Chapter Seven

The blast of light, which had obliterated the facility and the mountain where ancient history ONCE resided, barely left the atmosphere of the tomb-like world. But the destructive force was not to be underestimated. Without warning, the tomb-like planet was swathed in light, and with it, a destructive fall of ancient relics and chunks of the glorious mountain reduced to giant chunks of rubble.

But there was a greater aspect that came with the human's awakening, far more important than a simple planet-bound meteor shower. One of which the mortal beings of the Andromeda galaxy simply didn't even have the means to perceive. As the residual energy exploded forth from the forgotten planet like a whole new Big Bang, it carried with it... a message.

It wasn't at all like a message which the humans would use. How this message was meant to be heard wasn't with the listener's ear but with their very soul: the part of them that made them... them. As this wave carried on into the galaxy, striking all those who would listen, it spoke no words; only... meaning.

Untold millions, perhaps even billions, of planets had this powerful broadcast of news wash over each and every one of the diverse alien species that made of this tormented galaxy's population.

And while one would think that would be a far enough distance, after travelling untold light-years to spread its word, even then, it was not enough to warn the galaxy of what had just occurred.

Only two beings had both the blessing and curse of learning of what event had just transpired and only one of them bothered to understand its significance.

A Beowulve, currently enslaved underneath the brutal banner of the Unasance Guild, was not that person. As he slept in a dark cell, unable to move past a point of six feet thanks to chains of immeasurable strength holding every limb of his tight, there were much more urgent matters to worry about. To the mysterious Beowulves, honour was placed above all else, which meant that escape and open defiance to his dreadful captors was his ONLY priority.

Rather than concentrating on a fleeting feeling that was equal measures dreadful as it was hopeful, the captive Beowulve thought it better to only better to continue thrash about the chain in a feral attempt to shatter the unbreakable. Not one person could catch even a wink thanks to the sounds of pure, animalistic rage that screamed out for a fight and freedom... exclusively in that order.

To the outside eye, it may have seemed like not even a trace of dignity existed within the heart and soul of such a rare, powerful, and monstrous being who called itself Beowulve. But to the patient, observing eyes of a Uniscen Lowborn, who was just barely above the status of slave thanks to her birth alone, she knew that was not the case.

But it was because of that fearsome reputation he built that meant it was up to only her to calm the great beast down.

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"VRRRREEETACKI VRIMALIA!"

The deep gargle in the barbaric alien's howl of fury rang out in the dead of night like a lit cannon in a library. The ashamed warrior would not give even a second of a wait before he followed up on that alien oath. The sound of a chain nearly being pulled out of the bottom cold iron ground in a cell came next, and somehow, that was even louder. The tired moans of slaves, barely surviving as is off the bare minimum of sleep allowed by their harsh master, came next, giving the air a ghastly sound. But the Beowulve, deep down and locked by himself, did not hear the pathetic and piteous tone.

He couldn't hear them, but even if he could... he wouldn't care at all.

He was going to do it again.

Please, not again, Buuth...

"HANKAAAA! NITU, ITCHU KRAK! E TUNCTURE VRO-TUUM-BROOH!"

PleeEASE, no, Buuth..!

The sound of metal creaking painfully rang in the ears of not only the slaves this time around but their Uniscenian masters as well, the bending of metal being loud enough that it reached even the lavish office of the Head Minister himself.

No Uniscen barrack was spared the just recently daily nocturnal disturbance. No high-up Foreman or lowly guard, servant or even slave escaped the audio torment. No matter how far apart they were separated by their social classes, every denizen of Zeidan IV reacted the same way: loud, exasperated groaning.

This is exactly what Yen-jur did, only she was the only one who didn't bother throwing a hard pillow over their ears to try and make it through yet another one of the Beowulve's commotion. Rubbing her hands down her sharp, oval features, she had to ignore just how fatigued she felt from the hard day of work behind as she now had to deal with... this.

The Uniscen Lowborn, with her scaly dark-brown palms, rubbed her eyes and saw a million little suns explode into existence as she forced herself awake, already knowing what was going to happen next. First, she pushed off the thin standard-issue blanket that barely, if at all, helped conserve some of her reptilian body heat in the desolate tundra world she was assigned to. With a weak moan of displeasure that comes with denying yourself the desire to fall back into the warm embrace of your blankets, she had to slowly sling her legs over the side of the tall bunk. "Urghhhh..."

