CHAPTER 53: MANCO FAMILY

In the morning, David woke up in the cell to a fuss of commotion. The other slaves had found the dead body of Chaz laying face down on the ground on the opposite side of the quarters. Piss and shit all over the place. It was an ultimate human mess.

Looking at the scene, David began to reflect of the experience last night. He had learned something after manipulating Chaz's nightmares all night long. While Chaz's soul's resistance to David's manipulations were not any stronger than a normal person's..... the power that David and Misery had shared after destroying and consuming Chaz's soul was about two times the amount David had gotten from his previous experiences.

David assumed that this increase in soul strength was due to the fact that Chaz was a Stage 2 Foundation Stage cultivator. David was surprised by the increased power...but Misery was absolutely delighted...she seemed to gain considerable strength to her own soul last night. Just as David thought he was starting to understand more about his powers, something else would happen to confuse him. He knew so little because he came from a place lacking general knowledge on the soul. Hopefully, he would be able to find out more information on souls in The Other.

Regardless, David couldn't keep himself from smiling at the outcome of his night's work. The scene of Chaz's dead body was a great sight in his eyes. It was an appropriate way for someone who betrayed him to die. As he looked over, his attention was drawn to the slave collar laying to the side that had become detached from Chaz's neck. It appeared that the collar only hung onto the living.

In a matter of minutes, a few of the slave masters appeared.

"What is going on?...Fuck, I think we lost one of the slaves last night. Those fucking bastards in the city are always selling defective goods," one of the men said.

"Alright the rest of you can move out of the quarters and into the courtyard for your instructions," the other guard said.

In a few minutes, the entire slave quarters had emptied out into the courtyard. They were not restrained in any way except for their collars. However, even if they could get the collar off... the inhospitably of the desert would not benefit people that tried to run away....they would die within hours without the proper supplies.

The twenty slaves lined up in a military style fashion in the courtyard. Seeing the order of the situation, David quickly made his way to line up with the rest of the men. The sun was already intense this early in the morning but it didn't take long for the head slave master to show himself.

"Good morning everyone," the man said.

"Good morning, Master Gravel," the group of slaves echoed out in unison.

Seeing everyone but David respond, the slave master smiled and walked over in David's direction.

'Fuck,' David thought to himself.

"I see we have a new member to our slave group," the man said as he walked in front of David.

"Since you are new and appear to be in rather poor condition, I will spare you this time. In the future, you will address me as Master Gravel. I am the head slave keeper of the Manco Family and I will be respected...or you will die. Do you understand?," the man said with a smile on his face.

"Yes, Master Gravel," David said. He could play their games for now.

"Great, you seem to understand quickly. Now where is the other new slave?," Master Gravel said looking over at one of the other slave masters.

"Ummm....Sir, he died in the quarters last night. I looked at the body and I really don't know what happened. He probably had something wrong with him but it was hidden by the slave traders," the subordinate slave master said to Master Gravel.

"Fuck. Those trash slave traders. I will have to break the news to Mr. Harver with the mines. He really needed another laborer and that guy had great physical qualities. I'm am going to need to send one of the other slaves over to him instead," Master Gravel said in a bit of disappointment.

As the man spoke his last sentence, David could see the other slaves wince at the prospect of one of them leaving for the mines. The mines must not be a good spot to go.

"Slave, you are new. Do you practice any skills?," Master Gravel said while looking at David.

"Yes, Master Gravel. I practice three Darkness skills.....Shadow...Doom....and Retribution. And I practice one body skill.....Body of Recovery," David responded. He couldn't lie....he was sure that the slave master already knew this information and was only testing him in some way.

"Good. You have two skills that would work well in the mines," Master Gravel said, "Watkins, take this slave over to Mr. Harver to be put to use in the mines."

"Yes sir," a man standing at the side said before smacking David on the back with his spear and saying, "Move."

As the slave master lead him through the streets of the oasis town, David observed the surroundings and layout of Manco Town.

Since the area was generally flat, David could look down the streets and see the extent of the Manco Town. Judging by what David could see, the oasis town was probably only 20 acres in size including a 4 acre pond at it's center. As typical, the streets were earthen and the homes appeared to be of stone construction. David saw several people during his walk, and estimated the population of the oasis town to be around 1,000 people. It wasn't that big of a place. The one interesting feature of the place is that towering sand dunes surrounded the city on almost all sides. The sand dunes were massive and had to be over 200 feet in height.

After walking for several minutes, the slave master brought David into a well guarded building. After checking in with a few guards, the slave master lead David into a large room with a old man sitting at a desk writing figures on a piece of paper.

"Watkins, what brings you hear today?," the man looked up as he saw someone enter the room.

"Mr. Harver, Master Gravel ordered me to bring over a new slave for the mines," the short slave master said.

"Oh.....great! We are always short on hands in the mines. I'll take whatever I can get," Mr. Harver said to Watkins, "Give me the paperwork to sign and you can be on your way."

The men exchanged and signed a few pieces of paper and the slave master left David standing in the room.

