“Hey, Tom.”
“What is it, Jerry.”
“Should we stop this?” Jerry says as he looks at a strange sight. One of the prisoners is screaming commands at other prisoners, while using them as a chair and a footstool.
“We are specifically only instructed to discipline them if they are trying to escape, or anything that could impact their work.”
“But don’t you think that prisoner Willow is causing problems?”
“Despite his dictator attitude, he is still doing his work, and the other slaves he commands have been working harder under his instructions. Not only that, but he has also made all the other slaves around more obedient; you know what you’re supposed to be doing. From my point of view, he has only helped. Maybe we should give him your job.”
“Still, the number of slaves following his instructions increases every day. What if they rebel.”
“Even if all these slaves could use spirit arts, I doubt they could escape in their condition, and the boy Willow was moved to an individual cell after this behaviour started, and the only other times he is around people, he is closely being watched. So that can’t be happening, and this mine is a labyrinth. Only guards who have been here for multiple years have a grasp on its layout. These guys are not going anywhere. Now inform them lunchtime is over, Jerry.”
“GET YOUR ASSES TO WORK. YOU HAVE EATEN ENOUGH!”
Even though I shot down Jerry’s worries, the head guard still said that he felt these guys were going to be trouble, so I should keep an eye on that kid.
Φ I have to apologise to everyone for my rude behaviour when we escape. But it seems our plan has been going off without a hitch. The guards haven’t responded to my behaviour. Though it seems they stare at me more and more every day.
Upon arriving in the cave and preparing to start my work for the day, I am greeted by a wondrous sight, Cyrus is in the mine. Seeing him, I walk up and start mining crystals beside him.
I stare intently at him as he mines, until he recognises my look. Upon seeing me, he starts to shake uncontrollably. Worried by his reaction to my presence, I try to say something to him, but as I look dead into his face to speak, he turns his head away.
Then I hear Cyrus say, “Yo-yo-you sho-u-u-uld no-t-t-t bully people-e-e-e.”
I am taken aback by his speech, not only is he stuttering, his Heroes song is horrible. I say to him, “I am not bullying anyone,” while staring more intensely.
As he shakes more, he says, “But-u-t, I saw you-u-u-u using peo-o-o-ple as chairs.”
“Oh, they all agreed to that. I guarantee it was consensual, so no bullying, only friendship.”
He then turns slightly towards me, and says, “Rea-a-a-ally?”
With a big smile, I say, “Without a doubt,” and with these words, he stops shaking.
Was he shaking because he was scared of me? You should be scared of Willow the 2nd, not me, how rude. At least this means my reputation has spread far enough, but that reminds me, “Thank you for saving me on my first day.”
“It was-a-a-as no problem. Bu-t-t-t-t, why did yo-o-o-ou take on that man’s work?”
“Why did you decide to help me.”
He sombrely says, “Because it was how I was raised”
“Well, I can tell you the same thing. I was simply raised like this.”
I hear a guard scream, “HEY, YOU TWO OVER THERE, SPEAK AGAIN, AND I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET IT!”
“Tch, seems like our conversation is being cut short. Bye Cyrus. Next, we meet; I have a bunch of questions to ask you.”
He slowly waves at me and says, “Bye.”
-Break-
“We meet again, Cyrus,” I say as I sit next to him with my bowl of food in hand.
Letting out a shriek when I get close, he says, “H-H-H-H-Hi Will-o-o-ow.”
“Huh, I don’t remember telling you, my name. How do you know it.”
“During different lunch times, I have heard people say your name, and I could connect what they said to you.”
“They’re a ridiculous amount of people in these mines. How did you manage to put what they said to me? HEY, STOOLS, COME OVER HERE. LET ME SIT ON YOU.”
“It wasn’t hard.”
Huh, how so. My faithful friends come over and let me sit on them. “You want a stool too Cyrus.”
“N-o-o-o-o,” Cyrus says as he shakes.
Maybe all these people are making him nervous. “Away with you stool; I will let you off today”, and with that, all my loyal friends leave.
Are they your friends? Cyrus pondered as they all walked away.
So, sitting down beside Cyrus, I asked him, “Would you be able to become my friend?”
