A new prisoner was lead into the main prison ward as November came. A young boy of fifteen with long wild sandy blond hair and crazed storm grey eyes, ominous and foreboding they warned all perceptive enough to catch it of the impending danger that lurked behind those beautiful eyes. His smile was genuine but the meaning behind the smile was nothing pleasant, anyone who was a killer could tell the bloodlust that pursed those lips into a grin as he looked at the thousands of jailed boys and men. Targets, all of them. Julius looked on from his cell wondering if that was Filipe or someone else, from how far away they were he couldn't quite make out definitive details.

Woe led the boy to his cell and with a loud clang and rattling of chains the boy was easily transferred and all was silent. Then not ten minutes later all hell broke loose with three men screaming in agony. Everyone in view of the cell was screaming for guards to come quickly. The lights all flickered and went out for a moment and the stench of burning hair filled the prison hall. It only took a few seconds but that was long enough for whoever that child was to kill all three of his cell mates.

The guards rushed back in exasperated and then were completely horrified to find three charred copses and one boy making himself comfy in his new room. He was trying out each of the beds before deciding to pull all the mattresses off the beds and make one big bed on the ground. When the guards stared at the boy who was busy making himself comfortable he stopped briefly to explain that the three men attacked him despite the hundreds of eye witnesses that said the boy started it, the guards carted away the bodies and left the boy to snuggle into his new king size bed.

The next day the cells opened at seven a.m. as always to herd all the chained inmates to their copper channeling rooms which were just freight car boxes reinforced and stacked ten high in place of the outdoor prison yard. Even Filipe was taken to channel though he made absolutely certain to make everyone on the way miserable. Filipe was a very distinct personality among the inmates loudly screaming and ranting about his prestigious family line making him perform this peasantry work was beneath him. Woe carted in ten power cells for the two in Julius' cell to work on and from the grumbling it was clear how everyone around Filipe was being made aware they were viewed as worms and were unworthy of his gracing presence. The only two who were left alone to work from home were Symateure and Julius who every morning laughed as inmates walked by spitting into their small cell. Symateure would always wait quietly with a smile until they were all locked in the copper boxes before he would stand up and begin dancing around the spit puddles chanting and moaning in some strange ritual. It would take him the better part of an hour but once he was done he would go begin his morning workout with a renewed smile. The spit would always ignite and burn like oil hit with sparks. And when noon would come around those who spit into the cell would always be the last to return and always looked ghoulish and gaunt. Shuffling their feet as though they lacked the strength to do anything other than wander around like a zombie.

A new addition to the entourage of returning prisoners was the screaming crowd favorite Filipe hungry and whiny and full of bitter hateful words for his fellow man.

"how dare you brush up against me you unsanitary pig!"

"who do you think you are, telling me to shut up you wrongfully self-important plebian, you shut up!"

"you all reek, as if channeling is hard work! You are all pathetic!" a whip cracked across the face of a weak and staggering inmate as they crawled out of their channeling box. The shaggy, neglected, and broken soul of a man couldn't even scream only drone on. Flash Fry laughed and ranted on.

"to think I have to eat at the same tables with you scum of the earth! Its revolting!"

The cell door buzzed and squeaked open and Symateure chuckled and looked at Julius who seemed just as entertained by the noisy brat about to be shown the way of the prison world soon.

"ya man, dat brat ees bout to be shown da way of tings da hard way. En I can't say he don deserve eet."

"you going to help him?"

"no, his soul ees as black as dee night, ees a bad man en ees gotta pay for ees crimes soom time." Julius just shrugged

"does it make me a bad person if I don't help him?"

"eet make you a worse person eef ya do elp eem. Or if you help da men dat gunna teach da boy bout prison." Julius' wrinkled his nose in disgust

"why would I help them Baron? Come on that's disgusting!" Symateure just laughed whole heartedly and they all funneled into the mess hall, the sickly zombies trailing behind everyone else.

The mess hall was a cacophony as always with a thousand shuffling feet and the clanking of the kitchen as it served pot after pot of mystery meat stew. The crowds were thicker with groups and factions gathering in their respective corners blocking their actions from the guards viewing.

