Chapter 3: Chosen

 Fast-paced steps echo through the hallway as Barak marches through it, scaring some new men as his bear-like build towered over them, and they stuck to the wall to not get in his way. A sudden visit stopped by their slave trading chain, and Barak hates nothing more than sudden guests. They may be the black market, but there is some decency and etiquette that people would usually follow - an accommodation for the hypocritical and corrupt nobles who complain about tardiness and unruliness in an illegal city.

It's not as if their business, minded sudden customers. Other Slave trading businesses would create these shows and present the slaves in cages with collars on their necks and cuffs on their hands connected to chains as if the slave had enough life to run. Not their brand, the 'Kaptra' will only show you the slaves if you ask for them, customers would naturally alert the Head trading personnel before arriving later. The brand has different chains all across the country, and this chain he's working on just happened to have monsters inside human bodies as staff. And a monster who for some reason can't leave her pack.

His hands engulfed the doorknob as they rested on the door, after 7 years he finally had enough authority to change the doorknobs to accommodate himself.

A sudden sigh escaped from his mouth while he used his other hand to rub the bridge of his nose, The thought of accommodating this customer made him uneasy, and his arrival gave him uncertainty for reasons he did not know.

Barak opened the dark, large doors and was invited to a scene of a fair man sitting leisurely on the large, velvet couch, his back relaxed on the back pillows with his arms leveled with his shoulders, his legs crossed and his head slightly turned to look at the large man on the door. A wide sharp smile crept up his lips that lightly reached his eyes, like a sinister clown mask. He was unnerving.

This man was peculiar, despite the lavish accessories and good quality clothes he wore, he had the aura of a noble that none of the others had. These types of aristocrats weren't unusual, most of them would flaunt their money by wearing lavish accessories and clothes made of delicate fabric. Noblemen would usually never show themselves to commoners, that is why they needed a way for commoners to identify them and treat them 'specially'. On the other hand, this man would have himself if he had nothing.

 "I apologize for the long wait, my lord." Barak mustered a quick and courteous smile as he found his way to his desk, the teen's eyes following his movement, "Some staff are quite - difficult to discipline, New ones, especially."

The noble's open smile toned down, yet his eyes still curved with a dubious glint, a disturbingly familiar presence engulfed him. "It must be hard navigating through the unruly nature of the black market." The noble child said as he tilted his head to the side.

 ". . . Yes."

Barak opened his table drawer and turned his attention toward the contract in the brown folder, it contained simple agreements such as the price, no refunds, and non-disclosure agreements, simple and common things that should be addressed. He then handed the folder toward the teen and he flipped through it with a sharp smile on his face, reading thoroughly and narrowing his eyes toward a line that seemed out of place.

 The customer is aware that they are purchasing a Human life and shall treat the person as such, Any report of inhumane handling of the bought life will lead to the establishment retrieving the person without refund and a following consequence that is out of the establishment's control will follow.

 The teens' green irises smoothly glided to look at the large man in front of him who was waiting patiently with hands clasped together and leaning on the table while watching him with observing grey eyes.

The teen closed the folder and leaned forward before moving his arms to cross above his knees with the folder still in hand. He found satisfaction in seeing the large man have his brow furrow in discomfort, it was clear that this man had just been appointed to his current position.

 "May I ask why you're showing me the contract before I could pick a slave?" The other man narrowed his eyes at his choice of words but decided to let go with a nasal sigh.

 "It's an added condition due to an accident seven years ago, we would like you to be aware before you regret your actions. After all, money is not something you would like to lose, right?" he then gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes and the teen hummed in response.

 "Accident? Is this contract exclusive to this chain of this brand? I've never seen this contract in other branches." The teen leaned his back on the couch again, raising the folder with the other arm close to his chest.

Barak couldn't help but feel annoyed by the sudden interrogation, he was too old for this type of shit. He wanted to get this over with. "Would you like to look at our product?" He said through gritted teeth, reluctant to utter words that make those people inhumane.

The teen hummed and waited for Barak to stand up before standing up himself, and only walked out of the door once the man offered for the aristocrat to go first. The large man led the way to where they would look over the field where the slaves freely roamed.

They were a floor higher and the tinted glass was slightly inclined for a wider view. Children ran around happily, playing with themselves, and those older sat or lay on the side, basking in the sun they were deprived of.

Barak followed the aristocrats' unmoving gaze and his brown skin paled to gray as his eyes landed on the little girl who met the aristocrats' gaze blankly staring straight basing on instincts alone. 

No…

Barak gritted his teeth and kept his voice from faltering, still, his eyes widened as he snapped to look at the teen who looked at the girl with a wide smile plastered on his face, happily humming, with an excited glint in his eyes. He cleared his throat and the aristocrats' head slightly tilted to acknowledge his presence.

 "It seems you have found someone of your choosing." Barak mused nervously and the aristocrat hummed again in response. He took a sharp breath and composed himself to ask "may I know who? Kindly describe them to me so that we may present them to you, My lord."

 "I assume you already know the little girl I am looking at, kind seller." He turned to look at him again with a sharp smile that didn't reach his eyes, and Barak responded with the same.

 "I would like to convince you to move your sights into another person, my lord—"

 "I see no reason to listen to you, dear seller." He had immediately shut down Barak staring straight into his eyes "My business is my own, and I want that child."

Barak defeatedly sighed and gestured to the path further down the hall towards a door that would lead to the bottom floor, and followed behind the aristocrat with a frown on his face, fists tightly clenched together as worried buzzing ran in his mind.

 Shard couldn't see past the stained glass but she could tell that someone had set their eyes on her. Strange enough she didn't feel put off, but rather expectant as the voices whispered in her ears with broken sentences that somehow became cohesive, their words dragging out and echoing, with the words overlapping each other, repeating the same words over and over again.

Come- find- him. Trust(trust) Find.

Oak frowned after finding Shard with her attention elsewhere, staring back into the glass again. That could only mean that a slave was about to be bought, he waited for her attention to move to the slave chosen, but it didn't happen. She was focused and her attention unwavering, Oak felt the tips of his fingers turn cold as he continued to stare at her. In a panic, he gently shook her and she turned with a questioning gaze which he only answered by squeezing her hand.

 "Don't worry," the attempt to reassure the older child failed miserably earning a more pronounced frown in response. "It'll be fine, I promise."

 "What would be?"

 "All of you."

 "What about you?"

A pause lingered for a short moment, but the tension felt much longer than that as he held his breath "I'm included too, of course."

Oak, though not convinced, sighed and continued to slightly lean on Shard, squeezing her hand more firmly than before while holding a bowl of soup in the other hand to feed her.