Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

ankle is broken. Please don’t make her feel even worse by reminding her of that."

He spoke disapprovingly at her— almost in a lecturing tone; he turned away from her and gave me an apologetic look.

"I’m sorry about her, she gets a bit… silly, sometimes."

You could say that again! I say she’s a full-on idiot!

I quickly shook my head, and tried to cast away those thoughts. Calm down. Don’t be a jerk, Melas. You had friends like her before, and you got along with them just fine!

But that was back on Earth. In a relaxed setting. Not when we were literally being kept as captives to be sold as slaves. It was a whole different world, and an entirely different scenario; didn’t I deserve to be at least a bit upset? I was bruised and injured from the fight the day before too! Plus, with all these people around, I could not practice my magic. To say I was ‘annoyed’ would be a massive under exaggeration.

I looked up at the man— a Dog Beastkin with a droopy pair of ears and a furry tail— and met his blue eyes. "It’s fine. Thank you, Mr Shang."

I spoke succinctly, and nodded my head at him. His hair and fur shared the same orange-red color, and he had an epicanthal fold on his eyelid just like Rin. But his brown eyes did not emit the dim glow like hers did. That was a trait unique to the Cat Beastkin, as a result of their night vision, their eyes shone dimly in dark places.

Shang smiled at me reassuringly— or at least, he tried to. His toothy grin did anything but reassure me, however I understood what he was trying to convey. "Of course, Young Melas. And please, there’s no need to call me… hrn, a ‘Mister’. That’s a Human formality, not something a Beastkin like me is used to."

"Of course, Shang." I nodded my head to him once again, then I remembered to smile. "Thank you."

And that was that.

Well, it was until Rin spoke up once more.

"So… you’re not actually hungry?" She looked side to side, and met our blank stares. "What? She did not say!"

This time, it was Shang’s turn to sigh as he began reprimanding her.

"Rin, what did I just say?"

"You said she was hungry! But she said she was not hungry!"

"No, Rin. I meant after that."

"Nn, I… forgot?"

"What do you mean you forgot? I just said it."

"I don’t know, Shang! You say a lot of things, ok?"

"Hrn, and do you listen to any of it?"

"I-uh… no?"

"And that’s exactly your problem, Rin. You don’t pay attention to anything."

"Nn, why do you gotta be so mean!"

"Because it’s for your own good, Rin. You need to learn to be more considerate of others, and to do that you have to listen."

"But I do listen!"

"No, you don’t."

"Yes I do!"

"No. You don’t."

"Yes! I do—"

I looked on in disbelief as the two began bickering over something so… trivial. All I could think was, how? How could they be so carefree?!

This has been happening both constantly, and consistently, ever since I met them. They really did not care; if they did, it must have been an infinitesimal amount of emotion dedicated to ‘caring’. I gaped on as the ‘argument’ (it’s not an argument, it’s literally a comedy-routine) came to a close, and when it did, Shang turned to me and apologized once more. "I’m really sorry about that. Please, just… ignore her or something."

"Rude!" the Cat Beastkin called out, "I can hear you say that, you know!"

"Please be quiet, Rin," Shang said without even turning to look at the young woman. He met my gaze, and bowed his head slightly. "She’s a bit annoying at times, but she’s a good person. I promise."

It was at this point, I finally could not take it anymore; for the past day I stayed silent, but now, looking at this, and hearing Shang apologize about it as if it were a normal thing— as if this entire situation was not literally the most terrible to happen to anyone— I finally snapped.

"H— How?!" I barely managed to sputter out the word. I inhaled deeply, trying to calm myself down, and continued. "How are you all so calm?"

This time, both Shang and Rin paused and turned to face me. They both blinked at the same time, as I went on.

"And I don’t just mean the two of you." I pointed around the room, at the other cages filled with Beastkin; Dog, Cat, and two Rabbit Beastkin were all locked up in cages, and just chatting with each other without a care in the world. "All of you! Why are all of you acting like this?!"

The room went silent, as I shouted out the words. All eyes turned to me, and I met each and every gaze with anger. Not righteous fury, or any kind of blazing hatred. Just an anger born out of frustration of being a slave, which was only exacerbated by the incessant pain in my leg.

And I did not understand any of this. Why did I have to become a slave?! Why can’t I practice my magic?! Why did… why did my mom have to die? I sniffed, and realized I was crying. I felt so useless. Despite my best attempts at trying to break free, I failed. I just wanted to run away from all this.

Shang gently placed a hand on my shoulder. Well, not one hand, but both of them since his arms were chained together by a manacle. But it was not him who spoke.

"Sorry," Rin spoke, her voice soft and contrite. "I— I did not mean to make you upset. And we’re not just carefree."

"Yes, we’re not happy about being chained up like this, either." Shang