"So, you are a new slave to Manco Town. Welcome. Could you please fill me in on your background a bit? I like to know my slave's abilities as it allows me to put them to proper use," Mr. Harver said.

Yes, Master Harver," David said in appropriate manner, "Before becoming a slave, I was a professional architect that practiced my trade on Earth. As far as skills and abilities, I have mastered Shadow, Darkness and Doom Darkness skills...and I have mastered the Body of Recovery skill."

After sitting in thought for a moment, Master Harver spoke, "That is an interesting array of abilities that could be very useful in the mines if applied appropriately. How good is your use of the Doom skill?"

"With my Doom skill, I have the ability to detect threats at a distance of 25 feet," David said in a semi-lie. His doom skill only worked to 25 feet, but his passive perception skill worked to about 50 feet.

"Great....and your body skill allows you to recover from minor injuries pretty easily, right?," Mr. Harver said.

"Yes, Master Harver," David responded. He was already getting sick of using the words "Master."

"Good. You will serve as an excellent scout. Come over here so that I can loosen the restrictions on your collar. I want you functioning in a good condition if you are going down into the mines. Good scouts are hard to come by these days," Mr. Harver said before turning very serious, "....and remember, I now have control over your collar. If you act right, I will treat you decently. If you act poorly, I wouldn't mind making your life hell in the mines."

"Yes, Master Harver. I will remember," David said to give the man assurances. It sounded like he was going to get access to more heavenly energy. This made David very happy, but he had to resist from smiling.

"Alright, the first shift has already went down into the mines, so you will have to wait for a while for someone to show you the way. Remember to tell the supervisors that you are a mine scout when you get down there. Now go sit over in the chairs outside my office until someone comes and gets you. I suggest you take the time to rest. Work in the mines is not easy," Mr. Harver said in an order while fiddling with David's collar and amulet around his neck.

Following instructions, David went out of the office and sat down on the bench near the entrance. Right now, David didn't care about anything else...he could finally feel a steady flow of heavenly energy and it felt great. As he sat on the bench, he began to circulate the energy throughout his body. He could feel portions of the energy going into his body through the Body of Recovery skill. The few minor aches and pains that he had started to fade away.....and also his hunger and thirst. David sat there reveling in the feeling for about 30 minutes before someone showed up.

"Hey man, the boss sent me over here to pick you up. I heard you are going to be the new scout. Good luck to you pal," a beat down looking young man said as he stood in front of David. From the looks of him, he was a slave just like David.

"Okay, just show me the way," David said as he got off the bench. While he had actively stopped circulating heavenly energy, he could still feel his body absorbing the energy through the collar as he followed the young guy down several flights of stairs in the same building.

"Alright man, mind you manners good when we get there in a few minutes. The guards working in the mines can be mean if you are rude to them. My name is Harry. What's yours?," the young fellow asked David as they continued the journey down.

David paused at the question. Similar to how Misery had changed her name from Heather, David also felt like some sort of shift was needed in his life. Thinking about all his experiences so far, he smiled as he looked at the young man and said....."You can call me, David." Now was not the time. He needed to leave the identity of "David" behind when he finally escaped this place. He didn't want anyone linking his future actions back to the simple architect that was sold into The Other as a slave.

"Ooooo.....good name. I like it. Alright, David. Remember to mind your manners and listen to directions. I'll introduce you to the head guard once we get down there," Harry said trying to be helpful.

As the pair made their way down a few more flights of stairs, David couldn't keep from wondering just how far underground they had moved....maybe 10 flights of stairs....so maybe 150 feet down.

All of a sudden the staircase stopped and dead ended into a large doorway that had a guard stationed out front at a desk.

"Master Frederic, I am bringing a new mine scout down on the direction of Master Harver. Master Harver's instructions were to bring him to Head Guard Helio for instruction," Harry told the guard.

Looking over David, the guard removed a set of keys and unlocked the door. It took him a second due to the number of locks involved but eventually he opened the massive door and waved the two slaves to enter.

As David entered the doorway, he was hit with the view of a large dark cavern about the size of a small office building. Inside there were numerous small tunnels branching off in every direction. Torches lit the entrances to several of the tunnels and David could see many people in dirty slave clothing moving about in the poorly lit room.

"Welcome to the caves, David," Harry said as he watched David take in the scene, "Now lets go see Head Guard Helio before he gets angry."

The two men started walking toward one of the larger guards. As they got closer David realized that the big man was actually beating someone with a whip. The sounds of the wacking of the whip on flesh started to echo in the cavern.

As they got close, the man stopped his beating and smiled as he said, "Harry, what sort of trash are you bringing down here today?"

"Master Helio, Master Harver has instructed me to bring down this new slave to serve as a scout for the mines. Please accept this note from Master Harver," Harry said as he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the head guard.

"Oh.....a new scout," Head Guard Helio said with a bit of pep in his voice, "we haven't had one of those in a while...they don't seem to last long down here. Are you ready to get to work, slave?"

The whole time David was oblivious to the threat that seemed to come from Head Guard Helio's mouth....right now he was more focused on the feeling of comfort he had in his soul...a feeling of fullness.