Chapter 4 | The Spark To The Flame

Steady fumes came out from Amaron's jaw as he leaned down and bowed in the presence of Venedix. His mechanical body, arms, and legs clicked repeatedly as the visible cogs made a snapping sound—making contact with the other gears as he moved. 

"Amaron has arrived, your excellency!" His mechanical eyes clicked as it shifted towards Jinn before continuing. "The boy is dying."

"You think I can't see that?" Venedix turns her head to look at Amaron with a sharp glare—making him flinch in fear. 

"M-My apologies! I dare not to question your capabilities!" Amaron raises his hands in surrender, fumes coming out from his mechanical body—a sign of nervousness. He then catches Venedix's eyes locked at him—visibly annoyed. 

"O-On it!" Amaron stuttered nervously as he quickly inspected Jinn's state—his mechanical eyes turning blue, making him able to see what the naked eye couldn't.

He could see the broken bones, injured organs, and the pressure being put upon Jinn's blood streams due to the energy within him running rampant. 

"First things first." Amaron muttered as he extended his arms. He then began to conjure healing energy on his hands to redirect it towards Jinn's injuries—ultimately putting his own healing energy within Jinn. 

Three energies began to swirl and mix within Jinn's body—like a storm.

First from the crystal that brought him back to life.

The second, from Venedix—a required catalyst—a key that fully activated the crystal.

The third, from Amaron—a healing energy that stabilizes the two energies within him, closing his wounds and healing internal organs.

"This will be enough—at least, to make him survive through the process" Amaron's eyes glowed as he inspected the flow of the energy within him—already stabilizing.

The healing energy proved effective as it successfully mended Jinn's open wounds, caused by his earlier battle with Venedix—ultimately stopping fatal blood loss.

Despite this, his amputated arm and lost eye are long gone.

"Both his eyes and arm are lost, your excellency." Amaron shifted his gaze towards Jinn's snapped knee, "And he would need surgery on one of his legs". 

"Mhm, well done Amaron," Venedix turns her head to gaze on Amaron, before shifting back on Jinn. "I have decided—I will be taking this child with me."

Ophelia, able to hear their conversation, took a step forward and replied. "Y-You can't!" Desperation evident in her voice.

"Oh but she can, child." The sound of mechanical gears churning and clicking as Amaron faced towards Ophelia without moving his body—his tone far from timid compared to when he was talking to Venedix.

Amaron turned his head back to Venedix, and asked "But what made you so interested in this little boy, Battlemaster?"

Silence lingered for a brief moment—stillness began to envelop the air, before Venedix ended it. 

"My mind is puzzled," Venedix muttered. "Perhaps it was curiosity or perhaps this child is destined to be something more, or perhaps—I am wrong." 

With a final burst of crimson red light, the procedure was completed as Venedix removed her hand from Jinn's chest. "Perchance in the future—we will know the destiny of this child."

"Yet there is one thing I am certain of," Venedix's hands wrapping around Jinn's body as she began to carry him upon her arms. "We must further nurture this child to know the answer."

Jinn's body still trembled due to the fatigue caused by the procedure he just went through—Despite this, he mustered the tiny strength he had left to grip the collar of Venedix.

"You can't take me!" 

Venedix's eyebrow curled slightly as she looked at Jinn.

"I will be the one to decide everything from now on—child," She then turned her gaze to the commander—standing idle nearby.

 "Commander Emerith" Venedix's voice prompted the commander to immediately approach.

"Yes Battlemaster, orders?" Emerith replied with a salute.

Venedix turned her gaze towards the citizens as she flicked her wrist, "Let the captives free—I have taken what I want from this place." 

"At once, battlemaster." Commander Emerith left the scene to rendezvous with the soldiers he took command. 

Twisting and turning his body around, shaking it as much as possible—Jinn moved erratically until he slipped from Venedix's arms, dropping on the ground with a loud thud.

"Tsk." Venedix clicked her tongue—visibly annoyed by Jinn's actions. "I have given you a chance, child. I have spared lives. I have revived you. Gave you power—yet you sully it?"

Upon noticing Jinn is free from Venedix's grasp, Ophelia sprinted towards Jinn to grab him away from Venedix—dragging him away at a small distance.

"You won't take Jinn away from us again!" 

Ophelia's arms trembled yet her grasp was firm as she held unto Jinn's body—never wanting to let go. 

