The boy and his father stood on the outskirt of the bazaar near a dark narrow alleyway. The stall was nowhere to be seen. It disappeared in thin air. Looking around, the boy witnessed the pale complexion of his “father”. Though he was worried about him, he could not stop but notice that everyone near the main route of the bazaar or even near them did not notice this sudden change. They were not even bothered by their sudden appearance. The boy wondered if they were the only ones able to see this change. Even though he did not understand why people did not see the bright portal that disappeared a few moments ago, he internally agreed that something was disturbing the flow of time or something similar to prevent people from noticing all of these changes. He shivered at this thought. How strong was that man and why was he imprisoned in such a place? Many thoughts flooded the boy’s mind, but he shook his head. He knew he could not dwell on these thoughts forever. Sighing, the boy turned to his father and asked, “Grand…. Father what should we do?”.

“Son… I know you have a lot of questions but let's first head to the awakening ceremony. It is an event that you must witness at least once as it will help you when you do yours…” hurriedly replied the old man, his face slowly regaining its color. He slowly tried moving his body and was surprised that he could do so. He sighed in relief and said in a soft tone, “Okay… Looks like we are alright. Let's head to the ceremony before it’s too late.”

The old man grabbed the boy’s hand and guided him through the busy streets of the bazaar. As they traveled to the temple, the boy noticed many different areas, alleys, and stalls all lining the sides of the crowded road in the bazaar. Suddenly, the boy stopped and looked at a strange set of stalls. They were filled with cages. Something was moving inside these cages. Upon realizing that this ‘something’ was actually people, the boy looked horrified. He did not understand why people would do this to others. Why would they sell and treat people like commodities? The old man looked at the boy and noticed his gaze fixated on the cages. Looking at the boy's expression, he sighed and gently patted his head. The boy turned and slowly asked him, “Father what is that place? Why are there people in cages and chains?”

“Its… a slave market. They sell criminals, families of those criminals, or war prisoners in that place. They are sold to the highest bidder.”, replied the old man as he looked towards the cages. He found this sight disturbing even though it has been normalized in his society. Nobody cared about these people. Even though some of them were criminals, a large majority were just commoners or even nobles, who got caught in war, and ended up as slaves when their cities, towns, or countries got conquered or defeated. He was saddened by this thought. Losing their family was something he could relate to. The old man was consumed by these thoughts of the past that he did not notice the boy making his way toward the stall.

“Father, why is this happening? Why would people be sold like this?” asked the boy pointing at the cages while looking at the old man. Hearing the boy’s voice, he quickly made his way toward the boy and laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Turning his eyes towards the cages, the old man was able to clearly see the state of the people in the cages. They were defiled, their bodies filled with countless traces of beatings and abuse. Malnourishment has settled on some of them making their silhouettes look more like skeletons than humans. Witnessing these people's cruel fate made the old man's heart shatter. He could still not believe that some people took joy in other people's misfortunes. Regaining his composure, the old man with a look of pity said, in a sad yet firm tone, “Son, we are living a cruel world. A world that does not care about others. A selfish world where strength rules and the weak are abused. Son… This abuse is sometimes not displayed like this, but through people's actions to other misfortunes. Instead of helping them, people tend to push them down ever deeper toward despair. This is what causes evil acts to propagate and repeat themselves in cycles. Revenge is a great example of this evil. If people could only live peacefully, understand, forgive, and help each other, this world would be a better place. But it is not and most likely would remain so.”

“Father…” slowly said the boy before shaking his head and turning to look at the old man.

“Son, I know it’s a lot for you to digest, but you have to understand the world we live in. You must assimilate to survive or at least pretend to do so until you get strong enough to protect your values and beliefs.”, softly yet sternly stated the old man in a raspy voice. He did not want to stay here any further as it reminded him of unsavory memories of his past.

“Father, I will try… Can we at least see what people are selling in this market before we go to the ceremony?”, asked the boy while looking at the old man with a pleading look.

“Son, okay let us go see.”, said the old man sighing under his breath. He grabbed the boy’s hands and drag him towards the nefarious-looking stalls.

“Father, why do they have this person in a cage by themselves instead of like in a group?”, quietly asked the boy, his eyes darting from cage to cage. He was curious and bewildered that people were treated like animals.

“It’s because they are either sick or too dangerous to be with others.”, replied the old man while padding the boy’s head.

“I see... Can I please have something today?”, slowly asked the boy while averting his eyes from the old man.

“What do you want, son?”, asked the old man while looking at the boy.

“I wish to purchase this person in this cage.”, said the boy as he turned his gaze towards a particular cage in the far back of the stall. He pointed this cage to the old man.

