When I first arrived at the palace, shock would be an understatement. I was stunned, the place was huge and not enough of that, it was in the sky on a small island, floating around. We took an air bore(see it as a kind of air balloon but mechanic) to get there, for a moment as we hovered in the air I forgot the handcuffs on my wrists and felt for the first time free, with the wind caressing my sore skin from all the beatings and the sun warming my cold limbs from staying in the darkness. But the moment was short lived as we soon arrived and the red coated man dragged me unto the island with the chain that was attached to my cuffs. I was the only slave he bought that day, god knows why he picked me.
As he dragged me to what looked like the slave dorms I was afraid the island would just crumble any seconds with every step I took. This was a huge palace on a floating island, a human can only take that much on one day.
We passed what looked like statues of dragons which was placed randomly on the parvis, human slaves and other servants was running around doing chores, oddly enough they seemed to be in peace with their situation. Pathetic worms, can't stand up for themselves.
My kind escort dragged me into the slave dorms, which was normal enough, beads and quilts, that's all we needed apparently, it wasn't much different than the orphanage. And then my escort went over the rules, he was an odd man indeed, with a red coat which made him stand out and a weird crooked mustache along with a red top hat. His voice was high pitched even though he wasn't really that small or maybe it was because I was only 4,6 feet.
"There are three rules you must follow at all times or there will be severe punishment:
1. Always listen to orders from a supernatural, no matter who it is.
2. Never talk back or disrespect.
3. Never draw attention while in masters presence.
Master hates to be disturbed, so don't annoy him, he's a merciless man and never takes pity. Any questions?"
My que, I raised my hand.
"Yes?" He asked with slight annoyance.
"Who is master?" I asked with all the innocence I could muster. The odd man sighed and shook his head.
"This is why I can't stand humans, they're all so stupid." He mumbled, probably thinking I can't hear or maybe he just didn't care.
"Master is the dragon king, also known as the head of the board." The odd man stated proudly with a smirk. So he's the enemy then.
"The rest of the rules you will learn as you go. I could give you a copy of them all, but it's not like you could read them."
Actually I could, but I wouldn't bother to waste time reading rules I'm just going to break.
"First things first, before you can start doing chores I will need to mark you."
Here it goes. Marks is given to all slaves. The mark is a number and two letters, the number will be your name and the two letters stands for who you belong to. To make the mark you'll need a device which has a small needle which will pierce your skin, through the needle a kind of magic substance flow, which will form the mark. In other words the mark is made inside and fills the pores till it's visible on the outside. The magic substance keeps count on how many slaves the master has and therefore there are no slave with the same number. And the mark is usually found on the neck.
"Number: 2361ZA. Great, now you can start working, just off with the cuffs and I'll get the head maid..." The cuffs fell to the floor and I made a run. Now it was more of an instinct than a choice to escape. I've taken every opportunity, and I won't stop now.
I ran out of the dorm, before the odd man could react. Trying to remember the way back to the air bore I took a turn to the right, running across the pavis and past all slaves and servants.
"Stop right there, you pesky human!" Seems like the odd man is back in action, in other words I don't have much time. I took a turn to the left, running through an open hall made by pillars and then ducked behind a huge statue of a dragon.
"You can't run forever, it's impossible for a human to run from a supernatural." True, if you have no experience. I held my breath as the odd man ran past the statue and took a left turn at the end of the hall.
Deep breaths, deep breaths. I had to get to the air bore. Why did this place has to be in the air? I took a look around before getting out from behind the statue.
"Thank you." I patted the dragon and ran back the way I came from.
The place was swarming of slaves and servants. I won't be able to go back unnoticed. There must be some other way around. I ran back down the hall past the dragon statue and took a right turn at the end, opposite from the way the odd man took.
The hallway became darker and darker the deeper I went, and didn't matter which way I turned. At some point I stopped spotting any windows I could check. I could feel my hear accelerate and my breathing laboring. I had to get out.
I stopped for a second, collecting myself, leaning against a wall I took deep breaths and closing my eyes. Then I heard it, footsteps, faint, coming closer. I panicked before running, as quietly as possibly. I took a left turn and was unfortunately met by stairs. The footsteps came closer forcing me to go up. And I went higher and then higher. At the top of the stairs I was already out of breath, I had no idea where I was or how high up I was, and if that wasn't enough I couldn't see a smack. It was pitch black.
