Chapter 1 - Branded

After countless days spent in misery, it was finally a nice day. I didn't have food, or shelter. I didn't even have a single penny in my pocket, but I was happy, and that's all that mattered. Happiness was something that I had not felt for a long ass time. You may think "Is this guy out of his mind? How can someone be happy in such crappy circumstances?" Well, happiness is very relative. Let me take you to a time where I had all the aforementioned things, but I was not happy at all. Let me take you 6 months prior to this.

                6 MONTHS AGO

"Hey kid! Yes, you! Join the line or I will beat the living shit out of you."

I looked up. Everyone else was standing in a straight line and there were guards all around us. I quickly moved and joined the queue. The boy standing in front of me was shivering, not of cold, but of fear. I wasn't shivering, but honestly, I was afraid too. We weren't afraid because they were going to do something bad to us, but because we didn't know what they were going to do with us. The fear of the unknown is the worst kind of fear, and the big iron gate, with haunting faces engraved on it, just made things worse.

After half an hour of waiting, the gate opened. I couldn't see much of what was inside, but what I saw didn't inspire much confidence. The hall looked pretty big and I could see huge machines inside. As we moved closer, the view became clearer and I came to a horrible realisation.

There was a lot of machinery inside, and even more slaves to operate it all, and soon, I was going to be one of them. Some of them were so old, they could barely walk. I didn't want to be like them, waste my whole life in that shithole, or worse, get sold off. People treat slaves real bad. I thought of what I wanted to do before all this, be an intergalatic pilot, explore this galaxy. Those were simpler days, days when dad was around and I didn't have to think about my own survival. But now, things have changed and the reality is that I am on the shitty planet of Mancipium, about to start my life as a slave.

The hallway seemed endless. We were walking for about 15 minutes and still couldn't see the end of it. We walked and walked and finally, we reached the end. There were two doors there and we entered the small one. The room we just entered was relatively smaller and darker than the hallway. The only light source in the room, a fire pit, was at the other end. There was a guy standing right in front of it, casting a giant shadow across the room.

As we moved towards him, I got a better look at him. He was a tall, well built guy, wearing an old black vest with rugged jeans. He was holding a big iron rod, with a stamp-like plate in the end. I immediately knew what was happening. There will be no turning back once this happened, I will stuck here forever. I thought of making a run for it, but then again, escaping this planet is not easy. Plus, there are many guards here and in the hallway, I will be dead before I reach the main door. My thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream. The branding had begun.

"Will I be stuck here forever now? My life has practically ended then." I thought.

"AHHH.."

"What about my friends? Oliver? Brandon?"
"What about… Lucy?"

"AAAHH!"

"No! There must be someway to get out."

"Who am I kidding? There is no way. There are thousands of slaves here on Mancipium, and noone has broken out and successfully returned to their former life. And remember, the penalty for escaping is death. It's better to live in misery than not to live at all."

"AAHHHH!!"

"NO! If there is no way, I will make a way. I have to get out of here."

"Hey Kid! HEY KID!!"

It was the guy who was branding people.

"Sit Down! It's your turn."

The hot iron plate touched the skin on my neck and it was the single most painful experience of my life. But in that pain, I found something. After the branding, I didn't only have a scar, I also had a path.

"I will get out of here. I don't know how, I don't know when, but I will." I thought and the journey began….