No Such Thing as Good and Evil

“LAST CALL!” the bartender yelled.

Shade sat at the end of the dimly lit bar alone. He stared into the empty glass in his hand. “One more.”

The bartender, an older looking elf wearing a tuxedo, looked at Shade then turned around. He grabbed a brown bottle of whiskey from the top shelf and then an empty glass. He began to make a drink but then stopped. He slid the whole bottle of whiskey down the bar, landing it perfectly in front of Shade. “Why don’t you just take the whole bottle with you.”

Shade grabbed the bottle with his left hand and stood up, he threw the bottle back and began chugging it, while with his right hand he grabbed a handful of gold coins from a pouch that’s tied to the belt he wore inside his long black robe. He finished the bottle and clanked it back on the counter. “No need”. He burped, tossing the coins onto the counter.

The bartender walked over and looked at the coins, then turned around and looked at the bottles behind the bar trying to eye about how much Shade had drunk. He looked back at the coins on the counter and smiled. “Thank you for the generous tip, sir.” he said cheerfully, picking up the coins and walking away.

Shade waved his hand in acknowledgement, then turned from the bar, put his hood back up and headed for the exit. He stumbled out of the bar and into the streets. It was dark out, and the streets were poorly lit, with nothing more than a few lanterns lighting up corners and intersections. The cobblestone roads, usually filled with clacking hoofs and screaming merchants, lay mostly dormant, with nothing but fellow drunks and criminals wandering about. He looked up at the sky and noticed all the stars were blurry. He rubbed his eyes and looked once more, but still couldn't make any of them out. He shook his head, realizing how drunk he was, then put his hand on his stomach as he began to feel like he was going to puke. “Maybe that last bottle wasn’t a good idea.”

He began wandering the streets, looking for a nice dark alley to puke, then pass out in. He got to an intersection and looked across the street where he saw a fine-looking alley. Dark, conspicuous, the perfect place to sleep for the night. He crossed the street and stumbled into the alley, only to find it was already taken. “Oh, come on.” He whispered under his breathe.

3 Wolfmen were in the dark alley, standing over a small male elf. “So, you don’t have the money?” A tall well built wolf, with classic grey fur snarled. He had on a full set of brown leather armor, holding a baton in one hand, and a seemingly empty coin pouch in the other.

“I’m sorry…I promise I will get it to you as soon as I can.” the elf replied nervously, shaking on the ground with his hands covering his face, and blood covering his ripped and tattered clothes.

“You know the boss won’t be happy.” a second wolf chimed in, looking at the leather clad wolf. This one was much smaller than the others, short and frail looking. No weapon that Shade could see and no armor. He only wore a long brown robe, with a hood covering his head, his pointed ears popping out through little holes. He held a basic wooden torch in his left hand, which was the only thing lighting up the scene.

“We saw you having drinks in that there bar, you could pay for beer, but not us?” the third said angrily, kicking the elf in the stomach causing him to spit up blood. The third was a large brute, taller than the first, and fat. He wore a metal chest plate, and had a huge club, holding it with both hands.

A classic cliche trio. Shade thought to himself. The leader, a dumb brute and an annoying weakling.

The frail one began sniffing and turned. He looked right at Shade and snarled, bearing his teeth. “Did you need something?”

Who would be scared of you? Shade joked to himself. “Well actually, yes, I do, thank you for asking.” he replied cheerfully while beginning to walk towards the trio, stumbling from how drunk he was. “You see, I was looking for a place to sleep, and this seemed like pretty decent lodging. Could you tell me, will this be a long shake down, or are you almost finished?”

“Oh, we have a jokester do we.” the leader scoffed, turning his attention from the elf to Shade. “And a drunk one at that.”

The brute took a menacing step toward Shade and pointed the club right at him. “You will turn and walk the other way if you know what's good for you.”

Upon hearing Shades voice, the elf moved his hands from his face and looked up at him with terror in his eyes. “Please…please help me. They're going to kill me.”

