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From Badlander to Branded One

Chapter 4

For lightsun168

By Draconicon

One night, then another, passed faster than seemed possible. What time was allotted to his recovery was shortened, taken from a night to recover from a single brand to less than an hour. When Faarax wasn't wielding the irons, he was given time to rest either alone or in the presence of the hyena. Much as he hated both of them, he preferred the company of Chidike to his own. At least then, he knew when he was dreaming and when he wasn't.

It was just after the eighth brand, one that burned against the small of his throat, that he was allowed to rest again. He panted for breath, wheezing from the ache and heat that was left there, and lowered his head.

"Ah...ah...ah..."

"...Would you believe me if I said you should be grateful?" Chidike asked.

"To...to hell with you..."

"That's what I thought." The hyena sighed. "I can't blame you, I suppose. After going through it like this -"

"I'll believe...I'll believe that I should be grateful...when you volunteer to go through the same thing."

"I have a life. My people have a life. You had -"

"I had freedom." Kero lifted his head, gritting his teeth at the pressure that it put on the brand. "I had freedom. I lived how I wanted. I was responsible for me. If I died, then it was my fault, nobody else. I didn't have to look out for people that despised me. I didn't have to serve those that hated me."

"You have life here."

"No. I have chains. There is no life in chains."

"It's better to live than die."

"Is it? Is this fear better?"

Chidike shook his head, standing and pacing the room. Kero let the matter drop; he doubted that he'd ever be able to make himself clear to his captor.

The speed at which they were trying to break him terrified him. If it had been a normal person, someone that hadn't been strengthened and forged by the Badlands, the pain and humiliation would have shattered them. As it stood, he was barely holding himself together, and he had moments of weakness like this again and again. His strength, his courage, his will were fading.

Just like they wanted, he imagined. Just like they had told him would happen. They were going to break him, and they were going to do it soon.

Kero thought of the world outside the walls again, of the great Stacks that plumed with smoke that was black some days and red others, and rainbow in other places. He thought of the dark lakes and the bright lakes. He thought of the blasted forests, where the trees had darkened to shades of midnight and oozed oil rather than sap. He thought of the wonders and horrors of the world beyond the wall, and knew that he would have given anything to be back to them.

But he couldn't. He was trapped here, branded over and over again. No matter how they told him to be grateful, no matter how much he was told that some of the marks would make him stronger or faster, he didn't care. He didn't need more strength. He had enough of that.

But he didn't have his freedom. They had taken that.

He sagged further in the chains, his legs aching from the number of times he'd attempted to kick and lash out only to have them pulled back again. His ankles were probably bruised and almost shattered from how hard he had tried to escape. The throbbing and swelling sensation from down below didn't help.

Chidike turned back to him. The hyena looked him in the eye, slowly shaking his head.

"Is there anything I can say to explain why this is worth fighting for?"

"Is it? Is any of it worth it?"

"You've lived out there...and you've seen this. This...this is live. This is civilization."

"Is it civilized to take a child and force them to fight? Is it civilized to force you to choose who lives and who breaks?"

"..."

"Of course...I'm not one of you. I'm not a person. I'm just a corrupted Badlander, someone that should be grateful for the chance to leave it all behind." Kero chuckled, only to wince at the pain the little chuckle-shakes brought along with them. "You can't understand. You're too afraid."

"...Perhaps...But at least I'm free."

"No. You just can't see your chains. At least mine are visible."

Kero lowered his head. He doubted that he would ever be able to make anyone understand. He was...he was so tired. The next session would probably break him, he imagined. One more, one more, and he would be as good as dead.

As he sagged against the chains, imagining what he would do when he was no longer a person - or at least, no longer his own person - he heard the lock click and open. It was too soon, far too soon for Faarax to return, he thought. He'd only had twenty minutes this time, twenty short minutes to start pulling himself together. Kero whipped his head up -

It was Faarax, alright, and the wild dog was bloodied again. This time, the blood came from a mark across his chest, and this time, Kero saw something that he had almost missed before. The cut, the blood, came from one of the brand marks on his left side, one that looked almost like the sigil that had been pressed right to the dragon's chest to limit his strength.

