Subtle droplets fell from up above the stone ceiling, each drop echoed around the chamber with soft plinks that bounced off the cold and rough stone floors. Whispers and murmurs rippled through the air, combined with the distant dripping—creating an atmosphere of stillness and despair.
Fear and hopelessness gripped on the faces of the slaves.
Some laid at the corner of the huge cell, their bodies limp, eyes staring into the void as if their souls had already taken—already lost.
"I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to…"
The trembling voice of a slave echoed inside the cell Jinn and Kain were in—his body trembling as he continued to scratch his head.
As the murmurs and ramblings of despair echoed through the cell, Jinn laid silently against a wall—his body still and relaxed, but his eyes were fixated on the man clutching Nevi's necklace—finding the perfect time to "retrieve" the object.
Hopefully, without causing any harm.
Jinn's eyes narrowed as he inspected the man's every movement and his facial expressions.
"That's odd," Jinn muttered as he tilted his head slightly.
There was something off with the man, his behavior was not that of a thief. His expressions and actions were different, more inclined to desperation and clinging.
Tears running down his cheek, the man was visibly trembling while holding on to Nevi's necklace which made Jinn confused.
Jinn curled his eyebrows in confusion.
"Weird" Jinn muttered as he continued to observe the man.
It didn't seem like the man held on to the necklace with malice in mind. If anything, the way the man's finger gripped on the straps of the necklace, the way his eyes glistened—not with greed or selfishness, but with desperation and longing.
Something deeper and more personal is involved here, Jinn thought.
Yet something still confused Jinn.
"But why Nevi's necklace?"
Jinn's eyebrows curled, finding a reason as to why Nevi's necklace made him react like that.
Did it stir something within him? A memory? A wound?
Whatever it was, Jinn decided that he must investigate further before acting rashly.
After a while, the cold wind outside started to pierce through the poorly built stones of the prison they were in. Sounds of the winds howling filled the chamber as the bodies of the slaves shivered in the cold.
Jinn and Kain were close at each other, trying to share their bodily heat as much as possible. He rubbed both of his hands to create frictional heat, yet it was not enough to keep the cold at bay.
Still, Jinn tried to close his eyes before relaxing his body muscles, yet the hunger within him rumbled—interrupting his rest.
Jinn's eyes opened to see Kain leaning on his shoulder, sniffing as the cold had already settled in, within him.
Jinn himself started to get dizzy as the cold had already bitten him while the rumblings within his stomach continued.
He was both hungry and cold.
After a while, he could see movement outside the cell from the corner of his eye—making him shift his gaze towards it.
Multiple soldiers, seemingly pushing countless barrels in columns across the hallway, before stopping at each cell—including the one where Jinn and Kain were.
With a subtle clank, one of the soldiers opened the cell door—the slaves rising in attention as they shifted their gaze towards the soldiers.
"What are they doing…?"
"What's in those barrels?"
Whispers and murmurs from the slaves filled the area as the soldiers moved inside the chamber with the barrels that they had brought.
One by one, the soldiers started to place multiple large barrels across multiple places inside the chamber—making a scraping sound as the wood from the bottom of the barrels scraped across the stone floor.
Once the barrels were placed at different interval locations within the chamber, each soldier started to prod the lids of the barrels. The sound of creaks and groans of wood being pried open filled the area.
With a series of loud and synchronized pops, each barrel sprang open—revealing its contents.
A rich and warm aroma then filled the air afterwards.
"That smell…!" muttered a slave as he tried to get a better view of what was inside the barrel.
It was bread.
The scent of the piles of bread from each barrel stirred the lifeless slaves awake, hallowed eyes blinked as they stood up.
Each slave, ragged—began to rise as their bodies were drawn to the scent of food to which they had not taken for a while. The rumblings from within their stomach grew louder and stronger.
"Mama, that smells good!" said a child towards her mother—their small dirty hands gripping on the mother's cloth.
Some slaves rejoiced as they could finally get food after so long—their faces filled with relief.
As the air was filled with sounds of relief, a soldier raised his arms to tap a device that released a series of clicks across the chamber.
Jinn looked down on the iron bindings on his hands as it also made a resounding click.
After a few seconds, the bindings began to get loose, until Jinn could remove it by shaking his hands—the bindings dropped to the ground with a thud.
