Although he'd only been talking for less than two minutes, it felt like hours to Azriel. Cain's voice was cold and unsympathetic, making people instinctively shrink back into each other.
"This place, your new home, is what I like to call the pit; I think it's quite a fitting name considering your surroundings."
That much was true. As she looked around her, the most distinct things at a glance were the long upward spiraling path that they'd spent the past 20 minutes trekking down, distant housing blocks, a dining hall, and what looked like a large arena-like enclosure.
Looking towards what Azriel's gaze was stuck on with a smirk, he began to explain, "And this, is the main attraction that I like to call the rat cage, seeming as though I'll be watching you all fight against each other in there" ending with a wide smile. This bastard is enjoying himself, she cynically thought.
A wave of anger began to bubble inside her and she hardly thought before she began to speak.
"Who the hell do you think you are; a leader? You're nothing more than a fucking sadist who's taking advantage of his position over us."
With that, his smile vanished in less than a second and before she knew what had happened, he had a short, white blade pressed against her neck.
"Talk to me like that again, and I'll make you the first example of my version of disciplinary action, understood?"
"You'll have to try harder than that to scare me." With a rough shove he pushed her back into the crowd. Behind her, Azriel could hear whispering.
Suddenly, she was pulled to the very back of the crowd by her hair, causing her to lose her footing.
"If you keep talking to him like that you're going to get the whole lot of us killed too."
Scrambling back up, to face her surprise assailant, Azriel fumbled for a response.
"And who might you be?"
"I think you'll find out soon enough, but seeming as though you're clearly the outcast here, I'll let you off easy this time. My name is Kaia."
With that, she walked off back to the front of the crowd.
Missing everything that Cain had said in the past minute, she began noticing that men and women were filing into lines and quickly found her spot in the women's line.
This is going to be a long day...