by V. A. Lewis
It was only when all the other slaves were taken away, did somebody pick me up, and brought me to Julian. He looked down at me with a cold, cruel, gaze as he spoke.
"What do I do with her, boss?"
The old man, dressed in his well tailored suit, turned a cold eye towards me; I was manacled, once again. This time, however, it seemed like they gave me a stronger pair of chains. It felt heavier on both my arms and legs. And despite the minor medical treatment they gave to my ankle, the injury was being exacerbated by the new set of chains when I was not sitting or lying down. Julian Mancis shook his head, and gave out his order.
"Lock her up with the other troublemakers. Together with the heavy transport merchandise. Ensure nothing of this sort happens again."
Then he turned around and stalked away.
The guard grunted in affirmation, and roughly dragged me across the room into another, smaller storage room. The room was dark, and there were massive cages and boxes inside of it. He walked up to one of the cages, and tossed me in, locking both the metallic doors of the cage and the wooden door of the room as he left.
I looked around the empty room, and felt… horrible.
Everything went better than I expected— I knew that jerks tended to dislike other assholes, so I pitted them against each other, and it worked. Yet, I was forced to watch them brutally murder each other, and was not even rewarded with freedom. My escape attempt failed and now, I was alone.
Or so I thought.
From the corner of my eye, I saw something move in the cage! A shadowed figure was laying down just behind me, in the same cage I was in, and it looked like it was sleeping.
I froze. I did not know what it was in the cage with me, but it had to have been dangerous. Why else would they be locked up like this?
The only question was, what was it? Was it a Monster? An animal? Or a very scary person? I did not know which of those options I wanted, but I wanted none of them.
Whatever it was, I did not want to find out, so I stood very, very, very, still. Unfortunately, it must have already been awake, as the figure slowly shifted itself into an upright position, and opened its eyes.
Two glowing green eyes stared down at me, and a pair of triangular ears perked up on either side of its head. The humanoid figure stretched, yawning, as a tail uncurled from behind its back, and stepped forwards to meet me. She was a person.
"Nn, who are you?" she purred.
I took one look at her, and realized that something terrible; something fiendish; something truly unholy— even beyond my worst nightmares— occupied this cage with me. If only it was a Monster, I sighed.
Carefully, I moved. I calmly took my right hand, and placed the base of my palm gently onto the top of my face, resting it on my forehead.
I facepalmed.
A catgirl? Are you actually kidding me right now?! This world has CATGIRLS?!!
I groaned.
Yep. I truly, really, sincerely, hate this world.
Chapter 15: Nightmare
"Melas, dear, where are you?"
I looked around my room, listening to the familiar voice speak. Searching for the source. She was not here.
I ran out of my room, and glanced at the kitchen; she was not there either. I threw open a door, and glanced into the only other bedroom in the house— not in here too.
"I’m here, mom!" I cried out into the darkness, my voice echoing around me over and over again, as if I was in some vast and empty cave. I turned as I heard a voice call for me.
"Come here, my dear. It’s not safe there."
This time, I heard the voice come from the outside, beyond the front door. I raced in its direction, swung the door open, and then—
I saw my mom standing there, in her garden, the place I could always find her. She was bent over, tending to some plants, faced away from me. Her long black hair ran down her back, and she had her signature purple pointed hat on over it. I ran up to her, as I called out.
"Mommy!"
My mother knelt there, ignoring me, and continued watering the garden. I paused.
"Mom? Is everything alright?" I asked uncertainly.
I looked up at her back, worried. Why isn’’t she responding? I thought. I was confused, and afraid. Carefully, I took a step forward, and reached out to grab her hand.
"Mommy?" I asked again. "Is everything alright?"
The woman jerked up, and I backed away. The figure slowly turned her body to face me, and then—
I saw my mother looking down at me, smiling. She was fine. There was no hole in her chest, and she was unharmed. It was my mom, and she was as lovely as ever.
