Chapter 8

The vault ghosts. A name given to a group of eight thieves who have proven to be uncatchable. They have successfully robbed at least one establishment in every major territory in the northern part of Long Continent.

That’s only what the local authorities of each territory know. What they do not know is the reason for their being; why they came together in the first place. Their formation happened because each of them had nowhere else to go and no one who cared about them. This holds true for the Krylova sisters, the youngest members of the group.

***

21 months ago, their history.

Dryyer, Rose Kingdom

“$50,000 going once … going twice … sold to bidder 213!”

On stage stands two teenage girls in poor shape, scared stiff as they look out at the crowd of disgusting human beings bidding for their lives. In this human auction, they are being sold as a set of twins for the purpose of sex slavery.

They stare at the man holding a bidding card that labels him as ‘213.’ He is a vulgar looking man who is severely overweight and balding. He wears a suit in order to appear a man of class, however it does not help to hide his lack of it.

Afterwards, they are taken backstage in order for ‘213’ to claim them as his property. As he enthusiastically signs the paperwork, they notice his excitement over his purchase, and they realise how terrifying they’re future ahead of them will be.

Later, they are brought back to his rather large estate in an old van with barred windows, presumably so escape is impossible during transport. Upon arrival, they are taken to a building made entirely of bricks. Once inside, they are met with rows of cells, much like a prison. Within the cells are women chained to the walls. All of them were clearly once attractive but have suffered from beating and malnutrition at the hands of their master.

Guzel and Faith, the two new arrivals, are met with stares of empathy as they are thrown into a cell of their own. After the guards leave, the two sisters stare at each other in silence, unable to think of anything to say. The silence is only broken when a dark haired woman speaks to them from a cell adjacent to theirs.

“How old are you two?” she starts by asking. The two sisters turn their heads to look at the voice's origin.

“Thirteen,” Guzel responds meekly.

“Tch,” escapes the dark haired woman’s mouth. “That fucking pig. Now he wants to play around with kids, huh.”

“Kids?” Guzels asks. “Are we the youngest one’s here?”

“I should hope so. I’ve never heard of him buying anyone under 17. Guess you two just happened to be his type. What fucking luck.”

Silence once again befalls their cells. Guzel turns to look at Faith, who has been sitting quietly with a blank stare, in denial of her own reality. She bites her lip, hesitant to ask the dark haired woman her burning question.

After a brief moment, she gathers the courage and opens her mouth. Her voice shakes as the words leave her.

“Are Faith and I … what I think we are?” Guzel asks.

“And what do you think you are?”

“We were bought for pleasure, right?”

“If you mean your a fuck-slave, then yes,” she responds with an angry, blunt tone, though it’s apparent her anger is not directed at Guzel. “To him, you're no different from meat bags. He doesn’t see you as people, and will treat you as such. Since it's your first night here, you’ll be getting the ‘special’ treatment. I pray you're still sane tomorrow.”

Guzel feels her heart being squeezed as an intense fear of the near future envelopes her. She hears the sniffle of a crying person behind her, and she knows that Faith had awoken from her denial only to hear the dark haired woman’s warning.

She turns around to hold her sister, and they begin to wait for the sun to set and their nightmare to start.

***

Later, a handful of servants swing open their cell door and drag the sisters out, kicking and screaming. They are taken into the estate’s main building, the Cecher Mansion.

The Cecher family have been living as Counts of the Rose Kingdom for many years, and thus own a large piece of land. Their gigantic mansion is a reflection of their wealth and status, which is made abundantly clear to the frightened Guzel and Faith as they’re dragged down a pointlessly long hallway.

Finally, the servants take them into a poorly light room, which contrasts its warm temperature. Before they can gather the bearings or ponder their whereabouts, the servants strip them naked and aggressively strap them to large beds lined with metal frames. Their legs are spread apart and secured against the side frames, while their arms are tried by their wrists to the frame behind their heads.

Having been casually violated by these servants, Guzel begins to scream at them, having noticed her sister beginning to cry once more.

“Take your fucking hands off her! Hey! HM …” Her words are cut off by a ball gag which a servant shoved in her mouth and strapped around her head. The same is then done to Faith, which subsequently cuts off any coherent noise she is making as well.

Once the servants have performed these tasks, they quickly exit the room, leaving the two sisters to stare up at the ceiling, naked, mortified and unable to speak. Guzel soon begins pulling on her restraints, which causes Faith to try the same. However, no matter how hard they pull, it's clear the straps were made for holding people. They, nor the metallic bed frames are going to break.

