At the breaking of dawn, Karmal and Shank woke up. Though Karmal knew that he was reborn, he was still a bit surprised to wake up in a cage of a lab. He called out Shank to see if he had woken up. Shank responded saying
"Rise and shine Junior!! It is about time you wake up. Soon a human slave is gonna come to the lab to feed us. But do not try to escape during that time. Once a Latent rat beast escaped while the slave was feeding us and later that day, I heard loud crying that seemed to be a child's one. I assume that the slave was punished by a guard. So, it's better to try our luck other time than now and also, I remember from some days the magic in the air was getting weak and tinner. Although right now it is thicker I think it might get thinner some time or other".
After hearing his words Karmal was a bit startled cause he is from a world where slavery was not present at his time and never thought he would witness it, but considering his knowledge of what his sister told him from reading novels, manga, and watching anime in his youth he was able to understand the situation this world was in and said:
"ok, thanks for the heads up!".
After a while, there came a creaking sound indicating the opening of the door and a figure of height between 3.5 to 4 feet and a thin stature, a rag with a hoodie covering its face, and traces of bruises on legs and hands indicating the punishments and harsh treatments, it was a child of white complex but was covered in dust and mud. It was holding a bowl consisting of some food that Karmal didn't recognize, it went to a spot which is not visible to him but could hear some beast sounds. He wondered how many and what type of beasts were present in that lab other than him and Shank. He decided to ask Shank later if he knew it. While he was in a daze a hand with some cuts and bruises came up to his cage but was struggling to reach the bolt. He got an unintentional giggle seeing that the kid was struggling due to height but then he remembered that there was magic protecting the cage and worried if that kid might get hurt, but to his surprise, it didn't hurt the kid, then he thought that the magic protecting the cage must have to be dispelled so, he tried to help the kid by unbolting the cage from inside.
When the bolt was undone that kid took Karmal out and placed it near the bowl like telling him to eat but the food looked rotten and he didn't want to eat it. His stomach started growling a long time back and then the kid touched his back and started caressing the fur. warm chills ran through his spine and he felt a warm sensation along his body he then for the first time experienced the warm feeling an animal feels when someone cares about them. He involuntarily started eating the food provided until he was full without even realizing it. when he was still in the feeling the kid placed him back into the cage, he missed the feeling for a second and was astonished by thinking
"So, this is how it felt for Ruby when I used to pet it. wow~!"
When the kid was almost done with the feeding the door creaked open again and this time there was a very big man almost reaching the height of more than 7 feet and at least weigh 150kgs and also had a big tummy and large stature, he had a scar on his face from below the right eye till the starting of his neck and is wearing an average looking armor and a damaged sword with something with a brilliance that absorbing the air into it tied to his waist. after he came in he went to the same blind spot in Karmal's vision as the kid went when he came in and when there was a thud sound the kid who was about to open a cage got struck with electricity and hurt the hand. seeing this Karmal clung to the cage with rage. At that time he didn't notice that he was not hurt by the barrier magic on the cage instead he felt an increase in power.
he squealed as hard as he could and got the attention of the guard and there came another thud this time the kid fell back released from magic and was panting. the guard came out shouting something in a language he didn't understand but could somewhat feel familiar. the guard then started beating all the cages that had rats in and when he hit the cage which had Karmal in, he felt a growing pain in his head for a brief moment but the remaining rats were squealing hard, and even Shank squealed for almost 10 seconds. then a voice came from the outside of the door shouting something in the same language as that of guards, he made an irritating sound and left the lab along with the kid, he held one hand of the kid and lifted up and dragged the kid out and seeing this Karmal decided that he is definitely going to help the kid in one way or other and also definitely to hurt the guard for sure.
After some time all the rats settled down and Shank asked Karmal if he was alright, Karmal said he was okay when he was about to ask about the doubts he had, 2 men came in with a heavy box in their hands one holding it in each end and placed it on the table after pushing all the papers on it and went out immediately. every beast in the lab wondered what might be in that box. when the men left another man in a white lab coat without buttons from top to bottom (neck to feet) appeared, he had some sort of gloves on his hand and he irritatedly closed the door of the lab and stood in front of the box he removed the mask he wore till then. Karmal had a good look at him and he saw a decent-looking man in his 30s and had long hair till his waist and was tied back with a band like a ponytail but the difference was that his hair was thin and he had almost 5.8 to 6 feet height and seemed like a good build body. He then turned towards the cabin holding the rats keeping his hands on his waist and said "hcihw eno dluohs i esu tsrif?"