Shade looked down at the elf. His face was badly bruised and blood was pouring from his mouth which was also missing multiple teeth. A scene he has seen far too often in his life. He then looked back to the leader. “Tell you what, how much does Mr. drunk elf owe you?”

“And what’s it to you?” the leader replied narrowing his eyes.

“Well, if its money you’re after, I’m sure I have enough cover what he owes.” Shade said taking the coin pouch off his belt and giving it a good shake. “And if paying you means I can get this here alley for my own, I think it’s a worthwhile transaction.”

The frail one looked at the coin pouch with wide eyes at first, but then looked back to Shade suspiciously. “Let’s see who we're dealing with here.” he said, then threw his right hand out in front of him. A gust of wind burst out, knocking Shades hood off revealing what he looked like. A human man, with medium length black messy hair, and red eyes. He was about 6 feet tall and appeared to be around his mid-20s.

Of course, the frail one uses magic! That’s why he had no weapon or armor. I should’ve guessed by how much echos he seems to have. Shade thought.

“A human?” The frail one said shocked. “How did a human get that much coin?”

“And what’s it to you?” Shade replied sarcastically, proud of his quick callback.

“Listen human, I appreciate the offer, but we don’t want your money. This here elf…needs to learn a lesson.” The leader said sadistically.

Shade figured that would be the answer. People like this aren’t just in it for the money, they're in it for the power. They want to feel stronger than others, like they control them.

He stood there and considered his options. He knew he could take the three of them easily, even as drunk as he was, but he’s not a hero, at least not anymore. After thinking for a second, he decided to leave, all while knowing what would likely become of the elf in the end. He sighed and shrugged. “Whatever, guess I’ll find a different alley to sleep in.” He turned around and walked back out of the alley, towards the main road.

“Wait, no wait!” the elf yelled in horror.

“Smart man.” the leader said, turning back to the elf. He kneeled in front of the elf and shook the empty coin pouch. “Now what are we going to do with you?” he smiled devilishly.

“Boss, shouldn’t we go after the human, you saw how much coin he was carrying, right? He’s just a measly human, we can take him out easy.” The brute said as he began to walk towards Shade.

The leader put his hand out, stopping him. He peered back out of the alley with squinted eyes. “No human could have that kind of coin. I don’t know what he is, and I don’t plan on finding out.” He then raised his baton high in the air and brought it down on the elf’s face, shattering his nose and breaking even more teeth, causing blood to explode everywhere. The elf cried out in pain. “You shut your damn mouth! We have some more things we need to discuss.”

As he walked away, Shade could hear the sounds of the elf’s blood curdling screams, but they got dimmer and dimmer the further he walked. He’s heard many screams in the past, many pleas for help, for saving, and has grown numb to it. He continued down the main road, looking down alley after alley, but none were free. One taken by a couple going at it, one by a drug deal, another by a couple going at it in what seemed to be the middle of a drug deal. Two birds one stone, I guess. He joked to himself.

As he stumbled his way through the town, he slowly began to get agitated by his situation. He didn't want to have to pay for an inn. That money could be spent on something better, like more booze. He considered for a moment if it was time to go home.

Home? When was the last time I was home? What town am I even in? How long have I been here? 2, 3 weeks? He looked into his coin pouch and estimated about how many coins he had left, then guessed at how much he had spent each day. Maybe only a week, or did I take more coins then usual?

He had grown accustomed to his alcoholic lifestyle. He stuffs a pouch full of coins, travels to some random town he finds on a map. He then drinks his eyeballs out for weeks on end until he runs out of coin. Then he goes back home, stuffs his pouch full again, rinse and repeat.

He shrugged to himself. This seems like a problem for sober me to deal with, he laughed. Then continued to walk down the main road, trying to find a nice cozy alley to pass out in, when he sensed something. Echos, lots of echos. That’s not the wolf from before. No, way too much fire power. Someone strong is here. But why? This is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. What would a person this powerful be here for? He tried to zero in on the location of the echos, as he’d always been very good at sensing and tracking people, but he just couldn't seem to. He realized that the echos he was sensing were muffled and faint. Someone is trying to hide their power, hide that they are here. He's also able to hide his echos, so he knows how difficult it is to do, and how strong someone must be to achieve it. This only heightened his curiosity. While unable to exactly pinpoint the location, he could sense them, so he knew he could find them.

