Eray woke up gasping as ice-cold water splashed across his face.
The air that filled his lungs smelled of mold and dried blood. He tried to open his eyes, but his left one was swollen shut. With his remaining eye, he scanned his surroundings.
He was in a dark, damp cell. The walls were built from strange black stone unique to this dimension.
He tried to move.
Thick iron rings rattled around his wrists and ankles. The chains were fastened so short to the wall that he could neither fully sit nor fully stand. His knees trembled.
"He's awake," a rough voice said.
Two guards stood behind the bars of the cell. Their armor was nothing like the Princess's elegant gear. It was made of crude leather and metal plates. Spears rested in their hands.
One of them was showing something strange to the other.
Eray looked closely.
It was his Lightning rifle.
"Look at this," the guard said, gripping the barrel and swinging it like a club."Just an empty iron tube. Is this how humans fight?"
The other guard laughed."Idiots. They don't use proper weapons like us. Swords, spears. This is probably a walking stick. Humans are weak creatures."
The first guard nodded."You're right. The slave human I bought last year for three gold died in two months."
He tossed the rifle to the ground.
The sound of metal striking stone tore at Eray's insides, but his expression did not change.
They don't know what it is, Eray thought.Good. If they understood the trigger and the mechanism, they wouldn't leave a single healthy tooth in my mouth.
At that moment, the heavy iron door at the end of the corridor creaked open.
Light spilled inside.
Footsteps echoed.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The guards immediately straightened and lowered their heads.
"My Princess!"
Princess Velira entered the corridor. She was no longer wearing her silver armor. Instead, she wore a dark blue, silk-like outfit with moving patterns woven into the fabric. The thin sword at her waist, however, was still there.
Behind her walked two servants, carrying the chest piece of Eray's exo-suit. They placed it on the table at the center of the room.
Velira gestured for the bars to be opened. As she stepped inside, the air in the cell grew heavy. The magical pressure she radiated was so dense that Eray felt his skin prickle.
She walked straight toward him. Curiosity mixed with disgust on her face.
"What is your name, human?" she asked.Her voice was calm, but every syllable carried the weight of a command.
Eray did not answer. He simply met her gaze.
Velira frowned slightly. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
Eray's body jolted as if struck by an invisible whip. A thin, long cut opened across his chest. Blood soaked into his dirty shirt.
"I asked you a question," Velira said, her tone unchanged."When I ask, I expect an answer. And if I do not hear it immediately…"
Eray clenched his teeth and swallowed the pain.
"Eray," he said in a hoarse voice.
"Eray," the Princess repeated, as if the name left a bitter taste in her mouth."A strange name. Tell me, Eray. The human kingdoms are far from here. Who is your master?"
She did not wait for a reply. She pointed at the broken exo-suit piece on the table.
"And why do you wear this pile of scrap?" she continued."To protect bodies that cannot use magic?"
Eray looked at the shattered armor. On Earth, it was worth thousands of gold. The peak of engineering.
Here, to her, it was just scrap.
"It's my skin," Eray said, lying. He kept it simple."It keeps weak humans like us alive. I have no master. I came here to search for my lost sister."
He chose to hide who he really was and where he came from.
Velira laughed softly. She ran her hand across the metal surface of the armor. Then she formed a tiny blue flame at the tip of her finger and touched the alloy.
The Raiders metal began to melt like wax under magical fire.
"How fragile," Velira said, watching it deform."Even our simplest spells pierce your 'skin.' Your kingdom must be very weak."
Then she turned back to Eray. Her eyes narrowed.
"But what truly interests me is not your iron," she said."You killed the creature in the forest. The Stone Breaker. With magic. The amount of pure dark energy inside a human should be impossible."
She tilted her head slightly.
"What are you? A lab rat? A failed experiment? Or a demon hybrid?"Her gaze sharpened. "Is your sister like you?"
Eray knew better than to underestimate her intelligence. She might not understand technology, but she understood magic very well.
"I am just a traveler searching for his sister," Eray said.
Velira stepped closer. She drew a dagger and pressed its tip under Eray's chin.
"A traveler?" she whispered."Most humans are useless slaves. Human travelers are nothing but sheep herders."
Her voice lowered.
"But you… there is raw, unrefined power inside you. Like the crystals we pull from the mines."
She slowly pressed the dagger into Eray's shoulder. Not deep. Just enough to cause pain. She was measuring his reaction. Watching his pupils. Listening to his breath.
"You can scream," Velira said softly."I enjoy it."
Eray did not scream.
She enjoys control, he thought. She wants to break me.
"I won't scream," Eray said, never breaking eye contact.
Velira paused. She pulled the dagger back. She had not gotten the reaction she expected, and that only deepened her interest.
"We shall see," she said, sliding the dagger back into its sheath."You will stay here tonight. Tomorrow is Arena Day. My father, Emperor Kaelthas, may wish to see his new toy perform."
She turned to leave, then spoke to the guards as she walked away.
"Do not feed him. Water only. I do not want his magic nourished. Tomorrow, hunger and anger will serve us well."
Eray pulled against his chains. His body ached, but his mind was sharp.
So they call technology 'scrap,' he thought, licking the blood from his lip.And tomorrow, they throw me into an arena.
His gaze drifted to the rifle thrown into the corner.
And he began to plan.