"Melas, dear, what’s wrong?" asked my mom, cocking her head. "You look afraid. Did something happen?"
I blinked at her, at first confused. Then I smiled, relieved.
"It’s nothing, mom. I just had a nightmare," I said, shaking my head.
But it was over now. My mom was here, and everything was alright. She spread her arms to her side in a loving, warm hug, waiting for me.
"Oh, Melas. It’s ok now. Everything will be ok. You are safe now. I promise."
I looked up at my mother as she reassured me. She was my sanctuary. My only source of happiness in this world I hated. As long as I was with her, I was happy. So I took a step forward to embrace her, to enter my safe haven, and be away from this wretched world. I reached out to hug my my mother—
Then her head exploded.
I sat up abruptly, waking up in a cold sweat. I grimaced as I upset my injured leg, and carefully lay back down as I brought a hand to my chest. My heart was pounding, and a lump was stuck in my throat. I didn’t scream, although I really felt like I wanted to right now.
I stopped myself from screaming, out of consideration for the others in the room. They probably wouldn’t have liked to hear me scream, because of their… second set of ears.
That’s right, they’re Beastkin, I thought, looking around. There were at least a dozen Beastkin in the cages that filled the storage room we were in. Each cage could barely fit a single person in it, but there were at least three of them in each cell.
In total, there were five cages sitting in the room, alongside dozens of small wooden crates that were stacked on top of each other. Unlike the cages, the crates looked to be transporting actual cargo, as they were no taller than me; and I was only average height for my age!
But I paid no attention to all that. I was only focused on one thing only: the Beastkin.
I remember being told about them by my mom… back when she was still alive. I felt a sinking feel in my chest as I thought about her again, but I forced myself to focus only on the Beastkin.
Beastkin were a species in this continent of what looked like if you took a regular Human and gave them a second set of animal features. There used to be twelve different races of Beastkin in total, but because of a variety of reasons, only half of them remain. These six races now survive and rule the country of Anibes situated in the eastern coast of the continent.
When I learned about them, I was told that they were animal-like; that they looked like a mix between a Human and an animal. I always assumed that meant they were animal-looking humanoids.
So when I thought of a Dog Beastkin, I just imagined a dog in a Human body; a person with fur covering them, and a snout protruding from their face. What I did not imagine, was a regular looking person with an extra set of ears, and a furry tail.
Like why? Why do you need two sets of ears?! What caused evolution to give you both dog ears, and Human ears?!
I sighed and facepalmed again. That was pretty much what I had been doing since I got here: thinking about the ridiculousness of their biology, and then swearing at the world. I bet this was that fake-god’s doing. I sighed out loud once again.
"Hey, you ok?"
My thoughts were interrupted by a gentle voice. I turned my head towards the source, and saw a young woman with an extra set of ears that were perking upwards, and a tail swaying from side
to side.
Her hair was short, reaching only to her shoulders, and both her hair and fur were snow white in color with a pale skin to match. Her eyes were a luminescent green, with vertical slit-like pupils, and she had a small fold on her upper eyelid, covering the inner corner of her eyes.
She was the Cat Beastkin I met when I was first locked up in here, and also one of two cellmates I had. Her name was Rin, and she was looking at me with a face of concern and worry. "What’s wrong?" she asked.
I blinked, and just barely managed to stop myself from snapping at her. What’s wrong? Are you seriously asking me that? Everything’s wrong about this!
I only managed to keep my cool because I had gotten used to her over the last day of being locked up in here. I took a deep breath, and replied in a level tone.
"I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong. Thanks for asking."
"Oh good!" She clapped her hands together, and sat back in relief. "Nn, I thought you were hungry, you know! Because I am! They haven’t fed us all day!"
This time, I didn’t need to resist the urge of saying something rude, as the other occupant in the cell spoke up for me. "Of course she’s hungry, Rin. We all are. And she’s not fine either. Her ankle is broken. Please don’t make her feel even worse by reminding her of that."
