Hearing a whip’s crack behind her, Hina breathed lightly, enduring a stinging pain across her shoulder. The Naturalborn began reciting an old story to herself in order to block out the feeling of drawn-out blood and the humiliation of having the lesser creatures boss her around while concentrating on breaking diamonds and onyx from the wall with her bare fingers.

There was a boy once. He lived prior to the Extinction, unremarkable in any single way aside from being timid, foolish, and like all other cattle. His limbs were weak and easily breakable, but a strange suit bought for him by his parents allowed him to live. In their arrogance, his parents made him live on.

Cruel fools. Everywhere he went, he was met with scorn and mockery. Kids of his age beat him up, calling him a freak; older people avoid a stuttering, uncertain buffoon, preferring to ignore his pleas for help. Such is the fate of the weak, but the boy refused to accept nature’s course and persisted in his foolishness, trying to find a better nature in others instead of looking for ways to subjugate them.

During the Extinction, the boy’s family abandoned him, not wanting a dead weight to bother them during their escape. The boy walked on his own, hearing a weak plea for help nearby. One of his tormentors, a fellow student from his place of learning, got stuck up under a rubble. The boy should have laughed or simply left. Instead, he jumped to help, breaking his suit but saving the one who beat him up.

And his tormentor ran away, leaving the now-pleading boy in his useless metal suit, all alone on the collapsed road. Raising his crying face to the skies, the boy shouted to God, admitting that he was wrong and swearing that he had learned the lesson. And God has answered. The boy grew. A tail with a snake’s head at the end burst from his pelvis, his arms and legs bulged with newfound might. He stood up, a boy no longer but a giant of flesh and rage, and shouted his rage to the skies, swearing to eliminate humanity for what it had done to him. The giant raced after the ones who left him, leaving no one alive. His family, his tormentors, everyone else he met… All became his first toys, then meat to fuel his raging muscles. The first Changed had been born on this day.

This was the legend that the Changed whispered to each other occasionally, claiming that they came before Naturalborns and before Mother. Hina always laughed at these superstitions, but now she knew that there was a seed of wisdom in their stories. She sought to show mercy to Tirezi and tried to bully her into submission rather than attacking straight away. This led to her losing. She begged for her life, and her life was granted to her, along with the never-ending misery.

Hina toiled in the mines owned by Tirezi… or was it Gaexus who owned this exact place? She did not remember, and frankly, she no longer cared. Her body ached with pain, and as the only Naturalborn here, she became a subject of mockery and abuse from both humans and Changed, both slaves and guards alike. Her arms and legs were studded with steel shards, creating never-healing wounds to ensure that she would always stay weaker than an average Changed. A metal encasing around her ribs prevented the woman from breathing fully, causing spastic pain in the lungs every so often. Knowing of her power, the guards pierced her knees with steel, leaving her with the ability to merely walk in agony but never spring ever again. Constant beatings and mockery removed all reverence that the other slaves might’ve felt in the presence of a Naturalborn. Day after day, she tore chunks of stone out of the wall. Diamonds, gold, onyx, steel… It did not matter. All went to the unsatiated maw of Mother’s coffins. And once one mine was empty, her owners would take her to another. So far, she had worked in five mines.

The slaves died in droves here, whipped to death, suffocated, crushed under an accident collapse, and some became mad. Even after their deaths, they still served. Their bodies got chopped into pieces. Hina allowed a smile to spread across her face, hearing a discussion between a few fresh slaves, who were surprised that the guards fed them actual meat. She knew full well where exactly the food came from.

Time had failed to teach her a lesson. Once she shared a meal with a begging slave, and now this very woman, promoted to overseer, stood behind her, whipping her to amuse the Changed in charge of the mine and earn an additional food ration. The legend spoke truth. Act against a natural order and you will suffer. Losing your freedom and choosing to live only leads to even more suffering. In life, you only have one correct choice, and you must always, without a doubt, get what is yours. Hina knew it to be the truth by now, hating herself for her inability to do what was needed to escape this maddening existence.

