The sun was beating down relentlessly on the broken soil of the despairing land, dispersing rows and columns of heat in the atmosphere. Above the crowded maze,drones streaked, recording its happenings.
Several long queues had been formed by the Vulnerables,each clasping onto the little they had to offer the tax collector. The air was still,if not toxic to the Vulnerables and today was a more chaotic day as the outskirts was brimming with the king's soldiers,and each soldier was looking just as brutal and malicious as the other.
While the queue slowly advanced forward,Lotus;a Marono soldier patrolled carrying a long corrosive whip in hand and was relentlessly cracking his whip against the backs of any miserable Vulnerable that dared to step out of line. The whip landed like a thunder bolt, causing the others to flinch and cast down their gazes in fear and submission.
Just then,a frail cry echoed. Far at the front line an almost emaciated women fell back in agony,her eyes weeping and her body covered in bruises formed by the whip of the Vassal.
"Is this what you have to offer the king?!" Zai,whom was the tax collector bellowed with blazing eyes as held up the iron bracelet the poor woman had offered.
The petty woman shrank back,her voice quavering as she spoke:
"Please,it is all I have. I just can't raise what you are asking for."
Zai's red optics glew in fury. He hurls the bracelet away and begins crack his whip against the ground as he starts to approach the woman.
"Is this how you show gratitude to your king after all he's been doing for you?!"
She meekly shook her head in response as she dragged herself backwards until she eventually felt her back hit a wall.
A moment later,Zai was hovering over her,his half human half machine face making him look like death. Then he raises his whip in profound rage.
"You Vulnerables are nothing but useless brats!" Zai's cybernetic voice dispersed just as his whip licked the woman's wrinkled skin.
"You are nothing but a burden to yourselves! Your families!! And this kingdom as whole!!!"
Agonizing wails seeped from the woman's lips as the whip descended again and again, causing her blood to splatter all over the place.
Although many amongst the Vulnerables heavily pitied and wished to save her, but non of them could dare to even raise their head to meet the tax collector's red optics let alone speak against the maltreatment, mainly because any act of insolence towards the Maronos attracted a death penalty.
When the soldier's whip finally ceased raining,the innocent woman crumples to the ground and fell concuss almost immediately. Two Maronos suddenly came forward and carried her away into one of the Maronos flying vehicles. Of course since she was too old to bear the torture of the underground mines, it was obvious she was going to be taken to the dungeon.
"Keep your eyes off her if you don't want to suffer the same fate." Omar was quickly cautioned by Danny,a fellow Vulnerable whom was standing just behind him.
A strong wave of anger rose in him.
"Are we just going to keep letting them treat us like animals?"
He felt- not saw,Danny smile behind him.
"Don't be stupid Omar. You know it's always been like this and it will continue to be. So unless you want to get into trouble,I advise you shut the fuck up."
Omar hated to admit,but what Danny said was the conspicuous truth on raising a voice against the unjust monarchy. Infact, servitude was the crux of maladies the Vulnerables now dealt with.
At the end if every month,the Vulnerables were made to line up and pay heavy taxes to the king as a token of gratitude. While In reality,all what the Vulnerables got from the so called just ruler was "Torture". Though they did get food supplies and clean water,but that too was given at month's end and only to those whom paid the tax. And moreover,the food supplies were no other but rejected items garbaged out by the other subsidiaries.
And since the payment of the tax is an obligation,those whom couldn't raise the sum paid using their brawn. The oppressors were taken away to work in the dark tunnels of the mines until they could raise enough money to clear the debt they owe.
There in the tunnels where the blazing torches illuminates the darkness,the Vulnerables were forced to excavate heavy rocks and mine for coal. Working to to pay your debt through this path was hell,infact it was merely another path towards death as most had toppled into the bottomless bowels of the earth and many had coughed their blackened lungs to death.
And if you still couldn't pay back and another month elapses,you will either be thrown into the arena or be hurled to drown in a river if fire.
Omar shivered at the prospect of working in the mines. He then opened the small pouch he carried and counted the gold coins in it. Fortunately,the sum was just sufficient enough to settle his and Anna's tax for the month.
The queue had now barely shuffled forward and the sun wasn't at all willing to spare the crowd that stood below it. Most of the Vulnerables' throat had gone dry and sore due to the intense heat,some were even on the verge of collapsing. Yet among the despairing crowd was a man whom stood and acted different- not exactly the way a Vulnerable should, and many had rumored this man to be a misanthropist. However it was this very man that Omar thought to be congenial.
Raven stood tall and proud and the arrogance in his eyes remained unwavering. Everyone could tell,he was soon going to be in trouble.
Just as Lotus once more came patrolling, Raven gaze clashed with his without flinching. Lotus halts, expecting Raven to quickly bow his head in submission. However,his gaze maintained its posture and stared definitely, if not daring.