He spoke disapprovingly at her— almost in a lecturing tone; he turned away from her and gave me an apologetic look.
"I’m sorry about her, she gets a bit… silly, sometimes."
You could say that again! I say she’s a full-on idiot!
I quickly shook my head, and tried to cast away those thoughts. Calm down. Don’t be a jerk, Melas. You had friends like her before, and you got along with them just fine!
But that was back on Earth. In a relaxed setting. Not when we were literally being kept as captives to be sold as slaves. It was a whole different world, and an entirely different scenario; didn’t I deserve to be at least a bit upset? I was bruised and injured from the fight the day before too! Plus, with all these people around, I could not practice my magic. To say I was ‘annoyed’ would be a massive under exaggeration.
I looked up at the man— a Dog Beastkin with a droopy pair of ears and a furry tail— and met his blue eyes. "It’s fine. Thank you, Mr Shang."
I spoke succinctly, and nodded my head at him. His hair and fur shared the same orange-red color, and he had an epicanthal fold on his eyelid just like Rin. But his brown eyes did not emit the dim glow like hers did. That was a trait unique to the Cat Beastkin, as a result of their night vision, their eyes shone dimly in dark places.
Shang smiled at me reassuringly— or at least, he tried to. His toothy grin did anything but reassure me, however I understood what he was trying to convey. "Of course, Young Melas. And please, there’s no need to call me… hrn, a ‘Mister’. That’s a Human formality, not something a Beastkin like me is used to."
"Of course, Shang." I nodded my head to him once again, then I remembered to smile. "Thank you."
And that was that.
Well, it was until Rin spoke up once more.
"So… you’re not actually hungry?" She looked side to side, and met our blank stares. "What? She did not say!"
This time, it was Shang’s turn to sigh as he began reprimanding her.
"Rin, what did I just say?"
"You said she was hungry! But she said she was not hungry!"
"No, Rin. I meant after that."
"Nn, I… forgot?"
"What do you mean you forgot? I just said it."
"I don’t know, Shang! You say a lot of things, ok?"
"Hrn, and do you listen to any of it?"
"I-uh… no?"
"And that’s exactly your problem, Rin. You don’t pay attention to anything."
"Nn, why do you gotta be so mean!"
"Because it’s for your own good, Rin. You need to learn to be more considerate of others, and to do that you have to listen."
"But I do listen!"
"No, you don’t."
"Yes I do!"
"No. You don’t."
"Yes! I do—"
I looked on in disbelief as the two began bickering over something so… trivial. All I could think was, how? How could they be so carefree?!
This has been happening both constantly, and consistently, ever since I met them. They really did not care; if they did, it must have been an infinitesimal amount of emotion dedicated to ‘caring’. I gaped on as the ‘argument’ (it’s not an argument, it’s literally a comedy-routine) came to a close, and when it did, Shang turned to me and apologized once more. "I’m really sorry about that. Please, just… ignore her or something."
"Rude!" the Cat Beastkin called out, "I can hear you say that, you know!"
"Please be quiet, Rin," Shang said without even turning to look at the young woman. He met my gaze, and bowed his head slightly. "She’s a bit annoying at times, but she’s a good person. I promise."
It was at this point, I finally could not take it anymore; for the past day I stayed silent, but now, looking at this, and hearing Shang apologize about it as if it were a normal thing— as if this entire situation was not literally the most terrible to happen to anyone— I finally snapped.
"H— How?!" I barely managed to sputter out the word. I inhaled deeply, trying to calm myself down, and continued. "How are you all so calm?"
This time, both Shang and Rin paused and turned to face me. They both blinked at the same time, as I went on.
"And I don’t just mean the two of you." I pointed around the room, at the other cages filled with Beastkin; Dog, Cat, and two Rabbit Beastkin were all locked up in cages, and just chatting with each other without a care in the world. "All of you! Why are all of you acting like this?!"
