The shackles.

The cage smelled of rust and old blood.
I pressed myself against the bars, watching the other humans huddle in their own cages. Some wept. Some stared at nothing. A woman across from me rocked back and forth, her lips moving soundlessly.
---
The auction began.
One by one, cages were dragged onto a wooden stage. Torchlight flickered over the crowd – shapes in the dark, eyes gleaming. Growls. Laughter. The snap of teeth.
A blonde woman was sold first. The bidding was fast, cruel. "900 moonies!" A final slam of a gavel. She didn't scream. She just stared ahead, already gone.
Then my cage lurched forward.
---
The stage lights blinded me. I couldn't see the buyers – only silhouettes and the wet shine of their eyes. My heart slammed against my ribs, a trapped thing.
The auctioneer's voice boomed, too loud, too close.
"Next up! A human female. From another world, they say. Fresh. Untamed. Who will start the bidding?"
Silence.
A long, horrible silence.
Then a voice from the dark: "50 moonies."
Fifty.
Another: "60."
"70."
"80."
The bids crept up. Slow. Reluctant. Like they were inspecting damaged meat.
100 moonies, someone called.
No one countered.
The auctioneer's gavel rose.
That's it? That blonde got nine hundred.
I wanted to scream. To claw at the bars. To beg.
But I remembered the wolf hybrid twisting that man's arm until it cracked. The scream. The laughter.
I kept my mouth shut. Lowered my head. My hands shook.
"Sold! To the gentleman in the black cape!"
---
A fat man with a pig's belly unlocked my cage. He grabbed my arm – too hard – and clamped iron shackles around my wrists. The metal was cold, too tight. I pulled until the iron bit into my skin, drawing a thin line of blood. I couldn't move my arms apart.
He dragged me toward a wagon. I stumbled. He yanked me up.
The wagon door slammed behind me, swallowing the crowd's growls.
Inside, the wagon was dark. Silk curtains. The smell of old leather and something sweet, like rotting flowers.
A figure sat in the shadows. Hood up. Black cape.
He didn't move. Didn't speak.
I pressed myself against the far wall, my shackled hands useless at my sides.
Who is he?
---
Meanwhile – before the auction
Raymond walked away from the cages, his hands still shaking.
A hand gripped his shoulder.
"Lord Kingsley wants a word."
Two men in dark cloaks steered him toward a black wagon. Inside, a figure sat in the shadows – the same figure, the same golden eyes.
The wagon lurched forward. The lord's voice came, soft as a blade.
"Did you hear her thoughts? Is she one of the invaders?"
Raymond's throat tightened. He remembered the last invader. Weeks of screaming.
"I... I heard fragments, my lord. She is from another world. She spoke of a panda. A mission."
"A mission to do what?"
Raymond hesitated. Sweat rolled down his spine.
"She is here to destroy our world, my lord."
A long silence. Then the lord chuckled – low, quiet, wrong.
"How interesting."
He tapped the wagon wall. It sped up.
Raymond stared at his hands.
I'm going to die for this.
---
Back to Hannah
The hooded figure finally moved. He pushed back the hood.
Raven black hair. Sharp jaw. Lips that were too still to be beautiful.
He studied me. His eyes were the colour of old gold.
"You look like you've already lost," he said. Soft. Almost bored. "I wonder if there's anything left to break."
I didn't answer. My throat was closed.
"Someone told me you are interesting." His lips curved – not a smile, something thinner. "I don't see it yet. But I'm willing to wait."
He knocked on the partition. The wagon lurched forward.
I looked down at my wrist. The crescent mark pulsed faintly. Red. Warm. The shackles pressed against it, wet with my blood.
He didn't give his name.
The sun was low outside the window. My first day in this world was ending.
I just hope I don't die before destroying it.
But the mark throbbed again – and for a moment, I wanted it to. I wanted to burn everything down. Including myself.
---
End of Chapter 4