Transcendence?

***Jamaian Union, Atten, Slave Market***

Then a fat guy with golden chains hanging from his entire body enters the podium and starts to speak. “Today we start an auction again! The buyers are the white faceless. All faceless have the same rights here. The last bidder wins. In a case of discord. If a faceless demands a duel from another faceless it has to be accepted. The winner gets everything regardless of the losers rank and prestige.”

The fat Goldy continues to rattle about how matters are handled here for a while and then the auction starts. First are the men on the list. There are nobles, warriors, academics.

“Seriously. Which idiot would buy a high ranking sword-master? You look into the wrong direction for a single second and your head rolls over the ground.” I snort while another slave is led from the podium and towards his buyer.

“Those bracelets on them are real slave-rings. If they kill their master, they will die a dreadful death. On top it stops them from using magic in any form because it constantly draws the mana out of them. Then there is the pain. The master can induce pain into the slave by simply wishing for it.” Kane explains the golden bracelets on the slaves.

Then it's time for the guy which Kane wanted to buy. The merchant seems to be in the prime of his age. A good muscled body, white hair and long ears. All people from the Nation of Mist have long ears. They are easily identified by them. Is that guy really a merchant?

Kane starts to bid and I can't keep to myself. “Look at his body! Are you sure that's a merchant? Aren't you buying more than you bargained for?”

“Even better!” Kane continues to bid until all other competitors signal that they don't want to continue. He paid the proud sum of one hundred gold coins in the end. For that amount of money a normal citizen could live two lifetimes in luxury. This guy will have to work hard to earn his pay.

The white haired guy is led towards Kane and my friend presses his thumb onto the slaves bracelet. Then a pouch of money wanders into the waiting hands of the slave-trader.

I don't pay much attention to the rest of the auction as I eye Kane's acquired 'merchandise' with suspicion. The slave is aware of my staring eyes and prefers to sit down on the floor besides Kane. He is trying very hard to watch the floor in front of him.

All slaves are very lightly dressed. They just have something like pants and that's it. Is it to rob them of their dignity?

Then the auction continues with the female slaves. Most of them are fine women. Again, lightly dressed.

At last the slave-trader announces three noble women from Mislow. “Then we have three females with the most precious bloodline of mind magic from Mislow. They were caught deep behind enemy lines by our raiding parties. So I hope that you appreciate the effort. Everyone here should be aware of the worth of such a trophy. First is a thirteen year old girl."

The bidding starts and Kane places a first offer. I lean over and whisper to him. “What are you doing!?”

“Maybe I can sell her back to her family for big money.” Kane whispers back.

The bidding continues until a very expensive clothed guy steps in. He also has a golden mask unlike us. All other competitors stop to bid and after a few more attempts Kane stops too and shrugs his shoulders. “The golden mask means that he is a regular and very, very rich.”

“You still tried though....” I watch as the girl is led towards the guy. She isn't wearing much. It would be right to call her clothes a lingerie. It's in bad taste to see something like that on a child.

“I hoped that he wouldn't be into little girls, but he does seem to have 'that' preference.” Kane looks with pity at the girl.

Then another little girl is led into the room and I squint my eyes at the sight. Dark violet hair. The round face of a little doll. She is petite and shivers like someone who fears for something worse than death. A flashback of a very unfortunate scene flashes through my mind.

My father was screaming at me while my brothers were looking at me with disdain. I never had much contact with my family, but at least I got information that I had gotten a little sister. Behind them is my mother with the exact same little girl tugging at her skirt.

The bidders start to give their offers.

“Ten!”

“Fifteen!”

“Eighty!”

“Two hundred!” Again the guy with the golden mask silences the room with his offer.

The slave-trader already draws his breath to announce the end of the placement of offers.

“Five hundred.”

Kane looks at me with a surprised expression. “I didn't expect for you to be...”

“Shut up!”

“A thousand!” The guy with the golden mask looks towards me.

“Five thousand.” I counter with a cold voice. If one of my brothers or my parents would have stood on that podium, I may have laughed at them. But my sister hasn't done anything wrong to me till now. She may be the only family in this world which I should care about.

“One Platinum!” The golden mask leans back and looks for the slave-trader to end it. His bet is doubling my offer. In this world a platinum coin is the hardest currency in existence. Two hundred of them gave a serious boost to my city. A thousand can buy a cheap principality.

One hundred copper are one silver. One hundred silver are one gold. And ten thousand gold are one platinum. I sold a really dangerous military spell from another world to the Nation of Mist in order to get three thousand Platinum. They struck me as the ones who would use the spell most likely just for defence.