The room went silent, as I shouted out the words. All eyes turned to me, and I met each and every gaze with anger. Not righteous fury, or any kind of blazing hatred. Just an anger born out of frustration of being a slave, which was only exacerbated by the incessant pain in my leg.
And I did not understand any of this. Why did I have to become a slave?! Why can’t I practice my magic?! Why did… why did my mom have to die? I sniffed, and realized I was crying. I felt so useless. Despite my best attempts at trying to break free, I failed. I just wanted to run away from all this.
Shang gently placed a hand on my shoulder. Well, not one hand, but both of them since his arms were chained together by a manacle. But it was not him who spoke.
"Sorry," Rin spoke, her voice soft and contrite. "I— I did not mean to make you upset. And we’re not just carefree."
"Yes, we’re not happy about being chained up like this, either." Shang nodded his head in agreement. "But we can’t let ourselves be broken down by this. We can’t let them break our spirits. If they do that, that’s when these people win."
Shang spat on the ground in front of him, and Rin nodded her head. I looked up at them in shock. Win? They’ve already won. We’re slaves! I was absolutely dumbfounded, but it seemed like Shang read my mind, because he continued.
"The city the Mancis Company operates in— which is the same place we’ll be heading to— is Bys. It’s the largest city in Besha, and it’s also one of the biggest cities in the Free Lands. Just like Boleria, it’s known for one thing that makes it stand out from all the other Free Cities. Do you know what it is?"
I shook my head, but I could already guess what it was. And I was right.
"Slavery," Shang said the words acidically. "Bys is known as the Free City of Slaves. And that’s because slaves make up almost three quarter of its entire population. Hrn, that’s almost a million slaves in a single city."
I frowned. That’s a lot of slaves. More than the biggest Confederate State in America in the 1800’s!
Shang was clearly going somewhere with this, and Rin happily picked up from where he left off.
"Nn, that’s right. A lot of slaves in one city. More than enough to overwhelm their masters. But they don’t. And that’s because they’ve given
up!"
The Cat Beastkin nodded her head sagely, as if she just imparted some sort of great wisdom upon me. But I already knew that. That made sense, and anyone who heard those statistics would intuitively already come to the same conclusion. The slaves have given up.
Did they mean to stage some sort of coup? A rebellion? A slave revolt? But how were they going to even do that?
They weren’t finished. Shang picked up on my doubts, so he quickly spoke to explain himself.
"I’m not saying we have some grand plan to destroy all of Bys, Young Melas. We’re saying that we will not give up on trying to escape. That’s all. If all the slaves in Bys never give up on escaping, the city would never have survived this long. But their wills were broken, and the city persists. So they will never gain their freedom. But for us, with any opportunity we get, we’ll take it. We will never give up trying to get back our freedom."
"And we will escape," Rin helpfully interjected, "I’m sure of it."
I was in complete disbelief. How? They were just… hoping? This made no sense. But I realized that they were the same as me. I had no plan to escape. But I wanted to get away from all this. And I wanted to make these slavers pay.
But it was not good enough to just hope. So I met their gaze, and challenged them.
"And how exactly will you do that? Say you get a chance to escape. What will you do?"
Rin and Shang exchanged a look. They both paused, and then they laughed; not just them, every Beastkin in the room started laughing and giggling to themselves as if I made some kind of joke. Then Shang turned back to me, and grinned.
"We fight, of course. We fight the guards. We fight the red haired man. Then, we escape."
I hesitated. That was something I could get behind, but once again, I asked myself the same question: how?
"And how will you guys do that? I’ve seen the red haired guard— Marcus— fight, and he’s strong. He’s fast, and he’s good with a sword. He also has a gun that shoots explosives that could instantly kill any of you here. How are you going to beat that, even if you somehow managed to break each other out?"