What...how...

"What is the meaning of this, Breaker?" Chidike asked.

"Back to do the job."

"He needs a little more time."

"You care? Or you want to take his place?" Faarax asked, sneering.

"Watch yourself, dog."

"Just here to do a job. Can do it on you, too."

"I am not going to listen to that. Silence."

The wild dog's jaws clamped together, but he grinned nonetheless through the obviously painful clenching pressure. Chidike shook his head.

"You're insane. It's a wonder that anything was left after what you did."

"Mmmmmm..."

"...A test. You...deserve it after this." Shaking his head, the hyena reached for the chains, undoing both the ankle and wrist chains, but not the shackles. Kero fell, almost stumbling to his knees. "Do you remember how you punished him in the square, Badlander?"

"...I remember."

"No chains this time. Just...hurt him."

"..."

"With all your strength."

He had yet to be branded with the obedience rune. They'd argued about that, with Chidike suggesting that they could push for that sooner than later, but Faarax had argued that he wasn't ready for it yet. Something about how the rune could kill him if it was applied too soon before the others were ready to support it.

He almost wished they had. Whether dead or enslaved, at least he wouldn't be tortured with the reminders of what he no longer was.

But the offer to hurt Faarax, the command to torture the torturer, was more appealing than he wanted to admit. He clenched his hands into fists as he looked down at the wild dog. That smiling face, that smirk that he leveled at him even now, was the face of someone that had a secret that they were enjoying far too much.

It was the face of someone that deserved a beatdown.

It was the face of his nightmares.

"RRRRRRRRAGH!"

And so, Kero lunged for him, pummeling him left and right. His fists flew, and the cracking sounds of scales on flesh filled the air. He kept roaring, unable to stop himself as he punched and kicked and even bit the other man, bruising him, battering him.

Chidike didn't tell him to stop. If anything, the hyena shrunk away, looking almost terrified of what was happening before him. Kero didn't care. All that mattered was some hint of revenge, some sense of...he didn't even know. A chance to avoid getting hurt again. A chance to get some of his own back. A chance to do something to vent how afraid he was of the wild dog before he grew so terrified that he could no longer think.

Punch. Kick. Bite. Kick. Kick. Punch. Swipe. Bite.

He lunged forward, biting down on the sides of the dog's head. His teeth dug in, he tasted blood, and he all but tasted the magic of the runes burned into Faarax's skull. He bit down, then harder -

And then, he felt it.

More than blood filled his mouth. An old scab, the same one that he'd left behind on the first rune that he'd shattered on the dog's head, broke free, and he bit further. His teeth shredded the skin there, and as it did, Faarax laughed.

"Hee hee heeeeeeee! HEE HEE! YEEEEEEES!"

The wild dog leaped upright, and his strength was such that there was nothing that Kero could do to stand against him. Faarax threw him away, slamming him against the wall, and when Chidike shouted for the dog to stop, to freeze, to go still, there was no sign of obedience. Instead, Faarax reached out and grabbed the hyena by the arm, squeezing him tight enough that a bone popped, the arm nearly coming loose from the shoulder. The Officer screamed, and Faarax giggled madly.

"Looks like you don't have to remind me. I remember. I remember who I am."

"You...you..."

"Ha...hahaha!"

Kero groaned as he watched, as if in slow motion, the wild dog throw the hyena through the air. His captor spun head over heels before slamming against the door at the far end of the cell, breaking the wooden barrier and hitting the ground on the other side. He didn't get up, either.

The dragon was still trying to pull himself together when the Breaker turned to him. The wild dog loomed all the higher, seemingly gigantic with the waves of strength that were all but pouring off him. He felt like something horrifying come to life, some great beast rather than a person, and the torturous persona was still there, but there was more. Something feral, something wild, something that had finally found the keys to its cage and planned to do horrible things to its keepers.

Yet, he still walked over with a controlled pace. Faarax knelt beside him and made quick work with his claws. One, two, three, four, five, six of the runes that he had been branded with were cut, slashed, and though they bled, they were no longer restraining him. Kero gasped for breath, shaking his head.

