A body of a man was laying on the barren ground the sun burning him, flies flying, buzzing on him. Drawn in by the smell of burnt flesh and fresh blood.

One of those flies, in its mind driven by instincts, sat upon the back of his neck. There it sat buzzing from time to time, irritating.

A slap to the back of the neck got rid of it. The man must’ve felt it too to be irritating as he scratched his neck and sat up supporting his weight by his burnt trembling arms.

His eyes were blinking, a sharp pain of going from darkness to the sun. He lowered his eyes and for a moment was just looking at the ground.

The sandy ground, nothing out of ordinary.

Yet for him a...

“Heaven.” He laughed.

He dug his hands into the soil and let the small particles slip out from between his fingers as he lifted them up into the air. And he gazed at it as it was being blown around, into his eyes, into the distance.

Through teary eyes he saw it. The barren land, wide gorges, distant mountains and stretching plains… of nothing. Not a spot of greenery in sight nor of watery blue it was all a sickly yellow.

Except it wasn’t. He turned his head slightly towards the sun, he saw there something – right in the corner of his eye. It was there in front of the sun basking in its rays a Tower, a White Tower standing on a mountain looking down at him.

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Belts were running, on them foods being in process of becoming canned goods. We were working on it, Alan and Juan in front were offloading those foods. Kaiya, Natalie and May were setting them into cans, then it went into the machine where magic took place. And magic it was, for it was not electricity powering these machines, but something else.

Magic

After the machine spitted it out I loaded it into my cart and went to drop it off. Belts like these with people operating on them were sixteen. The sound of production was constant a silent symphony of working men and machines. It was because of war, yet we were on the wrong side of it.

I was a citizen of The Democratic Coalition of Humankind, that was all in past. The Mandate still stands, that we know as new prisoners are being delivered here on planet Argon each day.

I am now a ’citizen’ of the Reign of Prophesized Ones a nation in the Galaxy of Spark One- a pretentious name if you ask me. But if their prophecy talked about conquering the Worlds. Then it is somehow understandable.

“Here it is, Eli.” Alan went walking right beside me. Slowly. He gave me our little tool of escape. A small inconspicuous metal piece, not more than two centimetres in length. “Are you sure about it?”

I stashed it away and lifted my head up to look at him, while I continued working. “Always was, even if it doesn’t work out. Is Kaiya sure though about Prophesized Ones being gone for the few hours we need because of Opportunity?”

“Yeah, she checked it all out. It’s going to be the only chance we’re going to get.”

Great, no outside patrols. “This will work.”

I turned my head to the far corner of the factory where a couple guards were overlooking us all. Wait there’s one more person… a Prophesized One. Pale skin, silver hair and nose high, it even bothers him to look at us. A lesser creatures we are in his crooked mind.

“Okay. Do you need me to help you with step two?” Alan asked.

“No, I’ll handle it.”

Alan went away and I continued loading on those cans till the cart was full and I could go and take it to the storage. I took a longer route to get there by pushing my cart past another processing lane. There in the middle I stopped where the machine was hiding me from them.

I reached out and took a still open can full with what looked to be goulash. A woman noticed me, it was Maya, she looked horrified as I brought it up to my lips. She tried to be discreet whispering to me ‘stop’ and subtly shaking her head.

I ignored her and ate it quickly; it was not warm but damn was it good. I felt it filling me up, the taste of vegetables, seasoned pork and beef making for a proper meal. Not the texture-less red slop they toss us.

From behind I heard footsteps getting louder, all the whispers stopped, only the work of machines was heard.

If nothing else I at least had a good meal before my death.

“Move your ass, you disgusting waste of resources.” A whip struck my back. My flesh got visible as my rags that I called clothes got more tattered.

I fell to the ground, smashing a few cans on the ground as I hit the edge of the cart. I turned around on the ground and looked at this particular duo. Dumb and dumber or smaller cunt and a bigger one – either is possible for these two.

“Please my lord. Let me whip this slave in your stead. So, he won’t dirty your hands.” Isao came beside ’our Lord’ and lowered his head, in waiting for the command from his master.

It came. In the form of a whip to his legs, yet he remained smiling and bowing. Like the little obedient slave he was.

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“Here, I’ll watch and don’t go easy on him.” He received the whip as he wished.

“I wouldn’t dare my lord.” Without a second though he struck me. Once, twice, thrice. It was an onslaught the whip was swishing through the air striking any part of my body. I laid there, legs folded hands over them and head lowered in between.

“You shouldn’t even have thought of getting more food. “The whip landed between my shoulder blades. Before I could taunt him, stand up and grin in his face, a strong kick beat that notion out of me.

“Don’t try it, Eli. Stay on the ground where you belong.” He stepped on my head. “Under the boots of the strong and your masters.”

I ignored the barking of the dog and focused my eyes on the so called Prophesized One. They looked like us, humans, but they did have differences.

They had white eyes and whitish silvery to golden hair and sometimes they had prophecies in their dreams. That was all that made them different from us.

The Lord was looking straight at me with his irises dilated and a perverted grin on his face as he was overlooking the violence. I nearly forgot this part of their traits. They all have this kind of God complex.

“Leave this one be and take him to the confinement. As for his meals feed him the left-overs.” Two humans took me by the shoulders and started dragging me away. Blood was running down my back, the wounds were deep and the blood I left behind was being scrubbed by other workers like myself.