“Son...”, asked the old man clearly confused about the boy’s demand. He thought he was disgusted at this practice and never thought he would partake in it.

“Okay, let us purchase this person.”, sighed the old man. He dragged the boy to the merchant stall. The slave merchant was sitting down at his desk, counting the number of gold pieces he had to obtain through today’s many sales. He did not notice the presence of the boy and the old man as he was too engrossed in his act. Suddenly he saw from the corner of his eye, two customers waiting rather impatiently for his service. He blushed, he needed to stop doing this, but he loved counting his wealth too much. He stood up from his chair and walked towards the two customers.

“Sorry about the wait… Do you need anything dear customers?”, gently asked the merchant.

“My son wishes to purchase this slave from your stall. How much are you asking for this individual?”, asked the old man, pointing at a particular cage while eyeing the slave merchant suspiciously. He knew that these types of individuals that deal with people's lives never give a good price for their goods and even in some instances scammed them out of their money. He disliked doing this, but the boy, his son, had asked him and, even though he was stern with him, he could not say no to his request. He did not want to repeat the same mistakes he did with his late daughter.

“Oh, you mean her. She is a girl… I see… Okay, let me check… Since she is sick and weak… How about I give you a discount of 10% and sell her to you for 100 gold pieces.”, negotiated the merchant. He wanted to sell her as she was not healthy, and he did not want her to die in his stall. He was scared it might drive off potential clients.

“Isn’t that price way too steep for a sickly and weak slave?”, asked the old man in an inquisitive tone.

“If you don’t want her then leave, I do not care.”, replied the merchant, who no longer wanted to deal with such troublesome clients. He did not want to waste his time with people who did not want to buy his items, especially if these items were broken, to begin with.

“Father, please…”, pleaded the boy. The old man upon looking at the boy could not bring himself to say no. His daughter left him because he did not side with her during a pivotal moment in her life. His guilt for his actions made him not want to commit the same mistakes with her son.

“Okay, I will give you 100 gold pieces for her.”, sighed the old man while grabbing his pouch. He looked into it and took out the 100 gold pieces necessary to buy the slave his son wanted. He gave the coins to the merchant that had stretched his arm towards him while holding a pouch of his own to receive them. Once the coins were in the merchant’s pouch, he quickly went back to his desk and started counting them. After a while, he smiled and put the coins back into the pouch. The merchant thought that they were easy prey to steal from. He has given them a broken slave that would not survive for long at an exorbitant price of 100 gold coins. This amount could be used to buy a healthy and strong slave, but the boy wanted this sickly one. He rubbed his hands. A sucker is born every day, he thought as he unlocked the cage of the boy’s slave. He went inside it and ordered the slave to follow him. She limped behind him, her disheveled brown hair covering her burned face slightly swinging from side to side as she tried to keep up with him. Pathetic, he thought. At least he knew that he no longer needed to take care of her or try to handle the horrible stench coming from her cage. Arriving in front of his customers, he smiled and turned to face the old man, while saying in a joyous tone, “Glad we can come to a compromise. Thank you for your patronage. For the slave, let me transfer her lifeforce to you...”.

“Give it to my son.”, said the old man, while pointing to the boy.

“Okay, please recite the following words on this sheet of paper and slowly start drawing her lifeforce into your body. It will create a mark on both of your bodies, which will show that you are her master, and she is your slave. This will replace the existing mark of slavery that is found in her body with yours..”, slowly said the merchant as he turned to face the boy. Although he thought these customers were nothing more than ignorant fools, he still tried to explain to them the basics of a slave transfer as well as perform it free of charge. He had to still maintain the reputation of his business after all.

“I don’t want to… Remove the mark from her body, I want her to be free.”, said the boy, who cut off the merchant in the middle of his explanation. The merchant did not seem to be too pleased with this, but he let it go as he did not want to tarnish his reputation with potential future customers, even though he knew they probably would not come back to his stall again.

“Look here boy…”, said the merchant in a slightly annoyed tone.

“Do it, my son says so.”, firmly said the old man as he also cut off the merchant in the middle of his speech.

“Okay well it's your loss anyways.”, sighed the merchant, he was tired of these tomfooleries. He disliked having these types of customers as they preached all about justice and fairness in this world but did nothing to change it. Although maybe they freed these slaves for their own egotistical view of what justice would be, it did nothing to change things as they are right now. As if they did anything significant enough to change it, he thought while smirking. Freeing a slave did nothing but allow him to profit and buy more slaves for his business. Whatever, they are still my customers, and I should comply with their foolish request, he thought. He chanted a spell in his mind that he only knew about. A spell he created to enslave and free his slaves, his merchandise. After performing the chant, he grabbed the slave’s hand and checked if the mark disappeared. Noticing its absence, he turned to face the boy and eyed him for a bit, before saying, “It is done...”.

