Inequality

Chapter 1 – Freedom

Akari woke up with soreness enveloping her. The bleak darkness greeted her as she opened one eye. She attempted to move, and found it to be hopeless and futile like always. The magically-enhanced shackles binding her ankles, wrist, and neck stung at the slight friction she had caused and a low hiss escapes her lips. The shackles suspended her uncomfortably in the air on an open platform at the very bottom of a dungeon within the mountains.

“So you're awake,” a young male voice calls out. Her head shot up and she sees her old friend, or perhaps acquaintance as of now, Dongjun. Her eyes stared blankly at him before a small smirk curled at her lips. The lights flickered on, and gave an eery illumination to both of them and she sighed

“I can't believe they set you to keep watch of me for this month,” she scoffed. Despite the condition Akari was in, her fiery temper and coldness towards others didn't stop. Dongjun frowns and he said, “We can't have you killing anyone else and taking their ability Akari-ah.”

“Please, our stupid King is the one that wanted me to become a weapon of mass destruction, it's not my fault he didn't keep me in check the first time around,” Akari huffed. She could still remember it, the first war she ever fought in, and at the ripe age of 15. How much blood has been spilled from her hands alone? How much more blood does he expect me to spill?

Dongjun places his hand on the chains and the range on them extend, enough for her to finally sit down. She slumped to the floor happily. After all, how long has it been since the last time she was able to even touch the floor. Four years.

“Why do you still work for them Dongjun-ah?” Akari asked as she felt the shackles tighten again and she realized she was now stuck sitting on the floor. I suppose that's better than being suspended in air with sore muscles everywhere. She frowned and he sighed, “Do I look like I have a choice?”

Akari shook her head. Both of them were both part of the same facility, the same experiment that pitted the two of them in a life-and-death situation. The facility didn't give you a choice anyways, it's either you passed the experiment and continued your life knowing you were a monster, or you failed and you died. Out of thousands and thousands of 'participants' – as they would call it – only Akari and fifty others passed, but in the end, it's only Akari and – at most – five others left.

Dongjun was about to say something when he heard a random buzzing noise and a faint cry for help. The alarm within Akari's dungeon chambers began blaring, catching both of you off guard and surprised. He looked up towards the two entrances to the dungeon and he sees that Akari didn't care for it. He takes a step forward, closer to her, and she glances up and this time she acknowledges it.

An explosion sounds throughout the dungeon, reverberating off the sides of the walls and echoing around them. The alarm shortly follows and Akari mumbled, “There's six of them.”

Dongjun glances at her and notices the chains beginning to shake uncontrollably as frost began to freeze them rapidly and chip away at them. He mentally reaches out to them and negates the ice, and he enhances the defense on the chains before glancing up to see the intruders.

He glanced back to Akari and he asked, “Your friends?”

She shook her head and shrugged and responded, “I don't have friends. Except maybe you I guess.”

“Thanks,” he responded with a warm stare and continued, “I feel quite honored for someone considered an elite murderer in this ed up society of ours.”

“Welcome,” she sneered and suddenly, Akari felt the chain around her neck snap. Immediately she felt it, the same adrenaline pumping through her veins as her magical channel was released. It came out of no where and Dongjun was anywhere but ready for it. Before he could do anything, Akari snapped free from the other locks, setting the chains on fire, melting them away as best as she could.

She stretched and immediately felt the same war form itch to appear. Akari succumbed to it, and her metallic wings made of swords flashed open, illuminating in the dim light. They were floating just a little bit away from her body, not attached the skin, but floating just a bit above it. When she stretched, the melodious tinkling of the swords gently hitting each other rang out, and they moved along fluidly with her body as she stretched her muscles. At the sight of Akari's reawakening, one of the intruders from above mumbled, “Target spotted.”

“Freedom... it feels so nice, so sweet,” Akari breathed out softly. She walked over to Dongjun and circled around him slowly before gently tracing his jaw line with a finger and he asked, “You.. You're leaving aren't you?”

Akari nodded and she mumbled, “I'm considered a failure, sure I'm destructive, but I'm still a failure, failures aren't allowed to survive.. I'm only here because of that.”

She leaned forward and gently planted a kiss on his cheek and breathed out, “Unlike you. My complete opposite.”

“I'm suppose to stop you,” he whispered. Unknowingly his hand was already cupping her hand that was resting on his cheek. However, the intruders that continued advancing stopped him from anymore. He glanced at the advancing males as they rushed down the stairs towards the two of them. One of the intruders was in flight as he rushed towards the duo. She looked away from them and back towards Dongjun. Akari stared into his eyes and murmured, “Your heart says otherwise Jun-ah.”

She were about to take flight when she noticed it, the male with dirty blond hair held his hand up and a monotonous aura enveloped you. Dongjun follows her gaze and pulls you closer as he negated the ability to freeze time.

The monotone aura enveloped everything except Akari and Dongjun as time was suspended. Noticing that the two below didn't freeze, the male frowned and canceled his attack before rushing forward again.

The male in flight dived towards Akari and she launched herself into the air, narrowly escaping his dive. She looked down only to see Dongjun staring at her longingly before turning back to the men.

“Kris hyung!” the male who attempted time control shouted at the one in flight, “He's the one with Negation, we have to ward him off!”

“Don't worry, I got this,” the one with fluffy black hair mumbled. Despite the large distance between him and Dongjun, he encased Dongjun in ice, but just before he was completely frozen in ice, Dongjun negated a lightning attack directed at Akari from another male just behind the time controller.

Akari heard the male complain about it being unfair since his aim was bad and she continued flying towards the small opening. However, she suddenly heard a cry for her to stop and she glanced down, the male with flight was right behind her.

She increased her speed, willing the wind around to aid her. She heard a crackling sound as the walls of the dungeon froze and the ice rushed towards the opening faster than Akari had expected. Akari's wings disappeared in a flash of light and her form followed closely after her as she changed into an agile dragon as she flew towards the exit and attempted to break through the ice.

The ice breaks, but the moment it made physical contact with her, it encased her foot in ice. Akari transformed back into her original form, in hopes that it wouldn't follow her transition fast enough, and attempt to break free, but found it futile as the ice was too fast and it encased her entire lower body.

The one called Kris catches up with Akari and as soon as he reaches the opening that she had created with the ice, she turns the tables on him, and willed the enemy's ice to encase his foot.

“What the heck Xiumin!?” Kris calls out. Xiumin, the wielder of ice, looks on in surprise as he attempts to retake control of his power. But it was almost as though his ice was infected by her malice, and the ice only spirals out of control and continues to encase Kris' lower half in ice, placing both of them in the same position.

“I'll let you go if you let me go,” Akari offers. The smirk on her face was blatantly obvious and Kris sighed and shook his head and mumbled, “That's too risky.”

Akari laughed and asked, “Why? Because I'm a murderer?”

Kris shook his head and he said, “I don't care about that... Mizuhara Akari, we need your help.”

“My help? For what?” she asked, her smirk was wiped off her face at that word. Help wasn't something Akari was requested for. No one ever requests things of you, Akari, they just take advantage of you and use you.

Kris nods and his eyes meet hers, and Akari feel the seriousness behind them.

“Help us regain Area 15.”