Suddenly, the door to the room opens. A man wearing a robe, Count Cecher, walks in and stares at the two sisters lying still on the beds. Although dark, they lift their heads and see the disgusting, overweight man who bought them at the auction.

“Welcome to my playroom,” he says, as he turns the lights on with a remote. As the room brightens, it reveals to their eyes an all white room with padded floors and walls, resembling a psychiatric isolation room for the mentally insane.

“What the fuck?” Guzel questions, but she quickly switches topics. “Fucker, if you touch me or my sister I swear to god I’ll kill you!” However, her words are muffled through the gag.

Still, his face curls into anger at her incoherent yelling, as he is very aware that they were threatening words. “You don’t get to speak that way to me! You're my bitch! My property! I won’t have my things threatening me!”

He throws off his robe, revealing his naked body. He then delivers a lust filled grin towards Guzel.

“You know, I was going to perform my special treatment on both of you, but it looks like you, girl, will receive a punishment instead. Well, they're both pretty nasty business, so it's a pick your poison scenario for you.”

He approaches Guzels bed. “So, instead of the mind-break pleasuring experience, you’ll just get a rough beating. Knowing me tendencies, you won’t have many intact bones by the time I’m done. Well, it seems I’m going to ruin you just after purchase. And just when I was looking forward to the twin-lolita experience. A shame, and you're really quite sexy for a kid.”

He claps his hands twice and yells for the servants outside the door to enter with his tools and toys. They bring in a wheeling cart with said tools on top. Guzel peaks at them, and here eyes widen at the variety.

Lube, beads, clamps, tools for electric stimulating, and everything in between. Noticing her eyes pierced on the cart, Cecher shakes his head.

“What? Are you excited? That’s too bad ain’t it. I already told you, you're not getting the special treatment.”

The servants begin hooking up the electric stimuli to Faith, who's even more wide eyed then her sister. She struggles as hard as she can, not wanting to be violated in such a way. A few servants stand quietly in the corner, acting like the scene they’re witnessing is not unusual.

Seeing her twin in anguish, Guzels face becomes bright red with rage as she yells through the gag. She also begins yanking on her restraints, but neither sister has any luck.

“HMMMMMMMMMM!” Guzel screams through her gag, her eyes bloodshot with hostility, fear and every other negative emotion one can feel. Cecher, unable to stand her gaze, curls his fist and strikes her across the face.

“Guhh!”

She lets out a painful grunt. The shock of the hit wearing off, she quickly feels that her nose is dislocated. Tears begin to stream down her face and the will to fight slowly drains from her body.

She starts thinking of just a few days ago, when their lives were normal. They had grown up in an orphanage, but were recently adopted by a shady couple who were obviously plotting something. Not a day after moving in, they were kidnapped, or evidently sold by the couple to the slave auction house and taken there by force.

Guzel starts picturing her life not a week before. Normal, happy, and tranquil. A bit rowdy in such a large orphanage, and she’ll admit that they probably never received enough attention as children, but she didn’t care. All she wants now is to go back to that crowded home with her sister.

No, she doesn’t even wish for that at the moment. All she wants right now is for her sister to be safe and for them to return to a normal life.

We need to escape. We need to get back to our lives. We need to go back! I … need to take us back!

As her resolve finds its way back into her heart once more, her eyes turn bloodshot and her veins become unnaturally visible through her skin. As her vision tunnels, she hears her heartbeat clearly, as if it's beating next to her ear. The capacity of her lungs rapidly expands as she takes him far more oxygen than normal, while she feels an enormous amount of strength pour into her muscles.

Cecher, about to turn his attention back towards Faith, suddenly stops as he sees Guzel’s skin glow a faint white. Then, without thinking, Guzel violently rips through the strap holding her right arm and reaches out for Cecher, attempting to grab him by the throat. Although she doesn’t know what’s going on, she can recognize that she’s now strong enough to strangle a human with one hand.

However, even though she had snapped her hand towards his neck at a speed most cannot react to, she then feels a grip quickly tighten around her wrist, stopping her fingers mere inches from digging through his skin and ripping out his airway.

She stares at the gross hand that has clenched onto her arm and realises it’s attached to the detestable man who holds her captive.

N-no! So close! My only chance!

She begins to fall into despair, knowing she probably missed her one opportunity to escape. Meanwhile, Cecher stares wide eyed at Guzel, his hand shaking as it grips her wrist for dear life.

A-are you fucking kiding me! Of all things, she becomes an Awakened now?!

He then realises he is still holding his breath, to which he quickly exhales, letting out a massive sigh of relief. Now, after regaining his composure, anger builds within him and quickly boils over.

