Transcendence?

by Andur

“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 loose 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.~”

  8 - Enslavement?

  Jamaian Union, Atten, Slave Market

  This place is detestable! All these people with their creepy masks. What did I do to end up in this world? Even my life before being a slave wasn't the best.

  I was born into the house of Jasmine and while my parents clearly cared for me, they still forced a horrible training regime onto me. The family consisted of my father and my mother. Then there were my little brother and Liandra, my little sister.

  At my tenth birthday the world taught me the reason for my merciless training.

  The night was dark when they came and tried to murder everyone. Assassins! They got my youngest brother in his sleep and my mother was heavily wounded. I was fortunate that one of the maids stumbled upon one of the assassins. She paid with her life but the commotion woke me up.

  I managed to hide with my little sister until help arrived.

  And although we could save my mother. My brother was already dead. Even though all the training, I love my family. Loosing the younger brother I always cared for was a hard blow to me.

  I should be able to get over all this. So much experience in different lifes. I have an immortal soul after all! There are more than a thousand lifetimes in my memory. I experienced bad situations manifold! My fate in this world still tore at my heart.

  They said that the Assassins most likely came from the house of Arenzien. They are mortal enemies of my parents and assassination attempts aren't out of question.

  My parents always urged me to take a groom from a powerful house to ensure our position. I always refused.

  Then the world decided to play another trick on me. I had graduated from the Arcane Academy. I thought it could only go upwards from there. But not too long ago our estate was attacked out of nowhere. Hundreds of warriors charged at our mansion. My father told me to take my little sister and run.

  It was a warlike situation an everything fell into disarray and chaos.

  I did as I was told, but we got caught. It was a Jamaian raiding party of five hundred warriors with horses and carriages. Apparently they penetrated deep into Mislow territory to make noble prisoners.

  I blamed myself since then for being too weak! And an idiot! Maybe things would have been different if I did as my parents had told me.

  A few days later while sitting in a carriage behind the bars of a cage it dawned onto me. We were going to be slaves. There were others, but we were kept separate. They realized that we belonged to a magic bloodline. That's why they attacked our estate in the first place.

  After a week they threw another little girl into our carriage. She was even younger than my little sister and crying all the time. It took me a day to get a name from her. Violetta Arenzien! I had to fight the impulse to strangle her right then and there.

  But a small child and a crybaby couldn't possibly be made responsible for the actions of her parents. This became even clearer as she told me about the intense and horrible training by her educators.

  After a two months long journey we ended up in Atten, the biggest slave-market in the Jamaian Union. Apparently we were intended to be sold to the richest of the rich.

  That's how I came to be on this podium. I hoped that someone would buy all three of us together. Somehow I came to feel responsible for the little crybaby Vio.

  The entire exchange between the two creepy fellows with their laughing masks took less than two minutes. My feelings changed between hope and despair as I feared to be torn apart from my little sister.

  Then the quarrel between the two monsters evolved into a duel. Apparently the Jamaian Union is very lenient in the handling of conflicts between its citizens.

  The fellow with the white mask brutally murdered the golden mask. He didn't use any flashy spells like the golden one. But he still showed unbelievable skill.

  While invoking wind magic for protection on his right, he cast arcane magic on his left. Both were the simplest spells in existence. But to cast them at the same time during a fight for life and death takes incredible skill.

  I didn't realize what was going on until golden mask fell backwards and blood sprayed everywhere. He had blocked my view until that moment.

  Then I watch in horror at White-mask's wounded arm. His right arm is just a fleshy something! But White-mask doesn't scream or topple over in pain which would be normal. He just watches his arm with... curiosity? Then the skin starts to grow! Is he using high level healing magic on himself!?

  How old is he? For someone to cast this spell without incantation! It took me a few lifetimes to learn something like that!

  The room is completely silent until White-mask points at me and my little sister with a damn beating heart in his hand!

  “~Bring them. They are mine.~”

  Two slavers grab me from each side and I am brought before White-mask. I try to resist the rude treatment and one of the Slavers hits me. I feel blood running down my cheek. Fuck this bracelet! I can't use any magic! Whenever I try to draw mana from within, it disperses and is sucked away!

  I am brought in front of him and forced to my knees. He presses his thumb onto my slave-ring to activate the magic system. The same happens for my sister. At least we are together. Maybe we will find a possibility to escape.

  I hug my little sister while White-mask is counting a pile of platinum coins into the waiting hands of the slave-trader. So much money for two girls and me? I hope that keeps him from hurting us.

  Short of the last coin, the White-mask stops and closes his pouch.

  The slave-trader arches an eyebrow at him. “Sir? You missed the last coin!”

  “The 'goods' were delivered in a damaged state.” He points at my bleeding cheek.

  The slave-trader turns expressionless. “Then heal her! Something like that should be nothing to you after what you displayed here.”

  White-mask stores his pouch away. “I paid a hundred platinum coins for that woman. Do you want to tell me that this scratch isn't equal to one platinum?”

  The slave-trader's expression turns sour while he looks at the slaver who hit me earlier. I guess the bastard won't have a good time from now? But that slave-trader surely is a greedy bastard. To crave for that one last platinum coin after receiving a sum like that!

  After washing his hands in a bowl which was brought by a slave, White-mask turns toward another masked guy and starts to whisper something. Two huge guards are towering behind them. Are they northmen? I never saw someone that big in this world before! But I heard stories about the people of Norfolk. Some of them are giants, towering at least two heads above anyone from the southern lands.

  Suddenly I feel a warm hand on my face and realize that White-mask moved
to my side and placed his hand on my cheek while I was looking for the guards. A warm feeling spreads in my cheek and the pain fades away.

  Then White-mask takes Vio at her hand and gestures for his guards and us. “Follow.”

  We are taken outside and I follow them with Liandra at my hand. I wont let her go!

  The other white masked fellow joins us with a slave from the Nation of Mist. Then we are led across the slave market with fast and purposeful steps. Our new 'masters' didn't take off their masks like the others when they left the building.

  The slavers around us are eyeing me with greedy expressions and I realize for the first time in a while that I am practically naked!

  Bastards! If it wasn't for that slave-ring, I would start a massacre right here and now!

  I adapted to this existence too fast! It has been less than two months since I got captured and most of the time was taken up by the journey to Atten.

  After a while we arrive at a Gate! No seriously! Where will they take us? Is it even farther away from Mislow? I have to find out what happened to my parents!

  One of the big burly guards taps my back to urge me forward while the masked men are paying the Gatekeeper. It probably wasn't meant harmful by the muscle brain but the impulse still propels me a step forward.

  Then White-mask takes Vio onto his arm and carries her in his right while she is hugging his neck in order to not fall off.

  He turns and reaches for Lia with his left. “No.” I hug my little sister. If we are separated now I don't know what to do!

  “If you wish for her to freeze. Then so be it.” The White speaks while I see the scene behind the Gate switch towards a snowy town with wooden buildings. It's night-time on the other side. Just the moon provides enough light to guess the scene.

  I let go of Liandra and White-mask takes her hand. I see a blue light encasing all three of them. An environmental protection spell.

  White-mask turns and walks through the Gate, followed by his companion and the male slave. I follow too and behind me the guards.

  COLD!

  Fuck! Fuck! It's so cold! That bastard didn't protect me on purpose! Was it because I spoke up against him without being asked? I am trying to cover myself but the cold keeps draining the warmth from me!