Chapter 3 - Breathe
2026
Once again, Sivus was surrounded by darkness. Awaking groggily, he grabbed at his eyes, trying to feel for a blindfold. It wasn't there. Wherever he was, it was completely black inside. A quick glance around showed that he could see the outlines of a few objects. Sitting up, he started to stretch when he heard a deep voice boom from the left.
“Hello, Sivus.”
Startled, he jumped up on his feet, only to hit his head on a low metal ceiling. “Where am I?” he called out to the voice in French, knowing that whoever it was most likely would have been banned from learning any Slavic languages beyond a few words of Russian.
“You are where you need to be.” replied the voice, calmly. That made absolutely no sense at all, nor was it anywhere near approaching helpful. Where he needed to be was in Moscow, where his family had moved after the last war. Well, it was actually possible that that was where he was. Who knew if he was still in the hands of the Empire or not? “Russia, then?” Sivus asked optimistically.
“No. You are still west of the Kievan Divide.”
Sivus sighed. The Kievan Divide was where true Imperial authority ended and Russia began to reign, even if its actual border wasn't for a good distance beyond. Many considered the Divide to be the “true” border, and the majority of maps specially marked the region that was part of the Empire but essentially under permanent military occupation by the Posadnik's army.
All of a sudden, the wall on the right began to slide up with a grinding sound. “You could've at least given me some warning!” Sivus shouted as he jumped backwards. The light filtering in from outside illuminated the room clearly now. What he had thought of as some kind of holding cell or building was actually a large vehicle, and the wall was actually the entrance to the cargo bay.
Just as he was beginning to settle into this surprising new reality, two men armed with blades stormed in. Sivus, annoyed, jumped back further, only to slam into another wall. They just wouldn't let him wake up in peace for once! As he recovered from the impact, the man noticed that the two storming the vehicle had slowed, and one was pointing a blade at him.
The other got out some kind of binding device; it looked like some kind of handcuffs, but there was no discernible place where they would detach. Still, it was quite obvious they were planning on using the device as a restraint, most likely to escort Sivus out of the truck.
The guard holding the blade glared at his partner, though. Without warning, he rose the odd polearm and swung it down with bitter hatred. Sivus didn't know why, but for some reason his body felt compelled to move to the side and grab onto the weapon's handle just a bit above the man's hands. With his wrist, the Belorussian slammed the handle, forcing it free of the guard's hands.
His arm rose to strike, and the guard looked terrified. Then, shaking his head, Sivus looked in wonder at his arm. How had he done that? He'd never been trained to fight before in his life, let alone in such advanced hand-to-hand tactics. With a grunt, he turned his attention back to the guard. Though the face the other man was making made the moment sweeter than saccharine, Sivus tossed the weapon to the guard holding the binding device. He seemed the more reasonable of the two.
The once-assailant put on a face of shock, surprised that this young slave had just managed to block the blow from his blade. Then, with a vengeful grunt, he slammed the back of his hand into the boy's face. “Don't screw with me kid! You just about cut yourself.”
Laughing, he took the restraints from his partner and placed them over the easterner's wrists. Slowly but surely they took on the appearance of dissolving into the skin, becoming invisible while still holding Sivus' arms in place.
As they walked out, the man Sivus had tossed the blade to whispered quietly. “My name is Leon,” he said before scurrying off, weapon in hand. The other guard escorted Sivus to a pair of large steel doors, then left as well.
“Wait, what do I do now?” he asked loudly, hoping someone would at least lead him inside. He couldn't open the door with his hands, considering they were bound. A precise look over the scene led him to a small blue button on the wall beside the door. Jumping up, he twisted his body to kick the button. The doors slid open smoothly, and Sivus walked inside, a blast of cold air rocking him as he began to feel the air conditioning.