Chapter 60: Dark room

The room had no windows. Dim crystal lamps bolted to the rough stone walls threw long, uneven shadows across the floor, leaving most of the space in a permanent half-dark. The air smelled of damp earth, old sweat, and the metallic tang of blood. It felt less like a building and more like a bunker carved deep underground, sealed away from any sunlight or outside noise.

Max sat in the center of the circle, wrists still bound to the broken remains of a wooden chair. The thugs around him had already worked him over thoroughly. Boots slammed into his ribs. Spit landed on his bruised face. Every time he tried to curl inward, another kick found him.

"Please—stop—I’m sorry—"

One of the men grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head up. "Why can’t you even bring a new boy? They’re the easiest. Fresh off the gate, still dizzy, still stupid."

"I don’t know where he went," Max gasped. "He walked into the Merchant Guild and never came back out the way I was watching. I thought he was an easy mark."

Another boot drove into his side. The chair finally gave way with a sharp crack, spilling him onto the floor. He curled tighter, coughing blood onto the stone.

At the far edge of the room a larger figure watched without rising. Ben was built like a siege engine—tall, thick through the shoulders and chest, arms corded with muscle that made the other men look undersized. He sat with one boot resting on a low crate, expression flat with boredom more than rage.

"Enough," he said at last.

The kicks stopped at once. Max stayed on the floor, shaking. Ben reached into a pouch at his belt, pulled out a small glass vial of pale-red liquid, and tossed it. The vial rolled across the stone and stopped against Max’s hand.

"Drink it, you useless trash."

Max stared at the health potion for a second, knowing what accepting it meant. Another debt. Another reason Ben owned him a little more completely. He still pulled the cork with his teeth and drank. The liquid burned going down, then the worst of the open cuts began to close.

"It won’t happen again, boss," he rasped. "I’ll find that bastard."

Ben shook his head. "Leave him. I’m sure he knew what you were. That’s why he walked away clean. Go. Bring me more kids. Now."

Max pushed himself to his feet, anger still boiling under the pain. The anger had nowhere useful to go, so it settled on the boy who had slipped the net—Rael. He nodded hard once and limped toward the tunnel that led back to the surface.

Ben rubbed a hand over his face the moment Max was gone. "What am I supposed to do with these idiots? Can’t even handle something this simple."

Soft footsteps approached. Alice moved through the circle of thugs as if they were furniture. She wore almost nothing—short cloth that left most of her skin bare, dark tattoos winding down both arms in intricate patterns. Despite being a full-grown woman she carried herself with a deliberate, childish lightness. She climbed onto Ben’s lap without asking and curled against his chest.

"Come on, my Benny. Cheer up."

Ben’s expression shifted the way it only did for her. The hardness eased. He adjusted her weight so she sat more securely against him and rested one heavy hand on her hip.

"I’m trying, love. These fools don’t make it easy."

The other men kept their eyes carefully elsewhere. Ben could skin them alive with a word, yet around Alice he turned almost gentle. They had learned not to comment.

"Lord wants five hundred this time," Ben said, voice low. "We’re not even at half. Not close."

Alice ran her fingers through the short hair at the back of his neck. "Felix is bringing a new batch soon."

Some of the tension left Ben’s shoulders. "Felix is reliable. Still... the number’s too high."

Alice turned her head toward the watching thugs. Her voice stayed light, almost playful. "What are you all standing around for? Go bring us new products."

A few of them clicked their tongues in irritation, but none argued. She was weaker than any of them in a straight fight, yet she belonged to Ben. That made her untouchable. They muttered "Yes, ma’am" and filed out toward the tunnels.

Alice looked back at Ben, smiling. "So? Want to?"

"Now?" ℯℯ𝑙.

"Yes."

Ben was a man who solved most problems with volume and violence, but near her the edges softened. He exhaled once, then nodded. "All right."

She slid off his lap, took his thick wrist in both hands, and led him toward the side passage that went to their private rooms. The corridor ran past a long row of iron-barred cells. Inside, people pressed against the bars as the pair walked by—men, women, a few younger faces.

"Please, let us go—"

"Mommy I want to back to my Mommy—"

"Forgive us, we won’t say anything—"

The pleas rose and overlapped, desperate and raw. Ben and Alice never turned their heads. The voices might as well have been the buzzing of insects. They continued down the passage without breaking stride, the heavy door at the end closing behind them with a dull, final sound.

---

After few days...

Felix sat slumped against a blackened wall, the last of his mana gone and blood running freely from a dozen wounds. The caravan around him was already a ruin—wagons overturned and burning, the night sky painted orange by the flames. Smoke hung thick enough to choke on. He tried to lift one hand as the figure approached, the motion weak and useless.

"Wait— I was only following orders. Please. I already told you everything."

The boy stopped a few paces away and looked down at him without pity.

"You trashes don’t deserve to live."

Felix’s eyes widened. "No—no, please—"

"Inferno Bolt."

The compressed spear of infernal fire left the boy’s hand with a sound like tearing air. It struck Felix square in the face and detonated. The explosion erased his head and punched a glowing crater into the rock behind him. What remained of the caravan leader collapsed sideways into the dirt, the flames already spreading across the rest of the wreckage.

Rael stood over the body for a moment longer, the heat of the skill still rising from his palm, then turned and walked into the smoke without looking back.

Selene at some distance looked at all of this happening with confusion and said "Well it’s the first time I’m seeing this."

"Who is that boy?"

---