Eleven years later...
The outskirts were brimming with the Duke's soldiers. Under the scorching sun, several long queues formed by the Vulnerables shuffled forward,each clutching the little they had to offer the tax collector.
As the queue slowly advanced,a Marono soldier patrolled, carrying a long corrosive whip and mercilessly slashing it against the back of any Vulnerable who dared to step out of line.
An old frail voice suddenly sounded. Far at the front, everyone saw an old emaciated looking lady fall back in agony, her body was covered with fresh bruises and tears were leaking from her eyes.
"Is this what you offer the king!?" Gavin,the tax collector, bellowed with his eyes ablaze as he held up the iron bracelet the poor woman had presented.
The woman cringed back in terror,her body trembling as she squeaked:
"P-please,I-it's all I have. I don't have what you are asking for."
Gavin's red optics turned venomous. He hurled the bracelet away and suddenly began to approach her, cracking his whip against the ground with every step he took forward.
"After all the king is doing to you! Is this the way you show him gratitude?"
The woman meekly shook her head as she continued to drag herself backward until she eventually felt her back hit the wall. A second later, Gavin was standing over her,his half-human , half-machine face making him look like a beast. He instantly raised the whip in profound rage.
"You Vulnerables are nothing but a burden to yourselves! To your families and this kingdom as a whole!" Gavin's cybernetic voice sounded like a thunderbolt, causing most of the Vulnerables to shake with fear.
Wails of agony seeped through the woman's lips as Gavin's whip descended incessantly. Although many among the Vulnerables pitied her,none of them dared to look up let alone meet Gavin's gaze, fearing they could face the same torture themselves.
When the marshal's whip finally ceased raining,the poor Vulnerable woman crumpled to the ground and passed out instantly. Two Marono soldiers then came forward and carried her by the arms and dragged her into the Marono building.
"Stop looking," Khalid,a fellow vulnerable standing behind Omar cautioned in a low whisper. "You don't want to be taken to the dungeon too,do you?"
"What's going on ,Khalid? Any idea why they raised the taxes again?" Omar made sure to keep his head and voice as low as possible when he spoke.
" I heard that..." Khalid ceased talking just as a Marono soldier marched past. "...the Shadow Clan had struck again. They raided Elrida and took with them food supplies that can last the kingdom two good years."
Colorful neon lights streaked across the sky.
'The Evolving Rayans. That explains their presence.'Omar thought with wild excitement.
"...heard the king's sending them to Trazos to keep a lookout for the enemies. Rumors are saying they'll be attacking there next." Khalid told Omar.
Omar watched the figures soaring through the sky at lightning speed.
The queue shuffled forward and Omar quickly realized he was next to meet the tax collector. Slowly,he approached the cyborg's table and bowed.
Gavin sneered at the sight of Omar and gave a demanding look.
"What's your offering boy?"
Without saying anything, Omar brought out a small bag from his threadbare tunic and poured out everything it contained on the soldier's table.
"Your name?" Gavin said,his voice flat but his eyes lingered on the coins poured before him.
"It's for me and my sister: Omar Khan and Sofia Khan."
Gavin looked him up and down with a solid grimace. "Did you take the blood test?"
Omar felt his stomach lurch at such a question. However,he quickly pulled himself and said with little courage.
"Yes,my blood wasn't compatible with it. Er- sir..." He drew a heavy breath and continued " I took the test a year ago,I was wondering if I can retake the test...?"
"No one takes the test more than once," Gavin said sharply. "The test results are clear, you're not fit to serve. Next!"
***
Omar finally reached home and faintly knocked on the wooden door. A fraction of a second later,he heard sounds of feet on the floor and the door opened a crack. Large silver eyes could be seen looking at him belonging to a girl with long black hair parted in curtains around an oval and vibrant face.
The girl let a sigh of relief. "Thank God it's you."
"Were you waiting for someone?" Omar raised a questioning brow.
Sofia beamed just as she opened the door wider and stood aside to admit Omar to walk into the house.
"I was starting to get worried about you staying late, that's all." She said.
"You should be in bed by now." Omar said tightly.
She wanted to take it as a joke,so she giggled. But the stiff look on her brother's face told her it was far from being a joke.
"Oh come on," she groaned, rolling her eyes and she slammed the door before turning to Omar. "You don't think you can force a fourteen-year-old into bed,do you?"
Omar ignored her,walked to the table and uncovered a plate. His eyes nearly bulged at what he saw.
"I know, rice balls are your favorite. I cooked them myself." Sofia said behind him enthusiastically.
With a look of appreciation, Omar settled to have his meal. Almost immediately,he began to devour it right away, nearly the way a greedy urchin would. Sofia on the other hand watched him in endless thoughts, wriggling her hands under the table as she tried all her might to restrain herself.
At last ,Omar finally got fed up.
"Can you please stop staring? You're going to make me choke." Snapped Omar, becoming annoyed.
Sofia cleared her throat and sat straight. "I just want to talk to..."
Omar's voice cut her off.
"If it's about letting you keep that stray cat,no princess."
"No, it's more serious than that." She said grimly. There was a sudden grimness in her voice that made Omar stop and divert his attention to her.