She leaned back, her hands holding a chunk of stone stuck in the wall. Pain from sharp metal racing against her muscles and pain from her torn claws reverberated in her body. Suffocation from a tight slave collar around her neck dimmed her view, not allowing her to slip away into monotony. She fought for every breath, looking up the mine and seeing countless wooden stairs and torches that stole away the already precious oxygen. The Changed in charge of the mine, a beast of bone and muscle, armed with a bio cannon growing from his back, laughed crazily. Like all other Gaexus’ servants, he too wore an armor that both protected and lacerated his own body, forcing a maddening sensation upon the Changed every second of a day. He held a scared man in his arm, hanging him above the pit, leading all the way down to where Hina was working. She did not know if the slave did something or if the Changed simply wanted to amuse himself. All she knew was that the man will probably land on top of her, spearing her with a fresh surge of pain if she…

A blue flash hit the Changed’s head, robbing him of all sentience in his eye. The moment his eyes rolled, the massive body shook, releasing the slave’s body. Before the screaming man could fall on Hina, he got caught by a lithe black figure that landed on the mine’s wall and propelled herself upward, landing herself on the same wooden platform above the digging operation.

A series of explosions sounded in the tunnels, filling everything with smoke that made eyes cry and lungs strain. More explosions brought a bright light that partially robbed Hina of her vision, leaving just her left eye intact. More and more black forms, some looking comically huge, others unnaturally thin, charged inside, firing blue flashes at the guards from their small weapons, causing the Changed to spasm and fall down in place. Some endured the incoming energy, but before they could use their claws, they found themselves face down in the dust, needles in their backs, and handcuffs around their limbs.

Hina could have sworn that barely a couple of minutes had passed, but when her right eye could see once more, she found several weapons aimed at her face.

“Wait!” a towering monstrosity made of steel and cables shouted, coming closer with steps that made rocks tremble. At first, she mistook him for a man in iron armor before noticing steel cords running across his arms and finger-sized needles coming from his fingers. In place of a neck, the man had four wires connected to his head, hidden behind a plain steel-colored visor. “She is a slave.”

Hina never said even a word before one of the lithe-looking tin-can men pulled something over her head, allowing her to breathe and see easily once more. Then they dragged her after themselves, across the smoke-filled tunnels.

****

Hina found herself at a bit of a loss after being dragged to the surface under the night sky and herded into a group with the rest of the slaves. Their new captors or owners, whoever they were, became busy dragging out the guards from the mine, separating them from the slaves with a line of soldiers. After some of them took off their helmets, Hina breathed a sigh of minor relief, seeing human faces beneath them. Someone freed her from the stupid bag and offered her food and water. Hina refused all the offers, ignoring the cheering shouts of the freed slaves and their celebration. Fools. They think they were saved? There is no salvation, not for anyone. No, she won’t take anything from the new masters.

Seeing her refusal, a soldier called someone named Bill, and now a gray-haired, wrinkled man crouched next to her, waving some sort of square-shaped box around her body. Clicking his tongue at something, the man rubbed some salve into the wounds’ edges, resulting in a lessening of the pain.

Owners then, Hina realized with a surge of despair. During the raids, some Changed and Naturalborns treated the cattle’s wounds to bring them home safe and sound. It makes sense that these people would do the same to either work them to death later or make a quick profit by selling them. The field doctor grabbed her by the back of her head, forcing Hina to drink from a flask before pushing a pink substance into her mouth and holding her jaw shut until she swallowed the surprisingly tasty thing. Her belly rumbled against her best attempts, begging for more. Keeping the stone face, Hina clenched her teeth, ignoring the man’s offers to give her more food.

Will my indignity ever end? Hina banished the despair. Smart, she has to think smart! She was left alive in the mine on Tirezi’s orders for the crime of challenging her. No longer can she enjoy such protection. All she has to do now is find the most wicked and cruel of her new masters and bait him into killing her. The thought of the sweet release of death filled Hina’s heart with warmth. She can be free of her dishonor.

“How are the people?” asked a woman with a metallic skeleton jaw on back-jointed legs, coming closer and holstering a weapon behind her back. A flash of light lit her natural lip as she lit a cigar. Noticing Hina’s look, the woman arched her brow. “Want some?”

Hina quickly shook her head, unwilling to take anything from these people without a chance of giving something equal in return. No more. Never again will she owe anything to anyone.

“The best I can do is apply painkillers, pump enough sedatives to keep the prisoners asleep.” The man pointed at the sleeping Changed. “And prevent minor bleeding. Can’t do shit about inner traumas or hemorrhages.”

“Bill, I swear to the Sun God if even a single one…” Hina heard a threat in the woman’s voice. None stood up to challenge her, not even that hulking machine tin can man. The woman of authority. She must be the leader of this slave party.

