Jinn lingered at the thought of that fragile moment—caught between cruel reality and dreams.
Yet a cold realization washed over him—if he were to stay trapped in the past and not face reality, his emotions would consume him and sorrow will only remain.
Jinn raised his head as he uncurled his body, wiping tears from his eye before it narrowed with conviction.
I must stay strong, for Nevi—and for my friends.
A singular thought that appeared in his mind.
Like a fire, it filled his entire body with motivation—the sorrow and pain that threatened his mind were burned, as the fires of conviction and responsibility remain.
Now that Amaron had realized Jinn was no longer trembling, he stepped forward before speaking.
"The operation is complete," He then stepped backward to give Jinn some space. "It might look shabby, but the arm should work as intended!"
Jinn's eye turned towards his synthetic arm, it does look shabby—evident by the small cracks, scratches, and dents across the mainframe.
He moved the arm around, turning it in all sorts of directions before curling his fingers to make a fist. The arm felt heavy in comparison with his normal arm, yet he knew that it would only take time to get used to the feeling of heaviness.
Despite its cons, the arm responded to his movements as intended.
"Not bad." Jinn muttered.
"Ah, I almost forgot!" Amaron extended his mechanical arms towards Jinn—an eye patch placed on his hands.
Upon seeing the eye patch, Jinn asked. "What's this for?" wondering why would he need it in the first place if both of his eyes are now healed.
Amaron leaned closer to whisper quietly on Jinn's ears "Wear this all the time, Jinn"
His voice is synthetic yet in a hush. "Remove it when you really need to use your other eye."
Amaron then placed the eye patch on Jinn's hand.
Jinn still had reservations towards Amaron but compared to others, he was the only one who seemed "genuine" in his actions towards him.
Still, he was curious as to what is the reasoning for such actions.
"Why would I need to hide my healed eye?" Jinn asked
Amaron took a look behind him before he leaned closer towards Jinn so he could whisper.
"Your other eye was not healed—instead—I replaced it with military grade tech lenses!."
He then continued.
"If Venedix or the other soldiers discovered I installed this, They'd beat me for sure!"
Jinn was still curious as to why Amaron did this, so he asked once more. "Wait, wait—then why did you install this thing on me in the first place?"
He tilted his head.
"You know what will happen, yet why did you still do it?"
"I don't know myself!" Amaron exclaimed as he scratched his head, fumes hissed as he moved.
"I-I must study further and research on this"
"Fine." Jinn sighed as he attached the straps of the eye patch at the back of his eyed. The eye patch fitted snugly on his eyes.
"Looks like you're all primed up and ready to go!"
Amaron's hand gave a stern thumbs up before continuing. "Why don't you try to walk around?"
Jinn slided off the operation table as he places both of his feeth at the ground.
He then walked around the room, even jogged briefly as he tested his knees.
"Now that I noticed, where are the other medics that worked with you earlier?" asked Jinn as he continued to walk around the room.
Amaron replied. "They left as soon as the operation had finished, I stayed around of course, just in case anything goes wrong"
Amaron looked at the data pad attached on his right arm, its subtle light shining upon his face.
"You must prepare yourself, Jinn—we are almost at the system of Zera."
His tone became serious.
"It'll just be a few more moments before we arrive on Juggernot."
Jinn's eyes sharpened as he heard those words.
Thanks to Vox's ramblings and lectures, Jinn was able to recognize Juggernot to which is basically the homeworld of the empire of Zeraf. And there, him and his friends shall stand trial in the fields of torture and pain as slaves.
"You should rendezvous with your friends—little Jinn" Amaron placed his hand on Jinn's shoulder.
"You and your friends must prepare yourselves"
Jinn's eyes narrowed, "You don't even need to tell me." before he started to walk towards the exit of the room.
For a brief moment, he stopped on his tracks as he looked at Amaron, turning his head, and looking from his shoulders.
"For a robot—you seem to be a nice guy" Jinn remarked before nodding briefly.
"Thanks."
Despite being reserved to those he does not know, Jinn always had a keen eye on people who act genuinely, whether it be good or bad.
In the case of Amaron, he genuinely seemed to care for him.
Yet this very reason confused Jinn. Why would Amaron—a scientist from the empire of Zerafhon, cared for him?
An answer he would find out in the future no doubt.
With a final gesture, Amaron raised one of his hands to make into a fist, fumes hissing at the side of his forearms.
"Show them who you are, Jinn"
Jinn then stepped outside the door and to his surprise, a soldier was standing idly at the corner, seemingly waiting for him.
The soldier approached as soon as he saw Jinn.
"I was ordered to escort you to the slave quarters—child." The soldier looked down at Jinn before walking towards a direction while adding.
"Follow me."
Without argument, Jinn followed the soldier, their steps echoing down the bright hallway.
