I''ve never cried so much in my life, swallowing my screams I wallow on the hard floorknowingit wouldn’t change what had happened. After what felt like hours or days they had dumped me with the rest of the prisoners. I wastootired to move so I just lay there, I thinkLeosaid something to me but everything justsounded hollow for some reason. They had left us in a smallcell room at the end of one of the corridors, no light justother slavesanddarkness.


    "Shit, manyou ok? That looks like it hurts." Leogrimacesas he looks at the many lashes that covered my body. "Why the fuck are they doing this to us?"


    The sick bastard had glided the knife allalongmy torso, making sure to stab in places that wouldn''t kill me of course. He wanted to cause as much pain as possible, he told me himself. "I don''t know man," I whisperstrugglingto wipethe tears from my face. "Are you alright?"


    Sighing Leo sits next me staring into the darkness of the room, "Should you really be worrying about me? Look at yourselfman."StrugglingI prop myself along the wall next to him. "You were gone for hours what did they do to you?"


    Laughinglightly,I feel the water well up in my eyes, "Just a beating same as you, he wanted to know where we came from. When I told him it just seemed to piss him off."


    "Well, what did you tell them? Why did theyimprisonus we haven''t done anything we''re innocent." Leoretorts, his voice cracking.


    "It doesn''t matter if you''re innocent, you’re a slave now. Resist and they''ll beat you, talk back and they''ll beat you. If you had a life before coming here it would be bestif youforgetabout it."Ahigh-pitchedvoice mutters, looking I could see she was a woman but the room wastoodark to make out any of her featuresthe shadow stayed onthe floor,clutchingher knees tightlyand staring off into space.


    "And what would you know?" I mutter. "Have you even tried to escape?" I canheartheshufflingin the dark as the shadow crawls towards us before sitting next to Leo. "No, but anyone who has tried was either tortured or killed. Theskorpionerhave no other entertainment thantorturingslaves. Although it''s pretty rare for them to kill one. Youcan''tsell a dead slaveafterall."


    "What are theskorpioner?" Leo whispers, scooting closer to not attract the other slaves. "What aretheskorpioner? You must be from the Capital." She responds in anamusedtone. "skorpionerare partscorpionpart man,theyonly liveinLayfront. They don''t mix too well with full-blooded humans anymore, not since the disappearance of magic."


    Leo''s eyes widen, "There was magic here? What happened to it?" Even in our situation, he couldn''t keep hiscuriosity at bay. "No one knows what happened to magic, itdisappearedabout 50 years ago around the time the late king vanished." Sighing the woman leans her head against the wall, "That''s the basic history of Kies anyone on the continent would know that,sowho are you exactly?" Sitting up quickly her voice slightly raises beforedroppingagain. "Are you guys from another kingdom? How did you get here?"


    Glaring at the woman I retort, "Why does everyonekeepasking us that? Why is it so damn important!" I snarl my voice echoing in the small room. Patting my back Leo tells me to calm down. Breathingheavily,I control my breathingbefore briefly apologizing for snapping at her. "It''s fine,ifyou''regonnasurvive around here you need to have thick skin,you don''t want to talk about it, it''s fine. It''s not mybusinessanyway." Scratching herhead,she chuckles awkwardly.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "I''m Celeste, I''ve been down here for close to 3 months now."


    "What are they going to do with us?" Leo asksworriedlyas he rubs his arms. I guess there''s a chill. "Well" letting out a deep breath, Celeste continues. "Until they have someone who wants to buy you, you''re stuck in the mines. This encampment produces most of the more theskorpionerusethroughoutLayfront. Some of it evengetssmuggled passed the border."


    "I see." I, mumble "Celeste,was it? I''m Finn, and this is Leo." Her eyes sweeping from Leo to me her mouth forms a grin. "Well Finn, Leo, even in the dark I can see your bare ass." She snickers, before beckoning in the shadows.Three figures stand up and begin stumbling in our direction, sitting down next to us forming a small circle. They reeked of sweat, but I wastooweak tocomplainabout it.


    "Ren, got any extra scraps for the new guys?"Celeste said.


    The smaller guy reached into his pants pulling out 2 rolls. "Who did they piss off to look like that on the first day?" Ren snickers,handingus themoist bread,layingon his backheyawns softly.


    "I don''t care they seem like trouble, Celeste why are you wastingyourtime on these guys, they''re already half dead anyway." The bigger guy grumbled his muscles flexing as he crossed his arms. Even in the dark, I could feel his piercing gaze, trying to intimidate. After what I went through it would take morethanthat to scare me though.


    "It''s not like we wanted this to happen to us!" Leo protests in frustration.


    "Ah, don''t worry aboutBaltorhe''s always going on and on aboutstupidstuff." Ren pipesin, giggling softly. "You seem happy for someone who''s a slave," I say, lying on my back staring at the ceiling. "Life is what you make it mybruised friend, I''m not going to die in these mines one day I''ll be a free man."


    "Enough of all that!" Celeste barks, "Baltorjust give them the extra rags, will you? They won''t last a day here walking around nude like that,especiallywith wounds like that." Reluctantly he hands over the scraps of cloth, grunting under his breath. "Well as you can see the largemanthere isBaltor, and the rolls came fromRen," Celeste mutters.


    "And I''mZefire" Glancing at him he seemed to be observing me, hisfigurewas tall and thin. "Those are some pretty nasty slices there, they''ll start to fester if you don''t do something you know." Looking at the wounds the bloodhadstopped flowing. It didn’t make it hurt any less though. "You know what''s good for cuts like that, urine." Ren snickers, giggling to himself.


    "Pee? That''s disgusting, were not peeing on him." Leo whines in disgust.I wasn''topposedto it if it made the constant burningstop. "Listen," Celeste whispershuddlingcloser in the circle. "This is a brutal place, theskorpioneronly let us out of here to sell us, or for us to work. We get food once a day if you call the slop they feed us food. You don''t only have to watch out for theskorpionerbut also some of the other slaves here."


    Leo glanced around slightly at the information, "Why would slaves attack us?" I mutter in a low tone, twiddling his thumbsZefirelooks down at the ground. "I said theskorpionerdon''t kill slaves but thatdoesn''tmean they won''t get another slave to gut you in your sleep.Some slaves have been trapped down here for years you''d be surprised how deranged they are." The circle went quiet for a moment no one looking at each other, stretching my sore arms and legs I sit up. "Telling us that,why should we trust you?" I proclaim with a smirk.


    Raising their heads everyone looks up at me,Baltorwith an icystare."Mypoint is you''ve done us afavor, for that thankyou."Standing up, I bow in gratitude. The sound ofBaltorsdisapproval is noticed, but I ignore it raising my head. Looking around the circle, there was only one last thing to figure out."So,who''s going to be the one to pee on me?"