Chapter 85
Days passed and everything only got worse. Mellis had already lost count of how many visions she had in the black world, after some point she simply began to live in it. A black aura surrounded everyone and everyone had their own animal silhouette, even mom and dad had one manifested over time, but she was never able to see her own, it was strange, but she did not care. During this time, Mellis really began to feel like a nobody, she almost could not look at people afraid to see what they went through and their feelings. It was especially painful for her to look at her parents, her father was barely staying alive, and her mother was grieving more and more every day. Mellis did not know what to do.
At the end of the second month of spring, Morgan collapsed at work. He was working with slaves, peeling logs of bark and making boards from them. While preparing to peel another log, he fell unconscious. A familiar slave quickly ran up to him and quickly felt his pulse, but his heart was not beating, he was already dead...
That same day, Mellis learned about it from her mother. She came home from work late in the evening, exhausted, with eyes red from crying and oozing with intense grief. Her eyes were practically dead and devoid of the meaning of life, only her daughter did not give her the opportunity to give up. Mellis felt it, she did not even vomit, she was not capable of that, she just began to cry bitterly-bitterly. Hearing her crying, her mother hugged her and cried with her. For them, this was the greatest grief, they both lost a person who was a part of their souls.
They cried and remembered the happiest moments of their hard life. Mellis remembered how he taught her to fight with a smile, despite the fact that she was not capable of it, but it did not upset him. Remembering this now, Mellis realized that she could feel how proud he was of her and how much he loved her...
Alice remembered how they met, how she was 15 years old and caught stealing. How bravely he protected her then, from several people above his level and how courageously he walked with the injuries he received. She remembered the moment when their daughter was born and how they both promised to do everything to get out of the slums and protect her...
The mother and daughter continued to cry, remembering their father and why he was so dear to them.
***
After Mellis learned of her father's death, she was not herself, every time she felt someone else's emotions, it was very difficult for her not to cry. Especially if she was near her mother. Alice had also changed a lot, she had lost all her beauty and charm due to the deep pain inside. When they met, Mellis still felt her love, but it was overshadowed by all other feelings. From her mother, a shell of her past self remained, which clung only to the promise given to her father and her. In the dark world, her aura was much larger than before and her silhouette began to accurately represent a thin, fox-like wolf. This creature was ugly, it just was, barely reacting to the world, all she felt from it was apathy, deep pain, melancholy and helplessness.
The days that followed were a blur for Mellis, her depression was already a part of her. She didn't want anything, she didn't want to live on. Living in such torment, she just didn't see the point... But she couldn't commit suicide, bringing so much pain to her mother. No matter how bad everything was, she couldn't do that. She didn't dare do it, although she understood that living on was not an option either. The black world of smoke was the main culprit, she lived in it and no longer tried to tell herself that everything in it was a lie, she accepted the idea that it was real.
***
Seven days later, Alice was finishing up sewing the cloth with the other slaves on a large loom. After finishing the cloth, Alice looked at it in her hands to see if there were any defects. Seeing nothing, she folded it and placed it on the shelf of the finished product.
It was late evening, her work day was over so Ellis went home. After looking around her work place once more, she came out of the small building and saw Mr. Zara passing by with his guards. Not wanting to attract his attention, Ellis tried to greet him respectfully and quickly leave.
Slave Trader Zara was dressed in an elegant black merchant suit, despite the fact that he walked among the slums. He was a beastman of the Satris clan, he had a human body, but with some reptilian features. Like a forked tongue, slit pupils, small green scales all over his body and sharp claws on his fingers.
Name: Zara Eingeblam, 45 years old
Race: Beastman of the Satris clan [Uncommon] Lvl 61
Class: Hereditary Slaver [Uncommon] Lvl 81
Class: Fruit Snake Conglomerate Merchant [Uncommon] Lvl 45
"Hello, Mr. Zara." Alice said as she came closer and bowed.
The slave trader smiled welcomingly as his guards formed a semicircle around them.
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"Hello Alice, how is the sewing of this new fabric going?" He asked, trying to show interest and continued walking. Alice followed him, accepting his unspoken invitation to walk together.
"Okay Mr. Zara, everything is as expected, perhaps the quality of the fabric is a little better."
"Okay, okay." He said, nodding several times. "And how are you? I heard your husband died? Tragic, my condolences." He said with a hint of pity.
Alice swallowed the words in her throat, her eyes watering slightly, but she pulled herself together and then responded as respectfully as possible, with a slight bow.
"Thank you for your concern Mr. Zara, I will handle this in time."
The slaver nodded in response and continued walking silently while the others followed him. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke again.