"Why...what..."

"Needed help. Couldn't break it myself."

"You...you..."

"Used you."

"..."

"Used you, and now...now, I break. Break them. Break the damned Wall."

"But...but you..."

"Almost did. Almost won, in Shura. Still rebuilding. Couldn't stop everything. But almost did. Now..." Faarax giggled madly. "Now...Now I break Duba..."

Before Kero could say anything, the dog leaped to his feet. He ran through the broken door, laughing as the guards tried to stop him. Blood sprayed, covering his escape, and he was gone.

Panting for breath, Kero dragged himself through the door. The guards were dead, each one missing a limb, ripped free by hand with insane strength. He coughed, barely holding back a gag and the meager contents of his stomach.

"Nnngh..."

The hyena was still alive, somehow. Kero hurried over to him, ankle and wrist shackles clicking as he moved, and knelt down beside his captor. The hyena couldn't move, barely breathing as he laid there. He wasn't bloodied, but the impact had clearly done some serious damage to him.

"Nnngh...still alive, huh?" Chidike groaned. "Looks like...looks like you get your wish...and revenge."

"Who is he? What...what was that?"

"Faarax...the Breaker..." Chidike panted. "The Breaker of Shura..."

"I thought - you borrowed him from them. Isn't he -"

"He was...a Badlander...But he attacked. Shattered half a Wall...all on his own." The hyena wheezed, coughing. It sounded like he might have a rib almost through his lung. "Took the entire city...to stop him. Couldn't kill him. They...branded him. Thought he...he was controlled." Chidike coughed. "Looks like...they were wrong."

"He did that...on his own?"

"Strongest Badlander...strongest thing anyone ever saw...and they made him...stronger."

The other brands. They were there to bind him and empower him, creating a super-soldier such as the walled Cities had never seen. Faarax was no longer compelled to obey, either, which meant he could use it how he saw fit.

A great crash echoed from the plaza, and Kero winced. It sounded like the wild dog had just removed the doors.

"He's going to...kill everyone," Chidike said.

"He won't. Maybe the Great One, but that's -"

"He'll take down...take down the wall. That will...that will kill...all of us..."

"...Maybe. Maybe not. The Badlands are survivable. You can learn."

"Not...everyone. Not...not all...of us. My...my pack...I'm...I'm sorry...I'm sorry."

The hyena closed his eyes, and he wheezed out his last breath. Just like that, he was gone, and so was all the power that he'd held over Kero's life.

It was hard to feel sympathy for the hyena, but despite it all, he did. Having had a taste of fear, true fear, the dragon felt some understanding of the weakness that the hyena displayed. There was only so much that one could do when there were other, stronger people over them, and worse, when the people over you weren't stronger, but had more options. The terror that Faarax had held over him was the same sort of terror that the wolf Great One wielded over his people, reminding them of what the Wall meant, and what they were 'safe' from by staying obedient to him.

Kero slowly stood. There was nothing that he could do to stop Faarax - the man was too strong to be stopped, not by any one fighter. Nor did he feel like there was need to stop the other man. If the Wall could be broken, the dragon would have a clear route to the Badlands again, and he could go back to his life of freedom.

But he could do something to make sure that anyone left alive had a chance when the Wall came down.

"That wolf..."

He had little doubt that Faarax would try and kill the Great One if they crossed paths, and he had just as little doubt that the wolf would be doing everything possible to stay out of the way of the wild dog now that he was no longer controlled. Kero remembered the fear in the wolf's eyes when he was challenged; he remembered how that one had not been able to handle anyone pushing back against him. That one wouldn't have the courage to fight someone as strong as the Breaker.

But more to the point, he wouldn't be able to lead anyone in the Badlands. Once the Wall came down - if it came down - then there would be no need for someone to hold onto the water source. There were others that could be tapped, but he would try and keep his power. He'd try and hold sway over the others in the city, still, trying to keep influence over the other packs.

