Chapter 7; Freedom

"Its been so long but maybe it hasn't. I have no way of telling time in this wretched place. Strangely, the more tests I undergo the better I feel. I am physically and mentally superior to my former self but what good is that. I am just a slave whose worth is determined by the tests I survive. I'm sick of this. I will get out of here eventually. My story will not end here." Milas thought for what was probably the thousandth time since his capture.

Time flowed like an endless river but ever since the day of his enslavement Milas felt lost in its turbulence. The one thing he was grateful for was the mere fact that he was alive. At times Milas felt like his slaver was not doing any experiments but outright trying to kill him. Despite these obstacles, Milas knew that the tests were improving him. Light pierced his eyes as the door to his cell swung open. The most painful thing was that the door was never locked. The figure just tells him to go sit in his cell and he becomes powerless to resist. The light from the torch fell on his thin figure. Milas had only had raw meat to eat. Water was given to him once per day in a small wooden cup.

"Get up it's time for the assessment." The same voice that brought him all this misery said. Milas unwillingly stood up as heat built up for every second he delayed. He had learnt that the enslavement contract was called a blood seal and was unique to vampires. Disobedience causes the blood to heat up till it feels like magma. Worst of all was that the damage dealt by the heat was very real. The thoughts of the times he stupidly tried to push past the pain made him shudder. He refocused and found that he had walked into a large, pure white room with several tables that were filled with numerous equipment. A bed with multiple straps was in the middle of the room.

"Go lay down on that bed with the straps." Milas half-heartedly followed the command. "Don't forget to strap yourself in." The voice said as the figure stopped at a table to pick some equipment.

The figure approached Milas with a long and thin knife in one hand and a plain piece of paper in the other. He then cut Milas' arm slightly and let the blood drip on one corner of the paper. He then quickly cut himself and dripped his blood on the opposite corner. Milas watched the paper turn dark purple on his corner and pitch black on his captor's corner. The two colors met in the middle and a power struggle ensued as each color tried to consume the other. The purple was slowly but surely converted to black.

The figure rushed to get another paper leaving an afterimage in his wake. Seconds passed and the figure returned with a piece of paper and small vial of blood. He repeated the same process as before but he used the blood from the vial instead of his own. The same scene replayed itself but this time the purple color took over most of the paper leaving only a small patch of black. The figure trembled but Milas couldn't tell if it was fear or any other emotion as he always wore a black mask.

"IT WORKS!!! IT FREAKING WORKS!!! This is the best day of my life!" The figure screamed in joy with his voice sounding close to sobbing. "Seventy years of continuous failures but this result is well worth it. Let's see if I'm no longer worthy in the eyes of that old man. Denying me my birthright just cause I lost to my younger brother. With this, I can make an army strong enough to conquer the Darklands."

The crazy ranting ended abruptly as the figure stared at Milas like he was was the rarest treasure in existence. "You Milas are my lucky charm. You are the first of my creation and shall ensure that no one can take you away."

He placed his hand on Milas' head and ordered him not to resist. A new energy entered Milas'body through his head and he felt strangely energized. The energy filled his body and he reached his limit. His body felt like it was about to burst from the excess energy. Pain took the reigns as Milas felt his body body continuously break apart and rebuild itself. The pain made him vomit but all that left his mouth was blood. The amount of it scared him as he expected to die from blood loss. The crimson waterfall gushed from his mouth with no end in sight. Blood pooled on the clean floor after it ran out of space on the bed.

The pain lessened and the fountain of blood came to a halt.

"How is this possible? I don't know if this is good or bad. You resisted the turning but I can still feel the faint bond. Your scent has changed too. It's like you are stuck between being a vampire and a subclass." The man stopped talking as he seemed to be thinking of something. "This might be exactly what I need. My enemies won't be able to tell which family you belong to. Even better, they won't know what you are. Hahahaha!!! My genius is unparalleled."

The figure kept scanning Milas as if he couldn't wait to cut him open and reveal his secrets. A buzzing sound came from the within figure's clothes and he pulled out a crystal. The shape of which was a hemisphere that had multiple patterns etched allover its surface. The figure pressed the flat side of the fist sized crystal and clanging sounds immediately filled the quiet room. The image of man appeared on the crystal surface.

"My prince, I'm relieved to see that you're safe. The shelter is under attack by a large force. The area is surrounded and the king ordered me to warn you so you can use the tunnels to escape. He said that it is important that a desendant lives. You have t...." The message was interrupted when an arrow impaled itself into the man's forehead. Prince Octavian took off the mask to reveal a young and handsome face. He unstrapped one of Milas' hands then said, "Go back to the cell and wait for me there. I have to retrieve something first."

The prince turned into a blur as he sped off to do whatever he planned. Milas freed himself but was forced to go to his cell by the contract. He shut the door behind him and stood there in the dark with only his thoughts to keep him company.

"Well that and those two cockroaches crawling on the floor. Wait two cockroaches? Oh shit, I can see in the dark. This is amazing. This is... this... this is pointless cause I'll be dead or enslaved if I survive." Milas' mood dampened when he remembered his current situation. Pain suddenly came from the imprint left by the contract on his chest. He suddenly felt like a blockade that he never knew existed had opened. Milas opened the door of the cell and walked with no pain at all.

He couldn't believe it. He was finally free.