Nothing
"You seem a little pissed…" Escalor mumbled. "But hey, who knows we might find one in the garden or something!" He chuckled nervously going down fast.
Although I followed him, I couldn't stop my mind from going a little numb. The food here stunk. Most of the slaves were in one way or the other, unappealing. Some were malnourished, some diseased, some just plain old nasty. Hard to describe but they weren't appetizing. This beastwoman too. She did smell the least terrible but yeah.
Yeah, that's where I had to stop. Food? These people? 'God, even my mindset is that of a skeleton.'
Moving on, we got down to the first floor. There were elves. Three: all scrawny and all female.
If they were healthier, they'd be looking really pretty; probably. But as they were, they didn't smell very delicious so I didn't want to eat them.
Wait, eat them?
Oh-
The hunger… despite the shit atmosphere, I was starting to get a little hungry. It'd been just about 12 hours since I last ate something. But I hadn't lost control this time. And the world was yet to turn red.
"Let's get something to eat after this," I said.
"Of course, my lord!"
We strode out of the building. The market was flourishing with lots and lots of people. I remember seeing a cattle market in South Asia once. This market was more crowded than even that.
We, or rather I was searching for a dark elf. But there were none: Not even in the garden. There were some elves though. And unlike the ones in the mansion, these weren't doing all that well.
"This is the last one-" One of the staff members pointed.
Elf. Female. Too scrawny, barely alive. It sat there, staring at me, eyes half open. Rags for clothes, skin dry, smelt oddly decent-
But-
Shit…
Fuck! I stomped the ground.
Eek! The crowd jumped in fear, all shaking and most just bowing for reason.
"What's wrong Lord Sean?" Escalor asked.
"Bad memories…" I mumbled.
This woman. All of these people… bad memories.
"Ah, you remembered something!"
Yeah, but nothing good.
I remembered being on the streets. Begging, looking like this thing. Hopeless, lacking any real will to live.
How old even was she. Fifteen? Seventeen? And yet, she was going through life like this.
Thud. The girl fell on the ground- and I could feel it… the life leaving. Her blood losing its warmth. I could almost see something, something amidst the chaos, something amidst the smell of blood. Something golden- leaving her…. "Staff-" I remained calm.
No, the anger and feelings calmed on their own. This body really didn't like being agitated. And if my intuitions were right- this was the perfect chance.
The staff member bowed and started profusely apologizing.
"How much for this carcass?" I said.
Escalor, a little dumbfounded stood still.
"You want me to repeat myself?"
He cleared his throat and continued.
We settled for 1 Pent Coin, the lowest price for a slave. I paid personally.
And sat down, grabbed the girl's hand, tore it from her limb and ate it. I ate while she was still fresh; mostly from her arm and belly. And left everything else intact. There wasn't much, really, but she was delicious. My intuition was right, which was why- I prepared.
The golden stuff was almost gone but there were traces of it left.
"Necrom-"
Blue electricity streaked; she was stripped of her skin and some muscles. -An- were the next words. The eaten arm reattached itself to her shoulder.
Not yet successful and if the next one failed, she'd just be another soulless husk. I had to hold on to that damn invisible golden thing- I didn't know why but my intuition wanted me to-
I didn't want to fail again. I didn't want that. I didn't know what I was doing but- but if I had to keep her bound here, if I had to keep her from leaving this world then this was necessary. I had no reason to do this. No, I wasn't extending her suffering. Instead, I wanted to give her a decent life, a chance to redo things like… like the chance I got and see how she did things differently. Huh… so it was for me…. "NECROMAN-" Thunder- black thunder streaked from my palms encircling the whole place, grabbing the gold stuff- dragging it back to her body- even the stuff that had completely disappeared, reappeared and entered. "-Cy-" and the next words came instantly.
Her flesh vanished, just bones remained. But instead of being completely exposed, her insides were hidden in darkness like mine. She stood up, stared around, at her body and then at me. "Thank you…" She tried to say but only a groan came out. "I shall forever serve you, my lord…" She smiled, lowering her head. I could feel it. but her expression remained neutral.
'Telepathy, huh?'
"Another skeleton!"
"This is grand news!"
"The world is changing!"
People were of course going crazy about it.
"Marvelous…" Escalor mumbled. "You can create new life just like them; not just followers."
"Like who?" I asked.
"The high lords…" Escalor mumbled again but then smiled. "Congratulations my lord." He bowed once more.
All this bowing crap was starting to get a little irritating
"Didn't I tell you to call me Sean." I sighed. "Summon." I used it on the newly formed skeleton. She disappeared and then reappeared. When she did reappear, I saw some of her stats mentally. HP: 110/110, MP: 17/17
Everything was set to D and she didn't have any particular skills other than with the bow which was still incomplete. And she was on level one with affinity to darkness.
She didn't have a name. I guess I had to ask or give one later. Anyway- for now- "Dismissed."
And she was gone. And- "Think it's about time we left here too," I said. My senses were coming back. Not eating had stretched my mind far too thin. But I now knew my limits… and the limits to my morals as well.
Handling, buying, creating- none of it made me feel anything. Despite me wanting to feel. Despite me wanting to… be different from them… I didn't feel anything.
"Yeah," Escalor said, hurriedly leading us out of the place.
There were far too many eyes. And if I remember Siarre's warning correctly, I'd just brought a lot of unwanted attention to myself.
But-
I felt nothing. Not bad, not good; nothing.