"Julius!" a high pitch voice cracked and wavered and four boys about his age came running over to him and the Baron with great haste. These four had been targets in the past and Julius with the Barons help had saved them all a few times. Fortunately, they were all in the same sell together and stuck to each other like they had all been glued at the hip. Julius had tried to help each of these boys on a few occasions with filling their channeling tanks and was sent to the nurse's office each time for it. Julius still shuttered at the thought of what they would do to him there. But it never deterred him from giving away his meat rations to other people. They greeted each other and got into one of the food lines. On an ordinary day Julius and his friends were the center of many a scrutinous eye. However, today they were able to eat in peace. Midway through the lunch was where things got interesting. A fight broke out and the guards came rushing in to break it up, there was screaming and shouting and some blood sprayed as shanks were pulled and in a flash the mess hall went crazy. The boys stuck close to the baron who cleared a path for them. When they looked back two men with knives were on him and he was fending them off.

"yee boys need to get out of eer! I'll be juss fine!" The baron picked one of his attackers up by the throat and growing and broke him over his knee like a twig. The boy's jaws dropped in horror and amazement. "go yee daft brats!" Julius closed his eyes for a moment trying to envision the flames, burning flames, supernova heat bursting off his body but the sound of the doctor's voice echoed in his head, "obey, and it won't hurt. Your magic is evil, use it and agony shall be yours." Julius' magic fizzled before it could take form and a huge brass knuckled fist collided with his cheek as he opened his eyes. Julius toppled head over heels and landed like a sack of falling potatoes. The four boys shook out of their stupor and grabbed the now unconscious Julius as Symateure grabbed their assailant palming his head with a giant reaching hand. The Baron pulled the brass knuckled man backward and a thick click tickled the air as the man fell to the ground limp and with an odd angle to his neck. The four ran off to safety dragging Julius behind them knowing that none of them could really brawl with this many raging men and not get seriously hurt. The smell of burning hair filled the hallway as they ran to their cell. Three of the boys sat Julius down gently on the floor of their cell and one looked out towards the other cells.

"do you guys hear that?" all four went quiet to listen, hearing the crying of a young boy nearby the boy closest to the door bolted out of the cell leaving his other friends behind. "I'll be right back guys"

"no Jake get back here!" the others called after him, but he was already gone running down the hallway to find the source of the crying. It wasn't far away, and the smoke trail practically gave away the location to look for.

"hey, are you okay? Need any help? Where are you?" the boy continued to cry as Jake walked deeper into the smoke. The smoke stung his eyes and tickled his throat until he started coughing violently. Getting to his knees he continued to crawl looking for the boy until he finally felt a body, hot to the touch it was a charred smoking husk six others lay in a heap gasping for help but unable to make sound louder than whispers. He screamed and stood up to run. The crying had now stopped and as he turned around he was tripped running past a dark open cell door. Falling to the floor he gave a yelp that was silenced by the floor as he hit open mouth first. A crunch rang out as Jake chipped a few teeth on impact and skidded. Writhing in pain he squirmed, and tears weld up in his eyes blinding him with the smoke. Then a giggle came from the shadows.

"you're one of his friends, aren't you? Good this is perfect! I'm going to do this nice and slow, so I can savor it. The others weren't much fun. They charred much too quickly." A set of legs stood over him, then squatted down to straddle his chest. A set of soft lips pressed against his forehead and he began convulsing as intense heat and electricity pulsed fast through his body. The boy's fillings popped out of his molars and his skin began to crack and split with the heat. But he was paralyzed and could do nothing but scream.

The guards nearby rushed to see where all the screaming was coming from, some with fire extinguishers in hand and others with studded whips and shotguns. Coughing they sifted through the smoke and found a bright-eyed Filipe still straddling a charred body with a smile. He giggled and rolled off the body.

