It was a rainy day. A boy around fourteen years old ran into a large wooden house in the Capital. Terrified, he rushed to his mother and hugged her. - “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” - He then turned to his younger brother, who looked a few years younger.

  The boy stroked his head and looked him in the eyes. - “I’ll be gone for a while now. Just don’t misbehave and listen to mom, okay?”

  Before the younger brother could answer, city guards burst into the house and dragged the older brother away. The boy’s mother tried to resist, but one of the guards stopped her. - “I’m sorry, ma’am, but your son has done a crime. He will have to be punished by the king.”

  The boy’s mother collapsed to her knees and watched as the last guard left their house, while in the background the younger brother of the dragged-away boy was crying. A member of their family was gone.

  Back in the present, in the middle of the Northern Prison, the brothers met again. Lapis was hugging his older brother, whom he had not seen for more than three years. - “Lapis, what the hell are you doing here? Why are you in a place like this?” - Lapis’s brother was glad to see Lapis, but very unhappy that he was seeing him here in the Northern Prison.

  The brothers stopped hugging. - “I… I didn’t want to leave you here alone. I’m really glad to see you.” - Lapis smiled at his brother, while tears of happiness ran down his face.

  “Hey Lazuli, I hope you haven’t had it too bad here…you look really skinny.” - Lazuli thought for a moment about what to say, then smiled and said, - “You know how it is, they don’t give much food here, but it’s enough.”

  While the two brothers were having their reunion, Shard arrived at a small hut. Shard crawled into the hut and collapsed onto the ground. A young girl who was sitting inside was completely startled and quickly helped Shard onto a wooden bed.

  Shard had reached the healing hut. A place where workers or prisoners go when they are injured.

  After a while, Shard woke up. The girl was pressing a cloth soaked in water against the bruises and other injuries on his face. - “You’re lucky, it looks like only superficial injuries. You’ll be fine.”

  At that moment, a prisoner arrived at the Passage of continents. When he looked around, he saw ten to twenty workers working on this massive project. The prisoner approached Vein with a plate holding some chicken meat, some pork, and a piece of bread.

  “Boss… or sir… wait… Vein? Uh, I’m not sure, sorry. Here’s your meat, I didn’t know what you liked, so I asked them to give me a bit of everything.”

  The prisoner laughed nervously while handing over the plate. As soon as the prisoner handed over the plate, Vein burst out laughing. - “Did you just shit yourself!? Call me whatever you want except supervisor… I wouldn’t tolerate Supervisor!! And having a picky diet in a place like this is a death sentence… not that someone would kill you or anything, but you’d starve to death!!!”

  Vein continued laughing uncontrollably. - “Kid, tell me, what’s your name?”

  The prisoner stood frozen like a statue for a moment, then introduced himself explosively. - “AHAHAH, I’m so glad you’re so chill. The moment I saw the supervisor, I HEAVILY started regretting my decision. Such a relief that you’re not that cruel… WELL I HOPE AT LEAST? Can I call you by your first name, Vein?? ANYWAY!! My name is Play… VERY NICE TO MEET YOU. I’ve actually heard a few stories about you! The lead worker on this enormous project… I’M SHAKING… it would be such an honor if I could work here.”

  Vein was enjoying the chicken Play had brought him and washing it down with water, but as soon as Play finished his introduction, Vein spat the water out of his mouth. - “Haha, now that is what I call a turn. Nice to meet you, Play. You probably wondered why I sent you for food when I could’ve gone myself!”

  “Honestly, I didn’t even think about it… all my thoughts were screaming ‘I’M AMAZED… VEIN GAVE ME A TASK!!!’”

  “Yeah, I could’ve guessed, hehe. So, Play! Recently, something terrible happened. A few prisoners tried to escape from here. Escaping without preparation is impossible, because without preparation no prisoner survives outside. We call the forest nearby the execution forest, haha. So some of the escapees were stopped while stealing supplies to escape. The rest actually managed to flee… but without the supplies… so they’re probably already dead in the forest.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “That’s very tragic… but why would they even try to escape?”

  “Play, isn’t it obvious?? The supervisor. That man drives most prisoners insane.”

  Meanwhile, the two brothers sat down in Lapis’s room and started talking. Lazuli was the one asking most of the questions. He was interested in how Lapis had lived during the years they hadn’t seen each other. With every answer Lapis gave, Lazuli grew sadder and sadder. They also reminisced about old times.

  “Hey, remember how we always competed to see who could find more rare things lost in the city streets? How I once straight up brought home a cat?” - “Of course!! And then you shouted in that cute voice of yours ‘THIS IS A LEGENDARY FIND!!’ I almost pissed myself laughing. But then mom unfortunately made you return her back to the streets… Hey Lapis… how is mom doing?”

