CHAPTER 002
1093 Words
“Open up, boy!”
Ooglok's fingers pried into Adam's mouth like he was checking livestock. The water scavenger's breath smelled like sour beer and regret.
"No rot. No decay; Good." Ooglok shoved him toward the cage. "At least this batch won't die before I can sell them."
Emperor Wellington sat, watching in silence and indifference. "There was fifty percent losses last shipment, Ooglok. Fifty percent."
"The sickness came fast, Excellency. There was no way to…"
"I don't want excuses. I want results." The Emperor leaned forward slightly. "One more failure and you’ll be pulling buckets instead of selling them."
Ooglok's nodded.
Inside the cage, a man sat quiet and calm like he had not just been traded with water. At the side of the cage, another water tank was strapped, half-full. Maybe less.
Adam couldn't stop staring at the water tank. His sister Sara was out there behind the city walls, dying, waiting for water. He had to act fast.
Their truck rolled out of Gamoth into what remained of the apocalypse wasteland. Cracked asphalt, rusted vehicles and the bones of the old world scattered like warnings.
They'd been moving for two hours when a procession appeared from the north. Mountain dwellers human-machine hybrids with chrome skin and hinges that hissed. Their truck crawled slowly, carrying something delicate on a platform of silver and glass.
A dead fairy.
“Queen Mumblenok.” Zooro, the quiet man said to Adam for the first time.
He watched Ooglok climb down from the wagon and approached with his hands spread open like an appeal.
"I grieve with you in this dark hour, noble dwellers. Queen Mumblenok was a true queen."
"What tribute do you bring?” The lead dweller's with metal eyes asked.
Ooglok gestured back at his truck. "Precious metals, sophisticated weapons, and strong prisoners.”
Ooglok's soldiers began unloading gold bars, pre-war guns, crates of things that gleamed. Then they moved toward the cage.
Adam's stomach dropped. "No. Not now."
Zooro look up. "Stay still, don't give them a reason to remember you."
But Ooglok's soldiers were already unlocking prisoners; and one by one they were pulled out and lined up, except Zooro. Adam pressed himself hard against the cage, but the chain dragged him forward as bodies were removed.
The soldier's hand closed around his arm.
"This one's strong."
"I can't…I have to…" Adam screamed but the word felt weak and useless.
"The fire's still there. Good. He'll do.” Ooglok commented
The metal-eyed dweller examined Adam and gave a mechanical smile.
"The tribute is acceptable," The dweller said. "Queen Mumblenok will be honored by this sacrifice."
The soldier unlocked Adam and dragged him toward the procession.
Damn!
Adam realized he was being separated from the water, from Sara, from any chance of saving her.
Just then, he felt heat in his left shoulder and a burning that spread down his arm like fire under the skin.
His birthmark flashed blue.
His chain snapped like paper when he pulled. The strength came without warning, not like borrowed power but like something waking up inside his cells, remembering what it was built to do.
Adam moved.
He caught the nearest soldier with a punch that lifted him off the ground and threw him backward into three others. Another one was raising his gun when Adam closed the distance and drove an elbow through the man's sternum. The soldier's eyes went wide and he tried to scream but only blood came out.
Everyone froze; Ooglok, the soldiers, the terrain police.
Because Adam's left hand was iron; actual iron. The mark on his shoulder was glowing blue like a star had come down and burned itself into his skin.
The mark of a god of war.
"What the hell…" Ooglok screamed, but Adam was already moving toward the water tank. His body now felt like a weapon.
Three soldiers with guns and training and desperation tried to stop him, but Adam moved through them like they were made of paper. A punch broke ribs. A kick sent a man flying. The third one managed to fire, but Adam's arm moved on instinct and the bullet caught his iron hand instead of his chest.
He reached the water tank just as Zooro began driving away, his iron hand gripping the edge as Zooro accelerated into the wasteland.
Then, Zooro turned and with fury, kicked him on the chest with his foot.
“Go to hell!”
Adam hit the ground hard and gasped, his birthmark already cooling as the truck disappeared into the horizon.
The sojourners of the valley descended on him with efficiency and ease, tied his hands and threw him in the back of their truck which smelled like sweat and copper.
Damn! Adam muttered again.
When he tried to activate the mark again, nothing happened. The power had burned itself out like a candle.
They drove into the flourishing city of Whumcastle and the sojourners sold him to the Emperor's merchant.
Now, Whumcastle was inhabited by humans and a race called the Black Warriors; who were led by a huge cyclops. The deal was whenever the cyclops was defeated in a fight, the Black Warriors would exit the city for the humans.
As he was dragged through the streets in chains, he saw her looking at him from a balcony above the street.
Princess Hilda, a woman with dark hair and eyes so beautiful it could make a god jealous.
What in God's name was she staring at? Adam thought out loud as he was pulled away into Emperor Snotlehon’s fighting arena.
The emperor sat at a far corner, but around him, the city had gathered, thousands of people pressed into the stands, waiting to witness a fight.
“Boy, the only way to gain your freedom is fighting the cyclop in that arena.” Emperor Snotlehon said unsmilingly.
You must be joking!
“And the only way you can save my people is defeating that cyclop in the arena.” Snotlehon added.
“What?... Are you using me as a saviour to redeem your people from this cyclops?”
“Fight, son…fight!!” Snotlehon snarled.
Adam felt for the birthmark, but it was gone. Whatever god of war had been living in him had gone quiet. He was just a mere prisoner now, about to die for the entertainment of an empire.
The cyclop in the arena smiled and cracked his knuckles.
"Come on, boy," The one-eyed warrior said. "Let's see how long you can last here."
The cyclops charged at him.
- Writer
