Chapter Two
It has been a few hours since the arena games and Kenra was sitting in a cell that had reinforced glass doors with three holes in them. He was able to see the other prisoners in their cells with two out of the ten cells being empty. He saw this one particular prisoner who looked a little older than he was yet something seemed different about this boy. Just like Kenra, he didn't belong here. "If you keep staring at me you'll burn a hole through my face." The older boy said as he made eye contact with Kenra. The boy had stress lines going down from his nose and slight bags under his eyes. He had a low ponytail that was shoulder length and a few strands of hair in front of his face. "Sorry. I didn't expect someone around my age to be here as well." Kenra responded whilst looking away. The older boy sighed. "The name's Izuren. What's your name kid?" The older boy asked Kenra. "My name?" Kenra repeated nervously. He usually wasn't timid but something about Izuren was a little intimidating to him. "Kenra." He finally answered. Izuren nodded. "Relax kid. This place has a way of breaking nervous people easily." He said to Kenra and went back to his own business. "I still can't wrap my head around the fact that they make everyone fight to the death. Children included." Kenra said. He then heard laughter come from a different cell. "Guys at the top of the F.Z. don't care about how old you are. It's whether or not they can use you at the end of the day. You seem to just be lucky." The voice said from across Kenra's cell. He was a huge and hairy man with a short haircut. Kenra was annoyed immediately and got up in front of his cell. He stared daggers into the man across from him. "How am I lucky? Tell me how in the fuck am I lucky? This shit isn't normal. And unlike you, I won't let it be normal!" Kenra yelled at the man. The doors that lead into the main hall had opened and a group of heavily armed guards entered the cell block. A moment later a person wearing an all-white mask with the kanji for "wealth" on the forehead area.
The voice of a man echoed throughout the small cell block. "Profit. Profit is the way of this arena. It's the way of this entire facility. It is the way of all the Forgotten Zone.", the man said as Kenra noticed Izuren silently mocking his words. " We run a lucrative service for our special clientele. You. All of you are here to serve a purpose in the grander scheme of our world. Your only job is to survive and be sold to the highest bidder. Until then, you all belong to Warden Hisashi, that's me." The warden finished, but Kenra stood up in his cell about to say something. A random prisoner started screaming in his cell. "GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! I CAN'T BE HERE!" Hisashi pointed to the prisoner's cell. "We have a winner on who goes first in the lab. Guards!" Hisashi said as he snapped his fingers. The guards move to the hysterical prisoner's cell and beat him before dragging him out. "Hey!" Kenra yelled as he smacked the glass. Hisashi raised his hand and slowly approached Kenra's cell door. "Problem with my rehabilitation methods boy?" He said to Kenra who looked back in disgust. "I know what you are. I've seen weak men like you all the time. You think you can own others like objects and life won't touch you. Nothing you ever do will ever change the fact that you are less than nothing in the grand scheme of things." Kenra spat as Izuren's eyes widened from Kenra's remarks toward Hisashi. "I guess we've found our second candidate for the lab," Hisashi remarked while chuckling. "How interesting." He said as he walked away. The guards proceeded to bring all the new prisoners out of their cells and funneled them into the hallway. "Looks like your luck has run out. Dumbass kid," The man across from Kenra's cell thought.
