Chap 2

Sera stood next to Lady Maader, waiting for the match to be over. Sometimes Sera wondered why Maader bothered to come if she knew who would win. Thanks to her power it was always Masrur. The 67th dungeon, Amdusias, had the power to enhance her voice. It allowed her to turn her enchanting voice into a power that makes or breaks someone.

But for things like this, it was used to add to Masrur's power and take away from the opponent. So, no matter who it was, Masrur always won. It also made for beautiful performance. That's why Maader valued her so much. She pleased the audience before a grueling battle.

"You did well, my child," she said. Sera only smiled at her. She couldn't bare to look at the performance knowing who was going lose. She heard walls crumbling by the sound of a sword. She couldn't tell who it was.

"My, my. He's destroying the arena again... That child just can't control his strength. Isn't that right Sera?"

She flinched and started shaking. Apparently, she used to much power. Maader wrapped her arms around her "it's okay, we all make mistakes." She felt herself calm down in her arms.

Sera's been under this spell for a while now, but not fully under her spell. And that made her angry at times. Which resulted in torture. Which is also why she flinched when Maader insinuated she messed up.

"Finish the match now, Masrur."

She felt everything go quietly as she had her eyes closed. "Sinbad has lost consciousness... Which means the winner is... Mariadel company's gladiator, Masrur!!" Kil announced. She tensed, she knew he would lose, but added to her guilt of all those people she helped kill. Except now, it was worse. He would become a slave to Maader.

After the match, she left Maader's side and went to Masrur. "You did well," she said with a half-hearted smile. He didn't say anything, he knew how she felt about this. He only took his order's and complied not wanting to make a fuss over this, but he wasn't alone in this. They also had Sera doing these awful things, he knew she always had trouble when it came to mental stability ever since she came here and it never helped that he wasn't good when comforting people.

"It's not your fault," he said. She rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you."

•~•~•

The minute the match was over Maader locked Sera back into her room. This happened after every performance. She didn't care, though, especially after what happened today. She caught glimpse of him as he walked into the company, shackles around his ankles.

How many more people had to be sacrificed until this was all over?

~~~

Sera walked around the company, hearing the rattle of her chains with each step she took, a precaution for when Sera left her tank.

She made it to where all the children ate. She ran up to Sinbad as she saw him trip and fall, she grabbed his arm to help him up "are you alright?" She asked. He didn't respond. He only walked past her and sat down.

The children began to mumble.

"He even ignored Sera."

"Yea and she's the nicest one here."

That only added to her guilt. They must have tortured him horribly. She grew some confidence and walked up to him. She sat across from him and grabbed his hands (the least you could do was fix his fingernails), he flinched away, but she insisted. "Please let me help." She looked around to see if Maader was around, she wasn't.

(A/N; Small fun fact: one of Sinbad's punishments in Maader's care was them ripping off his fingernails. (it's not a very fun fact all, is it? Hehe...))

itsumo hitori de aruiteta

furikaeru to minna ha tooku

soredemo atashi ha aruita sore ga tsuyosa datta

mou nani mo kowaku nai sou tsubuyaite miseru

Her pendant glowed and she took a deep breath as his wounds healed, this wasn't something she needed Amdusias to do, with her being a siren and a manipulator of water this was one of the things she could do with it. The rukh allowed siren's to manipulate water as well as enchant men with their voice. It enhanced their naturally, beautiful voice into something that can enchant men.

As for the water manipulation, siren's were sometimes hunted, so, to defend themselves they used water manipulation and the rukh helped with that. They basically adapted with the help of the rukh to survive.

Once Sera was done, she let go of his hands "I'm sorry," she whispered. Sinbad only looked back at his food blankly, not caring about what she meant. She got up and left, she flinched seeing Lady Maader, as well as Kil, glaring at her.

"Kil, do me a favor and lock Sera in her room."

"Of course," he replied, taking out shackles and placing them on her wrists. She complied, not wanting to anger her even more.

~~~

She sat down in her private room, she always wondered why she gave her one secluded from everyone else, not to mention the tank made her feel like a pet fish. She might as well be under Maader's control. She couldn't ponder on it for too long as she had to leave with Kil.

Sera was shaking as he escorted her somewhere. He took her outside at the back of the company to a pond where Lady Maader was waiting, she knew what was going to happen and all she could do was shiver in fear. She kept her head high, Maader would not break her.

She glared at Sera "what kind of a child disobey's her mother in such a manner! Tie her up!" She ordered. They grabbed her wrists and tied her to a tree, leaving half her tail in the water and the other dry in the sun. Torture like this was the worst type for her kind, it was how greedy humans harvested their scales for money.

How it worked was, they left Sirens with enough water to stay in their marine form, but not enough to survive. The reason why is because in their marine form they cannot be out of water partially, hence, the fact that they tied them up partially in the water.

So, once the sun came at the right angle Sirens began to dry out in a slow and grueling process. The only way to gain legs was to be fully out of the water. The people who created this process was the royals of Parthevia.

(A/N: If you've ever seen the third pirates of the Caribbean move with the mermaids, then it's like that. )

She panted for air as the sun shined in her face and tail. She looked to Maader "Lady Maader!" she wheezed, "I only wanted to help." She only stared at her panting and wheezing. She tugged at her wrists desperately. What's worse was that death was days away. She cursed everything that led her to be there. But in a way, she deserved this given that it was her fault as to why Sinbad was here. She laid her head against the tree gasping for breath. Her breath became ragged.

Maader narrowed her eyes and ordered for them to leave her there for today. Tears developed in her eyes.

•~•~•

Maader came back and once she did Sera's eyes lightened. She had several marks on her tail from the hot sun and marks on her cheeks from tears. Her vision was almost blurred from the heat. She saw Maader's blurred figure "Mother..."

Maader smiled and ordered them to her go, the minute they did, she dumped the rest of her body into the pond. She sighed in bliss and rubbed the water against her neck and arms. She shot up as she felt someone wrap their arms around her.

She slowly leaned into the touch and wrapped her arms around the person, feeling this safe warmth around her was comforting after that grueling torture, she laid her head against Maader's chest. She wanted to stay like this forever. Unknownst to her, Maader smirked as she finally had Sera in her hold even if she didn't succumb to torture, at least that's what she thought...

"Don't worry, my child. No one will hurt you."

~~~

Sera rubbed the wounds on her legs before getting into the tank, it hurt so much. She cursed the royals of Parthevia for coming up with something so brutally painful. The minute she saw a royal from there she would tear them limb from limb, just like what they did to her people. She looked out the window to the view of the ocean.

'I will get out of here someday...'