“You fucking bitch! I told you! I won’t have my property threatening my life!”

He presses his strength down on her arm and pins her hand above her head. She stares at him with wide eyes, baffled by his strength. He leans in, closing the distance between her face and his, before saying,

“You must be surprised. To Awaken during your time of need only for me to gain control once more. Too fucking bad.”

Her eyes become wider after processing his words. If what he says is true, and she really did become an Awakened, she realises that can only mean he’s an Awakened as well.

“Since you just Awakened, you should be just a low level 1st tier. That won’t do shit against me since I’m a 2nd tier. I am a Rose Kingdom noble after all. We have a certain standard here.”

A single tear runs down her face as she realises the situation has turned hopeless again. Unlike before, the urge to beg slowly overcomes her as her will has been thoroughly broken. Seeing the tear roll down her cheek, Cecher lets out a smile befitting of a sadist.

“You must feel like begging. Everyone who comes in here does, just usually not this early,” her says, wiping the tear from her face. “Well, it doesn’t matter if you do or not. You tried to kill me, I’m going to kill you. I would say you're a dead bitch walking, but you don’t seem to be doing much of that while you're strapped to my bed.”

Then, without warning, he drives his fist into his face, further breaking her nose and opening a tear in her flesh. As her face quickly starts to bruise, he pounds his fist into it once more.

And again. And again. Five punches, six punches, and finally seven punches. Unclenching his fist, he looks down at the girl whose face is bloodied to a pulp. She is completely unconscious, as she stopped writhing after the fourth punch.

“Guzel? Sister? Sister?! Hey!”

Faith cries out to her twin, her words muffled by the gag, but receives no response. All she knows is that, while staring up at the ceiling and crying, Guzel started getting hit, and after a few hits, she became silent. Unable to know if Guzel’s dead or not, Faith starts pulling on her restraints once more, fighting to lift her head in order to look.

“Shut that bitch up!” Cecher barks, which is then followed by a handful of servants grabbing and holding her down. One servant put his hand over her mouth to quiet her more than the gag could manage.

Cecher steps back from Guzel, shaking his aching, blood-covered fist. Still staring at the unconscious girl on the bed, a servant quickly hands him a towel to wipe the blood off his hand.

“Tch. I lost my temper. I was going to do that anyway but now it's over too quickly. It's no fun if they don’t struggle. Now all I have is a dead fish. Well, at least I bought two.”

But as he turns his body back towards Faith, suddenly, a rusty metal cutlass chops down into the center of his skull. He keeps on his feet for but a half moment before slumping to the ground, his eyes devoid of life.

“This is why I hate men.”

One servant stands over his dead body, the rusty cutlass coated in blood. All the other servants stare in shock at the sight of their house master dead at the feet of a fellow coworker.

However, seeing the body figure of this ‘servant,” they quickly realise they’re an intruder since the female servants are forbidden from entering the room. The reason they couldn’t immediately tell the fake servant’s gender is because all who enter this room, besides the Master, must wear masks in order to dehumanize themselves in the eyes of the slaves.

The intruder pulls off her mask to reveal a mean looking woman with nasty eyes and short blonde hair. She is very familiar to us. This is Lyra Ozpri, who, in the present, was recently killed by Ethan Blade.

“You all make me want to vomit! How the fuck can you stand to watch this?! You’re all sick fucking pigs!”

She grips the cutlass tight, her knuckles turning white, and lashes out with killing intent. She brandishes her weapon with little skill and mostly brute violence as she cuts down the handful of servants in the room. One after the other fall victim to her blade. Their blood quickly pools on the white padded floor.

After the last one falls, Lyra takes a deep breath before turning back towards Faith, who is thoroughly freaking out. Not only is her sister’s condition unknown, she’s unsure whether or not she’ll die among the slaughter happening around her. This fear is accentuated by the fact that she can’t lift her head to see what’s going on, not to mention she’s lying flat on her back, immobilized and stark naked. She feels like she’ll be autopsied alive.

She then hears a blunt, uncomforting voice come from the edge of her bed, which causes her to jump in terror.

“Hey, you good? Oh, you can’t answer ‘cause of the gag. Hold on.” Lyra then proceeds to rip the gag out from Faith’s mouth, allowing her to move her head freely again. Faith stares in confusion as Lyra tears the restraints apart.

“Well, you good now?”

Just a simple question, yet the words pearce through her heart, causing tears to flood her eyes. She lunges at Lyra and wraps her arms around her waist, which causes Lyra to flinch, thinking she is being attacked. But she tenses up when she realises the young girl is bawling and squeezing her like her life depends on it. A hug, in other words.