“Thank you… What is your name?”, said the boy as he turned and face the newly freed slave. She was staring at the floor, her hands shaking. Her hair was unkempt, disheveled, and dusty. Months of mistreatment have caused it to lose its luster. Her pale complexion and lack of body fat showed that she lacked regular contact with sunlight and meals. Looking at her attire, he noticed that she was not wearing proper clothes, but rags instead.

“….”, said the slave while having her head down.

“Don’t worry, I know you do not trust us, and you did not get the best treatment in that place, but I hope that we can help you heal and maybe earn your trust someday.”, said the boy in a soft tone. He wanted to earn her trust and treat her like a human being unlike how she was treated before. She deserved to be treated as one. In his mind, he thought that by doing this, he could help her and at the same time show that fate does not dictate someone’s life by helping change hers. Suddenly as he was thinking about various things he could do to help her, she started running while limping towards a certain alleyway in the bazaar. He gasped, he knew she would maybe run away, but he did not think that she would do so while being injured.

“Father, she ran away… Should we go after her?”, asked the boy in a panic.

“You decide son, it was your choice to free her.”, stated the old man while sighing.

“I will be back, father!”, said the boy as he ran in the direction of the girl. He did not notice that the old man followed quietly behind him. He ran into the alleyway that became wider and wider the farther he went and, eventually, he found himself in the middle of a crowd of people. He did not know that there were this many people in places like this. As he tried to navigate through the crowd, he saw from the corner of his eyes, the small silhouette of the girl that he freed. She was crouching down on the ground and covering her head with her small frail hands as rocks were thrown at her.

“Devil, why did you steal from us? Why do always come here to steal our money, our pouches from us? Learn to work and earn your keep without stealing!!! Justice! Let us bring down justice on her!”, chanted the crowd in unison.

“No, don’t hurt her!”, shouted the boy as he tried to reach her. He wanted to give her a new lease on life, but not this way. If she wanted to be free, he would heal her, first, and then allow her to decide for herself what she wanted to do with her life. He moved through the crowd as quickly as he could, going underneath its participants, who bellowed in joy above at the sight of violence and blood. He did not know why he was doing something like that for someone he barely knew, but the sight of her tears and the expression of pain that she displayed led him to press onwards. He felt that he had to protect her. As he finally reached her, the sounds and sight of the rocks being thrown at them made him fearful. He never experienced this mixed feeling of hatred and joy for the demise of an individual. This sort of display showcased to him how corrupt and immoral this world was. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain as a rock struck his shoulder followed by another and another. He wanted to shout out in agony, but he knew that he had to be strong. The girl had yet to shout in pain and he did not want to embarrass himself in front of her. He quickly regained his composure, while gritting his teeth. The pain was too much, he did not understand how such a malnourished and frail girl could endure it.

“Look, the devil has a friend, do not stop the assault! Send them both to oblivion to meet their maker!”, shouted someone in the crowd. The crowd grew wilder at the presence of new prey. They began throwing more rocks, but luckily a lot of them missed their mark. The boy was even luckier that behind them stood only a wall, so the rocks were only flying from three different directions. The boy turned around and began to quicken his pace toward the girl. The hail of rocks did not stop his momentum even when some of them hit him squarely on his back. Arriving in front of the crouching girl, the boy turned to face girl and said to the girl, “Why did you run? Anyways, I will never break my promise to you. Look at me, I will protect you and help find your family. Please stay with us until then. I will never falter while you stand beside me!”

The girl’s bruised arms parted as she looked up at the figure who was protecting her with his body. Although she could no longer see his face, she could feel his emotions by looking at his back. She did not understand why he was doing this, but for the first time in a long time, she felt moved and happy. His action had brought an array of emotions and she felt valued as a person. Tears streamed from her eyes as she winched at each rock that struck the boy’s body. She thought that he would tumble from the pain, but he did not. Looking closely at him, she saw that he had a resolute face as he faced the raging crowd. She thought that maybe he did this, because he loved her, but thinking about it longer made her let go of that thought. Nobody would love someone like her, a sickly and filthy girl. As she continued to stare at the boy, she heard a shout coming from the crowd.

“How dare you hurt my son!”, screamed the old man as a dark murderous aura emitted from his body parted the crowd, who suddenly stopped their onslaught at the pair.

