"Come along now, my Legionnaire." Nero smiled at him, as if they were friends, as if they were comrades, but in his eyes, the truth was clear.
Abraxes was no friend, nor was he a comrade. In truth, he was nothing more than a dog on a chain, a jackal on a mercury-coloured leash.
He stayed quiet, and bowed his head, no longer meeting the Archons icy blue eyes and followed dutifully a step behind him. The bodies beneath him were difficult to step over, both for the fact that he had known them, and because there were simply so many.
But it didn't take long before they were walking away from the town square.
Nero's robes billowed freely in the winter winds, and he moved completely unaffected by the cold, whilst Abraxes suffered in silence right beside him, gritting his teeth as he felt every injury on his body throb with twice the pain.
Wanting to distract himself from the pain, he tilted his head and risked a glance behind him.
There, surrounded by a countless number of armed Enforcers, his remaining clanmates followed in the steps of those far above them in class. Marching through the blood and mud, then onto the broken cobble made by their forefathers.
Similar huts to his own small home littered the streets, split apart by an occasional shop, or as close as you could get to it being one. He spotted a few curious gazes, each peeking through to inspect the latest group which survived the annual Purging Ceremony.
He had to tear his eyes away, before the shame which had steadily begun to build within him—from the very first time he had bowed to Nero—threatened to overwhelm him.
A shame, which felt justified to feel, he thought.
Because out of the thirty Mercuries who had been dragged out from their homes, the mines and pubs, by their hair and clothes, out of them all, now only six remained, the lowest number seen in the last decade.
They may have been slaves, oppressed with invisible chains and labels made of Mercury that hung around their necks, but they were also survivors of the deadly Plumeria. They were the Clan of Epsilon, in which only the strongest survived.
They had endured the harshest of winters, the strongest of summers and deadliest of storms with pride and grit alone, clinging onto life with more humanity than any above them did.
But now, it felt as if neither his pride nor his grit no longer existed, for he walked behind Nero Ti Gelid, of the Lordly House of Gelid, with his head bowed like an obedient beast.
His chains were still those of Mercury, but now they were becoming tainted with the hold of Titanium, changing him and making him a pariah, a traitor.
Abraxes had lost both his home and his love within the same day. His pride was forsaken and the chains around him had only grown tighter…and yet, it did not mean that he was now suddenly lost.
His goals and aspirations may have changed, but they had also become clearer than ever before. He would have no need for a home, or for love and pride, when he burned the society ruling this world to ash.
They walked in silence that felt deafening, broken only by the marching behind them. The minutes felt as if they were growing longer, slower, until the cobble beneath their feet turned to mud once again and they stepped into the forest that covered the outer settlement.
Nero sighed from in front of him, creating an imprint of ice in the mud every time he took a step. Finally, he turned to Abraxes and spoke.
"Tell me, Jackal. How long do you think it will take, before one of your friends back there tries to escape? A minute, maybe five, or ten?" the Archon almost sounded tired as he spoke.
Abraxes felt his mouth go dry at the sudden question, uncertainty needling at him.
'Is this some sort of test, or is he just bored and making conversation?'
Either way, the question filled him with dread. No matter how he responded, he would put himself in a disadvantaged position, either between his clanmates or the Archon himself.
There was no right choice here, no correct answer.
But Abraxes needed the man to trust him or at the very least, gain a semblance of fondness for him. After all, there would never exist any true trust between a slave and its master, but fondness, that could still be possible.
"…There is a river, not far from here that runs through the forest, my lord. If someone wishes to hide their scent or simply vanish, that is their best bet."
Nero looked at him with a lazy smirk, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "A smart answer, one with clear thought behind it too. Were you by chance thinking of running away by using the river?"
Abraxes felt his heartbeat rise at the man's words, panic beginning to grip within his chest. Slowly, he shook his head, and made sure to keep his head bowed, hiding his slowly paling face away from the Archon's watchful eyes.
"No, my lord. It is simply mine own experience showing, from my days of hunting dangerous animals."
Nero hummed, his smirk still present as he looked over his shoulders to stare at the remaining five clansmen who had survived the ceremony.
"Well, I guess it's about that time an example was made for them, you know how it is, there's always one brave fool." Abraxes felt his body tense as the Archon stopped and turned around. He was ready to run, or to attempt to fight, but in the end, his panic was for nothing.
Nero stepped past his frozen form, and raised a hand, stopping the marching Enforcers with a single gesture.
Abraxes turned as well, watching with a slowly dying panic, as Nero gently tapped his foot onto the ground, and began to rise into the air upon a jagged ice construct.
The cold air burned within his lungs as he breathed, and he could only tilt his head higher as the man ascended to look down at both the Enforcers and the newly ascended Enlightened.
"You there, in the back." He didn't raise his voice, nor did he need to. In the silence of the forest, it seemed to be carried by the wind itself.
The Enforcers who surrounded his clansmen slowly began to part, a diagonal line cutting across their numbers to reveal the group of five hidden within their ranks.
Nero didn't bother pointing or showing any physical indication of who he was speaking down to. Yet, every single one of them, was able to understand who the Archon was referring to.
