Most mornings, Cassius woke to the sound of silence. He would scrape his nails across his bedding or the walls just to hear something besides his own breathing. Those mornings would drone on until they delivered his breakfast. Toast, orange juice, and protein infused sausage. Sometimes it varied, but they liked to stuff him full in the morning and slowly dwindle it down to barely anything at dinner.

They didn’t starve him and they didn’t beat him. He was left on his own to keep himself occupied. The days would blur into one and when he would finally see someone, either Iza or Felix, he could feel the happiness stir inside him. It made him sick to be this okay with this arrangement. This life that he lived wasn’t humane, neither was it healthy for his mind. But to fight against it would make his situation worse. And really he didn’t have it that bad. He’d seen the homeless countless times when he was out on missions and what he saw was starvation, brutality, and disease. While he wouldn’t be turned out on the street, he could be sold into a worse fate.

The rumors he’d heard while growing up had backed him into a corner. There he was safe, guarded by the Capital and his SWARM. As long as he was a Tracker, he was living as a king amongst other Mekiah. Somewhere out there, Mekiah slaves were beaten and raped, treated like dirt. That could be him someday.

It could be.

His last night thoughts came back to him. It was confusing. A part of him was hesitant to risk the life he was living, but another—almost all of him—was demanding the risk of death. If things went wrong, he had the power to end it before the true pain could begin. It was an option he didn’t want to take but having it meant more than making futile promises of freedom.

This morning started normal. He woke to the silence and made some noise to ease his mind. Then he got up, took a piss, and waited for his breakfast. Maybe two hours after he woke, the slot in the metal door raised and a tray was placed on a small shelf underneath the opening. The skin of the person’s hand flashed for a second before it was yanked back. They worked fast to latch the slot back in place, leaving him no time to make a swift attack.

The footsteps were fast and disappeared in seconds.

They must have been new.

This mornings breakfast was the usual toast and sausage, but they’d given him milk and a small bowl of oatmeal. He curled his lip at the almost warm milk and gave it a small sniff. The smell was normal, but he poured it down the sink anyway. He filled it up with water, grabbed the tray, and sat on the bed with his back against the wall. He ate his toast dipped in the oatmeal and saved the sausage for last. After washing it all down with three glasses of water, he sat the tray back on the shelf.

The quiet morning slowly passed. It inched by like a snail and he could only spend the time with himself.

He was about to fall back to sleep when the slot opened and the tray was taken. Then, the metal door opened.

Felix was the face of the Exteru race. His light skin paired with his dirty blond hair and blue eyes were the staple of the Exterus. His features were unworldly, almost crafted by gods. He was probably a prized first son or at least a favorite in his family. Not only was he a beautiful Exteru, but he was also a skillful Exterminator.

The Exteru were obsessed with their looks. Cassius found the trait useless and annoying. His own bronze skin was like a slap to the Exterus face and even the Remu seemed to be put off by it. He guessed it was just a reminder of his heritage and the horrid past the Remu had suffered, but it was no excuse. But people had a hard time getting over tragedy and not all wounds healed.

“On your feet, Tracker. General Iza has requested you in his office in twenty minutes.”

Felix was dressed in all black, the color made darker by his light skin. He was broad build and not even the slimming color could trick the eye against that. Cassius’s eyes roamed on their own, interested but would never do anything. He’d get beaten to a pulp if he ever did.

He pulled himself from the safety of his bed. With his arms stretched out in front of him, he pretended to be disgruntled, but really, he couldn’t have been happier to get out of the room.

Felix fastened the chains. They weighed down Cassius’s arms, but the weight was familiar and not uncomfortable. It was a thing he was use to and when they were gone, it was like he was missing a piece of him. Cut from the scene, his mind floated and he could feel himself slipping from the moment. He felt weightless, a being that traveled through time and space without truly existing. These chains that bound him to this world and to Xtavia, forbid him from ever venturing into the unknown. There was something past the Veil, a world he dreamed of and thought about in the nights he spent alone.

Someday it would all come together. His dreams and reality would merge.

He was pulled like cattle from his cage, lead by the leash and Felix’s strong hand. General Iza rarely saw him and seeing as he already gave his report yesterday, it was a greater mystery why he was being escorted to Iza’s office. It made his stomach churn.

His life was more than predictable when he wasn’t out on a mission and when it was disrupted, it threw everything off balance. He wasn’t scared.

But if he was, he would have a damn good reason.