"put your hands in the air and slowly get on your knees!" the boy smiled, and energy crackled from his fingertips as he raised his hands. A heavy, gruff voice echoed in the hallway behind everyone,

"you gentlemen clean up the bodies and get back to your posts, I'll take it from here!" the guards looked at one another not dropping their shotguns from the smiling boy. Woe stepped in front of the six guards and pushed the shotguns down.

"did you all hear what I said?"

"Yes sir." They all replied in unison

"then get moving! Or you can explain to the Doc. Why you are disobeying his orders." The guards all shuttered and moved to remove the bodies and put out any fires in the area. Woe turned to Filipe, grabbing him by the ear and dragging him off to a storage closet in silence. Woe tossed the boy in and slammed the door behind him with red faced furry.

"what the hell are you doing you little monster?" the boy just laughed at Woe,

"I'm doing my job, sir." Woe struck him across the face with a vicious open handed slap.

"we didn't give you clearance to kill everyone in the general populous you brainless slug! When you took the Doctors proposition, and agreed to serve the master. You drank from the cup, now you will obey and reap the rewards or suffer at the hands of those the master has put above you! The nurse is your handler so don't forget, she is the one in charge of your discipline and she's far better at that duty than I am." The boy shuttered with fear and giggled nervously. His shifty stormy green eyes darted all around as he took in and analyzed all the bottled around him.

"I do have the right to defend myself don't I? You gave me clearance to break Julius, so... for that last kid... it was all in the name of our master Woe." Filipe licked his lips and giggled sickly and smiled an eerie and sinister smile, "He was one of Julius' friends, and I want to see what he's going to do when I start picking off all of his friends one by one. I aim to please, its only right that you should enjoy your work isn't it." Charred flesh still clung to his lashes, Woe laughed at that and walked out of the closet leaving an evil monster with access to bleach, ammonia, and other harsh cleaning supplies.

Everyone was returned to their respective cells with shotgun blast ringing all over the prison and the announcement that everyone was going to have to fill one more bottle a day to meet new quota in the wake of all the inmates that have been killed. Julius laughed but new this was going to be a serious problem for some of the others.

"well Barron, looks like I'll be making a few more weekly trips to the nurse's office huh?" The Barron laughed while playing with some gloopy pinkish white substance. It was gelatinous and smelled kind of strange. The Barron had a scratch about his left eye and his knuckles were starting to scab over with a bright red punch bite rash.

"Ya man, eet would seem so. Day be usin dis as an excuse to kill more innocent people." Julius was suddenly mesmerized with the strange substance.

"Symateure, what is that stuff? Where did you get it?" Barron laughed and kept packing it hand in hand.

"eets betta not to ask de scary questions man, eet may give ya nightmares."

"I'm glad to see you're okay I was worried about you man" Julius looked sheepish but meant every word.

"I did no tink yer crawny ass be so worried man, last I saw yee was bein dragged off by da boys afta gettin clocked een da face." Symateure laughed his whole-hearted booming laugh as Julius protested. "Ya face be blue but looks like dee bone ees mendin, yee be just fine soon." Julius felt his tender face but had not seen what it looked like yet. With that he walked over to the polished metal plate for a mirror and looked at his blue and purple face one of his eyes was swollen and he looked like a squished grape.

"Yikes, I look like hell Barron, why didn't you tell me sooner? Wait, how could you tell all that?"

"yee looked happy in yeer ignorant bliss man. An dee human body be me specialty man, dats all."

"So you're like a Doctor or something?"

"No man, me bee more like a mortician." Barron laughed at Julius' expression of disgust

The night was long, and he was eager to see the others again, but there was no dinner that night as they were all on forced lockdown. That next day was same old same old, seven A.M. rolled around and Filipe was back to his usual behavior only there were no spitting jerks that passed by. A wide berth was given around the cell doors and Barron simply went right to work with sit-ups and pushups. Julius thought it strange but in the wake of yesterday's blood bath it wasn't hard to believe that some just wanted peace and quiet today. Woe carted in twelve power cells this time and smiled at the sea of gloomy faces walking past the cell.

