There was no more conversation; I had given the prisoner the answer he wanted, and he seemed to have little interest in me after that. It wasn’t long before he was like the others- blank and listless, slumped back against the wall. I couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or simply ignoring me.

What I knew was the woman next to me was whimpering in her sleep, her shallow breaths beginning to wheeze. My heart ached for her, and I wished there was something I could do- but even if I had my hands or my sight, healing someone so far gone would come at too high a cost. Disgusted and resigned, I closed my eyes and let my head thump back against the rough stone wall.

Time passed brutally slowly. My wrists became numb, and the feeling began to creep up my arms. My jaw ached, dull throbs in my hands and knees from scraping across the floor. I tried to keep my breaths slow and even, to keep my pulse steady and limit the pounding of my head.

My forced calm shattered as a heavy, metallic clang sounded from outside the dim cell. The clangs continued in a rhythmic rattle, growing closer until a flashlight illuminated the dim chamber- and the forms of several people. Their leader was the source of the noise, a heavy club in his hand trailing over the bars of the cell as he walked. He stopped at the door of the cell. I couldn’t make out details, too blinded by the light, but I could make out the man retrieving a ring of keys from his belt and spinning them around his fingers with a clatter of metal.

The sound was like an alarm for the other prisoners. For the first time they all seemed to come to life, rousing from their lifeless stupor. I almost had hope- but it was quickly clear they were stimulated by fear, cringing back against the wall. The chains rattled as they all attempted to move away from the door, even my sightless ‘friend’; only the sick woman at my side didn’t respond, too lost to whatever illness plagued her. Murmurs filled the air, begging for mercy in whispered, desperate prayers that their suffering would finally end.

The pleas for death made my blood run cold, my teeth clenched tightly over the leather gag. I was the only one who kept my head raised, my eyes burning into the man at the front of the group as he slowly opened the cell door. It screeched against the stone, the dragging metal spitting sparks, and then his heavy boots stomped across the floor.

As he came closer, I could make out more of his features. The man wore a dark blazer over a simple grey shirt, the long sleeves rolled up over slender forearms; the symbol of the alchemists was embroidered on the left side of his chest. The sight of it was enough to heighten my fury, my eyes narrowing as he wedged his club under the chin of the prisoner closest to him, forcing their face up.

He looked over the shivering woman for a moment before clucking his tongue and shaking his head; he released her, the woman falling back against the wall with choked sobs. “It’s going to be a slow night if this is the best we’ve got.” Disgust dripped from his silken voice, any appeal it could have ruined by the sneer on his face.

The alchemists justified abusing us by claiming we were inhuman- but there was nothing human in his cold, calculating brown eyes as the man judged how much each prisoner would be worth on the market.

The man continued down the line of prisoners, checking them one by one; of the seven before me, two of them were dragged away screaming by guards wearing heavy bulletproof vests with shimmering accents of spell-proof charms. My hands were in tight fists behind me as the man stopped, staring down at the woman suffering next to me.

“Disgusting,” he huffed, nudging the woman with the steel toe of his boot, heedless of how she whimpered in pain. Her hair was pasted to her face with sweat, her whole body racked with deep shivers- but he looked at her as if she was an inconvenience, a pest that had snuck into his home. “What is it?”

The beam of the flashlight held by one of the remaining guards swung up, illuminating a metal plaque fixed to the wall between the bolts holding the woman’s chains. “128,” the guard said, his tone flat and inflectionless.

A slim woman stepped forward from behind the hulking guards; her sharp and narrow face was underlit by the glow of a tablet, her long finger flicking over the screen in short motions like turning pages. “A class five elementalist with a specialty in-”

“Doesn’t matter.” The man cut her off, and his casual tone horrified me as he said, “Leave it be- it’s worth as much dead as alive.”

I couldn’t help the soft snarl that tried to claw past my gag, my jaw aching from the pressure of clenching my teeth. It was only a soft, muffled sound- but it was enough to drag the man’s attention away from the ailing woman.

His gaze slid over me, like a sickening touch against my skin as his critical eyes took me in. “This one seems fresh. What is it?”

Again, the flashlight flickered above my head, a look of confusion coming over the guard’s face as they all realized I wasn’t bound to the wall. The administrative woman’s eyes widened, taking a step back to hide herself behind the guards again. The man in front of me didn’t seem scared, though- a sharp interest suddenly flooding his eyes.

He bent down slightly, shoving the blunt end of his club under my chin. Despite how I strained to keep my head down, I was inevitably forced to look up at him, tears welling in my eyes as the club pressed into the soft underside of my jaw. “Ah, I got a report that the boys brought in a rare specimen last night, must’ve been you. Too soon for you to have been properly processed into the system… but that’s alright. Been a while since we’ve had something as special as you. Don’t want something like you sitting on the shelf for long, or you’ll start to lose value.”

The guards shifted, restless and fearful, as I ground my teeth against the leather gag. The man’s gaze grew thoughtful as he looked at me. “Heard you ran my boys on quite the chase for a couple weeks. Pretty talented… for a filthy little arcanist. I’m sure that’ll at least double your price, so long as we make sure you’re properly fettered.”

All of the venom I couldn’t spit from my lips infused my heated glare as I looked up at the man. My wrists chafed and burned as I pulled against the hold of the shackles, wanting nothing more than to wrap my hands around the man’s neck and watch that vile, gloating look from his eyes.

His smirk grew as if he could hear my thoughts, the man’s club shoving harder against my chin to push my head back. “Take this one too,” he ordered, shoving my head back against the wall; I couldn’t breathe, the pressure of the club constricting my throat, but I refused to let him see me squirm.

It only made him chuckle, relenting as he pulled the club away from me. Amusement filled his gaze as he stepped back and gestured for one of the guards to fetch me. My nerves were alight with agony as he dragged me to my feet; my arms and legs were numb from being in the same position for too long, becoming full of irritating pins and needles as my blood flowed.

The guard grabbed the short chain between my cuffs and yanked, my whimper not quite making it past the gag as it wrenched my arms painfully backwards. Tears clung to my lashes as I fought to keep strength in my trembling knees, knowing it would only grow more painful if I collapsed.

“To the surgical theater, boss?” The guard’s voice was gruff behind me, deep and grating.

The well-dressed man scoffed, looking at the guard with indignant disbelief. “You want to destroy half his value?” He shook his head, eyeing me again. “We could sell him in pieces, and it might be easier on us than dealing with a potentially dissatisfied buyer if that thing were to attempt to revolt. But a pretty little thing like that, with that kind of power?”

He made a low sound of greed and anticipation. “No, he’s bound for much greater things. There’s an auction tonight, boys.” The man rubbed his hands together, an eager grin showing perfect white teeth; it was eerie and unsettling, but nothing compared to his delighted tone as he said, “And we’ve just found our main attraction.”