After a few minutes, a peculiar sound echoed from where Xiurah was standing. It sounded like the howl of a wolf caught in a storm.
The Aberration, startled, glanced toward his waist and pulled a mysterious device from his pants pocket—the device was shaped like a small rectangular shard of crystal. Xiurah brought the object to his pointed ear, listening while speaking at the same time.
"Hm?" He looked toward the other side of the cell with a focused expression. "Oh, I see. Is that all?"
Apparently, he was speaking with someone of higher authority. That much was obvious from his tone, which had grown noticeably more respectful. Shrugging his shoulders, Xiurah clicked his reptilian tongue.
"I understand… I'll do it…"
Nova, on the other hand, like a simple kidnapped spectator, let out a tired sigh. The more time passed, the more exhausted he felt. These shackles on his hands were doing their job…
'I can't find any way out of here.'
He frowned, deep in thought.
'Is there really nothing I can do to escape this place?'
The shackles were constantly draining his strength, preventing him from accessing the Emotional Spectrum. On top of that, he had no idea where he was. What if he managed to break the barred door? Would there be an army waiting on the other side? Would the place be a maze filled with traps? If he tried to answer all of that, his brain would burn out searching for solutions.
After a few seconds, Xiurah put the device away. He sighed, rubbing his rough hand against his forehead, then turned his gaze back to Nova with a serious expression. Nova frowned as well, as if offended by being stared at by an Aberration, but Xiurah didn't seem to care.
"Well, I knew this was going to happen, just not this fast," Xiurah shook his head. "You're going to the Arena. You'll earn us a couple of credits."
The Aberration cracked his knuckles as he approached Nova.
'This guy… He said "Arena," right?' he thought, looking back at his hands again, searching for a way out. 'Oh… shit… shit!'
When he stood in front of the boy, Xiurah smiled ominously.
"You're a Crimson Blood, so I'm sure you'll give us a great show. Don't disappoint us, human."
Before Nova could object, Xiurah raised his fist and struck him violently in the face. Nova's head slammed against the wall. His eye shut instantly as he was knocked unconscious by the blow. After that, Xiurah shook his fist in pain.
"Damn it, your face is hard as hell."
The lights went out…
***
Nova didn't understand why all of this was happening to him. Was it some kind of punishment for a lifetime of monotony? No, that couldn't be it. Life acted in many ways. One day you could be the luckiest person in the world, and the next, the most miserable being in the universe. Life didn't distinguish between good and evil; it simply flowed with coincidence and causality, chaos and order, life itself and lonely death…
This 21-year-old boy, unfortunately, was a victim of life. When he woke up, all he could see was darkness, hear the rattling of a vehicle, and the distorted voices of two Aberrations.
'Damn… my head hurts.'
He rested his head and back against the rear wall. Maybe he was locked inside a metal box, slightly larger than himself, because he couldn't stretch his legs much. Those weakening shackles were still on his hands, and something similar was fastened around his ankles.
'It's cold. My feet… I don't have my boots. Did they take my boots? Oh…' he sighed, disappointed. 'My backpack is gone too. My phone was in there…'
He felt miserable, helpless, and stupid. He cursed his luck in silence because there was nothing else he could do. He could get angry, maybe—but that would only make things worse. So he stared into the darkness instead. He counted seconds, minutes, hours.
After some time, the box stopped. The rattling returned along with the voices of the Aberrations. Suddenly, everything jolted violently before coming to an abrupt halt. Nova felt the box being shaken, then thrown somewhere.
At last, everything went silent.
"Aren't you going to let me go?"
His innocent question went unanswered. That only disappointed him further.
'Man… this is worse than the snake.'
There was no doubt about it. It was better to deal with one big, dumb monster than many small, intelligent ones.
Later, the box creaked again. The lower edge glowed faintly as two sides of the box—the top and the front—opened, tilting upward. Light flooded Nova's solitary eye, revealing that he now lay in a place less gloomy and much cleaner. The walls still carried the cyberpunk aesthetic he had seen on the surface, but with additional technological elements that escaped his understanding.
Carefully, he placed his feet on the cold floor. He looked around, surveying the area. The room he was in had the shape of a cross. At the end of each arm of the cross stood a vertical sliding metal door. Along the side walls, there were other, simpler doors.
He first approached the farthest doors. He tried to find a way to open them, but failed. The only thing left to do was to check the other doors.
There were four doors distributed across four of the eight side walls. The first door led him to an empty, dark room. Inside, there was a small, worn-out bed with thin sheets, a spherical lamp resting on a one-drawer nightstand, an iron table near the wall, sheets of paper scattered across the floor and table, and what appeared to be crayons.
Some drawings were stuck to the walls—horrendous scribbles that made no sense, likely depicting other Aberrations.
The last thing that stood out in the room was a rusty locker in the corner. Nova opened it. Inside, he found a change of clothes, strangely clean compared to the depressing state of the room.
After that, he moved on to the next door, but it wouldn't open. The same happened with the other three doors.
'Is this a prison? I didn't commit any crime… I think.'
Was wanting to go back home a crime? Nova hadn't disrespected anyone, much less attacked others. So why was he locked up here?
The answer would come soon.