The air of the road leading to the palace was laden with the smell of wet dirt and light smoke from distant pits.
Mark grabbed his sister's hand with a force that almost hurts her, as if this thread is the only thing that prevents them from sliding into an abyss from which there is no return.
Her wide eyes are flickering with panic, and her hair, wet with sweat and tears, sticks to her pale cheeks.
He knew that her sick heart could not bear much; therefore, he accepted the blows that had rained down on him from the moment of their capture, as if it were a small price to pay to protect her.
They approached the courtyard of the Palace amid rows of Shadows.
Men with cracked faces and arms covered with old tattoos greeted them as if they were goods for sale.
The heavy footsteps on the stone floor, and their coarse laughter, were uprooting any glimmer of hope.
Two of them rushed at the girl, grabbed her roughly and tied her up, while a cold-eyed woman turned around and whispered in a voice saturated with lust:
"This is the show we've all been waiting for.»
Mark shouted and tried to repel them.
He kicked, hit, rushed madly, but a heavy fist knocked him to the ground.
They lifted him up tied up, his chest exposed, and tied him to a stone pillar while their coarse laughter tore the air
Someone approached his sister, mark gasped, his voice crackling desperately:
- Mark: "please... take me! Anything... any service... just leave it.»
- A man laughed: "we don't need anything from you.»
- Mark: "I swear... my whole life... I do what you say, just leave it!»
– Another man with a sarcastic coldness: "your sister is more precious than any service you can do.»
His words hit a wall of indifference.
All his entreaties did not stop their hands or soften their cruelty.
His resistance is broken, blood is bleeding from his forehead, while his eyes cling to his sister's terrified face.
He suddenly recalled the image of his mother wiping his head as a child, and the memory of his adoptive father, who tried to be a substitute.
He regained his loneliness after her death, all isolation mercilessly swallowed him up.
The memories turned into a fire burning in his chest, but he remained helpless, and the shackles tighten him like steel rods.
Then a calm, cold voice broke through the silence:
- "Leave them.»
The guys froze.
A thirteen-year-old boy stepped forward, his features still as if carved out of shadow.
This is Adam-whom no one here knows, but his aura made the place suffocate.
Next to him was the host of the auction, a man at the rank of Mana A, whose strength surpasses everyone, and yet his eyes were following the boy with a strange confusion.
– One of the guys sarcastically: "who are you?"»
In the blink of an eye the auction host moved.
No one saw how, but the bodies of the guards fell one by one without a cry.
The man who tried to harm the girl alone remained alive, sweating.
The air trembled as Adam unleashed a killing intent as dense as a torrent.
Even the host of the auction himself — the owner of the superpower-retreated half a step, and his heart is beating madly, as if the boy in front of him is a beast in disguise.
- Adam, with a Deadly Calm: "are you thinking about something?"»
- The host in a broken voice: "for... No, sir.»
- Adam: "okay. Do it.do it. Their blood is all on the floor.»
With one command, the host ended the life of everyone who remained in the arena within seconds, until only the man who tried to assault remained.
Adam advanced towards him, his eyes shining with unbearable coldness:
- Adam: "you... will pay for your intention.»
Only one cry tore the night apart, and then silence reigned.
Adam turned towards mark and his sister.
He looked at the bound young man, and said in an indisputable tone:
- Adam: "now you are mine. Slave to me. You no longer own yourself.»
Mark raised his head with difficulty, his eyes filled with tears, his voice was hoarse:
- Mark: "do whatever you want... just protect my sister... please.»
Adam smiled a half-smile, and in his eyes a mysterious, unreadable flash:
- Adam: "your request does not matter. Whether you want to or not... you are now mine. I will protect her because I decided, not because you asked.»
A short moment passed, in which Mark felt humiliated and ashamed.
Part of him was screaming that he had betrayed his dignity, and another part was thanking God that his sister would still be alive.
Conflicting feelings crushed him more than restrictions.
The host freed mark's shackles, ordering his followers to transfer the boy and his sister to the land that Adam bought at auction.
- Adam coldly: "you go there. You live. Do not interfere in anything, and you know nothing. These are my orders.»
The echoes of the battle faded, and the night left them in a heavy stillness.
Adam turned towards the host:
- Adam: "go back to your place. Do not remember what happened here. These are now under my protection.»
Then he turned around and left.
---
With the first threads of dawn, while the world around him was still yawning, Adam returned to the mansion of his adopted family.
The sky has graduated from pale ash to a soft bluish, and dew glistens on the stones of the corridors.
There was no sign of the bloody hours he had spent away.
He entered through the back gate with confident steps, silently went up to his room.
He changed his clothes, washed his cold face, and then went down to the dining hall as if he had just woken up.
The servants had already begun to arrange the breakfast table: steam was rising from the teapots, the smell of freshly baked bread was fragrant in the Hall.
His adoptive father sat reading the morning newspaper, and his mother smiled at him cordially when she saw him.
Adam sat among them, answering their questions with a calm smile, as if his last night was just a deep sleep.
No one in the palace knew that he missed a single moment.
He raised the cup of tea, and for a fleeting moment, his eyes caught a glimpse of himself reflected in the dark liquid... a slight smile twitched, and then disappeared.
And suddenly—
A violent explosion sounded from the depths of the palace.
The walls shook, the glass fell, and the servants screamed all over the place.
Father and mother exchanged horrified glances, and the guards scurried through the corridors of the Palace looking for the source of the sound.
Adam sat there for a moment, his eyes still and covered with a cold glow.
He calmly raised the glass to his lips, drank a sip, and then muttered words that only he would hear:
– "Time has begun.»
Only the reader realizes that this explosion was not a mysterious accident... but part of his plan that has not yet been revealed.