Collapsed World [MxM, Non-Con, Mpreg]

Part 5 [Iris]

Iris couldn't stand to see suffering like the suffering that was going on in this place. He could hear not only the audible moans, but also the mental anguish of the other Avaens around him. He wished badly that he could go to them, embrace them tightly and do whatever he possibly could to make their pain and heartache lessened. It filled his heart with despair to realize just how hopeless his situation was. He had a feeling that a place like this would soon be his grave, his corpse to be tossed away with so many others just like his own. Perhaps death would be easier, but Iris didn't wish for it. He heard others that preyed for death, and it broke his heart. He couldn't imagine ever giving up on life, no matter how grim his existence became. He had to hold onto the dream that he could someday be reunited with the people that he loved and missed.

Out of the corner of his eye Iris spotted another Avaen, completely naked and in the middle of being whipped by a slaver. The loud crack of the whip made Iris hold his breath and close his eyes, tears filling them as he heard the other crying and screaming in pain. He tried to block the sound out, knowing that there was nothing that could be done for him. He wished so badly to be anywhere but here. No amount of pain was worse than seeing the mistreatment of his people and being helpless to stop any of it.

His attention was taken away from that particular horror when he saw the slave master thrown to the ground, making Iris jump, a jolt of fear running down his spine at the sight of more violence. Even though the man was not of his people, and was one of the very creatures that harmed his beloved people, Iris still felt sorry for him when he was stepped on. There were many Avaens that hated the Corvines, as they rightly should,but Iris was a gentle soul and a voice of reason to his people. Before the war he'd been part of the ruling class, an adviser and leader to his people, some might have even considered him a prince in his own right, if Altair had any need for a strict form of hierarchy, which for the most part it did not.

The only part of their society that had been basis of actual ranks was the military, and the only reason that the military even existed was for this exact reason, to have at least a portion of the population trained for war in the off chance that their planet was invaded. Most Avaens had considered the military as nothing more than a way to preserve the spirit of battle and train in the arts so they wouldn't be lost in the drift of time. Most never would have dreamed that fighting and defense would become necessary to their survival.

Iris was one of those people, he'd never really explored any of the arts of battle that his beloved Julez was so fond of. Often Iris would sit quietly under a tree reading books, while watching his mate spar out of the corner of his eye. He'd always loved the way Julez could move with such grace and purpose. Iris rose to his feet, his knees weak from being cramped up in the small cage for so long. He resisted the urge to use his wings to shield his body from view. He hated the way that the Corvines looked at his body, it made him feel small and violated, he couldn't bring himself to even think about what might be going through their minds when they looked at him like that. Iris didn't know anything about how to act around the Corvines. He didn't know any of the rules or etiquette that were required of him when being addressed by one of the Corrine.

His gaze met the orange laced red eyes that looked him over. He couldn't help but notice that the shape of the male's face was very similar to the shape of Julius' face, and he was the same height as his long lost lover, though that was where the similarities ended. Still, he couldn't help but focus his gaze on the strange colored eyes, and without thinking about what he was doing, he raised his bound hands up and brushed the man's cheek with the outsider side of his hand.

"My name is Iris..." He said in a low voice, almost a whisper, and in the tongue of his people. In a matter of seconds he'd managed to break a copious amount of rules, from touching a Corvine without being instructed to do so, to using the language of his people, which was also forbidden. They were supposed to use a common tongue, or Corvine words, but never their own language, not even between one another.