Her half-lidded eyes spoke volumes about just how much she didn't want to do this. Oh, why did it have to be me that calmed Buuth down before? It's... Even her thoughts were paused as her flat, dark beak opened up in a wide yawn. It's soo unfair! We Lowborns have it rough already.

The light from the artificial and natural light outside illuminated the ladder that she had to go down before many-a-time before. The daunting height only made her already-sore muscles groan internally some more. Getting the worse part over with, she ran her hands over her mostly bald head, pushing back a few disgruntled feathers and her two large droopy, triangular, and almost bat-like ears away from her squinted and currently dull eyes.

None too pleased with her circumstances already, she started grumbling and rambling curses upon the Beowulve as she passed by countless of her condoling friends and tired yet supportive servants. She felt a weak slap on her shoulder as she passed by the twentieth bunk containing her good friend, Ged-hio. "Good luck out there." He flipped onto his other side right afterwards, putting his single blanket over his entire body. "Try not to get smushed like the others, huh?"

Irked by that, she rolled her eyes before pushing his limp body gently over before continuing downward past multiple other friends that offered the same sort of advice alongside their pity.

Going down the ludicrous long ladder that she had to go up AND down every time she needed to go somewhere, she slowly but surely got down to the floor where she plopped down the last set of rungs. Her short frame meant that she barely made a sound when she fell onto her two straight legs, much to the joy of everyone on her bunk just about to fall asleep again.

Even she felt like she could've fallen asleep standing up, her exhaustion getting to her that badly. Until, without warning, her last bit of left-over sleep vanished when Buuth decided to just rip on the chain with no warning. Afterwards, everybody started groaning loudly, the illusion of sleep being all but shattered for everyone at that point. A tired chorus urged her onwards to her task at hand, though because she had heard this a million times before, she took her time simply cracking her back before hunching over immediately after.

The skinny female Uniscen shivered as the last of her body heat finally left her body, which meant that apart from the thin undergarments that covered the essentials, she was left victim to the wind that made it through the poorly insulated barrack. "BBBrrrr..." Making her way through the hundreds of aisle containing likewise disgruntled souls, the sound of her dry feet slapping against the cold brick could be heard between the intervals of chains straining in the distance. Just need to touch up, and I'll be ready to go... Looking over her shoulder and out the window, she could already see a coalition of guards stomping their way over. Crap. Better hurry.

Picking up the pace, she finally made her way to the lockers where her uniform was hung. When she was assigned to the other barracks to finish the various sorts of chores tasked, she had seen that the guards had their own locks, some of the higher-ups even needing a hand scanner to open them up. But in her very own barrack, they had no such luck. There was no such protection for their personal items, which meant that they were at the full mercy of their Foremen, something that was abused regularly.

Half-heartedly swinging open the squeaky metal door, she grabbed the thankfully thick coat that would probably feel like heaven after being frozen out of her bed for so long. But as she looked back at the window nearby, noticing that the group of guards coming to get her were nearly there, she felt her face begin to heat up when she noticed a certain somebody bumping into his comrades. Oh, no! How'd HE get assigned here?! Uum... Uum..! "Ah, the coat can wait!" Jumping in front of the only mirror in the whole barrack, she quickly did a double check on her presentability.

She was a humble soul at heart, so she never really considered herself 'beautiful' as one would think. But she knew from boys and girls in her birth city constantly vying for her attention that there must've been SOMETHING to her. That was before I got snatched away... It had been long enough since that happened to her that it was nothing more but a dull poke in the back of her mind now. I can barely remember the face of my parents.

Shaking her head clean of those useless memories now, she began her self-imposed check-up. First, she opened up her eyes as far as the squinted orbs her species was known for could, which was barely anything. Because of that, the typical eyes in a Uniscen were practically just black orbs. There seemed to be no wrinkles or residue from her cleaning job, so she started checking up on the rest.

