The brand on his cheek had scabbed over into a hard welt, but Kai hardly felt it. The pain was drowned beneath the craving that clawed at him, a hunger worse than thirst, worse than starvation. Chain. That was what DM had called it. A synthetic drug, engineered not for pleasure but control.
Kai didn't care. Not anymore.
The guards opened his cage and he didn't resist. His body moved before his mind caught up, shackles clinking as he shuffled forward. They told him to sit and he sat. They told him to stand and he stood. He wasn't even embarrassed by the drool sliding down his chin. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the needle and the glow it promised.
[Focus, Kai,] DM urged, its voice hard now, brittle with urgency. [This is not you. This is chemical obedience. They've bound your will. You must resist.]
Kai blinked slow, staring at the floorboards. His chest rose and fell in shallow rhythm. The words reached him but bounced off, dull echoes against the roar in his skull.
"You want your treat?" a guard drawled, holding up the vial. The liquid shimmered, pale and cruel. Kai's breath hitched, pupils blowing wide. He nodded without hesitation.
The guard laughed. "Good dog."
They pushed him to his knees, jammed the needle into his neck. The rush hit instantly—ecstasy flooding his veins, warmth spreading like fire licked with honey. His limbs loosened, his mind unspooled. He moaned, low and broken, sagging against the stone with his eyes rolling back. The world became light, soft edges, perfect.
[You are chained,] DM said, steady as ever though the tone wavered beneath. [This is the leash. They have you crawling. Is this what you want to be?]
Kai turned his head against the wall, drool painting the stone. "Shut up," he whispered, voice thick with bliss.
The silence that followed was worse than DM's words.
Hours blurred. They tested him like livestock. Ordered him to fetch. Ordered him to strike the other slaves. Ordered him to bow. And he did it all, moving with mechanical grace, each command easier to follow than the last. Every act of obedience was another step toward the promise of that next hit.
When he struck the old man who refused to rise from his cage, the sound of bone cracking under his knuckles should have horrified him. Instead, Kai only stared at the guard's pocket where the syringe gleamed.
[You are being broken,] DM whispered. [Every hit pulls you further from yourself. Fight it, Kai. Please.]
He ignored it, licking blood from his hand, desperate for the taste of something to distract from the hunger growing already, even before the high had faded.
When the high did fade, the crash was worse. His body trembled with need. His hands clawed unconsciously at his own arms, nails dragging lines across his skin. Sweat poured down his back, his teeth clenched until his jaw ached. He begged without words, just eyes locked on the syringe when they dangled it before him like bait.
"Look at him," one of the men laughed. "Doesn't even think anymore. Just waits to be told. Zone Alpha trash, but he cleans up nice with a leash."
Kai didn't hear the insult. He only saw the liquid.
They injected him again and he melted, sighing as if the world itself had been forgiven. His mind dissolved into white haze.
[If you keep this path, you will never leave,] DM warned. Its voice was dim now, like it spoke from across a gulf widening between them. [You will become their dog. Their pet. I cannot save you if you refuse me.]
Kai tilted his head back, smiling faintly as the rush poured through him. "Pet," he murmured, almost laughing. "Maybe… easier."
[No, Kai.]
But he didn't answer. He didn't want to.
They began to trust him, the way an owner trusts a chained beast. They sent him to carry crates, to stand watch, to haul other prisoners. He obeyed each order with dull precision, eyes always darting toward the pocket where the vials waited.
Once, when a slave tried to slip past during the Sweep's chaos, the guards barked at Kai to catch him. Kai didn't hesitate. He tackled the man, pressing his face into the dirt, his own pulse roaring with expectation of reward. When the guards dragged the screaming runaway back to the pens, one clapped Kai on the shoulder. "Good boy."
Kai smiled at the praise.
[You betray yourself,] DM whispered. Its voice was nearly gone, like static at the edge of a fading signal. [You betray every reason you fought until now.]
Kai didn't answer. He couldn't. The thought of missing the next hit was unbearable.
When the needle came again, he bared his neck eagerly, eyes closing before the steel even pierced skin. Bliss rushed in like a tide, and the world disappeared.
Hours later, when the high ebbed, Kai clawed his arms raw, lips whispering one word over and over, as if it was prayer.
"More."