Crimson Red Eyes

"It's time, bring him out," a man shouted. 

The sound of chains being pulled were heard.

The darkness surrounding him becomes brighter as the movement of the place Luke was put into was rising up. He saw the ceiling of his dark place open up. His eyes blackout from having to see too much light at once, he has finally left the dark place.

Blinking his eyelids fast to clear his vision, he saw iron bars again and many people in masks staring at him. They were all wearing expensive clothes that he had only seen in magazines, sitting on chairs which were placed in rolls.

Scanning where he was by turning around he realized that he was on a huge stage and the place where the masked people were sitting was a huge hall that reminded him of the size of the testing hall he had been to.

Their gazes made him want to run away from this place but he couldn't. Even if he can, something bad will happen to Richard.

"Greeting ladies and gentlemen!" a man with butler clothes appeared beside him.

"Most of you came today especially for this boy," he gestured his hand to Luke. It was a signal from him to the boy.

Luke gritted his teeth and made a movement with his hand, the shadow under his feet roses.

During the time he was captured, they taught him a single spell that can show that he possesses the shadow element. They didn't teach him ways to use it in a fight. The thing he did was just for display.

He doesn't want to show it in front of the people who were here just to buy him. But he was forced, the guards that are looking after Richard will hurt him if he doesn't.

Luke planned to use the one who paid to buy him the most to also request to free Richard. If he's worth much, the person who bought him must want to agree to his demand. If not, he will hurt himself and never cooperate with them.

What he didn't know was Richard was sold as the first person for today's auction.

People below the stage all start whispering seeing his display of shadow elements. It was that rare. There's not even a hundred people on Earth that have it. Getting him means they can use him to make money just by displaying his power.

The change of atmosphere down the stage made the man wearing butler clothes grin.

"The starting price is ten million dollars!" he declared.

"Twenty million!" a male voice from the crowd of masked people came out along with his number stuck up in the air.

All the other people started to bet after hearing the man's price.

"Thirty million!"

"Forty million!"

"Forty-Five million!"

"Forty-Eight million!"

The price keeps increasing and the number sticks keep going up and down in the crowd.

"One billion!" the words spoken by a feminine voice startled the ones who were betting around three hundred million.

Luke tried to find the owner of the voice, he soon found the number one stick raised in the crowd. The owner of the voice has red hair. He meets a pair of crimson red eyes looking at him through the mask.

The pair of eyes he will never forget.

---

"Richard, I hope you're safe." Shadow mumbled and he melted into his shadow, vanishing from the spot he was at.

When he got out of his shadow, he was in the living room of their house.

Luna was making dinner to eat while Ian was watching her prepare, waiting for his food on his baby chair in the kitchen. She was using a block of wood to help her reach the stove. She wasn't tall enough to reach it.

Shadow should have known how to take care of kids but there was a reason why he didn't know anymore. After being bought by Anna, during his work period, whenever he met babies or kids, it made him remind of his past and decided to remove the unnecessary memories only to leave some important ones.

He never thought he would have to take care of a baby again so he removed those happy memories of him taking care of them. Those innocent kids were all dead because of his compatibility with the shadow element.

He moves to the kitchen without walking, sinking his legs into the shadow and gets to the chair quietly beside Ian. 

Seeing Shadow trying to take a seat Ian glares at him then turns his head back to look at Luna while pouting.

A moment later, "Are you ready to eat?" Luna asked her baby brother as she turned around. She was holding a tray in her hands where the meals are placed.

She wasn't the best cook but after eating food delivery for months, she started making one herself rather than continue eating the food made by other people.

She was startled by the appearance of Shadow. She did not expect that.

'He's back already?' She put down the tray and put a bowl of her home cooked meal in front of Ian and the other which was originally for her in front of Shadow.

She pulled a chair from the other side of the table the two were sitting on near Ian to spoon feed him.

The bowl which she subconsciously gave Shadow was brought near Ian by a hand made of shadow. The hand places the bowl on the table just beside where she was planning to put her chair.

"Isn't it for you? I am just sitting here because I have something to say after eating. And isn't it too little? How will you grow just by eating this much?" He started to nag her nonstop.

Luna nodded to his naggings in reply.

It continued until Ian shouted "Nuunaa" with his puppy eyes. He was hungry and he didn't like that his sister was listening to Shadow without even looking at him.

Ian can say some words which are not clear but it's still understandable.

He frowned at his own words that are not really his sister's name.

When Luna's attention came back to him, it made his face light up immediately. He gave her his best smile and opened his mouth wide to let her feed him.