Purchase

The boy had not seen this part of the town before. It was dark, scary, and there were types of people he'd never seen before. 

"M-mommy, are we almost there?" The boy said with a stutter.

His mom had not looked at the boy which terrified him even more. They soon got to a dock where the dad soon took charge and headed in front. Quickly, a blade faced the father, which stopped the entire family dead in their tracks. 

"And what brings a loving family of three here?" A man said edging the blade closer to the father. 

"The deal is what brings us here. All those years ago your captain had let my wife live in change for my son's when he was to turn eight years old." The father replied.

"Our captain? Did he go to the mage's college awhile back or something?" The man rhetorically asked 

"Mommy, what does daddy mean by a deal?" The boy asked, yet still no response.

"I'm not sure what he did, but if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have my wife today. It may sound wrong to you, but we can always have another kid. You can never have true love again." The man said, looking away from the man in front of him.

"Even for what I do, I'm a little disturbed by you. But hey, it happens every day so what can I say?" The man said.

"Pass the boy over," he finished.

The father nodded to the mother who started to pull the boy forward, but he had obviously struggled. 

"Daddy? Mommy? I don't want to go with that man, he's scary." His eyes began to tear up when they looked back to him.

No smile. No anger. No sadness. Just blank, expressionless faces, as if they do not even realize what they are doing themselves. The boy began to cry, not even realizing he was already moved towards the man. The tears soon came to a stop however, when a powerful hand had lashed across the cheek of the boy, sending him to the ground and making him whimper in pain for a short while. At first, the boy thought the man had done such a thing, but as he looked up he had seen it had been none other than his father. The father's image had been shattered at that exact moment.

"Be quiet, you're no longer our son from here on. Do you understand me?" The father shouted.

The boy took a long while to respond, but with a sudden twitch of the father's hand he nodded and got up. The mother had maintained a quiet background position and didn't even look the boy's way.

"That took too long for comfort, but let's get you on the ship already kid." The man grabbed the boy by the shirt, dragging him along the ground as if the boy's legs had not worked properly. The boy just… froze.

The parents were left alone to think. The first to break was the mother as she began to sob uncontrollably. The father went to comfort her, but was on his guard when a suited man approached them. 

"The former war general himself, quite a pleasure to finally make acquaintance with not only you, but the wife the leader saved as well," The suited man was instantly cut off.

"What are you talking about? We just gave you the child," The father stopped in his tracks.

The mother looked to her husband and then to the suited man, realizing what had just happened as well.