Red Light District

The aroma of the underground air rushed into Velios' nose, sending numerous reactions throughout his body. It was as if the air was blinding him, with Velios being able to see what most people couldn't. All Velios saw was the color red. He wasn't even sure of what it exactly was. Was it just his sight? But what was it he saw? Maybe the air itself was polluted or Velios had obtained senses to such a high degree where just the air alone could give him all the information needed for a singular place. But, it didn't matter in the moment what it was. The unfamiliar terrain and feeling that came along with his heightened senses being constantly used caused him to panic slightly. The feeling was unfamiliar and Velios didn't know if his body was moving or not. He felt like his ears were underwater and his limbs started feeling numb. Compared to the calm and peaceful wildlife that Velios had grown accustomed to, the feeling of being forced to take in so much information left his brain to be able to think about nothing.

Luckily, it did not take him long to adjust to his new surroundings. The air still had a faint red color to it, but his hearing and the rest of his senses were constantly shifting depending on what was happening. He was unsure of what it was himself, thinking that there would be no reason for what was happening since he was fine above ground. Despite his ability to think and reason, he couldn't find the actual reason for it, nor the fact that he was extremely angry. The last time he found himself in a similar place was in the city of stone. The scent was familiar, he could hear the same kinds of sounds, and he had managed to figure out that his suspicions about what kind of place it was held true. Velios had only heard the words "red light district" once, and what was described to him following that was "an awful place where awful people visit to do awful things," which so far seemed to fit the description.

"Mister, mister, come here!" "Come look at this!" "We have an amazing deal for today only!" "Slaves! Come get your own slave!" A cacophony of different people speaking, shouting, and advertising covered the dimly red-lit streets of the district. Velios stood in the middle of the street, paying no mind to any of the people. A group of women came up towards Velios, trying to start a conversation with him. "Mister! You look quite miserable. Need us to help you?" One of the women had spoken, but Velios remained in his own thoughts, not even having noticed the group having walked to him. Why? Why does places like these still exist? The screams... the suffering... everything. Why can I... no, why can people never escape this life? Slavery... Rape... Prostitution... Black markets... Murder... Cannibalism, why is it always the same? In a world where you have the power to change your own faith... have these people have still decided to do this? ...Why is that? Why? Why? Why? Why?

One of the other women nudged on her shoulder, trying to catch his attention. As her finger touched the side of his shoulder, Velios immediately began to open his eyes, realizing that he had begun to escape into his thoughts yet again. He hadn't turned around yet, his questioning himself and the people continued quietly to himself, and the woman continued tapping on his shoulder before she realized that his eyes had opened, to which she responded by turning her head to the side, trying to look up into his face. "Mister... you sure you don't want to have some fun with beautiful women like us? What do you say? Only a few hundred karon and we will be all yours..." It was clear that she was trying to sound as seductive as possible, dragging on her sentence to make the words sound longer, giggling to herself and talking with a breathy voice. She was trying her best to grab his attention by moving in such a way that most men would find attracting, but Velios hadn't even batted an eye towards her.

"I'll take your silence as a yes. We'll make sure you don't regret it." She gave him a wink before trying to pull him by the arm. At first, it was his shirt, but Velios didn't even budge. The second time was her trying to drag him with them by his arm, but he was still staring in the ground, a silent rage slowly building up inside of him. "Why?" Velios said it quietly, just loud enough so that the women would at least be able to hear him. "Did you say anything just now?" The woman looked at him quietly, having stopped trying to pull his arm, waiting for him to speak. "Have you chosen to live this way? Why? What good comes from living like this? Are you not miserable? Do you ever not think about taking your own lives? Are you fine living like you are?" Velios swarmed them with questions, letting none speak until he was done. He was still stoically looking down at the ground, only beginning to slowly move his head to look at them first.

"I think you're feeling a little unwell, mister. If you've had anything to drink, just don't be too rough. We'll make sure to take care of you, so-" Another of the women walked forwards, directly speaking to Velios. The difference between her and the girl standing before Velios was that the one who had now spoken hadn't caught a glimpse of the emotions he showed. The woman in the front remained almost speechless, trying to gather her thoughts. She'd never experienced anything like it. She have had countless of encounters with a multitude of different men, but never has anyone said even anything remotely close to him. "Tell me... have any of you chosen to live like this? Do any of you actually enjoy this?" Velios was continuing to speak, now towards the whole group of four. The two that were just about to leave froze as they heard his sentence, turning around to listen to what he was saying. "Mister, p-please, if you're not interested in our services... then, please say so. You're wasting everybody's time here.

Velios couldn't believe it. It was worse than he thought. In his old world, he's only ever met miserable people. Everywhere around him, the people he talked to, the people he were with, even the people that hated him, Velios felt a slight connection, no matter how small to all of them, because they all shared the same boat. They were all in the same predicament. "You're telling me... that people enjoy intimacy? What is there to enjoy in it? What is there to earn? Why?" Velios face was not moving after he had spoken; it was unclear if he was showing no emotions or multiple of them at the same time, only being able to hide them somewhat; the answer to that was unclear. "W-what are you talking about? I-isn't that what all men desire? How could any man not like it?!-" She was silenced by Velios' stare, feeling embarrassed by having shouted in response to him. "I see. Then tell me. To what are you slaves to? Freedom? Money? Lust? Salvation? Or are you slaves to someone?"

The women were all left speechless. It was as if they had forgotten the situation they were in, even if only for a few seconds. They didn't know how to respond. "I-I've never thought about it like that..." One of them was confident enough to speak, yet with no answer. With Velios' statement sounding ridiculous, it was even scarier when they realized that not a single one of them tried to protest against it, saying that it wasn't the case. They continued thinking, growing sadder and more distant, disappearing into their own thoughts as Velios stood there, unmoving, still affected by the surroundings. "Why would any sane person rape someone for the fun of it? For the pleasure of it? I've never been able to understand that. So please tell me, if you won't answer my previous questions, at least answer this one. Is this really all you want to do with your lives?"

As their interaction continued, Velios kept on asking questions, growing increasingly more frustrated and angry after every honest answer. Some time later when they were still talking, one of them couldn't handle it anymore. They fell down to the ground, curling up into a ball in the middle of the street. At that point, they had stood in the street for multiple minutes, forcing anybody walking by to walk besides them. Most of the people were either too drunk, too high, too depressed or something similar to care for what was happening. "I-I can't take this anymore! Every day, multiple men pay me... us to do questionable and inhumane stuff without us having a say! Every day... Every day is nothing short of a nightmare, I fucking hate it!" It was made clear that none of them even slightly enjoyed their lives. After further discussion, it was made known that they were either forced into prostitution as a means of lack of money or through slavery.

Eventually, they had left. Velios doesn't remember why or even when they did, but they were eventually gone. He was still standing in the same spot, seeing what was happening in hundreds if not thousands of different places throughout the underground city at the same time, slowly seeping his way into his mind, ready to remain there forever. All of which he was seeing had something to do with slavery, rape, prostitution, murder, cannibalism, drugs, or other illegal activity. Velios didn't actually know that they were illegal, he didn't even know that things such as laws existed, but he knew that the things he were seeing weren't good, which was the same for him anyway. He remained there, standing completely still in the street, his muscles twitching slightly at the sight of yet another thing happening. It reminded him way too much of his previous life. Velios was finally beginning to become accustomed to ordinary life, only then realizing that the life he had lived was truly twisted. He knew better than anyone else just how miserable such a life that he managed to survive was, which is the reason why he was so angry. Velios couldn't stand seeing other people suffer in the same way he did.