With his curiosity peaked, and not having anywhere to sleep anyway, he attempted to follow the trail of echos. He walked down street after street, closing his eyes, trying to perceive if the echos he sensed were getting stronger or weaker with every direction he turned. Eventually, he ended up in front a high-end hotel, the nicest one in town. He looked up at the building, a large brick building 10 floors high, with gold signage that he was to drunk to read, and fountains on either side of the golden front door. A hotel for the who's who of society.

He stumbled up to the front door where a tiny dwarven valet wearing a full purple and black tuxedo stood. “Do you need any assistance sir?” the valet said giving a curt bow.

“No, thank you though.” Shade replied, stumbling through the front door without even looking at him. The hotel lobby was covered in red velvet floors, with golden lanterns on the wall, powered by small red crystals underneath them. Diamond chandeliers also lace the ceiling while there was another fountain in the middle of the lobby, with a large marble statue of a wolf he didn't recognize at the center of it. Bit of overkill. How could a hotel in such a small town afford to be this nice? He wondered. He looked around but didn't see anybody of interest. In fact, outside of the woman standing behind the golden front counter on the other side of the fountain, he didn't see anyone at all. He closed his eyes and finally was able to pinpoint the exact location the echos were coming from. Below me. He thought, then looked around the lobby once more. But how do I get down there?

He turned his attention to the woman at the front counter. Stumbling across the lobby, he walked past the fountain and up to the counter, where the host stood waiting. He leaned both arms onto the counter and looked at her right in the eyes.

“Do you have a reservation sir?” She said nervously, smelling the booze on his breath and pulling back from the counter. The host was another elf, this one a tall female elf with long blue hair, green eyes and a nose ring. She wore a short sleeveless purple dress, which he guessed was the hotel uniform.

“No, I’m not here for a room. I need to get down there.” he said, taking his arms off the counter and pointing at the ground.

“Where?” she replied timidly, continuing to slowly back away from the counter.

“There, down there!” he said louder, pointing as he continue to point at the ground vehemently.

“Oh. I assume you mean the basement. Sorry sir, but that is a private event.”

“Then how does one get into this private event?” he asked with a smirk, leaning back over the counter, trying to get as close to her as he could.

The host, not wanting to deal with him, turned and pointed to a door in the far back left corner of the main lobby, a door being guarded by a minotaur. “You see that door over there, that’s how you get to the basement. And you see that man over there? He is the one who would have to let you in.” she replied, then turned and walked back into the office that was in the back of the front counter.

Shade took a quick peek over to the door she had pointed to. How did I not see or sense him before? He must be able to hide his echos as well. “Thank you.” he said appreciatively as she closed and locked the door to the office.

He turned and began to stumble his way over towards the minotaur. The minotaur noticed him walking over, looked over at the now empty front desk and realized what had just happened. He sighed and groaned to himself. “I signed up to be security for a private event, not a hotel bouncer.”

Shade studied the guard on the way over, a natural habit from his days of past. The guard was a minotaur, and a tall one at that, probably 7 feet tall he guessed. Brown fur with long horns and red demonic eyes. The perfect security guard. Like the wolf, he was wearing brown leather armor on both his chest and legs, with hoof shaped boots on his feet. He had a sword of some sort on his back, though Shade couldn't get a good look at it. The minotaur sighed again as Shade approached. “Look man, I’m not sure what the lady up front told you, but you can’t come over here.” he said irritated.

Shade stopped about 50 feet from him and tilted his head sideways like a curious animal. “Why not?”

“This room is private. It’s invite only, and I don’t see you holding any invites.” He replied looking down at Shades empty hands.

Shade began to pat his pockets, pretending to look for an invite. “Invite, invite. I just had it. What did I do with it. Ah shit.” He said clapping his hands together in a demonstrative manner. “A group of wolves jumped me in a back alley on my way over here, I thought they only took some money, but they must have taken the invite as well. You may want to go in there and make sure nobody is in there who isn’t supposed to be.” Gesturing with his head for the minotaur to go inside the room.