“Get out of here everyone, before I kill you all! I showing you this mercy only this once!”, shouted the old man. Hearing this, the crowd quickly dissolved. People started to run away from the scene in a hurry. They were frightened by the old man’s presence. Only a seasoned warrior could emit so much bloodlust. Even if the old man was not one, nobody wanted to stay there to find out the truth. Looking at the people scurrying away, the boy turned to face the girl. The girl looked at him. His face was bruised, and blood streamed down his swollen lips and cheeks. His clothes no longer were white, but red, blood red. Her eyes widened as she saw one of his arms. It was twisted in such a way that the girl knew it was broken.

“Why did you do this for me?… We barely know each other… Why?…. I even ran away from you… I don’t understand why?… Why?…”, said the girl in a soft tone, while tears streamed down her face.

“Because I wanted to. I wanted you to know that you can trust me and that I will always have your back. The promises I make will never be broken. Remember this, okay? Anyways, can I at least know your name? I don’t want to call you just “you” or “girl”. If you do not give me a name, I will no choice but to name you.”, asked the boy as he scratched his hair. Even though this act hurt him due to the injuries he sustained, he always did this when he was feeling nervous or scared in any situation. However, he did not care about the pain. He wanted to know if what he did bothered the girl or not. Looking at her, he was unsure if she was happy or angry at the selfish act he displayed to her.

“…. Could you please name me? I wish to let go of my past.”, suddenly stated the girl, while blushing. The boy saw that she was earnestly looking at him and sighed. He was not good with names, but he could not say no to her especially when she was looking at him with such conviction in her eyes.

“I… Okay, let me see, I will name you Li as I find you very pretty and Na as I think you are a very strong and elegant girl. Together they form Li Na. I apologize if my naming sense is bad, but that is what I thought of you when I first saw you.”, stated the boy as he eyed the girl. He was looking at the reaction and expression she would make when he gave that name to her. Noticing her smile, he thought, she was displeased with it.

“If you want...”, started the boy averting his eyes from hers.

“No, it's fine I like it. Do you think I am pretty?... I will treasure it forever… master.”, said the girl in a happy tone as she slowly got up to face him.

“Li Na, you don’t need to call me master, you are not a slave anymore, but free.”, said the boy as he held up his hand to help her get up. Seeing his hand, the girl grabbed and hoisted herself up to her feet. She dusted herself up and said, “I have chosen you as my master. I will protect you and serve you forever, so please don’t leave me or throw me away.”

“Li Na, I will never do something like that. I will accept this, but you don’t need to call me master, my name is just fine.”, said the boy as he grabbed Li Na’s shoulder. He smiled at her even though it resembled more of a grin due to his injuries and let go of her shoulder to turn to face his father. Although he should have thanked his father earlier, he wanted to make sure the girl was okay after experiencing this horrific event.

“Thank you for saving us, father!”, said the boy as he turned and limped toward to hug him. The boy knew that without his father, they would have not survived this ordeal with such minor injuries. Tears streamed down his face as he looked relieved to see him. He had thought his father had not followed him and was scared that he might die even though he was resolute to save the girl.

“I did not save you, son, you saved her and yourself through conviction. I am happy to have helped you achieve that.”, said the old as he stroked his beard while hugging his son.

“So... Master... What should we do right now? I am a bit scared to stay here any longer...”, whispered Li Na while grasping the boy's sleeve.

“Li Na… Forget it, let's go watch the ceremony, I think you will find it cool!”, said the boy in a passionate tone. He was curious as to what the ceremony would look like. Even though he hated the thought of it controlling one’s fate, he still wanted to witness it with his own eyes.

“….”, said Li Na as she quietly thought of what the boy was thinking about. She did not understand why he wanted to go to such a place, but his enthusiasm for it led her to be intrigued by it. She wanted to see what this place was like and understand why the boy was so enthusiastic about it.

“No need to be shy come with me Li Na, I promised you that I will protect you. Trust me.”, said the boy as he stretched out his hand towards her once more.

“Okay… master!”, shouted Li Na happily as she grabbed the boy’s hand and finished pulling herself up. As she walked behind the boy, she started to wonder what her future held. She was happy to have someone like him in her life. She had never once thought someone could protect her as he did. It showed her that there are still people that care about her in this world. Looking at him, she felt warm, and some inexplicable feelings started to well up in her heart. For now, all she cared about was how to serve him well so that they can live together. Even though she was still a bit distrustful towards his true intention, she believed that someone willing to sacrifice themselves for a stranger cannot be someone that had bad intentions, especially not him. She sighed, for now at least she will look forward to what the future had in store for them. Hopefully, it was one filled with happiness and not fear...