“Well, what do you want me to do? I am a medic, not a miracle maker! Regina, I can’t operate on any of them in the middle of the desert. They’ll either get infection…” His hand shot to the side, grabbing a spider the size of his hand by its black belly. Crushing the creature in his fist, the man continued, “Or these things will get them! Just look at this!” Bill showed the square thing to Regina.

Curious, Hina stretched her neck, grimacing from the feeling of a metal scratching at her vertebrae. With a corner of her eye, she saw what looked like paintings that she saw sometimes in cattle homes. Only this one looked far more elegantly made, picturing a Naturalborn’s skeleton, some metal things, and organs.

The picture and the words about the operation scared her. Are they intending to graft even more metal onto her flesh? But… she can barely walk as it is! Hina breathed in twice, calming herself. No matter. She has a plan. It doesn’t matter how much it’ll hurt. Some of her new owners must have a short temper. Observe and learn. One of them kills me, and I’ll be free. La-La-La.

“One edge of her armor is wrapped around a bone and scrapes her lung at every breath, no doubt leaving gashes in the tissue. I am morbidly curious how to remove the armor without taking away the rib along.” Bill spat on the ground. “And the guards have the same shit with their armor. Who does that to their own soldiers? What is the point?”

Pain. Hina wanted to say, but forced herself to keep her mouth shut. Never ask for anything, never say anything, and never attract attention. Otherwise, the situation might turn for the worse. Accept whatever gifts they may give and toil in vain until death can take you. Or… She looked over the woman critically. Maybe… Just maybe she can provoke Regina into killing her. But how? Hina can’t endure being left a cripple. No, better to keep her mouth shut and serve her new masters, until she can know for sure.

Regina pressed a hand to her ear, nodding at some barely audible whispers. The woman looked up, and Hina followed her example, whimpering at the sight of fifty new, bright suns shining in the night skies. Rapidly, like fallen arrows, these gusts of flame circled the frightened group. Some slaves screamed, and a few Changed even tried to run, only to be stopped by the guards.

With the might of a descending avalanche, the lights came onto the ground, making the ground shake and leading to the slaves falling on their knees, extending their pleading hands to the giants of steel that had surrounded them.

They looked like twins, all fifty of them, standing four meters tall. Sleek, oval bodies with four limbs protruding from them. Instead of skin, the newcomers had a dark blue steel, perfectly smooth without a single dent or notch. Above each hand, they had cruel-looking weapons of destruction, far bigger than the ones the soldiers used. On each chest was a painting of a sprawling tree, and their heads looked square-shaped, devoid of all features. Black screens served as these beings for eyes.

“Drop your weapons and surrender at once,” a female voice boomed from one giant body, and a golden star flashed on the black screen. “Stand away from the prisoners, and you will not be harmed!”

“Ensign, ensign, what’s the big idea?” Regina stepped forward, raising her arms, while the people all around her disarmed. “We are merely spelunkers who planned to investigate the place.” The woman nodded at the mine behind her. “Unfortunately, we found some real bad dudes in there. Slavers, if you’d believe it! We knocked ‘em out and freed the slaves! We planned to call Iterna, cause the Sun God knows, we did not know to whom else to turn…”

“Spelunkers? Really?” The giant asked with suspicion.

“Totally! We get a mighty thrill pushing through the damp places and discovering new passages!”

“While carrying tear gas and flashbangs,” another giant boomed.

“To scare away local wildlife! We can’t have them gnawing at our skulls, right?”

“And armed with the stun-guns?” The giant with a golden star for a face pointed a hand at the weapons.

“Ma’am, what sound-minded person would harm precious, harmless-looking wildlife living in the caves?” Regina sounded nothing like before, voicing almost genuine horror at the prospect. “My heart can’t take even a thought of this disgusting act! The ones who don’t run from the gas, we knock out with our guns, ma’am!”

Regina made a step toward the thing she called ‘ensign’ and the ground shook. The woman flew to the side, one arm and leg missing. A patch of destroyed land led across the field, stopping before the ranks of the metal giants. No. Hina understood with horror. Not stopped. One giant pushed the one with the golden star aside, just in time to receive a surge of force strong enough that it tore everything above his waist.

The giants weren’t human. In place of blood and flesh, they had cables and hissing plates, hissing sparks, and flames coming from their insides, evaporating in the air. The mortally wounded thing made a step and toppled, sending back in the air as the land all around them trembled hard enough to throw both the slaves and the soldiers off their feet. A wave of sand and stone engulfed them.