I collapsed on my knees for a second before I could find the strength to continue. I followed the wall with my hand in order to not bump into anything or trip and fall. As I let my hand slide the smooth wall, something caught on to it, a nail or sharp rock, no idea. I brought my hand to my mouth, where I tasted the metallic taste of blood.
'Thump'
A noise that didn't belong to the silence. Did he catch up? Or is it something else? Maybe I'm just paranoid.
'Thump'
Something is there. I pressed my back into the wall behind me and let my eyes wander, trying to make something out in the darkness.
Suddenly everything shined up. The shock of meeting a bright light, forced me to close my eyes. I hid my face with my arms, and it took several seconds before I could bring them down, and took a look around with narrowed eyes only to fall on a big man standing right in front of me. In shock my eyes widened as I stared up on him.
He had dark hair falling into his crimson red beast eyes, that seemed to shine on their own. He had pale skin, like a vampires, but his fangs where not as defined as a vampires was. His nails was claws and he wore a black coat that covered most of him. His presence made a shiver go down my spine and my hair stand up. He was powerful, even a human like me understood that. I gulped and cowered into the wall. His eyes followed my movements but showed no emotions, it was like he was made of stone, but as I took a closer look a could spot what looked like scales which ran down his neck behind the coats collar. He was a dragon, that much I knew. And he stood much too close for my liking.
For the next few minutes nothing changed. He followed my every movement with his eyes and I stared wide eyed. We stared into each other eyes, reading the other. If I moved he would catch me immediately, but why didn't he move? He could kill me, or at least punish me. Why was he just standing there? I couldn't move, just waiting for my doom. But I didn't want to show my distress so I just stared, waiting for his move, but it never came. Instead what came was the odd man. He ran up the stairs and when he saw us he panicked and rushed over.
"M-ma-master! I'm so sorry, this wasn't meant to happen, I don't know how, this-this..." The odd man sputtered words in distress. Master? Then this intimidating man is the dragon king? Well, I really am dead then. Life sure have been short.
"Quiet!" The Kings voice boomed all around, almost shaking the walls with his powerful voice. Even though I fought it as much as possible my legs still trembled at it.
"Yes sir." The odd man whispered in fear, bowing his head almost instinctively.
"I put you in charge of the slaves but you let one escape? How? They're humans and you're a dragon, how is it that you not just let one escape but couldn't even catch it?" I wanted to kick him for calling me it, but decided against it. It would be a fools death, and I still had lots to do.
"I-I..."
"Well?" The king looked at the odd man with narrowed eyes, in ten minutes that is the most I've seen him change his expression.
"She was really fast, sir. As soon as her cuffs was off she took off. I didn't expect it.."
"I didn't ask how it escaped I asked how you let it escape." I'll really need to kick him soon.
"My apologize sir, I have no excuse." The odd man bowed his head deep, almost touching the floor.
"No you don't. You're a disgrace to the race and a failure at your job."
"Yes sir, it's as you say sir. What do you want me to do?"
"Punish the slave, and I'll see what to do with it later, as for you, you'll be back to where you started, as a novice."
"Yes sir, as you wish." The odd man said with a sad voice and finally raised his head. That couldn't had been good for his back. He took a step forward and grasped my upper arm roughly. It will definitely leave a bruise. He pulled me forward away from the wall and the dragon king.
"What is the slaves name?" He suddenly asked, surprising both me and the odd man.
"2361." The odd man answered. That's when I have had enough, calling me it and robbing me from my name, I was getting punished anyway so why not go all out?
"No it's not." I raised my voice, which was a tiny bit hoarse from all the years of punishment.
"Quiet." The odd man gritted out.
"I'm not some puppet that is numbered. I am my own person!" In my desperate attempt to voice out my thoughts I glared at the dragon king, who merely stared at me with no hint of emotion. Not shock, not amusement not anything. But that didn't stop me. The odd man pushed me down to my knees and hissed at me to get me to quiet down.
"I go by a name and is alive just like the rest of you. I'm Nayo, that's who." I has just started, I had much to say, but no time to say it as the next moment, pain flew across my skull and everything went black. The last thing I saw was that kings cold crimson eyes staring down at me, filling me with rage, but no strength to throw it back at him.
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First chapter, what do you think? Is Nayo an annoying heroine or too unreal? Nayo has grown up in a different environment than what is normal, in an uncaring and unloving "home" with many other kids, being taught how to be a slave.
For further explanation, the dragons in this story won't transform into actually dragons, they are men who has the same powers as dragons, some weaker and others stronger.
Show me mercy and give me your judgement.
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