"Huna, Vewwe, leave us."

    The sisters made a quick exeunt, leaving Tais alone with the pompous man.

    "I am going to perform most of this mentally," the man started, his words ringing clear in both ear and mind.

    For one cannot lie with their mind, only their words, the thought came, unaccompanied by speech.

    Tais gave a quick nod, and replied, somewhat weakly, "But how am I to respond?"

    A smile from the man. "Just speak your mind."

    And with that, the conversation started, albeit a lop-sided one. The man, who revealed himself only as Viscount Director, asked many questions of Tais, something he wasn't at all accustomed to. What do you first remember of the mines? What memory rings with clarity in your thoughts? Why did you want to escape? A tirade of interrogation, with Tais answering truthfully the whole time.

    Why am I telling this man the truth?

    "It is because you trust me, Tais," came the unexpected answer. Tais stood in shock, anger and rage slowly bubbling up to the surface of his thoughts.

    He boiled over. "Are you reading my mind? Have you been this whole time? Why do you need my answers, then? Can't you just pry them from me? Or does this make you feel more high, more mighty, Viscount--" he spat the word with bitter contempt "--Director?"

    A sigh was Tais' only answer from the Director, until another voice spoke in his mind; a female voice, a familiar voice.

    No, Tais, it sounded almost motherly, tender and comforting. You've been screaming your thoughts in the minds of everyone around you, you just don't know it.

    "I know you," Tais replied, his voice on edge. He hoped that his mental thoughts would carry through to her. "You... you're..."

    His words trailed off, as realization hit him like a brick.

    "Yes, Tais," came the voice of the Director, though the mental accompaniment was not there. "She is alive."

    Salla.

    "But," the word cut into the consciousness of Tais, "she's one of us."

    A wicked smile from the Director, and a maliciousness in his eye caught the attention of Tais, though he was still too shocked to react.

    The next words came from the lips and mind of Salla, who stood behind him in the doorway, not the imposing figure of the Viscount Director  looming before him.

    "Take him away, now."

RATE THIS CHAPTER!

Click to View Author Guidance

From the hopeless trenches of the slave world, one man begins to hope, and from this hope, there blooms a freedom in his mind. The Delkori cannot enslave his mind...His mind is free. And soon, discovering the true potential of this freedom of mind, he escapes the slave world and moves through the mysterious and shifty other world to discover the true workings behind it all...
With deceitful voices in his mind, and traps at every corner that test his physical and mental powers until he is left stumbling, he grips his will power and continues on through it all...trying to find the light.
DUN DUN DUN..

Info for Authors:
The social hierarchy:
The order of the Delko from what I think is the highest to lowest goes as follows: Delkora, Delkorei, Delkori, Klendo.
The Klendo are the workers, the slaves, they work in the trenches and know only of the trenches.
The Delkori supervise the Klendo.
The Delkora include Huna, Vewwe and their "father". They are Mancers of varying degrees.
Above them are a few others. The Viscount Director has a degree of power over what goes on, but Huna's father could easily be doing things behind his back. Also, there is a man who is called the Surgeon who has a lot of power.

Tais's background is still unknown, but he was raised as a slave as an experiment, even when he has the mental powers of a Mancer. Huna's father was conducting this experiment and others on Tais...but then the Surgeon offered him a deal and he secretly took it. So now the experiments are much crueler and scarier and run by the Surgeon himself...and that was what changed Salla.

updated Jul 29 by olius_brightwell