Making her thin yet large, triangular ears go up and down and even slapping the sides of her parrot-like head a few times, she sighed in quiet relief, which made the very few feathers decorating her barren head relax. She assured her nerves that they were clean as clean could be, making her sigh in relief as those were what Uniscens looked at the most to differentiate themselves from others. Because of the lack of sexual dimorphism between the males apart from their sex and size, there was NOTHING more important for a Uniscen than maintaining the one unique thing they had, that being their special ears.

To the untrained eye, walking into a camp of the Unisance Guild was almost like walking into a camp of clones of different sizes and colours. But the Uniscen knew exactly what to look for, and it was because of that that simply looking at one's ears and judging their current state was enough to judge your social standing. Thank the Protectors... Well, surely there can't be anything with a double-double check. This time, she leaned in close enough to see the very veins in the triangular flaps attached to her undecorated head. She sighed again, pushing back on the sink below her and splashed her face with the dirty water that came out. It's good enough, I guess. Good enough...

Chopping her flat, parrot-like beak a few times, she ensured that the teeth inside the protective beak were clear of the muck they decided to call food. Just in time, too, for as she gave the dirty mirror and her reflection a thumbs up with her curved, clawed reptilian thumbs, both the door to their barracks and the nearby chains shackling down the Beowulve slammed hard enough to ring her ears. "EEP!" The entire bunkroom, even those at the very end of the extremely large complex housing all the lower standing people, went quiet when the escorts came in.

As her young heart just slightly began to pound in nervousness, she was thankful that she wasn't like the various alien species held here against their will. Because of her Uniscen biology and her unusually chocolate-coloured scales, her blank face barely revealed signs of her anxiety concerning her crush nor the fear she felt seeing the higher ranking group stomping over her. Their expressions clearly showed they were in no mood for games, and that was made very apparent as some of the larger males with chipped ears sneered down at her.

No matter how confident she felt about her appearance, she couldn't help but slightly cower at their presence. If it weren't for the fact that she may have become one of the most important people in this camp just a few months ago, she would've shrunk down to half of her already small size being eyed up this intensely, especially since it was by those higher than her in the hierarchy. But thankfully, the very man she was preparing for stepped forward with a shine in his eyes, making her let out a breath of relief she didn't even know she was holding in. "Well, well, well. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't nice to see you again."

Oh, by the Protectun. OH..! The timid and shy Yen-jur felt her mouth clam up instantly, and all she could do was stammering mindlessly at the nameless guard she had become infatuated with from the moment she set her eyes on him. Thankfully, before things could become too awkward for every party involved, one of the older guards slapped the back of his head. "Come on, Gref-fin! Can we just get this shit over with or WHAT?! I swear, ever since we got that damn Beowulve we haven't got a single WINK in months! If we move fast with this jurnari trash, we might be able to get a few hours in. I've been assigned training detail AGAIN and I need SLEEP!"

Yen-jur was still in such a state of jubilation that she both didn't perceive the slur and the pain of her harshly tugged arm as she was forcefully pulled out of the barracks. His name is Gref-fin! YES. YYYEEEEESSSS! I finally figured it out. I am SO going to hang this over Yung-jir's head! He stammered as well, though it wasn't as wholesome as the reasoning behind Yen-jur's as he followed behind them. "Y-yes, sir. L-let's move it!"

As he spoke, she was ripped out of her flustered mind and, as the door was blasted open once more, harshly thrown outside, onto the frozen ground below. Groaning at the pain that awoke in her rigid knees being slammed onto the ground like the trash most of her people were treated like, she was right back into the harsh world laid beyond the hard walls of her resting place.

As she looked up and saw the far-off alien sun rising over the crooked mountains, she once again found herself in the main courtyard in the biggest slave camp the Unasnace Guild held in this quadrant of the galaxy.

She yelped in slight fear when she felt a hard metal boot kick her rump, making her explode onto her wobbling legs. The assumed captain didn't relent as she soon felt the hilt of a standard-issue pistol poke her spine. "Move it, girl!" She didn't bother looking back as she promptly moved forward. Before, she might've tried to argue for her case, but now, as everyone in the camp realized, once their local Beowulve got like this, there were only two ways to take care of him.

