The Cannibals of Saltown, Part 1

"You'd better not be ripping me off, old man.'' Lucan growled as he tightened the cloth around his bicep. His left arm lay motionless on the cold kitchen table.

"The less you talk, the less this will hurt. Now, relax your muscles, unless you want me to chop twice." Guide said calmly, a machete firmly held in his right hand. The old man looked down at the arm on the table, his gaze fixated on the bulging veins.

"What's the matter? You don't usually take that long. Have you lost your edge, pop?" Lucan's remark failed to get a raise out of the stoic man. It seems like the young boy was trying to distract himself from what's coming, even if it was just by useless banter.

"One..." The old man raised his right hand, the machete sharply reflected the dim light of the run-down kitchen.

"Two..." Sweat began to pour down from Lucan's forehead, he bit down as hard as he could on the cloth holding his left arm.

"Three" Guide slammed down his right hand with all his strength. The machete made a crunching sound as it sliced through hard bone. Lucan's eyes rolled back, his teeth gritting from the pain, almost tearing off the piece of cloth in his mouth. The small moment felt like it lasted for eternity.

"It's done." The old man turned toward the kitchen sink and started washing his hands, leaving the exhausted boy behind. 

"Want a drink? I have some leftover maiden's blood, but it's gonna cost ya." 

"Just... water is fine." Lucan muttered weakly through his ragged breath.

"Alright then, catch." The boy caught the water bottle squarely with his one hand. Like a man dying of thirst, he gulped the cold liquid down violently. 

"How long til your arm regrow, boy?" Guide asked.

"Already looking forward to round 2? Ain't ya a little greedy, pop?" Lucan replied with another quip, which again failed to amuse the old man. 

"You're just no fun." Lucan sighed, before giving the man the answer.

"Around 2 hours, give or take." 

"2 hours?" An uncharacteristic surprise donned Guide's face "Back when I was your age, it took at least half a day to regrow a whole limb. Are you sure you're human, boy?"

"... Maybe I'm just built special." Lucan smirked, "But enough with the small talk, what's the payment this time?" The boy's eyes shone brightly at the mention of money.

"5 silver coins." Guide glanced at the severed arm. 

"Only 5?? You've never paid me less than 10 silver coins before." Lucan replied in confusion

"Look, the younger the flesh, the higher the price." The old man pointed at the table "You've been past 18 for a while now, Lucan. I cannot continue passing off your material as premium anymore. I have a reputation to uphold."

"But... even then." Lucan was at a loss for words.

Guide approached the young man, his hand on the boy's shoulders. "I know we go way back, boy. But business is business." The man put a small pouch into the boy's hand "Having said that, you have a little sister too, don't you? A young girl's material would go for a much higher price."

"I... I don't want Sofia to suffer through this." The boy's face twitched into a pained expression.

The old man quietly opened a cabinet and took out a piece of frozen meat. "Sofia is a tough kid, I dare say even tougher than a runt like you." The old man chuckled, much to the annoyance of Lucan "Hard time is coming, boy. You should find any little help you can get." Guide put the meat on the table and slided it to Lucan "Frozen liver, It's from the "farm" so nothing fancy, go and make something nice for Sofia."