Lyra stands motionless, unsure of what to do, while Faith releases all the fear and depression which had built up within her. Viewing her as her savior, she starts thanking her in an incoherent, hysterical fashion, which causes Lyra to become uncomfortable.

“Can … can you get off me? I have to untie your sister over there.”

Faith snaps out of her hysteria and immediately runs over to Guzel to discover her dreadful condition.

“Guzel! Guzel!” she screams, trying to shake her sister awake but to no avail. After a few more tries, Lyra becomes impatient.

“Ugh. This isn’t the time to be gentle.”

This is promptly followed by her stabbing Guzel in her right tricep, the pain from which rouses Guzel from unconsciousness. She jolts her eyes open and quickly proceeds to choke on the excessive amount of blood pooled in her mouth.

“Guzel. I’m sorry. You got beaten up because of …”

“Sorry sweetie but you can apologize later,” Lyra interrupts, cutting the restraints from Guzel’s limbs. She slowly sits up from the bed, her body shaking from shock and a severe concussion. However, Lyra is not gentle with her.

“Hey, time to go!”

Guzel stares at her with a hostile look and asks, “Who the hell are you?” with a mumble, to which Lyra responds with a smile.

At least this one is tough, she thinks to herself.

“I’m the one who saved your ass. Get up. We can’t stay here forever. I only snuck in here to release the one’s in the slave house. I never expect one of them would beg me to save you two.”

“So, the other’s in those cells are freed?” Faith asks.

“Yeah, you guys can’t hear it in this soundproof room, but I caused quite the scene outside. Took a lot of work getting back in here. Anyways, let's go. Hey Bloody Nose, you think you can run? You’re Awakened, so you should be fine.”

Having received several punches from a much stronger fist then her own, Guzel is in no condition to be standing. However, on shaking legs and with a broken face, she nods her head with a determined glare. Lyra cracks a smile once more.

“Heh, I like you. You're one tough bitch to be standing with those injuries.”

Lyra then begins to undress two dead servants in order to retrieve their blood drenched clothes. She then hands the two bloody outfits to the sisters, who hesitate at the clothing’s condition but, ultimately, they put it on.

Despite receiving a questioning gaze or two, they then proceed to walk out of the mansion unhindered and join up with a group compirsed of the escaped sex slaves. They all briefly discuss their future plans and, although some wanted to travel as a group, doing so with a large number of people would be troublesome.

Hours later, everyone splits up, deciding to go their own separate ways. However, before they depart, Faith walks up to Lyra and asks in a feeble voice,

“Um … Miss? Is it okay if we travel with you? We don’t know our way home.”

Lyra, after almost rejecting the request immediately, looks at the timid and kind hearted Faith and realises how young the two sisters actually are.

They’re basically kids. I hope they didn’t get attached to me.

“I don’t think so,” she says. However, out of curiosity, she then asks, “Where do you guys live anyways?

“Ayouip Dukedom”

“EHHHHHHHHH?! That’s over four hundred miles from here!”

“Huh?”

Lyra stares at her with wide eyes. “You really have no idea where you are, do you?”

“Hmm? The north?”

“No shit. Over four hundred miles north. I’m not fucking taking you down south to Ayouip.”

“Oh.” escapes Faith's mouth in a dejected tone. The light slightly fades from her eyes, realising how hopelessly far away from home they are. She turns to her sister and tells her the bad news, which is followed by Guzel gnashing her teeth at fate’s cruelty.

Lyra stares at them with pity. They look like they’ve lived a good life until now. They won’t last very long if they decide to travel, even if one of them is Awakened. Ah, what do I care? I should just leave them.

Lyra swivels around and starts walking away, but she stops in her tracks when Faith’s kind voice calls out to her.

“You’re leaving?”

She flinches before turning around to face her, only to be met by a pair of desperate eyes pleading for help. Her face twitches, having just lost the resolve to leave them behind.

“Dammit!” she yells, stomping her foot into the ground. “Don’t give me that look! Fine, you can tag along, but I can’t pay for more than a single bed hotel room for the three of us, so you two get to sleep on the floor.”

However, even after delivering the bad news, the two sisters’ eyes sparkle with gratitude, acting as though Lyra is their hero. This causes the usually tough and agitated Lyra to be taken aback by such a transparent showing of emotion.

“Seriously, don’t slow me down. I never stay in one place for long.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Faith shouts enthusiastically.

“Yeah yeah. Just shut up and follow me.”

From then on out, the two sisters traveled with Lyra for roughly a year. Only then, by chance, did they meet the rest of the Ghosts for the first time.