As they continued to walk, Jinn could see an entourage of soldiers, along with individuals wearing intricate clothing.
The entourage seemed to be following a young girl, eerily pale skin, jet black hair, and opal like eyes.
Jinn stared at the young girl as he walked before being caught by her eyes. He averted his gaze immediately as he looked at the floor.
Him and the soldier continued to walk until they were stopped by another soldier.
Jinn looked up to see the young girl walking towards him, her gaze sharp and predatory.
"Soldier, answer me as to why a Rinari filth is present at the upper levels of the ship?" asked by the soldier blocking their way.
The soldier accompanying Jinn gazed at the soldier briefly before answering. "That is confidential information, now we will be on our way." the soldier's hand pulled Jinn's arm as they started to walk.
"Stop."
A single word came out of the young girl's mouth—made the soldier holding Jinn collapse to the ground as if gravity was pressing down on him.
"I never knew…"
The girl circled around Jinn, like a predator stalking its prey.
"That there would be other children like me—on this ship."
Jinn gazed back, his eyes narrowed.
"I'm pretty sure there are thousands of children like me being held captive here—you must be mistaken."
The soldier being pressured by the young girl's power—spoke up.
"M-My lady! I was asked by lady Venedix herself to escort him!"
The soldier's fingers curled as the pressure upon him started to get unbearable.
The young girl's eyes widened upon hearing Venedix's name—then narrowed as she looked back at Jinn.
"Venedix herself?"
"Hmm…" the girl hummed before releasing her energy on the soldier. "You may go."
The soldier then immediately got up before yanking Jinn's arm. "Come on boy!" dragging him away as they both walked.
The young girl's eyes continued to look at Jinn before they disappeared.
"Interesting…a boy that has the same energy as Venedix?"
Her eyes glowed as she inspected Jinn's energy aura within him..
Jinn followed the soldier down the long hallway until they reached an elevator—both of them stepping inside.
Jinn turned his eye at the right to see a panel with a vast assortment of buttons—floor levels it must be.
With a subtle click, the soldier pressed the button located at the lowest part of the panel.
The elevator whirred as Jinn could feel it descended multiple levels.
As the elevator descended, Jinn wanted to ask who the girl from earlier was—yet he was very sure the soldier wouldn't answer him, so he decided to stay quiet the whole elevator ride.
After a while, the elevator stopped with a loud thud before opening.
"We have arrived—slave"
The soldier glared at Jinn before forcefully pushing him outside the Elevator—Jinn's body fell to the ground with a thud.
"Asshole"
Jinn muttered to himself before he stood up—the soldier was long gone as the elevator closed—before rising once again.
"You good kid…?" said by a mysterious voice, making him flinch and turn around—to find a vast amount of people around.
These must be the other slaves thought Jinn, evident by the raggedy clothes of the individuals.
To his surprise, he could as well spot other races other than the Rinari.
Yet all of them shared one expression—the expression of defeat and despair, as if their souls had been taken from them.
This is the reality of war, the strong are the predators while the weak are the prey.
Jinn's mind remembered Venedix's words—the cruel reality of war—living examples present in front of him.
As the faces of distraught were evident on the faces of the slaves, a contrasting scene appeared in front of him.
Jinn's eyes could see six small figures rushing towards him, each of their faces varied yet all of them had one singular feeling inside them—the feeling of relief as they saw Jinn, healed.
"Jinn!" exclaimed Kain as he reached Jinn, huffing before continuing ."Your arm…"
Vox, who couldn't contain his excitement, touched Jinn's synthetic arm. "I can't believe it!" his eyes widened as he fixed his glasses. "It's a NeuroLink synthetic arm!"
"Glad they managed to heal you, Jinn," Orin added before looking at Jinn's eye patch. "Bummer that they couldn't save your other eye."
Jinn skipped the topic as he knew that his eye must be kept secret, even to his friends—as he knew—some are not so tightlipped, his gaze looking upon Kain.
Jinn's eyes then narrowed before speaking. "It seems that we are nearing our destination—Juggernot"
Vox's eyes widened "Juggernot..." his heart started to beat fast, "So it's time."
Silence fell over the group as they exchanged glances. Some were anxious, while others stood firm—resolve evident in their expressions.
Trying to break the serious mood, Kain pulled one of Jinn's arm.
"Come Jinn! I'd like to introduce you to—"
Yet a loud bang came from the descending elevator—interrupting Kain's words.
The elevator hissed open before revealing multiple soldiers escorting to what seemed to be a high ranking soldier based on his intricate clothing.
"Prepare yourselves slaves!" exclaimed the officer before raising his hand to gesture—commanding the soldiers.
The soldiers then began to round up the slaves to shackle them, chaos began to fill the area as many started to resist.
"So it begins..." Jinn muttered, steeling himself with resolve.