“What a convenient story.” The minotaur replied skeptically. He then sniffed a few times and squinted his eyes. “Hmmm, I do smell wolves on you. Even so, I know you’re lying.”

“Oh, and how is that? Shade asked smirking, while continuing to pretend to look for the invite he never had.

“A few reasons. For one, this event has a dress code, one that you are not following. And even if you just lost the invite, if you had it at any point, you would know what to wear.” He said pointing at Shades black robes. “The dress code was not, homeless alcoholic attire.” He then began pretending to shake a bag of coins in his hand “Two, this event is not some party, nor is it a social event of any kind. It’s one where you need some coin. If you got robbed there would be no point in coming here.” He then started tapping on a clipboard he was holding in his hand. “And lastly, Because I lied. There were no physical invitations, everyone who is invited is here on this list.”

An event where you need money? Shade thought, his curiosity peaked even more. He now had to find a way in. “Oh, I see, I see. What a genius you are.” He replied sarcastically. “Pure genius actually. I mean it’s not like I could have had more money in my hotel room or anything.” He said taking out his actual pouch of coins off his belt and shaking it well, so that the coins make loud clanking noises, making it clear there were quite of few of them. “And it’s not like my outfit for the event couldn’t’ve got torn up by the wolves when I got jumped, so I had to change. No, that totally couldn’t be the case.”

The minotaur looked at Shade with narrowed eyes, then down at his clipboard, then back at Shade. “That all seems reasonable, but you conveniently didn’t touch the part where everyone’s name is on the list. Let’s skip the stories, what’s your name human, and ill check if you’re on here.”

Shade didn’t realize his hood was still down from before. He raced through his mind trying to think of a good fake human name. “Uhm, Chris.” He said with fake confidence.

“Chris huh.” The minotaur replied, then started mockingly and sarcastically going through page after page on his clipboard. “Chris, Chris, no I don’t see a Chris. Wait a minute, I know why I don’t see your name. That’s right!” He said slapping his hand on his head as if he just remembered something. “This list isn’t all the people who are invited. It’s all the people who showed up here. You see, I lied again, there is no list, they were physical invites, now get the fuck out of here!” He screamed, pointing towards the entrance to the hotel.

Shade though didn't move. “Oh, I know that. You see I was testing you.” He smirked, confidently tapping his head. “We need to make sure the guard for our event doesn’t let any unwanteds in. You didn’t even consider that did you?”

The minotaur looked up at the ceiling and sighed loudly, clenching his shaking hands trying to calm himself down. “Look man, I don’t know how you found out about this event, I don’t know why the hostess told you where in here to go to get to it, but you aren’t getting in. So we can do this the easy way, and you walk out the front door yourself, or I can drag your lifeless corpse out.” he said with bloodlust in his voice, taking a step towards Shade and placing a hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Shade put his hands up, slowly starting to back away. “No reason to get violent. Let’s just think about this for a second. If you’re looking for the easiest way to resolve this, I mean, really, wouldn’t the easiest way be letting me in that door?” he said smugly with a shrug.

“Not. Happening.” the minotaur replied, growing visibly angrier by the second. He quickened his pace towards Shade, closing the distance between them in mere moments, then got right in his face and stared into his eyes.

Shade didn't flinch. He stared back as they stared at each other in complete silence for over 30 seconds before finally, the Minotaur blinked. “You lose.” Shade said proudly.

“What?” The minotaur snarled, anger beginning to boil over.

Shade jumped back from him, creating a safe amount of space between the two once again, the aggressively pointed at him. “You blinked first, so you lost. Now you have to let me in.”

The minotaur turned his head to the sky again, shaking his hands even more trying to calm himself down. He then looked back to Shade. “You are really testing my patience human. You think we were playing Blinks? This isn’t child’s play, I’m not playing any games, if you don’t get out of here, we are going to have some real problems.” he said sharply as he began to approach Shade once more, this time with murderous intent in his eyes.