Looking at me with a face of surprise, he shockingly responds, “why.”
“The reason is simple: if I become friends with a dragon, I will hold it over Maple and Orb forever.”
“Huh?”
“I bet, I would be one of the first humans ever to make friends with a dragon, at the very least, in the first one thousand. Not only that, if we become friends, you will tell me all about your homeland, which would give me knowledge Orb doesn’t know for the first time in a while. I will lord this over him for the rest of his life.”
“So, tha-a-a-at is your reason,” he says with a sad expression.
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“Yes, but there is more any person who saves my life as you did, gets an automatic friendship with me. All you have to do is accept, so would you like to be my friend, Cyrus?”
He nods his head up and down in response.
“Great, now as I first act of business as friends, tell me about your homeland. Don’t worry; I am a fair person. I will tell you whatever you want to know about mine as a well equivalent exchange so go on,” I say with stars in my eyes.
He says, “It has been sixteen years since I have been there, so I don’t remember much.”
“That’s fine; just tell me what you remember. I would love to hear anything.”
“Well, all the dragons speak what you humans call the saviour’s song.”
“That explains your horrible heroes song.”
“So-o-o-orry, I learned it fr-o-o-om the other-r-r-r inmates.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Th-n-n-n-nk you”
“GET TO WORK, YOU SLAVES. LUNCHTIME IS OVER!”
And with those few words, we were cut short. But we continued every time we saw each other. And during all the time that had passed, I had seen my plan become more effective. It was almost time to take it to the next step, so using the signal we devised, I informed Quant we are moving to stage two. Everyone has done a great job so far. All that is left is for me to do my part. But before that, I need to ask my friend something.
“Hey, Cyrus.”
“Ye-e-e-es, Willow.”
“I am just double-checking that you are working in one of the lower mines today.”
“Yes.”
“Cyrus, you’re powerful, so much so that they make you work in every mine here.”
“Comp-p-p-pared to humans I a-a-a-a-am.”
“So, couldn’t you break out of here if you wanted to.”
“I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Well, I guess this place is welled guarded.”
Putting his head on his knees, he said, “The guards aren’t the issue. I just guarantee you that I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“You know, sometimes you stop stuttering.”
“Rea-a-a-ally, I didn’t not-t-t-tice.”
“Well, whatever, but I just want to tell you I have three people I would call friends. You are one of them, so take some pride in that. Remember this because it might be some time till we meet again.”
“Why is that?” He asks, confused.
“That’s a secret, but next time we meet, I will help you with your horrible heroes song,” and with that, I walk away.
-Break-
Just like on my first day, I decided to take on the work of another slave, so I could be the last one mining. And when everyone had left, I tried to make my great escape. I ran out of the mine and went to find the machine that brought us down in the first place. Upon reaching it, I step onto it and return to the floor where we were first given the speech. Those memories seem so distant now.
After running around randomly and taking mental notes of the layout of the area, some guards find and catch me. As they hold me down, one of them says, “I knew you were going to be trouble when we first met, but at the very least, I get to punish you now, oh great boss Willow.”
Turning my head on the ground to look into the guard’s eyes, I say, “Can’t wait.”
And with this, they began my punishment. They threw me in a completely dark cell and left me with no clothes, but before that, I was injected with a needle. I thought they were going to beat me, but this is much better. Though if this is all they do, the plan may fail outright.
Still, I can’t do anything in this place, so I might as well go over the plan.
Over one month ago
“The only way for us all to escape is to win the trust of the guards, find a map and the location of the hostages, and plan our escape on a day everyone is lax. I think the way to accomplish the first problem is to offer value to the boss of this place.”
“How would you go about that? What could we offer her.”
“Well, that’s where all the workers she has been buying come in. For whatever reason, she needs lots of slaves, meaning she needs to mine lots more crystals. So, my idea is for all of you guys to pledge loyalty to me and do whatever I say. While you’re doing this, I need you all to work extra hard, and you must say you were doing this under Willow’s orders.