"Omar," she drew a breath. "I am fourteen now,so I believe I am mature enough to make decisions and choices that I feel are good for me."
"What choices?"
There was an eerie silence.
"I've decided to run away from here, Omar." The way she said it told Omar she had been practicing her words. An uncomfortable silence echoed. Omar's face was expressionless as he stared at her. Sofia squirmed in her seat anxiously as she waited for him to speak.
"You're not serious,Sofia,are you?"
It was just as expected,he wasn't going to react,not until she made herself clear to him.
"We've discovered a path that leads to the other side of the..."
"We?"
"My friends,Jeanne and Adam, and I. We'd planned to leave tonight. Come with us,no one will have the slightest clue."
Once more, silence. Omar however was thrust into deep thoughts as he tried to take in all that Sofia had said.
'A secret path? What is she talking about? She is going to get herself killed if she gets caught.'
Sofia's heart on the other hand,was racing as she waited for her brother's response.
The response that came was so sharp it thrust deep into Sofia like a spear."No. I'm not going and so are you."
The very next moment, Sofia found herself standing on her feet,her pale face coloring up and her eyes ablaze.
"Why do you always have to say no to me automatically?"
"Because I am trying to protect you."
His voice was calm and soft as he spoke but it made her want to scream.
"No!" She cried. "It's because you are scared, Omar. You're scared to take a chance and leave this place behind!"
"Don't you dare raise your voice to me! I'm your older brother!" Said Omar with abrupt outburst, banging his fist on the table as he rose to full height.
Sofia flinched and stared,tears starting to trickle down her cheeks and her chest heaving.
"You're a coward and I hate you!" She blurted and stormed off to her room, taking her time to slam the door behind her as hard as she could.
Omar slumped in his chair, sighing heavily as he compelled himself not to think of what had just happened. He slowly moved to turn off the lights before retiring to his room.
As he lay on his bed,it occurred to him that ever since their mother had passed away a year ago,his bond with Sofia had grown weaker.
They argued almost every day because each of them always had a different opinion over everything. Sofia had grown up and metamorphosed from a sweet little girl into a defiant teenager who had no regard to her safety and no appreciation for how much he was trying to keep her safe.
The moments when Omar loved life were few, mainly because he'd grown up in misery. Just a few years after his father's death,their mother died of a sudden illness and ever since he was left to look after himself and his sister. He had once worked as a toilet cleaner to earn meager coins and was now working as a laborer in the underground mines.
He had developed so much hope for a better life,a life beyond the mines, a few months before he turned eighteen and had been about to take the blood test. Although very little amongst the Vulnerables passed the test,but those lucky ones who became a Rayan got to live a life far different from the ones the rest of the Vulnerables lived. A life of freedom and one where they didn't have to scrounge for food.
But all his dreams were shattered when the results came out.
"Your blood isn't compatible with the brazallium;you cannot become a Rayan." The doctor's words sounded in his ears again.
Omar winced at the thought of his blood unable to generate enough mutant cells to make him, at least,a mundane Rayan; the lowest in the Rayan hierarchy.
Shoving away his thoughts,he stood and walked to the window side, rummaged through a drawer and brought out a small wooden box. As he opened the box,a bright beam of blue light smacked his face, dazzling him for a few moments.
"Damn!" He swore. "Why can't I get used to this already?"
After regaining his sight,he continued to retrieve the box's only contents. It was the blue glowing metal his father had given him.
This was the only thing his father left behind for him; a useless shard of metal which, apart from the faint pitiful glow it emitted held no value at all.
On several occasions, Omar had considered selling it. However,he knew that no one among the Vulnerables would trade precious coins for a piece of garbage. Thus he had decided to hold onto it since it was the only thing that brought him back memories of his father.
Besides how many among the Vulnerables were lucky enough to inherit something? Majority had gone to their graves without leaving anything behind for their families.
He shrugged the thought off and began to twirl the glowing object around his hand, thinking about the incident that had just happened.While he was doing so,the metal's sharp edge slit the back of his hand open.
With a cry of pain,he instantly dropped the metal and began to moan in pain. To his dismay, blood was oozing out of the open wound and was dropping all over the place as he shook his hand in agony.
"That's it! I'm selling this stupid thing off first thing in the morning."
Just as he crouched to pick up the metal,it suddenly began to shake uncontrollably and it was glowing brighter than it had ever done before.
As the metal shook and glowed,a strange wave of energy began to fill the room and was starting to make it difficult for him to breathe. Moreover,the metal's glow was bright enough to blind someone but strange Omar's eyes remained wide and fixed on the metal.
Time suddenly seemed to have slowed in pace, almost to a standstill .
"Shit!"
BOOM!
The glowing metal suddenly exploded in a pillar of light. Not only did the force of the explosion caused the windows to burst outward,it lifted Omar off his feet and sent him flying across the room to collide with the adjacent wall.
His eyes felt weak and heavy.Even worse,his breathing grew harder difficult as the seconds passed while he lay on the floor.
But then suddenly,before his eyes closed completely, something blurry appeared before him and he heard a female cybernetic voice speaking in his head.
[System uploading...]
[System uploading...]
[Unable to bond with the host!]
[Unable to bond with the host!]
And then the world became darkness as he drifted out of consciousness.