Chapter 25. Rough

Each of the children studied the line of numbers on their wrists, a procedure well known to slaves and criminals. Some of the more educated ones had an expression akin to drinking sour milk, while the others such as Shawn, had confused expressions.

"That right there is a slave brand to accompany you til' death. Ya can't remove it unless you get the mechanism that branded you and that will be impossible for the lot of ya. Now open your bags."

Inside each bag was a small rhombus shaped stone, a map, and a vial containing qi gathering pills. Shawn narrowed his eyes seeing the last one, it was far too generous for them to give out something so precious.

"You will now be shown to your quarters, in about a day news of your placement will be given to you."

"What about the people who are now disabled, do you take care of them?" A timid sounding girl hurriedly spoke, and although unintentional, she looked over at a boy who had similar features to her. A couple others perked up at the question as well.

Hodge was quiet for a moment before answering, "Yes, they will be taken care of. However, this ain't a daycare kid. They, just like you, can be given to the experiment department. Additionally, they can be freely eaten by the vampires here as their value is even lower than yours." The girl who asked was saddened by the question. She bit her lip and looked at the boy similar to her and grief flashed in her eyes.

Shawn studied the others who had somebody of similar features to them. Their family members drooling and incontinent, but unlike the girl, there was no grief in their eyes. As an urchin, Shawn knew they had already moved on and were ready to cut their losses. A cold but logical decision to make.

"Alright, everyone will drop a bit of blood on your emblems. It acts as a way of communication and wallet. That map ya got there is a great way to prevent accidents from happening so study it." Hodge seemed to be getting a bit antsy and irritable. Shawn took a guess that he must be craving a smoke.

Shawn did as the man said and dropped some blood onto the rhombus that Hodge called an emblem. It shined a little before creating a connection with him. There were points inside the emblem that he would use to pay for things. Shawn quickly asked a couple more questions before the man became too impatient to answer anymore.

"Where do we get cultivation techniques? Is it possible to change our assigned positions? How do we get more points? How do we get more qi gathering resources?"

Hodge looked at the youth firing off rapid questions, a small smile growing on his face. The other children looked at Shawn as to examine the kid asking all the right questions. Shawn immediately regretted being so eager, but he doubted they would have the opportunity to ask these questions so easily in the future.

"Seems we got a curious one. Well for starters, you can choose one from the Servant's pavilion. You have enough points to pick an introductory technique right now. Second, your position can be changed but that is reliant predominately on your masters. Your third question is something all of you will have to figure out. Finally, resources can be exchanged at the Servant's pavilion."

The man seemed to grow increasingly annoyed all of a sudden. "Enough, all of you will be guided to the servant's quarters now!" His tone and voice laced with vexation. Veins started to wiggle on the man's face like worms, his breathing becoming rapid. Shawn observed all of this but couldn't understand what was going on.

In walked a vampire that looked at each of the children and turned around walking. Shawn immediately followed after despite the pain in his body. The others catching on, followed after as well. Hodge stood in the healing hut surrounded by rambling and sometimes screaming individuals. A look of reminiscence in his eyes as sorrow flooded in. He took out his pipe smoking as calm returned to him.

"I thought it couldn't get worse.... a damn shame."