And that was how Azdin found himself chained up and thrown into the cargo hold of a ship. Now having recalled every single day that led up to that dreadful encounter, he could only grumble.
'I knew I should've just fought them.. that would've been miles better than this garbage!!'
They've already been floating at sea while waiting in the lower deck for the last three days, barely able to keep track of the time with the passing of the small amounts of light that managed to creep inside.
Even then, it was strange and inconsistent. One day lasted a couple hours, while a night was only a few minutes. One day seemed to last a whole week, while another night lasted for just but a second.
Suffice to say, maybe it hadn't been three days, maybe it was actually weeks, months or even a year. He had no way of knowing anymore.
What sucked even more though...
A sailor from the top deck with his left leg replaced by wooden prosthetic dangled his metal keys as he opened the steel jail. Coming in with a large crate, he simply kicked it over as a large amounts of bread came spilling out.
The moment he walked back out and locked the gate behind him with his key, the entire lower cargo hold was sent into a frenzy.
Swaths of people surged as one body the moment his key turned, chains clattering like sudden rain, iron biting ankles and wrists as men and women lurched forward on instinct.
In those brief seconds of chaos, Azdin could only hear heavy breaths rasping, and voices breaking into shouts and horse please.
The strongest pushed through first. Broad backs and hard elbows forged their path, shoving the weak aside without looking back. A skinny looking man man went down, as a multitude of others were pushed even further behind.
The sailor only brought down one crate a day, for however long that day would be, so most would starve.
It was at this stage, three groups of people formed. The strong banded together to gain ahold of as much food as they could hog before it ran out. Either out of necessity or greed. The next were the faster ones capable of grabbing one before the strong came and took the rest. And the last remained of those who had already given up on life, or were just too weak, simply laying still as hunger slowly overcame them.
Azdin himself could only watch the pitiful sight, barely able to even stand up without collapsing from exhaustion.
'This damn chain.'
Unlike almost everyone else, he was an Awakened, so Roswell and his crew took extra measures to make sure that he wouldn't cause any problems. The steel that wrapped around his neck possessed a peculiar enchantment, making it so that his soul essence was being constantly absorbed and funneled into the ship, leaving him feeling exhausted and lethargic all the time.
With no strength, he couldn't even fight for his own portion of food.
'I'm their most valuable product.. but they're treating me like this??'
He couldn't even understand their behaviour. This whole system in general didn't make any sense. Perhaps he would've died, if not for Hugo anyway.
The moment the sailor turned his back around and returned to the top deck, Hugo finally moved. Sitting upright, and then slowly rising, the tension in the air suddenly seemed to grow as everyone turned their heads in his direction, watching his every footstep.
Slowly walking towards the centre, he noticed that all the large groups had already finished taking everything. Sighing, he looked around carefully, until his eyes landed upon on an unfortunate man gripping two loafs tightly to his chest.
"Plea—"
Before he could even finish, his feet vanished under him in a quick, brutal sweep. The force snapping his balance sideways as he slammed down hard, while dropping all the loafs from his arms.
He staggered back up to his feet, shaking his head as if clearing water from his ears. Shouting, he threw a single desperate and unfocused punch.
Hugo tilted his head slightly, just enough for the fist to cut harmlessly through the air, watching it as if it were in slow motion.
He then threw one clean strike to the chest, that drilled the man where he stood. By the time he hit the ground, his consciousness was already gone.
Picking up the two loafs of bread that he had dropped, he turned back around and returned back to Azdin.
Having lied to the captain and his crew, he was put in regular mundane chains leaving him at his full strength. Obtaining food was not a problem for him at all, but being careful of any potential snitches, he had to hold back against the mundane men, while still winning overwhelmingly, to act faithful to the persona he had crafted.
To do this, he made sure to target the people who were strong and fast enough to grab ahold of their own portions of food, while disguising himself as one of them, and fighting them for theirs.
As the hard loaf of bread arched down, it thudded him on his head before falling into his palms.
"Do you have to throw it every time!?"
"If you're so bothered, go get it yourself."
Grunting, Azdin forced himself to sit up as he tore the terribly hard thing in two before forcing himself to start biting down on one of them. As per usual, it tasted terrible.
'Maybe eating only fruit for two months wasn't so bad.'
As this thought wandered in his head, he caught sight of the hollow-cheeked woman, clutching a frail child close to her chest. Her eyes were fixed on them, as they stroked their hair gently.
After a brief pause, he struggled to gather strength in his arm, before tossing the torn half at her, and then turning away before she could say a word.
Noticing it, a slight frown appeared on Hugo's lips.
He asked, his voice low,
"Why are you sharing your food?"
Azdin simply replied,
"Because they're hungry."
"So is everyone else. Are you going to feed them too?"
Azdin met Hugo's gaze, his eyes brimming with an eerie confidence.
"If I can feed even one person, that's all that matters."
"You're putting strangers above your own life? We don't have the luxury to be doing that right now."
It was then that Azdin reminded him,
"You don't even see me as your friend, and yet you don't mind feeding me?"
Hugo muttered,
"...Atleast I know you."
"I'm not strong enough to fight for myself, so you feed me out of pity. Is it not the same of me as to them?"
"You say that.. but you've. "
His words came out empty, and silent. Turning back to the starving mother and her child, Azdin watched as she tried to force a small piece of bread into their mouth.
Although it went in, it never chewed. How could a corpse eat food?
Watching them, he felt countless complicated emotions brewing inside of him. The sight was horrifying and abhorrent, and yet, he believed it to be the best thing he could do.
"If I can give even one person something to live for.. then maybe.. I can find purpose too?"
Anyhow, that was how they spent their past days in this abyssal place. And it would be how they spent their future too.