Shade undaunted, began laughing hysterically. “Who the fuck calls it blinks? Blinks?” He laughed for about 10 seconds before stopping and wiping some tears from his eyes. “Though that’s beside the point. Clearly, we were playing a round of it. I mean, why else would you stare so meaningfully into another man’s eyes? Unless, you go that way, I mean I don’t judge, I just don’t think you look like a man who would.” He smirked.

“You are getting on my last nerve.” the minotaur replied, tightening the grip on the hilt of his sword. “I don’t have time for your games. Or your jokes.”

“Oh, are you busy?” Shade said sarcastically, turning and motioning towards the completely empty lobby.

The minotaur pulled the sword out of its sheathe and pointed it at Shade. It’s a basic steel sword, the type most low-level warriors use due to how strong, yet cheap they were.

Maybe he’s not as strong as I thought he was, but why didn't i sense him?. Shade thought to himself.

“I'm going to give you one last chance to leave.” The minotaur snarled, using his sword to motion towards the front door.

Shade continued to slowly back away while still trying to think of how to get in without fighting. As he looked at the cheap sword, he thought there was only one way left he hadn't tried. “Listen uhm” He realized he didn't know the minotaur’s name; he looked at his chest and noticed a rather convenient name tag. In huge letters, GREG is spelled out. “Greg…. Greg? Your name is…. Greg? That’s a…. human name? Why does a minotaur have a human name?” he asked curiously.

Smoke began to pour out of Greg's snout. “Now you make fun of the name my parents gave me?” he snarled, quickening his approach.

“Not make fun of.” Shade replied, though he did have to hold in a laugh. “I uh, you know, I like to know the name of my opponents I fight, so that’s why I wanted to know your name. You see, I uhm, I just find your name interesting for your uhm your species you could say.”

“Oh, you like to know the names of your opponents, do you?” Greg said with an irritated, yet mocking giggle. “The lost drunk is a man of honor, is he? Want to know my name before I kill you? Ok, I’ll play along. You want to know why I have a human name? My parents are humans, one of you.”

“How does that work?” Shade joked, putting his finger to his nose while looking at the ceiling perplexed, all while continuing to slowly back away. “Science really is a mystery isn’t it.”

Greg shook his head annoyed, smoke continuing to pour out of his snout as he continued approaching Shade faster than Shade was walking back. “I was adopted by human’s you drunk, moron, after my real family abandoned me. Happy? Now are you leaving, or do you wish to test your mettle against me, Mr. Honorable warrior.” He said pointing the sword directly at shades chest as he was now mere feet from Shade.

“Listen Greg, let’s get down to business.” Shade replied seriously, trying to put on a mean face, and taking a fighting stance himself, but not being able to do either due to his severe intoxication. “I’ve dealt with people like you before. What’s your price? How much money would it take for you to just, look the other way while I go in there?” he said shaking the coin pouch again.

“A lot. The people who run these events would gladly make me disappear if they found out I let some random outsider in.” Greg replied, though almost instantly his face turned from anger, to contemplation and curiosity.

“Well, name a price, everyone has a price.” Shade said wryly continuing to shake the pouch.

Greg stopped his approach and looked at the pouch. He scratched his head with his sword, considering the offer. “Toss me one.” He said. Shade took a coin out of the pouch and tossed it to Greg. Greg inspected the coin closely, holding it up to the light and turning it over again and again, biting into it, and then putting it back to the light. “Its…real, how does a human like you have so many coins?” he said suspiciously, slowly turning from the coin back to Shade.

“Honorable warriors like me, get paid for doing honorable deeds, don’t you know?” Shade replied proudly, putting his hands on hips in a hero pose.

Greg let out a snort. “Honorable warriors don’t attend these sorts of events.” He looked around the lobby making sure it was empty. “But this job barely pays anything at all, and I’ve got many children at home. So, I don’t really care where you got them from, as long as they're real.” He put his sword back into its sheathe and looked at the coin one more time then around the lobby again. “I’ll tell you what human, you give me 20 of those coins, and I’ll look the other way while you go in.”

