"Aki, are you alright?" A revalin woman with patchy feathering approaches her.
She scrambles away from the revalin, confusion striking Aki with a headache equal to the pain in her mouth.
The revalin woman's feathers are dull coloured, emphasised even more by the visible skin from the bald patches. A ratty-looking sackcloth and cloth shoes adorn her tall frame.
"Rayla? You - here, what?" Aki's mana pulses out defensively only to be cut short by sharp pain in her ankles and wrists. "Ow!"
Looking down, she spots the shackles that plague her nightmares on restless nights.
Modified from their original purpose to detain criminals, the mana shackles she wears have metal spikes pointed inwards from the corners. Whenever magic or even mana is expended, they grow longer and sharper, drawing blood and syphoning from the wearer to prevent escape.
"W-what? But how?"
Pain spikes from the spots where the shackles bury themselves in her. A warm wetness dribbles down her wrists and pools around the sack shoes she vividly recalls wearing back then.
No. The ones she wears now.
"A dream? No no, this is an illusion. I have to break free!" Aki looks about the dark cave in a panic.
She remembers this place. It isn't a cave. Not a normal one. It's a mine she and the other worker slaves were made to work in. Aki can make out the wooden support beam silhouettes enshadowed by torchlight placed in intermittent positions along the wall.
They were placed as such to discourage revolts, apparently. Aki wasn't sure and couldn't remember if she ever asked Shur.
Rayla reaches out and pats Aki's knee.
Her wilted feathers and rough skin feel warm on Aki's skin. A sensation that makes Aki realise how cold she was actually feeling this whole time.
She shakes her head. "How is that possible? Illusions aren't supposed to be this realistic. The other ones obviously had something up… is it because they're from Earth?" Aki reaches out an injured hand to touch Rayla.
"Bwehhhk. C'mon Aki, before the slavers decide to investigate what the noise was." Rayla says.
Her feathers. Her hand and wing. The coldness of the mine. It feels so real. Did she truly just hallucinate two years of life in Tsar'jar? Was she so desperate to escape this life of slavery that she completely imagined a life on the outside?
"No!" Aki stumbles away from Rayla, confusion and shock twisting her expression.
"Aki?" Rayla asks tentatively, unsure if she should approach.
Pain shoots through her head and a dull drum echoes behind her eyes.
She feels her stomach drop and suddenly she's walked into the metal bars of a cage.
"Bwhk! It didn't trigger the shackles, Aki," Rayla says. She flaps her wings, or what remains of them, with quiet excitement.
Aki's vision settles as she realises she's in the slave's sleeping quarters. It's nearly pitch black but she can make out the reeds scattered on the floor and loose grey fabrics tying hay together.
Faint firelight streaming in from the tunnel leading out from the slave quarters is the only light source granting her and the other slaves in this cave any way to see.
That - and the pellucid blue-white box floating before her.
------------
[Magical Talent Passive gained!]
[Magical Talent Lv. UP! Lv.0 -> Lv.2]
Skill Points Available: 60
------------
"What? I learned that over a year ago now." Aki murmurs. "Just a few hours before the slave revolt."
Shur had commandeered a plan from the inside with the promise of the now-fallen Order of the Scales to locate a powerful slave ring and break everyone out.
To provide as much support as possible, Aki and several more brave otherworlder slaves made the risky move to boost their abilities with Skill Points. Although to be safe, everyone waited until the last minute just in case the improvements were noticed by the slavers.
Overall, everyone was readily prepared to fight for their freedom. The Order of the Scales should have been enough support. It was a simple plan that should have been airtight before it went completely wrong.
Aki takes another step back from Rayla as more pain strikes her. In the urgency, she stumbles over her feet and falls down the small ledge leading further into the cell.
"Aki?" Mumbles a sleepy voice.
Looking up, Aki locks eyes with a pair of gentle, caring ones. Their blue hue, greyed by exhaustion and darkened even more by deep eye bags, their owner looked far older than she actually is.
The darkness of the cell fractures and Aki finds herself on the ground of the secret gathering place Shur and a few other stronger slaves managed to create within a month of being assigned to the mines.
"Is that you, Shur?" Aki tries to stand up from where she lay. Pain shoots up her leg as she tries.
That's right. She had accidentally fallen into the hideout and twisted her ankle just moments ago.
Shur's ears perk up slightly, moving from their usual drooping position to be more attentive.
"Who else would I be?" She laughs gently. The lines of her face curving to emphasise how malnourished and tired she must be. "I heard noise out there and was going to investigate. No slavers are coming are they?"
Her thin brows curl in concern as she helps Aki stand up.
Aki whimpers again. Her ankle hurts but so does her head, resulting in her reaching for both, unsure which she should massage.
"Did you injure yourself or did the slavers do something to you?" Shur asks gently. A certain venomous hiss underlies the concerned question.
"It was me," Aki says quickly. "Don't- uh, don't worry, alright. It's okay."
Thankfully Shur complies and steps away from the hidden entrance. Aki lets out the breath she didn't realise she held. Shur would have marched out and picked a fight with another slaver again if Aki hadn't stopped her.
Shur's kindness is inspiring and something Aki and the other slaves are endlessly grateful for but with the incoming revolt, Shur needed all her strength. Aki wasn't about to let her silence compromise that. Not again.
Again?
She groans in pain again and grips her head.
The world morphs around her and now she stands in a food storage shed with Shur and a few other slaves huddled together. At the same time Rayla enters in a hurry.
"Slavers are coming." Rayla hurriedly whispers. "Hide everything and get back to what you were doing before they realise something's amiss, haaak."
Panicked, Aki makes to exit but Shur grabs her arm before she gets far.
"Wait."
Shur brushes Aki's cheek, knocking off some of the mud and healing the scrapes that covered her left cheek. As expected, the cost of Shur's spell causes the mana shackles to stab into her body.
Blood practically gushes from her wrists and ankles but Shur scarcely flinches.
"Go, go." Shur ushers Aki out amid her silent protests.
The world shatters and the colours morph once more, splattering their cloudy essence and obscuring Aki's vision.