That meant that if they didn't want to spend an entire day wrangling the armoured behemoth around, they had to rely on her, which meant that she was technically safer than 70% of the camp here. But I know what they do to disobeyers... all too well. "Y-y-yes, sir!" Her pathetic mewl was only met acknowledged by a gruff grunt as she kept moving forward.

Forward into the pits of despair.

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"QQQQQUUUURRREAILLAI!"

She had been walking for a good while now, the distant sun only just peeking over the mountain's honestly scary tips now adorned the peak of Mt. Semt like a cherry atop a grim, stony cake. Even the soldiers behind Yen-jur couldn't help but slow their pace down as the spectacle stunned the gruff and rude guards into contemplative silence. They continued along their way on the gravel road, the more sophisticated and refined stone roads of the courtyard decreasing in quality the further they approached the area where the slaves were housed.

With a grimace, Yen-jur tried her hardest to ignore the tell-tale cries of woe as the Beowulve's efforts ripped the exhausted prisoners from their only escape in their new hellish reality. Once again, she knew she failed as tenser her shoulders got. 'Stored' more like. I'm not even sure they get beds like we do...

There were many things they didn't get, as the thought started to expand in Yen-jur's mind. As she walked around with hard boots and thick pants protecting her bare legs from the cold sting of the tundra morning, she would slaves of all sorts wearing either rag that flapped aimlessly on hopeless shoulders... or nothing at all. Where her eyes were starting to show signs of life once more after walking in the brisk weather, she couldn't help but stare deeply and sadly into the blank expressions of the various races captured and brought here to their slow doom.

As the roll call began and hundreds, if not thousands, of different races, were lined up to make sure they were all accounted for, she made a few noticeable observations.

They all ranged in different sizes and utilities, each one PRECISELY chosen for a very specific purpose. From the hundreds of small and barely detectable Kobils, it was their small stature, rabbit-like breeding speeds, and fanatical determination in WHATEVER they did make them amazing assets for the Unasance Guild... who were HIGHLY expendable. Oh, there're times where I still have to clean out the cracks between our bricks. Just remembering the slimy sensation of coagulated blood on her standard-issue cleaning cloth made a wave of nausea nearly ruin her last supper.

But that was soon not a problem. Because as Yen-jur went past both old and new faces, sometimes going past an alien she didn't know existed before, she meant the second strongest being in her camp.

All the way to the gigantic hydra-like-beings of glamourous white and brown scales, the Hidrigs, their four legs and strong two arms holding them FAR above their Uniscenian captors in terms of stature and physical strength. Due to being unbelievable levels of famine, 'obideince training,' and overall lack of nourishment, many felt and looked like they were mere cowering shadows of their former selves. But back on her home planet, her blessed place of birth, there were times where she managed to catch glimpses of portraits showcasing these beings, not as slaves but artists and paragons.

She was amazed to see that there were a few who still dared to stare down at her kinsmen with contempt, the fire in their eyes yet to be extinguished. She stopped in her spot as she marvelled at one of the bigger Hidrigs, the two making eye contact as the giant serpent dared to look away from the Foremen barking cruel insults and orders.

While he didn't scowl at her, almost like he understood that they may be kindred spirits, he did not show even a moment of weakness or empathy to her plight. It was clear that even now, even as his ribs were starting to show as his impressive musculature faded away with the unrelenting wear and tear that came with rough servitude, he was still nowhere near being broken.

Though that wasn't to say that the Guild did not try their best to do just that. A Foreman noticed this dismissive attitude and promptly thrust a shock baton up into the proud chest of the Hidrig. The magnificent S-curve posture crumpled almost immediately as the long body fell to the ground with a thump that pushed up dust. As he tried getting back up, more Foremen from other roll call lines ran over and joined in on the abuse, shouting all sorts of horrible things and demands.

Yen-jur took note that even as she was pushed away as well and the great being was repeatedly shocked for his misdeeds, struggles and defiance, the last thing she saw was his unfaltering grimace. Wow...