And some of the other leaders might be stupid enough to let him. And that influence, that cowardice in leadership, would lead to everyone dying.

Kero didn't owe them anything, but he didn't want them to die, either. He could give them this, and in doing so, take back some of what was his.

It was easy to follow the trail of destruction the wild dog left in his wake. Everything was shattered, the buildings cracked and the ground warped with the strength that the Breaker brought to bear. He was no bigger than he had been, but he had no more restraints on his power. He had unleashed it all.

The cracking sound of stone shaking and breaking filled the air, but it was not yet the sound of the Wall coming down. He wondered, briefly, why the dog didn't want to break the Wall at a nearer point, but he shook his head. That was not important. What mattered was his target.

Kero ran through the streets without hesitation or fear. The guards were gone, and his restraints had been dealt with. Nothing could stop him now.

He reached the center of Duba unmolested, and he approached the front door of the wolf pack's house. The door was locked when he pulled on it...so he pushed, instead.

The great wooden doors snapped, falling in with his full strength behind the blow. He smiled at his hands, shaking his head. It felt good to be strong again.

The Gray Pack waited in the wide halls, turning to look at him with shock. Kero stepped inside, naked as could be, his cock swaying between his legs, but this time, he felt no shame. Even though his body was already responding to the adrenaline thumping through him with a rather inappropriate reaction down there, he felt no shame.

"Where is he?" Kero called out. "Where is your Great One?"

The wolves, scattered across a den of stone floor and wooden furniture, didn't answer. One almost spoke, but the others growled and he went silent.

Shaking his head, Kero grabbed the one empty chair and lifted it with one hand. He could tell that surprised them, could feel the weight in the thick wood that should have taken two hands to lift, while he did so with one.

He threw it across the room, and the chair shattered against the wall. The splinters fell all around them.

"Where is your Great One? Where is the wolf that has held the city in fearful thrall? Where is he?"

"Below," one of the wolves said, the others barking to try and silence him, but he whined too loud to be silenced. "Below, at the water source!"

"And how do I get there?"

"The basement. Down the hall and behind the closet..."

He emerged beneath the house with his growl louder than ever in his throat. The rush of water crashed like thunder in his ears, and he knew that if it was all fresh, then that water outmatched any one source of drinking water that the Badlands had to offer. The fact that the Great One had hoarded it all for himself was all the more infuriating; it was one thing for a village to specialize, or to make use of a resource in the area, but to use it as a bargaining chip for power would have united so many tribes and clans against them. It was yet another sign of how unprepared they were for the ways of the Badlands.

As Kero followed the water, he thought back to what the hyena had said. The Officer was sure that his people weren't ready for the Badlands, that they would die if the wall came down. Perhaps he was more right than Kero had been willing to give him credit for.

After all, they had lived behind the Wall for all their lives. Only those that were on the Wall or those that had to go outside it seemed to know how to fight, and even Chidike, for all his training, had no real understanding of how to face off with someone that had been enhanced by life in the blasted lands. They had skill, but no strength, no blessing of the smoke, no nothing.

They were helpless.

A sudden tremor nearly threw him into the water, and he had to stop to catch his balance. Another explosive quake followed, and another, and another.

"Must have found the Wall," Kero muttered, imagining the wild dog swinging his fists against the great gray surface. "He won't be at that for long..."

Either because of the defenders pushing him back or by punching a hole right through the wall, Faarax would be done with that soon. Which meant that he didn't have much time to complete his own mission before fleeing; once the wild dog was done, the defenses of the city would be focused on keeping everyone inside the wall and everyone else out, and while they would have their hands full, he doubted that they would be willing to let him out, and he didn't know if he'd be able to fight that many.

But this had to be done. This monopoly, this cowardice, had to end.

You would know how to fight for yourselves if you weren't divided, he thought. You wouldn't be so unprepared if you weren't so terrified of losing everything that you made other people fight for you.

The dragon continued following the water, delving deeper and deeper into the black caves.

Finally, he came to its source, a raised spring where the water came flooding out and down in three waterfalls. One ran past him, the other two towards other areas of the city. At the top, near the center of the spring, the Great One knelt, likely deafened by everything else going on around him.