The soldiers then exited the chamber, leaving the slaves with their iron bindings off and multiple barrels of bread they could satisfy their hunger from.
Without hesitation, more than hundreds of slaves sprinted to each barrel—their hands digging through the barrel to get as much food as possible—others be damned.
"Hey, you took too much!"
"Mama, I'm hungry!"
"Give me that asshole!"
Chaos erupted.
Desperation and hunger fueled the slaves to resort to violence as bodies lunged towards the barrels, fist flying and teeth gritted. Some were forced to steal—shoving the weak aside and taking from them.
Kain, visibility terrified—looked at Jinn.
"J-Jinn they're"
"You stay here" Jinn stood up.
"I'll get us food."
Jinn's eyes narrowed before he sprinted towards one of the barrels which had the least contest.
He weaved through the chaos, slipping past stumbling bodies. He dodged to the side to avoid getting hit by what seemed to be a slave that fell, he then ducked low to dodge a fist coming from the front, and sidestepping to reach closer to the barrel.
"Hey, get off me bastard, let me get a piece!"
"I need to get some for my son!"
"Bastard, I was here first!"
Jinn could hear the voices of desperation as the slaves fought their way to get a piece.
Inevitably, the closer he got to the barrel, the harder it got to avoid confrontation from the slaves. Shoves came from every direction, as Jinn's body was pushed around—making him stumble towards the ground.
Yet he gritted his teeth and pushed forward—until he was able to get one bread.
Jinn then ducked low to escape the area as the other slaves continued to fight over what's left. He then shifted his gaze towards the bread—it was warm to touch and had a significant size, enough for him and Kain.
"This would do." Jinn muttered as he nodded
As he started to walk back towards Kain's location, he suddenly got shoved by an adult man, his body fell on the floor along with the bread on his hands.
"Bastard, watch it—" Jinn exclaimed before his eyes widened in anger and shock to find that the bread he struggled to get—was stolen by the man who shoved him.
Furrowing his eyebrows in anger. "Hey that's ours!" Jinn exclaimed.
Yet he was ignored by the man—with a smirk on his face and the bread on his hands, the adult man retreated towards his spot. Jinn tried to follow the man to retrieve the bread, but was blocked by what seemed to be the accomplices of the adult man.
"Damned Throns!"
"You fucking thieves!"
Multiple slaves voiced out their concerns as their bread was stolen as well, focusing their hatred towards the Throns, an opportunistic insect humanoid species that are infamous for being criminals.
Jinn then panned his eye towards the adult Thron that stole from him, piles and piles of bread laid before the Thron. Clicking their mandibles as they laughed, the Thron started to feast on the food they had deliberately stolen from others.
Despite their actions, none dared to confront them as they were large in size and had razor sharp mandibles that could crush bones—well, except for Jinn himself.
"Give me back my bread, dipshit!" Jinn exclaimed, no fear in his heart as he bawled his hand into a fist.
The group of Throns looked at each other before laughing, their mandible clicks filled the air.
"What's a little pathetic Rinari like you gonna do about it?" said the Thron who stole from Jinn.
For a brief while, Jinn looked behind him to gaze on Kain, visibility shivering in the cold—also hungry without a doubt.
Jinn closed his eyes to inhale briefly, putting his other leg at the back as he prepared to sprint. He focused on the image, as to how Venedix dashed towards him—remembering every move, how she placed her foot, how her body looked like.
Jinn tensed his muscles on his legs as he opened his eyes to focus on the Thron who stole from him. With a powerful exhale, Jinn sprinted towards the Thron—almost instantly.
Gritting his teeth, Jinn used his synthetic arm to punch a large hole through the Thron's abdomen—the Thron's entrails splattered towards the wall behind him, creating a macabre painting.
"This—asshole." Jinn's face was calm yet deep inside, he was shocked that he was able to do the move Venedix had used against him—well, at least by a margin.
The force of Jinn's punch was very powerful, sending a wave of air within the chambe—shocking the other slaves.
"W-What the—this little brat!" exclaimed by one of the Thron's friends before grouping up with the others in front of Jinn.
Jinn's eyes darted left and right to count the numbers. He faced local thugs that numbered to five before but this was the first time he will be facing a total number of fourteen enemies at once.
Yet he still raised his arms in preparation, his heart started to pound within his chest.
"Bring it you mandible freaks!"