Without even realizing it, that simple act planted a seed in her spirit. But just like all seeds, they needed nourishment and proper tilling to effectively grow. And if the Low-born's spirit of rebellion was a garden, it would be drier than any desert back on Earth. And right before the nourishing rains of hope and defiance could come around, it was blown right away. One of the younger guards, whispering mischievously to the others, strut right up behind her. "EEP!"

She jumped in her spot as she felt a harsh slap on her rump, her exclamation completely covered by the taunting chorus of derisive laughter. Yen-jur couldn't even wait until she was on the ground again as she was grabbed by her shoulders, cringing as he immediately began to 'massage' them.

He pushed her forward like nothing happened. Just then, she felt a disgusting hot breath near her ear and cringed as he spoke. "Hey, hey hey, don't be getting any ideas. I mean, you saw what they did to that thing, right? Now... I wouldn't really mind but I'm sure you don't want that happening to you, yea?" Her face was as scrunched up as her tight Uniscenian facial features would allow, her dismay and disgust not hidden at all.

A memory of the Hidrig glaring at his captors flashed through her mind, as well as the first memory she had of their local Beowulve: meeting the warrior on his very first rampage. No, you can do this! Show no fear, no fear, no-! It got worse, and she shivered in revulsion as he began to slip his hands down her back. "Hrrrn..."

He laughed menacingly; the vile Uniscen did take pleasure in this immensely, and she knew all too well that the others were as well. N-noT again... Sadly enough, she didn't even try to get away, too afraid of risking the chance of receiving something worse.

And a small part of her HATED that.

Thankfully, it seemed that fate would be kind to her again. For just as she felt a hand leave her back, bracing for the sudden impact she and many others were familiar with working in the barracks and mansions of the High-Ups, she cracked open an eye to see that the now-distant Foremen were yelling in alarm. "Watch out!"

The harasser immediately stopped his descent as his head pulled away faster than she expected. However, she knew how that was: even with the commotion, it was obvious that even these High-Up guards had the added benefits of cybernetic advancements. "By the-! Fuck!" Wait, what's going on-? "Gah!"

It was something she sadly did not have as she was pushed right into the object that was barreling towards them. Her breath was knocked out of her as she was all but laid flat on her back, her limbs stretched open wide, making her completely defenceless. Her eyes were wide open with fear now, which meant that she could only struggle helplessly and fearfully at who was breathing heavily down on her.

One of the very aliens she had spied before was right in her face. Its fishy breath made her senses, which were already going into overtime, overload in worry and fear. The thing above her looked to be a mixture between an oversized version of the 'fish' they ate midway through the week and a malnourished bear.

Its once wet scales were all but dried up and falling off its frail yet surprisingly powerful body. Its heavy and bleeding lips were parched from the obvious lack of water that was plaguing this camp at the moment, reminding even Yen-jur just how thirsty she was. Her throat went parched immediately as the rushing blood heated her body, making her uneven to let out a scream as all that came out was a dry gasp.

Most other Uniscen weren't the best at reading facial cues, mostly due to their ears doing most of the talking in their own form of body language. But there was no denying that she knew exactly what this fish-bear creature was trying to say with his body: he wanted out of this place. His mad eyes, now bulbous and unclear things as it seemed whoever this was finally broken in by the harsh indoctrination, stared aimlessly through her.

His four gangly limbs held her down as he used the last of his sanity to scream out in defiance one more time, his other two limbs holding something sharp and reflecting up to the sky. The edge of the homemade shive glittered in the sunlight, and despite feeling her gut sinking into the ground below her, she couldn't help but admire it. "Grosh! GROSH! CURSE THESE FIENDS. RRAAAGGHHH!"

After calling out to whatever deity or person that he was screaming for, the horrifying testament to the Unasance Guild's cruelty didn't even think about what he was doing as he brought the knife down toward her chest. Its finned ears were deeply scarred but still able to flare open as spit erupted from its small, bear-like mouth.

She wanted to scream, but her deep cowardice took away her voice; she wanted to reach up and parry the knife into the ground below her, but after a few more pathetic and vain attempts to move her arm, she simply flopped her arms against the ground.

