***

A big, round pig strenuously spoke and pointed his chubby finger to my face. Two metre distance was enough for his laboured huffs to be heard, disgusting me from the bottom of my heart. Why, just why, would anyone let themselves become this pitiful? By his sparkling clothes and numerous jewelries, it was obvious he had tons of money hoarded to himself, so why can he not use his wealth to find some time for his well-being?

"A wonderful choice! Allow me to finish preparations." Moran quipped in with soaring enthusiasm. She gingerly guided me toward her assistant who stood expectantly, holding a bracelet. A thick, iron bracelet with glowing inscription sprawled around its smooth surface. It was a 'present', our memento from the Orphanage. With an ominous click, it was bound to me with unflattering fitness signifying impending days most probably worse than death without escape.

The little girls of my batch was openly admiring my new jewelry. "Pretty!"

It was quite a moving sight, moving my conscience to pound my heart. Soon, they will wear these fancy bondage and realize its true purpose. Subjugation. Their happy moments at best would be limited to their dreams, the only thing their masters cannot dictate. And I can't do anything about it.

I hardened my heart and forget their looming future. Worrying was a luxury I cannot afford, especially when my life ahead were not exactly unicorns and rainbows.

After receiving the farewell gift called 'tali', only one step remained for the ownership to be completed. The classic drop of blood from the owner. The pig, my hopefully short-term master, took out a needle and poked his forefinger. Scarlet slicked its way down, and the pig hurriedly aimed for my 'tali' to get this over with.

Amusingly, his haste caused waste.

Since I was short, he was the one who needed to reach down. A very entertaining scene to watch when the latter have such unproportional body that even the slightest shift in gravity made his chair grieve in protest. Of course, I did not make the chair's life easy. I teasingly held out my arm while my future master desperately tried to reach the 'tali' attached to it. His wide eyes vividly projected fear and panic. Apparently, a needle wound was enough to kill 400 lbs godzilla.

I kept this on for another few moments until, finally, the expensive oak chair gave in and surrendered its life to me. The pig fell on his butt and momentum demanded his face to follow. Of course, again, I was wise and stepped back at the first hint of crack from the dying chair.

Feathers exploded as the pillow under his butt popped. Some splinters probably pierced it, plus cushioning the combined mass and gravity of my dear master was way too overkill for the comfy pillow.

There was a brief pause before screams followed. Astonishment, horror, and dismay rung as people scattered about. Moran's appalled shriek was particularly striking. This was bad for business, I supposed.

Above all the chaos, there was a sound that uniquely stood out.

It was a not-so-muffled laughter.

An old man was clutching his mouth and shaking violently, so much that the fact that he was standing was admirable. His face was red like a tomato while tears fell down unhindered. He looked like he was having the time of his life, not stopping even when the hall had quieted down and began staring at him with colorful faces.

The hall gave him his moment and waited for him to finish. The old man noticed the silence and began to settle down, until he saw my feather-adorned master... and his laughing fit would continue for another episode.

"K- k- k- kukuku~" He did not stop even after falling on his knees. Instead, he shared his moment to the marble floor by a constant low fives.

The old man's blissful smacking was getting airborne and was spreading infectiously to other visitors, even my lips were also being tugged up to a curl. Luckily, my soon-to-be master have boiled up in rage before my smile fully bloomed. Things would be bad if I caught his attention right now. He looked quite committed in murdering someone indiscriminately.

As my buyer shockingly leapt to the old man, shadows suddenly danced darkly despite the sun shining with full strength through the open windows.

My danger sensors went nuts, and I could hear my heart screaming at my limbs to run. However, my brain refused the notion. The disorder nailed me at place despite my pulse going overdrive for flight.

"Wha- Wha- What- What is happenning?" A bald man whimpered.

A bad course of action.

Opaque darkness engulfed him whole, dumbing its audience into silence with this unfathomable turn of events. The shadows formed a dark bubble around that man then floated above ground.

Then shrunk, a mass of darkness no bigger than my five-year-old-kid height.

The man inside got squeezed in a circumference far smaller than his size. With a crunch, a bone-chilling scream splattered together with volumes of blood, showering the regal room with crimson rain. Warm blood forced realization to sink in. Danger. Everyone's disbelief immediately tipped into panic, and they began to ran for their lives. This reaction, however, only provoked shadows to jump unto anyone that remotely moved.