Kenra took in the unsettling cleanliness of the facility. All the people who appeared to be workers wore all white-full bodysuits with hood coverings. They appeared to be working on these giant cylinders of liquid goo that got cycled through a machine. Drops of the black ooze were dropped into a vial and placed in a set of ten to be refrigerated. The group finally made it through the many rooms similar to the first described. They walked into a giant laboratory with one chair in the middle of the room. Without hesitation, the guards took the prisoner Hisashi said would be "going first" and dragged him to the chair as he was screaming to be let go. He was then strapped to the chair tightly as one of the people in white brought a needle filled with the ooze they were working on in the other rooms. "GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME! HELP ME! SOMEONE, PLEASE STOP THIS!" The frightened man begged as his cries became filled with hopelessness when the needle was placed in his arm. The white coat pulled it out of the crying man's arm and the room was filled with nothing but the whimpers of the man in the chair. After a moment of tears falling from his face, he slowly began to tremble in his hands. His breathing was developing into hyperventilating and blood came out of his eyes by the droplets. "I need help." He desperately whispered and violently started convulsing in the chair. You could see the pain shooting out of his entire body. The skin was torn off by the friction from the straps holding him to the chair. His screams were inaudible from him choking on his blood as black markings surfaced on his skin. "What the hell is this fuckin place?" Kenra thought as he witnessed the man's torturous moments last for, what seemed, an eternity until they finally stopped. The markings left his body, but his eyes remained open yet unresponsive. A guard moved in to check his pulse. The man had died and with one motion toward the other guards, he was removed from the chair. The guard then pointed to Kenra as two other guards pulled Kenra to the chair. Kenra tried to fight but got hit in his stomach, hard by a guard's rifle. He was now strapped to the chair, awaiting his fate. The same white coat came with another needle and injected the boy in the arm. Kenra felt helpless as he could feel the change slowly spread from his arm to his entire body. "Akira. I'm sorry." He thought, then suddenly he started to violently shake in the chair with blood streaming out of his eyes and nose. The black markings started to appear on his entire body and with his convulsing he managed to rip a strap off while still in pain from the injection. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!" he managed to say before blacking out on the chair.
He slipped back into his memories where things were simple. Akira and Kenra were playing in the forest near their house. They lived in a mansion in Honey Country far west, away from any known civilization besides Demon country. The boy's parents were Hachin Nakumei [world famous surgeon] and Metsudo Nakumei [CEO of Nakumei Industries and Manufacturing]. The family led a very private life outside of the parents' illustrious careers and earlier that day Kenra found out something earth-shattering to hear. "Kenra, your mother and I have something that we needed to tell you for quite some time but needed to wait till you were old enough to know." The boys' father explained. "Now, regardless of what we tell you. You're forever our son and Akira's older brother. With that being said…'' Metsudo heavily sighed. "You were adopted by us when you were still an infant. A family friend brought you to our doorstep and asked us to take care of you. We-" Metsudo paused for a moment. He turned to his wife. He turned back to the confused Kenra, who Akira was holding onto by the hand. "We do not know who your parents are and the person who would know we haven't seen in years." There was a silence that filled the room until Kenra stood up from the chair he was in. "I kind of knew that there was something different about me. God knows you guys knew that too but you took me as your kid anyway. You gave me a home, a place I love, and a family I'd do anything for. I got my best friend who happens to be my little brother. Knowing I'm not your kid but you let me be your son anyway…" Kenra started to cry as Hachin came in to hug the boy. "It doesn't matter who birthed me. You're all my family. I wouldn't change a thing," Everyone came in for a group hug with tears in their eyes. What was on their hearts was already said.
Later Kenra was in the library, studying while Hachin helped the maid cook in the kitchen. He was reading a medical book on human anatomy until it was flung out of his hands by the house drone; that Akira built with Metsudo. "Give it back, Crow!" Kenra yelled at the drone. "Nope! Catch me, mop head!" Crow jeered back, saying the nickname Akira had for Kenra. Kenra chased the drone throughout the library, then the skirmish made its way out the window leading to the forest. Crow flew over to a tree Akira is in and dropped the book in his lap. Kenra shortly arrived at the base of the tree. "Give…me my…goddamn…book back," Kenra said leaning against the tree, catching his breath. "No, you gotta climb it and catch me," Akira said, sticking his tongue out. "But…I can't breathe…something…is…wrong" Kenra stated as he fainted at the tree. Akira stared at his brother with a straight face. "You know Crow can check for vital signs right?" Kenra remained on the ground motionless. "Crow, check him." Crow hovered down from the top and scanned Kenra. "Oh no, Akira his heart rate has slowed significantly he may need help!" Crow yelled in his automated voice. "Oh crap, Kenra!" Akira screamed while sliding down the tree. He was now over his brother trying to shake him awake. Kenra immediately got up and snatched the book from Akira. He then proceeded to smack Akira over the head with the book. "That's for making me run after you in this forest. That was damn near a mile!" Kenra said as he dusted his book off. "Ow! No fair! How'd you do that?!" Akira asked while rubbing his head. "Mom taught me chakra control when she found out I could access it. I told her I wanted to be a surgeon just like her. I figured out how to slow my heartbeat down with my chakra." Kenra answered, now rubbing Akira's head gently. His little brother smiled from the gesture. "Can you teach me how?" Akira asked. "I don't know. It's become a trade secret of mine," Kenra said with an evil grin. "Please?" Akira asked again, this time dragging out the word. The older brother couldn't resist the puppy dog eyes he was receiving. "Alright!" Kenra blurted out, giving up. "Sit in the meditation stance Mr. Toji taught us in P.E." Akira did as instructed and the brothers sat with their legs crossed. "Quiet your mind and just focus on what's left afterward," Kenra instructed. "What does that even mean?" Akira questioned as he closed his eyes. "You'll when you stop talking and clear your mind." Kenra calmly stated and immediately sunk into his meditation. Akira sucked his teeth and started focusing on clearing his mind.
