Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Inari stumbled against her foot, but managed to keep herself steady. Still, that did not stop them from gaining a sharp pull in the chain from the guy who was taking her. The fury in her heart had not extinguished yet, and hearing the grunt from him, it only rose again.

'How dare you?' That was what she would have said if she had kept in her steady mind. But her mind was broken now—not that it was any better before. They had beaten them up without caring she was a female. She was only a dog to them, no need to care if it's a male or female. Something that worried her was that they told her they were in the process of making her slaves and making her fight against chaos fiends.

She was not surprised hearing that. Slavery was nothing new—it had been going on for millennias, and she even heard of using guardians as slaves. Azkaish men practised such slavery—she had read. Azkah was a large barren wasteland where the guardian system did not work well. The monster runs amok every day. Law was just something put up by the strong, and it could change every day on the whims of the few outlaws who claimed to be the emperor of that land.

Those azkaish outlaws captured young guardian apprentices from the mainland and smuggled them through the ocean to another corner of the mother world. What did not understand was how they had captured her? Did someone sell her to them? Yes, there were not many people she had any good relationship with, and many who wanted to see her and her sister to get deserted, but how could they have done it so easily?

She limped on her way as the capturer strode the way. If only she was unbounded and could use her mana. She would have beheaded him at once. The one that was taking her was only better than a normal first-order guardian, and she would not even need to bring out a tenth of her strength to do that. Curse that bastard who had captured her. Then it was not a fair fight, either. By the time she could manage something, her mana was already sealed, and could only get herself harassed by that bastard.

The one taking her suddenly stopped, and she lifted her head to see another one coming their way, holding three male dogs. Their state was no better, and one of them seemed to be barely limping with a nose broken, whistling softly every time he breathed. While another gave her a look, knitting his brows.

Did this youth pity her? She wondered. Most likely. Her golden hair was messy with dirt all over. Her clothing was torn and ragged, barely keeping her private areas hidden—she did not have a problem with that, actually, but that gaze of pity unnerved her. 'what are you looking at?' she wanted to snarl at him. 'You are no better than me.' Funny, only because she was a girl, she was getting pity from them. Screw you, I don't want your pity. 

The captive avoided her gaze. Perhaps her glasses work, or he remembered his state was no better.

"Oi, Aslan," her slave said to the other person. "What happened to the one in the middle? Can he even function as a dog?"

Aslan grunted, shaking his head. "He made a scene before superior Loke, and you can guess what went wrong after that," he said and his gaze moved to the girl. "Well, I can't see that the one you are bringing is any better."

"This one?" her slaver said, pulling her chains to bring her forwards. He rubbed her head roughly and said, "Superior Han brought her."

"That explains why she was in such a state that a madman cannot stop when he sees a pretty thing," Aslan said, eyeing her. A gleam seemed to appear in his eyes as he looked her up and down. "That one is a pretty thing. Such a waste."

"Bah, don't worry. This one is special. Sir told me to take extra care of her. She was one of the false-immortals." 

Aslan's eyes glittered further. "Seems like this time's dogs are far better at pedigree than the last few years." 

The two slavers talked a little more before he went on their every way. Why were they taken in different places? They were all dogs? Was there something different about them? Then she understood. It was not them, but her. She was, after all, special. And being special will only make her endure more torment. Perhaps they will make her docile than the others, beat her more knowing the arrogance in her blood. Perhaps they will use her blood for experiments and become nothing but a living blood bank for them.

Inari continued to limp on her way, keeping an eye on anything that will be useful later. So far she could make out she was in some ship of sorts. A large one at that. She and many thousands more were smuggled in this ship to some far place like Azkah. 

"I will take it from here," a voice said from the side and she lifted her head to look at the source of the voice.

It was another man in a similar suit and mask, though his facial muscle told her he was not in a good mood. Well, none of the people she saw after being taken here seemed to have any better than this, but his face told her something was wrong here. Moreover, with him were half a dozen more captives like her with him. Not all of them were so badly beaten, like her. Somehow, these lots are too heavy-handed at her, as if they did not want her as a slave at all. Perhaps it has something to do with the part of devarian blood in her veins. People feared devarians. They were born with an innate talent like no other races. That's why they hate her.

But for a half-blood like her, it was hate on both ends for her. Half-blooded devarians were treated with scorn in their clans, and even outside, she got no better treatment. Inside the clan, she was treated with scorn and frowns just because her father sullied their blood. With their laws, they could not kill her either, and that makes it even more difficult for them. People fear her for having such innate talent as devarians. They hate her for having just the blood of devarians. If only she was a little like her elder sister. Well, nobody can be like her sister.

"What's the matter?" the one holding her chain asked, though he abided by the other person's command to let her with him.

"Some problem with one of the captive," the one with half a dozen slaves said. "One actually tore his own arm to flee. I only thought our superiors were crazy folks, but it seemed there are some in the dogs as well."

Inari knitted her brows. Tore his own arm to flee? She did not know what to think about it.

"Well, they all have to be daring to fight those monsters," the one that brought her here said. "So, what is my order?"

"We need men in the surveillance room," her new captive asked in a weary voice. It seemed being a slaver was not some easy job, either. "We will arrive in two days, and it's the superior's order to make sure nothing goes wrong in that time."

Her slaver left nodding, leaving her in care of the new slaver with half a dozen more. Then she noticed something odd—or she should have picked it up at first glance. The half a dozen captives were just like her—devarians—half-blooded like her. So, it appeared they will be getting some special treatment after all. Perhaps a living blood bank? Still better than being beaten like dogs every day. But they will not waste so many devarians as a blood bank, would they? They were so useful in the battle, after all. 

Then she noticed the silver, who was looking at her straight with a stern gaze. Moreover, he was holding the chains on his one arm—too much number in one arm if you asked her, considering these suited men were no better at combat. Could she flee away from him if she tried? She thought, but she did not flee noticing something odd. The look in the eyes of her new slavers—it was as if he was something different.

And she finally understood why. 'Someone tore his arm trying to flee away,' she thought and looked at the familiar eyes and everything kind of made sense now. 

"Roy?"

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Elior is still a few chapters away, but he will come in an interesting way. Still, This arc will be on most of the side characters and their ordeal. If you find it boring, feel free to let me know in the comment.. I'll make sure to review that.