A small smile appeared on the boy's face. Lucan's spirit was lifted up by the man's kind gesture "Thanks, pop, I guess I owe you one again." The boy looked back for a last nod as he left the butcher house and disappeared into the crowded street.

 ~~~~~~~~

"Sofia! Sofia!! Your big brother is home." Lucan gleefully skipped his way toward what looks like a run-down shack "You wouldn't believe what I've gotten today." 

The boy busted open the front door, to his surprise, the cute little sister who usually greeted him back with a smile wasn't there. 

"Sofia? Are you still sleeping? It's already pretty late." Anxious thoughts began invading the boy's mind. As his heart started to beat louder and louder, Lucan quickly rushed toward his sister's room. 

"Sofia!!!" The boy breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his little sister lying safely in the middle of the room.

"You scared me for a second, why didn't you answer?" What greeted him back was still a deafening silence "Is something wrong? Sofi..." Lucan followed the young girl's unblinking gaze toward the ceiling, a chill suddenly ran down his spine . On the floor, on the wall and on the ceiling, numerous strange drawings of quadrupedal figures could be seen.

"What... is this?" Lucan was speechless at the sight before him.

"Bro...ther?" The voice snapped him back into the presence "Sofia!! Are you ok, what happened?" He quickly held the girl up, she seemed to be stuck in a trance this entire time. 

"I'm... not sure, brother. It's just... These visions kept appearing in my dream, before I knew it... I..." The young girl began to tremble, Lucan had never seen his sister in this much distress before.

Suddenly, Lucan grabbed the young girl's hands and pressed them hard against his cheeks "What...what are you doing, brother?" Sofia gave him a confused look "This is what your big brother looked like when old man Guide chopped off his arm." Before she could realize what's happening, Lucan puckered his mouth and rolled back his eyes.

"Pfffft... Ha..hahaha!!" The girl couldn't help but burst into laughter after seeing her brother's silly face. Lucan began to turn red, but he tried to hold still til the girl finished laughing.

"Now that you're feeling better, it's time for dinner, we can talk about this later." The girl nodded in agreement.

The fragrant smell of stewed liver filled the dining room "Hm... I think I'm forgetting something..." Lucan pondered for a second, then he remembered "Oh of course, the sauce." The boy quickly grabbed a knife and sliced open his palm, red blood began to drip down onto the freshly cooked liver.

"Dinner is served!!" Sofia's eyes glittered with glee as she began chowing down on the meal before her "Jeez, slow down a little else you're going to choke" Lucan slightly scolded the girl.

Sofia slowed down as her stomach was getting full, her eyes dazed around the room and landed on her big brother, who had already finished his meal and was doing the dishes. 

"Big brother, do you believe animals exist?" Sofia spoke up "This again? You should really stop reading those strange books, Sofia." Lucan replied nonchalantly, as if he was asked such a strange question a thousand times.

"They exist!! I'm sure of it!!" The girl raised her voice, but then quickly piped down as she realized her brother's surprise reaction "I'm sorry for getting heated, It's just..." The girl looked down in anguish. Lucan slowly approached and took a seat beside his sister. "It's okay, I am here for you." He held Sofia in his arms, before lifting his little sister's head up and locked eyes with her "But, you have to explain clearly what's happening, so that we can both get through this together."

Sofia fell quiet, then lightly nodded. 

"It began a month ago, I keep having these... strange visions in my dream. At first, they started off as just blur shapes. In time however, the images became clearer and clearer.." She stopped, as if to muster up the confidence for what was coming next "I saw a strange creature, it walked on 4 legs instead of 2, Its neck is long and there's a strip of furs along the topside. But the thing that stands out the most is its legs, they are strong and elongated, there is no toe on its feet, only a metallic plate." 

"It looks.... majestic." Sofia's eyes beamed with light "So those drawings in your room are of this... creature?" Lucan asked the mesmerized girl "Yes, brother, aren't they beautiful?" The girl's eyes dazed again, this time fixated on nothing as they stared into oblivion "... I wonder what they taste like." A dreadful sensation crawled down Lucan's spine, he realized that the whole time, his little sister wasn't afraid of these strange visions, she was just disappointed that they weren't real.

Taking a moment to regain his composure, the boy tried to pull his sister back to reality "But don't you think those might have just been dreams? Surely someone must have seen these "animals" that you're talking about by now, but there is nothing but people here."

"The Jungle." Sofia gazed longingly out the window "What?" Lucan asked in confusion "Far away across the river, there is a jungle. Isn't that right, brother?" The boy began to sweat "Who told you that, Sofia?" The girl pointed at her head.

Lucan closed his eyes with a pained expression "Listen to me, Sofia. Our father went out searching for this "jungle" in hope for riches and he never came back. It's nothing but a tall tale that doomed the downtrodden like ourselves." Sofia didn't answer, her eyes were still staring out of the window. Desperately, Lucan stood up in front of the window and stared his little sister deep in the eyes. "Promise me, Sofia. Promise me that you will forget about the "Jungle", about all of this and we'll never mention it again."

Sofia snapped back to her senses, her face donned a sorrowful look "Yes, brother. I promise." The young girl put up a smile as she began walking out of the dining room.

Suddenly, Sofia turned back to Lucan and asked.

"Brother, do you think humans should eat each other?"

"Where did that come from? Of course, that's the way the world works, isn't it?" Lucan answered 

"I see, forget I said anything then. Good night, brother."

Sofia finally walked back to her room, leaving Lucan behind in bewilderment.