Seven

His story begins behind bars in a certain institution, where were all kinds of creatures, regardless of race and age. Beings deprived of freedom, some through their own fault, as criminals, and some did not have it from birth and were given there as an unwanted item. The area was not very big and looked more like an abandoned ranch or factory, than a place of imprisonment. It was located desert area, that meant high temperatures during day, cold during night and dry air full of sand. Prisoners's cells had no floor, there was only sand and clay underfoot throughout the territory, with the exception of a couple of rooms where there was something like crooked boards.

Kid doesn't remember how he got there or what happened in his life before (memory loss due to psychological trauma). in this place, they put a mark on his neck 4857 - his name in this institution. The guards were not too gentle with the prisoners. When they came back to 4857's cell after that, he was in fear that they hurt him again, as when he was marked. In an attempt to defend himself, he picked up and threw a stone at the guard, which only outraged him. He took out a whip and hit kid in the face, blinding 4857 in the right eye. After a while, through joint efforts, the prisoners were able to organize a riot. One of them managed to set fire to the territory, thereby causing a general panic. 4857 was able to escape with everyone. But he had no place to go, he didn't know the local language and nothing about this world. He wouldn't have lasted long alone in the desert. Luckily, it began to get dark and his attention was attracted by small lights on the horizon to which he decided to head.

An hour later he reached a small town, it was already dawn. He was wandering the streets looking for something. Some of the houses were made of hard sand and stone, others were tents consisting of wood and cloth draped over it. the streets were filled with roaming creatures that the boy had never seen before, they were wearing baggy clothes and fabrics on their faces, he was scared even of the thought of approaching them, he tried to bypass them through the alleys. After a couple of hours of wandering, the boy was exhausted, the sun had fully risen and walking on the hot sand became painful. 4857 came across a lonely building with a high tower and a hole leading to the basement. he crawled through a small hole and found himself in a dark room. He had no more strength and as soon as he was out of the sun, the boy immediately fell asleep.

He woke up towards sunset from a feeling of hunger. He had to find something to eat, he gets out to explore the area around. Soon his attention is attracted by a fish shop that smells strongly all over the neighborhood. He enters the store from the back door and finds a vat full of fish. The boy lowers his hands into a chat full of slimy liquid and tries to get something, but without keeping the balance, the vat overturns the oily liquid completely spills over the floor. Attempts to get up and run completely fail, legs and hands slid on the ground. The owner immediately arrives at the noise, looking furious. He's not going to let the thief go until he fixes what he's done. Fishmonger throws a rag at the boy and orders him to clean up everything he has done. 4857 ventually copes well with cleaning. After he finishes, fishmonger just throws him out.

The next morning, when boy passes by the shop, the owner notices him and drags him into his shop. He gives him a rag again and orders him to clean up the shop. 4857 is afraid to disobey, so he follow order. This time when he finishes the owner gives him a fish and lets him go. Boy begins to visit the shop and perform various tasks, receiving food in return, sometimes the owner allowed him to stay in the shop overnight, but he still periodically returned to the building with the tower. fishmonger notices mark on boy's neck (4857) and begins to call the kid Seven. While working in the shop, Seven began to hear more often how and what creatures and the owner of the shop say, and over time he began to understand their language a little better.

One day, wandering around town, Seven notices two persons who looks different from the rest, their speech and accent were distinct from the locals. He tried to sneak up on them to get a closer look, but one of them noticed not too professional surveillance, Sev gets scared and runs back to the shop. After a while, the strangers themselves come into the shop and introduce themselves as Cyrus and Pelikh. They say they came to pick up the goods. The head of their commune signed a trade contract with a fish shop for a certain period. Seven immediately noticed Cyrus, something about him was very interesting to kid. He starts trying to touch Cyrus's tail, which causes a negative reaction from Cy, he recognizes the annoying kid from the street and starts raising his voice at him. Sev gets scared, but Pelikh immediately calms down her friend and turns to kid. She tries to talk to him, but it doesn't work out very well, kid just hides behind the counter. As a result, they take the order and leave. They continue to come to the shop and Sev is still interested in the tall white cat, but Cy tries to ignore Seven with all his might.

Sev saw different posters with photos of different creatures on the streets and decided to do someting like this for Cyrus, so that he would no longer be angry with him. He tears the poster off the wall, turns it over and uses clay to draw Cyrus face. When they come back a couple of days later, Seven goes to see Cy again. Cyrus pulls back, but the child hands him a crumpled piece of paper, Cy unfolds Sev's daub. At first he does not understand what is depicted, but Pelikh approaches and says that this drawing looks like him. Cyrus does not show it, but he is a littele bit touched by such attention from kid. They leave again, Cy takes the drawing with him. They continue to go to this shop, delivering supplies and communicating with Seven. Cyrus even lets Sev touch his tail.

