In order to carry out any large scale operations, our group, Shadow Lords, needs members. To that end, only those who fit my criteria can be allowed to join.

A first criterion for potential new members is that the person has to have lost their faith in this world of humanity, in a sense, by humanity’s standards, they are broken people.

But Dark Lord knew that those who are at the lowest point have the greatest potential to be useful. Those who are at rock bottom will do anything to survive, and that is exactly what he was counting on.

Second, and the most important criteria, is that the member must pledge absolute loyalty and obedience to Dark Lord, no matter how atrocious or inhumane the order is, the member of Shadow Lords must carry out his orders exactly as instructed. Of course, in order to accomplish that, Dark Lord will require the new members to make a master-servant contract with him without any loopholes.

I will take advantage of the curse in order to meet as many people as I can during the span of a day. Among them, I am sure I will find those who have sunk into despair and those who, if given the opportunity, will want to destroy and slaughter this entire kingdom.

And I am the one who shall give them that opportunity on a silver platter…

* * *

“…As such, Meros Solros, I would like you to join the Shadow Lords.”

A ragged man, with worn out clothing, leaning upon a wall, he was clearly a mercenary. One detail that made him stand out was his missing left hand below the forearm. Essentially his left wrist was cut off.

“I must be going crazy. To be hearing voices…Must have drunk too much…”

Dark Lord currently was speaking to him while using the cloak of concealment made by Camilla with his scales. It worked like charm. Meros clearly thought he was losing it, considering that for all intents and purposes, he was hearing voices out of thin air.

“I assure you, you are perfectly sane. However, due to various circumstances, I cannot show you my true appearance unless you agree to my offer.”

Dark Lord found Meros Solros, homeless, drunk, and wallowing in despair in the street, almost as if he was waiting for someone to come and kill him.

“Agree to your offer? Why would I do that? What do you even know about me?!”

“Quite a lot actually. Meros Solros, former captain of the knights of the holy order, but you unlike most of them, did not possess a blessing, for you were not chosen by a deity to be blessed. You fought loyally and bravely for your kingdom, never questioning their orders even when it meant certain death. But after ten years of service, you lost your hand. The kingdom that you fought so hard to protect abandoned you, your comrades mocked and betrayed you, and within span of a year you were reduced to a mercenary, just scraping by to survive. I hit the mark, did I not?”

“How do you know so much about me?”

“It is a duty of the leader of the organization to be well-informed of the potential members.”

“And you think I am a good fit for the Shadowy Lords, or whatever you called them, why?”

“Simple; because you hate this kingdom and everyone in it. I can see it in your eyes, have you had the strength right now; you would go on a killing spree against all the so called heroes who have abandoned you and rose to fame. Kingdom that you fought so hard to protect discarded you like trash the moment you became a cripple, just knowing how your loyalty and devotion have been repaid with betrayal and dishonor. It must really burn you up on the inside, knowing how the very people who left you to die are now lauded as the saviors of the kingdom, am I wrong?”

Meros Solros’s expression changed, now his calm and indifferent look was replaced by an expression of pure disdain.

“No. You are absolutely correct. If I still had my left hand, I would have hunted them down. That is for sure. After how they repaid my loyalty with betrayal, I have cut ties with my kingdom. I no longer care if the people within the kingdom live or die. But the problem however remains…” he looked at his missing left hand.

“…Making a living as a mercenary had become near impossible, considering none wants to hire a cripple.”

“If it meant having a job that will allow you to have living space, food, and money, would you be willing to kill for it? No matter who it is, will you take their life for the sake of your own?”

“If that kind of an offer exists, I would gladly take it.”

Meros Solros was clearly not kidding.

“However, you must understand. If you become my subordinate, you will follow my orders; you will be required to make a master-servant contract with me. No matter what kind of an order I give you, you must carry it out. Absolute loyalty is a must. If I tell you to kill someone, you must do it. No matter who or what it is.”

“I see. However, I will not kill children. I don’t care what happens to men or women, no matter what rank or social standing, if you so desire, all of them shall fall by my blade. But children are innocent. I will never raise a sword against one even if you order it.”

“I will never ask you to kill children, I promise. But everyone else is a fair game.”

“Agreed.”

