RE:volt! Chapter 5: Branding
Soon, a year turned to two, and then to three, with Ark walking fine on his own. As his teeth came in, the good days of sucking on a woman's teet were replaced by cold bread and salted fish.
Food he was all but familiar with.
He munched on his rations, sitting on the cold stone floor of the servants' hovel as he eyed the other slaves. He clutched his hard bread, making sure that the meal he was given by the Caretaker was hidden beneath his long ratty sleeves.
Stealing food was the norm in the squalor called the dorms, and he was powerless to stop anyone right now when he needed all the nutrients he could muster as he bided his time. Waiting for the day he could begin forming his mana circuits.
"Loyd? Has anyone seen the Loyd boy?!" A voice called out, searching for him specifically by name.
Immediately Ark got up, wading through the crowd of slaves preparing to sleep to stand before a blonde man wearing the servant's royal blue attire with boots and a red sash around his waist that denoted him as a trustee.
Unlike the other slaves, he wore only one shackle, the one around his neck, with his skin being lighter complexion from his work in the big house.
The man furrowed his blonde brow, eyeing Ark up and down as the boy gazed down at the man's boots before looking up at the man.
"Lloyd?" The man raised a brow at the child glaring up at him. Seeming unsure what to make of the child.
"Yes." Ark replied, glancing down as the man held his hand out that possessed not a single callus.
"Alright then, come along."
So it's time..
Ark knew this day would come, the day when he'd be fitted with a collar just like the rest. The magical metal devices that kept each of the slaves in check.
He walked out of the hovel, walking into the darkness that constituted the outside to pause and turn to the man who only starred as Ark refused his hand.
"Are you coming?" Ark asked, not a single emotion on his face.
The man broke out into a grin.
"Guess the rumors were true after all." The trustee said, rubbing the back of his neck as he took Ark to get fitted with a collar.
****
Nearing a small building, Ark paused, his nose twitching as the smell of soot and heated metal touched his tiny nose.
Damn. Ark frowned, peering through the doorway to spy a graying elderly man in chains sweltering over an anvil as a man in a red vest watched.
"Now, no time to sit in gawk, else it be my garters." The trustee said, placing a hand on Ark's back and coaxing him forward.
Ark entered the workshop, sweeping his eyes on the archaic tools that hung on the walls. Chains, whips, nails, and bloodied tools that sat on wall hooks beside a table coated with blood.
He walked forward, drawing an odd look from the man in the red vest who immediately punched Ark in the jaw.
Ark reeled, hitting the ground and sprawling from the force of the attack, rolling not once but twice as his momentum made him strike the wall.
"Who told you to approach boy?!" The red vest spat, kicking Ark in his chest to put him on his back.
"My deepest apologies Overse-" the Trustee yelped, stepping in only to be cut off as the man raised his finger at the slave.
"My humble apologies sir." The man backed away, lowering his gaze to sit on Ark before they looked away.
Coward.
"Shut it, house maid." The man glared angrily before standing over Ark. "Who told you to approach Six-two-six?"
"No one sir." Ark replied as he laid flat on his back. Unmoving as the brutish man tapped his face with his dirty boot. Realizing that the man was regulating him to a number.
You'll be the first I kill.
The Overseer blinked, not expecting the reply Ark gave.
"There something wrong with you Six-two-six? You mean muggin me?"
"No. Sir."
"Something wrong with my face?"
"No sir."
"You a bit weird six-two-six. You know that? You shouldn't look at your betters."
"Yes sir." Ark replied, making the man narrow his eyes.
"That's right." The man said, pressing his boot on Ark's cheek. "Get up, get on the table."
Ark did as told, getting off the floor as he licked his lips, the familiar taste of copper on his tongue as he obliged. Walking, his eyes settled on an opened door that led to a small room, one filled with chains.
A holding room.
"Fuckin weirdo." The red vest muttered watching Ark comely sit on the bloody table before turning to the smith. "Let's get it labeled. It's late and Master Azar wants it ready for presentation."
"Yes Overseer." The collared smith obliged, taking the black metal circular object inscribed with runes that was on the anvil and slapping it around Ark's neck.
*Clink*
Ark inhaled at the sound, his very soul quivering in anger as the shock device clamped on.
But it wasn't over. Next came the tattooing and the branding, numbers imprinted on his arm as his shirt was removed and a hot poker was used to sear a brand onto his chest, just over his heart.
It took all of Ark's strength and willpower to not scream and thrash. To hold his tongue as the heated metal touched his body, desecrated his skin, and branding him with a genealogy mark that denoted all the information a buyer could want.
Date of birth, seller, and race. All inscribed in a circular crest that bubbled from the heat and kicked up a scent of cooking meat that made Ark hungry.
"Fucking boring. And here I was wanting to hear you scream." The red vest complained, frowning as Ark failed to make a sound. "Are you defective six-two-six? Nah, fuck it, not my problem."
Ark wanted to kill. To slaughter. To hang the Overseer by his entrails.
But it wasn't just his feelings, but the feelings of Ireliex who had been silent. The Progenitor of Dragons clearly unhappy at being chained, being marked. Something that at least made Ark happy.
Despite their combined feelings, everything he wanted would have to wait.
In due time. Ark told himself, accepting the brand, accepting his roots.
If there was one thing Ark had, it was time. Time to plot. Time to plan. Time to unravel the situation of the world. Once he could begin developing magic circuits he would make sure the Overseer would regret his actions.
This, Ark promised as he glared at the man who promptly smacked him for looking at him.