After a couple of weeks of regular visits Cyrus gets very attached to the kid, and even when the delivery contract ends, he continues to visit the boy. A few days later the owner began to pack things for moving to a new place, since his shop was itinerant. He didn't take Sev with him because transporting a living person would cost him a lot. Therefore, he gives the boy the last fish in his hands, puts things in the cart and drives away. Sev was left alone again. He goes to spend the night in a building with a tower. For the next couple of days he wanders around the towm again in search of food, until he stumbles upon Cyrus. Cy rushes to the child and hugs. He says that he was looking for him, and was afraid that something had happened to him after the shopkeeper left. Sev is very happy to see his furry friend again. Cy takes the child to eat at the nearest diner. While Sev is eating, Cyrus is arguing out loud that he can't leave kid here alone, because he definitely won't last long, but taking him down with him can be even more dangerous. Sev asks what it means to take "down". Cy says that they are on Coper’an - this planet is divided into two main territories. The upper one is a deser, scorching under the bright sun, and the lower one is an underground city hiding in the cool darkness. At the top are most of the longest road paths that convoys travel. There are also many pick-up points, food stalls, small hotels and bars. But the main life is boiling below, there will also be the same commune from which Cyrus and Pelikh came. These two zones are separated by the so-called elevator in the middle of both cities. A huge tower rising above the surface of the desert and going deep down into the ground. It is capable of transporting residents and even transport.

Seven finishes his portion while Cyrus looks at the setting star in thought. It's already dark outside the window, it's starting to get cold. Cyrus gets up from the table and sighs. He stretches out his hand, beckoning the child to him, takes off his cape and throws it on Sev, and without further ado takes him in his arms and pushes him to the sides of a huge building.

Cyrus enters the building holding kid in his arms, and after passing a couple of corridors and a conductor, they found themselves in the main block, where they waited for the arrival of the elevator. A scoreboard hung over their heads, on which symbols unknown to Sev were constantly running. Ten minutes later, there was a crash and Cyrus headed for the arriving elevator. Together with them, many other creatures entered the elevator, it became quite crowded. the elevator was not relly big, completely made of already slightly rusted metal and lit only by a couple of red lights on the walls. The elevator shook and began to move down, the temperature dropped sharply. Sev was glad that Cyrus gave him his cape, he snuggled closer.

After a couple of minutes of descent in almost complete darkness, the elevator was illuminated by a bright light. Behind one of the walls made of glass there was a beautiful view. Majestic buildings hung like columns from the back surface of the planet rushing down, transport flashed in different directions and even from the height of the descending elevator it was clear how busy the city was. Seven was absolutely mesmerized by this view.

Going down to the very bottom and leaving the building, Sev was able to feel the difference between the two cities. The scorching sun, the loud screams of the townspeople, the sand falling everywhere you can and the very high temperature, everything in this place was the opposite of this. Cyrus brought the kid home, Peliсh opened the door (they live together). Cyrus and Pelikh knew the possible consequences of such a decision, but after a short discussion, they decided to keep kid for themselves for the time being. Cyrus was rarely at home, working on assignments, they only come to spend the night. Peliсh also often leaves the house, but it's she who mainly takes care of Seven, she prepared his meals in advance and tried to make sure that everything was fine with him. Being unattended, boy often sneaks out of the house and quietly wanders the streets exploring the city.

Members of the commune found out about Cyrus and Pelikh' new "pet", and reported this to the head. The head was really not happy that his wards sheltered a human without telling him about it (humans have a bad reputation as a race). For Cyrus and Pelikh the commune was not just a place of work - it's a family and they wouldn't be able to go against the decision of their "Father". The head eventually allowed to keep their "pet" only if it wouldn't be useless for the commune. From that moment on, Sev began to run small errands, continuing to catch sidelong glances at himself. He was not despised, but the presence of a human in their commune confused everyone a little. Kid didn't understand the reason for such an appeal to him, but at that moment he didn't really care, he was glad that now he could spend more time with Cyrus and Pelikh.

[a quick retelling of the rest of the chapter. It will be replaced with a full description later]

Seven grew up, the commune's attitude towards him did not change, and Seven began angrier more often to get angry at such injustice. Cyrus didn't want to get in the way, and Pelikh could only support Seven. During one of the inspections of the room that provided the commune with water and energy, together with Pelikh, Seven expressed his frustration with his position in the commune. Out of anger, Seven hit one of the pipes in the room, it cracked and caused a malfunction in the entire system. Pelikh tried to stop, but there was an explosion and a fire started. In this fight, Pelikh died and Seven lost his right arm. After that, he was blamed for the murder. Seven tried to explain that it was an accident and the whole system needed fixing for a long time (It was true, Pelikh had complained many times about the instability of the entire system), but no one listened to Seven. Cyrus, heartbroken by the loss of his friend, didn't stand up for his ward. Seven ran away and began to lead a lonely lifestyle. Due to the lack of one hand, his ability to move and defend himself deteriorated, so he installed a metal spine extending into the tail.