The group of five parted slowly—almost hesitantly following the enforcers example to reveal a man Abraxes had grown to know far too well.
'Kaitos…' the man's entire body seemed to shake, akin to a leaf being caught in a storm. Abraxes watched as he took a hesitant step back, his flight or fight instincts clearly fighting against one another, before he settled on weakly pointed at himself.
Abraxes could almost hear how the Archons eyes rolled when he spoke. "Yes, I am referring to you, you dirty rodent."
The man's words may have been vile and harsh, but his tone didn't hold any anger within it. It sounded more akin to exhaustion, as if he was tired of dealing with their lesser kind and saw this as nothing more than a chore.
"I have felt your skittishness since we first entered this forest, and not once have your eyes stayed still. You have only this one chance to be honest with me…are you planning on trying to escape?"
Kaitos shook his head with the urgency of a dying man. His breathing grew ragged as he fell to his knees and prostrated himself under the Archons gaze.
His voice trembled as he spoke.
"N-N-No! My lord!"
Nero stared at the grovelling man beneath him, an impassive expression befalling his face before he turned away and looked down at Abraxes.
"Jackal," the man called. "As this Mercury is one of your clansmen, I allow you the chance to prove yourself once again."
The Archon looked at him with a smirk that filled him with dread.
"I find him guilty of holding neither honour nor truth, only deceit. For this crime, I bequeath upon you the final decision of what punishment fits him best." The words were formal as he spoke, but his eyes showed amusement as clear as day, for he knew what he was asking Abraxes to do.
This was not some trial, but a test for him. To see how far he was willing to go for the man, to see how far he could push Abraxes before he broke. Nero was testing how strong the chain wrapped around his neck truly was.
Kaitos suddenly jumped to his feet, nearly becoming a dead man in the process, as multiple bronze blades flashed through the air and aimed for his vital points. But the man didn't even flinch, his entire focus on Abraxes.
"Please! Abraxes, you must believe me! I live to serve like any other, I live to sacrifice for all who cannot! You know me, I am not a liar!" the man shouted and begged at him, tears falling from his eyes and to the mud beneath.
But Abraxes only heard static building in his ears as he looked upon the Enlightened. Because he knew the truth of him, like any other who lived as part of the Epsilon Clan.
A swindler, a liar, a thief and a cheat.
The man had never once spoken a truth in his entire miserable existence, nor had he ever shown himself to be honourable. In the Plumeria, such a thing was expected, even approved off.
But where they were heading, if such a thing was ever found out, it would not only be Kaitos who would lose his head, but Abraxes too if he hesitated now.
"You know me, brother! We are like kin, you know I do not lie!" Abraxes looked at the desperate man and felt nothing but cold resolve slowly beginning to build within him.
'For it was yet another lie.'
The world felt far too narrow as he looked at the pleading man, yet he did not hesitate as he spoke, for this was a test, and Abraxes would pass it and exceed it, for the simple chance that his dream could become true.
For a man like Kaitos, it was a small price to pay, he realised.
Finally, he turned away from the begging Enlightened and looked up to where the Archon stood, meeting his expectant gaze with the cold resolve of what he knew had to be done.
"His eyes, my lord." Nero raised an interested brow, silently urging him on. "Spare his life for his lies, and take his eyes as punishment deserved, my lord."
Kaitos pleading came to a silent halt at his words, but Abraxes didn't move to look at him, instead, he bowed lowly, almost theatrically, as if he was nothing more than a loyal servant.
The silence was broken only a moment later, Nero's laugh echoing through the trees around them, a genuine mirth to his tone. "Oh, I do like how your mind works, my Jackal! Fine, we shall do it like the old ways."
Abraxes just barely hid his flinch as a curved blade landed at his feet not a second later, burying itself into the ground until only the handle remained. Cautiously, he grasped it by the small hook on the end of the handle and lifted it.
His mind shifted once again, an instinctual understanding carving itself into his body, feeling akin to a spark of lightning, as he inspected the curved blade made from Elysian Titanium.
'A karambit…'
"If we are to do this in the old ways, then it is only fair that we follow in their words." Abraxes had not the slightest clue what the 'old ways' were, but he understood enough to know what was expected of him.
Bowing beneath the ice construct again, he showed gratitude to his lord. "I thank you for the blade and promise on my honour that it shall have fed on blood, before I have returned it."
The old ways may have been unknown to him, but he knew enough of the higher customs to make up for it.
Moving away from the jagged ice structure, he steadied himself with resolve, knowing that his next actions would neither be forgotten nor forgiven. But for his dream, it would have to be worth it.
Advancing forward, with a blade gleaming of a material he had never thought he'd be able to wield, he locked eyes with Kaitos once again.
The man didn't hesitate to begin grovelling for his life.
"Abraxes! Back away from me, you do not have to do this!"
'But I do.'
"I am not a liar!"
'But you are.'
The curved knife in his hand felt heavier with every step he took, but he didn't allow it to stop him. A large part of him resented the ultimatum he had been pushed into, but the rest of him knew that this was the only way forward.