Shade pretended to ponder the offer, even though he planned on accepting pretty much any price as money was no problem for him. “You’ve got yourself a deal.” He said, then reached into the pouch and pulled out 20 coins. He walked up to Greg and placed them in his hands, then began to walk past him.

Greg stopped him and put his hand on Shades shoulder. “You create any sort of problems in there, it was the host at the front counter who let you in, got it?” he whispered sternly in Shades ear.

“Aye, aye captain” Shade replied gleefully, giving Greg a sarcastic salute, then continued to the door. He opened the door to walk in, then turned back around to Greg. “While you have some free time, you should practice your skills at, uhm, what did you call it again? Blinks?”

Greg just shook his head while looking at the coins in his hand, then pushed Shade though the doorway, slamming the door behind him.

Shade peered into the darkness, the door lead to a set of stairs. The stairway was old and poorly lit, but not dusty, in fact the stairs were rather clean, and look well used. He walked down the stairs for what felt like forever before getting to the bottom. At the bottom of the stairs were two huge wooden doors, with light seeping through the cracks. He could hear the faint sound of an auctioneer on the other side. Oh, a black-market auction. He thought to himself.

His shoulders sank and he became depressed. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping for, but not this. It was such an obvious answer. The hotel was so fancy because they hold underground auctions and get paid nicely to do so. The person with all the power was probably security for the items, or someone of high standing, like a duke or duchess. Many of them participate in shady things such as these as they help fund their lavish lives. He debated turning back and asking Greg for a refund, maybe a rematch of blinks would do it. But he decided he had come this far and proceeded in.

He walked into the room and Infront of him was a huge auditorium, with hundreds of seats, of which only maybe a quarter were taken. Large golden chandeliers hung overhead, and there’s a huge stage at the front of the theatre. Why is everyone dressed like that? He thought to himself while scanning the room. Many of the people had on top hats with canes, and handle bar mustaches to match. Some even have white powdered wigs. That’s right, the dress code. This is their dress code?

While staring at one particular man with a huge white powdered wig, the auctioneer began to sell off the next item, causing him to turn his attention to the stage. But on the stage wasn't an item, but a person. A small female elf walked onto the stage, wearing next to nothing and around her neck was a large metal collar containing a small blue crystal on the front.

“Lot #52. This girl here is from the town of Horith, she is but 12 years old, a virgin, an elf, she has been trained how to cook, clean, and is considered an 8/10 on the obedience scale. She has an affinity for using magic and has a considerable amount of echos. She could be used as an obedient soldier, mistress, maid or all 3. Bidding begins at 100 coins.” The auctioneer yelled in a perfectly monotone voice.

A slave auction Shade thought to himself. This depressed him even more. At a black-market auction, he might at least find a cool weapon, or maybe a drug he had never tried before. But a slave auction? He didn't want a slave, nor did he need one. He spends all his time wandering around drunk, a slave would just get in the way of his fun. Not only that, but he spent a lot his time in the past tracking down places like this and killing everyone inside. Though it’s been a long time since he was that person, and he has changed a lot since then.

He slunk to the back corner of the auditorium and sat down in an old, ripped, leather seat. Though old, he found the chair was rather comfortable. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, wanting to quietly wait out the auction, then sneak out. “Lot 56…lot 59…lot 63”. Slave after slave after slave were sold, but he can’t seem to fall asleep. Everyone was being too loud, with screams of bids and comments on the slaves, it sounded like a tavern during happy hour.

He began to consider just leaving all together, though he thought about what snarky comments Greg would have for him. Just as he was about to get up though. “Next up, lot 71!” the auctioneer yelled, but he didn't give a description of the slave. Onto the stage walked a young, female fairy. Blonde hair that looks like it hasn’t been washed in weeks, pointed elf like ears, dead brown eyes and wings all black, dark as the night. Her face showed no emotions at all, as stoic as a doll. She as well was wearing next to nothing, just a rag covering her top and bottom with the metal collar around her neck. As she walked to the middle of the stage, the auditorium fell silent. Shade though noticed something. This girl…. she’s the one with the all the echos I was sensing.