Everyone but me. I was too stunned.

In just a few seconds that lasted for eternity, a scene of carnage worse than any movies was laid uncensored before my eyes. I wanted to vomit, to scream, to cry, to run. Anything that would pull my eyes away from this scene beyond nightmares were welcome. Yet nothing came. I was too frozen.

"Well, aren't you something?" A familiar voice whispered behind me, amusement twinkled in his voice.

I didn't look back. I couldn't. My gut told me it wasn't over. That a tiny move may very well send me meeting Death twice a bit too fast.

"Hoo, quite an impressive thing." It urged on.

"..." I kept my silence.

"Hey, hey, you still got a tongue, right? Use it."

"..."

"Have you gone deaf or something?"

"..."

"He~y!"

The pestering continued persistently, but I persevered. Soon enough, I managed to tune all the noise out, so I could focus on critical matters.

First, I assessed my situation. The whole place was piled with gore, all besides the small area I was standing in. Not a single stain of blood dripped close, nor any unidentified pieces invaded in. Quite peculiar considering that even the ceiling was smeared red. I had a few theories, but since I can't confirm a thing without moving, I left this information be for later. The important thing was I survived, albeit still frozen solid.

Second, what just happened? I knew that magic existed in this world, but the dark tendrils snaking around me for a chance to swallow looked unreasonably powerful. For what purpose? Everyone here was evidently defenseless, so was this show of power really necessary? ...How did I even survive?

Lastly, what now? I can't just stand here forever, yet moving was not too far off from digging my own gave. The only clue, sadly, was the annoying voice that never ended behind me. It chattered relentlessly. Talking about worldly philosophies at one point, then somehow jumping to weather reports the next. Ignoring irritation, this situation left me with two choices, struggle against baseless instinct and force myself to do something rather than stand frozen, or wage a battle of attrition and just wait everything out.

No matter, the other party ran out of patience first.

"Argh! Why?! Why! Kh- Fine!" Like a bolt born out of blue sky, a deafening boom shattered the world into million pieces. Before my eyes, these pieces reconstructed into the luxurious hall with sparkling chandeliers, red carpets, flashy candelabras, and giant ivory statue of goddess Khrys displayed flamboyantly. Yep, exactly like the room in its full glory moments ago before hell broke lose.

The sudden change in scenery gave me an indescribable relief. My knees finally gave out, and I staggered to the ground.

Many thudding sounds followed as well as groans and huffs. I looked up and saw that everyone was in one piece, though obviously shaken to the core, they were still alive and breathing.

Immediately, my eyes swept the space at my back, finally capable of doing so. However, besides the disoriented little girls and adult alike, the owner of that annoying voice did not seem to belong to any them so it probably hid away from sight. I gave up searching and just concentrated to catch my lost breath.

Over and over, I inhaled and exhaled, trying to chase away the bloody scene that now covered the lid of my mind. Adrenaline rush was over, and the barrier I built up against the previous madness began crumbling down. Hysteria rose and forced my breakfast out. My vision became unreliable as I felt another wave of bile climbing up my throat. I threw up, then nausea came to follow. Being grossed out would be for later, for the time being, I need to calm down and stop my shaking body. I hated this. Being so vulnerable.

My consciousness slowly dwindled. Before I passed out, a figure came and wiped my face with a smooth fabric. There was a smile as the person asked, "What is your name?"

"... Vitaly." I answered with my vanishing strength. My voice conveyed resignation, probably my lingering plea for help was leaking out.

The figure smirked broadly, and suddenly did something fast, too fast for my hazy mind to follow. Nevertheless, my eyes shut weakly, ready for a very long slumber.

When I thought I would wake up after a day at least, a slight pain tugged some bits of my consciousness at bay. Since I was barely awake, what happened next was very hard to register.

Something tightened in my wrist, and rotated fast enough for friction to burn my skin.

I could not help but sigh. I got duped.

"Pleased to meet you, Vitaly." Those words echoed in my dreams and transformed them as nightmares.

***

Also found at japtem.com under pen name Mocha