Of course, this plan won’t work with just us, so using the fact that we meet at different lunch times, spread the word and get anyone else who wants to leave to follow this plan. Anyone dressed like me should automatically sign up for this plan, and if they doubt any of you, just tell them the name Sequoia, and they should trust you. Doing this will give me value and worth, so now I will be helpful to them.”
“This will all just put a target on your back. The guards might punish you,” Quant says.
“The guards rarely intervene, just like you said, and if everyone is working harder cause of me, I doubt they will see it as bad. Though the next part is the hardest.”
“What would that be.”
“After thinking about it, the people who get punished come back broken or submissive, but that still doesn’t account for the people who are extremely loyal to mother. In my opinion, when someone gets punished, the ones who don’t return are made into guards. My reasoning is that it doesn’t make sense for a place like this, that doesn’t go out of its way to harm its slaves, would kill workers. So, I believe they must be turned into guards or used for some other purpose, and after a set amount of time or if they misbehave, they are returned to the mines, thus explaining the extremely loyalty.”
“That is still shaky logic. For all we know, they could all be dead.”
“I don’t think he is very far off,” Bella says. “Basileia crystals are one of the most wanted resources in the world, so the city is known to be secretive. So many people have tried using the workers here to find out about the inner working of the city, but it never worked because they all have an undying loyalty to the current ruler. If they were all slaves who have been tamed, it would make sense.”
“But how would she tame people to the point they’re obsessed with her.”
“Mind control,” I say.
“That doesn’t exist.” Someone in our cell says.
Quant says, “It does in some form. When people are emotionally beaten down, if you can wiggle your way into their hearts, you can almost gain full control of a person.”
“That’s what I was thinking, and I plan for her to do this with me. If she thinks she has broken me down, without a doubt, she will make me a guard because I control a large amount of slaves’ loyalty.
If I become a guard due to all the moving around, I will be doing between floors, I will get the layout down, and I should be able to locate the hostages. My village had festivals where we all let our guard down, and I am sure this place has something like that too, so all I have to do is find it out and bust you all out on that date.
I know this is a dangerous plan, and some of you might die in the process, but it is the best I have, so how about it?”
And with that, we stamped out the last remaining issues with my plan and started it, leading me right up to the present in this cell. Now, all I can do is wait.
-Break-
I don’t know how many hours, days, weeks, or months have passed, but my body is failing. I feel pain in my stomach, and I am beyond thirsty I don’t know what’s going on.
But the worst part is how I see and feel it all in this darkness. My parents dying, Willow the 2nd feather almost killing me, the discomfort from being ripped upon and the pain I felt from nearly dying in the mine. It’s too much I can’t be in here any longer, “LET ME OUT, PLEASE LET ME OUT. I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. LET ME OUT, PLEASE LET ME OUT,” I say as I bang against my dark prison without any light.
Φ “Took him longer than I expected.”
“Tana, you’re the head guard. Do you have time to waste listening to this boy?”
“Yes, I do. Breaking this one is an important job”. He held out for four days before the drug started to take effect. The lotus remembrance is as wonderful as ever I see.”
“If I remember correctly this is a drug that causes one to relieve past traumatic and painful memories constantly, while messing with the person’s sense of time that.”
“You are correct, and with that plus the tiny amount of food and water we have given him, he will mentally break him down bit by bit until its time. After another two weeks of this, I wonder how docile this child will become.
-Break-
Φ As I lay on the floor close to death both physically and mentally, I cried out for my parents with my drained voice. But of course, they wouldn’t respond to me since I am trash, I am garbage. This darkness is all I deserve, all a murder of his parents like me deserves.
I suddenly feel softness as I am picked up from the ground, I am carried out from my cell l look at the face of the who is carrying me, and I see the face of a beautiful old lady. Gently she whispers into my ear as she holds me tight, “It’s ok now, those demons in their won’t hurt you, I will always be here to make sure of that ok,” she says with tears falling down her eyes.
As I look at this face, it is like a part of my soul wants to call this woman “Mother,” and with those words, tears fall from my eyes as I cry profusely
Φ “This kid was one of the longer ones, being the head guard really is ruff.” I say as I rub the back of my head. But while I look at mother, I see something that catches my eye for a second the boy named Willow looked as though he had a determined facial expression for an brief moment.