She heard roaring sounds and lights flashing through the sand, breaking against some titanic body standing amidst the destroyed patch of land next to the mine. Something—no, someone—has landed next to them, heavy enough to make everyone panic. A hand, gray-skinned and bigger than any boulder, came from within the roaring sand, ignoring all bullets fired at it. The cruel fingers picked a screaming slave off the ground, raising the woman in the air.

“I came after seeing the stars go down,” a voice shouted, and the sand parted, revealing the towering figure, “and hit the jackpot!”

Hina froze. The desert devil. The first of Changed. Whatever his name was, he was real, and he was here! The man’s head protruded forward, giving him his namesake. Horseface. Standing taller than any steel giant, with a hissing snake at the end of his tail, Horseface smiled crudely, ignoring the incoming bullets that simply bounced off his thick muscles, leaving no blood in their place. The mercenaries fared no better, their blue flashes caused the Changed no discomfort.

A Changed climbed forward, a guard who had woken up and freed himself during the apocalyptic landing. The man climbed forward, extending his clawed hands to his progenitor and weeping for deliverance from the pain that shackled him. Horseface smashed the guard beneath his foot and started peeling off the skin of the woman in his hand.

Slowly. Deliberately. Saving each and every scream, shielding her from the fire of the steel giants, who tried to give the woman a merciful death with his thick fingers. He tore patches of skin from the slave’s body, causing her to writhe in despair and with blood flowing between his fingers. The desert devil laughed, mocking the woman’s wordless pleas and running a finger across her naked muscles.

Hina wanted to die. Life could only ever bring more pain, more misery. But dying like a toy from this thing? It scared her. And with fear came rage. He doesn’t deserve their lives. Another Gaexus, another mad beast who gets drunk on bringing pain to others? Screw that!

She limped toward the downed Regina, grasping the woman by the shoulder.

“I can save all of you!” Hina shouted in her confused face.

“How in the flaming hell…”

“I have a power… It can make me and anyone within a small radius invincible to any eye.” Hina licked his lips, forcing herself to continue. Sharing this knowledge with an outlander felt wrong. “But the radius is really small, and it only works for five minutes per day, no more.”

“Why are you here, then? Why didn’t you escape with your powers?” Regina’s eyes narrowed.

“I… I can barely walk.” The Naturalborn grimaced, hating being reminded of her weakness. “But you have fast-moving steel beasts, right? If you swear to do a single wish for me, I’ll use my power to shield your beasts!”

“We’ll do one better.” The steel giant, the one called Ensign, came to them with two others. “My brothers can carry you away from the battlefield. And we stay here to halt him.” Ensign started to turn, the weapon in her hand coming back to life.

“An oath! Give me your oath first!” Hina shouted in despair, seeing how the giants’ round torsos opened.

“I swear. Anything you want, if it is within my strength, I will do.” Regina said.

And Hina smiled. Free. I am free. Finally, no more pain, no more humiliation. She played her hand and lost at life. Oh, well, better luck in next life. Naturalborns weren’t meant to live past twenty years, anyway. Live brightly and die fiercely, as the Mother always said.

The Naturalborn ignored the wires that wrapped around her and the other bodies, as two steel giants started merging, becoming a gigantic vehicle that swallowed slaves, soldiers, and guards alike, pressing them all together. Hina herself ended up being somewhere else, sitting on a seat next to Regina, watching how Horseface turned toward them, finally killing the victim in his hand.

“Dream on,” she whispered and activated the shroud, whisking both herself and this strange metal prison from this plane into the realms of shadow.

Moonlight ended up being barely visible white pillars, and Horseface’s thundering steps became a whisper on a non-existent wind. The giant Changed stopped, looking around in confusion and ignoring the smaller metal forms that kept firing on him non-stop. To the outsider’s eye, Hina and the others simply teleported away, and when they took off, Horseface could no longer find them. Because they were not leaving any tracks, as Hina originally worried. No, the giants took them to the skies.

And behind them, she saw how Horseface lifted his giant arm. And in a single swing, he sliced through five opponents, turning his fury on them, before punching the ground and making new hills rise from beneath, bulged out by his insane strength.

“They’ll be killed,” a male voice said from the metal before Hina.

“We must call Dad,” another male voice responded, and Regina laughed, ignoring her destroyed limbs.

“You’ll call your dad on the big bad guy? I almost want to stay and watch!”