I got up once again from the cold floor, shivering because of the cold from outside. What came to view was nothing else except my desolate room. My body felt weak and my stomach growled loudly, but I knew that it would not be satiated for a long time, if ever. I remembered the bread I had yesterday and instantly chose to put it at the back of my mind to keep me from regretting eating it all at once.

As I headed towards the door, I felt a rush of piercing, cold air and I immediately looked away to protect my face. I slowly turned my head back around and there I saw the guards I had seen the other day in front of me while eating the measly piece of bread. I felt overwhelmed and I froze on the spot, completely at a loss in the situation that was unfolding.

Suddenly one of them spoke, “This is an official decree by the Count of this territory. All lifeforms found in the slums will be forced to work at one of the following places - the mines, the frontlines, or the wilds. No one shall be excluded and those who resist will be executed on the spot”. I was shocked, not only from the fact that I would be forced to work somewhere, but also the fact that the count had decided to enforce this decision of his. I had never faced this kind of problem and there was essentially only one choice I had.

The snow was still howling outside and the cold was unbearable. My hands and feet were cuffed and I was thrown on a long chain of wagons right outside the alleyway. There were many others next to me, but I was too tired to care about what was going on around me. I slowly faded away into sleep while hearing the clanking of chains from all sides.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days had passed, and I was still in this tight space where I could barely move. I had learned a few things while I was awake during these past days. I had been chained up and was headed north from the southernmost side of the continent where I had lived. Apparently the town I had survived in was Aspen. The Town of Aspen laid near the ocean which surrounded the entire continent. Just north of this town was another town near a body of water that penetrated the center of the continent. This town had no name because it was a mine established by the count and had apparently been worked on by those who had no place to call home - essentially those from the slums like me. I had been informed that I would be working in the mine for the rest of my life alongside whomever else would be dumped off at this town. I knew complaining would get me nowhere, so I decided to stay quiet and follow whatever orders the guards put out. We were provided food on a daily basis, albeit it was the most minimal amount to get me by from day to day, even without expending any energy. I was afraid of the things that were to come in the distant future and distracted these thoughts by observing others who would likely be forced to work alongside me. There were people who looked like me but also weird people with furs and ears growing from weird places. They looked like animals.

I wondered how much longer we had left in this journey and was about to open my mouth to ask someone next to me, but just as I was about to, I heard someone screaming from one of the wagons next to me. I couldn’t move, so I just sat there trying to listen in on what was going on: everyone fell silent around me.

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“Please! I swear she did not mean any harm! She was just hungry from this long trip. Just please forgive her this one time!”

*wailing* “ Mom, I’m hungry. Can I have that man’s food?”

“Hush child, I will get you something to eat soon so stop crying for now”

I heard the child continue to cry. Then, all of a sudden, it went silent in the cart next to me and I heard the sound of metal scraping against something, as if it was being pulled out. I heard a loud, quick shout from someone and there was a thud. It was as if the people had forgotten how to talk. I then heard crying, probably from the mother, who was quickly shut up by one of the guards with threats to her life. The atmosphere was heavy and for the remainder of the ride, no one in the immediate vicinity of my wagon made a sound. Days passed before the guards came into the wagon and forced us out of the cart just as they had forced us in a few days before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was dragged out of the cart and the shackles on my feet were released. They made the bunch of us walk towards a large, shabby looking building. As I looked around, I saw hundreds of others whose hands were chained up like mine as we walked forwards. I looked behind me and saw that the long train of wagons were leaving, probably to one of the other locations, when my view was blocked by a guard yelling at me to hurry it up. I quickly caught up with the group as we finally entered the building, if you could even call it one. The ground was rough, and as I walked, I had garnered some scratches and blood flowed out of the bottom of my foot. As I stared at the ground, I saw that it was stained in red and quickly realized that I would be forced to go through hell while staying here.

Hundreds of us were separated into groups and put in lines. Soon after, one of the guards yelled and made all the whispers go silent, just like before.

“Everyone is to get in a single-file line and when it is your turn, you are to strip naked of all your possessions and will be assigned a name. From this point on, this name will be the name that you will go by for the rest of your life in this hellhole. Don’t even think about rebelling, let alone escaping. You will be lucky to just be let off by death. This name will be engraved onto your right shoulder with this flame. You will then...”

As I listened, something began to burn inside of me. I felt the urge to run away as quickly as possible, but it was all but impossible at the moment. I was surrounded, and there would be no way for a child like me to even make it past one guard. Although I would not be able to run away, I was determined to rebel by preserving an inkling of my own identity. As I drew closer to the front of the line, I thought of a name for myself so that at least a portion of me still belonged to myself. At that moment, I saw a bright light shining into my face. I was captivated not only because of its intensity, but also the chaos that lay within it. At that moment, I didn’t care that I was being torched by fire conjured by a person. I had decided on a name - Sol.