"You might want to take some food, I just need to go to the food warehouse, I think your daughter would be happy about that." He said looking at her. Alice felt bad about it, but she couldn't refuse.
"Thank you very much Mr. Zara for your generosity, we will be very grateful to you."
The slave trader nodded calmly and continued walking in silence until they entered the food warehouse. Once inside, the slave trader walked up the stairs, inviting Alice to follow him. Entering his office, he gave the order to one of the guards to collect the best products for Alice and began to silently write something in the books on the table while Alice waited in his office, along with several guards. Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door of the office, and after receiving permission, a man entered with a thick, tattered bag. He revealed it off, revealing that it was full of fresh food and silently handed it to Alice.
Alice bowed gratefully to the guard and thanked him, turning around she saw that Zara had finished working with the documents and was looking at her.
"Thank you very much Mr. Zara for your generosity, it means a lot to us." She said sincerely, bowing.
Zara stood up from his chair and walked up to her, speaking.
"It's okay, it would be stupid to lose an employee like you over some little thing. Moreover, you need to feed your daughter, don't worry about it."
At that moment, Alice was sincerely grateful to the slave trader and even smiled at him a little. Seeing her like that, his right hand touched her face, and his left hand fell on her waist, gently stroking her.
Alice instantly felt disgusted, but she kept her expression down, not knowing what to say as he touched her. Seeing no resistance, Zara ordered the guards to leave the office and pressed Alice against the wall, moving from her waist to her chest. Alice gently tried to push his hand away, but he didn't listen to her and pressed himself even harder against her, grabbing her ass with his other hand. Alice dropped everything she was carrying and began to struggle harder, trying to break free and remove his hands, her breathing became heavier, which only made Zara act. He licked his lips with a forked tongue, and carefully made a cut in her clothes with a claw, putting his hand through it and touching her breast, squeezing it lightly.
At that moment Alice couldn't take it anymore, her anger got the better of her, she screamed and punched Zara in the eye with all her might. Her blow slightly pushed his head back and forcing his fingers slightly shrank, leaving thin cuts on her chest and ass with claws. Her blow brought the slaver to his senses, he took his hands away from her. His long tongue stretched out to lick the future bruise and small streaks of blood from the torn scale. Adjusting the suit with his hands, Zara looked at her without showing anger, while Alice covered the torn clothes with her hands.
"Do you think this was a smart choice? My mood is ruined and any attraction I had for you is gone." He said, rubbing the wound on his face with his hand. "You forgot your place, but I will remind you." He finished and hit her with his fist.
Alice managed to dodge, but the next blow was faster and hit her in the head, throwing her into the wall. Alice braced herself against the wall with her hand and tried to stand up, but another blow to the head made her fall to her knees, hitting the wall again.
Zara stopped to straighten his suit and roll up his sleeves again, while Alice sat on the floor, very dizzy and covered in blood. After examining her, Zara did not change his impassive expression, but only spoke with regret.
"It's a pity I don't enjoy beating and raping at the same time. When I'm done with you, I won't condemn your daughter to the same thing, she'll just be killed so she doesn't suffer."
Zara's last words brought Alice back to reality, she screamed loudly and tried to get up. But Zara's blow to the head blocked all her movements and she was on her knees again. Zara dealt a few more blows after which Alice fell to the floor where he continued to beat her. When Zara finished, all his hands were covered in blood and Alice's face was unrecognizable, but she was still alive and barely breathing on the floor.
Zara stood up and wiped his hands with the nearest towel, then picked up the communication amulet from the table and called the guards. Immediately, two two-meter-tall beastmen of the Gorilla tribe entered the room. They quickly glanced around the room and stood at attention, awaiting orders.
"Get rid of her and visit her daughter. I don't want her to suffer without her mother, kill her calmly."
The two beastmen nodded silently, one walked up to Alice and picked her up with one hand and immediately left the office, the other followed him. Zara looked at the blood stain on the floor for a few more minutes and shook his head, muttering "You need to know your place."
Zara's henchmen silently carried the unconscious Alice, getting closer and closer to the place of her death. After 30 minutes, they entered the crematorium, where mountains of corpses from all over the slums were collected. Only the artifacts of the Holy Church, the blessings of the priests and the holy water that was poured over the corpses, prevented them from turning into undead while they were waiting to be burned. There were so many bodies in the slums that the crematoriums simply did not have time to process them, some corpses were even stored in the ground throughout the slums, although this was prohibited due to the risk of creating undead.
The beastman holding Alice sighed in displeasure and grabbed her head with his hand, quickly turning it counterclockwise, killing her. Throwing her body into the pile of corpses, both beastmen made their tribe's gesture that meant "respect for those who died by their hand, but not by their will." They then headed after Mellis.