Sold

We had finally arrived at the destination where we were then unchained. The person who escorted us had collected his money and left quickly, making sure none could identify him. The flooring of the place was nice and soft. The walls were designed with a gorgeous look to them, mixing red velvet with shining crystals. The management was nice and offered us drinks. All this only served to directly contrast the reality—that this was the place where we would be sold.

My heart was starting to beat out of my chest at this realization. It was as if my mind had chosen to ignore the harsh reality of my situation until just now, where it raced against the pace of time in order to try and find a way out. My eyes darted all around the place, looking for the tiniest bit of room to escape.

There were rough looking men and women blocking the door. Possibly mercenaries? The owner of the establishment was sucking up to what seemed to be someone with a large amount of money. The man was fancier in how he had dressed, out classing everyone in the very room. The owner guided the man past the drapes, where I had lost sight of them.

Thinking that could be my way out, I inch’d my way over, trying to avoid detection. Some of the mercenaries had looked in my direction, but due to how lowly I appeared to them, they only snickered and turned the other way. I peeked through the drapes and checked out the exit, which I had meticulously worked to reach. But there was no exit. All I saw was seating which seemed to be quickly filling up.

As I spent a few minutes looking for where the people had been flooding in from, I saw the owner coming back from his weary journey. In fear and panic, I quickly released my hold of the drapes and turned to sprint back to where I had left from. Unused to the quick pace at which I tried to move my feet, I fell crashing to the ground.

The only comfort I had was the softness of the velvet ground to break my fall. At this point everyone was gazing upon me. Some were laughing. Others had a deadly intent in their eyes. Out of those laughing, the owner was included.

“Looks like you failed your daring escape.” The owner mocked.

“Ha…. looks like it.” I replied, trying to brush off the comment.

“Get back in line!”

I quickly made my way back to my place in line with the other four survivors. The owner escorted the seven people in front of me through a beaded curtain. I peered through the beads, trying to learn of my fate. I saw as each of them had been lined up on what seemed to be a stage. Each was being presented as if they were beauty contestants. After the introductions had finished, the owner pointed towards the person on stage closets to me.

“We will start the bid for this fine gentleman at five-hundred thousand copper.” The rounded owner spoke, projecting his voice. “Oh I have five-hundred thousand, can I get six-hundred thousand? Can I get nine-hundred thousand? The bid has been raised to five silver, anyone want to contest this? Oh I have thirty silver. Going once! going twice! And sold to the woman in the red mask!”

The whole exchange made my stomach drop. The realization that in mere moments I would be on stage made my liver turn the colour of lilies.

“I hope I don’t get bought.” I murmured aloud.

Hearing me, the sister with pine green hair whispered to me “Don’t say that. If we don’t get sold to one of them, we could either be killed or put to work for the capital, which most of the time is far worse. With the fact that we’re currently skin and bones though, it’s very unlikely we’ll be sold.”

I turned around at her words and all I could see was a sad smile. This person seems very strong. Maybe she has to be for her brother.

“This concludes the bidding for this lot. We will continue with the bidding for the next lot in ten minutes.” The rounded man had stated.

A greater dread began taking me over. With my current state, it was very unlikely I would be bought. Beads of sweat went trickling down my face profusely until I felt so dehydrated my head was beginning to spin. To further the issues with my body, my stomach had only started to hurt more and more since witnessing the auction.

“Hey, it’s okay. At the very least, we have a greater likelihood of being bought since we don’t have any scars on our faces.” The sister qwelled me, seeing my anxiety.

I spread my gaze around at the other prisoners lined up behind us. Most of them had scars spread all along their bodies including their faces. In some cases, their faces had been so mangled, I could no longer tell if they were still human.

“Clauffer Von Verse is careful to instruct that the faces of prisoners be untouched. He realized that the people who buy slaves would be more likely to buy them if they could at least look good in peoples homes.” The sister continued, further explaining the situation.

“T-t-thank you-u-u.” I thanked her strangely. She gave me the same sad smile again and turned back to tend to her brother.

A strange calm had started to come over me. Soon after, however, the calm was replaced with greater worry. What am I doing having any amount of calm in this situation? None of this is normal. None of this is something I should be relaxed about. Why did it have to be me? I should’ve died in that alleyway. What’s the point of being alive if it’s just to suffer? Why was my restart fated to end so miserably? All these thoughts spiraled in my head until the sheer force of someone grabbing my arm snapped me out of my thoughts.