“And one more thing, our group’s eventual goal is complete destruction of this kingdom, gods, and humanity in it, and no, we are not a human group.”

Meros did not seem to mind the fact that Dark Lord just proposed the annihilation of the kingdom, to him, that seemed like dream of vengeance come true.

“Are you not human?”

“No.”

“Fine by me. Are you guys fighting for demons then?”

“No. But there are members who are demons, so you might as well be warned.”

“I see no problem with that. I have fought enough demons to know that they are not so different from humans, we all fight for what we want, that is all there is to it.”

“You seem strangely ok about working with a group who wants to overthrow the kingdom, why is that?”

“You said it yourself, this kingdom has wronged me, and I am merely paying back the favor. If it means burning down the entire kingdom for the sake of my revenge, then let it burn.”

“Well said. Your monthly salary will be two gold coins for starters; I will give you a living space and provide any utilities you need to survive. I hope that is satisfactory.”

“Those conditions are far better than I have had in a long time. I accept.”

“This is your last chance to turn back, once you agree to make a contract with me, you can never go back to being who you were before.”

“I detest this life. For better or worse, I never want to look back. If having a way to have a future means ending this cursed kingdom, then so be it.”

Now from within the empty space appeared a skeletal hand.

“I see, so that’s why you did not want to show your true appearance. Very well.”

Without any hesitation, Meros shook the skeletal hand.

“Henceforth, you shall be one of the Shadow Lords.” Dark Lord proclaimed.

“I welcome you.” Dark Lord took off his cloak revealing his form.

A black haired man, left half of his face was normal with red eye, while the right half was skeletal with glowing white eye with no eyelid. Looking at him, with his skeletal right hand, it was obvious that his entire right side was skeletal.

“Well, this is unexpected.” Meros looked at Dark Lord in awe.

“Are you not afraid?”

“After having such a civil conversation with you, I have no reason to be afraid. But I should say, in my ten years of killing demons and monsters, I never encountered anything like you. Are you perhaps an undead? Or some type of a demon perhaps?”

“Close enough.” Dark Lord now proceeded to put the cloak back on himself.

“I hope I don’t need to explain why, but this is information only for the members of Shadow Lords to know. You must not tell of this to anyone.”

“Understood, and even if I wanted to spill the beans, I cannot due to the contract I made with you, is that no so? Master?”

“Indeed. Now that you have agreed to be my servant, you will know the ugly truth of this world. And even if you want to quit, it is too late to back out. You will see many astonishing and horrifying things, but even then, you must do exactly what I tell you to do.”

“I just got hired by an invisible man who is half skeleton; I do not believe there is anything you can throw at me that can top that. Master.”

“Oh, you will be surprised…”

* * *

There were many circumstances behind why so many women ended up burned in a pyre. Some were from poor families who were taken by nobles and used to satisfy their lust. Some were family members of the ones who nobles wanted to pressure, thus reducing them to be slaves and playthings in the hands of nobles.

No matter what the circumstance was, after their bodies were broken and violated to the point of being unusable, they were beaten half to death and then their bodies were dumped in one place, to be burned in a funeral pyre.

Those that have died from beatings were fortunate, they did not feel pain as they burned down, but those who were still alive had to feel the pain as their life slowly faded away as their bodies turned to ashes. But they already gave up on life, they simply were broken, both in mind and body, to them death meant the end to their miserable existence. Alive or dead, they were burnt to ashes.

As they burned after another, not a single corpse moved. All of them gave up already or were already dead.

All but one.

Even though her body was burning, even though her limbs were broken and twisted, she dragged her body away from the pyre, slowly, dragging herself forward with her less damaged left hand.

Even when her skin was melting and hair set ablaze, she kept crawling, unlike the others who already died or completely gave up, she kept going forward.

But after her body managed to move a little away from the pyre, her eyes started to fade as the fire started to spread across her body.

So this is the end, huh…

But then, out of the dust and blaze, came a figure of death. Half of his face was skeletal, and so was his hand.

The fire spreading across her body had stopped and vanished.

Then the man’s voice sounded out within her head as everything started to fade away.

“If you want me to help you, take my hand.”

With all the consciousness she could muster, her hand touched a cold bone fingers of a skeletal hand.

What a weird hand…

As her sight completely blacked out, her mind now faded into the darkness…