It had been Alex's screams that woke him up, taking him away from the blissful dream he was having.
If his hands weren't tied, he would have smacked him on his forehead in annoyance.
"I already said it's pointless, stop shouting. You're disturbing me." He said, letting out an annoyed sigh. "I doubt this is the first time… something like this is happening."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex muttered, swiftly snapping his head to the side.
His wrist and ankles were severely burning with pain due to the wounds left by the restraints, but he didn't seem fazed in tbe slightest.
"Haven't you ever noticed how some of 'us'… suddenly disappear…?" He muttered, scoffing under his breath. "It's strange isn't it, they weren't dead, but then before you know it, they were gone… just gone."
As he listened to his words, Alex's eyes slowly widened in realization.
The blonde haired man was right, there were indeed time when slaves abruptly disappeared from the unit.
However, no one really cared, since their lives were practically expendable to the kingdom. Asking questions like that would only bring more trouble, so most of the slaves just forgot about it.
"T-that's…" Alex muttered, his eyes narrowing deeply in confusion.
"Yeah… over the last ten years. They've done things like this… human experiments, on slaves."
"It doesn't really matter now though…" He muttered, letting out a low scoff. "It's better to just enjoy this short moment of 'bliss', 'cause I doubt any of us living past today."
'He has a point…' Alex mumbled inwardly, his brows furrowing into a frown. He gnashed his teeth together in frustration, memories of all he had witnessed and been through flashing across his mind.
"Damn it…" He muttered, pulling violently on the metal restraints.
This caused the straps to dig into his flesh even further, thick blood slowly trickling down his wrists.
Drip!
The blood pooled around his fists, softly dripping on the surface he was lying on.
"That doesn't matter… whether they've done this countless times or not… i won't just lay down and accept it." He said, furiously gritting his teeth.
Although sad and evil, what he heard didn't really surprise him. The people of this kingdom, and even the world at large, didn't consider "duds" like them to be humans.
It was a very rare condition, one that could only be found in one out of a million people. A condition where a person was born without the ability to harness 'Zet', the psychic energy.
The age limit for awakening Zet was eight, while the more talented ones awakened their psychic abilities before that.
To the world of Zenon, not being able to channel or contain Zet meant one was cursed.
Those with this "condition" were casted down into slavery, and anyone who tried to protect them would be publicly executed.
Alex clenched his fists in anger, to the point where his nails dug deeply into his flesh.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
However, he wasn't just angry, he was frustrated… at his own weakness.
Despite all of this happening, he couldn't change a thing, all because he was too weak.
He gritted his teeth, before letting out a heavy sigh, in a bid to calm his raging nerves down.
"Besides, how do you know about all this?" Alex said, turning back to the strange man.
"Ahh that… well, it couldn't be more obvious." The slave with messy blonde hair said, slowly closing his eyes.
"I didn't 'know about it'. It was all just a speculation of mine, with how many slaves kept disappearing for no reason." He paused for a few seconds, before speaking again.
"I'm not even sure… I just know we're in a terrible situation." He swallowed a large gulp, taking a few seconds to say his last prayers.
"Those scars around your body… you're the infamous Alexander, aren't you?" He suddenly asked, opening his eyes back. "Alexander… Ferdi'nand."
"Huh? How'd… you know?"
"I've heard a lot about you, the scarred king. You're really popular you know?" The man said, his lips curling into a wry smile.
"Don't say it like it's a good thing…" Alex mumbled, tightly clenching his fists in annoyance.
Swiishh!!
Suddenly, the glass "pod" at the far end of the room opened up, causing Alex's eyes to widen in shock.
He instinctively turned towards that direction, still confused about why they gathered them here.
From where he was, he couldn't properly see who laid there, however, after straining his eyes a little, he recognized a familiar spiky brown hair, protruding from the side.
'Wait… that's the boy from before?!' Alex eyes widened in shock, as the realisation hit him.
The boy was still asleep, and a man in long white coat and thick googles calmly stood in front of him.
In his hands was a large syringe, with a strange red fluid bubbling within it.
Sticking out from the tip was a long needle, and the sight of the sharp, gleaming tip sent chills down Alex's spine.
'What the hell is that…?' Alex thought, gnashing his teeth.
"You! What are you doing to him?! Leave him alone!!" He shouted, pulling even more violently on the restraints.
Nonetheless, the straps didn't budge in the slightest, and the man didn't even turn to him.
He squinted his eyes at the large syringe in his eyes, and his lips slowly curled into a sinister smirk.
"Finally…" Alex heard him mutter, as he gently tapped the tip of the syringe for some reason.
The man slowly pointed the syringe at the boy, before suddenly stabbing it into his chest.
Spurt!!
Blood spurted out of the wound, as the needle pierced deeply into the boy's chest.
Nonetheless, the sight of the blood didn't bother the man in the slightest, and he mercilessly emptied the content of the syringe into his system.
"Arghhhh!!!" A loud scream reverberated across the room, as the boy's body violently trembled in pain.
"What did you do to him?! Answer me!" Alex shouted once more, gnashing his teeth in anger. 'Damn it… I can't do anything… nothing at all.'
Just then, his eyes caught sight of a familiar figure, standing on the other side of the glass dividing the room.
It was a man with pale green hair, and wrinkled skin. He was seated on a large chair, which hovered in the air, nonchalantly observing everything going on.
Standing beside him was a beautiful woman with light green locks which ran gracefully down the sides of her face.
Alex easily recognized her as the mind psychic from before… the one who put him to sleep.
"W-what are they doing here… no… why the hell is he here…?" Alex mumbled, his eyes trembling slightly in shock.
"Is this all your doing… Port'hov?!" He shouted, violently pulling on the restraints bounding him once more.
"Hey there… Prince Alex." The man muttered, his lips slowly curling into a wide smirk.