When we were a safe distance away from them all I heard one of the people dragging me speak.

“We’re sorry please forgive us.”

“You know it has to be this way, Alan.”

“But-”

“Kaiya is right, Alan. There’s nothing that can be done. But we have prepared everything for the plan. This is my part in it as you two played yours.” I said reassuring them.

“How long will it take you? Will you need anything else?” Kaiya asked.

“Not more than a few hours.”

It was reasonable. After all what the fucker said about feeding me leftovers was a joke. All of us were scrawny our bodies nothing but skin and bones. And it was all because of him. What we were fed were the leftovers from the food that the animals got. What we drunk was the sewage water filtered, but only of the big debris.

I was to die.…We were meant to die and go extinct.

Our race, nothing but a stepping stone for theirs. A one sentence in their history books was all that we would amount to. I felt my knees crash against the rocky ground of the cell if it could be called that. In reality it was a room without a door, but that didn’t mean it was unsecure.

“I’ll get us out of here.”

“We’ll be waiting.”

They departed and I was left all alone the only company I got was some poor soul that was suffering the same fate as me.

He was in the cell in front of mine. Sporadic breathing was heard, telling me of his state. Yet I ignored him and took out a sharp piece of metal I hid below my tongue.

Before I could continue my plan, I heard coughing coming from the guy. He was crawling towards me, the look in his eyes vacant, without hope.

“Food, please.” He called out to me.

“I don’t have no goddamn food.” I said to him. “Wait a few minutes and I’ll get some for you.”

Perhaps hallucinating he crawled further and further until he reached the doorway.

“Hey! Stay strong man. Don’t crawl!” But it was too late. He wasn’t listening, not to me nor his mind. If he did, he would know what was about to happen.

With one last push he was in the doorway.

I covered my ears and I didn’t have to wait for too long as his screaming soon reverberated through the halls. A magical symbol got visible on his chest. It started spewing out acid into the air, but that was a part of it, a side effect.

“NO!” He called out.

The majority of the acid got pumped into his veins and started devouring him from the inside out. His screaming got worse and worse as he tumbled on the ground clawing with his hands on his chest. His Veins started rupturing and a pool of blood and acid formed under him.

“…help… me.”

I turned my sight from the gruesome sight and after a few seconds his screams died down. Gurgling was all that was heard- his futile attempt at breathing.

It was revolting the sight, the smell, this factory made to use us to the last bit of our strengths and uses.

I took the small metal piece and started cutting my skin off with the magic mark. It was a painful endeavor but better than becoming a melted flesh, left to rot on the ground.

I got it off in no time, without screaming. Even if I did scream it wouldn’t matter as the few guards that were here couldn’t be bothered to give a fuck. They were human slaves too, but through shows of their loyalty they were above the rest of us.

After I threw away the skin, I stepped into the doorway. I stood there like a lost soul before the court, waiting for a second. A judgement.

No judgement came. Other than mine.

I was alive.

I took another step and got out my cell. How sweet the air felt, how glad I was, smiling just because I could. My mind though was calm as I observed the place. It was a long hallway with cells on both sides, numbered to at least fifty, at one end of it was a room that housed the guards.

They shouldn’t be there as now the work is still underway.

I walked there. In front of the door, I stopped and put my ear against the door. Seconds passed by and there wasn’t any sound coming from inside, but as I listened the doorknob turned. In front of me, a guard.

“What are –“ Before he could do anything I tackled him to the ground. He tried pushing me off, which he managed, but not before I pierced into his neck the metal piece.

It wasn’t all over as I fell myself crashing into the ground. He crawled on top of me and started suffocating me. His fingers dug into my skin as he was exerting every ounce of strength.

I reached out and grabbed the metal piece, noticing what I’m about to do he grabbed at it too. Clumsily we were both holding it trying to move it. Me trying to cut him open while he was trying to push it away.

With my other hand I was hitting him wherever I could to get him to stop suffocating me. It didn’t work and my grip on the metal piece was getting worse.

I’m going to lose.

Then it hit me and I laughed. I wasn’t even fifty meters from the cell and already this bullshit.

I’ll let you have it, you slave.

I let go of the metal piece, but it wasn’t over nothing was.

He forced it out halfway and I pushed his arm to the side. A clean cut that brough blood spilling out he let go of the metal and held at his neck, an attempt at stopping it.

It was futile. His warm blood was falling like a waterfall, right on my face. It took no more than ten seconds before he fell on top of off me. Dim eyes were looking at me accusing me of what I have done.

But in the end, he made the choice to betray us. This was nothing, but a retribution.

I got him off me and with some difficulty dragged him back into the room.

Inside didn’t look stellar by any means, but this was at least something. Bunk beds, tables along with chairs was a luxury we could only dream of.

I took off his clothes and switched them for mine. For my clothes I took one of the guards’ outfits from under the bed. I found a baton on his corpse that I strapped to my belt. I also retrieved my small metal piece of murder and escape, after all it still has its uses.

I dragged his corpse to my cell, left it in the middle of the doorway. As for the finale I went inside and threw the sliced off skin at his corpse.

A while passed and another heap of melted off flash was born. All that was left was cleaning up the trail of blood his corpse left. What an unhygienic selfish bastard, making a mess even dead.