"I love the smell of broken spirits in the morning." Woe laughed and stomped off pushing past the horde of lost souls with his whip leading the way. The shotgun guards were out in force today making absolutely no secret that they were ready to shoot more inmates if given the opportunity. Though this was the first time Julius had seen the guards all wearing bronze armor like old fashioned knights gilded and ready to slay a dragon.

"hey Symateure, why are the guards all done up in old fashioned armor? Is it some kind of costume contest?"

"no man, bronze ees one of da few metals in da world that can absorb and disperse magic energy. Just like copper, silver, gold, and cold iron are metals with special magical properties to dem. Bronze ees da metal that counters dem otha ones. Copper ees capable of amplifying magical energy just as it carries electrical current. Bronze not so much man."

"so against elemental magic they are more protected?"

"no man, but don't tell da guards that they look like da chickens dat survived da foxes attack. Elemental magics are far too physical for bronze to disperse, however spell weavin en spell twistin are both effected depending on if da magic is physical or not."

"I don't know what those things are Barron, why are silver, gold, and cold iron good magic metals?"

"Eet be a big man ting. Don worry bout it. Copper, silver, gold, and cold iron bee raw and natural base metals. Untainted by da hand of man. Copper ees radiant flowing power, cold iron ees porous and takes magic and holds onto eet, gold represents da sun and has very powerful natural holy properties man. Silver ees da metal of dee moon and has eets own magical and purifying properties. Gold en Silver both ave a hunga for magic energy en day absorb eet en amplify eet betta dan copper." The Barron looked up from his gloop of human fat to see if Julius was still listening. Julius was enthralled in his every word which made Symateure smile.

"yee gunna learn soon enough man. For now, know dat bronze can affect magic shields and barriers and invisible forces of dat nature. Eet ees an alloy metal made by early man to combat magic and even dah gods dem selves! But still holds some magic properties, what eet can do ees dispel soft magics and void powers but eets also soft and wit enough muscle bronze can be broken! Dat bee why eet no used for anyting any more, except for doze in da know who know how ta deal wit magic users." Barron Symateure laughed and went back to packing the strange substance in his hands. Julius laid back down for a while to ponder everything he had just been told. Before long, it was Symateure who was waking Julius up so he could channel and fill his power cells before lunch time came around. Lunch came late, delayed by three hours as there was a new quota to be met. Everyone looked exhausted as they came back from the copper rooms. Even Filipe was more well behaved which came as a surprise to everyone.

"so, the brat can be silent?" everyone was mumbling as they passed the cell Julius and the Barron shared. As their door opened up a boy stumbled in grabbing hold of Julius' jumpsuit caller,

"they got Jake man!" tears rolled down his face as Julius looked on in disbelief. "they fried him, he's dead!" Julius shook his head

"what are you talking about?"

"there was crying... Jake ran off to go help... then he was screaming... the guards were rushing over with guns... it was all quiet... Woe came... that Filipe walked away smiling man." Julius cocked his head to the side uncertain of what was being said. Then he was splattered with blood as his friend began coughing violently and spitting blood everywhere. Horrified he looked to Symateure who was eyeballing the passing crowd.

"eets too late for heem, eef me had full access to magic I could do something to help. But as eet ees, too late man." Julius was in shock not sure what to do as his friend writhed in agony and then went silent. The guards rushed over pistol-whipping Julius and taking him down to cuff him. One set of guards eyed the Barron contemplating how that exchange would go as Symateure smile back at them waiting for the attack to come.

"murder is a two-year sentence extension and two weeks of rehab in the nurse's office!" said one guard with a professional matter of fact voice. Julius' eyes went wide as it sunk in,

"no, you're not blaming me for killing my friend! I didn't do this! I'm not guilty for killing him! I didn't kill my mom I'm not guilty for this!" he screamed as panic set in and he began kicking out and flailing. The guards leapt back and one chambered a round and pointed the shotgun at Julius. Symateure took action at this moment clearing his throat which brought all three shotguns in the group up to rest on him. The other two chambered rounds as well and the Barron smiled and put his hands up in a non-threatening manner.