He SUDDENLY got sold.

Shrimp knock on the bar cell to call the attention of the young boy sitting at the corner. He slips two kinds of fruits and a wooden cup filled with water on his cell bars. "Here's your food. Better eat it quickly." Cain doesn't move, and he keeps his head low.

"I'll be back later." Shrimp glances at him for a second before moving towards the exit, shutting the wood door, and locking it from the outside. When he confirmed that he had already left, Cain crawled and grabbed one of the fruits. He brought it up to his nose, inhaled the sweet scent of the fruit, and then took a leisurely bite.

Following his meal, he returned to the corner of his cell; as there was no light, he was unable to determine the precise hour at that moment. He murmurs and begins speaking to himself, acting as though he is speaking to someone else. "Is she not here?" "How about you?" "Why?"

About an hour later, Cain heard a door open and a clatter. Then he heard murmurs, and someone ignited a torch, lighting the hallway leading to his cell. A man wearing a bandana and going by the name Shrimp was the first to arrive, followed by two guards and two more males dressed in white robes. Shrimp allowed the man in after opening the gate. Even though the stranger was standing in front of Cain, he remained calm.

"How're you?" he asked. "Is there anything that hurts?" The man looked at him properly, held the boy's chin, and took out his penlight. "Alright, open your eyes," the man instructed, and turn on the penlight. He first checked his right eye for three seconds, then swung the light to the opposite eye and observed the reaction. He keeps swinging the light back and forth between his eyes every three seconds and repeats this three times before stopping.

"Hmmm..." He took off his penlight. He also checked his mouth and pulse rate before starting to write down something. Officer Jenny is at the back, waiting for the conclusion. After writing, he then walks outside the room, and officer Jenny follows while the nurse checks his IV fluids.

Outside the patient room, Jess's mother, Olivia Salgado, is currently talking to one of the detectives when the door opens. Olivia turns her attention and asks the doctor what the condition of his son is. "Mrs. Salgado, your son isn't in danger for now." "For now? What do you mean for now?" She gets nervous and starts to breathe heavily. The doctor noticed it and tried to calm her down by rubbing her back.

"Mrs. Salgado, right now I can't tell what's the problem; we need to check his condition more," the doctor openly admitted. Officer Mark asks, "Then why did you say he isn't in danger for now?" The doctor looks at the three of them and tells them what his finding is: "I tried to check both eyes; in his right eye, it looks normal; his eye constricts when light shines; but his left eye is different."

"His left eye doesn't constrict even though I tried it three times." Olivia got more nervous, and the doctor tried to calm her down. "Mrs. Salgado, please bear with it; I couldn't give you a proper answer for now. There can be a number of problems that can cause his pupil not to constrict when I expose it to light."

"It may be a traumatic injury or inflammation inside the eye or retinal detachment or a problem with the optic nerve." He added, "I'll contact a friend of mine who is an ophthalmologist. I know she can help your son." Olivia held the doctor's hands tightly and begged, "Please, please, please."

*****

"How was he?" Shrimp asked the two men after checking Cain. "There's no problem with his body; he's a healthy boy, and I'm sure Duke Olga will enjoy using him." Shrimp nodded with satisfaction as he heard his good news.

The four men went outside the prison chamber and continued the discussion with the new leader of this bandit group. "So, Mr. Gill, how should we proceed with the payment?" the man in the white robe asked. He doesn't even give a damn if this Mary band of criminals has a new leader. With his hands occupied with cutting the tiny wood on his table, Gill stated, "It will be the same; hand over half of it and deliver the other half next week," without turning to look.

The man in the white robe was carrying a sack full of coins; he placed it on the table and turned to go, but Gill intervened. Shrimp and the other guards block the entrance, saying, "It's less than what we agreed upon." The two robe men said, "What's the meaning of this?" turning to face Gill because they hadn't anticipated this particular scenario.

Gill reached for a much smaller knife and continued to carve the small wood in his hand. He didn't speak for awhile until he was satisfied with his new art. He then touched the bag full of coins and looked at the two gentleman in front of him. "The payment is ten gold short." "Ten? No, no, no, we agreed to pay thirty, and we will pay half for the first payment."

When Gill looked at them, they felt a sudden, intense cold, and the guards started to unsheat their swords. "You've checked the boy, right? He's a high-quality specimen."

"Gill, he is human, nothing special."

"Hahahaha," Gill started to laugh, "he is more than that." The man squinted his eyes, "What do you mean?" Gill smirked, and the man in the white robe felt that he'd been ridiculed. "Speak!" Gill opened his lips and conveyed his word through lip reading, "Sud–den–ly."

"Impossible..." The man didn't believe, "If he is real, then give me a proof." Shrimp laughed, and while scratching his neck, he then said, "Then ask the boy." The two men felt cold sweat, and they looked at each other, signaling each other. "That's too risky; we can't risk a good specimen, but if he really is..."

"Then we hit a jackpot," his partner said.

"Of course you're too lucky this time, so I only ask a mere fifty gold for this good specimen. It's already a bargain price, don't you think?" He didn't wait and pushed the two men to accept the deal. "We can't make this decision without Duke." "Then the deal closes. Remember, there are a lot more interested customers willing to spend for this kind of opportunity."

The man is sweating so much; he mustn't pass this kind of good transaction, but his head will be flying if his master finds out that the boy is a fake. Gills observes them, and seeing they can't decide, he decides for one last push, and this time he'll make sure that the deal will proceed. "The Irving family and us had been business partners for years. Why would we destroy the mutual thrust that we built?" His reasoning was correct: no one would try to fight or scam the Irving family.

He threw another bag of coins toward Gill. "We will take the boy now," he said, and Gill bowed his head a little. "It's all yours," and he gave them a business smile. After confirming, Shrimp and the other henchmen proceed towards the prison cell.

After several minutes, they delivered Cain and told him to enter the cage, which he then placed together with other exotic animals. Before they left the premises, he tried his best to look outside his cage, and he got disappointed when he didn't see his twin sister. He sighed. "Morana, where are you?"