Kero took advantage of that, climbing up the sides until he was able to stand on the ridge that ringed the spring. The water was cool and clear, and deceptively still. It looked like he could have walked right to the wolf without being bothered, but he could make out the slightest of bubbles in the water, and the speed with which they were dragged to the waterfalls told him that it would be foolhardy to try and swim to the wolf.

Instead, he looked around, and he spotted several stones that were painted to look like water just below the surface. He followed the ridge to them and crossed over.

The Great One didn't notice him until it was too late. Kero grabbed the older wolf by the shoulder, yanked him to his feet -

And was almost stabbed for his troubles. If he'd still been bound by the brands, he would have been; as it was, he caught it by the blade, his hand bleeding around it, the point a scant inch away from his stomach.

"You..."

The Great One sounded shocked, and certainly looked it. His mouth hung open for a moment before he growled.

"Your strength is forbidden."

"Wrong." Kero yanked his hand back, slicing open his fingers and palm still further, but ridding the wolf of his dagger. "You can't forbid me anything."

"What - you - impossible."

"No. Your life is impossible." Kero shook his head. "But as soon as you're gone, everyone else will have a chance."

"You can't. This - we can live, rebuild."

"That will get you killed. The time of the Cities are over. You can't go back. You can't just pretend. You can't keep sacrificing life after life after life pretending that it will be the same as it's always been. It doesn't work like that."

"It has! And it will!"

It was such a childish thing. The Great One tried to shove him off, like some kid pushing another into a pool of water. However, as he was strong once more, and the Great One was merely a normal wolf, Kero didn't even budge. The elder wolf, on the other hand, tumbled backward.

"AGH!"

He hit the water and was immediately pulled beneath the surface. His screams bubbled up, the water churning beneath him and pulling him deeper and deeper. It was so clear that Kero could see every moment of the wolf's death as he was bashed against the rocks beneath the water, slammed against them over and over again as the air was shaken from him. Bubbles, then blood stained the spring.

Eventually, the body was pushed up by the current, and it flowed to one of the waterfalls. It blocked it for a few seconds, only for the current to push it down and out, flowing out to the canals.

The Great One was gone. The wolves would be leaderless, while the other packs would have a chance to think of how they wanted to do things. The ones that had sided with the Great One in the past likely would have a hard time deciding what to do in lieu of his leadership, while those that opposed him would have the chance to choose something on their own.

It was a poor way to start a new life, but it was better than being doomed. A small chance was better than none.

Kero shook his head and left the pool behind. He had an escape to make.

Faarax had broken a hole by the time he reached the surface again, and Duba was in chaos. The entire city was filled with screaming, panicking people, and the soldiers had no chance of keeping order. Many were swarmed over by the panicking people that they were supposed to protect, and those that weren't were rushing for the Wall to plug the hole in it.

Kero moved with them, and they were so rushed, so afraid, that they didn't even notice that he wasn't one of them.

The hole that the wild dog had left was nearly fifteen people wide, and it went straight through the Wall to the other side, crossing several hundred feet of stone. The passage was pitted and cracked on the inside, showing its future doom. One say, the stone would collapse, and when it did, the rest of the Wall above would fall in along with it. Perhaps it would happen in a month, perhaps in a year, perhaps in a decade, but eventually the weight of the Wall would collapse the tunnel and the Wall itself.

In the Badlands, a moment like this - a moment of utter change - would have been greeted with silence, solemnity, with curiosity and with caution, but with an interest in seeing what it did. There would be hope, there would be happiness, even, but there would still be a somber mood that hung over everything, coloring the moment with silence and trepidation.

That was not the case. He heard fearful mutters, whimpers, and more, wishes for death. Even the soldiers were afraid of the world outside, not knowing what was out there, only knowing that it wasn't the life that they were used to. Their little safe world within the Wall had become no more than a prison, a world too small to ever be true, but too safe and comfortable to ever leave.

Kero knew that they would mark him soon, and made his move. He darted from the crowd to the hole in the wall, and before the guards could realize that he wasn't one of them, he ran.