  “I'll be fine? I don’t think so.” - Shard wiped the blood from his mouth and sat down on the bed. The girl looked annoyed, as if she hadn’t finished treating him yet. - “As long as that Supervisor rules this place, no one will be fine.”

  The girl continued wiping blood from Shard’s face. - “I’ll have to stitch this wound.”

  “Ow… yeah, and thanks… thanks for everything you’re doing.” - “It’s my job. And I also like helping people… but I like knowing their names.”

  “Yeah yeah sorry, I’m Shard. What about you? Oh, and are you a prisoner or a worker?” - “I don’t tell my name to just anyone. You’re my patient, so I should know yours. As for the second question…

  that’s a bit complicated. Anyway… this will sting now!” - The girl held the needle to the small flame of a candle and began stitching Shard’s open wound.

  “True… I’m not surprised prisoners started escaping because of the Supervisor. So, Mr. Vein… why are you telling me all of this?”

  Vein placed his food on the ground and stepped closer to Play. - “You see, Play… one of those escapees was my personal assistant. He had missed his family, so he joined that group. Very understandable. But now I’m without an assistant. I heard about your reaction when you arrived here. I think this is the first time someone was happy to arrive at a prison. Someone who is happy to be here won’t escape. Play… why were you happy to arrive here?”

  Play picked up the plate Vein had put on the ground and took a bite of the remaining chicken. Vein was confused. - “Uh… what are you doing?”

  “HAHAH, SORRY, I just wanted to see your reaction. People can be VERY fake when they want something from someone… but you… you’re not fake. You’re genuinely calm and kind.

  FINE, I’ll be your assistant. And isn’t it obvious? Why am I happy to be here?? BECAUSE I AM WITNESSING HISTORY BEING BUILT!!!!”

  Vein felt relieved. Play seemed like a truly great person… is he even a criminal?

  “I’m glad you don’t mind being my assistant!! Being my assistant is great, because you’re under my protection. If you’re a well behaved prisoner, you’ll live like a worker!! But I have one more question… how did you get here?”

  Some time had passed, and Lapis still hadn’t answered Lazuli’s question. Instead, he tried to avoid it.

  “Wait… how is it that you’re talking to me right now? I’m really happy about it, but… won’t you get in trouble for this? If you haven’t done your work yet and the supervisor finds out… that wouldn’t be good.”

  Lazuli stood up and went near the exit of the room. - “You’re right, brother… I’m risking a lot here. We can talk tomorrow, maybe during a meal. Before I go… please tell me.

  Lapis. How is mom.”

  Lapis hesitated...but then - “She’s dead.”

  Silence filled the room. After a moment, Lazuli managed to speak. “W-what happened?”

  “A few days after you left… mom went after him… it didn’t end well. I tried to stop her, Lazuli… I failed…”

  Lazuli, shaking all over, managed to say one sentence before returning to his prison duties. - “It’s not your fault.”

  The girl finally finished stitching Shard’s wounds. - “Alright, drink this and lie down. You’ll stay here overnight. I bet you're exhausted.”

  Shard looked at the strange liquid in the cup the girl handed him. - “What is this?” - Shard asked nervously.

  “Vitamins… up here in the north you can easily catch some illness, vitamins will come in handy.” - “Vita what??” - Shard’s question made the girl laugh loudly. It was the first time Shard had seen her change her face expression.

  “Oh dear. Vitamins are healthy things found, for example, in fruit and such. This is vitamin tea. Drink it.”

  Shard grabbed the cup. A mischievous expression appeared on his face.

  “Yeah yeah, I’ll drink these vitaqeens… once you tell me your name. You like knowing the names of your patients… I like knowing who gives me vitaqeens.”

  The girl thought for a moment, then got a great idea. - “Alright, you can ask three questions that lead you closer to my name… if you drink the V-I-T-A-M-I-N-S.”

  Shard drank the tea and asked three questions. But he didn’t guess the girl’s name. - “So unfortunateeee, maybe next time, Shard!!”

  Shard locked in on his thoughts for a second - “I’d like to change up the rules… for every interesting thing I tell you about myself, I get three more questions.”

  A bigger and bigger smile started to appear on the girl’s face. - “Two… two questions!!!”

  “Deal!”

  “How did I get here? Wellll. I stole gold coins.” - Play answered Vein’s question. Vein was a bit surprised. - “You’re… a thief?”

  Play began walking backwards away from Vein. “Me? Nooo. I just had to come up with a way to get here. I heard that in around fifty days this project will be finished. I’m too young to work here normally, so this was the only option. Anywayyy. I’ll gladly tell you more next time, but it’s getting dark… good night!!!”

  Play headed toward the underground section of the prison. He wanted to sleep for the big day tomorrow. Everyone saw this day as a catastrophe… everyone except Play. The initiation of prisoners. Or officially, the loss of all rights and becoming a prisoner. This day will take place tomorrow.