The white of her eyes was exposed as the shoddy knife got ever closer, time slowing down as it did so. Is... Is this how I die? Hungry, thirsty, and tired? I don't-don't want to die. Not like this! Even then, she could only watch as the knife was just entering the fabric near the curve of her chest, and her heart stopped pumping as it did. She did not even try to move away, simply too scared to do anything else... but wait for it to happen. P-please! "Someone help me!"

And as the world went quiet for her, she thought that no did; that she simply died as she lived: a captive to her fear.

That was until she opened back her eyes and saw the knife being held in place just as it was about to prick her skin. Gasping with renewed hope, she was able to tilt her head enough to tell that the captain had managed to dive forward and catch the knife, giving it all he had as his one arm fought off aginst two pressing down. HE saved me?

Not soon after, Gref-fin jumped into action, hooking the babbling alien right across its limp, bear-like jaw. "Gargh!" The sound of bone cracking and dislocating echoed in Yen-jur's ears as she scrambled away in a fit. Next, the entire squad ran past her and joined in with the captain on brutally kicking the alien, who apparently had strength enough to fight back. They were shouting out their own curses and swears with each stomp helping the alien along the way to what it desired most. Even that guy is angry...

Ignoring the hypocritical nature of the man just about to grope her, Yen-jur's breath got caught in her throat as she felt Gref-fin reach down to gently pick her up. Automatically his body went in front of her, so she didn't have to see what was going on behind his slightly larger frame, his gentle whispers of assurance keeping distracted enough from the gurgles and screams close by. "Hey, look here! Don't worry, you're good now, you're good..."

As if her heart wasn't pumping enough, she was closer to death now than ever before. Her heart exploded in her chest as she was brought into a comforting embrace, into the embrace of her growing crush no less. Almost like it never happened, she felt the stress melt away with the introduction of his body heat. But that was not to say she escaped it entirely.

She felt a warm sting just on the surface of her small chest, and she could only sigh painstakingly, almost like she was afraid of her ribcage opening up suddenly. But it was more than Yen-jur simply being afraid of her body opening up: she was more afraid of what she would say if her mind was opened, even for a moment. I'm afraid that if I do... I won't be able to stop myself; stop myself before I can say anything I'll regret. She took in a shaking breath into the chest of the male holding her, small tears already gathering in the corner of her eyes. But that would be f-fine, right? You would save me again... Wouldn't you? "I..."

Before she could say anything else, the two heard a raspy, gruff old voice clear his throat behind them. "And what in the Protectun's name is going on here?" Without warning, she was once more without support holding her up as she was quickly put aside so Gref-fin could stand to attention. "N-nothing at all, sir!"

Oddly enough, the captain did not investigate further, only wiping his jaw of dry spit and waving him to ease. And for a second, as the old captain cleared his throat again, Yen-jur caught a glimpse of blood trailing down the old man's beak before that too was rubbed away. The three looked behind them and saw both the squad and the Foremen taking away the battered body of the near-dead alien back into line.

Though from the looks of its body and the dull thousand-yard stare in the eyes, it wouldn't even make it to noon. "I have to take care of this mess now. And after a display like that, I've got a feeling none of these other miserable piles of shit feel like tempting us again. You able enough to take her the rest of the way?"

And as if on cue, they heard the nearby chains slam again, the power behind it reminding EVERYONE there the matter at hand. Tensing up slightly, the captain hid it well as he turned back to the youngsters looking towards the source of sound with surprisingly pale faces. "The big fuck needs tending too and fast."

The two looked at each other quickly, almost too quickly, right before Gref-fin nodded enthusiastically. "Of course I can, sir! I won't let you down!" To that, the captain only groaned and held his head as the headache he seemed to be suffering only grew worse as the roll call ended and the slaves' groans started again being once again put to work. "You just have to walk down a shitty path for a few minutes. There can't possibly be a way to do that. Now go!"

With a quick jolt, Gref-fin went behind and ever so gently poked her back. "Let's go, huh?" Hearing his soft words, she could only silently nod in agreement and begin walking again. She made sure to not make eye contact with the captain, who only huffed to show that he was aware of her presence.

Muttering to himself, that was the last thing the captain did before he too walked off to do his own thing. In just a few minutes and some corralling, that meant that in the massive encampment of shoddy slave holding cells, only the two infatuated Uniscen and the occasional slave carrying something else were left.