They cried after him, shouting for him to stop. They called for other branded, demanding that they chase him down, and for a moment, he heard the thuds of more powerful soldiers coming from him. The dragon put his head down and ran faster, all but throwing himself forward with each step, kicking the earth and sending himself flying through the hole in the Wall.

Soon he left them behind, and the sound of pursuit eased. He looked up as the light of the Badlands greeted him, the red light and red sky against the many-colored smokes in the distance calling him home once more. Kero embraced the warmth of the true sky, the heat and roughness of the fire, and for all its cruelty, he cried.

He was home.

Faarax's trail was easy to find. It led away from Duba, heading south, and he imagined that the wild dog would wander for a time before deciding on another city to break. He didn't seem the sort to rest with just one city broken; he might make his way back to Shura in the east, one day, or he might head to one of the other Walled Cities that still dotted the world. If there was someone that could break them, then it was probably him.

Yet, for all that he had shattered the Wall of Duba, he had not escaped unscathed. Kero saw the blood that had been left behind, and knew that the Breaker had suffered wounds of his own. He was not invincible, though he had greater power than any other Badlander that Kero had ever seen.

Perhaps he would chase after him, sometime. Perhaps, one day, they would meet again.

It was a terrifying thought, if he was honest with himself. For all that they were both Badlanders, they had very different ways of seeing the world. Faarax hated the Walls, and for good reason. Yet, he had lost himself in that hate, while Kero...

He sighed as he poked the fire he'd made for himself some ten miles from the city. Kero had come face to face with that fear, and understood what it meant. He had pity for those that lived in the city, though he had no love for them. Merely breaking the Walls was no solution; it was merely death for too many.

He poked the fire again, letting it settle for the night. The familiar smoke coming off it was a warm, homely feeling for the dragon, and he settled back with his eyes closed, breathing it in. It was rough and even choking at times, but the scent and warmth of it was so much better than the clean fires of the city.

As he made himself comfortable, he could not help but think back to the hyena that started it all. It was impossible to think of Chidike and think of him as a good man. The hyena had kidnapped him, and who knew how many others, in order to avoid having to fight on the Wall himself. He had taken others to be broken, and had planned to do the same with Kero. There was much to hate that.

And yet, at the same time, there were other moments, moments where something good had shown through. The moment when Chidike had come screaming out to take responsibility and apologize for them in front of the Great One, for example, putting himself at risk so that they were not put further in danger. Or the times when the hyena had sat with him during recovery, talking, spending time with him, merely so he wasn't alone.

And...he had been willing to learn. If they'd had more time, if the Great One hadn't decided that Kero would have to break in such a short time, then perhaps the hyena might have learned something. Perhaps, just perhaps, there might have been a chance for them to release Faarax and do something more...controlled, less deadly.

He sighed, shaking his head. In the morning, he would make a little ember-grave for the hyena. For all that he had not been a good man, he had been a man, willing to stand for his principles and die for them, and that was respectable enough.

"Why does it have to be so complicated?" Kero muttered, looking up at the sky. The sun was fading, the stars soon to come, but they were in the twilight now when neither light could be seen. "Why can't it be easy?"

There was no answer in the still air of the Badlands night. Kero shook his head and laid down. Tomorrow, he knew, he would have to make a great deal of choices. He would have to choose where he was going, what he would tell others of Faarax the Breaker, and whether he would ever turn back to Duba and risk what they'd do to him if they got their hands on him again. Many choices, almost too many choices.

But for now, he would sleep. Morning would be soon enough for making decisions, but for now, he would rest. After all, he still had the wrist and ankle shackles, and two of his runes were still active. One day, perhaps, he'd find a way to fix those brands, to remove the power that the city still had over him -

Sleep, he thought, and this time, he listened.

The End

Summary: And so, we reach the end of the origin story for Kero. Things go absolutely crazy.

Tags: Male Nudity, M/solo, Bondage, Chains, Shackles, Magic, Fighting, Death, Series, Dragon, Hyena, Wolf, Dog,