With a brief pause, Venedix stared at Ophelia—then back at Jinn.

At that moment she had realized something that irked her.

"I see…so it was loyalty?"

"Loyalty to your friends—to the point that you would die for them" Venedix stared blankly at the air briefly before continuing, "I have mistaken you—Jinn" 

Her voice, louder than before, "You are but a fool that throws away your life for such insignificant things—when you are this pathetically weak!"

Jinn was confused as to why Venedix was so irked on the subject of loyalty to one's friends.

As far as he remembered, It was contradictory to one of the cultures of Zerafhon as the Zeraf valued loyalty.

The mind of a child took over as Jinn as he used this subject to press upon Venedix.

"Heh I'd gladly do it again—if time were to turn back!" Jinn frowned as he retorted back.

Amaron chuckled silently to himself, covering his mechanical mouth with his hand as if he had lips to begin with.

"Pft! The child is stubborn to his core!"

Venedix looked at Amaron briefly, making him flinch in fear—before she scoffed, "Very well, I shall take you and your friends."

She then leaned down closer to Jinn's ears, "But instead of my apprentice—you shall struggle with your friends—as slaves."

Her tone changed ominously, "Claw your way. Bare your fangs. Rise through the pits of darkness and when everything is gone, even your friends—we will meet again."

With her cloak fluttering in the wind, she turns her body to walk away—more specifically, towards the location of the captives.

"Hey, you better keep your hands away from the captives!" exclaimed Jinn as he stared at Venedix walking away. 

"Ungrateful brat" Venedix muttered as she walked towards Commander Emerith to have a discussion, their words a blur as Jinn was too far away. 

Suddenly, Jinn felt a hard sensation on his head—it was Amaron's mechanical hand.

"She really is something eh? Little Jinn—did I say it right?"

Amaron leaned closer to Jinn, the cogs surrounding his mechanical jaw clicked and clicked as it generated fumes which made Jinn cough.

"Cough* Keep your distance—you pile of bolts" Jinn frowned at Amaron, pushing Amaron's head away with his hand.

Amaron chuckled, "Haha! And you talk just like her too—what a coincidence!"

After a few minutes when Venedix talked with Commander Emerith, Jinn's friends were granted a pass—enabling them to run towards Jinn and Ophelia.

"What the hell—Is that Jinn!?" Shouted Verhedyn as he used his hands to point at Jinn.

Her eyes widened as Orin smiled from ear to ear. "Everyone, He's alive!" 

Adjusting his broken glasses, Vox could not believe his eyes. "I swear—that woman pierced her sword straight into his stomach!"

Tears and snot running down his face, "J-Jinn!" Kain exclaimed before jumping to hug Jinn.

Amaron flinched in concern for Jinn—which is technically, his patient.

"Woah woah woah!" he exclaimed.

"Easy on the patient, he just completed the procedure—we must get him on the ship, ASAP!"

Amaron's mechanical face was void of expression—after all, he is a robot.

Yet a tinge of concern was evident in his tone.

Orin glared at Amaron before shifting her gaze back at Jinn, "Wait, what does that trashcan mean by you—getting on a ship." Orin's eyes filled with concern and anticipation.

Scratching his head with his still intact arm, Jinn replied. "It seems that—we will be taken as slaves in exchange for the lives of the civilians."

"Shit." A single word that came from Verhedyn's mouth which described exactly what the entire group felt—at least by a margin.

The area was wrapped by silence and stillness for a while before Hector—the oldest of the group, was the first to react and break the silence.

"Don't worry Jinn, even if we were to be sent to the void, as long as we all stay together."

Hector's words sent a wave of realization upon his friends—a realization that reminded them of their unyielding friendship, even during hard times—like now. 

"I-I'm sorry guys… N-Nevi, she…"

As if someone was gripping his neck, Jinn struggled to let his voice out as he remembered what happened to Nevi. The blood to which flowed from her, the cold and lifeless body to which laid on the street—her future, taken away. 

Thoughts of Nevi continued to haunt Jinn's mind as he failed to protect and safeguard one of his friends. 

"N-Nevi…" Orin's knees buckled—as she fell on her knees upon finding the fate of her dear sister.

"Damn the Zeraf!" tears fell from her eyes filled with rage.

Orin then balled her hands into a fist and struck the ground as she gritted her teeth. 