Killing another member of the clan was forbidden but mortally wounding someone could be forgiven if it was done in either self defence or under the threat of life and death.
He hoped that Nero did not know of such rules within their clan, for it was his only saving grace if he was ever given the chance to step back upon the land of his birth.
Finally getting through the line of Enforcers, he stepped within the circle which had developed around his five clanmates. He could feel the Archons gaze on his back and knew the time for hesitation was over.
With a push of the ground, he lunged forward, the Impetus Talent of Keres rushing through him as he closed the distance between himself and Kaitos.
He knew what the man would do before even he did.
Kaitos jumped back, his body almost floating through the air, and Abraxes began to gain an understanding of what was happening. Undoubtedly, something to do with his Impetus Talent, his intuition leaning towards a gravitational ability.
The liar made some distance between them, but Abraxes had already seen through him. Using the momentum of his initial lunge, he slid across the wet mud beneath his feet and leapt from the ground.
The karambit in his hand flashed.
They both fell to the ground in a confusing mess of limbs, and Kaitos screamed as the karambit dug into his shoulder. Seeing the opportunity presented to him, Abraxes twisted the blade, before ripped it out of the man's arm, making him scream once again.
Kaitos tried uselessly to push him away, his hands reaching and grabbing onto anything he could find whilst his knees kicked at Abraxes back, where he knew a fresh wound from earlier laid.
But Abraxes ignored it all, his mind engulfed with a singular, cold resolve that pushed him to fulfil what he had set out to do. He pushed the man's right arm away, gripping it with his left and punched the other, now wounded arm, with the back of his right fist.
The man tried to twist and turn, but it was already too late. With his right arm being held down, his left becoming practically useless and Abraxes sitting on his body, he could do nothing but beg and scream.
"I'm sorry." It was all he could offer the man, a hurried whisper, before tightening his grip on the blade and slashing it directly across his face, destroying his eyes and running a line straight through his skin and flesh with no resistance.
Kaitos howled from the pain, his voice shaking with equal parts anger and building resentment as he cursed at the man sitting above him with a bloodied knife.
Abraxes pushed himself off the now blind man in a hurry, slightly stumbling not a second later, as his legs shook and he felt his stomach beginning to churn, a sudden rush of bile in his mouth warning him of his bodies urge to vomit.
He kept it down through sheer force of will, focusing instead on his burning Eidos as it pulsed with another spreading warmth and whispered soothingly into the privacy of his mind.
[You have Assimilated an Affinity, and Talent. Your Eidos grows stronger]
Closing his eyes, he released a ragged breath that burned through his chest, his ears ringing with the pained screams that came from behind him.
The temperature around him began to plummet not long after and he heard the approaching footsteps before he even saw the man. Turning, he looked as Nero appeared before the writhing Kaitos, watching as he uselessly held his hands over his eyes, trying to quell a pain that wouldn't pass for quite some time.
"Well done, Jackal." The man told him, a pleased tint to his voice as he looked over the downed man. "That was almost a work of art."
Looking away, his voice rose, and he spoke to the Enforcers surrounding them. "Somebody deal with his screaming, gag him or break his jaw, I do not care which. But I want him silent and on the ship with us either way, drag him if you must."
As three Enforcers moved towards Kaitos, the Archon turned to face him again, moving to stand directly in his line of sight and nodded at the bloodied blade in his hand, a wide smirk on his face.
"Keep the knife, see it as a reward for proving yourself. Now, come along. His screaming is starting to give me a headache."
Once again, he wordlessly fell a step behind the man, closing his eyes to try and block out the screaming behind him, purposely avoiding the eyes of his four other clansmen who silently stared at him from afar.
As they broke past the final line of Enforcers, Nero spoke quietly, his earlier amusement vanishing almost as if it had never been there.
"Remember this as a lesson, Jackal. The old ways follow their own rules, their own customs. If you are ever to initiate a punishment like this again, always remember that the man who passes the sentence, must also swing the sword."
"Yes, my lord."
His voice sounded dead—hollow—even to his own ears. Monotone and emotionless as he began to truly realise and understand what he had just done to one of his own.
"Good." Nero nodded in approval, ignorant of his deteriorating emotional state. "Whilst I would always suggest murder as the correct choice in this situation, I think the suffering you inflicted on him will teach him a valuable lesson when he recovers…if he recovers, that is."
He laughed at his joke, mirth returning as if it had never disappeared and echoing through the woods, as the screaming behind them final stopped.
Abraxes didn't dare to look back.
For the rest of their journey through the woods, until they reached their destination, he stayed quiet, almost silent and in a world of his own. The Archons laugh and Kaitos' screams following his every step.
His own actions, and what he'd be willing to do, what lines he'd be willing to cross, acting like a devastating plague to his mind that no matter how hard he tried to rid, wouldn't leave him.
It wasn't until they reached the white, pearly sands of the shore, that his mind was able to move forward, not forget, but become replaced by something new.
A ship, a metallic monstrosity that seemed to have no start or end as it stretched through the horizon and floated on the sea ahead of them.