“It’s time for you all to go on stage. Go and make me lots of money.” The owner spoke with a devilish smile.

All five of us had been guided onto the stage in an enclosed room where heaps of people were seated. I wasn’t able to make out an exit or entry way as the room had been so dark. Some people had masks to hide their identity, while some of them had nothing, exposing their faces to everyone. The order of people closest to the beaded curtain all the way to the opposite side wall had been: The blonde woman, the violet hair man, the brother, the sister, and finally me.

The aching in my gut had begun to worsen past the point it had been prior. To a point where it had been the absolute worst pain I had experienced in my life. The owner had been introducing us all to the bidders, but the pain, accompanied by a newfound ringing in my ears, had muted all the sound coming from him. When the owner finally approached me, he put his hand on my back. Finally, the miniscule amount of food I had eaten had come up, freed from the clutches of my stomach.

“Eww!” The audience let out a gasp in shock at the sight of what they had deemed a mere pig hurling in front of them. After what felt like thirty minutes of booing, the audience had finally let up, settling for a face of disdain for me.

Ah, there’s no way I’m being bought now. The realization had come to me as though it was an arrow piercing through my very chest, causing it to tighten.

“After that display, let us start with the blonde woman from Pieron. She’s perfectly intact which makes her a fairly rare specimen. We will start the bidding at fifty silver.” The owner decided, causing the audience to burst out in chatter for some time until they had all finally settled on the decision.

Fifty silver was the highest I had seen. The highest I saw the last lot of prisoners go for was thirty silver, and that was after the bidding. The starting price for her had been set higher than even that.

“I have fifty, can I get one hundred? Oh I have a bid for three-thousand silver. Going once! Going twice! And sold!” The owner exclaimed happily about the result. “Next for the man with purple locks! We will start at forty silver. Oh ho, it would seem someone had bet immediately and raised it to three hundred. It seems as though no one wants to match this value. Going once! Going twice! And sold!”

My turn is getting closer. It’s only a matter of time before I see the outcome of my fate.

“Next we have a special offer here. These next two are brother and sister. We will hold their bidding simultaneously. However! We have a strict rule, one bidder per slave.” The cruelty of the man spread across his face visible for everyone to see.

“What!? You can’t do this, we need to be together!” The sister shouted aloud at the owner, not anticipating this as a potential outcome. The brother stayed silent through her outburst, most likely still in shock and fear.

“They start at seven-hundred thousand copper each.” The owner continued, ignoring the concerns of the sister. “I have ten silver for the sister, and three for the brother. I have fifteen for the sister. Twenty for the brother. Oh, I have thirty for the sister and twenty eight for the brother. Going once! Going twice! And sold!”

The brother and sister quickly embraced each other as though it was their last time. Although in a world like this, it may very well be.

“Be strong.” She whispered to her brother, making sure the audience couldn’t hear.

“Aww, isn’t that cute.” The owner mocked. “Guards! Send the slaves back to the lobby so they can go and meet their new owners.”

The other had been quickly dragged away. The brother and sister had been ripped apart as well. Such a cruel world. I fully realized why the others had been dragged out. The owner expects my sale to be a flop, so he had prepared in advance.

“Finally, we have this one with unusual black hair and black eyes.” The owner called aloud.

“Is he some type of demon?” The audience muttered amongst themselves.

“We will start his bidding at one copper.”

“I wouldn’t want him even for that price, just one more useless mouth to feed.” A voice in the array of faces cried out.

“Ha! Looks like we might as well end this quickly. For no bid, going once! Going twice!”

“WAIT!!” Called a voice loudly. A silhouette of a man was standing in a doorway with light illuminating behind him.

“You sure are late. Well, whatever. Are you planning to bid? The price is currently at one copper.”

“Yes. I will bid for one copper.” The man spoke, surprised of such a low price for a human.

“Sold to the late man! Enjoy your product sir!” The owner exclaimed loudly, happy he had been able to turn some money for me.

A little bit of relief came to my soul. My mind knew that feeling relief was wrong to have in this situation, but by this point it was something I could no longer stifle.