“We will begin the bidding at 1 coin.” The auctioneer yelled.

One coin? He thought to himself. What is going on here? Who is this girl, why is she so strong, and why doesn’t anybody seem to want her? A hot young fairy with all sorts of echos? What am I missing? But then Shade realized again what he had sensed before. Her Echos were being muffled, like she was hiding them; he might be the only one who could sense them. But why is she hiding them, and who is she that she knows how to do that? Even so, though she has no sensible power, why does nobody want a beautiful looking fairy? Something is off here.

“One coin, she can be yours for just one coin!” The auctioneer pleaded. “Going once…twice…three times…. if she doesn't sell, she will be killed and sold for parts, one last chance.”

As he was about to drop the gavel and send the girl to her grave Shade bounced up. “I will bid one coin!” he yelled. The whole room turned and looked at him shocked.

The auctioneer gave everyone a chance to outbid him, but they all just stared at him in silence. The gavel fell and he had won the bidding, becoming a first time slave owner. He left his seat and began to walk down the aisle of the auditorium to the stage. As he did, the auctioneer held up his gavel and stopped him. “All payments and pickups are at the end of the auction as per usual.” he said monotoned, yet clearly annoyed.

“A newbie.” One of the guests next to him laughed, the man with the obnoxiously large powdered wig. “Must be why he purchased such a bad lot, he will learn.”

Shade ignored the man and looked at the auctioneer. “I, uhm, only came here to buy one slave; I have that one slave now, so I don’t plan on purchasing anything more. May I check out now and take my leave?” he asked, trying to sound professional and not drunk.

“Well, if that is the case, please follow the administrator to the back.” the auctioneer pointed to a tall human looking man standing at the edge of the stage, wearing a suit, a large top hat and cane in his right hand. “And in the future, please wear the attire listed on the invitation.” Gesturing to Shades outfit. The people in the crowd giggled.

“Sorry, I, uh, couldn’t find my nice top hat, I’ll make sure next time.” Shade replied, trying not to laugh himself.

He followed the administrator down the aisle and past the stage, to a back room. The room had concrete floors and brick walls. There, all the slaves were lined up and chained to the wall, one next to the other. The ones that had sold already were being grouped into sets for each purchaser with their selling price being written on their chest with ash. His purchase stood in the middle of the room as not enough time had passed for her to have been chained up, though they had time to write one coin in the middle of her chest, probably as a joke. At the end of the room was a desk with a tall skinny male elf behind it, top hat on like all the others. “Over here girl!.” he yelled. The girl walked up to the tall man, and the man put his hand on her collar. The blue crystal on the collar glowed then went dark. “Now you.” He said pointing to Shade.

Shade walked over to the girl. Luckily, or unluckily, he had dealt with slave collars in the past. He put his hand on her collar, and the crystal glowed, then went dark again. He felt it, he was connected to her, and she was now his property. But somethings was wrong, there were no echos?

The way slave collars work is simple. The collar around the neck connects the slave to its owner. The owner can use the collar to punish the wearer, though typically that isn't needed as most slaves have been thoroughly trained before being sold. The main thing it does is echos control. The owner can control how much echos the wearer is allowed to use, so that they never have enough to fight back. But not only that, the owner can transfer the power of the wearer to themselves. Many people use slaves like this, as almost batteries. Though the wearer has to be relatively near the owner, causing some logistics issue with travel, a strong slave can make an already powerful person that much more powerful. This is one of the reasons Shade was confused as to why nobody bid on her. Even if she could hide her echos, her master would have at least known about her strength from the collar. But now his confusion turned to concern.

Is she somehow hiding the echos from the collar? Is that even possible? Is she an assassin, a mercenary? Was she sent to take down this slave ring? Thoughts raced through his mind as he began to wonder if he was in imminent danger, but as he stood there lost in his own head, the girl stood next to him, stoic as ever, not making a move or showing any emotions.