But as much as they wanted to enjoy that silence in other ways, what they heard roar down the path where the building dedicated to holding a SINGULAR being spurred them to nearly run. "By Vrimal's Strong Arm, these... things will not hold me ANY LONGER, you COWARDS!" Yen-jur's beak opened up wide, hearing that, and her blood ran from her face and into her legs. Oh, no. Yen-jur wanted to sprint at this point as she knew all too well what that venom in the barbarian's tongue signified.

But she knew well enough that would only cause the nervous guards positioned here and there to think that yet another servant was trying to escape. Oh, no, no, no! What has got him in such a poor mood today?! By the Protectun, he couldn't POSSIBLY go on another rampage this soon, right?! Me and Den-jur are STILL repairing the weaponry after he broke out!

To hear the Beowulve speak and most definitely insult everyone in that oddly untranslatable language of his was one thing. Hearing the mighty chains that could hold down even the toughest Hidrig strain painfully was another. But when he speaks through the translater clear as day?

When he calls you a coward to your face?

That... is when you run. Yen-jur turned to Gref-find, her ears perking up with an urgency that surprised even her. "We have to get there. NOW." Not even pausing in stride, Gref-fin only nodded rapidly as they continued to make their way over.

It didn't take long for them to make their way around the hundreds of bland brick buildings, each made with their own purpose. Soon the two found themselves staring down the giant building erected SOLELY to hold in the Beowulve she found herself forcing attached to.

Though not at first, she was starting to almost... enjoy this part of her life now. Certainly not feeling this way when she first had to do this, as she was still the very same shy and fragile servant when Buuth the Beowulve made his literally explosive entrance on their planet. But as she approached the giant building ahead of them as they made their way on the winding gravel road, a sense of purpose would ALWAYS take over her. It's like, someway somehow, HIS overwhelming energy is seeping into ME! Or maybe it's something else entirely. Whatever the case is, I- "Tch!"

Her thoughts were sadly interrupted as she felt a quick hand on her shoulder. She jumped instinctively, though as she turned around afraid, Yen-jur instantly relaxed, remembering she was travelling with only one other person. "Hey. You alright?" Gref-fin's gentle tone put her at ease, which did help out the most nerve-wracking part of this journey, which was actually approaching Buuth's gargantuan brick complex. 'Y-yeah... Yeah, I guess so..."

The two went silent again, but right before they made it to the door, which would be the point where they would part ways after he assured her safety getting there, he stopped her and turned her around to meet his eyes. Yen-jur's shoulders were tight, and her beak clamped tighter than ever before as his rounded, thick ears embarrassedly flapped up and down. "I, uh, just wanted to say I'm sorry about back there... with... him." Ah-! Oh.

Almost immediately, her happiness went away after the memory came back to her just after she nearly forgot it. Protectun, I was just engrossed in Buuth. I completely forgot... Yen-jur took a deep breath in, calming herself down before she tentatively reached up and put a few fingers on the unsuspecting male's hand, making the two youngsters blush together. "It's... fine. I'm used to it nowadays."

She must've said something either right or wrong as he just simply stared at her with his beak slightly open, almost like he wasn't too sure if he heard her correctly or not. But after a few moments of silence, he thankfully read the mood correctly and only nodded to her before taking a cap out of his back pocket and putting it on.

And just like that... he's gone again. Letting out a disappointed sigh, Yen-jur could only wistfully watch as he turned around with a small, almost sad, wave. After she made sure she didn't miss the chance to see even another one of his slight gestures, Ye-jur finally relented.

But as she turned to the door once more, hearing the chain sounds clear as the day that was just arriving, she stopped herself from knocking. No... No, it's not really fine, is it? This happened to me and the others all the time before. And yet it's only me that- It's just me that... still lets it happen.

She let a few tears FINALLY escape her eyes, though she knew she had to act the part of someone unbothered going in. It's... pretty funny, actually: I am Uniscen. Freer than most of the people here on this planet AND in this entire galaxy.

Yet, I'm no better than the slaves I live next to...

It was with that depressing note... that she found the courage to once again knock on the door that leads her to what might be her untimely death.

A raging Beowulve.