It was early the next morning when Aksel and Yve exited the stale air of the sewers and stepped on the land above. Daren had forced them to take some rest last night as they had already been tired but Aksel could barely sleep on the thin mattress on the cold, dirty, and hard floor.
How he wished he could be sleeping in his warm bed as he had for the last twenty years of his life but if what his new acquaintances had said were true then he would never again get to sleep in his room.
Given, that it was his room, to begin with.
'Stop being negative Aksel! What they said was of course, ridiculous!'
Getting out of his thoughts Aksel found that although the surroundings of this ruined part of the city had lit up from the sun's rays the shabby place didn't look much better than last night.
Trash was strewn on roads everywhere and the dawn light revealed more people than what he had seen last night, walking mindlessly towards the main city. They looked weak and some were even bent forward from exhaustion or bodily ailments but still, they kept going.
Where were they going?
You could see the brand shining on different parts of their bodies but mostly they all had it on their arms and staring at the mark he wished he had one on him.
'What was good about being unbranded?'
He thought as he remembered Daren's words and turning to look at Yve he pointed a thumb at the road filled with bustling Debilis and asked, "What's up with them?"
"It's time for their work, they leave around this time every day," she replied, her eyes reflecting sympathy for them as the two of them watched these subhuman people from the shadow of the two storied house.
He had only ever seen her give sarcastic or scary responses before and looking down at the woman he wondered if the ice around her took time to thaw out.
'Maybe she was on edge because she had lost someone not long ago as Daren had claimed yesterday.'
"I hate it when people stare at me for too long, don't make me gauge out your only working eye," she suddenly aggravated making Aksel instinctively cover his left eye, stopping him from seeing anything at all.
Since when did he have just one eye?
In all the commotion yesterday he had failed to realize this big feature about himself. He wracked his brain for any memory of an injury or a reason for having such eyesight but nothing came to his mind. The memories always consisted of him having two eyes ever since he was a child.
'Did something happen during the branding?'
Removing his hand from around his eye he was able to see the world again and taking his hand experimentally to his right eye he cupped it but that changed nothing in his surroundings or with his vision, he could see the world just as it was.
He switched between his two eyes repeatedly panicking on discovering this and finally poking his non-working eye he yelped.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Yve gasped. She had been watching him crazily play with his hands and eyes for a few minutes now. She had wanted to intervene and ask what was wrong with him but since it was more entertaining to watch she left him to his design. It was only when this new tall guy poked a finger in his blind eye that she started questioning his sanity.
'Why would he do that?'
Aksel didn't bother answering her as he rubbed the eye through which he couldn't see. He realized that though he had an orb, it wasn't working for some reason.
"Will you tell me what's wrong?" Yve pestered stepping forward as she watched Aksel now searching for something. When he finally spotted something she saw him run across the road and between some Debilises.
She hadn't realized until now that he would be such a nuisance to be eagerly putting himself in harm's way so often and covering her face with the hood she ran after him. He was lucky, she thought because most of the Debilis had already left or their chances of getting caught by the System would increase by a lot.
Even now having his face out in the open warranted people to recognize him and that would alert the drones of their location again.
Aksel on the other hand was now staring at a reflective window of the small house in front of him. The light made it possible for him to see his image and for the first time in his life, he saw that although his left eye had a beautiful blue iris his right eye was completely clouded over.
The iris although present had lost its color and looked like a faded greyish blue ring with another lighter circle in the middle where his pupil was supposed to be.
He really was blind in one of his eyes.
Suddenly darkness covered his vision as he felt a hand force down his hoodie over his head, as heated words fell on his ears, "You idiot! I will truly leave you to die if you don't quit with your antics!"
When he felt her let go he pulled up his hood a little and turned to face her just so he could show her his eyes and asked, "Did I have this from the very beginning?"
Yve stood confused for a second but realization quickly dawned on her and she couldn't help but ask back, "Wait, didn't you know that you were blind in one eye?"
'Was that even possible?'
She wondered but Aksel confirmed her doubts when he nodded his head. It came as a surprise to the red-headed woman for though she had seen many abnormalities in this world she had never once heard of a person not being aware of his own body.
The silence that met him made him slightly disoriented. He had been hoping for a proper explanation from her like the other anomalies he had faced until now and voicing out his worries he explained, "I don't know what happened? I always had both of my eyes; I was a perfect child with no problem at all but how can this be?"
Feeling at a loss of words and the exhaustion of his mind taking a toll on him he lowered himself down to the ground and resting his back against the wall of the house he mumbled, "Maybe something happened in the branding room."
Yve felt pity for this young man who was taking it harder than she had when she came to this city. She wanted to sympathize with him but what could she say?
Looking down at him she said, "Please stop panicki-"
"I am sure my parents will have an answer to this," she heard him say in between her sentence and anger flared in her mind again. She hated being reminded again and again that she had been manipulated by The Branding System into the person she was today.
Was she even Yve Adley, herself when all her other memories had been fake?
"For the last time, they are not your parents! You have no parents!" she snapped at him and looking up at her hateful tone Aksel could see under her hood from this position. Her eyes were wide with unobstructed anger and refusing to believe her words unless he was proved wrong he rubbed his face to rid him of his most recent worries.
Every action he took seemed to raise a question and he decided that he would only now find answers if he could somehow just meet his parents.
"Let's just go," he said standing up, not minding her words this time. He had realized by now that certain things irked her and he was trying to be careful not to make her angry anymore.
She was just another person working with her own set of issues like him.
Yve, on the other hand, had quickly simmered down by now, despite her angry burst she was usually a rational person and she realized that she was yet to apologize to him for what she had said earlier.
"I am sorry," she started to say, grabbing Aksel by surprise and causing him to widen his eyes in disbelief. She wanted to scoff at the befuddled look on his face but stopping herself she continued, "I wasn't aware that you didn't know about the condition of your eye."
Did he really hear the arrogant sarcastic woman apologize to him?
"I am not a monster like those Exters and Contrivos. I actually have a heart and a mind that works properly and under my jurisdiction," she said pulling his hood down again to hide his eyes. It wasn't because she couldn't bear to see him but passing them were a few Debilis looking in their direction.
Looking back at him she warned him as she said, "Never take off your hood under any circumstance. If the people recognize you then it will be game over, you will be killed in no time."
He wondered why would random people recognize him but since he had always seen her wear one he didn't question further and agreed to follow.
"So, let's go and see your parents. Hopefully, you will stop giving Daren and me more problems after that," she said jogging down the path and rolling his eyes at her words he knew it was only a rare moment for her to be civil with him.
It would be such a sight to see, he decided, when Yve would witness his parents' love and care for him. Maybe that would stop her from being so rude all the damn time.
Looking around one last time he hoped that he wouldn't have to come back to this rundown place ever again and finally took off after her.