"You think you are different from the rest?" Lotus flared, abruptly yanking Raven out if the line and hurling a poisonous lash.
Raven remained unmoved, enduring the wild lash with a deep sense of stoicism which only provoked more of Lotus's anger.
Then Lotus carried on, striking harder than the first and this time causing a deep cut in his skin. Yet,Raven still clung to his demeanor.
Lotus then halts and suddenly grabs Raven by the collar.
"You will die here in misery,just like everyone of them." He growls, releasing Raven and shoving him out of his way.
When Raven walked back to his post,most of the Vulnerables avoided his gaze. But Omar was persistent,he suddenly catches Raven's blood shut eyes midway and for a reason,he felt fortunate to be regarded by him.
Despite that most of the other Vulnerables despised Raven, Omar was naturally drawn to like him in some way. To him,Raven was congenial and was the only one- but himself amongst the Vulnerables that was willing to fight against the harassment. They both seemed to have the same motivation: end the segregation and have freedom.
But even if the laws of probability were to be suspended for a day,the king's profound grip on the Vulnerables and the kingdom as whole wasn't something that is going to end anytime soon.
***
Draconia had once being paradise;a vast and great kingdom of thick tropical forest, sprawling rivers that nurtured life giving water,snow mountains and also a land of scorching desert.
Draconia was formed by six major clans: The Elites,the Erils,the Trazonians,the Maronos and the Vulnerables.
Each clan was affluent in a particular sector and simultaneously depended on the other clan in one way or the other for survival.
The Erils were acknowledged for their strength in agriculture and had always been the food source for the monarchy. While the Trazonians were curative clans and experts in life and health sciences,the Raymonds were the leading role in tactics and weaponry. The Maronos however,were legions of treacherous and heart stoned knights. And finally the Elites,whom were the strongest of all the clans and were responsible for the technological advancement in the world.
However,it was only the Vulnerables;
those whom lived in the outskirts of Draconia that had nothing of value to trade with the other clans and as well as gravely relied on all clans,where upon becoming a burden to the others.
It was during this period when all the powerful clans where harmonized and alliences reign that the Trazonians made their discovery. And ever since,the world never knew peace again.
Being astoundingly experts in life sciences,the Trazonians discovered an enigmatic virus that can inhibit the dying process and make one live hundreds of years longer. Eventually,they became tenacious on modifying such virus in a way that can make humanity immortal.
Unfortunately,the experiment went wrong, however the virus worked... so horrendously that it now made humanity crumple to its knees.
Although the virus did prolong one's life span,but it had begun to mutate test subjects into savage,blood feasting beings. Moreover,things went out if control as the virus outbreak became a pandemic, raging exponentially to overwhelm most part of the world. And thus,it became the greatest spate that marked the beginning of humanity's end.
The Trazonians did desperately tried to develop a cure,but to no avail as it later revealed to them that there was no existing cure for such infection. And eventually,most land was starting to get obliterated by the endless waves if the predators,making it essential to erect an impregnable wall around the kingdom to shield the little that was left of humanity from the ever persistent threat.
Even so,a new war was yet to be born within the wall itself.
When resources began to dwindle,the five powerful clans started to clash over scarce resources. Their long established bonds of harmonies was soon fractured,giving rise to new bonds of enmity.
To conquer the emerging war,the King implemented a segregationist policy that splitted the great monarchy into five subsidiaries which were governed by Dukes and a Duchess that were all responsible to him.
In addition to the policy,the king constructed yet walls that stood as lines of demarcation for each subsidiary. Another law was imposed: there will no longer be pacts or alliences amongst the subsidiaries,and only the king can serve as a middle man.
Only the Vulnerables were left out of consideration, mainly because they have no role to play in the "give and take" relationship. Where as the Vulnerables were left to settle in the abandoned outskirts of the land and live in perpetual fear and poverty. Literally,they were left to live in hell.
And just as decades of living behind wall went by, rumors began to spread that the predators had unexplainably went into extinction, until fifteen years ago when the wall was breached and the predators lurched their first attack.
Moreover,the attack from fifteen years old morphed the situation from bad to worse as availability of resources plummeted,making survival become a gamble.
Due to this phenomenon,the generated another policy in which any law breaker- irrespective of how minor the offense is,will be apprehended and thrust into a gladiatorial spectacle where they have to vie for life in an arena of rampaging predators. The duel is guarded by a single rule: only the last man standing will be crowned victorious.
However, emerging alive in this deadly game was nothing but mere illusion as spectators roared and cheered to watch the carnage as entertainment.
Everyone knew that the reason the king imposed such a policy wasn't only to conserve the scarce resources but as a means of displaying his absolute control over the monarchy and the how far he was willing to go just to maintain it.