“One coin.” The man at the table said, putting his hand out. Shade snapped back to reality, he reached into his pouch and grabbed a coin, handing it to the man. “She's all yours now.” Shade began to look around the room for an exit. “Have you been here before?” The man asked with a sigh.

“No, first time.” He admitted sheepishly, though he wasn't sure why he felt embarrassed about never having been to a slave auction before, well at least as a customer.

The man pointed to an elevator in the corner of the room. “That elevator there will take you to the alley behind the Hotel, until next time.” He says in a monotone voice then looked down at some paper on his desk and began scribbling on it.

Shade looked at the elevator, then he looked at the girl. She was wearing virtually no clothes. Most people come to these things with carriages that wait by the alley so that the new slaves can just be thrown into the back of the carriage and taken to their new homes. He though had no carriage. And he knew that his new purchase would stand out. No clothes, and a large slave collar? He would get caught instantly. “You guys don’t happen to deliver, do you?” He asked the cashier.

The cashier grunted looked up, giving him an irritated look, but didn't actually say anything.

“I will take that as a no. I’m going to guess you don’t offer clothes either” he said looking at his mostly naked purchase. “Well, this should be interesting.” He led the girl to the elevator and they got in. As they rode up, he looked around the elevator awkwardly, he didn't know what to do or say to a newly purchased slave, and he’s never been great at conversations to begin with. He was also still nervous she might be someone dangerous. Finally, after what seemed like hours but was mere seconds, the elevator reached the top, opening up to a door.

He opened the door and walked out into the alley. He looked both ways, trying to determine the direction the least amount of people may see them. But both ways lead to main streets, with the hotel plopped in the middle of the main four corners of the town. He noticed a window next to the elevator. He punched out the window, and reached inside. He tore bright purple drapes off the window and put them over the girl so that nothing but her eyes were showing. I’m not sure if this is better or worse, he thought. But at the very least, hopefully nobody will notice the slave collar around her neck.

He led the girl down the alley to the front of the hotel. Dawn was breaking and he knew he needed to get them out of town before too many people began to wake up and start asking questions. He walked up to the same valet he had previously ignored. “Can I help you sir” the valet said while looking at the girl furrowed eyebrows.

“Yes, you can this time, could you tell me where the nearest carriage station is, I need to get a ride home.” Shade replied.

“Well sir, our hotel actually has a carriage station in it, please pick any of them.” he said, pointing to a line of carriages right outside the hotel gates waiting for customers.

“Wow, convenient. Thank you.” Shade replied. He led the girl to the first carriage in line, a bright blue carriage with two white unicorns at the helm. A carriage for the rich.

“Where you heading.” The driver said in a deep gruff voice, a tall male wolf with black and white fur, and wearing a full matching tuxedo. Shade didn't know what to say. His house didn't have an actual address, it’s in the middle of the woods so that no one can track him down.

“Do you have a map?” He asked. The driver nodded and took out a map from the front of carriage. Shade looked it over and pointed to a spot that he thought was near his house. “Anywhere around there would be perfect.”

“4 coins.” the driver said sticking his hand out. Shade, while thinking about all the random prices items seem to have in this town, took out 4 coins and handed them to the driver. The driver took the coins and then looked questionably at the girl and her purple drapes outfit.

“Something wrong?” Shade asked pointedly.

“No.” the driver replied, slowly turning away and getting on top of his perch.

Shade got in the back with the girl and looked at her one more time. As they started moving, he leaned in towards her. “So, who are you actually?” He whispered.

The girl looked at him with a stoic but confused look. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” She replied monotoned.

“What are you, an assassin, a mercenary, a spy?” he probed.

The girl looked at him with a similarly stoic but even more confused look. “I am your slave.” she said looking down at her collar.

Now he was even more confused. Does she just not want to give away who she was, her mission? He leaned back in his seat, annoyed, concerned, but also, exhausted. He forgot about how tired he was while purchasing her, but now he can barely keep his eyes open. He took one last look at the girl and decided she won’t do anything to him, then put his head on the window and closed his eyes, falling asleep instantly.