“Ten platinum.”

After my last bet the room is silent. No slave is worth ten platinum. Even if it's for prestige. The golden mask signals that he isn't bidding any more with an angry gesture.

The little shivering girl is led toward me and I gently take her hand with the bracelet to press my thumb onto it. I guess it would be bad if I showed that I was somehow related to her.

Then I place her in a seat next to me on our table. “Sit. And be quiet.” She nods with tears in her eyes.

The golden mask is still eyeing me while the last girl is led onto the podium. I immediately recognize her. What a world to find ~her~ in this place. I start to snicker behind my mask while Kane gasps beside me.

“Celestial Jasmine! Why is she here!?” He whispers into my ear while I try to control myself. My reaction seems to frighten my little sister.

“Who cares.” My voice becomes a little dangerous while I think about all the hard times and the pain she inflicted on me. Celestial, complete with a slave-ring and completely at my whim! I need her! I need her! Having her in that state is worth every price!

A few lecherous bidders start to scream their offers. It's clear that they are after that body. I stay out of it for the moment. There isn't much sense in offering small sums together with the scum.

“One thousand!”

Again, the golden mask attempts to end it with a sum which seems ridiculous to the other bidders. Celestial scanned the room with her eyes during the entire auction. As her eyes fall onto the little girl which was bought by the golden mask earlier, her expression lightens a little.

“Ten platinum.”

The room becomes quiet again. The golden mask looks at me and I actually feel a hateful aura coming from him.

“Twenty platinum!”

“A hundred platinum.”

Celestial's expression went from eased to dark during the entire exchange. Does she have ties to the little girl who was bought by golden mask?

The golden mask draws my attention by throwing his desk over while his black masked attendants stepped backwards.

Sigh. Now he is coming over. What does he want?

“Take your last offer back!” He points at me and my guards draw a step closer.

“Why should I? It was stated at the beginning that everyone has the same rights. If I want to offer more than you, I will do it.” I lean back in my chair. Too bad that he can't see my provoking smile behind my mask.

“I hope you realize that I have this golden mask for a reason!” The golden mask starts to whisper and Kane starts to tug at my clothes.

“I don't care. I want her. Fuck off!” I shove Kane's arm away. I can already imagine what he wants to tell me. Probably this guy is so respected by the other bidders because he just takes what he wants if he doesn't have the money. A duel. The winner gets everything. I guess?

“Then I challenge you! Your slaves! And your life!” Golden mask draws his sword while I signal my guards to step back.

“Oh, man! Oh, man!” Kane covers his face with his hands and his slave arches an eyebrow at him.

I stand up and walk towards the golden mask while dragging my chair behind me. Golden mask gets into position and I immediately throw the chair at him.

It's a slow throw which is just aimed into his general direction. Suddenly the sword of golden mask ignites with blue flames and small fires start to dance around him. He starts a skilful slash at the chair.

I point my open palm at the chair. “BURST!”

The chair disintegrates into hundreds of small splinters like being hit by a shock-wave to charge forward. The splinters tear through golden mask like shrapnel.

“HIAAARGH”

Golden mask jumps forward while slashing blindly at me. The fire on his sword expands and I cover my right arm with a dense cushion of circulating air.

I repel his sword with my protected right arm and stab at his chest with my left while concentrating mana into it.

“Hrgh.hh...hhh.....” Golden mask twitches for a second while my hand digs into his chest and encloses itself around something soft which is beating furiously.

Then I place my foot on his belly and shove him backwards. He stumbles a few steps while looking at me. I see his eyes behind his mask wipe open before they fall onto the beating heart in my left.

*Thud*

He fell backwards and doesn't move any more. A sharp pain stings in my right arm. Now that the adrenaline starts to lose its effect, my mind returns towards my body.

My right arm is badly burned. Seriously bad! I am looking at raw flesh! But I can bear the pain. My father did worse to me during my training.

Golden mask is.... was an excellent fire-mage. To burn through my protection like nothing.... what would have happened if I hadn't used a protective spell? But Golden mask made the mistake of offering his heart in exchange for an arm. A deadly mistake.

I concentrate on a healing spell and watch the skin crawling up my arm like in a slow motion horror picture show. After a few seconds my arm is covered in new pink skin. It feels a little tight and strange but it will do for the moment.

Then I look for the slave-trader and point at Celestial and then at the teenager who was bought by golden mask. I am doing it with my bloody left and the beating heart in it.

“~Bring them. They are mine.~”

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