"I swear on you Nevi… I will burn Zerafhon to the ground!"

Orin's voice filled with rage as she grasped a pendant within her trembling hand—a pendant that belonged to Nevi. 

"I'm sorry Orin…" Jinn's voice trembled at the sight of Orin—at the ground—trembling in anger. 

Turning her gaze towards Jinn, Orin spoke.

"I-It's not your fault Jinn…The Zerafhon is at fault and their petty wars!"

Striking the ground once again with her fist.

"Don't they own thousands of planets already? When will it ever be enough!?"

"It will never be enough, child." Amaron's gaze directed at Orin.

"Once you see what lies deep within—you will understand." 

Amaron then gazes blankly into the air, "But alas—you are still young."

"Fuck you!"

Orin exclaimed as she threw dust towards Amaron—which did not land. "Why's that gotta be our problem!? Why do you have to target us—the innocent, for your own problems!?"

Amaron walked towards Orin, his mechanical legs surging with steam and fumes as he moved.

"Because we are strong—simple as that." Amaron's mechanical eyes gazed down at Orin. 

Amaron's reply made Orin speechless as she realized the cruel reality she lived in—the reality of the strong preying on the weak.

It disgusted her. "Why does life have to be so cruel?" the thoughts began to brew in her mind—like a storm—until she accepted this reality and decided on one goal.

To be strong and to enact revenge.

"Looks like we have no choice—I mean, being a slave is better than dying right?" said Verhedyn with a serious tone, before continuing.

"As long as we are together—whatever shithole we might land into—might not be so bad."

Hector shrugged.

"Better get those back muscles ready, Verhedyn. We'll be mining on some backwater planet soon." 

Orin turned her gaze as she said with a serious tone on her voice.

"Or worse—used as cannon fodder for their pathetic wars."

Ophelia, still holding Jinn—asked him a question.

"Jinn, where did you last see Nevi—I'll pray for her."

"See that blazing inferno going on over there?" Jinn's finger pointed at the direction where he last saw Nevi. "That's where our dear Nevi layed." 

Orin seethed in silence, her fury swelling up inside like an inferno—yet she was silent, same as the others. Smoldering ash began to fill the direction where Jinn last saw Nevi—her body, long gone. 

The silence was deafening—deafening like the roars of inferno transpiring in front of them.

With both her knees on the ground, Ophelia clasped both her fingers to pray to the gods of Old Seraphim.

"May Nevi's spirit find peace in the celestial beyond, nirvreka en nevi o seraphim" she muttered as she prayed.

Amaron's mechanical eye turned blue as he shifted his gaze towards Ophelia. He started to notice something peculiar while she prayed—An aura of energy, akin to something holy was swelling inside her—albeit little.

"How interesting…" he muttered

After a while, the silence was broken by the cheers of joy from the civilians.

Jinn turned to see the joyful faces of the civilians which he had saved, their tears of joy as they hugged their loved ones sparked something inside him. 

"Nevi… you were right." he muttered to himself. "It's not so bad being a hero—once in a while." he smiled brightly as a single tear dropped from his eye.

As the commotion died down, the soldiers of the Zerafhon retreated—along with their commander, Emerith.

Multiple soldiers also arrived at Jinn and his friends' location, seemingly to escort them towards a dropship—as per Venedix's orders.

Being carried by Amaron, Jinn managed to have a final glimpse of Venedix, her eyes meeting his.

Jinn drew a serious face in response—a sign of his rebellion that will prove her expectations about the subject of his petty loyalty—wrong. 

With a dramatic and sharp turn, Venedix's cloak fluttered—before she entered into her dropship. 

The loud mechanical whirring sounds of the dropship's door filled Jinn as he took a final glance of his old home—in fragments, as the growing inferno started to consume it.

"Together" spoke Jinn as he looked towards his friend with a resolute expression.

"Heh, you've got that right" Verhedyn replied with a smirk on his mouth. 

Ophelia, Kain, and Orin nodded in reply—One's face filled with determination, another trembling with fear yet resolute, and the last, burning with rage swelling within her.

"Wherever you go, we follow" Hector smiled as—his arms resting on Vox's shoulders—who responded with a confident thumbs-up.

And so together they will be transported to the colossal dreadnought, the pride of House Sorellia.

Their destination? 

Juggernot XII, Home World of The Empire of Zerafhon