Chapter 1

"XUE LI, WATCH OUT!"

I was crossing the street and before I knew it, I felt my body get slammed by a fast-moving vehicle. After that, everything went dark.

"Why did everything go dark, someone please save me! I'm scared, I don't want to be alone!"

"You will be fine my child, soon you will meet those you can love and cherish." said a calm voice

"Who are you?"

There was no response.

When I woke up, I looked around me. It was still dead of winter, and I was curled up in a ball in an alleyway.

"I haven't had that dream in a while." I thought

I've been having the same dream over and over again. There is always a voice in my dreams telling me that everything will be okay, but when I wake up; I'm still on the street eating scraps and stealing food.

"Mom, why is that girl in the alleyway?" asked a passing child to his mother

"Shush, don't be so loud."

"Where are her parents?"

"They've abandoned her."

"Why?"

"Cause they don't want her anymore."

"Will you abandon me?"

"Of course not my child, you're my most precious child."

The child walked up to me and gave a big smile. He took out a candy that was in his pocket and gave it to me. After that, he went back to his mother. She took his hand, and they went on their way.

I looked at the candy that the little boy gave me, it made me smile thinking that children will always have innocence.

All of a sudden, a pair of arms grabbed me from behind, and a rag bag was placed over my head. I tried to kick and scream, but I couldn't get away.

"Where is this person taking me?"

The person who took me threw me into somewhere dark, from what I could hear; there were many children in this place along with me. The person tied up my hands so tight, I could barely feel them. Soon after, we started moving which make me think that we were in some sort of vehicle. We made a couple of stops, at each stop; I could hear more children being forced into the vehicle.

Once the vehicle came to a complete stop, the person came back around and one by one took us out of the vehicle.

"Welcome, Mr.Klein; are these children here for the trade?" said a man

"Trade? Are we being auctioned off?" I thought

"Yes."

"Like always, it's a pleasure doing business with you."

The man started to take us away, the farther we walked; the colder I felt. I also couldn't hear any noise coming from the building. Suddenly, I felt myself being thrown on the cold rock floor. As he left, he removed the raggy bag from my head.

My eyes slowly refocus and I realize I'm in some dungeon-looking place. The floor was covered with dust and what seem to be dried blood. I quickly saw the kids who were in the vehicle with me, they were all around the same age as me.

None of the kids spoke, they all just looked at me. The wait was excruciating, I knew I was going to be sold off or worse. I just wanted to get it over with.

Soon, the moment we've all been dreading about came: we were going to be sold off.

There were over 100 people in the audience, almost all of them were laughing making it obvious that they were having a fun time, all but one. He looked like he was in his early 20s. I couldn't see his facial features, but I could tell that he wasn't too happy to be at the auction. There was something about this man that made me pay attention to him.

"Sigh, why did father tell me to come? Me being here won't help him stop these terrible auctions from happening in the town. He's the lord of this country, why couldn't he send one of his knights?"

Thoughts were flowing into my mind, they weren't my thoughts though; they were thought of a man.

"Whose thoughts are these." I thought to myself.

I looked at the man, and he was looking back at me. His gaze was piercing into me as if he knew what I was thinking. My attention was brought back when the auctioneer started to talk.

"At this time, we will begin the bidding for tonight. Let us start with this little boy, his name is Cai Yi he's around 9 years old; he is capable of talking and doing things around the house. His former guardians made sure to teach him obedience and he knows what will happen if he isn't."

The audience started to make noises in excitement. I looked around the room disgusted, I couldn't believe that parents are willing to give up their child; their own flesh and blood.

"Okay, we shall start the bidding. We will be starting at $10,000, do we have $10,000?"

"$10,000!"

"Okay, we have $10,000; do we have $15,000?"

"$15,000!"

"Okay, we have $15,000; do we have $20,000?"

"$25,000!"

"Okay, we have $25,000; do we have $30,000?"

"$35,000!"

"Okay, we have $35,000; do we have $40,000?"

"$50,000!"

After that, everyone went quiet.

"$55,000, calling once; calling twice. Congratulations number 009, you can come and pick up the child after the auction is over."

The little boy Cai Yi started to cry, he kept calling out for his mother but no one saved him. He was taken back to the dungeon-like building. After a couple of more kids were being auctioned, I noticed that the man who caught my attention earlier hadn't bought any of the previous children.

"Last but not least, this little girl; looks around eleven years old. Her parents abandoned her, so she will be willing to do anything if you ask her."

There weren't as many people who were making noises when it was my turn. I didn't really care about that, I was more worried about what type of family I will be bought into.

"We will be starting at $10,000, do we have $10,000?"

"$10,000!"

"Okay, we have $10,000; do we have $15,000?"

"$15,000!"

"Okay, we have $15,000; do we have $20,000?"

"$30,000!"

"Okay, we have $30,000; do we have $35,000?"

"$35,000!"

"Okay, we have $35,000; do we have $40,000?"

"$50,000!"

"Okay, we have $50,00; do we have $55,000?"

"$70,000"

"Okay, we have $70,000; do we have $80,000?"

"$100,000"

"Okay, we have a $100,000; do we have a $110,000? Going once, going twice."

"Congratulations number 054, you can come to pick up the child at the end of the auction."

I took a look at the person who bought me. It was a bald man, looking to be around the age of 50. I could see in his eyes, all his dirty thoughts. I didn't want to be sold to this man, so I started to kick and scream while being dragged away.

I was getting very anxious, I could feel something in my body start to burn. People around me started to back away, many were screaming.

"What's going on?" I thought to myself.

I looked at my body, and it was set aflame. Seeing that my body was on fire made me even more scared. I didn't know what the hell was going on.

"Why is this little girl's body on fire?" there was the voice again within my head

"It can't be possible, only those of the Fei family have this type of elemental power." said the voice again

"Fei Family?" I thought

"I can't let these people take her, I have to bring her back to father."

That was the end of the random voice in my head. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man shows up in front of me! Coming out of his hands was water then he calmly wrapped his water around my body, and slowly the fire from my body was being extinguished.

It was all too fast, but within seconds we weren't in the building anymore. We were floating on a bubble of water and were headed away from the building.

"Who are you?" I asked

"I'm Fei Yu, I am the nephew of Fei TianYu."

"Who is Fei TianYu?."

"He's the emperor of this country."

"I never heard about him."

"I see, you must have had a hard life."

I thought back, being on the streets every day being looked down upon by those passing by.; then I remembered the little boy from earlier.

"Life is life."

"Don't say that, life is precious. One must always strive to live life to the fullest."

"I see."

Fei Yu noticed that I became quiet, so he decided to change the subject.

"Do you know why your body started to emit fire?"

"No, this was the first time."

"I see, well I'm taking you back to find out what is going on from father."

"B-but what about the auction?"

"It's fine, my father will take care of it."

"O-okay."