A few minutes went by as Kenra opened his eyes to see that Akira was asleep. He chuckled and carried him home with Crow following behind them. It was a far walk but manageable for Kenra. They were close to home until the smell of smoke filled the air and got stronger the closer the group got to the house. As they walked past the trees and onto the front gate they could see where the smoke came from. Akira had awoken horrified. The mansion was ablaze.
Kenra sprang up from his sleep and awakened in his cell, sweating. He frantically looked around to see the other cellmates either sleeping or exercising. "Finally awake," Izuren said to Kenra. "How long was I out?" Kenra rubbed his head as he asked that question. "Eight days," Izuren answered without moving from meditation. "Warden was gonna just throw you in the incinerator had you not woken up in an hour." The large man across the cell from Kenra remarked. "As I told you a week ago, you are lucky. You're the only survivor in your crop of losers that went to get the mark," He said as he pulled up his sleeve. Izuren revealed a black mark with three tomoe-shaped prongs on his forearm. The other prisoners revealed they all have it as well. "They also put a chakra seal on you as well. So you can't use your energy until they tell you to." Izuren added as he pulled his sleeve down. Kenra was confused about why he was given this mark, to begin with. "It's called a Curse Mark," Izuren informed the young boy. "What is it?" Kenra asked. Izuren turned his body towards Kenra, giving his full attention. "It changes you into a mutated state that gives you great power and abilities. This practice was banned, centuries ago. This facility has figured out ways to mass-produce a serum that produces the mark. Since it is incomplete research they have been going off of they only give the test subjects access to stage one." Izuren continued to inform the boy. "Stage one? Wait, there are more than one of those processes?" Izuren nodded at Kenra's question. "How do you know so much about this?" Kenra asked curiously. Izuren deeply sighed as he leaned against his cell wall. "My grandpa knew about this place. I came to the F.Z. to find him and I got captured. Shortly after I was brought here." Kenra was going to ask another question but got interrupted by the large man. "I got captured when I had a run-in with The Fangs. My unit ran with the Hunter's Dagger and we were on a mission when we got ambushed by those coward fangs. I was taking out as many as twenty at a time-" Before the man continued, Izuren stopped him. "Makabe, stop talking. You're giving me a headache." Makabe huffed and went to lay down. The door to the cellblock opened with Hisashi and his guards walking in. He saw Kenra and slowly clapped. "You're awake. I don't have to incinerate you now. Lucky you." Hisashi said, which caused Kenra to pierce him with a glare. Hisashi moved on to a different topic, completely ignoring Kenra. "Gentlemen, there will be an event held at the arena in two days. You five will be going up against another cell block in a fight to the death of course. Special privileges will be granted if you impress certain buyers. Call it comfort compared to your current situation. Try not to die when the day comes." Hisashi ended and turned to leave before he glanced at Kenra. The boy stared daggers through the warden but the warden chuckled and walked out with his guards.
"I never liked that dickweed." Makabe said as he went to sleep. Izuren saw as Kenra still had an intense look of anger on his face. "Hey, Kenra. I get that you slept for eight days and have the energy to spend but save your energy and prepare yourself. Rest up as much as you can. This is gonna be a rough fight we're in for." Kenra nodded reluctantly and laid down once more. "Akira…I'll be looking for you soon. Please wait for me until then." The boy thought as he went back to sleep once more.
To be continued
