything similar, to get them out…

“OI! Move, damn brat!”

A shout came from besides him, quickly followed by a kick to his side, sending Arthur spiralling to the floor, spilling the food which he had received from his tray. The offender, a person probably only slightly older than them, clad in a uniform similar to the ones guards wore. He'd click his tongue in annoyance, before turning towards the man handing out rations. Ayn quickly hurried to his side, helping him up, speaking in a worried tone.

“The hell are you spacing out for…? You understand the situation you're in, right? Just because guards won't treat us as harshly, that doesn't hold the same for soldiers in training, or other prisoners.”

“Dog eat dog, huh…”

“...? What does that mean? Anyways, let's, er, go back to a table.”

Casting a glance at his spilled food, Arthur got down to the floor, scooping it back up with his hand. Despite how unhealthy and unsanitary that was, and despite Ayn's slightly disgusted look, he didn't care. If he wanted to survive long enough to escape from that place, he'd eat even scraps off the floor.

His body was weak, at the moment- far too weak. It was a miracle he didn't break any bones from that kick, but if someone picked on him again like that, he wouldn't be as lucky. Sitting at the table, and eating the vaguely vegetable tasting food, he could feel gazes on his skin, and hear voices talking in a low tone.

In that place, he was at the bottom of the food chain.